Page 1 of The Starling and the Hatter

1

Elise

I rifled through the contents of the wagon, stuffing fistfuls of my belongings into my satchel. The voices yelling back and forth outside were a mercy. I didn’t have to sneak and be quiet, I could just be fast. Speed was what I needed most if I were going to escape my brothers.

At first I only grabbed my belongings. Clothing, shoes, a hairbrush, a bundle of dried meat and nuts, a water pouch, and a thin bedroll. Then the jangle of a purse caught my attention. Money. Of course I had to take money with me. I grabbed the purse and took a few precious seconds to look for more. Leaving my brothers was my first priority, but money would get me much farther. I found another handful of coins and a gold brooch. They’d be furious to find me gone, and even more furious when they realized I’d taken any coins, but I didn’t feel guilty. I’d earned this money. As one of the three infamous Wolfe siblings, I’d performed and bewitched and collected coins from audiences that were always dazzled by the act we put on. Our unique wagon had been built to resemble a great beast or wolf, and I always played the damsel in distress in our dramatic act. It was a performance we’d worked hard to hone and improve, and the audience loved it.

I was done being the damsel in distress.

Looking around the dark wagon interior one more time, I wrapped my cloak around me and threw the satchel across my back. I’d lived my life in this wagon, curled up in my corner. I’d done everything I was told in exchange for the assurance that my brothers would take care of me. But today, they had been the ones to injure me. They’d been the ones to throw me in the hold beneath the wagon as punishment for daring to stand up for someone. The only reason I was free now was due to the kindness of a complete stranger.

I owed my brothers nothing but contempt, and I refused to live under the combined misery of their violent hands and oppressive heels any longer.

So I slipped out the door and down the two small steps at the back of the wagon, grateful that the strangers who had pulled me from the hold still had my brothers restrained and distracted.

I jumped to the ground and ran into the woods, thankful for the dark night that hid me. The village of Murrwood was just north of here, which meant I would have to skirt the peddlers’ camp in order to go there. I didn’t expect anyone would notice my departure. They were all captivated by the spectacle of my brothers arguing with those they had wronged. So I hurried through the trees, anxious to put as much space between me and my brothers as possible.

“Elise!”

I spun to see who had called out to me, smothering a scream and clutching at my heart as I searched the darkness. I quickly spotted someone hurrying toward me, but his lanky figure calmed my frayed nerves. It was only Robert.

“Where are you going?” he asked as he came to an abrupt stop in front of me.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I just have to go.”

“But—”

“I can’t stay with them anymore.” My voice shook. This was the bravest thing I’d ever done. It was probably also the most foolish.

“But where will you go?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Anywhere away from them.”

His face was pulled down in worry and confusion. “How will you live? How will you eat?”

Robert White and I had known each other for years. At fifteen, he was only a year older than I was. We traveled with the same crowd and worked the same festivals much of the time. This was the only world either of us knew, so his worry was not unfounded. Traveling alone wasn’t smart, but it was my only choice.

“I took some money,” I said, trying to sound optimistic. “And I know how to work a crowd.”

“Yes, but without the wolf wagon…” There was skepticism in the twist of his mouth and the crater of his brow.

“I’ll be all right. It will be an adventure.” My confidence sounded false, and I closed my eyes on a sigh. “It will be hard. I’m not a fool; I know it will be hard, but I have to go. I have to try.”

He still looked concerned. “Well…” He looked about, as if lost for words, his eyes going to the ground and then me and then his hands. “Here!” he said suddenly, tugging on the gloves he wore. “It will be cold at night. Maybe these will help.” He held them out to me, his face earnest.

I swallowed down the lump that clogged my throat at the thoughtful gift, reaching out tentatively to take them from his hands. “Thank you, Robert,” I whispered.

He nodded, giving me an almost-smile. “Stay safe.”

I backed up a few steps. “Don’t tell them you saw me.” Though I didn’t think Robert would ever betray me, I thought it better to state the obvious.

“I won’t,” he promised.

I gave him as much of a smile as I could muster and then fled through the trees.

I ran from my brothers, from the family that was supposed to love me but who’d misused me instead. I ran toward the wide-open, cruel world, the world they had told me would chew me up, abuse me, starve me, and leave me for dead. I went into the world fully expecting that my days would be filled with darkness, pain and hunger.

But I wanted more, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could have it. Because the girl who had helped me escape was just like me—and yet so very different. I lay awake that night and wondered why someone who was seemingly just as insignificant as I was could have so many people willing to come to her aid. When my brothers took her, she hadn’t been forgotten. The people she knew hadn’t shrugged off her disappearance the way my brothers had shrugged off my mother’s. This girl’s friends had searched for her, fought for her.