Bones of Faerie - Janni Lee Simner [32]
“Liza!” Matthew grabbed my shoulders and jerked me sharply away. Allie fell backward. She didn't cry out, just stared at me with wide, frightened eyes. Matthew whirled me to face him. “Liza, stop.” His voice was lower now, like a growl. “You're not like this, Liza.”
“Let me go,” I hissed. Allie grabbed Tallow into her arms, but she didn't run away. Just like I'd always known better than to run away. I went limp in Matthew's arms. The damp firewood sizzled and popped. “I'm sorry,” I whispered, but I couldn't meet Allie's eyes.
“You're not like him,” Matthew said. He released me, and I drew my arms around myself.
“Go home,” I told Allie. “Go back to your family. Go back where you're safe.”
Allie lifted her chin, her face scared, defiant. “You're not healed yet. I'm not going anywhere.”
I didn't speak to Allie for the rest of the night. I could barely bring myself to look at her. It was Matthew who made sure she ate, helped wash the mud from her skin and hair, and set her bedroll out by the fire.
When I offered to take the first watch, Matthew didn't argue. I stared at the sky, Tallow in my lap, watching the clouds scatter and the stars poke through. I kept a wary eye on the trees above the bluff, but if there were any tree shadows out tonight, I couldn't see them. Perhaps our fire kept them at bay.
A mockingbird called through the night, making a high hollow sound Father said echoed a car alarm. No matter that all the cars were rusted and silent—the birds remembered, and they passed the call on. Allie shivered, shedding her blanket. I scowled and drew it back over her. Her face scrunched up as if she worried at something in her sleep.
By now Samuel knew she was gone. Matthew was right—he'd be worried. He'd be scared. I saw the way he'd looked at her when she came through the Wall unharmed. He'd be searching for her.
What had Father done when I'd gone? Declared that I knew the rules and moved on? Or was he worried, too, even if he didn't let it show? I felt another surge of anger, forced it down, and paced until Matthew gently touched my shoulder and took over the watch.
I woke to Allie and Matthew talking.
“You're still limping,” Allie said.
“Not much.”
“Want me to take a look?”
I opened my eyes to dawn light. My breath frosted in front of me as I sat up. Beyond the tarp the sky was clear, morning mist already thinning away. Allie knelt beside Matthew with her hands over his right leg and her face crinkled in concentration. “That's so strange. Like with Kimi—the injury isn't quite there. It's somewhere else, and without Caleb to show me where, I can't get at it.”
“Don't worry about it.” Matthew smiled and shooed her hands away. “Given the shape I was in a couple days ago, I'll settle for a weak leg.” He turned and drew a pot from the dying embers. The faerie folk could attack again tomorrow, and Matthew would continue boiling water, tending the fire.
He poured tea into plastic water bottles for later. Good plastic, not the kind that melted in the heat. I silently turned to packing our camp while Tallow threaded her way around my ankles and batted at bits of cooling ash caught by the breeze. “You're sure you won't let us take you back?” Matthew asked. Allie just shook her head. I said nothing. I still didn't trust myself to speak. I didn't want her to come, but in truth I had no idea how to stop her.
Allie had no trouble speaking as we shouldered our packs and started out into the cold, clear morning. “So big!” she said as she walked, all hints of the sullen child who'd found us gone. “Who knew the world was so big?” She twirled in place, right in the path, as if that world were the scene of a child's game, nothing more. Her hair had been braided back from her face, by her or by Matthew, I didn't know.
The sky dimmed as something crossed the sun. I froze, motioning Allie to stillness. Tallow hissed. Matthew made a low warning sound, like a whine at the back of his throat. Above the bluff a red-tailed hawk spread wings against the sky. A chill trickled down