—But tomorrow, yes. You can kill them all—
That’s more like it.
33
Imetaphorically drum my fingers while Willow stacks more wood by the fire.
“Breathe, Theo.”
Easier said than done. They’ve been gone more than two hours. Why is it taking so long? “I’m spiraling about the guysandI’m out of my head worried about leaving Wes. What if his parents decide to take him.”
Willow pauses, her arms full of kindling. “You have to have faith in Naomi.”
I know that.
I can still see her face when we cornered her in the library before we left. We’d been blunt. I’d told her we were going away to do something important, something that could get us all expelled, or worse. And that we needed someone to be Wes’s shadow while we were gone.
“Why me?” she’d asked, her eyes darting between me and Willow.
“Because Willow trusts you,” I replied. “And more than that, I believe you would take a stand against the Conclave if you could.”
The silence that followed was heavy. We all looked over our shoulders, making sure no one was in earshot. Eventually, Naomi nodded. “I’ll be there every day. I’ll make sure the healers treat him well. I don’t know your secrets, but if you are involved in something that brings about change, then I’ll help.”
“Naomi will watch him like a hawk and call us if his folks appear.”
“Yes, you’re right. But I hate leaving him in the pit of snakes.”
“Gods, I know. I feel that way about my cousin.”
“The one in the reform school? Tell me about it. What’s his name?”
“Taliesin.” She pronounces it Teh Lie Sin. “What do you know about Ashgrave, Theo?”
“Uh, nothing? I’m from the UK, remember. My world geography is shit.”
My friend leans back against the stone wall, the firelight casting long, flickering shadows around the cabin. “Ashgrave is where dreams don’t die, it’s a place where they’ve never even existed.”
“That’s poetically awful.”
“Seriously,” she sighs. “Fifty years ago it was a manufacturing hub for Anther-glass.”
My expression shows my ignorance.
“It’s glass imbued with magic, and the only kind that can be used for potions. Anyway, the Anther-glass industry moved down south, and Ashgrave was left with empty factories and a massively unemployed population. The WMO turned the main factory into a youth prison, then washed their hands of the place. Rival gangs are destroying the city even further.”
“Sounds grim.”
Willow nods. “My Aunt Opal is a healer there. She runs a clinic for low-income families. She’s the best person I know. I trulythink it’s the best place to take the kids. The authorities don’t pay any mind to what’s happening up there.”
“And your uncle is equally cool?”
“Uncle Gareth? Yeah, he’s great. He never complains about his legs. There was an incident with one of the old smelting sites, he got crushed. Aunt Opal saved his life, but his legs were too far gone.”
“I’m sorry, Willow, that sucks.”
“It does. Hopefully you’ll meet him on Sunday, all going well.”
All going well.
