Bones of Faerie - Janni Lee Simner [15]
“Exactly.” Allison gave him a smug grin, then turned to me. “How's your back? That was the worst part, you know.” She shivered, and the smile left her face. “I've never seen a tree attack anyone—I can only imagine. But that's all healed, right?”
I nodded again, not telling her that not all of my injuries had come from the tree. I suspected such things didn't happen in her town, either.
“So where are you from?” Samuel asked me.
I tensed. Could Kate—or, worse, Father—have warned the other towns to keep an eye out for Matthew and me, to return us home or to destroy us? But no, outsiders didn't visit our town. We turned strangers away, with words if possible, by force if need be. No one knew what danger or magic a stranger might bring.
“Wait a moment.” Samuel left the room and came back with a folded sheet of smooth, thin paper from Before. The yellowing edges crumbled as he unfolded it. St. Louis and Vicinity, the paper said.
“A map,” Samuel explained. “The blue lines are rivers. The blacks and reds are—were—roads.”
The names of towns were scattered across the lines, close together in the east, farther apart in the west and south. The city of St. Louis was written larger than the others, and a thick line crossed it out. Thinner lines crossed out most of the other towns, too.
“We're here.” Samuel pointed to a town west and south of St. Louis, circled in green. “Washville. And you?”
“Franklin Falls.” I scanned the map. I hadn't known there were once so many towns.
Samuel found Franklin Falls before I did. It was circled in red but not crossed out. “Not far,” he said. “Fifteen miles, maybe less. But red means we don't trade with you.” He looked at me as if expecting some answer to that.
Allie gazed longingly at the map. “Dad says I'm too young to go Outside. But he thought I was too young to heal you, too, and he was wrong about that.”
“One thing at a time,” Samuel said. “Be patient with me, Allie.”
“I hate being patient.” She took the empty bowls from the table as her father carefully folded up the map again. When she returned, she said, “Come on, Liza. Time for you to get back to bed.”
“I'm okay,” I said, but a loud yawn escaped my lips. Samuel and Allie both laughed. I looked down, heat rushing to my cheeks.
I let Allie lead me up the stairs. When she tried to drag me toward the room where I'd woken, though, I pulled firmly away and entered Matthew's room instead. “You need sleep!” Allie protested, following me.
Caleb stood when he saw us, gesturing me to the chair. “He's holding steady for now.” Matthew's eyes were shut, the rise and fall of his chest uneven, but at least he was still breathing. I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd held.
“Caleb!” Allie said. “She should be resting. You know she should.”
Caleb crossed the room and put his hands on Allie's shoulders. “That's a lesson you'd best learn, then. Not all your charges will do what's best for them, and you need to find ways to work with that.”
“But how?” She looked up at Caleb. Dark shadows lay under his eyes. “You look awful! Will you at least rest?”
“Yes, Allison. I will rest. But first I must talk to Liza.” He turned to me. “You will call me if you see any change in him, for good or ill, yes?”
I nodded. I didn't intend to leave Matthew's side again, not until I knew he was all right.
“Good,” Caleb said. “Then there is only one matter left to discuss. Karin tells me a shadow followed you last night. A new shadow, one she's not met on patrol before. What do you know of it?”
I thought of that small inky shadow flowing toward me amid the mulberry trees and then again at the hedge. “Nothing.” I didn't know where the shadow had come from or why it had followed us. Though I had seen it before, I realized with a start—in my restless dreams after Mom had left.
Caleb's eyes narrowed, but he said only, “You need not fear. The Wall kept the shadow at bay. Karin will make certain it continues to do so. But we must know what this shadow is so we can banish it or lay it to rest.” Caleb's voice held a strange edge, nothing like Karin's understanding