Page 22 of The Poison Season

As Oskar and Marta returned to their customers, Jaren thanked them again and started off to look for his sister. A moment later, he felt a hand on his arm and turned to find Lupin standing there.

“Did you really go to Lake Luma?” she asked, her green eyes searching his face.

He nodded. “It was a ridiculous bet to protect my sister.” He decided it wasn’t necessary to include the part about protecting himself. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I suppose you heard I’m from Endla, then?”

There was no sense in lying now. “Lars told me.”

She twisted her lips to the side, considering, and nodded. “Well, then. I suppose you have questions. Come with me.”

Chapter Thirteen

The day of Tate’s departure had finally arrived, and Leelo wasn’t sure how she would survive it. Fiona hadn’t moved from her bed since dinner with the Hardings, and Ketty and Sage had done all of the chores, leaving Leelo to care for her mother and Tate.

The boat would leave at dusk, which seemed unnecessarily cruel. Tate and the others would have to navigate an unfamiliar forest in the dark.

“Stay with Violet and Bizhan as long as you can,” Leelo told him as she finished tying up his bundle. He had few possessions to take with him aside from clothing and his bow and arrows, but Leelo had packed him enough food to last a week, if he was sparing. “Violet is going to be terrified, and I imagine Bizhan is, too.”

Tate nodded. “I will.”

Leelo considered asking him again what their mother had told him. If she was so certain he would be safe out there, why was she unable to leave her bed? But Leelo wouldn’t pry. If her mother wanted her to know, she’d have told her herself.

“I’m so sorry, Tate,” Leelo said, trying not to cry.

“Why should you be sorry?” he asked. “This isn’t your fault.”

“I...” Leelo sighed. “I tried to bring out your magic. I even offered a blood sacrifice.”

He looked up at her, his dark eyes questioning. “You did?”

She wiped her tears and nodded. “I did.”

“But you know that’s not how it works, Lo. The island doesn’t give us magic. We’re born with it, or we’re not.”

“I know. Of course I know. I just hoped...”

He nodded in understanding. “I know. So did I.”

She didn’t tell him how worried she was about their mother. Tate couldn’t do anything to help her, and he had more than enough on his plate right now. Perhaps it would be a sad kind of relief once he was gone, and Fiona would slowly get better. There wouldn’t be this constant dread looming over them, mingled with their dwindling hopes that Tate’s magic would appear. For whatever reason, he hadn’t been born with magic, and they had to accept that now. It was the only way to find peace moving forward.

“I have Watcher duty,” Leelo said, rising from Tate’s bed. “But I’ll be back in plenty of time to say goodbye. Will you sit with Mama until I get back?”

“I will. And, Lo?”

She stopped in the doorway to his little room, which would soon be just a broom closet again. “Yes?”

“Promise me you’ll be happy when I’m gone. I need to know you’ll be happy.”

She nodded, hoping he hadn’t seen the tears coursing down her cheeks when she turned to go.

Of all days, Sage and Leelo were tasked with Watching on the far side of the island for the first time, a fact that annoyed Leelo, since the launch would occur clear on the other side of Endla. Getting back would take two hours, giving her no time to wash up or change in between.

Sage, sensing that Leelo’s emotions were as taut as a bowstring, was silent for the first half hour of the walk. It wasn’t until they were deep into the woods that she finally cleared her throat and spoke.

“Do you ever wonder what your father would have done, if he were still alive?”

The question was so out of the blue that Leelo stopped walking. “What?”

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