In the Woods, Bears

Chapter 60 - Ash and Fire

Terry's Mother stood in the open doorway with her arms covered in ash with the scent of fire coating her. No one had seen her since she'd left with her husband's bones. To bury the man properly, she'd had to take the remains into the high country where there was land that was sacred. Turning him to ash had burned her thin.

A ghost of herself, arms like sticks, she swayed at the vestibule, barely able to stand, diminished by her fresh grief. When she opened her mouth, her lips cracked from dehydration, no sound came out. Her hands fluttered like fighting birds in the air as she spoke to her son with rapid, urgent gestures. Kennedy caught the sign for David in the blur. Danger. Warning.

Terry's face became a thundercloud, and he threw his head back and roared. The sound made Kennedy shrink back a step, and she bumped against the kitchen table. David had only been gone a day. How could things be that bad? The big man's hands moved fast and she couldn't follow what he was saying to his mother, even though he'd been giving her lessons. He ripped open a drawer and took out a piece of paper. Too angry to speak, he scrawled words on it and thrust the scrap at her. "Why did you let him go alone?"

"You told me to stay close to the cabin. All of you said I needed to sleep in the barn each night for everyone's safety." She crumpled the note in her hands, staring up into his distressed face. "David didn't speak to me. He barely told Nan anything, and she's already shared what little he said. You told me neither Snow nor Whist were responding to your messages." Nan stood in the kitchen behind her, trying to act invisible.

He stalked toward Nan, who stood by the refrigerator clutching an orange juice container to her chest. Surprising Kennedy, her mother stood up from the table and spoke. "She don't understand none of that hand waving, boy." Folding her arms, she looked ready to fight to protect Nan, broken body or not. "What's got your hackles up so high? Care to share with the room? What did that ghost of a woman say?"

Jeremiah burst through the side door, breathless. His eyes were wide. "Have they seen it? Do they know?"

"Seen what?" Kennedy swiveled toward him.

"We are screwed. You need to pack." He pointed toward her mother. "Go gather what you can. You and Nan need to go home right now. They are coming."

"Who?" Kennedy demanded.

"The council."

Her mother's face drained of color and she pushed herself away from the chair she was leaning against. "You don't know that."

Nan abandoned the juice on the counter and headed to her room.

"It's a small town. Nothing stays quiet." Jeremiah glanced toward Kennedy. "You should have told us."

"About what? The video?" Her mother said, "It was destroyed."

"We burned it together." Kennedy pointed toward the barn where they had ensured that the evidence would be obliterated.

Terry stalked into the kitchen and started loading provisions into a box.

She reached for Terry as he passed her, and he avoided her touch. "No one saw the nanny cam footage but us. I don't understand what is happening."

"Let me help you with that." Jeremiah pulled up his phone and turned the screen toward her. A gritty film began to play.

"Oh shit." Kennedy's knees softened, and she dropped to the floor as she recognized herself sleeping on Sandy's couch. "How?" She put her hands up. "I don't want to see anymore. We know what happened."

"I've found the whole video on at least four websites and it's gone viral." He pushed his hand through his hair. "Kennedy, this is bad." He took a breath that bellowed his ribs. "They were talking about it in the breakroom. The only thing that has given us any time at all was the poor quality of the images. The folks in town are going to figure out it is you soon." He pulled her up from the floor. "All of you. Go pack. Now. We have to get out of here fast."

"Why?"

Jeremiah blinked. "We are running out of time. Shepherds kill people for this kind of exposure."

A hard shudder moved through her. When she looked at the open front door, Terry's mother had disappeared. "You are scaring me."

"You should be scared. Move." Jeremiah pushed her toward the bedrooms. "Gather what you need. Red will be here soon. If we can leave before he gets here, he will follow after."

Terry slammed a kitchen cabinet door.

"But how will you protect me?"

Stepping toward her, Jeremiah grabbed her up in his arms and held her tight. "I don't know, but Terry and I are going to try. Please, Kennedy. There is no time to talk. Gather what you can. You have ten minutes. We need to be on the road." He cupped her face in his hands, more serious than she had ever seen him. "You will not die before me. Do you understand?"

"And David?"

Running his thumb across her cheek once, he didn't answer.

She gripped his wrists with both hands. "We can't leave him behind."

"He isn't with us, little mother. He went home to the mountain. His loyalties are clear."

"You don't know that."

Jeremiah turned her away from him. "Go on. I'm going to load what pain medicine we have into your mother's car. Your Nan is going to have to drive. Bones and blood... how am I going to find all the cats?"