Page 82 of Suncatcher

She cleared her throat, her fingers catching at Driz’s torn shirt and focusing on that instead of meeting Driz’s searching gaze.

“I’ve got a sewing kit in my saddlebag. Lemme see what I can do for this.” Pearl shifted away, grabbing her kit and leaning close to the fire to thread the needle. “Take off the shirt.”

Driz obeyed, and Pearl tried very hard not to stare at her torso. Or the wound on her shoulder Pearl had patched with blight.

“When you said you’re cursed…” Pearl swallowed. “What’s that mean, exactly?”

Driz ran her hand over the scar, which stood out brighter than the others, as if outlined in chalk or salt. “I do not actually know.”

“I’ve used blight most my life. I like to see it as a dangerous sort of blessing, not a curse. I’ve been too lucky too many times because of it.”

“But you are human. You were born and are living. Goyles are created creatures, molded by a god. To use their power for ourselves has always been forbidden.”

“But you weren’t created. You were born, and you’re living.”

Driz tilted her head as she frowned. “I have never considered that. But we are still forbidden.”

“D’you feel different?”

Driz took a moment to answer. “I do not know how the curse will manifest.”

Pearl eyed her skeptically. She didn’t believe she had accidentally cursed Driz. She didn’t seem cursed. But Pearl didn’t actually know.

She turned her attention down on the charred and ripped shirt, sewing together what she could, though most of one sleeve was simply missing. Only three of the buttons on the front remained, so Pearl unpicked one from her own cuff to use as a replacement so Driz could close the shirt. The thread snarled a bit, but it held.

The firelight caught off metal in Driz’s hands as she fiddled with the harmonica she somehow still had from her pocket, flipping it over and over.

“Would you play for me again?” Pearl asked.

Driz’s eyes widened. “You would like that?”

Pearl nodded.

“I only practiced what I already played for you.”

“That’s fine. I liked that one.”

Driz’s shy smile was hidden by the harmonica cradled in her large hands as she brought it up to her mouth.

She had to restart twice, scowling when she hit the wrong third note. She was utterly adorable, and Pearl found herself smiling too.

23

A Cruel Reminder

After two more days, Driz was mostly healed. They moved deeper into the canyonlands each night, away from civilization. When Pearl would let her, Driz loved to hunt when she woke, and Pearl would hunt for Driz before dusk. It was a newly discovered joy to bring Pearl food, to perform an act to keep her healthy and strong and content. Driz didn’t have much else to give.

Driz told Pearl each dawn to stay away, but Pearl would not listen to reason.

Things were at once wonderful and oddly tense between them. Pearl would brush her lips lightly against Driz’s cheek, driving Driz wild with the shadow of a touch, only to pull away and pretend she hadn’t.

Perhaps this was Driz’s curse manifesting. To have Pearl, but to not have her.

Trying to talk to Pearl about it didn’t prove helpful either. Pearl seemed to have a hard time saying what she was thinking or feeling, and Driz found herself hesitating as well, afraid of saying the wrong thing again and scaring Pearl away even more.

But she was getting better at interpreting what Pearl didn’t say. How she would chew on her lip when she didn’t want to answer a question, biting at her flesh with the gold of her replaced teeth.

Driz wanted Pearl to bite her again. But she hadn’t. She’d been keeping her teeth all to herself.