“You can do this,” Fade said softly.
At his faith in me, I squared my shoulders and followed the colonel out. She led us to the training yard, where she stopped somebody and said, “Gather all the men except the sentries.”
It took a while to muster soldiers from the far corners of town. By their mien, they were annoyed at being dragged from their duties. Soon enough those looks would be turned on me.
The colonel climbed up on the platform that she used for addressing her troops. “The messenger from Salvation has a few words. Please give her the same attention and courtesy you’d offer me.”
My stomach lurched as I climbed up. I was alone up here, and they’d think I was just a stupid brat, being absurd and presumptuous. Dryness prickled in my throat. Then I spotted my family in the back of the crowd, eyes focused on me. Oddly Momma Oaks seemed proud and Edmund was nodding. They had no idea what I was up to, and they still thought I could succeed.
I pushed out a breath and raised my voice to carry. “Some of you don’t know me. I’ll keep my story short. I come from the underground tribes, a place so dark that you can’t even imagine. I had never seen sunlight until I was fifteen. But I came to the surface and I survived when everybody told me it was impossible.”
A rumble greeted those words; plainly they doubted me. I ignored it and carried on. “I found people who wanted to kill me in the ruins of Gotham. Girls didn’t fight in the gangs … but I did. And I survived. I made a friend out of one of those savages and brought him with me.”
Stalker met my eyes and jerked a nod, his scars in sharp relief compared with the smooth faces around him. I took courage from his anger. This time I wasn’t sure if it was for me.
“We only had stories of safety to the north. It should’ve been impossible for us to find help in such a vast wilderness. There were Muties everywhere, and we had no maps. Yet we did. Longshot guided us to Salvation, and they took us in. I fought for them with my last breath, but it wasn’t enough. They sent me to fetch aid, and I was too late, too slow. That haunts me.”
I had no fancy words to persuade them, only the truth of my life. So I dug into my pocket and produced my bloodstained playing card. “I’m called Deuce, and I take my name from the two of spades. I’m telling you now, from the things I’ve survived and the places I’ve been, that there is no such thing as impossible. According to everyone else, I shouldn’t be here. But I am.”
The yard was deathly quiet, and the soldiers had lost their irritation. In some faces I read incredulity and amusement. Others were merely listening. One man tapped his foot.
I gathered the last of my nerve and concluded, “It’s only a sure defeat when you stop trying. We need an army who fights for the whole world, not one town, and I mean to raise it. Your colonel has given me her blessing to recruit from your number. If you join up, from this point, your loyalty will be to this cause only. Step forward, brave souls. It’s time to do the impossible once again.”
two
onus
He saw that the creature was a tremendous wolf, rushing straight at him.
—George MacDonald, The Day Boy and the Night Girl
Absurd
When my speech ended, I hoped for a massive outpouring of support. I gave them everything I knew to be true, and in return, most didn’t even take the time to laugh at me. They went back to their duties and their old routines. Feeling like a fool, I hopped down from the platform, my stomach a knot of embarrassment and shame.
One soldier said, “This is absurd. I can’t believe the colonel thought this was worth our time. That girl can’t even defend herself from a punch in the nose.”
Humiliation cascaded through me. My story meant nothing to them. They probably didn’t believe me, and that was a fresh pain. Nobody had mistaken me for a liar before.
Once the training yard cleared, a few people lingered. I eyed them with caution, wondering if they meant to pick a fight. But as I stepped closer, I recognized them: Morrow, Spence, Tully, and Thornton. Every army has a beginning, no matter how humble. Wary, I picked a path across to them.
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
“We’re in,” Tully said, speaking, I presumed, for all of them.
“Why?”
Thornton wore a grim look. “I’m an old man, and I have no family left. I’d rather go out fighting Muties than from some ailment nobody can figure out how to cure.”
“We like to live dangerously.” Spence exchanged a look with Tully that I didn’t know how to interpret. But it didn’t really matter why they were joining up, only that they could fight, and I’d seen them in action.
“And you?” I asked Morrow.
“At heart I’m a teller of tales,” he said. “And this looks like it might be a good one.”
That could be entertaining in the field, and I already knew he was good in tough situations. So I inclined my head. “I’m waiting on word from Winterville. We’ll give them time to make the journey, then head out. So you’ll want to rest up.”
“Yes, sir,” Tully said, and she didn’t seem to be sarcastic about it, either.
“I’ll send word the night before we march. That’s all.”
It seemed odd to be giving orders to people who were all older than I was, but I figured I’d get used to it. With Fade at my side, I went across the yard to talk to Edmund and Momma Oaks. I could see in her eyes that she was scared for me, but her mouth was smiling. That looked like love to me, when you put a brave face on your heart breaking because it was what the other person needed.
“There are other towns,” Edmund said bracingly.
Momma Oaks nodded. “These men just don’t have enough imagination to grasp what you’re trying to do. They’ve been following orders too long. It will be different elsewhere.”
In my heart I wasn’t too sure of that but I appreciated their support. “There might be some men coming from Winterville.”
“What was that like?” Edmund asked, fascinated.
He seemed almost as interested in my stories as I had been in his, early on. As we walked, Fade and I took turns explaining what we’d seen and learned. Both Edmund and Momma Oaks marveled over the electric lights and windmills and Freaks being kept in cages. Tegan and Stalker accompanied us, listening to the account.
Stalker stopped me outside the Oakses’ house. I hoped this was about repairing our friendship, but judging from his expression, it probably wasn’t. This square structure without a hearth for cooking made me sad. Momma Oaks would never be happy in Soldier’s Pond; they’d taken away her life’s work, much as Salvation had done to me, but at least she was safe.