Dust + Ashes, page 27
A sharp pain broke into his thoughts, and he looked at his hand. He’d been gripping the crystal so hard it had cut his palm. Compared to the pain in his chest and throat, he’d barely noticed it. His entire being—mind, body, and soul—felt like it was being wrung out. He wavered, suddenly dizzy.
“Stubborn boy. Take these,” Valerie said, seeing this. She held up a couple of white tablets. “It’ll help.”
Benjamin looked at her offering. Then, he shook his head. “No. I need to stay clear-headed to focus—”
“They’re salt, you goose. They’ll clear your aura. You’ll feel better.”
Still, he didn’t take them. What would happen if he did? Would they disrupt his power now that he was part viel? He didn’t want to find out. Closing his hand over Valerie’s, he shook his head again. “I’m not sure I should. I, uh...” He fumbled for an excuse and remembered what he had sensed trailing Tia in the void. “I think it might complicate my search.”
“How so?” Valerie asked, giving him a peculiar expression.
“Tia’s not alone. There are... others with her. Connected to her.”
“What? Who?”
He shook his head. “Brizo Darling, for one. The other might mean trouble.” At his tone, Valerie’s expression darkened. “It might be wise to have people on standby with rock salt-loaded shotguns... and a lot of valerian.”
TIA LOOKED DOWN, IN awe of the infinity of woven threads stretching all around her, farther than she could comprehend. Without the amulet, it was far more daunting to exist here. Everything felt too slick, slipping away from her at the slightest touch. She drifted, looking around, searching.
“Where are you?” she whispered. Ahead, she saw the tangled mess of threads around the pulsing, virulent sac of the Greater’s prison. She recognized it from the Pages’ map. She belonged somewhere within that tangle. She just didn’t know where.
Something fluttered across its undulating surface, catching her attention. Just a streak, like an inverted lens flare, before it was gone. Squinting, Tia tried to find it again, but without luck. She was starting to believe she had imagined it when it appeared again, slipping between two thick, silky strands, and arched towards her. It was incredibly far away but moving fast. Her heart skipped. This time, she wasn’t scared but excited.
TIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAA
The shadow streaked over her, and she felt a swell of joy as she got a clear sight of it. It was a raven. Sleek and dark, with magnificent, flaring wings that brushed the fabric of reality and sent ripples of color up and down the threads where they grazed. Its tail stretched back behind it, leaving a trail of threads stretching back toward the tangled mess. In its beak was a brilliant orb of light, and within that orb, she saw the curled shape of a person.
“Ben...” she whispered. It was him. He had found her and was guiding her home. Grinning, she threw out her arms and waved. “Here! Benji! I’m here!”
The raven did another swoop before diving toward her, and for a split-second Tia thought it was going to crash. She threw up her arm to shield her face and laughed as the bird gently landed on her arm instead. Cocking its head, it angled its beak so that she could clearly see the glowing orb. She held out her other hand and the raven dropped the light into it. For a moment, she smiled into the glow, feeling it suffuse her skin. It felt nice, melting away her lingering fears and wrapping around her in a fierce, yet tender embrace, safe and warm. Likewise, she held the light protectively to her chest.
The raven squawked, interrupting her revelry, and she looked at it. “Thank you. Can you take me home now?”
The raven squawked again and plucked at her thread, before diving back toward the fabric. Tia gripped her thread tight, sliding along and letting the bird guide her. They twisted and banked around and between the messy folds of the reality fabric, before evening out. They aimed for one of the folds, and Tia saw her thread begin to shimmer. Just ahead, a point on the fabric lit up where it wove in. She flipped over and rocketed headfirst toward it. She laughed, unafraid in Benjamin’s embrace, as she hit the sheet and passed through, feeling as if she’d been dropped into a pile of feathers.
The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the floor of the Nest’s cafeteria. A line of armed Crows, some of whom she recognized from her previous visit, faced her.
“Tia?” The name came as a wet croak from beneath her. Startled, she looked down and saw—
“Oh my god, Benjamin,” she gasped.
He was doubled over across from her, head tilted slightly up so that she could see him looking at her. The whites of his eyes were crimson, and blood dribbled from the corners of his mouth, nose and ears. It stained the tips of his fingers. Dark, purplish bruises ringed his reddened eyes, and with each panting breath came a wet rattle in his chest.
Horrified, she reached a trembling hand toward him. What had he done? She brushed aside a few strands of his hair, and he moaned as if she’d raked him with hot coals. She yanked her hand back, afraid to hurt him, and saw that where her fingers had touched him, red welts were rising on his skin and splitting open. It was like he was made of soggy tissue.
“Oh my god, oh my god,” she repeated. “What did you do?”
“Found you—”
“No, no, no.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “You shouldn’t have done that. Not like this, you dummy.”
“You’re home now. Got you home...”
His entire body seemed to clench, locking up his words as sheer agony screamed across his face. She reached for him again, but someone grabbed her hand and pulled her away—Melanie.
“Don’t touch him,” the older woman warned.
“But he needs help—”
“He made his choice, Tia.”
“It was a dumb choice!”
Distantly, someone called from the lobby. “We got one in here! A woman!”
Several more cries rang out around the cafeteria. “Mel! Look out!”
Beside them, the air rippled as Eddie faded into existence, hunched with his arms over his face as if braced for impact. When he was fully materialized, he straightened and lowered his arms, revealing a face squinched in a grimace. As Tia watched, shadows coalesced around him, latching on and filling in the monstrous shadow lurking beneath his human face. A shudder quaked through him before, slowly, he relaxed. He drew in a deep breath, opened his eyes, and smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “Do you smell that, Tia? Home sweet home.”
Immediately, Melanie pulled the girl behind the line of armed Crows, who leveled their weapons at the viel. Eddie seemed amused by this, but only momentarily. Lowering his gaze, he studied the young man bleeding at his feet and gently nudged him with his foot. Benjamin moaned.
Tia jerked away from Melanie and pushed back through the Crows to face her former venturing companion. She raised a finger warningly at him.
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t do that, Edmund.”
“He really doesn’t look good, does he?” Eddie observed. “I did warn him about using Rend energy, but the kid’s a daredevil. I’ll give him that.”
“Get. Away. From. Him.”
“But I can help him.” The viel’s grin widened, the pupils of his eyes strobing with an almost imperceptible pulse. Was he taller, too? More imposing? “Lemme turn ’im thrall. Surely, you don’t want him to die. I thought we were all BFFs now.”
“Shut up.” Rage boiled in Tia’s belly. It had happened so fast. The hulking monster underneath was practically bursting through his human glamour now. He wasn’t fighting it at all!
“Oh, come on, Tia. I wanna help, and I know you don’t want him to die. After everything we’ve been through together, I owe you one.” He moved toward her, stepping over Benjamin and opening his arms in an inviting way. Tia was too mad to be afraid. She took another step forward, keeping her hand outstretched toward him. When he tried to move around her, she blocked his way.
“I’ll reconcile you,” she warned. “Maybe Edmund owed me something, but you’re not him. You’re the Greater, and I will put you in a world of pain.”
“Do you really think you can just—” There was a dull thwaaap as the butt of a shotgun collided with the back of Eddie’s skull. His eyes bulged with shock and incredulity for an instant before his expression twisted into a snarl, and he whirled around, lashing out at Benjamin, who toppled back and scuttled behind the Crow line, dragging the weapon with him. The monster swelled with rage. “You—”
The room erupted In gunfire. Eddie shrieked and twitched with every blast of hot rock salt. His clothes and flesh disintegrated, leaving black, sticky burns across his body as he collapsed. The Crows fired another volley at him as he screamed and twitched on the ground.
And even then, the monstrosity did not stop. Tia watched, horrified, as the viel lifted his mangled but still intact head and sputtered a laugh. She’d seen this before, both in real life and in so many nightmares since. Eddie could not be defeated so easily.
Beside her, Benjamin staggered to his feet and wiped blood from his mouth. With some effort, he hoisted his shotgun and aimed it, point-blank, at his enemy’s head.
“Well, this is a familiar position I find myself in,” Eddie gurgled at him. “You’re tougher than you look, Benji boy. I really thought you were kicking it there, but you’ve pulled through, yet again. Interesting.”
Benjamin pressed the gun barrel to Eddie’s temple. “We Nashes are a pesky lot that way. This is for Gramps.”
“You know it won’t kill—”
The shot exploded against the viel’s head, jerking it sideways, and Eddie slumped over, face-down on the dusty floor. Benjamin coughed, spitting out a gob of bloody phlegm.
“Yeah, yeah, but I bet it hurts like hell,” he muttered. He waved to the other Crows. “Let’s move. We only have a couple minutes before he recovers.”
He swooned as he finished speaking, and Tia grabbed him. She buckled as his full weight slumped against her. Slowly, together, they sank to the floor.
“You idiot,” she said. “You idiot jerk.”
“You’re okay,” he whispered, giving her a weak smile. “Good.”
“You’re not. Oh, Ben. What did you do?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve been worse. With you around, I’m used to this sorta thing by now.”
“No,” Tia said. “Don’t say that. I’m sorry.”
“Pretty sure you’ll be the death of me.” He didn’t sound bitter, though. He was still smiling, though he closed his bloodshot eyes. “Don’t worry, though. I’m not quite dead yet...”
The other Crows swarmed around the fallen viel. They flipped him onto his back and shoved a tube into the jagged gash that was his mouth. At the other end was a funnel and, carefully, they began pouring a dark liquid into it.
“What are you...?” she started to ask, but darkness was creeping into her peripheral vision. What was she saying? It was difficult to think. Her brain felt too thick. Oh, she thought, right. Time was catching up with her.
Her leaden eyelids closed, and she slumped against Benjamin, falling into deep, relieved sleep.
16th of August 1851
MY LOVE SUSAN,
The heat has dragged on, as has the infliction upon our camp. Several men have fully recovered, though a handful have succumbed. Reggie has also ordered most of the prisoners released, though Mr Kang remains locked up. I have tried on multiple occasions to see the man, but Archie has put me off at every turn. He also puts me off seeing Reggie, acting as secretary of sorts, and I haven’t even shared a nightcap with our dear, mutual friend in weeks! I can say that something has changed in the camp. There is a quiet focus among the faithful miners, especially those who have recovered from illness, as if they have become a single mind. And yet, there is a fear running through the other half, those remaining fortified in Mr Kang’s camp with their own ceremonies and beliefs, and in those that are still sick.
I asked Mr Thomas about this unspoken fear while inventorying his shift’s haul, but he assured me it was an imagined fear. Everything in camp was just fine, he explained.
Yet, late that night, he returned to my tent under cover of darkness, and I could see he was truly afraid.
It’s nightmares, he explained. Every man in Mr Kang’s camp has suffered nightmares for nigh on a month now. On a whim, I asked him to detail his own nightmares, and, hesitantly, and with some liquid encouragement, he did:
“I’m back in Master Thomas’s study,” he told me, voice so low as to be nearly inaudible and almost breaking with emotion. “He taught me to read and do sums, which he wasn’t supposed to, according to the law, but he hated doing that sort of work as he was old and having a hard time seeing of late, and he liked having someone to read to him now and again. He didn’t have children, and his wife was ailing pretty bad, so all he really had was his wealth and his property.” He spat this last word. “It was to be our secret, and he always said he’d kill me if I ever told another soul what I’d been taught. It was sort of his fare-thee-well for me whenever I finished working in his study: ‘Speak not a word of this or I’ll kill you, Thaddeus.’
“Anyway, in this nightmare, I’m figuring the books while Master Thomas stands behind me. He’s got the whip in his hands, and I’m trying real hard to do the sums, but all the numbers and letters keep changing into signs I don’t understand. And Master Thomas sees I’m making mistakes, so he lashes me. He lectures me in a nonsense language, and is coughing and acting real sick, but he keeps making these promises in English: he’ll stop punishing me if I stop making mistakes. He’ll set me free if I just listen to his instructions and follow them properly. Which sounds mighty fine, but no matter how I try, I can’t do it, and I know it’s all lies anyway.
“And suddenly I also know Master Thomas isn’t striking me with a whip. It’s part of him, like a vine, and he’s not really human anymore. And I know if I turn around and see what he is, I’d go right mad, and if I finish what he—it—wants me to do... well, I don’t like thinking about that part.”
Mr Thomas fell silent then, shaking his head. I could tell it had taken some courage for him to share this with me and I thanked him for it. I swore to keep what he had shared between us.
I am truly disturbed by what he said. Save for the personal details and setting, he described almost exactly the same general terror I’ve been suffering nightly: an unseen and monstrous entity promising what I want most if only I do something for it, and yet I am sure the cost would be great. I do not think I need to ask Reggie (as if I could!) if he too has had such dreams; the fervor in his manner speaks all too well that he has been inflicted with some similar offer and has, I fear, possibly succumbed to it.
Mr Thomas also mentioned that Mr Kang and the other imprisoned men had been taken in the night without any explanation to their crimes. He told me to act accordingly because the others are watching us for any sign of disobedience. He also warned me to be careful what I write.
I’m unsure what to make of the young man’s warnings, other than he seemed far more lucid and level-headed for me to doubt them. I think I shall keep my ledger on my person from here on. I may not believe in black magic and mysticism as some of the men in this camp do, but I do believe there is something afoul in this camp, and I am no longer sure I can trust those I once did implicitly.
Your troubled one,
Ned
Chapter Eighteen
Home Again
TIA’S LEVEL OF AWARENESS rose and fell with the passing hours, catching brief snippets of what was happening around her. These snippets were disjointed, floating freely across her barely conscious mind with few settling into memory.
“I’m fine, Fox. Let me up.” Benjamin’s voice, a comfort despite its irritated tone.
“No, you fool boy. You’ll stay here until you’re not bleeding out of every hole in your face anymore.”
“I’m not! I’m fine.”
“Stubborn child. You set one foot out of bed, and I’ll tan your hide. I swear I will, and you know it...”
The voices grew distorted, fading away. Until later...
“How is she?” Was that Uncle Ray? What was he doing here? “Both she and Briz?”
“Fine as far as we can tell. Just sleeping.”
And even later...
“— tried to tear ’em apart before they got him properly dosed. They’re in bad shape, but they’ll survive.”
“And Mel?”
“Still getting worse. Let her rest. Poor lamb, she’s been so weak but still insisted on patching them up. It took a lot out of her.”
Then came the shouting. Despite being muffled by distance, it was loud and angry enough to drag Tia fully back to the waking world. Opening her eyes, she saw she was in what looked like a makeshift hospital ward. Around her, several other beds were occupied with bandaged and unconscious individuals. In the one across from her, Benjamin sat propped up by pillows. A bandage was wrapped around his head, and he was glaring toward the closed door, disapproving of the commotion beyond it.
She stayed still and said nothing, enjoying observing him under the pretense that he was unobserved. Other than the bandage, he looked much better than he had the last time she’d seen him, just after returning, although he was making no effort to hide his pain and irritation. Not that he usually did—for as long as she’d known him, he’d had some anger simmering just below the surface, and he never exactly tried to hide it. But now it looked different, altering his expression in a way she didn’t expect. It was almost as if a light had turned off above him and he now sat in darkness, despite the fluorescents overhead being on.
Abruptly, the door opened, and a brunette Crow Tia had seen among the others in the cafeteria hurried in.
“Beck, what’s going on?” Benjamin asked. The brunette bit her lip.
“What do you think? Daddy’s home and he’s not happy.” At this, Benjamin made to get up, but the brunette quickly forced him back into bed. “Oh no you don’t. Let Val handle him. She wants us out of the way, and I’m not about to risk the combined wrath of both her and your aunt.”
“Stubborn boy. Take these,” Valerie said, seeing this. She held up a couple of white tablets. “It’ll help.”
Benjamin looked at her offering. Then, he shook his head. “No. I need to stay clear-headed to focus—”
“They’re salt, you goose. They’ll clear your aura. You’ll feel better.”
Still, he didn’t take them. What would happen if he did? Would they disrupt his power now that he was part viel? He didn’t want to find out. Closing his hand over Valerie’s, he shook his head again. “I’m not sure I should. I, uh...” He fumbled for an excuse and remembered what he had sensed trailing Tia in the void. “I think it might complicate my search.”
“How so?” Valerie asked, giving him a peculiar expression.
“Tia’s not alone. There are... others with her. Connected to her.”
“What? Who?”
He shook his head. “Brizo Darling, for one. The other might mean trouble.” At his tone, Valerie’s expression darkened. “It might be wise to have people on standby with rock salt-loaded shotguns... and a lot of valerian.”
TIA LOOKED DOWN, IN awe of the infinity of woven threads stretching all around her, farther than she could comprehend. Without the amulet, it was far more daunting to exist here. Everything felt too slick, slipping away from her at the slightest touch. She drifted, looking around, searching.
“Where are you?” she whispered. Ahead, she saw the tangled mess of threads around the pulsing, virulent sac of the Greater’s prison. She recognized it from the Pages’ map. She belonged somewhere within that tangle. She just didn’t know where.
Something fluttered across its undulating surface, catching her attention. Just a streak, like an inverted lens flare, before it was gone. Squinting, Tia tried to find it again, but without luck. She was starting to believe she had imagined it when it appeared again, slipping between two thick, silky strands, and arched towards her. It was incredibly far away but moving fast. Her heart skipped. This time, she wasn’t scared but excited.
TIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAA
The shadow streaked over her, and she felt a swell of joy as she got a clear sight of it. It was a raven. Sleek and dark, with magnificent, flaring wings that brushed the fabric of reality and sent ripples of color up and down the threads where they grazed. Its tail stretched back behind it, leaving a trail of threads stretching back toward the tangled mess. In its beak was a brilliant orb of light, and within that orb, she saw the curled shape of a person.
“Ben...” she whispered. It was him. He had found her and was guiding her home. Grinning, she threw out her arms and waved. “Here! Benji! I’m here!”
The raven did another swoop before diving toward her, and for a split-second Tia thought it was going to crash. She threw up her arm to shield her face and laughed as the bird gently landed on her arm instead. Cocking its head, it angled its beak so that she could clearly see the glowing orb. She held out her other hand and the raven dropped the light into it. For a moment, she smiled into the glow, feeling it suffuse her skin. It felt nice, melting away her lingering fears and wrapping around her in a fierce, yet tender embrace, safe and warm. Likewise, she held the light protectively to her chest.
The raven squawked, interrupting her revelry, and she looked at it. “Thank you. Can you take me home now?”
The raven squawked again and plucked at her thread, before diving back toward the fabric. Tia gripped her thread tight, sliding along and letting the bird guide her. They twisted and banked around and between the messy folds of the reality fabric, before evening out. They aimed for one of the folds, and Tia saw her thread begin to shimmer. Just ahead, a point on the fabric lit up where it wove in. She flipped over and rocketed headfirst toward it. She laughed, unafraid in Benjamin’s embrace, as she hit the sheet and passed through, feeling as if she’d been dropped into a pile of feathers.
The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the floor of the Nest’s cafeteria. A line of armed Crows, some of whom she recognized from her previous visit, faced her.
“Tia?” The name came as a wet croak from beneath her. Startled, she looked down and saw—
“Oh my god, Benjamin,” she gasped.
He was doubled over across from her, head tilted slightly up so that she could see him looking at her. The whites of his eyes were crimson, and blood dribbled from the corners of his mouth, nose and ears. It stained the tips of his fingers. Dark, purplish bruises ringed his reddened eyes, and with each panting breath came a wet rattle in his chest.
Horrified, she reached a trembling hand toward him. What had he done? She brushed aside a few strands of his hair, and he moaned as if she’d raked him with hot coals. She yanked her hand back, afraid to hurt him, and saw that where her fingers had touched him, red welts were rising on his skin and splitting open. It was like he was made of soggy tissue.
“Oh my god, oh my god,” she repeated. “What did you do?”
“Found you—”
“No, no, no.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “You shouldn’t have done that. Not like this, you dummy.”
“You’re home now. Got you home...”
His entire body seemed to clench, locking up his words as sheer agony screamed across his face. She reached for him again, but someone grabbed her hand and pulled her away—Melanie.
“Don’t touch him,” the older woman warned.
“But he needs help—”
“He made his choice, Tia.”
“It was a dumb choice!”
Distantly, someone called from the lobby. “We got one in here! A woman!”
Several more cries rang out around the cafeteria. “Mel! Look out!”
Beside them, the air rippled as Eddie faded into existence, hunched with his arms over his face as if braced for impact. When he was fully materialized, he straightened and lowered his arms, revealing a face squinched in a grimace. As Tia watched, shadows coalesced around him, latching on and filling in the monstrous shadow lurking beneath his human face. A shudder quaked through him before, slowly, he relaxed. He drew in a deep breath, opened his eyes, and smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “Do you smell that, Tia? Home sweet home.”
Immediately, Melanie pulled the girl behind the line of armed Crows, who leveled their weapons at the viel. Eddie seemed amused by this, but only momentarily. Lowering his gaze, he studied the young man bleeding at his feet and gently nudged him with his foot. Benjamin moaned.
Tia jerked away from Melanie and pushed back through the Crows to face her former venturing companion. She raised a finger warningly at him.
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t do that, Edmund.”
“He really doesn’t look good, does he?” Eddie observed. “I did warn him about using Rend energy, but the kid’s a daredevil. I’ll give him that.”
“Get. Away. From. Him.”
“But I can help him.” The viel’s grin widened, the pupils of his eyes strobing with an almost imperceptible pulse. Was he taller, too? More imposing? “Lemme turn ’im thrall. Surely, you don’t want him to die. I thought we were all BFFs now.”
“Shut up.” Rage boiled in Tia’s belly. It had happened so fast. The hulking monster underneath was practically bursting through his human glamour now. He wasn’t fighting it at all!
“Oh, come on, Tia. I wanna help, and I know you don’t want him to die. After everything we’ve been through together, I owe you one.” He moved toward her, stepping over Benjamin and opening his arms in an inviting way. Tia was too mad to be afraid. She took another step forward, keeping her hand outstretched toward him. When he tried to move around her, she blocked his way.
“I’ll reconcile you,” she warned. “Maybe Edmund owed me something, but you’re not him. You’re the Greater, and I will put you in a world of pain.”
“Do you really think you can just—” There was a dull thwaaap as the butt of a shotgun collided with the back of Eddie’s skull. His eyes bulged with shock and incredulity for an instant before his expression twisted into a snarl, and he whirled around, lashing out at Benjamin, who toppled back and scuttled behind the Crow line, dragging the weapon with him. The monster swelled with rage. “You—”
The room erupted In gunfire. Eddie shrieked and twitched with every blast of hot rock salt. His clothes and flesh disintegrated, leaving black, sticky burns across his body as he collapsed. The Crows fired another volley at him as he screamed and twitched on the ground.
And even then, the monstrosity did not stop. Tia watched, horrified, as the viel lifted his mangled but still intact head and sputtered a laugh. She’d seen this before, both in real life and in so many nightmares since. Eddie could not be defeated so easily.
Beside her, Benjamin staggered to his feet and wiped blood from his mouth. With some effort, he hoisted his shotgun and aimed it, point-blank, at his enemy’s head.
“Well, this is a familiar position I find myself in,” Eddie gurgled at him. “You’re tougher than you look, Benji boy. I really thought you were kicking it there, but you’ve pulled through, yet again. Interesting.”
Benjamin pressed the gun barrel to Eddie’s temple. “We Nashes are a pesky lot that way. This is for Gramps.”
“You know it won’t kill—”
The shot exploded against the viel’s head, jerking it sideways, and Eddie slumped over, face-down on the dusty floor. Benjamin coughed, spitting out a gob of bloody phlegm.
“Yeah, yeah, but I bet it hurts like hell,” he muttered. He waved to the other Crows. “Let’s move. We only have a couple minutes before he recovers.”
He swooned as he finished speaking, and Tia grabbed him. She buckled as his full weight slumped against her. Slowly, together, they sank to the floor.
“You idiot,” she said. “You idiot jerk.”
“You’re okay,” he whispered, giving her a weak smile. “Good.”
“You’re not. Oh, Ben. What did you do?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve been worse. With you around, I’m used to this sorta thing by now.”
“No,” Tia said. “Don’t say that. I’m sorry.”
“Pretty sure you’ll be the death of me.” He didn’t sound bitter, though. He was still smiling, though he closed his bloodshot eyes. “Don’t worry, though. I’m not quite dead yet...”
The other Crows swarmed around the fallen viel. They flipped him onto his back and shoved a tube into the jagged gash that was his mouth. At the other end was a funnel and, carefully, they began pouring a dark liquid into it.
“What are you...?” she started to ask, but darkness was creeping into her peripheral vision. What was she saying? It was difficult to think. Her brain felt too thick. Oh, she thought, right. Time was catching up with her.
Her leaden eyelids closed, and she slumped against Benjamin, falling into deep, relieved sleep.
16th of August 1851
MY LOVE SUSAN,
The heat has dragged on, as has the infliction upon our camp. Several men have fully recovered, though a handful have succumbed. Reggie has also ordered most of the prisoners released, though Mr Kang remains locked up. I have tried on multiple occasions to see the man, but Archie has put me off at every turn. He also puts me off seeing Reggie, acting as secretary of sorts, and I haven’t even shared a nightcap with our dear, mutual friend in weeks! I can say that something has changed in the camp. There is a quiet focus among the faithful miners, especially those who have recovered from illness, as if they have become a single mind. And yet, there is a fear running through the other half, those remaining fortified in Mr Kang’s camp with their own ceremonies and beliefs, and in those that are still sick.
I asked Mr Thomas about this unspoken fear while inventorying his shift’s haul, but he assured me it was an imagined fear. Everything in camp was just fine, he explained.
Yet, late that night, he returned to my tent under cover of darkness, and I could see he was truly afraid.
It’s nightmares, he explained. Every man in Mr Kang’s camp has suffered nightmares for nigh on a month now. On a whim, I asked him to detail his own nightmares, and, hesitantly, and with some liquid encouragement, he did:
“I’m back in Master Thomas’s study,” he told me, voice so low as to be nearly inaudible and almost breaking with emotion. “He taught me to read and do sums, which he wasn’t supposed to, according to the law, but he hated doing that sort of work as he was old and having a hard time seeing of late, and he liked having someone to read to him now and again. He didn’t have children, and his wife was ailing pretty bad, so all he really had was his wealth and his property.” He spat this last word. “It was to be our secret, and he always said he’d kill me if I ever told another soul what I’d been taught. It was sort of his fare-thee-well for me whenever I finished working in his study: ‘Speak not a word of this or I’ll kill you, Thaddeus.’
“Anyway, in this nightmare, I’m figuring the books while Master Thomas stands behind me. He’s got the whip in his hands, and I’m trying real hard to do the sums, but all the numbers and letters keep changing into signs I don’t understand. And Master Thomas sees I’m making mistakes, so he lashes me. He lectures me in a nonsense language, and is coughing and acting real sick, but he keeps making these promises in English: he’ll stop punishing me if I stop making mistakes. He’ll set me free if I just listen to his instructions and follow them properly. Which sounds mighty fine, but no matter how I try, I can’t do it, and I know it’s all lies anyway.
“And suddenly I also know Master Thomas isn’t striking me with a whip. It’s part of him, like a vine, and he’s not really human anymore. And I know if I turn around and see what he is, I’d go right mad, and if I finish what he—it—wants me to do... well, I don’t like thinking about that part.”
Mr Thomas fell silent then, shaking his head. I could tell it had taken some courage for him to share this with me and I thanked him for it. I swore to keep what he had shared between us.
I am truly disturbed by what he said. Save for the personal details and setting, he described almost exactly the same general terror I’ve been suffering nightly: an unseen and monstrous entity promising what I want most if only I do something for it, and yet I am sure the cost would be great. I do not think I need to ask Reggie (as if I could!) if he too has had such dreams; the fervor in his manner speaks all too well that he has been inflicted with some similar offer and has, I fear, possibly succumbed to it.
Mr Thomas also mentioned that Mr Kang and the other imprisoned men had been taken in the night without any explanation to their crimes. He told me to act accordingly because the others are watching us for any sign of disobedience. He also warned me to be careful what I write.
I’m unsure what to make of the young man’s warnings, other than he seemed far more lucid and level-headed for me to doubt them. I think I shall keep my ledger on my person from here on. I may not believe in black magic and mysticism as some of the men in this camp do, but I do believe there is something afoul in this camp, and I am no longer sure I can trust those I once did implicitly.
Your troubled one,
Ned
Chapter Eighteen
Home Again
TIA’S LEVEL OF AWARENESS rose and fell with the passing hours, catching brief snippets of what was happening around her. These snippets were disjointed, floating freely across her barely conscious mind with few settling into memory.
“I’m fine, Fox. Let me up.” Benjamin’s voice, a comfort despite its irritated tone.
“No, you fool boy. You’ll stay here until you’re not bleeding out of every hole in your face anymore.”
“I’m not! I’m fine.”
“Stubborn child. You set one foot out of bed, and I’ll tan your hide. I swear I will, and you know it...”
The voices grew distorted, fading away. Until later...
“How is she?” Was that Uncle Ray? What was he doing here? “Both she and Briz?”
“Fine as far as we can tell. Just sleeping.”
And even later...
“— tried to tear ’em apart before they got him properly dosed. They’re in bad shape, but they’ll survive.”
“And Mel?”
“Still getting worse. Let her rest. Poor lamb, she’s been so weak but still insisted on patching them up. It took a lot out of her.”
Then came the shouting. Despite being muffled by distance, it was loud and angry enough to drag Tia fully back to the waking world. Opening her eyes, she saw she was in what looked like a makeshift hospital ward. Around her, several other beds were occupied with bandaged and unconscious individuals. In the one across from her, Benjamin sat propped up by pillows. A bandage was wrapped around his head, and he was glaring toward the closed door, disapproving of the commotion beyond it.
She stayed still and said nothing, enjoying observing him under the pretense that he was unobserved. Other than the bandage, he looked much better than he had the last time she’d seen him, just after returning, although he was making no effort to hide his pain and irritation. Not that he usually did—for as long as she’d known him, he’d had some anger simmering just below the surface, and he never exactly tried to hide it. But now it looked different, altering his expression in a way she didn’t expect. It was almost as if a light had turned off above him and he now sat in darkness, despite the fluorescents overhead being on.
Abruptly, the door opened, and a brunette Crow Tia had seen among the others in the cafeteria hurried in.
“Beck, what’s going on?” Benjamin asked. The brunette bit her lip.
“What do you think? Daddy’s home and he’s not happy.” At this, Benjamin made to get up, but the brunette quickly forced him back into bed. “Oh no you don’t. Let Val handle him. She wants us out of the way, and I’m not about to risk the combined wrath of both her and your aunt.”
