Fairy Keeper (18 page)

Nell struggled up, and her scream cut through the silent air, startling Sierra so badly she nearly fell over the cliff. Her pulse was a rapid beat in her neck; she had never heard Nell scream. Nell had her left hand clasped tightly around her other shoulder. The right shoulder looked broken to Sierra, angled up strangely where the arm connected, but maybe it was only out of joint. Nell would know. Any good enforcer knew the difference between an out-of-place joint and a break, and they knew how to make both happen. Sierra’s knees shook so much she sank back to the ground. She couldn’t believe another quake had already struck, and all the way out here, in the middle of nowhere where no one could help them if they were hurt. Dread swirled inside her.

Nell looked around and saw Sierra standing above her. Surprise flashed over her face, followed by hope, before mistrust chased them both away. She cursed under her breath for a long moment, then squinted up at Sierra.

“Are you okay?” Nell called up, trying to sound calm, but the pain was too thick in her voice to carry it off.

“Fine,” Sierra replied. “Maybe I can climb down and lift you up, unless your arm’s broken.”

Nell closed her eyes and touched along her hurt shoulder. She blanched the color of a corpse, but this time her voice remained strong when she spoke, “I think it’s just dislocated. You can push it back into place and then I can manage the climb if you help.”

The enormity of the situation struck Sierra. She had to put Nell’s arm back into place? Then push her tall frame, and herself, up a crumbly cliff? “Uh… Nell…”

“You may be small, but you’re pretty strong for your size,” Nell said, as if she could read minds. Her lips curled like she’d admitted something distasteful.

She couldn’t stand to be weaker than Sierra, could she? Sierra fainting from strange dizzy spells was okay, but Nell dislocated her arm and had to be tough.

Sierra realized she had the best leverage she’d ever have. She smiled; she couldn’t help herself.

She said, “Yeah, I can do that. But first you have to answer my question. You remember, before we were interrupted.”

Nell froze, eyes trained on Sierra. “Don’t be stupid.”

“Come on, Nell. You dosing me? I’m not pointing an arrow at you now. You can tell me the truth.”

“I told you the truth,” she said, scowling, chin lifted defiantly.

Sierra’s small amount of patience went up in smoke. She whipped out the bow again, and Nell’s eyes widened. “You’ve got nowhere to go. I can shoot all day… arrow after arrow… No matter how bad a marksman I am, eventually I won’t miss.”

“You’re not that cold-blooded.”

Sierra thought about Phoebe. Sierra thought about how Nell might be messing with her… maybe Nell
wanted
Jack to punish Sierra when she got home. Wouldn’t be Nell’s fault if Sierra failed. She’d get the job promotion as long as Sierra came back to Jack alive in a month. But if Sierra got punished for not bringing back a queen, Phoebe would be sent to a murdering dark alchemist two ports away for years. Cold-blooded didn’t even begin to describe Sierra right now.

She let Nell see the ruthlessness in her eyes while carefully taking aim and drawing back the bowstring. Sierra aimed for Nell’s right thigh. Not to kill her, merely wound her a little. Sierra didn’t even want to do that, surprisingly. Corbin would be so upset if he ever found out.

A whisper ran through her mind again.
But if she were to disappear in this earthquake, he’d never know, right?
The cold edge in her thoughts made her catch her breath. Flight didn’t make people violent, which meant the thought to hurt or abandon Nell belonged only to Sierra. Her hands began to shake, but she couldn’t quite drop the bow. Images of Corbin and Nell in the twilight flickered through her mind. He was so happy with Nell.

Sierra cursed softly. She looked down at the girl below and couldn’t shoot, not even to wound. For Corbin’s sake, because Sierra loved him and believed he had fallen in love with Nell for some strange reason.

But if Nell was secretly dosing her with one of Jack’s concoctions? She thought on that. Yeah, maybe then. Phoebe would hate it if Sierra hurt anyone. Corbin might never forgive her. But she would still do it if she had to. If Nell had been slipping Sierra an elixir like Flight, it could ruin her chance to rescue Phoebe, and that couldn’t be permitted.

The answer surprised Sierra, but not as much as the emptiness that followed. No guilt, no grief. If Nell had been sabotaging the mission, she’d get left behind on that fallen cliff or shot in the leg. Sierra had to know. She tightened her grip on the bowstring again.

“Last chance,” she called. Sierra knew her voice contained the dead quality of Jack’s when he was about to hurt someone. For once, she didn’t care.

Nell licked her lips and answered. “I sold all the Flight Jack sent with me. I’ve been out since the second day. Why would I dose you?”

She must have recognized the tone. She had one like it, too.

“You’ve always had a problem with me, Nell, and we both know it.”

A small snort escaped through Nell’s grimace. “I might want to shoot you, but I want a job more. Come on, this is my life we’re talking about.”

“Yeah, your life. Your life working for a dark alchemist, one that dispenses poisons and illegal elixirs that destroy peoples’ lives. What kind of person wants to do that job, anyway? I’m stuck, but you’re not. I think you’re the kind of person who
likes
to hurt other people.”

Nell paled for a moment before her lips mashed into a thin line and a red flush stained her cheeks. If eyes could shoot arrows, Sierra would be riddled with them.

“Yes, poor little you,” Nell snapped. Her voice dropped, soft like she was sharing a secret, all while an arrow was trained on her. “You’ve never known what it is to go without protection.”

Sierra shook her head in disbelief. “Give me a break, Nell. You know Jack. You think living with him is some sort of festival? My home is a cage that I’m stuck in forever.”

“Give
me
a break, Sierra,” Nell mocked. “All you
know
is Jack. You’ve never lived outside the protection of an alchemist’s circle. You’ve never seen what happens to families who don’t have a master’s protection when they don’t have a father, either. You may live in a cage, but at least a cage keeps out other dangers.” Her eyes looked haunted, filled with memories she couldn’t or wouldn’t share.

Sierra stared and wondered if an elixir was at work after all, because none of this made sense. “What are you saying?”

Nell stomped one foot, then winced as the movement jarred her shoulder. “Look. You know how you say you resent being forced into life as a keeper?”

Sierra nodded hesitantly.

“Yet here you are, seeking your fairy. For your sister. I’ve got three sisters. You’ve seen them. Three Phoebe’s. No father. A mother who can’t work except small jobs like doing other people’s laundry. That doesn’t pay enough for food, Sierra. Now tell me you wouldn’t be an enforcer if you were strong enough to do it.” Nell’s face twisted into an expression of disgust, revulsion rank in her voice.

Sierra couldn’t get words out of her mouth. She didn’t want to know these things, not about Nell. Sierra didn’t want to think about Nell, without a father, with three little sisters. Nell, desperate and alone, taking on so much responsibility for someone her age. If those things were true, how could Sierra hate the older girl when they had so much in common?

All those years of Nell picking on her. Those years of Nell’s scathing remarks, Nell working up the ladder of Jack’s enterprise. Maybe she had just been jealous of what she saw as Sierra’s security, not to mention her close friendship with Corbin. Her mind spun. She took a deep breath and tried to distance herself from the swell of empathy rising inside. She wasn’t sure who Nell was upset with―Sierra or herself―but Sierra knew what it was to wish your life was different, to want to
be
different, to hate what you had to do. Maybe Nell knew that feeling, too.

A finch twittered its tune somewhere in the trees, uncaring about the tension simmering below, startling both girls as it broke the silence.

Nell closed her eyes and hung her head for a long moment, breathing heavily, kicking at the dirt with one foot. In that moment, Sierra lost her hold on the familiar feelings of hostility. Pity swam up through her anger, wiping the scowl from her face.

Nell glanced up and her face darkened, eyebrows drawing to a sharp V, making those blue eyes like frost.

“I don’t need you to
feel
for me, Fairy Fanatic. I’m doing fine for myself and my family.” She stood on the broken bit of earth, leaning to one side, arm cradled against her body. She flushed red like Sierra had seen her naked. It felt that way. Nell’s breath came fast, and she looked over Sierra’s head, refusing to meet her eyes. Sierra realized she still had the arrow aimed at her, a girl without a father, a girl with three more people to worry about than Sierra. She dropped her arms, holding the bow and arrow to the side like a snake that might bite her. Shame welled up, fighting its way through the confusing combination of dislike, pity, understanding, blame, and mistrust.

“So… no elixirs? I thought maybe…”

Nell met her eyes at last and said, “I promise. My word. No elixirs. No poisons.”

Sierra’s breath whistled out of her lungs in relief, her shoulders slumping as the heavy tension left her. She still had no explanation for the weird psychedelic flashes, but at least she felt a truce of sorts had been reached with Nell. They were more alike than Sierra had realized. Now she needed to get Nell out of here. But with her at Sierra’s mercy, she had something important to share.

“If you hurt him, I’ll hurt you,” Sierra said, keeping her tone casual as she looked around for anything she could use as rope.

“I could tell you the same.” Nell didn’t have to ask whom Sierra meant.

“I’d never hurt him.”

Nell measured Sierra with a long look, face completely expressionless. She shook her head, arm still hugged to her chest. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I know you two have been friends forever, always Sierra and Corbin, Corbin and Sierra. But people change, and you have to let them or it hurts everyone.”

Sierra stared back, confusion and indignation making her tired and queasy. As if she would ever hurt Corbin. Of course she and Corbin had spent a lot of time together. Nell made it sound like a bad thing. Sierra and Corbin were the only keepers in their area, so they had a lot in common, especially once she bonded to Queen. Naturally, they’d become best friends. But now that she thought about it, Nell had often been around the edges, always watching them. Had that been smothered longing in her expression instead of anger? Maybe Nell had needed a friend, too, and had been hurt when Corbin became less available. After all, Nell and Corbin had been pretty close before Sierra began spending so much time with him. No wonder Nell had hated her. Sierra’s throat tightened.

But she still had a job to do. Talking of Corbin brought him swiftly to mind, and she suddenly wondered if he was okay. The question sent an electric pulse of fear through her. She had no way to know what an earthquake could do in the mountains. Send rocks on top of them, of him? Adrenaline made her breathless and jittery. “We need to get to Corbin!”

Without hesitation, Nell said, “Check on him. I can wait.”

Her response finally broke something in Sierra. She couldn’t deny Nell must really care for him. Sierra also knew if she left, she might never find her way back here again. She laid down her bow and started to climb over the cliff.

“What are you doing?” Nell braced herself against the rock wall with her good arm as she glared up at her. “Go find Corbin!”

“I’m not going to leave you behind.”

“He could be hurt. He could be dying.” Nell’s words came out in a gasp.

“So he’ll need both of us.”

She clutched at the roots sneaking through the crumbling black dirt. Her knees sank into the torn earth around the edge of the cliff, and she pushed her fingers through the dirt like earthworms until she found a secure grip on tree roots and plant stems. The rich scent of decaying leaves filled her nose. One foot after another, she lowered herself, the dirt digging under her nails. The packed soil crumbled into her eyes, into her mouth, leaving a taste of mold and minerals, grit crunching under her teeth. She shook her head to clear dirt off her face, thankful all the dizziness was gone. When her toes touched the rocky solid ground, she gave a sigh of relief, ignoring Nell’s increasingly loud curses. Then Sierra craned her neck to look up at the path she had taken and rubbed her hand across her forehead, forgetting about the dirt until its dry crumbs mixed with her sweat to smear across her skin. Nice. Mud on the face now. She had bigger problems, though. If Nell hadn’t been hurt, the climb back up wouldn’t have been a concern. Nell’s being one-armed, though, made things difficult.

“You may as well shut up and help me fix your arm now,” Sierra said, crossing her arms.

Bile rose up the back of her throat at the sight of Nell’s right shoulder up close. Sierra wished even more, now, that Corbin was with them. He’d know what to do. Nell’s jacket had fallen halfway down her arm, but even through her thick woolen shirt, the lump of her bone visibly pushed forward at the wrong angle. Sierra pushed the jacket out of the way. Her stomach twisted, but she kept her emotions off her face to project a sense of calm. Nell kept her lips tightly pressed except when she opened them long enough to scream, turning her head to look at what Sierra was doing. Sierra jumped back, the hair on her neck crawling.

Nell panted and slumped forward, then gritted out, “I can fix it myself.”

Sierra rolled her eyes. “Sure you could, but why would you if you don’t have to suffer like that?”

“Ironic coming from you, don’t you think?”

A reluctant smile hovered on Sierra’s lips despite the gruesome sight of the dislocated shoulder. Nell’s face was as pale as milk, but that stubborn girl would fix her own arm if Sierra let her. Or at least try.

Sierra held her hands up in a gesture of peace-keeping. “How about we say I don’t want to have to climb down another cliff if you pass out from the pain, all right? We’ll pretend you fixed it yourself.”