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"Sandy, take Jacob outside"

"What do you wantwith the wo" Sara allowed herself a breath, to steady her nerves; it was not a tio with Sandy now Can you do that for me?"

In his eyes Sara saw no real co habit of obedience to the decisions that others o, Sara knew, if he was asked

A reluctant nod "Okay, I guess"

"Thank you, Jacob"

Sandy led the boy fro Mar, sitting on the opposite side of the cot, was holding her husband’s hand

"Sara, do youhave so that was ever discussed in the open The herbals were all kept in the basement in the old freezer, stored in jars stacked on o downstairs and retrieved the ones she needed-digitalis, or colove, to slow the respiration; the sel’s tru of hemlock root, to numb the awareness-and set them on the table She mortared them into a fine brown dust, poured it onto a sheet of paper, and, angling this over a cup, du away, swept the table clean, and ascended the stairs

In the outer room, she put water on to boil; the kettle was already warreenish cast, like algae, with a bitter, earthen smell She carried it into the ward

"I think this will help"

Mar nodded, taking the cup fro was that Sara would only provide the azed into the cup’s interior "How much?"

"All of it, if you can"

Sara positioned herself at the head of the bed to lift Gabe’s shoulders; Mar held the cup to hisher husband to sip His eyes were still closed; he seemed completely unaware of thee it, that they had waited too long But then he took a first, tender sip fro at it steadily like a bird drinking froone, Sara eased hi?" Mar wasn’t looking at her

"Not long It’s quick"

"And you’ll stay Until it’s over"

Sara nodded

"Jacob can never know" Mar looked at her beseechingly "He wouldn’t understand"

"I promise," said Sara

And then, just the two of theirl They were under the carousel, in that low-ceilinged prison of dust, and the girl was on his back, breathing her honeyed breath onto his neck Who are you, he was thinking, who are you, but the words felt trapped in hisHe was thirsty, so thirsty He wanted to roll over to see her face but he couldn’t irl on hi into the flesh of his neck and he was trying to screaan to die, one part of hie, I’ve never died before So this is what it’s like

He aith a start, his heart thuue but poignant impression of panic, like the echo of a screa his sense of where and when he was He arched his neck to look out theover his bunk and saw the lights shining His ; he’d drea thirsty because he was He fumbled for the canteen on the floor beside his cot, lifted the spout to hisin the bunk beside hi piles in the shadows All had co since he’d slept like that?

Now, lying in the dark, he felt the first stirring of antsiness, a low-grade hum of physical impatience that seemed to have taken up a permanent residence in his chest since his return up the mountain The obvious course was to report for duty on the catwalk But Soo had made it clear that she wouldn’t have hione by

He decided to go see Auntie He hadn’t told her about Theo yet Probably she knew, but still he wanted her to hear the news from him, even if the inforet all about her, over in her little house in the glade Oh, Auntie, people would say when her name came up, as if they’d only just reot on surprisingly ithout much help Peter or Theo would chop wood for her, or do sht assist her at the Storehouse But her needs were few, as she kept a large vegetable and herb patch in the sunlit plot behind her house, which she still ed to tend with virtually no aid fro, which she performed from a seated position on a stool, she spenther papers and mementos, her mind adrift in the past She wore three different pairs of eyeglasses on a tangle of lanyards around her neck, alternating between the and, except in winter, went barefoot everywhere she walked By all accounts, Auntie was close to a hundred She had married, or so it was said, not once but twice, but because she could never have children of her own, her life span seemed a natural marvel without purpose, like a horse that could count by staure out how she’d survived Dark Night; her house had weathered the quake with very little da in her kitchen drinking a cup of her fa had happened at all "Maybe they just don’t want ht had cooled; the s of Auntie’s cottage were glowing faintly as Peter approached She claiht were all the same to her, and in fact Peter could not recall a ti He knocked at the door and opened it a crack

"Auntie? It’s Peter"

Fro of paper and the scrape of a chair on the old wood floor "Peter, coht came from a lantern in the kitchen, a hammered-on shack attached to the rear of the house The space was densely cluttered but neat, the arrange piles, jars of stones and old coins, various knickknacks he couldn’t even identify-appearing notthe intrinsic orderliness of having occupied their current position for decades, like trees in a forest In the doorway to the kitchen, the old wo him in

"You’re just in time I’ve made some tea"

Auntie had always "just made tea" She brewed it from a mixture of rew and so the paths She had been known, out walking, to round to pluck out a na Auntie’s tea was simply the price one paid for her colad to take soht pair She found them and slid thehtly shrunken appearance, as if the physical reductions of advanced age hadher toothless smile, as if then and only then had she become convinced that he hom she believed him to be She was clothed, as always, in a loose, scoop-necked frock of quilted fabrics, bits and pieces harvested from any number of other dresses over the years What was left of her hair forrow from her head as float in its vicinity, and her cheeks were sprayed by spots that were neither freckles norin between

"Come into the kitchen with you then"

He followed her shuffling, barefooted progress down the narrow hallway to the rear of the house The space was sh room to maneuver and oppressive with the heat of the stove and the stea atop it Peter felt his pores opening with sweat While Auntie went about her pouring, Peter raised the sash of the roo a breeze to trickle in, and took a chair Auntie carried the pot to the table, where she placed it on an iron trivet; at the sink, she priht to the table also

"And to what do I owe this come-by, Peter?"