Page 16 of Autumn of the Witch

As Sasha stood rooted like a tree, the wrongness and strangeness of the encounter slowly replaced the chaos of the chase. He frowned, looking for the basket, but wherever he’d dropped it wasn’t immediately visible.

And then he heard a voice call, “Sasha?”

It was Viv.

Whirling, he squinted as he saw her in the distance—but even so, he knew it was really her. “Viv!” He ran to her, stumbling a bit on the rough terrain, and caught her up in a hug. “Oh, baby, it’s you.”

“Yes, Sasha, put me—put medown. I just saw you this morning.” She swatted at him, and when he set her down, he delighted in taking in all the intangible details that told him, yeah, this was his girl.

Which, wait. “What are you doing here?”

“I’d have told you, if you weren’t busy tackling me. Where’s your basket?”

“I’d have told you, if you weren’t trying to stall,” Sasha retorted.

She smiled, and she looked nothing like the creature in the woods that had worn her face. It was a brief smile, but it was enough to make him lift her off her feet again and hug her tight.

“It’s Micah,” she said when he’d once again put her down. “He ran off.”

“Huh?” Sasha scowled. “No, he said he wouldn’t when I caught him trying this morning!”

Viv opened her mouth, sighed, and shook her head. “I showed him my wedding tapestry and… something happened. He caught it on fire.”

“Like, on purpose? What the hell is up with today?”

“No. Definitely not on purpose. He’s a witch, Sasha. And something spooked him, and I… We need to find him.” She glanced at him. “What spookedyou?”

He shook his head. “Let’s find Micah first, and then I’ll tell you. Just… if you see someone that looks like him, make sure itishim, first. Before you, ah. Try to tackle him.”

“Before I try— Sasha!” She looked at him, her warm brown eyes so different from the cold, empty things that had been in her false face. “How exactly would I know if it’s not him?”

He turned and crouched down so she could climb up, settling on his back with her hands curved around his upper arms. “Ask him to laugh. It worked with you.” He heard something in the distance, a snap of a branch, and gave a whoop, good mood returning. “Hang on, gorgeous! We gotta go catch a spooked deer.”

* * *

They found Micah sitting by a spring, holding the book open on his lap. The spring was one Viv hadn’t seen before—she didn’t wander too far from her house if she didn’t have to—but it reminded her of the clear, cold pools in the depths of the Compound, where children would swim and feel bubbles rising from a fissure down below. Viv had tried to swim out to the bubbles herself many times… and had nearly drowned twice, when her limbs grew too heavy and her breathing went short. This spring was small enough that Viv could have reached the middle easily, and it was shaped in a perfect circle, ringed by stone and moss.

Micah looked like he belonged there. Perhaps it was the way his hair was disheveled, or his lanky limbs that were too long for his clothes, but he could have been a bedraggled forest god seeking a moment of quiet in the middle of the woods.

He looked up, and Viv wondered how he’d gone this long without realizing he had magic. She could feel it on him now, so strong that it charged the air.

“You know, bears live here,” Viv said, slithering off Sasha’s back.

“So do witches, I guess.” Micah traced a drawing in the book with his finger. “Sorry.”

“Thought you said you weren’t gonna run off.” Sasha leaned down to look at the book, and Micah didn’t close it—he just splayed his hand over the page. It was as though all the fear had drained out of him, leaving him quiet and withdrawn.

“I know. But I’m a danger.” Micah stared at the water. “I started a fire in your house.”

“A tiny one. And if you run off every time you make a mistake, you’ll end up living outside forever.” Viv plopped down next to him, even though the moss was going to ruin her gown. “With the bears. And the dirt. And the snow.”

Micah sighed. “If I come back, I’ll be staying the winter. And I’m not… easy. I don’t say the right things, and I’m… I’m sorry for what I said about magic.”

Viv eyed him sidelong. There was something deeper going on with Micah; she knew that much. Something to do with shame, which Viv never had time for. She had a feeling that people had tried to press Micah into a shape that didn’t fit, and now he thought that meant he was broken.

“Fuck them,” she said.

Micah turned to face her. “What?”

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