Page 346 of Hunters and Prey

Holding my broken arm close to my chest, I stood in the center of the tiny room and allowed my phantom guardian’s voice to imbue me with strength. No more. I would be a victim no more. They weren’t my real parents, they’d told me so, thrown it in my face time and time again, but they’d been all I’d had.

Free. It is time to be free. Time to move on.

With his voice in my head and his hand steadying me, I slipped from the room to end the horror with an act of blood that would claim my innocence.

Crimson ... so much crimson ...

I surged up from the sandman’s arms on a silent scream. The dream melted like quicksilver, leaving only impressions. Blood, death, warmth, and safety—conflicting emotions and an ache deep in my soul that spoke of a loss I didn’t quite comprehend. It had been a while since my memories had surged up to haunt me. And the voice ... He’d gone when Illyrian found me. There was no need for a subconscious guardian when I’d found a flesh and blood one, yet still the ache never left, because after that night, there had been more ... so much more.

As I drifted back to sleep, the tap, tap of branches on my window attempted to tug me into wakefulness, but my body was already falling into darkness. Just as I slipped away, a thought spiked my blood with lethargic urgency that would be left unfulfilled.

There were no trees outside my window.

Dad left at dawn, and the day was spent tinkering in my tiny workshop behind the barn while the sun set on the sly. The heavens were red as blood when my mind resurfaced from the nuts and bolts of building something.

June, the eldest of the kids at fifteen years old, popped her head around the workshop door. “Supper’s ready. You should wash up and come in.”

“Save me some for later. I’m not hungry just yet.”

My new project was an upgrade on Juniper, larger, more powerful, and made to carry us all. As I walked around it, my foot caught on the mat on the floor. It covered a trap door, a precaution Illyrian had insisted on when we’d moved in. The man was nothing if not cautious. It was stocked with tinned goods, blankets, and bottles of water. In case of a storm, Illyrian had said, although in my ten years in this part of the Outlands we’d never had a storm worthy of hiding underground.

June frowned. “You need to eat, Anya. You need to keep your strength up. Illyrian said we’re to go on a trip soon. We need to gather our strength for the journey.”

I flexed my bicep. “Trust me. I’m not going to starve.”

She shook her head as if despairing of me. “Have it your way. Do you want me to put the little ones to bed?”

“Please.”

I had no idea why she was asking, she did it most nights anyway. She’d been the first I’d found. The first I’d liberated almost two years ago. Helgi and I had stopped off at a tiny tavern in a settlement to the east and ended up playing in a card game. June’s uncle had put her up as part of his bid. I’d broken his face and taken her with me. Simple.

Every child here had a story. Every child was close to my heart. I’d take on the world to protect them. To give them a better life, because it felt as if I’d been drawn to them, sent to them—fuck it, call it what you want, fate, destiny, whatever. These kids were my chosen people.

“You have that look on your face,” June said. “Don’t dwell.” She patted my arm, and in that moment, the fifteen-year-old girl seemed a decade older than my twenty-two years. “Let the past go.”

Words I’d whispered to her in the night when she’d woken sweat-soaked from a nightmare and begged the demons to leave her alone.

Let the past go.

I smoothed back her hair. “I’ll be in soon.”

She left me to my machines and the magic I could make with them, but the allure was gone for now. Instead, I climbed up to perch on a ledge on the roof, my mind whirring. Helgi was due to arrive at any moment and the ledge was a good spot to watch out for her. I’d have to tell her the job was off, that I was leaving this place, because there was no way I was letting Dad make the trip to the Furtherlands alone with the kids. He needed me. They needed me.

This farm wouldn’t be missed, but I couldn’t be without Helgi. We’d been buddies since I was ten years old. I’d have to convince her to come with us.

A soft caw pulled my attention to the right. A raven was perched on the corner of the roof, one beady eye fixed on me. It sat completely still, not a twitch, not a cock of the head. Creepy. But creepy had never bothered me before. I leaned back and stared at the bird.

“What do you think? You think traveling to the Furtherlands is a good idea?”

The bird’s eye glinted.

“Yeah, I’m not sure either.”

Movement in the periphery of my vision distracted me from the bird momentarily. It was Helgi climbing the rise, keeping low to the ground like a coyote or wolf on the prowl. The flutter of wings pulled my attention back to the bird, and I caught a flash of red and white, blood and bone, as it rose up into the air and flew away. Ice trickled through my veins. The right side of the bird’s head had been crushed. There was no way it could have been alive. No way it could have sat there and cawed at me. But it wasn’t the first time this had happened. Not the first time something dead had found me. And it probably wouldn’t be the last. It was a residue of my past, and my consciousness demanded it remain there. Pushing down the disconcertion, I scrambled down from my perch to meet my friend.

I ambled toward her. “Dad’s not here.”

She gave me a questioning look and so I filled her in.

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