Chapter Seven
Sometime in the afternoon, I caved. My mouth was achingly dry, throat clicking when I swallowed. I carefully set the book down and got up to go to the water pump with a wooden cup I found on the sideboard in the kitchen.
There was a wooden bucket outside the latrine door. After checking it was clean, I pumped water into it and used that to rinse the cup. Then I hesitated. It felt wasteful to just pour the water away. Carrying the bucket into the kitchen, I poured it into the big, dented copper pot over the hearth, figuring I’d find a use for it. Maybe.
Returning to the pump, I filled the bucket with fresh water and dipped the cup in. My eyes slid closed as I gulped down the cool liquid. I drank until my belly felt full, just in case the water was safe but food would be what trapped me here.
Although I knew I’d have to eat eventually.
Returning to the book, I didn’t move for hours, until I started shivering and realised I’d let the fire bank too low. At least I knew how to build and tend to a fire, having spent years doing it at home. I crossed the room and carefully fed a new log into the low flames, warming my hands when it caught.
Rubbing my arms, I glanced around the room. It was getting darker as the sun started to sink. Standing up, I went into the kitchen and stooped a little to peer out of the only window on this side of the cottage. It was at the back of the house, so I could see the dark interior of the forest outside.
A sudden rush of anger straightened me back up. What the fuck was I doing, sitting in this cottagereading?Had I really given up on escaping that easily? What waswrongwith me?
I stormed back outside, glancing around warily, but there was still no one around. It was like I’d been abandoned here. The Folk’s newest plaything, already forgotten.
My legs unsteady, I walked to the edge of the forest again and stopped, staring. My gut clenched at the memory of the blinding pain that had exploded through every inch of me as I’d been thrown back out. I raised a hand and touched the cut from the Carlin. Could she really… stop me from leaving like that?
My eyes filled at the thought of never seeing our house again. My house. It was just me now. A tear slipped free, dripping down my cheek as I stared unseeing into the forest. I pictured somehow finding my way back and stepping inside the silent, empty cottage. I’d never come home again to find Mags cooking dinner in the kitchen, a delicious smell filling the air, and Dad reading in the living room in front of the fire.
I’d never wake up and hear Dad downstairs, singing off-key as he and Mags bustled round the kitchen, making coffee and toast for breakfast. We’d never all spend an evening together in the living room, under blankets with Mags’ hot chocolate, watching terrible horror movies. Mags hated them, but she’d always indulged mine and Dad’s obsession, hiding her face in Dad’s chest at any gory bits.
For a brief, terrible moment I wanted to turn and run back into the cottage behind me. Throw myself into that old bed and hide away forever.Maybe I should just stay here, I thought miserably,in this world so far removed from my own. There was nothing for me back there anymore. Just an empty house and grief. Days of fitful sleeping and nights of sitting in the silence in the garden, crying until I exhausted myself or staring into the darkness, feeling like I was already dead.
I don’t want to go back. The voice in my head was small and weak, like a child, and it urged me to take a step back, away from the forest.
I stiffened, hands clenching into fists. No. I couldn’t just give up. Maybe there was nothing for me back there, but that didn’t mean I’d just lie down and accept whatever the Folk wanted with me.
Trying to forget the pain of last time, I tensed my trembling legs and marched into the forest. As I passed the first of the trees, my eyes snagged on something pale against a thick trunk. It looked like… paper. Like a note. But before I could stop, agony exploded, and I was flung back through the air.
I landed on the grass with a thud, groaning and coughing weakly from the impact. I rolled onto my side, convinced I’d see blood spray over the grass. It felt like all my organs had ruptured. Like every one of my bones had turned to dust.
I lay there panting, grass tickling my cheek, until the pain faded. My arms trembled as I forced myself up and turned to look at the forest again.
Therewasa note. A piece of paper. It had been pinned to the trunk with a dagger. I stood up unsteadily and walked over, fearful of even reaching an arm past the forest edge when the pain was still so fresh.
The dagger was short, with an off-white blade that gleamed weirdly and a wooden handle. I recognised it. I’d seen a similar blade before, but I couldn’t think where. My brain still felt fuzzy from the pain.
Breathing fast, I reached out a trembling hand and grasped the handle, giving it a sharp yank to pull it free from the wood. The note came with it, pierced by the blade.
I stumbled back from the treeline quickly, not wanting to get thrown through the air again. Legs still shaky, I sank to the grass and pulled the note free, carefully setting the dagger down beside me.
Ash,
We will watch over you when we can. Do not anger her. Do not draw the ire of her sons.
I’m sorry I was too late reaching you. Be safe.
N
I stared down at the elegant, looping scrawl. Watch over me? Someone was watching over me from the forest? I looked up fearfully, but couldn’t see anything. I remembered the green eyes that had peered back at me when I’d first gotten here. The sideways blinking ones. My breath caught when memories flooded back. Nua, with his golden skin and big green eyes. They’d blinked sideways too.
He’d always been kind. He’d tried to protect me from other Folk. He’d given me a knife just like this one, which was still hidden somewhere in the garden back home.
Was this the same one? Had he gone back to get it?I’m sorry I was late reaching you, he’d written—because this note was clearly from him. It was signedN.Had he been trying to get to me before the unseelie Folk did?
I scrambled to my feet and hesitantly approached the forest again, clutching the note in my fist.