Page 56 of The Bone Season

When I reached the right shack, I rapped my knuckles on the wall.

‘Liss.’ No reply. I knocked again. ‘Liss, it’s Paige.’

When Liss pulled the curtain aside, I stepped back. She carried a small lantern.

‘Leave me alone, Paige,’ she said tightly. ‘I don’t talk to pinks or reds. I’m sorry. You’ll have to find other jackets to—’

‘I didn’t kill Seb.’ I offered the blanket and the aspirin. ‘Look, I got these from Duckett. You can have them. Just let me tell you what happened.’

She looked from the items to my face. Her forehead creased, and her lips thinned.

‘You’d better come inside,’ she said. ‘Your friend is here, in any case.’

Liss had found a tired Julian by the fires. After he said he was looking for me, she had taken him in for a bowl of skilly and liked him enough to let him doze off. He stirred when I came in with her, and stayed awake for long enough to hear about the test, his eyebrows rising when I finally told him what I was.

My voice never wavered as I recounted it. Part of me wanted to cry it out, but Jaxon couldn’t abide tears. Even here, I felt that he could sense my every move; that he would soon know if I broke from his mould. Safer to remain within it, cold and unmoving.

After I had told the story, Liss made an infusion. While Julian nodded off again, she handed me a steaming cup.

‘Drink this,’ she said. ‘It will help.’

‘Thank you.’

She sat beside me. Her face was swollen, her neck bruised. I sipped in silence.

‘You can stay until dawn, if you want. Both of you,’ Liss said. ‘I shouldn’t have shut you out like that, Paige. It’s just that … after the first test, most jackets only come here to gloat. I couldn’t bear it.’

‘It’s fine.’ I glanced at her. ‘I’d still like to be friends, if you would.’

‘I’d like to try. We could all use friends here.’

The brand still throbbed on my shoulder, and my thigh still hurt badly. Even if I escaped this place, I could never forget last night.

Julian snuffled in his sleep. Liss had given him some of the aspirin.

‘It was good of you to bring those supplies.’ She covered him with the new blanket, voice low. ‘What did you have to do for Duckett?’

‘Give him one of my pills,’ I said.

‘We get the pills, too. Why would he ask for one of those?’

‘Because I get a green pill, and I don’t think anyone else does.’

‘That’s odd, but if Duckett is interested, you should take advantage,’ Liss said. ‘He’s as cruel as the Rephs, after years in this place. He forces us to jump through hoops for every item, even if we’re desperate. We’re his entertainment as much as theirs.’

‘Is the medicine real?’

‘We think so. Most of it is expired, but it’s the best we can get.’

She passed me a knitted blanket. I watched her gingerly touch her cheek, where a bruise was rising.

‘Liss,’ I said. ‘Who did that?’

‘Gomeisa. He called me for a reading.’ She poured more water into the pot. ‘Rephs don’t often ask us for predictions, but I’ve never been wrong, and he knows it. It’s why he still calls me. He just doesn’t always like what I tell him.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Liss shook her head. ‘It doesn’t happen often. He left this morning.’

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