Page 74 of Her Wicker Guardian

She shrugs. “Yeah.”

Rachel has stayed near them, but she is not standing in front of me.

The boy in the red shirt looks from me to the unfinished bear. “Did you make that?”

The question catches me harder than Is he real? I turn toward the bear.

“Yes.”

“All of it?”

“Tom helped hold things.”

The boy takes one step farther into the yard before Rachel says, “That’s far enough.”

He stops immediately. “Sorry.” Then he leans sideways, trying to see the bear better without coming closer. “That thing’s awesome.”

Warmth spreads from the dense weave at the center of my chest. “It isn’t finished.”

“It already looks better than that weird arch thing by the cider tent last year.”

Rachel makes another choking sound.

I turn toward her. She has become very interested in the grass.

The tall boy says, “Way better.”

Then she lifts one finger. “All of you are very close to being asked to leave.”

Rachel laughs, and I understand why. She and the others had built the arch too.

The red-shirted boy points toward the bear more carefully this time. “How do you know how to do that?”

“I know crossing.”

He waits, and I realize he expected more.

“So you just… know?”

“Yes.”

“That’s so cool.”

The long-haired boy finally moves his hair out of his eyes. “What are you?”

The question makes the others go quiet. I knew someone would ask it. Janet said they would.

“My name is Locke.”

His gaze shifts toward Rachel, then back to me. “No, I mean…”

“I know what you mean.”

He closes his mouth.

I touch my forearm, where the living willow crosses beneath my fingers. “I am wicker.”

The girl says, “But you’re alive.”