Page 78 of The Poison Season

“Is everything all right?” Leelo asked her mother when she reached her. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

Fiona nodded. “Of course I am.” She looked past her daughter to Jaren, who was hanging back a bit, unsure.

“You must be Jaren,” she said, holding out her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

Jaren stepped forward and took her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Thank you, for helping me.”

When she smiled, Jaren saw Leelo in the small gap between her teeth, in the genuine warmth in her eyes. “You’re very lucky, you know. Most Endlans would have killed you on sight. It’s a miracle you found Leelo.”

Jaren blushed and looked at his feet. “I sort of think of it as fate.”

Fiona studied him for a moment, and Jaren forced himself to meet her gaze, hoping his eyes could convey how much he loved Leelo. That he was good enough to deserve her love, too.

Finally, Fiona nodded. Jaren glanced at Leelo and was somewhat relieved to see she was blushing, too.

The boat, fortunately, was repaired and already loaded into the pulley system that would take it to the surface, as Leelo knew it would be from her reconnaissance mission in the middle of the night. She’d found new oars propped against the cave wall and lashed them to the inside of the boat.

“Just remember,” Fiona said as they took up their positions. “We treat the boat with a special sap that is immune to the poison, but it usually has months to cure, and it’s only been a few weeks since the last application.”

By the time they started moving, night had settled over Endla like a stifling blanket. Leelo didn’t seem to be suffering from the same looming dread Jaren felt. She had taken charge the moment they arrived, directing Jaren and Fiona to the same end of the boat, since he was the strongest and she was the weakest. He tried not to let his fear show on his face as he strained under the weight, supporting it as much as he could to spare Fiona.

It took them nearly an hour to get the boat to the beach. Several times they froze at some sound in the woods, and Jaren could feel the trees around them listening, a phantom breeze ruffling the leaves as they communicated with each other. He would be allowed to leave, he told himself. He was an outsider, and frankly it was a miracle the Forest hadn’t already tried to harm him in some way.

When they finally reached the shore, they set the boat down, the girls collapsing in exhaustion while Jaren tied the end of the rope around a rock. The wind had picked up, buffeting all of them. There was no time to lose, but as Jaren helped Leelo to her feet, he was unable to hide his despair.

Isola must have seen the look in his eyes, because she said a quick farewell before stepping away. “Thank you for helping us,” he said to her.

When he turned to Fiona, she smiled in a way that told him she wished things could be different. He smiled back, and for a moment, her expression faltered.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s nothing. You just seem so familiar to me.” She cocked her head, studying him.

Leelo laughed a little, embarrassed, and took Jaren’s hand. “Mama, you don’t know him. I promise. Can you give us one minute?”

Fiona and Isola stepped into the Forest while Leelo and Jaren pushed the boat toward the water, choppy from the wind coming off the mainland. Perhaps the Forest was still afraid one of its daughters would try to escape, Jaren thought as his skin erupted in goose bumps.

As he turned to Leelo, knowing what he was about to do, he told himself not to think about the Forest or the island or the lake. He was going home finally, to hug his family and sleep in his own bed and eat something other than stale bread or bitter berries.

But now, as he took Leelo’s hands, so small yet so capable, he almost couldn’t remember why he’d ever wanted to leave at all. He wished he’d taken the time to prepare his goodbyes, because now he found himself at a loss for words. Then again, what could possibly encompass everything he felt for her? How could he say goodbye to this girl who meant so much to him, to the girl who had somehowbecomehis home?

Leelo’s velvet-blue eyes were shining with tears, and wordlessly, Jaren leaned down to kiss her, breathing in her scent one last time. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered as she tilted her face up to his. When their lips met, he could taste her salty tears, and he felt his shattered heart break a little more.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said. “You have done so much for me, Leelo. I’m the one who should be sorry. It was selfish of me to ask you to leave Endla.”

She sobbed and fell into his arms, and he hugged her tightly, telling her that he loved her and that he always would. Finally, he released her and turned to the boat.

They both froze when they heard a rustle in the nearby bushes, their tears already drying on their cheeks in the wind that now whipped around them in a fury.

“What was that?” Leelo whispered.

Before he could respond, a woman with hazel eyes that seemed to glow with anger stepped out from the trees. On the surface, she wasn’t a threat. She was unarmed and wore a dress and slippers. She wasn’t a Watcher.

But Jaren knew in his bones that whoever she was, they had waited too long. This woman had no intention of letting Jaren go.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Leelo gasped as her aunt burst onto the beach, with Sage right on her heels. She must have followed them to the grotto and gone back to get Ketty. Leelo pushed Jaren behind her. “What are you doing, Sage?”

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