Chapter 16
Sixteen
All you’ve wanted all this time was to know what happened.
Now that you do, you can want something else.
Tucking your shirt into your pants and fastening your suspenders, the only thing you want is to get out—out of this town and out of your own skin.
If you were anyone else, if you’d lived any other kind of life—
But I didn’t, so it doesn’t matter, you scold yourself. Stop dreaming.
Boots on. Boots laced. Knife in your belt. Gun, quiver, bow. You’re running low on arrows. You’ll sell the pelt, purchase some arrows, and then you’ll be gone. And the seeds? The seeds you leave on the little bedside table as a gift for the next guest.
You toss on your cape, and you go. Down the stairs, out the door. Into town to run your errands, then into the unknown.
wait. wait.
i don’t want the story to end this way.
let me try again.
Boots on. Boots laced. Knife in your belt. Gun, quiver, bow. You’re running low on arrows. You’ll sell the pelt, purchase some arrows, and then you’ll be gone. And the seeds?
I should give them back. The pouch weighs so little in your hand, but it’s brought Cyrus such immense joy. But if I give them back, he’ll know I’m leaving. Maybe I can say I’m leaving because of the Fair Queen.
Wait.
“The Fair Queen,” you gasp aloud.
The Fair Queen, when Gertrude asked, the Fair Queen said—
Gertrude and Cyrus tried to find you. To find you, they went to the last person they knew you were with. What did they say? Did they call you family? Did they say they loved you, and missed you, and wanted you back?
No.
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
She’ll know where you’ve gone. Even if you didn’t know you were headed toward them, she’ll know, and she’ll come after them. You were her most loyal servant, and you betrayed her. You didn’t think you would escape unscathed, but you didn’t think she would know who else to hurt to get to you.
Forget the seeds, and whatever you might do with them. Forget the pelt and the price it might fetch. Forget your single satchel of belongings. Forget leaving. You throw yourself out the door, barrel down the stairs, and run to the woods. If you hurry, you can get to him before noon.