Page 106 of The Unbound Witch
“You’re going to have to stay behind and probably keep Talon also. We can’t hide that marking, but as long as no beast is with you and your hood is up, it’ll be easier.”
Atlas ran a hand down his face. “I can’t let you guys go alone.”
“We are full grown women, Pup. We’ll be fine.”
“So I’m just supposed to sit here?”
“How great are your drawing skills?” I asked, reaching for Nym’s satchel.
“You want me to doodle and watch a baby tiger while I sit here?”
I held out two pieces of chalk, one white and one black. “I need two circles drawn on this floor side by side with about an arm's length of overlapping. They need to be as close to perfect circles as you can get them.”
He drew in a deep breath, his shoulders slumping. “How big of a circle?”
“Atta boy.” I smiled. “Spread your feet apart. A little more. A little more. There. That size oughta do.”
“I’m going to make the best damn circles you’ve ever seen, Wraith. You aren’t even ready for this kind of perfection.” He squatted on the floor, holding the white chalk as far away from him as he could, and rotated.
“That’s quite possibly the worst circle I’ve ever seen. And it’s getting wet because of the waterfall. Try again. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”
“I hate this job,” he grumbled, picking up Talon and sitting on a rock closer to the back of the cave. “There’s no such thing as a perfect circle,” he called after us.
Nym laughed as she climbed out, swearing he was a full-grown child. I would have agreed, but I knew him. Knew he teased, putting on a show to draw the tension away from the final day. From the truth of sending a wraith into the afterlife. A fate I may have one day. As long as we were successful. But there was another question swirling in my mind. One I dared not ask aloud, only let it sit on the heart I no longer had.
The Whisper witches rose with the sun, worked and spent their entire days outside, and retreated to their cottages at night. They listened to the ocean roar, the wind blow, and felt every ray of the sun. Though I’d loved being a Moon Witch when I was one, I think I could have loved this world, too. Until the screaming on another isle started. Witches moved to peer over the edge, some taking off in flight, some vanishing.
If Nym didn’t blend in, she’d be seen, so she followed along with the witches and we watched as a woman was dragged up a hill toward a pillory while a mob threw rocks at her. Maybe the wraiths were nosey bitches, as Atlas had said, but based on the gawking, the Whisper witches were no better. The crowd at the edge of the isle worked their way back to whatever they were doing, clearly not surprised by the attack on the woman on the lower isle.
“Their disinterest is how you know that is not rare,” Nym breathed, the tips of her fingers fighting the wind to keep her hood up. “We should hurry.”
She walked toward a woman carrying an empty woven basket on her shoulder with a stained apron around her waist and her hair tied up with cloth.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m trying to find a whispering pearl and I wondered if you could tell me where to find one?”
The woman’s chocolate eyes moved slowly up and down Nym’s cloaked body as she grimaced.
Not friendly either. Noted.
Tilting her head toward a small cluster of carts, she grumbled something unintelligible and continued on. Nym thanked her, though the woman didn’t acknowledge it, and moved toward the carts. When I slammed into another barrier, flashing to visibility for a second, I hissed a curse and whispered to Nym to go on without me. Moving carefully around the barrier, the only thing I could do was watch and wait and pray like hell the goddess was on my side today.
She spoke to several of the small cart owners, all shaking their heads or pointing without any sort of exchange happening. After she’d made her rounds, she hustled back to me, brushing past without even realizing I was there.
“Nothing?”
She jumped at my voice but kept moving toward the waterfall. “No. Well, yes. But they won’t trade anything but food. I’ve got a small bit of dried beef for Talon.”
“You should have just taken it,” I said.
“They’re starving, Kir. Look at their bones. Their eyes. These people are suffering. There’s too many of them to keep fed. They can hardly keep gardens in this wind, there’s no hunting on the isles except birds and fish when they can get them. I’d no sooner steal from my own mother.”
She slipped into the trees, lowering herself down once more. When she returned with a small bit of brown paper, I moved backward, really seeing her. She could have taken it. I’ve seen her swipe things many times over the years. I think we all had when we got a little too hungry or desperate. She was like a phantom. The day we’d arrived at the castle, she’d stolen a pair of my gloves. I hadn’t noticed until she was wearing them two days later with that sly little smile on her face. That time wasn’t desperation. That was something more. Something fierce and playful. Something daring I’d found so attractive. But she also had a heart. A giant one. And maybe I found that attractive, too.
Before I knew it, she was up the small hill toward the market and back again, a tiny bag in her hand. Her shoulder passed through mine as her back went rigid and she stumbled a step. With a small gasp, she walked up the path in a different direction than the waterfall.
“Where are we going?”
“They're watching me,” she said, her voice shaken. “The man said the pearl was basically useless and asked where I’d gotten the meat and when I lied, he flagged down another. They couldn’t understand why I’d traded something of such value for something worth nothing. I stepped away before he could get there, thanking him.”