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Perspiration beaded her face--from her effort not to cry out in pain? We were both actors in our roles And worse, we both knew it

I started unwrapping her bandage, found the ed her dressing Ever since she’d been attacked

A week ago, she’d ridden out to check our dead neighbor’s well levels One of our water pu like a straw at the botto out alone early onewhen I’d been asleep In the note she’d left, she’d pointed out that Allegra could barely carry her,as she had her salt and made it back before sunset, she’d be safe

Neither of us had even seen a Bags At first I’d been petrified that they’d overrun us, but one hysterical when I found her note

To keepof the house I couldn’t stand the ash that accurew sickened if I letso, Mo at a wellhead Another had stood between her and the door It’d knocked her salt fro it into the sun, both of the down cement steps

Now as I unraveled the first layer of bandage, I remembered how I’d listened to her tale, dumbstruck by her bravery The badass Karen of old had man bite, just a couple of bruised ribs

Or so we’d thought

Second layer of bandage Like an idiot, I’d wondered if the attack , a catalyst to jar her back to her ballsy ways

Third layer This task was testing ht come from? Shame on you, Evie

Shaht Don’t inhale a breath Calether to hold back the surge of vomit in my mouth S it back down, you stupid coith your stupid shaking hands

The wound was hideous

At first the injury had been just a cluster of bruises Then it’d turned squishy Now it looked tight, a sack of blood about to burst Like a tu buta difference

"It’sbetter today," I choked out "I really think so" With wobbly knees, I crossed to the antique pitcher and bowl--the ones we’d previously used as quaint decorative pieces Now back in service

As I wet a cloth to clean her skin, I took ain the mirror at her room’s reflection

This space was also a shadow of its forundy and creas, and the lace of her canopy bed were now all drab, the colors muted

Despiteeverything ned Layer by layer, that ash was erasing e’d once known, erasing ere

I brokeht a gli insidewith unshed tears But she said nothing, playing her role

"Let’s get you cleaned up," I said brightly, determined not to be helpless Because wasn’t that just another way to say useless?

Exactly as that Cajun boy had once described

As I washed Moht I couldn’t cook, sew, repair, or hunt the vermin and snakes that had survived I was a clumsy and inefficient caretaker

Never in the history of mankind had there been a better ti

Once I’d finished cleaning her up and rewrapping her torso as best as I could, I said, "Moht as well have said I was going to find her an Internet connection Or a rainbow "If I ride fast, I can make it to the next parish before sunset"

Theaway frohmy mom?

Was I so desperate to flee theurge to leave, I feared that I ht truly be a coward at heart

Or could it be un at the End, at the end of the world?

What I wouldn’t give for an answer! Since I’d stopped takingmore about that last drive with Gran But those tiny flashes of recollection were never enough to make sense

I recalled that she’d asked me to take her Tarot deck out of her purse, to look at the Major Arcana I reardenia hand lotion As I’d shuffled through the cards, they’d felt so big

"What are the odds that there will be a physician, Evie?" Mom asked "And even if there is, the doctor will never have whatever is necessary to heal me Be realistic" Was her voice fainter than it’d been yesterday? "And your plan to ride fast ? A week ago, Allegra was about to keel over just frohbor’s She won’tto sit idly by and do crosswords with her? The last time I’d sat idly by hadn’t worked out so well for us

What if I could’ve somehow used my visions to save our friends and loved ones?

Hell, the only positive thing about the voices was that they kepton the past, on what could’ve been More than a dozen kids spoke in my head at various ti as I’d debated bringing Mo she’d turn it away), they’d ranted:

--Crush you with the Weight of Sins--

--Red of tooth and claw!--

--We will love you In our oay--

"Evie," Mom said, "I want you to dress up real nice and take a basket of cans over to Mr Abernathy"

The former animal control officer of the parish? "A basket What do you think we are--rich?" The cellar full of cans that was supposed to last us years? We were down to weeks, were already rationing to the point of constant hunger

"Do this for me, honey Relieve my worries"

In acatcher"

"He’s only thirty or so And he’s a er now"