Page 21 of The Garnet Daughter
I retrieve a quilled nutria from the first snare, but the others remain untripped. My snares are quick and humane, as if a predator from the forest was to hunt the same creature. I remove the animal’s quills to clean the rest. Its pelt is not suitable fortanning, but the night predators will make use of the discards I leave behind.
August is still not finished when I return and begin making a crudely simple stew. As it simmers, I bathe and change the bandage on my arm. It sticks and pulls at my wound, opening in spots as I remove it. The color looks different, and I hope it is from the herbs I’ve been using. I wince as I place my nightgown on because the air always makes the wound tender right after exposure. Soon, it will go back to the dull ache when the herbs I slathered on begin their magic.
By the time I hear movement outside my room, it is almost dusk. August pushed wiring the beacon past the time he should have, getting more comfortable with his surroundings.
A soft knock on my door makes me jump in anticipation.
“Calliape?”
August’s face looks relieved when I crack the door open. “Do you have good news?” I ask.
“I was only shocked one more time.” He smiles. “But nothing more to report.”
“Tomorrow, I’m helping. You will have to deal with it.”
He huffs a little and then pauses. “The house was so silent I thought for a moment . . . I thought you folded all the way back to Cosima without me.”
“Just back here. You were right. I can do short distances.”
“Good.” He smiles and leans on the doorframe casually. “Can you imagine me stranded here alone?”
“No.” I find myself smiling back freely.
He holds out my leather satchel. “You left this behind.”
“Oh, thank you.” When I take it, I notice it is full. “Did you pick more?”
He looks shy. “I thought maybe I should contribute.”
“That was kind. And you should have some stew. It’s not rabbit, I promise.”
His face drops a little. “What is it?”
“It’s . . . delicious.” I smile, shutting the last bit of my door, knowing that is not what he meant at all. “Good night.”
He chuckles to himself on the other side. I shake the berries and do the same. They’re in varying stages of ripeness, and some even still have stems and leaves attached. My heart sputters as I picture him foraging these for me as the sun goes down, and I decide I am not sick of berries after all.
Rest comes easier now that progress is being made on the beacon and my gift is obeying me again. I sink into a deep sleep, one that washes over my body but leaves my mind still aware, like dreaming in waking hours when the strange, distorted thoughts are easily remembered.
Standing in the dark forest in my dream takes my breath away. Animals scream and insects sing to each other, but over all of it I hear a voice calling out to me in the darkness, the one I’ve not heard so clearly since leaving Frith.
Again, the words are not clear, but the intent is. I am not meant to be here. I have to go. I must leave Frith.
I dream of folding back to Cosima’s temple. The rubble is tough on my soles as I shuffle toward the crater and gaze down into the abyss.
I gasp and fold again to a cliff I have never been to, unsure which world it lives on. I walk to the edge and look out into the foggy darkness. Something is out there, staring back and watching me. And then I hear it, the voice of the monster that rose from the depths of the Estate. Its wings beat in the fog andmove it in flumes in the inky shadows. It speaks to me, and I understand it. It says the word I heard the day it took the stones and looked directly at Ferren.
Abomination.
A chill washes over me, and with another gasp, I open my eyes and the image of the monster’s wings is gone, the air no longer dry and empty. I’m standing in my room, safe.
I’m standing, not tucked in my bed and waking from a nightmare.
I look around a little dazed. Grit under my feet pokes at my soles as it did in the dream.
My heart plummets when I glance downward in inspection. Sand and rubble speckle them as if I truly folded and the evidence of that came back with me.
Chapter
