[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]
My heart fluttered in the cage of my ribs like a trapped bird. Lin tugged at my braid and I shook myself, sucking in a breath. Steady. Breathe. Focus. “Okay,” I said. “Then I guess that’s where we need to start.”
Matt watched me for a second before he cleared his throat. “Her wound isn’t healing properly. That’s where this kind of started. She told me when we took that walk while they were starting to dress the deer.” My brother glanced down at his hands, sighing quietly. “She’d been keeping it a secret—afraid to worry me, I guess.”
“Worry you more, you mean,” I said quietly. He smiled ruefully and nodded.
“Yeah, I guess that’s more accurate, isn’t it?” He stretched a little, gaze drifting away from me and toward the fire. “I just—I hate it when she hurts, that’s all.”
“That comes as part of the territory,” I murmured, watching him.
Matt nodded. “I guess so. Anyway. We were out behind the rubble, talking, and Jay and Leinth caught up with us there.” He blew out a breath. “Something’s been talking to Jay.” He stopped, then corrected, “Someone.”
My heart—which had started to settle down—started pounding again, too fast and too hard. “Who?”
“Persephone,” Matt said quietly. “It’s been going on for a little while now, I guess. She’s alive but she needs his help before they drain her dry or something. I don’t really completely understand all of it. I just know that he asked Hecate for her help because Persephone was her friend then—mine, too, I guess, if we’re honest about it.”
“You mean Cíar’s.”
He nodded, getting up to take the kettle off the fire. “Yeah. Well, you knew what I meant anyway.”
I nodded. “What does it mean?”
“It means that there’s another ally out there if we can get to them before it’s too late,” Matt said as he filled the coffee press. “Of course, it probably means more trouble, too, but at least it’s good coming with the bad, right?”
A shiver crept down my spine. “Was that all?”
“Is it ever?”
“No.”
He managed a weak smile and got the mugs ready. “Then why should this time be any different?”
