“Scarlet’s furious.”
Ruby rested her hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “She’ll understand soon enough.”
“I’m not sure. I told Ryker before her.”
Ruby winced before covering it up, but it was too late. “It will take time, but eventually, she’ll understand.”
“Until then,” Mr. Fletcher said, “what do we do about you?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ellery
I frowned at him.“What do you mean?”
“There’s a reason you have this ability, Ellery, and we have to protect you. With you and Ryker together, we might have a chance of winning against these bastards. How do we keep you safe?”
“I’m not sure we can after what I revealed last night. They’re going to hunt for me, and while they may not know who I am, they’ll do everything they can to figure it out. I think we’re all going to have to leave here soon.”
Mr. Fletcher’s eyes shifted to the fields full of crops. At one time, my entire life revolved around crops and horses; now, we might have to walk away and leave them to rot.
All the hours we’d spent in those fields, sweating and working, would be for nothing if we didn’t get the chance to harvest. Not to mention, it would mean less food for those in Tempest if we didn’t care for the crops.
Because of my deal with him to free my mother, half of those crops belonged to Ivan, but the other half would feed the many who needed it. I didn’t think we’d have to worry about keeping enough supply to feed us this year. We probably wouldn’t be here long enough for that.
If we were still here to harvest, we’d take some crops into the Revenant Woods for Tucker’s group, but I was sure we’d have to leave this place before winter… maybe before tomorrow.
Mr. Fletcher had worked these fields for a hundred years; it would be difficult for him to walk away, but that time was coming.
“Leaving here will keep you safer,” Mr. Fletcher said.
“Maybe we should go now,” Ruby suggested.
“If we abandon everything now, they’ll suspect it was me, Scarlet, or you on the roof last night. They’ll know who to hunt for then. My identity is still a mystery; we’re better off keeping it that way. Not to mention, I have to repay my debt to Ivan, and many amsirah need the food we’ll provide.”
They pondered my words before Ruby spoke again. “You’re right, but we’re prepared to leave at a second’s notice.”
“Are you going to tell Billy about this?” I asked.
Ruby and Mr. Fletcher looked at each other before shaking their heads. “He already knows so much, and he’s only a child. We don’t have to put this on him too,” Mr. Fletcher said. “In time, we will, but not now.”
I would have preferred not to put this on them, but they had to know what was coming for us.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ellery
When I enteredthe barn an hour later, I discovered Ryker waiting for me with some of the horses. Most were out in the paddocks, but a few who had back stall doors that opened into their fields had returned for shade.
Leaning against her door, Ryker petted my buckskin mare, Adira. The barn door facing the road was closed, and I shut the one that opened onto the fields behind me.
“You shouldn’t be out in the open like this,” I said.
“I was in the hayloft and didn’t come down until I saw you through the window.”
I glanced around the shadowy interior of the barn, but Scarlet’s family was at home eating lunch and wouldn’t return to the barn until it was time for the dinner feeding. That was still a few hours away; besides, they wouldn’t turn Ryker in for being here.
Still, it made me anxious to see him out here like this. The road had stayed quiet all day, but a passing rider might decide to stop and water his horse or ask for some bread; it happened often enough.
