AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 38
CASSIA
I was in the infirmary when the first person died.
It wasn’t a good way to go. And it wasn’t still.
I heard a commotion at the other end of the infirmary. “Pneumonia,” one of the village medics said to another. “His lungs are full of infection. ” Someone pulled a curtain back and everyone hurried to gather around and try to save the patient, who was breathing with awful, wet, gasping breaths that sounded like he’d swallowed an entire sea. Then he coughed and a spatter of blood came out of his mouth. I saw it even from far away. It was bright red on his clean white sheet.
Everyone was too busy to tell me to go. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t leave Ky. And I didn’t want him to hear the sounds of people trying to save the man, or how Ky’s own breathing sounded labored.
So I crouched down in front of Ky and covered one of his ears with my shaking hand, and then I leaned right up close to his other ear and I sang to him. I didn’t even know I knew how.
I’m still singing when Leyna brings Oker and Xander in. I have to keep singing because someone else has started choking.
One of the village medics walks over to Oker and gets right in his face. “This is your fault for keeping them coherent,” he says to Oker. “Come see what you’ve done. He knows what’s happening. There’s no peace in his eyes. ”
“He came back?” Oker asks, and I hear excitement in his voice. It makes me sick.
“Only enough to know that he’s dying,” the medic says. “He’s not cured. ”
Xander stops and crouches down next to me. “Are you all right?” he asks.
I nod. I keep singing. He can see in my eyes that I’m not crazy. He touches my arm, very briefly, and goes to stand with Oker and the others over by the patients.
I understand that Xander needs to see what’s happening. And he’s found a Pilot in Oker. If I had to choose someone as the Pilot, I’d pick Anna.
But I also know we can’t plan on anyone else rescuing us. We have to do it ourselves. There can be no one Pilot. We have to be strong enough to go without the belief that someone can swoop down and save us. I think about Grandfather.
“Do you remember what I said once about the green tablet?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say. “You said I was strong enough to go without it. ”
“Greenspace, green tablet,” he says, quoting himself from that long ago day. “Green eyes on a green girl. ”
“I’ll always remember that day,” I tell him.
“But you’re having a hard time remembering this one,” he says. His eyes are knowing, sympathetic.
“Yes,” I say. “Why?”
Grandfather doesn’t answer me, at least not outright. “They used to have a phrase for a truly memorable day,” he says instead. “A red-letter day. Can you remember that?”
“I’m not sure,” I say. I press my hands to my head. I feel foggy, not quite right. Grandfather’s face is sad, but determined. It makes me feel determined, too.
I look around again at the red buds, the flowers. “Or,” I say, something sharpening in me, “you could call it a red garden day. ”
“Yes,” Grandfather says. “A red garden day. A day to remember. ”
He leans closer. “It’s going to be hard to remember,” he says. “Even this, right now, won’t be clear later. But you’re strong. I know you can get it all back. ”
I remembered another part of the red garden day. And I can get it all back. Grandfather said so. I tighten my fingers around Ky’s and keep singing.
Wind over hill, and under tree.
Past the border no one can see.
I will sing to him until people stop dying and then I will figure out the cure.
CHAPTER 39
KY
Past the border
No one can see.
I’m in the sea.
I go in and out. Over and under. And under. And under.
Indie’s there in the sea.
“You are not supposed to be here,” she says, annoyed. Exactly like I remember. “This is my place. I’m the one who found it. ”
“All the water in the world can’t be yours,” I say.
“It is,” she says. “And the sky. Everything that’s blue is mine now. ”
“The mountains are blue,” I tell her.
“Then they’re mine. ”
Up and down we go, on the waves next to each other. I start to laugh. Indie does, too. My body has stopped hurting. I feel light. I might not even have a body anymore.
“I like the ocean,” I tell Indie.
“I always knew you would,” Indie says. “But you can’t follow me. ” Then she smiles. She slips below the waves and is gone.
CHAPTER 40
