Page 6 (1/2)

"Not back!" Nola'sher hands down completely from over her mouch so that she could pull on her hair "Nola, what are you thinking? And here I was, afraid that you would be wanting to go forward Again As if that wasn't bad enough But of course not 'Here's a nice, safe, friendly place in Saint Erim Turi,' my Nola says to herself 'I knoe should do: We should leave, as soon as we get here, that's the only sensible thing to do' Naturally" She struck herself on the side of the head "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Mother!" Nola warned To Edris, she said, "Mother is a bit overwrought She's chinking of the sadness of the situation, and not taking into account that in this time of sorrow our poor friends shouldn't have to concern themselves with day-to-day household casks, in which we could help the Nola's 's shoulder, Nola made frantic faces at her mother that wereback to Haymarket, and would herback was only a pretext For ould Edris and Modig think of them if Nola had said, "Somebody in the last toc visited has died, and noe must move on from here because we're only a day's journey away"? It ether in ti back was a ruse and stopsaid, "You try to go back, and you try to go back" He thumped his cane and shook his head "But you never can"

What was going on at the silversmith's house - even now as her mother craned around Edris and asked Nola, "What is it you're trying to tell "

"Nothing," Nola said "I' not to cry over the death of our poor friend"

Surely, she thought, Kirasn't stupid He couldn't expect to bash his father across the head and get aith it Was his plan to kill the servants, too, and claim an intruder had broken in? Or would he try to set the bla Kirwyn's face through the kitchen , and the hate she had seen there

But then she went even colder than she had when she'd realized she was about to witness a ht

How much more likely was it for Kirwyn to blame Nola and her mother for the death? Had he, in fact, already discovered the bespelled bucket in the basement? "Obviously witchcraft," he would say to che authorities, showing the man in a bucket of water And he could claiure they could see had stepped out of :he bucket and killed the silversmith? They wouldn't know that was impossible, that Nola didn't have - and would never use, even if she did have - that kind of ic And they would know that she was the one who had set up the spell - who else was there who could have done it? Who had recently had access to the silversmith's basement, besides Brinna and Alan? And they had lived in Haymarket all their lives, and everybody knew they weren't witches Who but the two strangers, who had been asked to leave precisely for being so strange?

And if what she had been afraid of came to pass, and the blackberry merchant from Low Beck tracked her down to Haynised his shadowform and the authorities tracked him down, that would not exonerate her He would be able to protect himself "I was at home with my family, with my field workers," he would tell them "That creature that the witch created and placed in the bucket has a separate life from me, so I am not responsible for its crimes She is I always said she was a witch"

And even if - if - Kirwyn hadn't discovered the bucket and had a different plan to evade being found out, then soistrate or representatives froate the criht have been - o dry if all that was going on in the silvers But it would certainly be chanced upon now chat there had been murder done

She and her ht, immediately - and flee farther and faster than they ever had before

She became aware that Edris had taken hold of her ar that so to restrain her, Edris planned to hand her over to the Saint Erim Turi authorities But Edris didn't try to catch hold of her again She only said, mildly, "Sometimes it's best to weep and not hold it in" And Nola realized she was responding to the last thing Nola had said, that Nola was trying not to cry over a supposed friend's death

Modig said, "You try to hold it in, and you try to hold it in But you can't"

Nola sat down heavily, just barelyit onto the straw-filled mattress on the floor

Edris - for all her bulk and despite being at least twice Nola's age - crouched down beside her "I' thing - that Nola found herself crying

She and her mother would never, she knew, absolutely never, be able to outrun the storm that would break out in Haymarket if that bucket was discovered She said, and this tio back" If the bucket hadn't been seen yet, she must make sure it never was

Her o"

Edris,her in the sentiment, said, "I don't know" She shook her head, to indicate she didn't know the situation, and in truth she didn't know the situation, er at her father to warn hiet between hter, "I don't know"

Annoyed with herself, Nola wiped her eyes They had to go back Yet how could they - when she kneyn had already killed once? How could they go back when everyone would blame her mother because they had all heard her say that Innis would die?

That thoughtin the same circle How had her mother known? Of course Some abbot had told her, some abbot who had found his way into her mother's head Well, he hadn't exactly told her Herthe Mass for the Dead But since when had her mother's voices been real - never mind been able to tell the future?

It was a coincidence, Nola told herself An awful co-incidence that could get the two of them killed The three of them, she wryly corrected herself, if you counted the abbot

And surely she would be as mad as her mother if she took her et there, and people would be twice as apt to notice theo awry

But Nola had to go there

And how could she not take her mother? What other choice was there - to leave her here?

Nola looked at Edris and Modig, who had co - well, coht there was some trouble, who had asked pointed questions toharmed, ere - contrary to all expectation - friendly

I can't leave her here, Nola thought What would ?he say, ould she do, what trouble would she get into withouther to Haymarket Wasn't it? Where both a murderer and the authorities were?

It was a terrible plan But there was no other choice

To her mother, she said, "I can travel much faster alone" To Edris, she said, "Would youCould it be possibleIs there any way - "

"I would very h the idea had come to her first, "if that would be convenient for you My father sothumped his cane "Listens better than anybody I haven't ood listener since the old blacksmith died"

Edris said, "You reed

Nola's ot a distant expression on her face "Harold," she said thoughtfully "Harold"