Page 7 of The Verdant Cage
“I love you!” I sob. I mean to send it as protection, as a plea, as a promise.
My twin steps into the basket. He wobbles, steadies himself. Then he tosses me a gruesome imitation of a smile, so wide and sad that it slices me in two.
I love you, too, he mouths.
He’s still meeting my gaze when Gryphon whispers something in his ear. Jonas’s eyes go wide, and then the basket is closed. Someone has brought Jarek the tablet that operates it. He jabs its screen, and the basket begins to hover up the Wall, lifting my cowlicked brother toward the sky.
From where no one has ever returned.
3
“Your hair is so beautiful,” Artemisia Tzu tells me as she removes the ribbons and bells. Gryphon’s mother is tall, muscled, her dark hair shorn close to her skull. Her expression is more thoughtful than kind. She continues. “It looks like you might have natural curls, though it’s hard to know. I’ve never seen you wear it down. That lack of vanity will serve you well as a Guardian.”
Noah’s Valley requires balance in everything. Because my household had more members than Gryphon’s on the morning of my wedding, I am required to move into his, adopting their trade, surname, and family as my own, leaving my former life behind.
My hair ribbons fall to the floor like shed skin. I suppose, in a way, they are.
“ItoldJarek we should have announced the change to the Harvest rules before somebody had a chance to commit a terrible crime. It just happened so fast, what with your brother stabbing Henrietta.”
Swish. Another ribbon glides to the floor.Tinkle, a merry bell.
Artemisia (Misia, please, she insisted, though I’d not said a word) and I are on the bottom level of the Tzus’ two-story home. This floor is one large room, half of it occupied by a kitchen furnished with a plain oak table and six chairs, a wood stove, a sink, and cupboards. The opposite side contains a river rock fireplace with an unadorned pine mantel, two sturdy rocking chairs, and a sofa upholstered with heavy fabric gone gray with age. A single shelf holds the books of their trade; I see no other texts, no paintings or tapestries, no touch of warmth. The four walls are exposed wood, lacking even the lime whitewash most villagers use to brighten their interiors.
I sit in one of the kitchen chairs facing a full-length mirror, an item only the Tailor House should possess. Misia stands behind me. I do not look at my reflection because I know I’ll see my brother’s face staring back. A shudder grips me every few seconds.
Jonas.
“But I’m sure the bride would’ve liked to know about the rule change in advance. Your brother has ascended Eden’s Gate to Heaven, but a surprise is a surprise, even when it’s good news,” she’s saying. “No wonder you decided to postpone the wedding. We’ll hold a small ceremony in a few days. Tack it right on with somebody else’s.”
Did I postpone the wedding? It felt more like I died.
As the basket holding Jonas glided up and away, my momentary fury gave way to a despair so profound, I was sure my heart would stop. My tongue didn’t work, my legs wouldn’t move. Jarek ordered my mother’s immediate funeral, and her body was bundled into cloth and sent up the moment the empty basket that’d held Jonas returned.
Sojourner, the Head Priest, rushed over to embrace me after she was finished leading the brief funeral ceremony. She whispered nonsense words into my ear, surely meant to soothe.What you inherit is not who you are. What you choose to carry—that’s what makes you.
I didn’t move.
I don’t know how much time passed, just that eventually the sound of whispers tunneled through my shock. Jarek and Misia materialized, blocking Eden’s Gate from view. Jarek appeared offended, Misia annoyed. They angled their heads together, studying me like I was something they’d discovered on the bottom of their shoes. Finally, they seemed to reach some agreement, and Misia strode over and pinched the tender skin beneath my arm. It was enough to rouse me, enough for her to get me moving and lead me back here.
To Gryphon’s house.
My newhome.
How alone had Jonas felt as he glided toward the top of the Wall, staring down at the only home he’d ever known? How scared was he during his final moments? According to Valley doctrine, those chosen for Harvest are embraced by the Sun, their spirits released into eternal peace as a reward for their selflessness. Yet we sometimes hear screams when those Harvested reach the top, screams and hideous crunching noises, but not always.
Not always.
My brother is dead.
My chest constricts. Not my twin. I can’t take that, can’t survive if it’s true, so I find my way back to the only two thoughts with the power to keep me afloat: finding out who really killed my mother, and making Jarek and Gryphon suffer like I have. I dig for that flash of fury I felt back at the Wall, vowing to dedicate every bit of life I have left to making them experience the raw agony I now feel. It goes against my training, this thirst for revenge, against who I thought I was, but connecting with it is all that keeps the darkness at bay.
The Tzus will know ruin like they’ve never felt, and it will come from inside their home.
A distant part of me wonderswhere Gryphon and Jarek went after they condemned Jonas to die. They didn’t walk back with us. I remember only Misia, clutching the tablet in one arm and shepherding me with the other.
The sunforsaken piece of tech lies nearby, resting on the kitchen table. It’s a flat, matte-black slab the size of an encyclopedia, though much thinner. Its surface is smooth, seamless, and it looks strangely heavy for its size, clearly built to endure. No visible buttons, just a faint grid of etchings near one edge. On impulse, I touch its face the same way I’ve seen Jarek—and the Record Keeper, back when their House was still responsible for the Harvests—do. It feels cool and slick beneath my fingers, but nothing happens.
“It’s out of juice.” Misia makes a tsking sound. “I’m afraid much of our Before Times technology is on its last legs. The tablet used to sunpower in an hour, or at least that’s what the Record Keeper says. Now it can sometimes take days. Plus, it needs a charge after every couple uses.”
