Storm of Locusts

Chapter 34

“That’s got to be it,” I tell Rissa as I hand her Aaron’s binoculars. She takes them from me, shifting for a better look over the rocky cliffs and down into the valley where the Amangiri spreads out below us.

“Looks nice,” she says. She gives the binoculars back to Aaron. “Swank. Or at least, apocalyptic swank.”

“So, what’s our plan?” Ben asks, sounding eager.

I glance over at Ben. In the camouflage pants and Twin Arrows gift-shop T-shirt, she looks like a version of the girl I met with Hastiin, even if the bandanna hanging around her neck is now pink and white, more cowgirl than mercenary. But with her hair back up in a tsiiyééł and that expression on her face, she looks enough like a Thirsty Boy again for me to take her seriously. Which isn’t going to make what I have to say next any easier.

“So, Ben,” I start, trying to ease into the conversation, “I was thinking that maybe you should wait here.”

Her brow wrinkles in confusion. “What? What do you mean?”

“I mean that Hastiin trusted me to keep you safe, and maybe it’s safer for you to wait up here on the ridge while we go down and scout . . .”

She’s shaking her head, eyes big in disbelief.

“Ben,” I say. “I know this isn’t easy to hear. But remember what you said to me back at my trailer? When I said I’d let you come along on one condition? Remember that?”

Her eyes lock on me, the same look of betrayal I remember from the mountain when the Thirsty Boy told her to back down. “No! I’m going down there with you. I earned this.”

“It’s not about earning anything.”

“No, Maggie!” She takes a step toward me, that same cold fury rising from her that I felt when I tried to get her to stay with Tah in Crystal. It’s intense, desperate, and for a minute I almost waver.

Ben’s voice breaks as she yells, “You promised!”

“I didn’t promise,” I correct her quietly, my voice steady, reasonable. “I didn’t promise you anything, Ben. In fact, the only thing I said was that you could come along if you promised not to argue with me.”

“You don’t think I can do it? That I’m not brave enough? I rescued myself from Knifetown, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“And I killed that archer woman at Lake Asááyi. You saw that. You can’t deny that.” Her hands clench into fists. “But you still don’t think I can handle myself in a fight. You saw me with a knife. You were there. You saw me kill her!”

“It’s not that.” I knew we’d come to this at some point, but I didn’t want it to be like this. “I think you’re plenty brave, Ben. That’s not it.”

“Then what?!” She’s shaking, her whole body radiating rage. At me. “You want the glory to yourself !” she yells, accusing. “It’s not enough that you rescue your boyfriend—you have to kill the bad guy too?!”

“Ben,” I say, voice sharp. “Quit it. Now.”

“Always have to be the big hero. The monsterslayer. Oh, no. Now it’s Godslayer. Godslayer! So stupid!”

“You need to stop, Ben,” I warn her, my own temper rising, “before you say something you regret.”

“Regret? Regret? I already regret. I regret ever trusting you. Ever thinking you were my friend. Ever calling you my auntie. I regret—”

“She didn’t die!” I shout.

Ben freezes. Stares at me, mouth hanging open, the color draining from her face.

“You didn’t kill anyone, Ben. The archer back at Lake Asááyi? She didn’t die! You stabbed her with a steak knife. The wound was surface deep. The handle broke off, remember?”

“B-b-but . . . ,” she stutters. “She was bleeding!”

“After we left, the Thirsty Boys took her down the mountain to get medical attention. No doubt she’s in jail right now, having to face justice for killing your uncle. And that council spokesperson. But she’s not dead, Ben. You didn’t kill anyone.”

She looks at me one long minute, and I’m sure she’s going to burst out into tears. But instead she turns and runs. Fast and Deer People nimble. She scrambles straight up a cliff. Disappears into the darkness in a matter of seconds.

“Dammit!” I shout, teeth clenching. I throw my hands up in frustration, pace away from Rissa and Aaron, ready to smash something.

Rissa waits until I’ve stopped cursing to ask, “What are you going to do?”

“Let her go,” I say. “She’s not my problem.” And I almost mean it.

“What if she goes after Gideon on her own?” Aaron asks.

I hadn’t even thought of that. Surely Ben wouldn’t be that reckless. Who am I kidding? That’s exactly what she plans to do.

“No, Maggie,” Rissa says, guessing what I’m thinking. “You go find Kai. Aaron and I will go after her.”

“No. She’s my responsibility. I should go.”

Rissa shakes her head. “I have a little brother, remember? I know teenagers. Let me handle Ben. She’s not going to want to hear anything you have to say right now.”

“No. She—”

“Maggie.” Rissa clears her throat, and I know whatever she’s going to say is going to be bad. “Killing that archer? That meant something to her. It was her redemption. You know she blames herself for Hastiin’s death, right? It was her fault, wasn’t it, that the archer spotted you on the trail?”

“The clip in her hair,” I acknowledge. “Did she talk to you about it?”

“She confessed. When we were at Twin Arrows. And that’s the way she put it. A ‘confession’ that she was responsible for Hastiin’s death.”

“She told me at Lupton that if she had died in the Energy Wars, maybe Hastiin would still be alive. I took it as survivor’s guilt, but now I think she meant it literally.” I shake my head, feeling like an idiot. “What else did she tell you?”

Rissa hesitates. Glances over at Aaron, who’s looking at his shoes, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“She told me what happened to her as a bride at Knifetown.”

Something seizes up in my chest. “Don’t tell me . . .”

“No, nothing like that,” she says, looking back at Aaron again. “But it was bad enough. Poked and prodded and graded. Bishop gave each bride a freaking grade, like a side of beef. That’s how he set their reserve price. Grade B would sell for less than an A. . . .”

I wave my hand, disgusted. “I get it.”

“It was humiliating. Awful. But no one . . . violated her.”

“Brings down the price,” Aaron whispers, so low I almost don’t catch him. “Bishop don’t do that no more. Nobody wants to buy a girl . . . or a boy . . . after that. Soiled like that.”

Rissa presses her lips together, gives her good-enough-for-now boyfriend a look that’s part compassion and part concern.

“Aaron,” Rissa says, voice worried. “Are you okay?”

He glances up, a surprised look on his face. “Yeah, yeah. ’Course. There’s no more to Knifetown, is there, ’cept rubble? No more Bishop, maybe? I’m fuckin’ great.”

She gives him an encouraging smile, and he returns it wider.

“I’ll go after Ben,” Rissa says after a moment. “Maggie, you go find Kai. And then, please, can we go home?”

Without another word, she turns and heads up the path Ben took, leaving Aaron and me standing there looking awkwardly at each other. He tilts his head, eyes narrowing between white lashes. “We all seen some shit, eh? Done some shit too. I bet you done some dark shit.”

I nod slowly, unsure where he’s going with this.

“Probably going to see and do a lot more dark shit too.”

“Probably.”

He reaches into his pocket and hands me something—the brochure of Amangiri.

“It’s got a map,” he says. “Layout of the facility. Gideon will be in the private residence. He plays rabble, but he ain’t common. Not really.”

I take it, not sure what to say but, “Thanks.”

He tilts his head. “Godslayer, huh.” His mouth bleeds into a half smile. “I always knew you were the crazy one in the girl gang.”

He gives me a salute and jogs after Rissa. After a moment he, too, disappears into the darkness, leaving me alone on the cliff above Amangiri.