Page 27 of The Poison Season

But the rage wasn’t fading. If anything, it was building. The more she thought about Tate out there on his own, away from the loving arms of his mother and sister, the angrier she got. And the more she thought about Ketty’s indifference to her sister’s pain, never mind her nephew’s, the more she wanted to hurt someone herself.

Once again, the song—Leelo wasn’t sure what it was, not the hunting song or the drowning song, but something new and insistent—pressed against her throat. She felt almost mad with the need to release it. And so, without really thinking it through, but feeling that it was the only thing she could do to punish everyone and everything that had stolen her brother from her, she pulled her little knife out of her pocket. And, choking on her own music, she drove it into the pine tree she had fed her entire life, with sacrifices and prey and even her own blood. She drove it in again and again until her arm ached from the motion and the knife lodged so deep into the wood that she couldn’t draw it out again.

As if coming out of some kind of scarlet-stained trance, Leelo sank to her knees, exhausted. For all her effort, the tree showed little wounding, just a few patches of pale wood exposed by the blade, an errant splinter or two.

Tate was gone, and she had to accept it. From now on, she would put her mother and herself first. Fiona’s health would be her main priority, and while she would do her chores and her Watcher duty because Fiona would want her to, she wouldn’t attend the ceremonies anymore. Even if it cost her everything else. Even if it cost her Sage.

And because she still couldn’t release the song in her throat, Leelo threw back her head and screamed.

Chapter Sixteen

Jaren didn’t see Lupin after their conversation, but once word got out about their private stroll in the woods—thanks to Story, he assumed, although she wouldn’t admit it—the gossipmongers of Bricklebury made sure that Jaren and Lupin were associated regardless. Everywhere he walked, whispers and giggles followed in his wake. He hadn’t shown his face at the pub in days, not since the last time he’d gone and Lars had waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“I still don’t understand why you don’t like her,” Story said as they worked side by side in the garden behind their house. “She’s a very pretty girl. Too pretty for you, some might say.”

Jaren flicked a clod of soil at his sister. “It has nothing to do with how pretty she is. She’s just...odd.”

“Why? Because she’s from Endla?”

He shook his head in frustration. “It’s not that at all. She said the Forest there isevil. That it eats people, like it’s a wolf or a bear or a—”

“A monster?”

“Yes! And it was clear she wasn’t trying to scare me.” She had accomplished that by flirting with him. “It was like she really believed everything she was saying.”

Story carefully placed two carrot seeds in each little well she’d dug. “Why would she lie about it?”

“She wasn’t lying. That’s what I’m saying. I think she may have lost her senses a bit when she was exiled. And I don’t blame her for that. She was a child.”

“Well, you don’t have to court her. But it’s not going to look good for her, or you, if you don’t at least make a show of it for a little while. People think you two were doing more than strolling, if you know what I mean.”

Jaren rose to his feet. “And whose fault is that? If you hadn’t gone blabbing to everyone in earshot, no one would have even noticed!” He knew that wasn’t entirely fair. People had seen them with their own eyes, and he should have known well enough not to go wandering off alone with a girl in a town full of busybodies. But then again, so should Lupin. Unless shewantedpeople to think something had happened between them.

He shook his head. Girls didn’t make sense at all.

“Oh, calm down,” Story said, grabbing his hand to yank him back to work. “Soon enough another scandal will come along, and everyone will forget all about you and the honey girl.”

But later that day, when he let his sisters drag him to the pub because Father insisted they needed an escort after he heard about Merritt, it was evident that no one had forgotten. Especially not Lupin.

It was the first time he’d seen her at the pub, and her eyes found his the moment he walked in the door, like she’d been waiting for him.

She wound through the other patrons toward him, smiling. “Jaren Kask. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in town. I was starting to think you were avoiding me.”

Jaren blushed and shook his head. “Of course not. I’m just not used to so many people being aware of where I go, or with whom. I don’t like all that attention.”

“Says the boy who fetched water from Lake Luma.” There was a hint of resentment in her voice, but she gestured to a table in the corner and he felt like he had no choice but to follow. His sisters had abandoned him the moment they arrived.

“Don’t worry about the townspeople,” Lupin said once they were seated. “They only gossip because they are safe and worry-free up here on the mountain. There’s little possibility of a plague ever reaching Bricklebury, considering how rare outsiders are, and there is plenty to eat, thanks to the mountain’s fertile soil. They’re bored, is what I’m saying. And bored people love nothing more than a scandal.”

“But surely a walk in the woods together is hardly a scandal.”

“Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but people tend to avoid me, Jaren. So it wasn’t the walk in the woods that got them talking. It was the girl.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I hope your reputation wasn’t harmed.”

She threw her head back and laughed, revealing all of her white teeth. “My reputation? I may as well be a witch, as far as these people are concerned.”

Jaren glanced around the pub. Sure enough, people were staring at them.

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