Page 51 of In Her Own Rite

“What was it?” I ask, but she shakes her head.

“I don’t want to talk about it yet. I need to think about it first.”

“Em, please.” I reach for her hand, taking it in mine. “You don’t have to tell me. But was it—was it about your dad?”

She shakes her head, then hesitates. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

For days I’ve been poring over the memory, trying to separate thekiyyulitfrom thekattaka, figuring out what’s true and what’s just my biggest fear: that she’ll get hurt and I can’t stop it. That he’ll find her, and she’ll die before I can save her.

“Em, this is serious. I know I can’t tell you what I saw up there, but I… I heard something in the ring.” My gut twists as I try to figure out what I’m allowed to tell her without invoking the ancestors’ wrath. Without making this worse—dooming her or myself to whatever our lives would be without their protection.

“What is it?”

“I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s true. If your mom told you the same thing, we’ll know. We can figure out what to do.”

He’s here, I want to say.He’s looking for you.

“I’m sorry, Kier. I can’t think about this right now. I need some time to process.”

Her phone buzzes on the table next to her, and we both jump. She grabs it, picking up immediately and bringing it to her face.

“Hello?”

I know in my body before I even see her eyes go wide, before her hand comes to her mouth.

“Ayagaayuni,” she says.Oh my God.“What happened?”

She stands, and instinctively I follow, watching her face for any sign of what’s going on.

She gasps. “Nekka.”No.

“Em. What’s happening?” I ask, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“They attacked the common house,” she says, pulling the phone down from her mouth. “Gabe’s hurt.”

19

EMERSON

They arrive at the house just after nightfall: Seb and Maren, Seb’s cousin Quinn, and Gabe, his leg set in a full splint going up to his hip, using crutches to walk. Kieran and I spent the evening doing the only thing we could: preparing the house. I made dinner for more people than we needed; he shoveled the walkway to make it easier to bring Gabe inside. As they walk into the house, I rush past Seb and Maren, immediately to Gabe.

“Are you okay?” I ask, checking his bandages. I can feel the shape of the wrappings under his sweater, and I put a hand on his chest, closing my eyes to see what’s happened. I see it in my mind’s eye: deep gashes in his chest. Claw marks, now mostly healed by Saga’s skill. A cloud of bruising at his ribs, but those are healing as they should be. And—I wince—the broken femur in his leg. Snapped completely through.

I grit my teeth. Our healer’s power works for flesh wounds, but bones are much harder to heal, and take a kind of skill that no living healer on the Fakaris has. I open my eyes, looking down at the splint. Saga and Helen have set it the mainland way, wrapping it in a plaster cast. It’ll be months before it’s healed. There’s no way he can do his rite this winter.

“Gabe. I’m so sorry,” I say, and I pull him into a hug.

“Heij. It’s okay. I’m good,” he says. “It could have been worse.”

“I should have been there,” I hear Kieran say behind us. “I could have fought them off.”

“We tried, man,” Seb says. “There were just too many of them.”

“They went for Gabe specifically,” Maren says quietly.

“What?” My head snaps towards her. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“I wasn’t there when it happened,” Maren says. “Quinn told me.”

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