A Burning in the Bones (Waxways #3)

Chapter 11 Nevelyn Tin’vori

11 NEVELYN TIN’VORI

Everyone was staring.

Nevelyn could not find it in herself to care. She kept the front of her shirt pulled up over her mouth and nose. Her heart had not stopped racing since she’d departed from Agnes Monroe’s flat. The woman had unveiled so many intimate details. A secret organization. A plan that felt impossibly large in scale. A disease intended to infect the entire city. She had also invited Nevelyn to join their cause. To be one of the houses that supported the new society they wanted to build.

The woman had drastically misjudged Nevelyn’s capacity for sympathy. It was true that House Tin’Vori had been dispossessed by the city’s elite. It was also true that they had lived in poverty for nearly a decade. Monroe clearly believed there was a natural bridge between them and the plight of the common Kathorian. But the truth was that their house and holdings had just been restored. Their way of life was returning, piece by piece. After all this time, she had no intentions of turning around and giving it all up for some cause .

She hadn’t said any of that to Agnes Monroe. She’d seen the glint in the woman’s eyes. This was someone acting not just with purpose, but an uninhibited faith that what they were doing was the right course of action. Nevelyn had no desire to be in league with zealots.

“You have my full support,” she had said. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”

Wait. That had been Monroe’s only demand. Sit and wait. A time would come when someone from their group would arrive with instructions. Be ready to act then. Nevelyn had lied through her teeth, promising every support. As soon as she’d departed, however, she’d marched straight to the nearest market.

She was still in the habit of carrying most of her money on her person. A victim’s mentality. Their hovel of a home in Peska had been robbed twice. Once she reached the market, she began spending every coin in her possession. She bought food she knew would last. Again, her time on the run came in handy. They’d often chosen foods that they could stretch well past their expirations. Anything that could travel easily. She bought those same foods now.

Small pouches full of nuts. Dried beans in hollowed-out tubs. Bags full of rice or noodles. She piled these items up until the nearest vendor began eyeing her suspiciously, worried she might try to bolt with the goods before paying. She assured him by thumping the correct coinage on the countertop. Her purchases still drew attention. She didn’t care. As long as Agnes Monroe didn’t walk down the street and see her—it would not matter.

Only when she’d loaded three bags to the brim did she carefully sling the straps over her shoulders. She winced at their weight and how the fabric dug into her skin, but after a quick adjustment, she began the short but arduous walk home.

People stared. Small children pointed. A few shopkeepers even came to their front windows, curious at her passing. Nevelyn could not help staring back. Agnes Monroe had claimed a disease would be spreading through Kathor. Would it happen today? Tomorrow? In a week? Was it already coursing through their veins? The woman had claimed it would spread to everyone. Nevelyn had been skeptical. The older houses possessed so many protective wards. Magic that most common folk could only dream about. Monroe had smiled in response. “It’s coming. For all of them.”

She eyed the people she passed for signs. Symptoms. A hacking cough or a rash of some kind. By the time she’d reached their home, though, she felt uncertain of reality. Was she overreacting to a madwoman’s claims? Every single person she’d seen appeared to be perfectly normal. Their lives rumbling on as if this were any other day. Ava answered the door.

“Finally, I’m tired of entertaining this little…” Her eyes widened. “What the hell is all of this? Nev, he’s like half our size. He can’t eat that much food.”

Nevelyn ignored her. “Help me unload everything. I’ll explain inside.”

Ava scowled before reaching out and slipping one of the bags from Nevelyn’s shoulder. The two of them hustled through the halls. Josey was at the kitchen table, looking as if the entire world had failed in its sacred duty of entertaining him. His eyes widened as items spilled onto the counter. He wasn’t impressed for long, however. “Beans? I don’t like beaaaaans .”

Nevelyn rolled her eyes. “Let’s start sorting everything. Where is Dahvid?”

“In the bath,” Ava replied. “Are you going to explain why you bought ten pounds of noodles? You were on your stepstool preaching about modest spending just last week.”

“Get Dahvid first. I don’t want to repeat myself.”

That earned a world-class eye roll, but her sister skulked off down the hallway. Nevelyn heard her calling for their brother. She turned back and nearly jumped out of her skin. Josey was mere inches away from her. His fingers were frozen on a box of dried cookies. He smiled innocently.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Don’t do that again, or I’ll enchant your shoes so that they squeak when you walk.”

His eyes widened. “You can do that?”

“I can do far more than you might imagine. Come on. Help me with these.”

To her complete surprise, he obeyed, accepting every small task she assigned him. It was a quiet reminder that he’d spent several years living with Garth. Likely the two of them had split the household tasks, which meant he was more accustomed to this work than many children his age. That might be useful. Ava returned with Dahvid, though he arrived shirtless and annoyed. When he saw the piles of food, he offered a single raised eyebrow.

“Starting a restaurant, Nev?”

Ava snorted. Dahvid looked quite pleased that his joke had landed. It had been like this ever since her sister had returned. The two of them were thick as thieves again, which annoyed Nevelyn to no end. “We are preparing,” she answered. “I’ve just been to visit Agnes Monroe.”

In the quiet of their kitchen, she relayed everything she knew. A plan ten years in the making. A door that they had unknowingly opened when they defeated House Brood. The city that they’d finally returned to—after all these years—was allegedly going to suffer through a blight. Monroe promised it would spread to every household. No spell could keep it out. There was no ward it would fail to break through. And according to Agnes Monroe, the disease would alter the very fabric of their society once it arrived. Bold promises. Perhaps too bold.

When Nevelyn finished the story, Dahvid shook his head.

“Most people overpromise and under-deliver.”

“Ah,” Nevelyn replied. “Didn’t realize Father had returned from the grave.”

Dahvid rolled his eyes, but Ava was eager to pick at the same thread. “Agnes is a dockworker, right? It’s hard to imagine she has the resources to work on a scale of this size. Let me guess. She wanted your help. A few donations would go a long way?”

“That’s actually what convinced me,” Nevelyn answered. “She didn’t want our money. She didn’t even ask for my help. She said the disease was already on the way. Plans were already in motion. The way she talked… she made it sound inevitable. Nothing will stop it at this point. She wanted our support for what happens after. When the city gets back on its feet. She wanted us to support the Makers then.”

“The Makers?” Josey chimed from the table. “I know them!”

All their attention swung his way. Nevelyn had forgotten he was sitting there. He beamed at the three of them. “Don’t you?”

“No,” Nevelyn admitted. “Who are they?”

The boy’s smile widened as he realized he possessed knowledge they didn’t. And like any child who knows a secret, he relished the moment. “Come on. Everyone knows the Makers.”

“Quit milking it,” Nevelyn snapped. “Tell us what you know or I’ll have Dahvid use one of the tattoos he hasn’t told you about. You might not like that kind of magic.”

Josey actually looked more tempted by that. “Fine. They have meetings down in the Lower Quarter. Garth went once. He said that they were…” And here he adopted a deeper voice with almost effortless effect. “?‘A bunch of raving-mad lunatics who gibbered on about a future that won’t ever exist.’?”

Nevelyn swallowed. It was a decent impression. Decent enough to remind her of Garth’s real voice, and the mint he often had on his breath. The warmth she’d felt whenever he stood close to her. She looked down and realized she was clutching a bag of rice so tightly that the seams were starting to tear.

“But now that future is coming,” Nevelyn concluded. “According to Agnes Monroe.”

“That last bit is the important part,” Ava said. “How could we possibly trust her?”

“Why would she lie to me? What would she gain from that?”

Ava shrugged. “Father always said there were two kinds of lies. People who lie to someone else—and people who are lying to themselves. She thinks a change is coming. How many people have believed the same? Most revolutions die before they can even take their first breath.”

Dahvid had sat in silence. Now his eyes fixed on her. “Last time, we trusted my gut. Look where it got us. This time we’ll go with yours. What does your gut say, Nev?”

Nevelyn met his gaze. “My gut says that a storm is coming. And I think if we’re prepared, we might be one of the only houses in the city who doesn’t get knocked off their feet by it.”

Ava was shaking her head, ready to complain. Dahvid silenced her with a look.

“We follow Nev’s lead on this one. What else do we need to do?”

“More food,” Ava said. “This is a good start, but you’d be surprised how quickly this will vanish. We only had a few people living at the castle in Nostra but the food stores always ran out earlier than expected. If the city falls into proper chaos, there will be shortages. We should probably buy twice this amount. We also need to work on the house’s defenses.” She gestured to the run of windows overlooking the harbor. “Half of these don’t lock. We’ll want to repair everything. Magical wards, too. It’s a lot of work but I know the spells we’ll need to use.”

“Good,” Nevelyn said. “That’s decided then. Josey. You’re up next.”

The boy blinked. “Me?”

“Yes. You. If a disease comes, we’re going to lock the front doors and we’re not going to open them again. It could be a long time. This is your last chance to go somewhere else. If you stay with us—you’re staying for the long haul.”

He looked around at all of them.

“Where else would I go?”

His question echoed. All of them knew the answer. There was nowhere else. She’d just wanted to make sure he was the one who made the choice. That way, if they really did have to isolate, she could remind him that he’d wanted to be here. Asked to be here.

“We wouldn’t want you to go anywhere else,” Nevelyn said, standing. “Ava. Make a list for me. I’ll go buy more food. Maybe I can go to a different market—just to avoid any unwanted attention.”

Her sister reached inside her coat. She froze as she did. Confusion transformed to panic in less than a few seconds. “I put it in here this morning… what the hell…”

Josey’s face went bright red. The same kind of blush Garth always wore when he was fumbling for what to say. The boy set a small sack of coins on the table. Nevelyn saw how he was already slowly backpedaling. “I was just seeing if I could! I promise I wasn’t going to keep any of it!”

Ava darted forward, but Josey was surprisingly fast. He ducked her and shot off into the unlit hallway. Dahvid was already belly-laughing. Nevelyn couldn’t help smiling. It wasn’t often that she had the pleasure of witnessing someone outmaneuver Ava. Their chase took them upstairs. There were a number of carefully crafted curses. Shouted apologies wove in and out of those. From the sound of it, Josey had managed to lock himself in one of the closets.

When Nevelyn glanced back, she saw that Dahvid was watching her. The weight of that stare wiped the smile from her face. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I haven’t been looking out for you or Ava. Not since…”

“You were mourning. That is not the same as neglect, Brother.”

He swatted her words away with a lazy backhand. “We both lost people. I know how much you were hurting, Nev. But you kept your eyes open. You’ve been watching out for us. Thank you. I won’t neglect my duty again. You have my word.”

There was another thunder of footsteps above. Josey sounded as if he’d escaped the closet. Sure enough, he came sprinting down the stairs and past them. Out the back door. Ava was hot on his heels, half-laughing and half-furious. Nevelyn started forward, all too prepared to separate them. Dahvid set a hand on her arm as she passed, though.

“If a storm is coming, let them enjoy the sun.”

Nevelyn turned away from the window and set to work.