The zombiefied Trevor let out one final rattling death groan, and he collapsed onto the wood floor.Daiyu yanked the horn out of his head, and the brain matter stuck to it had already turned pistachio green.
Daiyu stood over the unmoving body of her boyfriend, his green-tinged blood spilling out all over the amber-colored floors.She let out a long primal scream, loud enough that I had to put my hands over my ears.Then she stopped, dropped the horn to the floor with a clatter, and that was it.
Jordy and I helped her wrap the body in an old blanket, and we moved it out to the shed behind the house.It was cold enough to help the body keep until Daiyu could organize a pyre in the daylight.The other townspeople needed a chance to say goodbye and grieve him, too.
She spoke very little, really only when we asked her a specific question, like where to find a tarp.Jordy and I didn’t say much either.We soaked up the blood from her floorboards, we cleaned up her kitchen, and we helped her up into bed.Jordy gave her another tab of grinleaf to help her sleep, and he promised he would check on her tomorrow.
And then, with dawn nearing the horizon, we finally left her cabin and walked across the town on quiet, frosty streets.
“Should I go?”I asked Jordy outside the front door of his house.
“I would prefer if you spent the night tonight.”He put his hand on my waist.“I mean, I’m too exhausted to do anything but sleep, but I’d really like having you near me.”
“No, I didn’t mean that,” I clarified.“I meant… should I just pack up and get out of Xwechtáal?”
He leaned back, trying to get a better look at me.The lamp he’d left burning above the door cast us both in a warm amber glow.“Likeright now?”
“Tomorrow, the next day.”I shrugged.“Whenever I get all ready.”
“But we have a plan.We’ve talked about this.We’re going together in May.”His brow furrowed.One hand was still around my waist, but the other went to my neck with his thumb caressing my jaw.“Nothing’s changed.”
I rolled my eyes.“Oh, come on.”
“No, I’m serious.Yeah, Trevor died and that was fucked up.But what does that have to do with you and me?”he insisted.
“It’s like I told you when I met you.I’m the harbinger of death.”
“Remy, stop being so damn fatalistic and acting like you’re some mythical deity of death,” Jordy replied, sounding far more weary than angry.“You are one fucking person.What happened tonight with Trevor had absolutely nothing to do with you.And if you run now, it is not because of this.It’s because you like to run when you’re scared.”
“Are you calling me a coward?”I asked incredulously.
“I only said you run when you’re scared.If you take that to mean that you’re a coward, that’s on you.”
“How dare you?”I shot back at him.“You have no idea what I’ve faced and what I’ve been through and what I am willing to do.”
“If you’re so damn brave, why don’t you stay until May?”His hand was still on my neck, and he stared straight through me with his eyes the color of mountain stone.
“Because I don’t want to watch you die,” I confessed, and I didn’t even realize that was the truth until it was out of my mouth.
Angry, embarrassed tears stung my eyes as I realized that he was right.I was a coward.The thought of losing another person, of losing more of myself when they died… I was absolutely terrified of going through that again.
“Remy.”His voice was soft and low, and when he wiped the tears on my cheek, I realized I was trembling.“I promise you that I’ll live as long as you do.”
“You can’t make that promise,” I argued.
“Watch me,” he said and kissed me deeply before pulling me into his arms.
57
Remy
The arrival of spring helped alleviate the shroud of darkness that Trevor’s demise had brought on.In addition to being Daiyu’s significant other, a skilled hunter, and an excellent chef, Trevor had been an outgoing force of nature in Xwechtáal.
Or at least that’s what Jordy had said at Trevor’s eulogy before the funeral pyre.I had no reason to doubt him, because the entire population was there, crying as they said goodbye to him.
As the days grew longer, my strength returned more and more.Jordy went on long foraging trips to gather what he needed to make his grinleaf and other medicinals.I stayed back, but I could handle everything on my own, including mucking the mules’ garage and chopping firewood.
Even with that, waiting until Jordy was ready wasn’t the easiest thing for Ripley or me.With the warm weather, the forests beyond the town walls were waking up and beckoning us.She spent afternoons pacing the room or gnawing on my bedpost.
