Page 51 of The House of Quiet

Chapter Forty-Three

A Broken Arrow

Arrow twists, trying to dive free. Iron just laughs. All it takes is a single brush of her finger and Arrow’s entire world explodes into pain again. Every nerve is on fire, agony so bad Arrow can’t see or think or hear, much less fight back.

River stays where she is, tears streaming down her face as she stares at Iron. “I’m going to kill you,” she says as simply as if she were stating what she had planned for their supper.

Iron bares her teeth in a smile and steps forward. Arrow grabs for her ankle and misses. She knew what Iron was, what she’s capable of. She sent Iron the names of everyone here, including Beetle’s. That’s how they found the driver. The one man capable of navigating the bog to reach the house.

Arrow thought everyone in the south deserved pain. What Iron does felt like cosmic balance. But now Arrow knows that there are innocents everywhere. She doesn’t understand why Iron is here, though, and why she’s working with that doctor. Is he a termite, too?

“Don’t harm River,” the doctor snaps at Iron. “I need all the ones with abilities. You can do whatever you want with her, though.” He steps over Arrow’s prone and shaking body.

Hawthorn strides toward them. “There you are, Dr.Bramble. I have the other ones gathered in the study.”

“Take River. And drag Forest in, too, driver,” the doctor says, pointing at the doorway where Forest is still lying unconscious. The doctor knows what he can do, and, thanks to Arrow’s pigeon missives, they knew he was here when no one else did. Without Forest, the rest of them are helpless.

“As for you.” He stops in front of Birdie, eyebrows furrowed. “You performed the procedure on her last night, Hawthorn?”

“Yes,” the tutor says. “I have no idea how she survived.”

“Fascinating.”

“I’ll take her to the House Wife,” Cook says, tugging on Birdie.

The doctor shakes his head. “You can’t have her yet.

No one has survived the procedure at her age.

This must be examined. Come along. Hawthorn, take care of the rest of them and then fetch the box.

” He takes Birdie’s arm and pulls her deeper into the house.

Birdie looks over her shoulder with an expression of absolute despair.

“I’m sorry,” she says. But why is she sorry? This is Arrow’s fault. She thought she could come here as an assassin and help the north with one swift slash. Instead, she’s doomed all her friends.

“Iron, get them into the study,” Hawthorn says as the driver drags Forest past.

“With pleasure.” She kicks Arrow. Arrow curls into a ball, and Iron kicks her again.

It’s petty. Iron could do so much worse with just a brush of her fingers.

She’s choosing to kick Arrow for the fun of it.

Arrow always knew she was cruel, but the cruelty felt like a lifeline when Arrow was drowning in grief.

“Get up,” Iron says, kicking her again.

Arrow stands and limps down the hallway. River moves to help her, but Arrow holds out a hand low where Iron won’t see.

Iron skips cheerily after them. “I can’t wait to meet all your friends, Arrow.”

“You’re my only friend, Iron,” Arrow says. While Iron laughs, Arrow hisses at River, “Stay by Forest.” She’s terrified River won’t understand that Iron can’t know about their feelings for each other.

“Get me a cloth for his head, Minnow,” River snaps as she walks into the study.

A perfect delivery for someone who’s never cared about the fate or emotional state of a mere maid.

River’s tears could have been for Forest, which is what Iron will assume now.

River’s cleverer than anyone ever notices.

Hopefully it keeps her safe from Iron’s gleeful maliciousness.

Iron was supposed to be the north’s miraculous weapon. But weapons will hurt anyone, depending on where they’re pointed. So why is Iron pointed at her now? Is it because she didn’t obey orders to kill Birdie?

Maybe if Arrow can explain. Maybe she can talk her way out of this still. She just has to understand what Iron is trying to accomplish.

Arrow takes off her apron and hands it to River. She marches to the other side of the room and kneels next to Forest. He’s unconscious on the floor. After clubbing, gagging, and binding him, the driver dragged him in here and didn’t even bother to lift him onto a sofa.

“You may go now,” Hawthorn says to the driver. Then he turns to Iron. “Keep watch, and don’t disturb us.” He closes the door behind himself.

Arrow takes in the rest of the room. Nimbus is sitting quietly in an armchair, looking painfully small and vulnerable.

His expression is one not of blank peace but of mute horror.

Lake and Dawn are standing in the middle of the room.

Arrow has no idea if Lake is aware of what’s going on, but Dawn is.

The atmosphere is soaked in anxious fear.

“Minnow, where’s—” Dawn starts, but River cuts in, trying to keep up the charade that they all consider Arrow a mere maid.

“Dawn, dear, see to Lake and make certain she doesn’t try to wander off.”

Dawn nods, confused. But still afraid, which means they’re all afraid, too. Not that Arrow needs any help with that. Not with Iron here.

Iron prowls back and forth in front of the door.

To anyone else it would look like joyful prancing, but Arrow knows better.

Iron is a predator; they’re all prey. Iron shoots an annoyed glance at Dawn.

If she identifies Dawn as the source of the pesky emotions, Arrow doesn’t like imagining what she’ll do.

Arrow sidles closer to her old friend, aware of how near she is to Iron’s terrible touch. “What’s going on?” she hisses. “Why did you attack me? This isn’t the plan. I have new information about the stolen children.”

Iron turns toward her, her eyes a flat, cold blue. “That’s the problem with northerners, Arrow. Everyone cares so much . The only way to stop losing is to stop caring. Once you realize you’re the only thing that matters, it all gets so much easier. And more lucrative, too.”

Arrow takes a step back, deflating. Her last hope is gone. She thought Iron loved the north; Iron loves only herself. “You’re not really a termite.”

Iron shrugs. “I am when it suits my needs. Or the needs of those funding me.”

“How long ago did you betray us? When did you join the doctor?”

Iron laughs. “I was always with them. Normally our kind is given the procedure and then shipped right here. But the doctor could see I was special. Useful. Meant for bigger things.”

“You never escaped.”

Iron claps her hands slowly. “You’re smarter than you look. Smarter than the other termites, at least. They were so thrilled to have one of the stolen children back—and to have my abilities—they never questioned how, out of all the hundreds of missing kids, only I returned. Silly.”

“But why send me here, then?” Arrow doesn’t understand. The whole plan was Iron’s idea. “Why have me kill Birdie?”

“Contingencies,” Iron says with another shrug.

“The doctor sent in that maid to help with her sister, but when your note made it clear the sister isn’t here, she was a liability.

She knows Dr. Bramble and Hawthorn are connected to everything.

You were supposed to kill her.” She tsks reproachfully.

“But you proved useful regardless, sending us the coach driver’s name.

It was simple enough to find him and promise we could help him and his wife save their precious daughter.

I’m proud, you know. It was my spy who got us here.

” She reaches out as if to bop Arrow on the nose. Arrow flinches, which makes Iron smile.

“Why me? You could have used any of the termites.”

“You can do the southern accent. That, and I never liked you,” Iron says. “You got to stay at home with your mom. Why did you deserve that?”

“None of us deserved anything that happened to us.”

“Well, be comforted knowing you don’t deserve what’s going to happen to you today, either.” Iron smiles, baring all her teeth.

Arrow feels sick to her stomach. The doctor and his accomplices were always going to find a way in. Birdie was always going to die, and so is Arrow, all without having found Birdie’s sister or helped Arrow’s people. Thinking they could win was always a cruel fantasy.

She glances at Lake, wondering how much Lake has already seen. How long she’s known that Arrow would die today. Lake is staring right at her, face set in determined frustration.

“No,” Lake says, stomping a bare foot. “You already changed it twice. Figure out how to change it again. Choose a different target. And don’t fall down the red circle.”

You already changed it twice. Meaning Arrow’s affected the futures Lake sees. Maybe she’s not so useless. But she is if she dies.

“What is she talking about?” Iron snaps.

River shoots her an irritated look. “No one ever knows. I need supplies.”

Iron flexes her fingers. “Are you giving me a command?”

“No, I’m telling you that I need medical supplies.

If Forest wakes up with this head injury, the increased blood flow will trigger a swelling in his brain, causing brain matter to spill out through the fracture point, killing him instantly.

I’m certain your doctor wouldn’t be happy if that happened on your watch.

Just get me something to help keep him asleep while his head heals. Something strong.”

Any termite who had actually seen action could tell that River was lying through her teeth. And the doctor will know, too. But Iron’s never really been a termite. Plus, she’s impatient, and irritated, and…scared.

Thank you, Dawn , Arrow thinks.

“Arrow, go get the doctor’s bag. He left it by the front door. If you try anything, I’ll make that one suffer until she bites her own tongue off,” Iron says. She points at Lake.

Arrow walks to the front door. It’s wide open. The coach and the horses are right there. Arrow’s confident that with their conditioning and her savvy, she could make it out of the bog. Back to Sootcity, where she could find a way to send a warning to the termites that Iron is a traitor.

But she won’t risk River, and she won’t abandon her friends. Her mother wanted a different life for her than living in secret and dying in pain. The termites are, by necessity, always alone and isolated. Arrow’s not, and she doesn’t want to be.

She gets the doctor’s bag and takes it to River, then backs away to her spot next to Iron.

“Do you have what you need?” Iron demands as River rifles through.

“Yes, I think so.”

Arrow’s heart swells with love and admiration. River is so committed to her spoiled, entitled rich girl act that she doesn’t even bother thanking her terrifying captor. River might very well be the bravest person Arrow knows.

“I don’t like the way I feel.” Iron glares at the residents one by one. “Which of you is making me feel this way?”

Dawn freezes, guilt written across her face. Lake points at the ceiling, drawing Iron’s attention. “They keep them up there. So much crying. So much begging. You hear it now, too?”

“Don’t lie to me,” Iron says, at the exact same time Nimbus says, “Don’t lie to me.”

“What is he doing?” Iron says, at the exact same time Nimbussays, “What is he doing?”

“Make him stop doing that.” But Nimbus continues, not echoing but mirroring her, a perfect match to her thoughts and words.

“That’s it!” Iron and Nimbus say. “I’ve had it with these children.”

Arrow’s stomach sinks with dread. She’s failed everyone, and now she’ll have to watch them suffer.