Blood and Salt (22 page)

BETH
+
RHYS

JUST BEFORE DAWN,
Dane and I walked hand in hand through the western woods to the old stables to meet Rhys and Beth. I knew last night wasn't a dream, because my body ached in a way I'd never experienced—a good way. My connection to Dane was something deeper than blood. Deeper than fate. It felt as if nothing could separate us . . . not even Katia.

As we got closer to the west side of Quivira, the scent of blood and lilacs seeped inside of me. I took another step toward the heady scent and I knew something was off.

“Ashlyn, what is it?” Dane slipped his hand around my waist to steady me.

“Lilacs. Where are there lilacs?”

“There are lilac bushes by the old stables, but we're still half a mile away. Why?”

I took off running, following my senses, and Dane stayed close behind. My lungs burned with the caustic scent, my skin
was drenched in cold sweat, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible had happened.

We broke through the forest in front of a decrepit barn engulfed in lilac blooms. The smell of blood hit me with such force, I could hardly breathe.

I ducked under one of the rotting beams blocking the entrance, to find Rhys crouched over Beth's body. He glanced back at me, a look of pure fear in his eyes. Blood was seeping through a bandage on his cheek.

“All I did was kiss her,” Rhys said in a panic.

“Beth.” My voice quaked as I ran to cradle her in my arms. Her lips were blue, but she still wore her unreadable smile. The ends of a bright yellow ribbon that she'd tied around her neck hung next to her sallow cheek. Her skin was dotted with tiny beads of blood, like she was sweating it from her pores. She felt light in my arms, like a hollowed-out doll, but I saw the slight rise and fall of her chest.

She reached out to touch me, as if to comfort me. “I remember,” she murmured. “I remember everything.”

“We have to get her to a doctor.” Rhys paced the sawdust floor behind me. “I think she has the same thing as the others.”

“I can give her my blood,” I whispered, remembering how Katia had healed Alonso.

“Ash, thanks for being my best friend.” Beth smiled. “But you don't have to do this. Your blood is sacred and you need your strength. You can overcome her, I've seen it.”

“You know what I am, don't you?” I asked, unable to stop the tears from flowing. “You've known all this time.”

“There will be a path to lead us from darkness.” She gave me one last smile before her eyes rolled back in her head.

“You don't need to keep my secret anymore,” I said. “Let me protect
you
now.”

“Dane, give me your knife.” He handed it to me and I slit my wrist, holding it up to her mouth. She choked and gagged at first, but I held my arm firmly in place, forcing my blood down her throat.

Rhys raced toward me. “What are you doing?”

Dane held him back. “Saving Beth's life.”

I felt my life force surging into her, and in return I felt traces of her own flowing into me. Her gentle spirit, her wounded heart: They brimmed over like a waterfall.

My brother stood there, stunned, as the beads of blood retreated back into Beth's pores and the color returned to her lips.

Dane ripped a strip of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it around my wrist like a tourniquet.

“I remember everything,” Beth whispered fervently as she motioned for me to come closer. The way she spoke, the look in her eyes, the intensity reminded me of my mother on the day she left. Beth clutched my arm. “Spencer . . . he's the one who hurt me,” she said as she reached up and felt the scar running across her skull. “I found out he made a deal with
Coronado—he was giving Spencer his blood. They used Teresa to bring the Larkins through the corn. Men, women, children . . . they're all dead.” Dane sank to his knees beside Beth. I felt despair and shame wash over him.

“Someone needs to tell me what the hell's going on!” Rhys said.

This was the moment I'd been dreading. I unwrapped the cloth from my wrist and stood to show my brother my already- healed skin. “
I'm
the vessel.”

“That's impossible.” Rhys studied my arm. “It's Mom. It was supposed to be Mom.”

“Katia wanted everyone to believe that, but she was just a diversion for Coronado. I was never a conduit. I was the vessel all along. Mom scars, I
heal.
Remember the deer on the back of the hunters' truck?”

“So, you're telling me it's true?” Rhys dragged his hands through his hair. “All of it?” He staggered back, accidentally kicking an old horseshoe into the side of the barn. He stood in front of the collapsed doorway, sunlight streaming through the gaps in the wood. “Then where is she? Where's Mom . . . and our dad?”

“Thomas never made it out of the corn,” I said, staring out over the fields. “And I don't even know if Mom is alive anymore.” It killed me to say it out loud. “Katia let Mom live because I was inside of her. She let her raise us away from Quivira to keep me safe from Coronado, but Katia doesn't need her anymore.”

Rhys had a wild look in his eyes. “Then we have to get you out of here before Katia comes back.” He glanced back at Beth, who was starting to come around. Dane was helping her into a sitting position, giving her his flask of water. “I'll carry Beth if I have to.”

“I
can't
leave.” I swallowed hard. “My blood . . . Katia's blood won't allow it. You need to go with Dane. He'll get you and Beth out and then you need to run and—”

“Wait . . . what?” he sputtered. “Just leave you here?”

“I'll be coming back,” Dane said as he joined us, taking my hand. “To help her fight.”

Rhys narrowed his eyes. “How could you
possibly
help her with this?” He glanced down at our intertwined hands and a look of disgust washed over his face, then shock. “Of course!” Rhys began pacing again. “That's what this is all about. You want to be Alonso's vessel, don't you?”

“I've already made that decision.” I squeezed Dane's hand.

“He's a Mixed, Ash. That's never going to happen.”

I took a deep breath. I was trying to figure out how to tell him the truth when Dane spoke up. “Ashlyn and I are already blood bound.”

“What?” Rhys turned to face me, hands balled up into fists at his side. “You're blood bound . . . to
him
?” He bit the inside of his cheek as he walked toward me. I couldn't tell if he was going to laugh or cry. “So, I was right. He
was
using you. I thought you were smarter than that, Ash.” Blood started seeping from the bandage on Rhys's temple.

“Please don't make this harder than it needs to be,” I said as I tried to reach for him, but Dane held me back. “What are you doing?”

“There's something you need to know.” Dane's voice was low and tense. “I had my suspicions, but this . . . what happened with Beth confirms it.”

“Confirms what?” Rhys snapped.

“Your blood,” Dane said softly. “You are the one responsible for all the recent deaths in Quivira.”

“Me?” My brother began to laugh.

“Betsy Grimsby,” Dane said, eyes downcast. “She changed the bandage on your knee before the ceremony.”

Rhys crossed his arms in front of him like he was amused by the whole thing. “Okay?”

“Tommy Mendoza,” Dane added. “You spit bloody water in his face at the shinny game.”

Rhys continued to smile, but the color began to leach from his face.

“But his lip,” I argued, “it healed right up at the field. He can heal . . . like me.”

Dane shook his head. “
You
healed him. You held the bandage from your knee against his lip. “Look . . .” He pointed to the raw wounds on my brother's neck and face.

“No.” I shook my head rapidly. “Those are coincidences.”

“The crows,” Dane asserted. “They dropped dead all around him. And Henry—”

Rhys hunched over like he was going to be sick. “Henry treated my wounds. He was my friend. And Beth . . .” He looked over at her in despair. “All I did was kiss her—my bandage must've touched her cheek.”

“Rhys, slow down,” I said. “This is crazy.”

“Is it?” Rhys raised his voice. “My blood can't touch anyone without hurting them.”

“I've touched your blood and I'm fine,” I reasoned.

“That's because you're twins—you're of the same blood,” Dane said tenderly. “You're the light and he's the dark.”

“You heal and I kill.” My brother exhaled.

I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but I felt it in my gut—an awful certainty buzzing beneath my skin.

“Rhys,” I said as I squirmed out of Dane's grasp and reached out to him. “We can find a way. I can fix this.”

“There's no
fixing
this.
I'm
fucked.
You're
fucked. This place is fucked.” Rhys swatted my hand away.

“Watch it,” Dane warned as he stepped between us.

Rhys pushed him hard.

“Please don't fight,” Beth said as she got to her feet.

Dane was helping steady Beth when Rhys came at him with his fists.

Dane ducked out of the way and then punched Rhys in the face. My brother staggered back; a trickle of blood ran down from his nostril.

We all backed away.

Rhys's face fell. Tears welled up in his dark green eyes before he ran toward the edge of the corn, blood dripping from his nose in a steady stream.

The corn appeared to open up to let him pass. As he tore through the field, his blood left a scorched trail of disintegrated stalks in his wake.

I could smell the salt of his tears, the bitterness of hurt and betrayal. I tried to go after him, but as soon as I set foot across the perimeter, my body collapsed in on itself.

“Ashlyn,” Dane pleaded. “Step back inside Quivira.”

“What about Rhys?” I gritted my teeth as I struggled to hold my ground.

“We'll find him. I promise.”

“I can't leave him.” My body began to tremble with the strain of trying to cross the perimeter.

As Beth tried to help move me back, she accidentally stumbled onto the path of scorched earth Rhys's blood had made in the corn. When she realized she was standing beyond the perimeter, a huge smile spread across her face. “Look, I'm standing in the corn.”

“You should go,” I murmured through the pain. “If you hurry, you can catch him. He shouldn't be alone right now.”

“Do you realize what this means?” Beth twirled around. “Rhys's blood can cut through Katia's spell. I kept dreaming about it . . .
a path that will lead us from darkness.
Rhys is the path.”

I never knew what she'd been talking about . . . maybe she
didn't either, but it made perfect sense now. Dane told me the corn was a living, breathing thing. When we first came to Quivira, Rhys fell and skinned his knee and a patch of corn disintegrated around him. His blood had been the key to escaping Quivira this whole time.

“It means the others are free to go, too,” Beth said with a little jump of excitement.

“It also means others can get
in,
” Dane said. “Once a path is cleared, the protection barrier won't hold.” For the first time, Dane looked scared.

Beth leapt forward to embrace me. “Rhys hasn't even begun to realize his full power. He will soon. And we'll all be together again, but right now, my place is with you.”

I relented, letting Dane and Beth move me back from the perimeter. As soon as I was on the grass once again, the physical pain subsided.

“Rhys will never forgive me,” I whispered, fighting back the tears as I stared out over the corn.

“Never is a very long time.” Dane kissed my forehead.

RECKONING

THE COMMUNITY HAD
gathered on the front lawn of the meeting house. Everyone was decked out in their finest clothes, staring at the corn in anticipation, waiting for Katia to arrive with Nina and Thomas. They had no idea.

“How are you going to convince them to leave?” Beth asked. “They don't know you're the vessel.”

“I'm going to need that knife again,” I said to Dane.

He caressed my fingers as he handed it to me.

Taking in a steeling breath, I made my way to the center of the crowd and cleared my throat. “I have an announcement to make.”

Some of the Grimsby girls started giggling at me. I got a few stern looks from the elders, but most of them just ignored me.

“I'm the vessel,” I said louder.

“Pay her no mind. She's a conduit.” A lady with frizzy
brown hair gathered up her children and whipped around to move away from me, her voluminous skirt nearly knocking me to the ground.

“Oh, sweet girl, you're in a state,” Lou said as she stepped toward me, shaking her head in dismay. “Did they let you wander off on your own?”

“I
said
 . . . I'm the vessel.” I held the knife high above my head and dragged the blade along the palm of my hand.

Lou stayed put, but the rest of the mob pressed back like whatever I had might be contagious.

“Can someone get a bandage?” Lou called over her shoulder.

“I don't need it,” I said, trying to hold their attention.

“Sweetheart—”

“Look.” I held out my hand. As the blood dripped down toward the earth, the cut began to close up, surging back together, leaving no scar, no mark—my skin looked flawless.

Lou grabbed my hand to study it, the pity slowly draining from her face. “It's
you
 . . . ,” she whispered. Then she dropped to her knees and began to pray.

The rest of the community quickly followed suit. A few people fought their way to the front to suck my blood from the dark blades of grass, others reached out to touch my feet. It wasn't the same feeling I got when the women prepared me for the wreathing ceremony. It gave me the creeps, like they all wanted a piece of me.

“I was Katia's vessel all along,” I said as I tried to shake them off. “You've been lied to and manipulated.
Katia
killed
Marie. She sacrificed Marie to the Dark Spirit in exchange for vessels—for the return of Alonso's soul.”

“Where's Spencer?” A man wiped his brow with his sleeve as he searched the crowd.

“No one's seen him or Teresa since last night,” a woman with a crazed look in her eyes called out. “Do you think Coronado got them?”

I looked at Dane. He knew it, too. Spencer used Teresa to get through the corn one last time. He wasn't coming back.

“Spencer discovered I was the vessel last night when he tried to slit my throat. He's long gone by now. He used Teresa, who was a cornwalker, to deliver the Larkins to Coronado.”

I scanned the crowd, desperately searching for some sign of comprehension on their faces. “Katia will never make you immortal. You were only breeders to her.”

They just kept praying.

“Listen to me.” I shook Lou, but it was like she was looking right through me. “You can leave!” I yelled as I walked through the gathering. “You can walk out of Quivira and start a new life.”

No one moved a muscle. They all stared up at me like I'd just spoken a completely different language.

“If she's the vessel, she needs her intended,” a woman with a newborn clutched to her chest called in a panic.

That's when I noticed Brennon, pale, flanked by his parents. He took a reluctant step forward and the flock parted, as if making way for a king. He looked up at me with bloodshot
eyes as he reached out to take my hand. “I'm prepared to walk the corn with you. It's my duty. My honor.”

I couldn't believe he was willing to go through with this after everything I'd just said. “There's nothing honorable about giving your body to a madwoman.”

The people of Quivira only prayed more fervently, as if what I'd just said was sacrilege.

“Brennon, I'm sorry.” I released his hand. “But I've chosen someone else.”

Brennon let out a huge sigh of relief as Lauren ran to him, embracing him.

The realization burst inside of me. Lauren and Brennon were in love. That's why Lauren treated me the way she did and why Brennon was so cagey around me. His duty to his family, to Katia, had been the only thing standing in their way.

“You should all run while you still have a chance. You will never be immortal.”

The community broke out in agitated whispers. “Who is it, then? Who will be Alonso's vessel?”

They weren't listening to me. Finding the vessel, completing the ritual had been their one common goal for so long, they'd become blind to everything else.

Dane stepped forward and took my hand. “
I
will be Alonso's vessel.”

Brennon's mom started sobbing. “Katia will never allow it.”

“We have to kill him before she arrives,” Lou said.

The mob swept Dane up. I knew they couldn't kill him, but a venomous feeling rose up inside me. “Let him go.” I glowered. “My blood has already chosen him.”

The crowd went silent. They dropped their hold on Dane and backed away in fear.

But they weren't looking at me.

I turned to see Katia standing before the corn.

She was even more beautiful than I remembered. With the sun blazing down on her, she looked as if she were carved from soft gold. Dane wrapped his arm around my waist protectively.

“Clever girl,” Katia said with a smile, but I could feel her displeasure.

“But he's a Mixed,” someone called out.

“Inferior blood,” Brennon's mom cried.

“She's given me no choice,” Katia spat. “I should've drowned Coronado's children to begin with.” She scanned the crowd. “Where's Spencer Mendoza?”

“He ran,” I said, hoping to provoke her, distract her from the ceremony. “He betrayed you. He's been delivering the Larkins to Coronado for years. If you hurry, you can still catch him.”

A flash of anger passed over her eyes, but she quickly buried it. “I'll deal with him later,” she said as she clutched her golden blade by her side.

The people of Quivira just cowered before her. They'd been suckling off Katia's poisonous teat for too long. They'd even sacrificed their own children for a chance at immortality.

“I know you killed Marie,” I blurted.

Katia turned on me with such hatred that my body shuddered beneath her gaze.

“You don't have to do this.” I softened my tone. “You can let me and Dane go.” I squeezed his hand before I took two careful steps forward. “We're in love. You of all people know what it's like to have that taken away from you.”

Katia smiled. “You think love would save you?” Her heady scent intoxicated me as she passed. “The love you feel for each other will only make the binding stronger,” she said as she circled Dane, running her hand across his back. “You've done me a great favor.”

I started to protest when her eyes settled on me and a blistering pain ripped through my body, grinding me to my knees.

Dane tried to move toward me, but she stepped in front of him.

“Hold still now and I'll let her go.”

Dane stood up straight, clenching his jaw.

And Katia released me.

“That's better,” Katia whispered as she leaned in and kissed Dane's mouth. He didn't kiss her back, but I felt a torturous mix of desire and repulsion bubbling up within him . . . within me.

Katia then looked at me, a cruel smile twisting the corners of her lips. “He'll do.”

When Dane's eyes met mine, I felt his shame, his confusion.

“It's time,” Katia said as she slipped back through the stalks.

She knew I would follow. The invisible thread connecting us was embedded deep within my heart now. I had no choice.

As I stepped toward the corn, Beth hugged me from behind, startling me.

“Your mother didn't leave you unprotected,” she whispered as she swept her hands down my arms and then retreated to join the others.

Dane laced his fingers through mine.

“I'm scared,” I said as I stared straight ahead into the corn.

“You're the bravest person I've ever met, but you don't have to be so strong all the time. You have me now.”

Gently, he raised my hand to his mouth, kissing the inside of my palm. Then he closed my fingers tightly around it, into a fist. “Hang on to this,” he whispered. “No matter what happens, know that
this
is real.”

Suddenly, I realized why I was afraid. I had something to live for. My brother, Beth, and Dane—they were family. I'd finally found something worth the risk, and now that my heart was open, I never wanted to close it again. My life was so full now. Suddenly, I was afraid of losing everything.

The wind swept through the corn, revealing our path.

They say the first step is the hardest, and this time, they were right.