X-Marks: Stealing Shadows

Nowhere

"Are you okay?" Ocean said to me as we dragged a bag of flour into nan's pantry.

It was a question I often heard. I always gave the same answer.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said to her and focused on the cloud of flour dust at my fingers.

Ocean smiled, but not with her full face the way she usually did.

None of us had been fine. Not since collection day.

I saw Madelyn in everything. In the pink flowers that grew around the water well. In the little birds that nested in the trees of the canopy. In every crumpled piece of paper.

Two collections had passed since then and I was now thirteen. The camps soul died with the rest of the stolen.

On the night of blood harvest, as it later was called, we waited in the corner of nan's kitchen. Rose had brought us hot cups of herbed water under a shaking platter. The blush under her skin had turned to ash.

We were first sent to stay the night in our tent. Later, someone must have noticed it was not the best of ideas to leave us all alone. So there we sat on the edge of the walls of the kitchen.

Nan rested in her bed. This was too much for her old heart to carry, as she put it. I wanted to spend the night with her instead, but it was better to leave her be I was told.

I held the warm handle of my cup and let tears roll back into my sore eyes. I was not alone. Evee was wrapped in her favorite blanket. She was taking large sips of her herbed water. She never liked its bitter taste on most days but today it was something we all needed.

Mat sat furthest in the corner. His glass-like eyes traced the floor. I could now recognize when he was troubled but no longer did I feel any power in it. Only burdened.

Ocean was the least shaken of us. She remained in the closet all but a few moments ago as she was forgotten in the chaos and better for it. I could see she wanted to ask, but we were all speechless. There was nothing we could say that could explain. Not with all the horror it deserved.

The humid night dragged into pitch darkness, but the travelers and their bickering continued to crowd the kitchen.

"It's the elders! Gone too far this time," a man said at the door and peered out the opening as if watching for someone.

Outside, crowds of people rushed back and forth, their lanterns strobed light into the dim kitchen. It had been like this for hours. No one knew where to settle, but everyone knew the one place they didn't want to be. The canopy.

"What could they have done?" a woman said and slammed pots full of stew onto the table.

"Anything!" the man shouted back, "And it'd still be better than keeping us locked in here, waiting for them get the rest of us."

The woman with the pots revealed the sharp points of her yellowed teeth.

Rose turned from the sink to them both.

"There are children in our company," she said, "And all of them behaving better than the two of you!"

The man and woman simmered their bickering and returned to their chores but not before spitting whispers behind their backs.

Richard sat nearby in the only cushioned chair, his face in his hands. Buggy's mother, June, rubbed at his neck.

"I heard her June, heard her say it all. I swear my life on it," Richard said and continued to weep.

June let out a hushed sound to quiet him.

"And we believe you, dear. We really do," June said, her blue eyes looked past the walls.