Frost (16 page)

“What?”

“I only just found out a few months ago. He does their bidding in exchange for favors, for extra goods. He’s even visited one of their cities—I went along with him. It was the most frightening place I’ve ever been. Black, tall buildings, lots of fog, soldiers everywhere.”

I remembered when she’d given me the dress I was wearing, and how she brushed off the last time she’d worn it with a strained look. “But the Farthers are our enemies. We have no dealings with them.”

“I know,” she whispered. “That’s the thing. It’s his secret. He’s pretending to just cooperate with them out of a desire for peace, but he’s been doing this for years, and now he’s completely under their thumb. Why do you think he’s allowed them to come into the village and order everyone around? And now I’m afraid that even after they find that runaway they’re looking for, they aren’t going to leave.” She leaned closer, and her voice dropped to an almost imperceptible whisper. “Have you ever heard of an organization called the Thorns?”

Shivers ran up and down my arms. I just stared at her.

“They oppose the Farthers and their cruelty, and they help people escape Aeralis. My father says that some of the people in our village work with them, although he won’t tell me who he suspects. The Farthers know of their existence, but they don’t know who they are or they’d kill them all. Some of the villagers, Lia! I’m scared. What’s going to happen to us?”

Had the Mayor known about my parents? Suddenly it was hard to breathe. I pressed a hand to my forehead.

Ann grabbed my arm. “Are you all right?”

I looked her straight in the eye. “Can I trust you?”

“Of course,” she said, her eyes widening.

“There are things I haven’t told you,” I said. “Things I can’t tell you—not yet. But I desperately need your help.”

And then I explained what I needed her to do.

~

Back on the main floor, I skirted the crowd searching for Adam. It was imperative that I find him. More Farthers stood by the doors and windows, watching the festivities almost as if they were ensuring that nothing would go wrong. Whispers rose above the music around me, and I heard snatches of conversations. Some of the Farthers hadn’t returned from searching the farms. They were agitated, on edge. I stepped back into the shadows, wanting nothing more than to hide myself from their cold gazes.

Footsteps—someone stopped close behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, and I stiffened, raising my chin and pretending indifference. A Farther?

“I heard you were looking for me,” a voice whispered.

Adam Brewer. I was still a moment, drenched in relief, and then I turned to face him. I hadn’t ever really
looked
at him this close up before. His dark hair brushed the edges of his collared shirt. Stubble shadowed his chin—he must be older than I realized, perhaps a few years older than me.

“Yes. We need to speak.”

“I’m listening,” he said.

The music was loud, loud enough that I knew I could speak softly and not be overheard. My lips barely moved as I addressed him. “What you said to me in the forest—how did you know?”

“About your beau?” His lip curled a little with amusement. He was playing dumb.

“About the circle of stones.”

His gaze cut to mine, all humor gone now.

“Not here,” I said. “Outside?”

We wove through the crowd. My skin prickled as I passed beneath the Farthers’ noses, but they didn’t spare me so much as a glance. Adam was silent until we stepped onto the back porch, and then he faced me. Now that I had the safety of privacy, I continued, “What you said in the forest about the yarn—that was some kind of code, wasn’t it?”

He didn’t confirm that my hunch was right, but he didn’t deny it either. I reached into the folds of my dress and unclipped the Thorn brooch I’d hidden there earlier, disguised perfectly against the silver beading of the dress. I uncurled my fingers, revealing it to him against the pale skin of my palm.

Instantly he covered my hand with his, hiding it. “What are you doing? Do you know what it would mean if you were caught with that?”

His reaction was the confirmation I needed. “I want you to tell me everything you know. Everything. Our lives might depend on it.”

Adam considered the question. “How can I be sure I can trust you?” he murmured.

“We’re hiding the Farther,” I said. It was my very last card, and my biggest gamble.

He blinked. He was obviously shocked, but he recovered quickly and smiled as if we were just having a pleasant conversation about the winter weather. In a low voice, he said, “And what do you know of my family?”

“You worked with my parents, I think. And you must know the forest well if you spend time there. You and your family are with the Thorns, too.”

He didn’t deny it. “And?”

“And we’re going to need your help. We need to get Gabe to safety.”

“Gabe?”

I didn’t speak, but he understood it all just by that simple gesture, by my use of the Farther’s name. I could see him putting all the pieces together in his head, and then his jaw flexed as he considered his words.

“Emotions complicate things, Lia. Are you sure you can do what needs to be done without flinching?”

“I can do anything I set my mind to,” I said. “Now are you going to help me or not?”

“What did you have in mind?”

“He needs to get to a place called Echo. Ever heard of it?”

Adam’s expression told me that he had indeed heard of it. His eyes widened lightly and his jaw flexed. “We don’t know where it is,” he said finally. “Your parents had most of the maps, and they lost that one the night...” He broke off. “Well, it’s safe to say the map we need is gone now.”

The mention of their deaths sent pain through my chest, but I pressed on. “I know. But I have a plan. I think I know where to find it.”

~

Ann found me by the refreshments. She slipped up beside me and squeezed my arm, the arranged signal.

She’d been successful.

The Mayor was giving a speech, and the partygoers had gathered around him to listen. Together, we slipped away from the rest and toward the stairs. A few of the Farthers’ eyes followed us, but they looked bored. No one else noticed.

Once we’d rounded the staircase, Ann pulled out the key to her father’s study. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she whispered, her eyes round as she looked at it in her hand.

“Hurry,” I said, taking it from her and lifting my skirts so I could climb the stairs. “We need to do this while everyone is still distracted.”

The lock to the Mayor’s study turned easily with the key. Ann lingered outside, her foot tapping nervously. I shut the door and looked around.

It was the same as it had been before—bookshelves, a tall window letting in pale light, the massive desk covered in papers. I went to the desk and pushed the missives and letters aside, looking for the map. But it was missing.

Biting my lip, I looked around. Where could he have put it? In one of the books on the shelf? In one of the desk drawers? Panic squeezed at me—what if I couldn’t find it?

I braced myself against the desk, and my fingers brushed a tiny button. Thinking of the stones in our barn, I pressed it.

The top of the desk slid back, revealing a hollow space stuffed with papers. I rifled through them quickly, and my breath caught in my chest as I saw dozens of reports to the Farthers with the Mayor’s signature on the bottom. He’d been seeking the Thorns for them. He’d been spying on his own people with the intent to betray. What had happened to staying out of other people’s problems? And it looked like he’d been handsomely compensated in return—some of the papers detailed the extra supplies he’d received in payment: sugar, expensive fabrics, furniture and meats and trips into Aeralis.

I found the map at the bottom of the pile. I unfolded it and spread it across the top of the desk, my eyes searching the scrawls for the mention of Echo. I didn’t dare try to take it. I had to copy everything, and quickly. Pulling the thin paper I’d brought from my sleeve of my dress, I pressed it down over the map. I traced the locations as closely to the original as I could manage.

“Lia?” Ann called from the other side of the door. “Hurry up. I think I hear someone coming.”

I worked faster. When I finished, I shoved the map back in the secret compartment and pressed the button to close it. I ran to the door.

“Find it?” Ann asked. She bit her lip and looked over her shoulder as I eased the door closed behind me. Someone was coming—I could hear the thump of their footsteps.

I nodded. “I found it. Let’s go.”

We smoothed our skirts and walked slowly, angling our heads down as if we were sharing a secret.

A pair of Farthers passed us in the hall, speaking in low tones. They didn’t look at our faces, and a murmur of their conversation reached my ears as we passed them.

“...Make another sweep of the farms tomorrow,” one was saying. “We’ve received a tip about that one family, the Weavers. We’re going to tear their property apart looking for that little bastard as soon as it’s light again. Tell the others.”

Coldness sliced through me while Ann gasped softly at the mention of us. I grabbed her hand and squeezed hard, reminding her to be silent. They didn’t know who we were. It took everything in me to keep walking calmly.

Someone had betrayed us.

My mind immediately went to Adam Brewer. But that couldn’t be right…could it? He’d told me where to find the Thorn things. He’d helped us already.

I just didn’t know what to believe.

When we’d reached the staircase, Ann crumpled against the rail.

“Lia, your family. Do you think it was my father who told them...?”

“I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter right now.” I felt frozen in calm, but perhaps it was just shock. My hands were clammy and shaking, but my voice was steady. “I know what I have to do.”

Either way, I had the map. Now I just had to get Gabe to safety. I couldn’t leave him in the secret room again—they’d almost discovered it last time, and I knew with a fierce certainty that they’d be even more thorough this time. No, we had to move tonight.

“I’m so frightened,” she sobbed. “Father’s caught like a rat in a trap with this Farther business, and you—what will happen to you and your family?”

“Don’t worry about me,” I said. I was already calculating how much time we would have, what would have to be done. If they were coming to tear our home apart looking for Gabe, then we’d have to get him out tonight. “I have a plan.”

“They’re ruthless, Lia,” she said. “Once, when I was in their city, I saw a group of them kill a man because he’d spat on their shoes.”

A shudder ran down my spine. “I’ll be careful. I promise. We’ll take care of everything tonight.”

She grabbed my sleeve, stopping me as I turned. “What if they catch you?”

I couldn’t think about that right now. If I let myself feel the fear that lapped at the edges of my mind, I’d never move. “I’ll be careful,” I repeated.

Her fingers slipped down my sleeve to my hand, and she squeezed my palm in goodbye.

“Thank you for helping me, Ann,” I whispered.

She nodded, and her lip quivered. “I’m sorry I can’t do more.”

I smiled at her—my brave, best friend. Through the windows, I could see the sky was beginning to turn golden-orange. Night was approaching. “I need to get going,” I said.

“Be safe.”

Her smile was breaking into pieces as she pressed my hand with hers.

I went to find Adam. I had to tell him that plans had changed—we had to take Gabe tonight.

LEAVING THE PARTY, I moved down the village road and toward the forest as fast I as could without attracting attention. Snow had begun to fall thick and fast, a wall of white between me and the rest of the world. The sky was slate gray and the trees just slashes of black on either side of me. I walked fast, my breath coming in gasps of icy-cold air as I struggled forward. I had to hurry.

A shadow drifted to my right—Adam—but we didn’t speak, didn’t acknowledge each other. When we came to the fork in the path, he paused. His eyes met mine once. I didn’t say anything. He didn’t either.

We parted a moment later, and I turned my head to look after him. He was walking fast, his head down and the wind whipping his cloak around his shoulders. I dragged in another deep breath and went on alone.

~

I crested the hill to the farm just as the sunset glowed and the treetops caught fire. Most would not describe the Frost as beautiful, but I saw beauty in that moment. The farm spread out below me, and I paused as I took a long look at the life my parents had built here, with the crumbling, whitewashed house, the ramshackle barn, the paddock and well, and the perimeter of trees that surrounded it all like the hovering hands of a frozen enemy. The whole thing seemed so fragile, as if it were all built of eggshells and dreams atop the ice. And I reflected that I could destroy it all with what we were doing, but I knew with a fierce and terrible certainty that I was going to do it anyway, and that there were some things that mattered more than security.

The wind blew, stinging my cheeks and carrying with it the taste of ice. I slogged down the hill to the porch. My legs were weak with relief.

I’d made it.

Ivy and Jonn looked up anxiously from the yarn in their laps. I tossed off my cloak and went straight to the fire to warm myself. I didn’t see Gabe anywhere. “Where is he?” I asked.

“In the barn, beneath the floor. He thought it safest. Did you...?” Ivy was afraid to even voice the words.

I nodded, grim but proud. “I got it.”

Her mouth curved in the faintest smile, and she bent over her work again, but her fingers trembled and her eyes fluttered closed with relief. The thought that she’d grown up so much in the last few months chased through my head, and I was proud of her.

“What about Adam Brewer?” Jonn asked.

“I spoke to him and showed him the pin. He recognized it.” I leaned down to warm my hands against the heat of the fire. “His family knows these woods. He’s going to help us.”