Page 59 of Last Rites

Back in the living room, I stacked the evidence of our crime in the fireplace and tucked some tinder in the cracks. It went up quickly with a couple of matches. I stayed there, knelt before the hearth with Ember rubbing against my back and demanding chin scratches, until it was all but burnt out and my eyelids refused to stay open any longer.

I scooped the cat up and trudged down the hall to the bedroom. I deposited Ember at the foot of the bed, where she draped herself over Nutmeg who was already settled there, and then dragged off my dirty clothes, barely awake.

I didn’t even remember getting into bed or falling asleep.

22

Kit

When I arrived at the Ossuary the next morning, I was physically exhausted, but what we’d done overnight left me feeling surprisingly energetic.

Finally, we’d done something that might actually give us a real chance to succeed in what we came here to do. If the Vessel was badly damaged, it would give us time to turn the rest of Ashpoint against Merrick and his vision of suffering before he could complete repairs. We could give these people the community they longed for and spare them the pain the Bone Men had always told them was necessary to find it.

There were a handful of stragglers in the atrium when I crossed through, speaking softly off to the left of the hall to the ritual room. They waved when I approached. I returned the greeting and continued on my way, thankful when they didn’t try to stop me to talk. Better not to risk being late and draw unwanted attention to myself.

Though, when I pushed through the door, that became unavoidable.

The scene inside was reminiscent of the one I’d found the morning after the tunnel collapse. All the workers were gathered in the middle of the room, but there was no idle conversation like there had been last time. Instead, all their heads swiveled toward me when I entered.

Merrick, who had been pacing at the foot of the dais in front of them, pulled up short and spun to face me as well. His face flushed purple with rage.

“You!” he bellowed.

In the space of a blink, Klaus and Fletcher appeared on either side of him. They stalked toward me in tandem, and Merrick jabbed a finger in my direction.

“You did this! Everything was fine and going well until you came along, and now we’ve had two disasters within the week.”

I took a reflexive step back when they reached me, but Klaus seized my right arm and Fletcher my left. They took up positions behind me, their grip tight enough to bruise as they held me in place.

We’d suspected that they would figure out the flooding was done intentionally, and that there would be repercussions. But considering the tunnel was the only way in and out of where the Vessel was being built, I hadn’t expected them to have time to gather the means to get up the cliffs to investigate the flooding and find our dam so quickly.

Then again, maybe they hadn’t. Maybe Merrick knowing I spent months scheming against him with Levitt was enough to presume to lay the blame on me as soon as the damage was discovered. We’d been careful not to leave any signs of who might have been involved, so my only hope was that the lack of definitive proof would hobble him in terms of meting out punishment.

Though Merrick wasn’t in the habit of following the rules.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, feigning confusion. “What happened?”

Merrick gestured wildly toward the tunnel. “You thought that flooding the caverns would damage the Vessel, but all it’s done is delay completion by a few days.” He dropped his voice so it didn’t carry back to the gathered workers. “I hope this was worth watching every one of your worthless followers die. Their bones will be among the last we need to finish our work.”

My mouth went dry, and my stomach rolled. I’d been so excited by the prospect of taking real action that I hadn’t stopped to consider the consequences. There was still a part of me that was relying on our movement being too big to wipe out completely, but I should have known that Merrick would burn it all down if that’s what it took to stay in power.

I overestimated our position here, and now we were all going to pay for it.

“I had nothing to do with this, Merrick.” Desperation crept into my tone. “This or the cave-in.”

His mouth twisted in a sneer. “We found a chisel left behind in the rubble of the tunnel!” he roared. “Deny it all you like, but someone is trying to sabotage the work, and I see no one here aside from your people who would have cause to do so.”

The door opened behind me. With Klaus in the way, I couldn’t see who entered, but when Vi and Matina ushered Penny around to my left with his hands bound behind his back, it was like all the air had been sucked out of the room. His wild, teary eyes met mine, and his terror was palpable. His hair was a tangled mess, his chest fluttered with rapid, shallow breaths, and there was drying blood streaked from his nose to his chin.

Merrick stepped forward and gave his half-brother a once-over before leveling an irritated look at his wife.

“We told him this was his execution march,” Vi said, sounding far too pleased, “and he tried to run like a coward.”

I wanted to reach out to Penny, to reassure him that I’d think of something to get us out of this, but panic wiped my mind blank.

“I told you not to tell him,” Merrick said.

Matina bared her sharp teeth in a grin. “But I like it when they run.”