Page 15 of The Infinite Glade
“So, where is ol’ Kletter?” Erros asked with expectant eyes as he handed a leaf of fish to Frypan.
Ximena squeezed her backpack tighter. Jackie and Frypan both looked to Isaac.Should they lie and say Kletter was just behind them, back at the Villa doing work,or tell them the truth—thatKletter was dead?Isaac’s mind went blank. The fire crackled. “She’s um . . . she’s . . .” He couldn’t think of what to say. The truth could risk Cian and Erros raising those crossbows again. He really,reallydidn’t want to know what it felt like to have an arrow shot through his body.
Ximena spoke with a strange reverence. “Well . . . the truth of it is . . .” She put her backpack on her shoulders, her eyes heavy with a burden Isaac didn’t quite understand, even though he wanted to. “Annie Kletter’s dead.”
CHAPTERFIVE
Buried Secrets
Minho kept looking back at the tree line of woods as Dominic inspected the ship’s rudder.
“Think this’ll hold?” The boy asked.
The sounds of laughter from the ship’s deck annoyed Minho. No wonder the Remnant Nation wanted to kill the Godhead for years. She was manipulative. Crazy. “Minho?”
“I need to get back to that Berg.” He said it so quietly he wasn’t sure if he did in fact say it out loud until Dominic spun around.
“What Berg?”
Minho rubbed the spot between his eyes. “Dominic . . . do you trust me?”
Dominic’s eyes widened. “Sure as shuck, as Old Man Frypan would say.”
Minho didn’t know whatshuckmeant, but Dominic’s nod reassured him that he could handle the truth. “When that woman went off, I followed her.”
“The Godhead?”
“Yeah . . . she likes calling herself that.” Minho looked back over to the tree line. If he learned one thing from his life spent in the Remnant Nation it was that anyone could name themselves anything, if they were brave enough. Or stupid enough.
“You really don’t think she’s the Godhead we’re looking for?” Dominic looked like one of those trespassers to the castle after Minho shot their horse but right before he shot them. “She does seem a little . . .”
“Off,” Minho said. “And what are the odds the very first person we ran into in this whole country is the one and only Godhead.”
“Yeah.” Dominic looked down before looking back at Minho. “I didn’t think about that.”
Minho needed this kid to trust him. “Don’t tell the others yet, but there’s a downed Berg not far from here.”
Dominic stood up and took a step away from the rudder tools. “Why are we messing with fixing this old thing if she’s got a Berg?”
Minho shook his head. “She doesn’t want anyone to know there’s a Berg out there because I watched as she . . . she walked right up to it and . . .” He’d never had trouble talking about death or murder before. Sometimes he, Orange, and Skinny would talk about all sorts of bloody things while eating their meals in the hall, but Dominic’s innocence made Minho more gentle with the truth. “She . . . killed the pilot.”
“Oh come on . . .” Dominic shook his head in disbelief. Looked to Minho. Then shook his head again. “You saw all this? You’re sure?”
Minho nodded.
“So . . . she’s got a weapon? What do we do?” Dominic stood tall, trying his best to be a true soldier.
“She doesn’t have any weapons.”
“Poison . . . ?” Dominic guessed.
“No, she?—”
“Killed someone with her mind?!” Dominic whispered in panic.
Minho waited for the boy to stop guessing. “No. She choked him with her cloak . . . took the corner of it and just shoved it in his mouth.” He mimicked what she did with his hands and expressed how quickly it happened.
“Oh klunk . . .” Dominic couldn’t stop shaking his head. “Sorry, another Frypan word. I thought we were safe with the Godhead. Our whole trip, everything we’ve been through . . . was to meet the Godhead! Wasn’t it?
