That was unlike him, but the rest of us followed. People watched and whispered as we passed through. A few of them called out to John Kelley, who apparently wasn’t a stranger. He’d probably visited the same towns we had, only with less resistance and difficulty. A woman stopped him and asked for news in Appleton. He waved to let me know he’d be along.
The lot of us went directly to HQ in all our forest dirt. It wasn’t as bad as it might’ve been since there was a brook nearby, but scrubbing with pine branches was scratchy, incomplete, and left you smelling of sap. I hadn’t washed my hair properly in weeks. But I wasn’t worried about any of that as Morrow interrupted the colonel’s meeting with the grand pleasure of someone about to prove a point.
I opened my mouth, but he shushed me. Glancing at the others, I decided they had no idea of his agenda, but I obeyed and quieted. At that point, he spun an impressive tale of a long journey and an impossible goal full of obstacles and monsters. That was when I figured out he was crafting a proper story about what we’d accomplished since we left. When he finished, every soul in the building was quiet, even Colonel Park.
She stared at him. “Swear to me on your mother’s name, everything you’ve said is true.”
“The meat and bone of it,” he promised. “I always paint a pretty face, but I never lie, Emilia.” Then, to my surprise—and I think everyone in the room—he kissed both her cheeks. Clearly I didn’t understand their relationship. “This changes everything.”
“I didn’t think it was possible for those monsters to learn,” she said, almost to herself.
I spoke for the first time. “They’re definitely changing.”
It wasn’t clear to me what our role was in Soldier’s Pond. We didn’t report to her, but it seemed polite to offer what knowledge we’d gathered in exchange for supplies and shelter. So I picked up where Morrow’s tale left off, and I filled in details, mostly related to altered Freak behavior, but also about towns we’d visited and the deal the Freaks had offered Otterburn.
Her normally detached expression faltered, revealing a trace of pure horror. She mastered it swiftly, but not before I saw the truth. The colonel averted her eyes, directing them to her maps. With a pencil she outlined the territory we had secured.
“So this is promised to be Mutie-free?”
I nodded. “We weren’t fighting the horde, just hunting parties, but it should help. If the larger group decides to attack, however, the truce means nothing.”
“It’s more than I thought you’d achieve when you set out,” she admitted.
“Just think what we could do if your men weren’t all such cowards,” Stalker said flatly.
Things went downhill from there. Shortly afterward, I left HQ, longing for a bath and to see my family, definitely in that order. I shrugged deeper into the coat Edmund had made for me—it was soft leather lined in fleece shorn from the sheep they kept in the animal pens. That part of town was noisy and smelly, unavoidable when space was limited. In Soldier’s Pond they addressed that by making people sleep in narrow cots stacked one atop another; there was little focus on private space like there had been in Salvation. In some ways, this town was more like down below with its focus on duty to the collective, the dearth of amenities, and savorless food. On the plus side, they didn’t seem to mind who did the killing or wore pants. From what I could see, everybody here worked as a Hunter. They just had to turn their hands to other jobs too. That probably explained why the clothes were poorly sewn and the food was terrible. Anyone with a grain of sense knew you needed Builders like Edmund too.
“I’ll meet you in the mess for dinner,” I said to Fade, who kissed the top of my head.
I lifted a hand in farewell and hurried to the bathhouse, empty at this time of day. The scarcity of the sun meant the water was only a little better than ice cold; I bore it, though the soft soap didn’t lather much and it took me twice as long to scrape the wilderness out of my hair. After, I dug out the clean traveling clothes I kept aside for special occasions. As I tugged on the dun brown trousers with a tie at the waist, I knew a moment’s regret for the loss of the dresses I hadn’t even wanted at first. But by the time I had my shirt on, my lovely, polished boots, and the lined jacket, I didn’t care so much. It was better to be warm than pretty.
My hair went into neat plaits, and I hoped they didn’t freeze as I stepped out into the biting air. The snow had followed us from the forest, white stars now slanting downward from a gray sky. I ran all the way to the house where I’d find my parents waiting; it was late enough that Edmund might even be done at the workshop. To my delight, I found all of them there, just gathering for dinner.
“Deuce!” Momma Oaks had her arms around me before I was halfway in the door.
“I don’t think I ever said it, but I love you all … very much.”
Edmund and Rex both grabbed me close until I was squashed on all sides. It was pretty close to the best I ever felt. I tried to hug my whole family at the same time but my arms weren’t long enough. My mother kissed me all over my cold cheeks. Her eyes were sparkling when she stepped back to look at me.
“Well, you’re not bleeding, so I take it your mission was a success?”
“In a manner of speaking. I’ll tell you all about it over dinner.”
“Are you home for a while?” Edmund asked.
They got their own coats and stepped out. My father stared up anxiously at the sky, and I could tell without him saying it that he was worried about us traveling in this weather. “I think so. There isn’t a whole lot we can do during the snowy months.”
Momma Oaks nodded in satisfaction. “It’s odd here, but we’re pulling our weight, and the men seem to like Edmund’s work awfully well.”
“I imagine.” I’d seen what they wore before; Edmund’s shoes were magical by comparison.
“They’ve got us making leather grips for weapons,” Rex put in.
“I suspect they’ll make a permanent exception for you,” I said. “If you want to stay.”
“Where would we go?” Momma Oaks asked.
It was an excellent question. So far, in my travels, I hadn’t found a place I thought would suit them better. Considering all the soldiers, the metal defenses, and cache of weapons, plus the extra breathing room I’d won from the Freaks, I couldn’t fathom a safer place. Whether they were happy and comfortable, if they actually felt at home, those were questions I didn’t dare ask.