Chapter 66
The glow from the village outlines the trees in a soft light that grows stronger the nearer I get. Soon, I hear the yell of angry voices, the clash of swords—Guardians fighting Guardians? Am I too late with my plan to unite the village against the Verdant Beast?
I redouble my efforts. I must reach the square before Jarek does more harm. The only way to save my friends and family is to turn myself in, and the only way to save our society is to demonstrate the real danger we’re up against right after.
Gryphon will understand in time.
I’ve loved you every minute of every day since, Rosie.
I toss the stabbing pain into a compartment and lock it tight.
I can’t think of Gryphon, or even Jonas.
I can only think of my community. I’ve ignored our problems, but Gran was right about our strengths.
We’re good people. We were born of rough beginnings, and we overcame, together.
We take care of each other through thick and thin. That’s worth everything.
I break into the square, expecting chaos, heart pounding like a war drum in my ears. The twilight sky is smeared a deep violet. My gaze is drawn immediately to Eden’s Gate. A handful of Guardians cluster fifty yards or so in front of it, breathing heavily as if they’ve just battled.
A pile of bodies rises up behind them. My hand flies to my mouth. Am I too late?
“Rose!” Misia calls out.
I drag my eyes to the right. Across the empty square, she has my eighty-seven-year-old gran tied to a whipping post. Sojourner and Aunt Florence are on one side.
On her other are Meryl, Eero, and Oscar.
They’re still alive! But then I notice Guardians holding their swords out, ready to strike them down if I make a wrong move.
Augustus, kneeling in front of an angry-looking Tomris with her blade at his neck, looks like he’ll be the first casualty.
The rest of Noah’s Valley is gathered behind them, a few hundred people, their faces haunted, some of them wearing tunics drenched in blood.
“You came,” Jarek says, stepping down from the stage and walking past the whipping posts. He’s gripping the tablet in one hand and the back of little Marie’s neck in the other. Tears stream down her face.
I hurry forward until I’m close enough to smell the sourness of Jarek’s sweat. He’s afraid. Of what? Has he finally realized the Record Keeper is pulling his strings?
“It’s going to be okay, Marie,” I say. I’m lying. Her brother is a murderer and she’s lost her mother. But I can’t look at her sweet face, her buck teeth biting her trembling lips, and say nothing. “Everything is going to be all right, honey.”
I hear Misia’s snort.
“You can make that true, Rose,” Jarek says, stepping even nearer.
The villagers begin whispering, their eyes blazing when they meet mine. Are they thinking of people we used to be? Now that they’ve had a front-row seat to Jarek’s evil, now that they’ve seen the bodies of their neighbors stacked like firewood, are there more than a handful willing to rebel?
“You’re already dressed for your wedding,” Jarek is saying. “We can locate your groom and see it through to the end. Everything in the Valley can return to normal. Whatever this has been”—he waves his hand to indicate all of me—“can end. We can have our lives back.”
I glance down at my dress. Many of the beads have been ripped away, the lovely lace hem is torn and dragging, and the front is darkened with blood—maybe mine, maybe not. My hair has come loose from its elaborate ribbons.
“My friends and family are innocent,” I say clearly.
Jarek’s mouth twitches. “They are not. They’re traitors. They’ve worked against their community, tearing the fabric of the Valley.”
I lean forward, pitching my voice for Jarek’s ears only.
It takes everything in me not to glance over at the Verdant Beast, gauging the distance between me and it.
“My mother wrote about you. In coded notes in her journal. Messages only an Apothecary could decipher. I didn’t think you deserved to hear them, but I might be willing to trade. ”
Jarek blinks, his words stolen from him.
“Let her go.” I glance at Marie. “And I’ll tell you.”
His hope is so naked that I’d pity the man if he hadn’t chosen greed and ugliness over his community.
“Tell me now,” he says, not releasing Marie. But neither does he raise his voice so any but us three can hear him. He must know I’m bluffing, but isn’t that the way of love? The brain kneels to the heart.
“I cannot,” I say. I’ll show the villagers the Verdant Beast, but I want to destroy the tablet while I’m at it, remove that tool from Jarek’s abuse of power. “It’s too personal. For your ears only.”
Jarek’s face is clenched so tightly it’s turning in on itself. Then suddenly, it relaxes. “Fine. Marie, go join my wife.”
He shoves her away and then smiles, his expression an altar to evil.
My tongue turns to cloth. It’s clear from his expression that he’s figured out I’m lying.
But what can I do? I’ve talked myself into a corner.
I begin to walk toward Eden’s Gate, my hand sliding into my medical kit.
It takes a moment to find the syringe I seek, because my fingers are numb with terror.
Will I be able to use the needle? It seems unlikely.
In fact, I feel a terrible, cold certainty that Jarek is going to plunge a knife in my back, just as he did to Reatha.
There are so many things I wish I’d said, so many truths.
I try to line them up, looking for comfort in the order, at least, but they evade me.
I hear a terrible groaning shush, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.
Forty feet to my left, the Verdant Beast has come to life without me, drawn to the pile of villagers’ corpses.