Coming from somewhere behind the woman, someone else shouted. “You gonna need my help with this one?”
A man from the sounds of it, though Kestrel couldn’t seehim. The cursed woman had her gaze entirely blocked, and she didn’t dare move to try to view him better. Kestrel didn’t doubt for a second how quickly this woman would impale her if she needed to.
The cursed woman shook her head. “Doubtful. She’ssstrembling like a leaf.”
Kestrel felt her shoulders slump. The last thing she wanted was to be deemed an easy target—again. It was like everything out here could smell the inexperience on her. Like they knew she was out of place, that she was lost and frightened and easy to devour.
But Kestrel was learning.
The fox had taught her something, a lesson that seemed integral out here.
Survival wasn’t always handed to the bigger and stronger. Sometimes all it took was determination, cleverness—and perhaps a little bit of luck.
If there was an opportunity of survival here, Kestrel just needed to find it.
The cursed woman poked her again with the spear. “Do youssspeak?”
“Yes,” Kestrel managed to blurt finally. “Sorry, I just…I thought this place was abandoned. I didn’t expect you.”
“Abandoned?” the woman scoffed, a raspy sound full of distrust. But for whatever reason, the longer she scrutinized Kestrel, the more the squint in her eyes waned. She took in Kestrel’s soft hands, her almost entirely pale skin—aside from the sunburn that was starting to blister on her forehead and cheeks. The cursed woman lowered her spear and gave a nod toward the perimeter. “Mutiny Bay liesssbeyond that wall. You’ve heard of it?”
Kestrel shook her head.
Mutiny Bay.
The name sounded exactly like the sort of place she should steer clear of, but instead, she found herself marveling and even more drawn to it. Kestrel’s gaze wandered up the stonework, wishing she could see beyond those fortified walls. A place with a name, as well as people. A home for who knew how many survivors. Somewhere Thom had likely never been but would’ve been so excited to learn about. Because, although Kestrel had been worried about the possible wickedness of those who dwelled inside, she wasn’t sensing anything evil from the woman before her—other than a curse that wasn’t her fault. When she had approached Kestrel though, it had been to protect the people inside, she was sure of it. And now that she deemed Kestrel unthreatening, she was already showing her small acts of trust by lowering her weapon.
“Where do you come from?” the cursed woman asked.
Kestrel opened her mouth to answer, but realized she didn’t know the name of where they lived. What town or region or beach it resided on. “I don’t know. I lived with my father, but it was just us.”
“And before that?”
Kestrel’s brow wrinkled. “Before…what?”
“Before it wasssonly the two of you. Where did you live then?”
The question made the underside of her skin itch. Like thereshould’vebeen a before, even though there wasn’t. At least, not that she was aware of. Kestrel didn’t want to lie, but she was worried the truth might disappoint her interrogator. Ultimately, she had no other option though, for Kestrel didn’t even know a name of another place to give.
“It’s always just been the two of us. We’ve never been anywhere like—like in there.” When she nodded to the wall, the woman’s reptilian eyes didn’t follow. They were fixedupon her, calculating, analyzing. Kestrel continued. “So, I didn’t mean to ignore you, I just…I thought everyone was dead.”
Apparently, such a notion seemed absurd to the woman because those creases returned to the edges of the woman’s eyes.
It made Kestrel’s head hurt, but she couldn’t figure out why yet.
“And where issshe now?” the cursed woman asked after a long moment. “Your father?”
“I don’t know,” Kestrel answered honestly, and could’ve left it at that. But she was running out of options. Out of clues to follow. Kestrel could use someone to trust, and so she decided to tell the woman more. “Thom went on a supply run and never returned. He said he’d be back within a few weeks, and I waited for him, and waited. But…I know he always says I should never leave the tower, that it’s too dangerous. But he never came back. And I got worried. So…I left our home to come find him.”
By the time she finished, Kestrel’s eyes were burning, the desperation so immense it overcame her. She had been running for so long, it had been a while since she had let all her worries and fears sink in. Thom was all she had. He was her rock. Her safe haven since the day she was born.
If she couldn’t find him—or worse, if he was dead—she didn’t know what she would do.
The last shred of the cursed woman’s stony exterior finally dropped. “Did yousssay Thom?”
Kestrel straightened, wiping her eyes. “Yes! Do you know him?”
“Perhapsss.” The cursed woman stepped aside and gestured for Kestrel to walk with her. “Dessscribe him to me.”
