Page 28 of The Verdant Cage
“Yeah, medicines,” Salvatora says, venom in her voice. “There’s still folks inside the Valley who choose to save rather than kill.”
“That’s not fair, Sal,” Meryl says. She sets her mug on a rock. Though she’s standing apart from Eero, her betrothed, I think they’re a well-suited couple. Both so pleasant. Perhaps they’ll even fall in love someday. “Rose has helped save plenty of people.”
“And others died in her care,” Sal says, glaring at me. “Because shehasto follow the rules.”
I have no response to that. To lay claim to my illegal visits would be to put those I help in danger. Meryl, Oscar, and Eero stare at me with something like pity. Sal’s expression isn’t as generous.
Suddenly, I’m hit by a wave of raw emotion that takes me a moment to identify: loneliness. With Jonas gone, I have no one, and I have no idea how to get any of these people to be my friend.
“Why are you training?” I ask, struggling to make sense of everything I’ve learned this morning. “To help the Guardians if…?” But I’m lost.
“We think something’s com—” Eero starts, but Salvatora silences him with a frown.
“It’s a secret,” she says. “Right, Gryphon?”
I’m shocked to find he’s standing directly behind me. I think I might cry, so instead I raise my voice, pivoting to confront him. “So you’rewilling to defy the law and your parents now?” I ask. “But not when it meant saving Jonas’s life?” I hurl the last accusation like poison, letting my pain choose my words.
His eyes blaze. “We want the same thing, my parents and I,” he says, his tone a warning. “Safety for the people of the Valley. We just don’t always agree on the best way to achieve it. Did you always do things exactly as your parents expected?”
It’s a cruel thing to say about two dead people.
My nostrils flare, and I shove my finger into his chest. “My father taught me to remove an appendix that’s about to burst and my mother showed me how to nurture and process plants into lifesaving medicine. If I’m hearing correctly, you’d like me to take liberties with their methods when it’syouwho’s suffering?”
Meryl whistles. I hear approval in the sound, but I cannot relax.
“You will train me, too,” I demand, surprising no one more than myself. I’ve never cared to fight, but with a murderer on the loose, I need to be able to protect myself and others. But most important in this moment, with my brother gone… I’m desperate, starving,drowningfor companionship. And Gryphon’s little fight club seems like my best chance at it.
I suspect Gran was right.Life’s too much to bear alone.
But Gryphon has different thoughts on the matter. He shoves his face near mine, almost close enough to kiss. “Iwill nottrain you,” he hisses. “You can’t be trusted to break the rules and keep it a secret.”
Salvatora snorts. “Isn’t that the truth. I had to clean the chapel bathroom for a month after you told on me for nicking that cup.”
“I’m sorry,” I say to her. “Truly, I am.”
“Sorry doesn’t mean you can keep your mouth shut,” she snaps.
They can’t know about my secret visits to the elderly, but there must be another way. I open my mouth in the hopes the right words will flow out, but Meryl speaks first. Kind, goodhearted Meryl who I’d considered if not a friend, at least friendly.
“It’s true, Rose,” she says. “I know you mean well, but…you’re just so rigid. With yourself and everyone else.”
“That’s why I couldn’t tell Jonas what we do out here.” Eero shrugs apologetically. “I knew he’d tell you.”
I’m just barely able to stop my hand from flying to cover my birthmark, a self-conscious reflex. It’s the unfairness of it all that cuts so deeply, them thinking I’m a rule follower for the sake of it. There’d be no point in explaining how many times Gran and Mom cautioned me to never stand out. They’d only hear me making excuses. It barely makes sense to me now, how small I’ve shrunk since my father’s death, how scared I’ve been of stepping out of line. I’m seeing myself from the outside now, and I don’t like how I look.
If nothing else, tragedy’s great at dissolving blinders.
“On my life, I will tell no one.” My voice is ragged with pain. I turn, making sure each of them sees the truth of it in my eyes. “You have my word. Please, let me join you.”
Reatha, Albert, and Marie have stayed silent, letting those still a part of the village make the choice. It’s clear from Eero and Meryl’s expressions that they’ll let me in. Oscar seems about to agree, as well, when Sal’s voice slashes through the air.
“You’re too fragile,” she says, “too pathetic. You can’t even handle a blade.”
I see my chance. I may never have swung a sword, but I know my way around a knife better than most. I hurry over to the carcass, grabbing the hunting blade from where Gryphon has left it, driving it down the deer’s center just deep enough to rend the flesh without piercing an organ. Her stomach contents spill to the ground.
I begin dressing the animal. I’ve never witnessed a butchering, but I understand anatomy intimately. I cut away the intestines and pile them a few feet from the deer. Then I remove the heart, liver, and kidneys, my movements nimble and surgical. I set the organs on a nearby rock.
It takes me only minutes.
