The Reader Read Free Page B

Nin said.
    It.
Sefia’s hand went to her pack. Through the leather, the hard metal corners of the strange object dug into her palm. This
was
what they wanted.
    The woman went rooting among Nin’s things, tossing aside the patched shirts and hand-carved utensils with a carelessness that made Sefia’s insides burn.
    At last the woman in black straightened. The stink of metal grew sharper. It crackled and burned, until the air was buzzing with it.
    She whirled on Nin. “Where is it?”
    Nin glared up at her, bent forward, and spat in the dirt.
    The woman struck her across the face with the back of her hand. In the bushes, Sefia bit down on her tongue to keep from crying out. Nin’s lip split. Blood pooled between her teeth.
    Sticking out her chin, Nin leaned over and spat again. “Gonna take more than that to make me talk,” she said.
    The woman in black let out a bark of laughter. “You’ll talk. By the time we’re done with you, you’ll
sing
. You saw what we did to him, didn’t you?”
    Her father. Sefia fought back the memory of amputated limbs. Misshapen hands. Things no kid should see. Things no one should ever see.
Nin
hadn’t seen the body. She’d spirited Sefia away into the woods as soon as she’d shown up, sobbing and bedraggled, at Nin’s door.
    But Sefia had seen it.
    She
knew what they could do.
    Nin said nothing.
    Beyond Sefia’s vision, the man spoke again, his words like ice: “Let’s go. It’s not here.”
    â€œI already told you that,” Nin grumbled. “For folks who’re supposed to be so powerful, you aren’t too bright, are you? No wonder it took you so long to track me down.”
    â€œYou think that matters? You think that’ll stop us?” The woman in black hit her again. “We are the wheel that drives the firmament. We’ll
never
stop.”
    And again, her fist making wet smacking sounds against Nin’s wrinkled flesh.
    Sefia flinched. A branch snapped beneath her. She tensed.
    The rhythm of the woman’s blows didn’t falter, but across the clearing Nin froze. For a second, her eyes locked with Sefia’s, warning her to stay put. To keep quiet.
    Nin crumpled at the next impact. Her face in the dirt, her flesh swollen and cut.
    Stop them,
Sefia told herself. She could go out there and give up her pack. Just give them what they wanted.
    But fear roiled inside her.
    A dismembered corpse. The sick stench of metal.
    She’d seen what had happened to her father.
    There was movement to her right. Sounds of footsteps in the dead leaves. Sefia went cold. The man was coming for her, stalking the underbrush like a predator. She still couldn’t see him, but the tips of the ferns bent and tilted at his passage, sending ripples among the fiddleheads. He was getting closer.
    The smell of metal was so sharp it made her teeth hurt.
    â€œWait,” Nin coughed.
    The man halted.
    The woman in black paused, her arm drawn back.
    Slowly, Nin pushed herself off the ground. Blood and saliva dribbled from her chin. She wiped it away, squinting up through her bruises. “If you want to do any real damage, you’ve got to get my good side,” she said, tapping her other cheek.
    The woman in black seized Nin’s hand and twisted.
    Nin buckled.
    Her wrist snapped.
    Sefia nearly lunged out from the brush to get to her, but Nin was watching her again.
Stay put. Keep quiet.
    â€œEnough,” the man said.
    The woman in black glared in his direction, but she grabbed the collar of Nin’s cloak, hauling her to her feet. The horses were stamping and whiffling at the edge of the clearing.
    Now,
Sefia thought.
Before it’s too late.
    But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t.
    They bound Nin’s hands and mounted, Nin letting out a slight
whuff
of air as they forced her up. Despite the thorns that caught on her hands and arms, Sefia pushed away the barbed leaves until