Nova
There is come running down my thighs.
This is not okay.
Who thought this was a good idea?
It’s me. I did.
It was.
I pull a leaf out of my hair and walk.
The guys are behind me, apparently completely fine, which is — good for them, genuinely, I’m happy for them. Some of us have logistics. Some of us are doing the math on how far the Community Hall is and whether anyone is going to notice and the answer to both of those questions is bad.
“Guys! Someone give me my pants. I am not walking into the Community Hall like this.”
Rane snickers and pants hit the back of my head. “Thanks,” I mutter, dragging them on.
Sliding them up wet thighs is not recommended.
Brent is waiting twenty feet from the entrance.
Of course he is.
He sees us coming and something moves across his face that he’s fighting very hard to keep under control. He loses. His shoulders start going. He looks at the sky. Looks back at us. Loses again.
Then he reaches behind him and pulls out a stack of pants.
The guys descend on them without missing a beat, like this is completely normal, like Brent standing outside the Community Hall with spare pants was always the plan.
“You timed that,” I say.
“Thirty minutes,” Brent says. Still not fully recovered. “Give or take.”
“We were—” I stop. “We were almost on time.”
He looks at me.
He looks at the leaf still in my hand.
“Everyone’s waiting,” he says.
I stick my tongue out at him.
He’s still chuckling when we walk through the door.
The Community Hall is packed.
Every seat, every wall. Kids asleep on shoulders. The injured tucked in wherever they fit — Eli’s arm in a sling, Lena against Max’s side, Marcus in a chair near the front looking like he’d rather be literally anywhere else.
Even the forest shifters are here.
And the crow.
They go quiet when I walk in.
Nope.
I walk faster.
Minerva is at the front. She looks at me when I come through the door and I go to the nearest empty seat before she can direct me to it.
She doesn’t waste time.
“We know what happened,” she says. Not to me. To the room. “We saw it. What we decide now is what comes next.” She smooths her pants. “The Hollow has always governed itself. That doesn’t change tonight.”
Nobody speaks.
“Laith Crux is contained. He stays that way until we decide otherwise.” Her eyes move across the room. “That decision — like every decision about this Hollow — belongs to the people in this room.”
Then she looks at me.
No.
I hear a chair screech and turn around.
Lena tries to stand.
Max steadies her but she only gets halfway up before she starts.
“Nova not here.” Thin, her voice still catching. “She wasn’t — Nova not—”
She sits back down. Max pulls her in close.
Brent stands up.
He doesn’t look around first. Just stands.
“I spent a long time enforcing what I was told,” he says. “Told myself it wasn’t my job to ask questions.” He stops. Starts again. “I’m done with that.”
He looks at me.
“I think it’s time for a change. And I think Nova should decide what comes next.” He gives me a sad smile. “Not just Laith. All of it.”
He sits back down.
Zoe’s hand goes up. “I’m in.”
Then Cal’s hand follows. Then the forest shifters, one by one. The woman who gave me bread on my second day. The man whose kid I pulled out of the rain. People whose names I know and some I still don’t.
My guys.
Every hand in the room.
I turn back to the front.
I watch Minerva’s hand go up.
My throat closes.
I stand up before I can stop myself.
If I think about it I won’t stand up at all.
I don’t want to turn and face them all, but I do.
“I didn’t plan on this,” I say. “Any of it.” My hand moves to my wrist. “I didn’t know what coming here would mean. I didn’t know it would mean anything, honestly.”
Someone near the back makes a sound.
“But it became — you became —” My voice cracks and I try to breathe through it. “You’re the first real home I’ve ever had.”
The silence somehow makes it more real.
“Laith says the Hollow was set in motion because of me.” I say, trying and failing to stop the tears.
“But it exists because of all of you. Because Minerva opened a door and kept opening it. Because every person in this room chose to stay.” My throat is doing something.
I talk through it. “That’s not his. That’s yours. ”
Minerva’s hand lands on my shoulder, and I find her eyes. “It’s ours.”
I nod and look back at the room.
“So this isn’t my decision,” I say. “It’s ours. Together.”
The doors slam open.
Linda runs in.
Linda. Yeah, that one.
She’s out of breath, coat half off, hair everywhere.
“I’m sorry I’m late — I came as fast as I could, Silas left with the whole army and Laith went after him and I didn’t know if you were still—” She stops.
She takes in the packed hall, every face turned toward her.
“…Nova, we need to talk.”