Page 75 of In Her Own Rite

Quinn comes up to us, carrying the fabric of our clothes in her mouth, and drops them on the sand of the shore. She gives me a nod.

Your lead.

I feel for the other side of me—the edge of my conscious mind, somewhere inside myself—and lean into it. And suddenly I’m unfolding, unfurling, back in my skin, buck naked and laughing at the edge of the sea.

Maren shifts beside me, then Quinn.

“Oh myGod, girl. That was so freaking cool,” Maren says. “How do you feel?”

I grin as Quinn tosses my shirt to me. The water splashes at my feet, but it’s not too cold. The warmth inside me takes up my whole body. I throw my head back, and a laugh—joyful, victorious, free—breaks out of me.

“Honestly?” I ask, looking over at her. “I feel incredible.”

28

KIERAN

The marshals, Sigur and Ivo, take all ten of the rebels into custody. We don’t have a jail cell, so after some quick improvisation, they and the volunteers take them down to the basement of the common house. Viggo and I help with transport, and Saga follows behind. I’ve got the wolf girl, Thalia, by the arm, and some of the elder women have found blankets for the rebels to cover their bodies.

We lead them down into the basement, where Ivo has us tie them to metal chairs that we bind to each other, back to back. Saga goes to the apothecary to get salves withtrotsayyitanduikbaane—witch hazel and wolfsbane—that she can use to prevent them from shifting, and I head outside to call Gabe.

“Hey, man. We caught the rebels.”

“Woah, that’s great,” he says. “Where did you find them?”

“We didn’t,” I say. “They ran into town to commit another attack. It looks like they were heading for the school, but we cornered them in the plaza.”

“That’s awesome. So we can head back?”

I sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t think this is all of them. None of the people we caught are formerly Fakari. And I think, if they were able to hide out so long and knew how to identify you, there’s got to be someone who knows our islands well enough to direct them.”

“So you want us to say here,” he says, his voice flat.

“I think that’s smart.”

Gabe sighs. “What does my mom think?”

“I haven’t talked to her yet, but I’ll let you know. But, hey, there’s something else.”

“What?”

I look out at the woods before us, and the path up to Moon Lake. The sun is starting to set, painting the sky like cotton candy. I’m nervous, I realize, and I don’t know why.

“Can you describe the wolf who broke your leg in the common house?”

“Uh, yeah. She was gray. Massive. Bigger than any female wolf I’ve seen before.”

“Okay.” I swallow. “I talked to her—I was the one who caught her, when we stopped the attack. She says she’s an asylum seeker.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe it’s a bit, you know—buying more time and sympathy or something. I’m gonna have to check with Saga to see if the names line up. But she says she and her sister came here seeking asylum, and this was the only way to get to the islands after we denied their requests.”

“Huh. Okay. So what now?”

“I don’t know, dude. She asked me if we can separate her from the others. She’s willing to talk if we can make her a deal. I told her I’d bring it to the council, at least.”

“Agaayu,” he mutters.

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