My mouth dropped open at the dry response, but Reid only laughed and pointed. “Those tents need to come down. Follow the line of those hiking the switchbacks.”
“What about those who can’t make the walk?” Hart asked with a sideways glance at me.
“Alysa is organizing the people. She made teams to carry those who couldn’t walk. We started moving everyone already.” He spared me a glance after calling out another set of instructions. “Your parents are on their way to the new meeting point in the mountains.”
Relief swept through me, even as I knew the Storm wasn’t out of this yet. The echo of another tree toppling down the mountainside rang in my ears. Reid’s shoulders rose with the sound, but he didn’t hesitate to call out another order.
I had known Alysa and Reid were organized. They had to be to manage food, community supplies, and living conditions for the dozens of people who lived in their camp. But this level of preparation surprised me.
“You expected this?” I asked.
Reid glanced at me. “We always expect something.”
It was the correct response, and their readiness in this instance would save lives, but I couldn’t help but wonder what it cost them. Always considering the worst-case scenario, always worried for those in their care—it felt heavy and unrelenting in its responsibility.
An older man slipped as he walked by with a rolled-up tent over his shoulder. I lunged to catch him with little thought.
“I’ll help,” I said. My gaze hooked on Hart’s. Reid spoke inthe background, assigning Hart a set of tents to dismantle, a wagon to fill, and drag up the mountain. He nodded in response to whatever Reid said. I didn’t hear it.
Hart stepped toward me, his fingers latching around the chain necklace of our pendant. “Take this,” he said, and removed it from around his neck, sliding it over my head.
I felt the loss of his warmth as soon as he backed away. He gave me a long, lingering look.
“Take care of yourself, Chaos.”
The rain pelted Hart’s cheeks and flattened his dark hair against his forehead. His beauty was devastating. I fingered the two glowing gems and the faint flash of purple, then wrapped the necklace and tucked it beneath my blouse. There was no need to draw attention and questions with its colored adamas lights. Before I turned to leave, I called over my shoulder, “You, too. We have more to do.”
“Now, Hart.” Reid’s instruction snapped him to action. My steps with the older man took me farther and farther from them, until their voices blended with the dull roar of the residents organizing and migrating.
I let the downpour of rain mask the worry that threatened to consume me. Logically, I knew Hart would be fine, but I couldn’t help feeling like so much between us was left unsaid. It wasn’t our priority now, as more residents fell, mud slid in heavy chunks down the mountain, and another tree crashed into the camp.
This could not be a natural rainfall.
My heart twisted for those around us as the older man and I started back up a switchback trail. So many were panicked. So many asked questions that no one could answer. When would they return? What would happen to the things they couldn’t move?
Guilt weighed down each step I took, but none of this wasmy fault. It fell squarely on Rodric’s shoulders. It was his Blessed who took too much and left these citizens to seek shelter outside of the city. It was their fault that some of the residents, like Mother, who was in her forties, looked and moved like they were in their eighties. It was Rodric’s fault the Storm even needed to exist.
And while I spread blame around, I was confident that this, too, was squarely Themis’s fault. She targeted Hart’s sanctuary, his escape from the city. She targeted those we would win to our side to rally against Rodric. She’d do everything she could to dismantle them.
The tent grew heavier as water caught in the folds of the material. The older man slipped again, and I did everything I could to hold us steady. The trek was long, and my thoughts bounced between topics. With some steps, I feared for the distance between Hart and me. With others, I considered the weight of the responsibility to lead this group. I wondered if I’d ever be capable of doing the same for Kavios.
None of them were especially pleasant thoughts.
Hart would be fine. A vague awareness of him at the bottom of the hill formed with the distance. Though I would swear the inherent knowing was less than when we’d separated in Linia’s castle. Negativity took my next few steps. What would happen to him? Would I know if he was hurt? Would I be able to do anything about it with the physical distance separating us?
Alysa and Reid had been married for years, she’d said. Yet, at the first sign of trouble for their people, duty separated them. Alysa already worked her way up a set of switchbacks to higher ground. Reid salvaged what remaining resources he could.
Would Hart and I have to do the same to take the throne from Rodric?
We were nothing like Alysa and Reid. I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that now.
The line of those who lived in the Storm stretched out before and behind me. They each did their part. Carried something, someone. Everyone had a role, and I’d guess that Alysa had assigned them.
Hart and I hadn’t yet discussed what leading Kavios without his father looked like. It had me considering what I’d asked him about earlier. Could we do more than free ourselves from the curse? Could he finally free himself from Themis’s summons? If he could take the throne without being Themis’s pawn, would he?
As with most things regarding the trials, I had far too many questions and next to no answers. The idea that we could think bigger than breaking our curse was just that—an idea. The seventh stone was still unknown in our trials. Breaking the curse was still an open question. I’d only completed two of the six known. It felt like getting ahead of myself to contemplate more.
I searched the line of those with whom we’d fallen into step while carrying the tent. Old, young, healthy, ailing—all people were welcome in the Storm’s settlement. Alysa and Reid seemed to have a plan for each and every one of them. Not just with their daily chores and contributions but with emergency plans and relocation points. I wasn’t afraid to help, even to put myself in danger to do so, but I didn’t know if I could prepare for any eventuality like this.
