I bite my tongue to keep from screaming and cover Hawk’s eyes with my hand. When he pulls out the sword, spurts of blood follow. Jiafu collapses on the ground, and even from far away, I can see that he dies within moments. The official wipes off his sword on Jiafu’s shirt.
Nausea races through me. I should’ve done something. I shouldn’t have been frozen. But I didn’t expect this to happen. Jiafu always squirms his way out of trouble.
“He just killed him,” Hawk whimpers.
“We need to get inside.”
I am almost too shaken to maintain even the simple moth illusion. I don’t bother to conceal the sound of our footsteps as we run.
I collapse on our living room floor and bury my face in a pillow. My clothes reek of smoke and sweat, and my heart pounds erratically. I feel like my chest could burst, and I breathe in the comforting, familiar scent of the kettle corn kernels that litter our floor.
I open Luca’s Trunk. Maybe he’ll wake now.
He appears lying down, his head resting on my lap, unconscious. “Luca. Luca,” I plead, but it doesn’t do any good. I also open Nicoleta’s Trunk, because I need someone to talk to who can keep a level head through all of this. Hawk has already left to find food in the next room. I hear the wooden bowls clunk together as she rummages around for dead mice.
Nicoleta doesn’t stumble when coming out. She’s gotten used to coming and going between my head and the real world. “What happened?” she asks. “You smell like a cigar shop.”
“Agni showed up and attacked me. Tree trampled him, and Hawk flew us to safety.”
“You’re saying Agni’s dead? And that he was behind all of this?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t make sense. There’s a mind-worker involved; I’m certain of it.”
“I don’t know. Maybe Agni was a mind-worker, too? I just need to breathe. Can I just breathe for a moment?” I’m crying, nearly hyperventilating, shaken to my core. I squeeze Luca’s limp hand for comfort.
Nicoleta does what Nicoleta always does—pace. “Maybe weshouldleave Gomorrah,” she says.
“Where would we go? We’re as far up in the Up-Mountains as you can get—”
“Anywhere is better than here. There’s another killer here, Sorina. There’s someone else. I can feel it.”
This isn’t what I meant by “just breathe.” I feel as though I need months to gasp for air, if not years. To sleep and not worry about any of this, and to get the sound of Agni’s bones crunching out of my head.
“I need to talk to Villiam,” I say.
“Then go check if he’s next door. Hawk and I will stay with Luca.”
I thank her and hurry outside to Villiam’s caravan. As I knock on the door, I realize just how much I need to hear his voice. I need him to hug me. To tell me it will be okay. I need my father to sort this out.
There are voices inside.
“There are people dying in Gomorrah over this nonsense,” Villiam says. “Your officials are terrorizing them for no reason.”
“The officials are under direct orders from the new lord Exander to ensure you leave. If you want them to stop, take your Festival away from here and back to where you came from.”
“We had permission to come here a month ago. From the lord.”
“It’s been revoked, now that the previous lord is dead. May he rest in peace.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter why.”
I knock harder. This time, someone throws open the door. It’s a Leonitian city official, dressed all in white. He stares at me and my strange mask.
“Go home, girl,” he says.
