فصل 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The Raven

Emma and Gabriel, along with the girl Dena and the rest of the band, climbed the mountain along no trail that Emma could see, but that Gabriel and the others seemed to know by heart. Gabriel explained they would circle the peak to a secret tunnel that the village scouts used to spy on the Dead City. The way was steep and rocky, and they had been climbing for less than half an hour when Gabriel abruptly picked Emma up and swung her onto his back.

“We must move more quickly.”

Gabriel had not wanted to take Emma. But Granny Peet had insisted.

“She is tied to the Atlas. If you find it, you will need her.”

“That’s right,” Emma had said. “And you gotta take Dena too. Or I’m not coming.”

And so Emma had been outfitted with new clothes and boots and a knife and, an hour after the meeting, she and Dena and the small band of men had been given a blessing from Granny Peet and had set off up the mountain.

Gabriel called for them to stop in a stand of pines just below the summit while he sent a scout to the tunnel entrance. The men squatted and checked their weapons in silence. Gabriel was conferring quietly with two of his men, so Emma wandered off through the trees. Ten yards in, the mountain gave way to a sharp cliff. Emma found a boulder jutting out past the trees and scrambled up the side.

Lying on her stomach, she had a view out across the valley, and for the first time in two days, she saw Cambridge Falls. The blue expanse of lake shone jewel-like in the midday sun, and on its far side, Emma could make out a dark clustering she guessed was the houses of the town.

Seeing Cambridge Falls again, the place where everything had begun, made her think of her brother and sister. Granny Peet had said Dr. Pym was with them. That gave her hope. Perhaps Kate and Michael would even be waiting in the village when she and Gabriel returned. Wouldn’t that be something? Arriving in the village having defeated the Countess’s Screechers, leading all those poor, grateful men. Michael would no doubt want to hear the details of the battle, but she’d just wave her hand and say, “Oh, you know how battles are. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” And if Kate scolded her for abandoning them back in the tunnels, Emma would apologize and tell Kate she was absolutely right. “Though,” she would add after a moment’s pause, “if I hadn’t gone back, I couldn’t have saved Gabriel’s life, but you know best, Kate dear.” Emma smiled, and for a moment she actually relaxed, allowing herself to savor the warmth of the rock beneath her, the cool of the wind against her face, and what was, in many respects, a beautiful summer’s day.

“You oughta get down from there.”

Emma lifted herself up and looked back over her shoulder. Dena stood just inside the trees.

“Someone could see you.”

Emma laughed. “Who’s gonna see me up here?”

“You don’t know. The witch, she’s got ways. You shouldn’t take the chance.”

Emma sensed the girl was right; unfortunately, whenever someone told Emma she “should” do this or “shouldn’t” do that, her lifelong habit had been immediately to do the exact opposite.

“Let her see me. I’m not afraid of her.”

Just then a caaawww echoed across the valley. Emma looked up to see a large black raven soaring high above their heads. She felt a sudden queasiness in the pit of her stomach as she remembered what Abraham had said the night they escaped from the mansion, that the Countess used birds as spies. Emma was trying to make up her mind what to do when she heard feet pounding down through the trees, and Gabriel was there, calling to her in a fast, angry hiss:

“Get down! Now!”

She scrambled off the rock, skinning the heels of her hands.

Gabriel unslung his long rifle and put it to his shoulder. The bird was flying away from them, and though it grew smaller and smaller with each wingbeat, Gabriel didn’t fire. He merely followed it, as if there were an invisible string stretching from the bird to the tip of his rifle. With each passing second Emma’s panic rose, and she prayed for him to shoot, as if by killing the bird he could erase her fault. Finally, he did, when the bird was no more than a black speck against the blue. For a moment, nothing happened, and Emma was sure he’d missed. Then the bird torqued sideways and fell in a twisting spiral into the trees.

The other men were beside him now, gathered at the edge of the cliff.

“One of her messengers. She knows.”

“Perhaps.” Gabriel slung the rifle back across his shoulder. “Our only hope is speed. We leave immediately.”

As one, the men disappeared into the trees up the hill.

Emma seized Gabriel’s hand. She was on the verge of tears. “Gabriel, I’m … It’s my fault. Dena told me to get down, but I was stupid.… I …”

Gabriel knelt beside her. She expected him to be angry. The mission was already dangerous; now it was only more so. But when he looked at her, he seemed simply disappointed. Somehow, it made her feel even worse.

“If the raven was tracking us, it has been tracking us since the village. Seeing you made no difference. Come.”

He turned and allowed her to clamber onto his back. She locked her arms around his neck, burying her head against his shoulder as he rose and started up the mountain. Hot, silent tears streamed down her face, her fantasies of a minute before, of acting haughty when she saw Kate and Michael, returning to haunt her. She promised herself she would be smarter. She would do whatever Gabriel said, sacrifice whatever was asked, if only it meant seeing her brother and sister again. She would be better.

Emma closed her eyes and let herself be borne, effortlessly, up the mountain.