Page 64 of Autumn of the Witch

“I know, and I’m really into protective Micah, but I promise getting punched by Andrei isn’t the same as you scratching the fuck out of me, yeah?” He gave Micah another kiss. “Nothing in the world could replace either of you.”

Micah smiled and smoothed Sasha’s hair back—it was slightly less wild, since Viv had recently subjected both him and Micah to haircuts. “Good luck, then. If that’s what I should say.”

“Thanks.” Sasha grinned and hurried over to Viv, kissing her soundly. “I promise I won’t lose anything important.”

That, at least, was true. He was trying to get somethingback. Something Viv needed and couldn’t ask for.

Sasha left the cave and headed toward the pits, just in case Micah came after him for some reason. Then he doubled back and made his way to Daria’s door. He knocked, his posture as tense as if he really were about to fight someone.

It took a few more knocks before the door opened, and there was Daria. She did look like Viv, but a tired, wan version. Sasha felt some sympathy for her, since he knew what she’d gone through, but he remembered he was here to fight for Viv. Time for the handshake or whatever later, when this was over. Just like in the ring.

“What is it,” she asked, though her tone held none of Viv’s dominance. There was a slight note of panic in her voice when she said, “Is it—Vivian?”

“Yeah, kinda. She’s fine,” he added, and Daria wasn’t fast enough to hide her flash of relief. “But I gotta talk to you. Can I come in?”

He half expected her to say no. But to his surprise, she nodded and stepped back to let him in.

The place where Viv had grown up wasn’t nearly the luxurious spread they had now. But it was closer to other people—not that Daria really interacted much, as far as he could tell—and it looked homely enough. Quilts that resembled a few that Viv brought with her when they married. Wool and a spindle by the fire. And on the hearth, three trinkets that looked like children’s toys, with dried flowers around them.

“One for each of them,” Daria said when she caught Sasha looking. “My children.”

There was a conspicuous blank space next to the crudely sewn stuffed rabbit, a ball made of leather, and a clay cup with initials marked on it. The blank space was for Viv. Sasha wondered what Daria was planning to put there, then made himself turn around and not think about it. It didn’t matter, because there wouldn’t be the need.

“I have to tell you something,” Sasha began, then faltered. He’d thought so hard about how to convince Viv and Micah that was leaving to do something that wasn’t this that he hadn’t worked out what to say to Daria. “It’s about the thing that wants Viv.”

Daria’s expression was Viv’s at her most inscrutable, and as much as Sasha wanted to sound firm, it was hard to make the words come out right.

“You did something,” he said. “To try to help her. I think that’s what you were doing, anyway, but it didn’t work. You’re a witch, aren’t you?”

Daria turned away, but she didn’t say no, so Sasha kept pushing.

“They know what it is, Viv and Micah. Micah’s our husband,” Sasha added proudly. “He’s a witch, too, like Viv. From the village. He makes toys. And he’s smart, like Viv. She’s so smart, you know. She can figure anything out—”

“Say what you came here to say,” Daria said tightly. Her hands were clenched into fists.

“I came here to say that if you want to ever know her, the great, amazing, talented woman that she is? If you want to have any kind of relationship with her—”

“She’sdying,don’t you understand that?” Daria whirled on him, her eyes, so like Viv’s, bright with furious tears. “No matter what you and your witch husband try to do, she’s going to die, and I’ll put her token up on the mantel and that will be the end of it. “

“We’re all gonna die,” Sasha said. “Someday. But Viv ain’t goin’ anytime soon, not if me and Micah have anything to say about it. He’s making her a chair with wheels, so she can move around when she’s feeling bad. He makes her witchy drinks. I’ll fight the world for her. She’s not dying. She just gets sick sometimes.”

“You are a fool, and you know nothing,” Daria whispered. “Go have your time with her. This is all I can do.”

“No, it ain’t,” Sasha tried to gentle his voice. Maybe that would help. “The thing that’s after her, the—the shadow thing? It’s you.”

Daria froze, and then her face crumpled and she started to cry. She covered her face with her hands, and Sasha heard one loud sob before she choked out, “I know.”

Sasha nodded. He’d figured she did. “I think you pushed Viv away because you were afraid of how much it would hurt to lose her, like it did with your other children. Micah, our husband, he thought it would be better to leave, too. Before he got too used to being with us.”

Daria didn’t say anything, but she was looking at him now, so that was something. Sasha barreled on, as he always did, even when the chance of success looked dim. “Viv told me we couldn’t make him stay. We could tell him we love him, we could show him, we could—uh. Show him, yeah. But it was up to him. He had to choose it. And he did.”

“What does that—”

“No, listen,” Sasha interrupted. “That’s the key, you know. Choice. Choosing something. It ain’t easy to say you’re sorry, but sometimes, it ain’t easy admitting you want something, either. ’Cause some people, when they want something, it just gets taken away. Like you, your children.”

Daria winced, and Sasha continued, relentless. “You gotta choose to help her, Daria. If you want her to know you, if you want to knowher,that’s what you gotta do. Maybe one day the fever gets her, takes her before she’s a cranky old lady ordering whippersnappers to beat me up or whatever, but… that’s not anyone’s choice but Death, I guess, when he comes for her.”

“He’s been trying,” she said. “If I could have made her better, I would have. I would have made them all better. I should have them here, but I have nothing. There is no choice I can make, not anymore. Go away.”

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