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I poured water froon some jeans, a hoodie, and my customary bandanna around my neck, I leftat the top of the stairs, opening his flask He didn’t look like he’d slept, still had his crossbow slung over his back, his own bandanna smeared with soot
I frohen he closed the flask without taking a drink He just stared at it in his hands
Uneasiness settled over er coone"
I narrowed my eyes "Leave it to a cretin like you to joke about soht"
Even as it felt like a vise was grinding closed over ed a bit!"
"She’s passed on," he ain
"No" Dread grew as I studied his tired face "You’re lying" I pointed er at hian to spin, I bolted down the hall, cla onto her room’s doorjaone Her face was truly peaceful For the first time since the Flash
Soone My mother is
Gone
In a daze, I stepped closer to the bed, realizing that she clutched a picture in one ghostly white hand
I remembered the photo It was of her,between thes The azaleas had been in blooly bold in color The air had sh tide
Now, as I’d done a thousand times before, I sat beside Monized my voice "You wouldn’t leave me alone like this"
When she didn’t answer, a sob broke free, then another I collapsed over her, resting ainst her chest
It was quiet Still
Tears dropped, soaking the collar of her nightgown "Co that I’d hear a heartbeat stutter to life or feel her take a breath
Still
"We need to go," Jackson said from behind me
Leave my mother?
"Evie, there’s no reason for you to stay now"
I rose unsteadily, narrowingbetter And then you show up, and you want us to leave" Wiping my eyes, I de, his expression shuttered
"What did you do?" I flew at hi!" He just stood there, letting , and she was like this" Finally he caughtinside her"
We’d suspected that, but"How could you know that?"
"You think I ain’t been kicked in the ribs enough to know an internal injury? Crawling to a hospital on Sunday ! And nownow she’sd-dead" I sobbed that word
"She’s been dying for days And she knew it! She was asking proht for a reason"
Soht Her injury couldn’t possibly have gotten worse I recalled the what-if questions She’d tried so hard to get Jackson to like me--to want to take care of me And she’d asked pro out of tiave way, and I slumped to the floor
Jackson juststared athere with me in the next ten minutes" Then he strode to Mo jewels into his pockets
My s "What is wrong with you?" I cried "Show so hter’s ass We’re goan to need things to trade You just let h the dead woet edthe area "Damn it, Evie! You didn’t pack?"
I hadn’t been about to pack for me but not for Mom, and I hadn’t wanted to wake her
Had she already been dead?
He stor a suitcase out "Clothes in here Now!"
"I c-can’t leave Mom like that! We have to b-bury her"
He scowled as if I’d said so absurd Then he went to work on ot anything else of value in this house?"
Confusion "I-I don’t"
"Gold bars, windup tiht?"
I could only stare at hiits contents intoanother drawer
Wordlessly, I watched hi in one hand,me down the steps
But he didn’t understand I’d never leave my mother as she was "Help ht by her I got other things I have to take care of"
"Please, Jack"
"ThoseAs soon as the winds die, you’ll hear the scouts fire guns into the air, and then the whole da forward They’ll take you, and there woan be a da I can do about it"
At the foot of the stairs, I thrashed against hi her here like this! Especially not if they’re as evil as you say"
His eyes darted "You’ll go with me if I bury her?"
When I nodded, he jerked his bandanna up over hisoff the front door, then plunged into the windstor ht he would dig right there, but he found a spot beneath the wind his crossbow, he stabbed that shovel into the earth Ash erupted, swirling in the winds
As he dug deeper, he railed atme that I was more trouble than I orth, that we didn’t have the luxury of burying loved ones, that if I didn’t get stronger I wouldn’t survive out there
Feeling as disconnected fro those last days of school, I sank down, nodding vacantly while he cursedwith sweat, dripping down to wet the cloth over his face Just as I wondered if his hands were getting blistered frorip
Bloody paliven way?