Chapter 4 Odessa #2
Both priests swung off their horses.
“Are we staying here?” If we were leaving again, there was no way I was getting down. I’d never get back up, not tonight.
Brother Dime nodded.
“Thank the gods.” I signed the Eight and got down, then helped Evie out of the saddle.
She hurried to hide behind my legs.
Weeks ago, she might not have been the first to introduce herself, but she wouldn’t have cowered. I blamed this newfound wariness on Banner. On the pride and violence of vengeful men.
Banner could rot in Izzac’s hell for all I cared, and I wished him constant torment from the God of Death.
Damon walked to Brother Dime, bowing to the priest before taking his horse’s reins. “What do you need?”
“Shelter for the Sparrow.”
Damon’s eyes darted in my direction as he lifted the lamp. He took in my wrinkled, filthy clothes. His gaze lingered a moment too long on Ransom’s cuff before he offered the same bow he’d given the Voster. “Of course. It would be an honor.”
“Thank you.” I shifted, forcing Evie into the light. “This is Evangeline.”
Damon gave her a smile. “Hello, dear one.”
“And this is Faze.” I fished the tarkin from his carrier, bending to set him on the ground. If we were going to be staying in this man’s home, he should know we came with a pet.
Faze’s steps were wobbly, like he was still shaken up from the harrowing ride. He let out a growl, then sniffed the air.
“Th-that’s a…” Damon sputtered.
“Tarkin.” I gave him a sweet smile. “Do you have any milk?”
“Another bowl?” Sally asked, stirring the pot of stew with her ladle.
“No, thank you.” I dabbed the corner of my mouth. “It was delicious.”
The meal was rich with meat and vegetables, and their home smelled of savory spices. But after too many days with too little food, my stomach protested being full.
Evie had barely eaten half of her serving and was nibbling a yeasted roll as she leaned against my side.
Sally gave me a kind smile before going to tidy her kitchen.
It was almost strange to be clean and fed. Strange and wonderful and energizing and draining.
While Damon had stayed outside to help the Voster with our horses, Sally had ushered us inside the house. She’d taken one look at us in the light and immediately shown us to the small bathing chamber attached to their house.
She ran a hand pump that sent a spray through a hose in the ceiling, and though the water was cold, most of the dust and dirt washed down the drain.
As I combed out Evie’s hair and my own, Sally found us fresh clothes. I was wearing a pair of her pants, slightly too big, but I’d cinched them with a rope. The tunic I’d borrowed was a simple tan.
Ransom’s cuff was hidden beneath my sleeve.
My necklace was tucked under the collar, the metal warm against my skin.
Evie was dressed in a blue shirt that had been Damon’s when he was a child. It smelled stale from the cedar chest where it had been for years, but it was clean. There hadn’t been any pants in Evie’s size, so I’d washed hers in Sally’s laundry tub, then hung them to dry.
The door swung open, and Damon ducked inside. He’d gone out to dispose of our dirty wash water and check on the Voster, who were staying in a loft in the barn.
For the first time in days, I didn’t feel the crackle of their magic. It was bliss.
Faze was in a corner of the room, licking his paws after his own meal of milk and meat scraps.
Damon crossed the room to Sally, kissing her honey-colored hair, then took the bench seat across from the one that Evie and I shared.
A necklace I hadn’t noticed earlier swung free from the collar of his tan tunic.
Evie sat up straight, eyes locked on the black claw tied to a string of leather. “What’s that?”
“Oh, it’s from a lionwick. My father gave it to me.
” Damon lifted it to catch the room’s light.
“The story goes, he found the monster in a trap. As a gift for setting the beast free, the monster gave my father this claw. He wore it like this, around his neck, and never fell sick. He never felt pain. He gave it to me the day he decided to take his place in the shades. Now it keeps me healthy and strong. And someday, I’ll give it to my son. ”
The bench might as well have been pulled out from beneath me.
No. Fucking. Way. I fought to keep my jaw from dropping as Sally slid into the space beside her husband.
Damon’s hand splayed across her rounded belly.
“A fanciful story.” Sally tapped the claw necklace. “I think they both just like how it looks.”
Damon laughed, his dark-brown eyes alight with love. “Maybe you’re right.”
Or maybe it was magic.
How was it that, not so long ago, I’d sat around a different table and heard this same story? Luella had said it was in the journal with the emblem of my own necklace on the cover. A journal that had led her to create the elixir that played its role in Lyssa.
A journal in my satchel.
Had the person who wrote that story known these people? Had Luella met them before? Maybe tomorrow, I’d pull Damon aside and ask. But right now, I didn’t want to mention Luella’s name with Evie so close. I wasn’t ready to tell her that Luella was dead.
Evangeline yawned, her mouth stretching wide.
“I think I’d better get her to bed.” I stood, picking up my bowl.
“Leave that.” Sally waved me off. “Get some rest. We’ll see you in the morning.”
I collected Faze so he wouldn’t shred their armchair in the night. Then I whisked Evie to the spare room where we’d be sleeping. Once she was tucked into the cot and asleep, I tiptoed to my satchel and took out the black leather journal.
My fingertips skimmed the embossed wing inlaid in a circle. Then I opened the clasp and cover to pages filled with sentences I couldn’t read.
The old language.
I wasn’t sure how or when, but even if it took me months, I’d read every page of this journal. If there was a chance it held the clue to a cure for Lyssa, I’d memorize every page.