Adversity (18 page)

Outside,
I couldn’t help hugging myself. “That was so strange.” My voice
shook, and my hands trembled. The reaction of the wolves had
verified all of my secret suspicions.

Perdita
tried to cheer up Nathan, but I could barely breathe because I was
so freaked out. The animals had responded to me. I felt as though I
should let Nathan know so he’d stop beating himself up about it,
but then he would discover the thing I had suspected for a while
now, about myself. There was something really wrong with
me.

I heard
Perdita mention something about dead gypsies wanting her and him to
be together.

“
One gypsy,” I said before I could stop myself. They both
turned to look at me, and I panicked.

“
What?” Nathan said, but there was something in his voice, an
underlying anger that made me want to cry.

“
I need to go home. I’m not feeling so good.” I
did
feel like crap, and
my head was more screwed up than ever. Agitation drew around my
body and needled my nerves.

As soon
as we got off the bus, I hurried on ahead, unwilling to stand next
to Nathan and Perdita. I wanted to throw up, but I had to make it
to the house. I ran up the driveway, practically shouldered my way
in the door, and made it to the stairs before falling down. Jeremy
caught me before my head connected with the floor.

“
I tripped!” I half-screamed at him before running upstairs,
stumbling over my feet. I made it to the bathroom, slammed the door
behind me and retched. Nothing came up. I felt as though I was
hacking up my guts, and while there was a terrible taste in my
mouth, my queasy stomach refused to empty itself.

I needed
to go to bed. But Jeremy was outside my bedroom, waiting for me.
“You’re not pregnant, are you?” he asked, smiling.

“
Shut up,” I said, still feeling woozy. He caught my arm as I
stumbled again.

“
You should lie down before you hurt yourself,” he
warned.

“
I’m trying to.”

“
There’s something going on downstairs.” He hesitated. “I’ll be
back to check on you.”

“
Leave me alone. I need to sleep.”

And sleep
I did. Until the afternoon of the next day. My eyes wouldn’t open
properly, and I felt exhausted, still, as though even sleep drained
me of energy. Someone left me food and water, but I couldn’t sit up
long enough to consume anything.

I
seriously suspected I might be dying.

***

Kali

She was
woken roughly during the night. She reached out for her sister, but
nobody was there.

“
Wake up. You’re needed.”

Eyes
still blurred with sleep, she allowed Drina’s sister-in-law to lead
the way. Then she remembered. Chovihani. She was needed. Someone
was ailing, most likely.

Nothing
could have prepared her for the scene.

Her
sister, draped in bloody cloths, lay in a dead faint. Her face was
drawn and deathly pale. Women gathered around her. One was a
midwife.

“
But it’s too early,” Kali blurted. Drina had at least six
weeks to go. An early birth was no great thing.

Drina
opened her eyes and moaned.

“
It’s her time. Give her something for pain,” said the
traditional midwife, an elderly woman who had helped pregnant
gypsies for years.

Kali took
one look at her sister’s eyes, eyes that didn’t see her, and ran.
She screamed for her father’s help, but she knew he wouldn’t
come.

Death was
coming instead.

Her
trembling hands found remedies among her belongings. On stumbling
feet, she returned to her sister’s confinement. She patted powder
on her sister’s dry lips, bade her to lick, and then forced a long
swallow of a potent drink down her throat.

Drina’s
eyes found Kali’s, and she managed a smile. “Do you see my future,
little sister?”

Kali
shook her head, her mouth trembling so much she couldn’t
speak.

“
I do,” Drina said. “I’ve loved you. Make sure my babies are
taken care of.”

“
Don’t leave me,” Kali whispered in her ear, holding Drina’s
hand.

A tear
rolled down Drina’s cheek, and her body jerked upward suddenly. She
squeezed Kali’s hand until the spasm ended, but the cloths were
soaked with fresh blood, and Kali knew there wasn’t much time.
Drina’s eyes fluttered lazily as she lost herself in the
pain.

“
Fight it,” Kali urged. “Don’t sleep. Stay with me. Please,
don’t leave me.” A sob caught in her throat, and she shook her head
firmly. She wouldn’t be weak now. Drina needed her to be strong.
Gulping hard, she leaned her forehead against Drina’s shoulder. “It
doesn’t have to be this way. I can try…”

“
No.” Drina’s voice had weakened, but her intent stayed true.
“You won’t. Not you. Listen to me.
Listen
. Find a way to be happy. Don’t
let your heart die as his did. Be strong for me.”

The night
passed too quickly. The spasms of pains increased, and the blood
loss wouldn’t ease. The life sapped from Drina’s body. Kali felt
her world cracking apart as her sister’s heartbeat slowed. She felt
Drina’s pain reach inside her, grip her heart and pull it out, as
Drina took her last breath.

“
I’m cutting her. The baby’s almost out.” The midwife’s voice
brought Kali back into the world. The baby. A light in the
darkness. She stared stolidly at her sister’s body as the midwife
cut her way to the baby.

A tiny
body slipped out into her bloody hands. A boy. Blue. Lifeless. Too
small.

Drina was
dead for nothing.

Kali
stayed with her sister’s body for hours, guarding it until she was
carried away screaming. Her father made her swallow a draught that
would calm her down, but she didn’t sleep. She could lose anything
but Drina. Her sister was the only one keeping her feet on the
ground. She couldn’t bear the loss or the fact she would never hear
her sister’s laugh again. Jaelle, her niece, would be taken from
her. The child belonged to her father’s family, though Drina’s
death made them impure for a time. Kali was still clean because
Drina had left her family the day she married. The camp women were
all so accepting of Drina’s death, and they didn’t understand how
she felt. Drina’s death was the end of everything good and decent
in her life. Nothing could keep her on the right path
anymore.

At least
her father seemed to give her time to mourn. Embarrassed by her
public displays of grief, Besnik sent word that he didn’t want a
sobbing new bride and gave her one month to say goodbye. One month
to cauterise the pain, as though that would ever be
enough.

Her
father forbade her from seeing the body because he didn’t care for
her sobbing, either, and he didn’t want to give Besnik the chance
to change his mind. If he had shown even the slightest regret that
Drina was dead, then Kali might have forgiven her father for
everything. If he’d acknowledged with the slightest sign any sorrow
that he’d outlived his daughter, Kali might have warmed to him, and
calmed the beast in her head that told her to run.

But the
bitterness inside her twisted and churned until she realised she
would never sleep. She slipped away, running as soon as she gained
a healthy distance from the camp. She knew where Andriy lived, or
at least knew the general direction of his farm, and she knew she
would have to go to him or never find peace and comfort
again.

Still
covered in her sister’s blood, she ran before dawn broke across the
sky, ignoring everything around her except the beating of her
heart, which was the only thing that kept her going. She recalled
the second Drina’s heart stopped and how her sister’s body felt so
empty, merely a shell because Drina’s soul was long
gone.

Kali
found the farm. Her legs ached from the run. What was she doing?
She had nobody else, and if she didn’t tell someone, then she would
go completely insane.

She
climbed a gate and immediately set off a dog barking. One ran from
behind the house, paws slipping in its haste, and the barking
increasing as it spied her. The black beast ran straight to her,
and she froze in horror. A low whistle halted the animal, and it
skidded in the dirt, slammed right into her legs, and knocked her
over. She couldn’t get up. Tears streaming, she sat there and wept
until Andriy reached her, his face full of concern.

“
Are you hurt?” he asked urgently, pulling her to her
feet.

She shook
her head. “My sister. The baby. They died. She died in my arms, and
the baby was already gone. It was for nothing, Andriy. She died for
nothing. And that’s what’s going to happen to me.”

He pulled
her into his arms, and she savoured the feel of his chest, the way
his arms made her feel protected. She clung to his shirt and
inhaled his scent. She was desperate to preserve that one
memory.

“
It won’t happen to you,” he said.

She
pushed him away, fresh tears falling. “It will. All they want is
for me to bear child after child before it’s too late for me to
bear any more. My mother died in childbirth, and now Drina’s gone,
too. This is what happens to us.”

She
brushed tears from her cheeks, watching the pity in his eyes. He
opened his mouth to speak, but a voice called for him from the
house. Marusya.

“
Run,” he urged, and she did. As much as she wanted him for
herself, she couldn’t find it in herself to bring any more trouble
his way. She heard Marusya’s yells as she ran, and she knew the
woman had seen her. She didn’t regret coming to Andriy, though,
because she had felt something for a couple of seconds in Andriy’s
arms. Protection, concern… and love.

Amelia

I woke up
crying. My sister was dead. After a couple of moments I remembered
I didn’t have a sister, yet the pain remained because now I knew
what it would feel like to lose Perdita. The curse would kill her.
I would mourn her, too. I couldn’t feel that pain or loss again. I
wouldn’t be able to take it.

Why was I
suffering someone else’s pain in my dreams? The dreams had an
urgency—Kali’s time was running out. Some event, really
significant, felt near. My time was running out, too. Each day, the
other werewolves had another chance to come after us, and I
couldn’t even defend myself.

That
morning, the headaches were worse than usual. My entire body felt
as though it were submerged in water and weighted down by rocks. I
moved slowly, didn’t eat for fear of vomiting, and swallowed
painkillers that did nothing to ease the pain. I couldn’t go
anywhere with Connor. I didn’t want to see anyone. I locked myself
in my room for most of the day, only surfacing for water or more
painkillers.

Nobody
noticed.

When
Connor texted me, I explained I was feeling sick, and that I would
see him the following week, but I didn’t know if I was going to
last that long. Something was happening to me.

I nodded
off a couple of times, but Kali’s world was dark and quiet. She sat
alone, not crying, only thinking of her sister. I was glad to wake
up. All I wanted was to push those awful memories away.

Later,
Nathan brought me food, and I pretended to nibble at it as he told
me the news; the werewolves were on their way. They were coming for
us.

Time had
run out.

***

Kali

Her
father sent her back to the village two days after Drina’s death.
Her mood had infected the camp, he told her. Now was the time to
show them what she was made of.

She
didn’t go to the village. She found the spot where Andriy waited
for her and stayed there most of the day. She had some water and a
little food, but her appetite had left. She waited, wondering what
she would do if he didn’t come. She might turn into stone and
become part of the earth.

Two men
approached her in the evening, around the time she would normally
be walking home. Deep in her heart, she knew they carried ill-will
toward her. Even before they called to her, she knew. Even before
one tried to grab hold of her. She dodged his grasp and ran, hoping
they weren’t as fast as she, but her skirts weighed her down. And
the men were determined.

One
caught up, and gripped her arms tightly as he tried to carry her
across the fields. She launched her knee at his groin, and he let
go in surprise. Though she ran again, another was waiting, and
clamped his hand against her mouth. She bit hard, and with a yell,
he let go and pulled her arms behind her back. She tried to kick,
but the first man had recovered. He grabbed her legs and helped
carry her off.

She
squirmed and wriggled, yelled and screamed, and the men seemed to
change their minds, because they threw her down into a ditch where
she landed in deep muck.

They
disappeared from view, but she heard shouting and realised Andriy
had come. Andriy had found her. But what if they hurt him? Long
minutes later, Andriy gazed into the ditch and raised his
eyebrows.