Only six initiates remained. Otis and Isla besideus, and Anders and Rosie before us. Our numbers had been cut by almost half in a matter of months, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever believed Kit’s claims more that this was a dark and dangerous place.
Nestling harder against Kit’s side, I curled my hands into fists and sat terribly still.
I didn’t look at Anders scraping his knife against Reimond's thigh bones and shins, flaying skin and muscle in sheets. I didn’t look either at Rosie, making a horrible mess of things as she muddled through Tessa’s guts, up to her elbows in viscera and sobbing.
Her cries were the only reprieve from the oppressive quiet.
It must have taken two hours. It would have been longer for Rosie, who looked about to faint by the time Anders finished and took over for her. When he was done, Reimond and Tessa had been reduced to piles of parts. Their organs laid in heaps and their skin was stacked in blood-pinked slabs. Fluids dripped off the tables to puddle on the ground.
I found myself deaf to Matina’s parting words that signaled the crowd to disperse. Kit and I stayed seated, anchored in place by some mix of exhaustion and horror. It wasn’t until the last of the onlookers were departing that I noticed Rosie and her parents standing aside, tucked into a close circle as they wiped the blood from her hands and forearms.
“I’m going to check on her,” I said, sliding out from under the cover of Kit’s cloak. Halfway to standing, I scanned the few still gathered. “Have you seen Thoma?”
Kit glanced around as he rose beside me. “Not yet. I almost hope he found a way to miss it.”
“Is that allowed?” I asked.
His lips bent in a frown. “You know how I feel about what’s allowed.”
I would have given anything to be able to cozy up to him then, but I settled for drawing near to ask in a low voice, “In general, or when it comes to me?”
He fought a smile, just a hint of one, but it was enough to ease some of the oppressive heaviness that had settled on me. It felt worthy of celebration all over again that we had survived. We were together and alive and, I hoped, through the worst of what the Bone Men had to offer.
Before we pulled apart, Kit caught my hand for a squeeze. “I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
I made my way quickly toward Rosie and her family where they stood near the corner of the Ossuary. The hurry rushed blood to my face and strained my lungs and, just as I reached them, a coughing fit overtook me. I bent, bracing my hands on my thighs and hacking until the lack of oxygen dizzied me. Rosie’s mother laid a hand on my back and gave it a pat.
With a residual wheeze, I straightened and nodded. “Thank you.”
My eyes were watery when I glanced at Rosie. Her clothes were smeared with gore, and her face was ashen. It was like her blood had run out along with Tessa’s, leaving her empty and weak.
I needed to start with apologies. For Tessa, or for what Rosie had to do to Tessa, but I owed her more for spoiling our friendship with my ignorance. It was strange with her mother and father looking on, but I started anyway.
“Rosie, I’m sorry,” I blurted.
Her brows pinched together. “For what, Penny? I know you didn’t like her.”
“I didn’t wish her dead!”
Rosie’s parents watched me. Her father especially looked ready to shoo me away for causing additional distress. She’d been through enough.
“I…” I worried my lip between my teeth, feeling the need to rush through it before I was dismissed. “I’m glad it wasn’t you.”
Rosie’s features relaxed, and she cupped her hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. Then, she crashed into me, almost taking us both to the ground with the force of her sorrow. Her arms bound me up, and I supported her, trying not to mind the blood being smeared across my chest and back.
Over her shoulder, her father nodded.
“Gods, Penny,” she gasped. “I’m glad it wasn’t you, too.”
“Kit took care of me,” I replied, then immediately regretted it. It seemed the wrong thing to say, as though Rosie didn’t do her best for Tessa.
She sniffled, getting tears and snot on my shirt along with the blood, then pulled back and met me with wet eyes. “Kit,” she said, smiling. “Of course.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
Rosie’s chin wobbled as she nodded. “Thank you.”
Her mother closed in to take Rosie’s shoulder and tug her back. “Yes, thank you, Penny.” She pulled Rosie under her arm, and Rosie fell to pieces all over again. Watching the older woman coo and coddle her daughter stirred up feelings of homesickness.
