Well spoke, says Mercy. I’m with Saba.
I’ll need yer help tonight, Mercy, I says.
Only if I won’t be a hindrance, she says. No guilt on your side, no blame on mine.
Four aginst four. Slim digs in his pocket. Think I got a coin in here somewheres.
I says, This is too big to rest on a coin flip. I want everybody with me. If this works an we roll it out, we all hafta do it, believe in it, stick with it. Not jest one or two of us an the others go off with guns. I ain’t crazy, I promise you. An this ain’t some desperate idea I came up with becuz I lost my nerve. It’s the only thing that makes sense. It is risky. It’s gonna take more nerve an more smarts than anythin any of us ever done before. If I’m right, we could win without nobody gittin hurt. Please. One chance, that’s all I ask. Tonight. One action. No weapons. Lemme crack open that fault line an see what happens. Whaddya say?
Slim slaps his knees. I say, help yer Uncle Slim to his feet. Tommo an Ash haul him from his slingchair. He grabs my hand, yanks me aginst his bulk an I’m fixed with his hard one-eyed stare. He says, We played a cool game of chicken with the Tonton that day, you an me. There ain’t nuthin wrong with yer nerve, Miss Death. Go on, then. You show me somethin I ain’t never seen before. Prove me wrong. Far as I’m concerned, you got yer chance. He lets me go. That makes it five to three, he says.
Six to two, says Tommo. I believe in you, Saba.
A smile breaks over my face fer him. Thanks, Tommo, I says. My breath starts to come more easy.
Ash stares at me. With a little frown that says I’m a problem she cain’t work out.
Yer the one planted this idea in me first, I tell her. Back when we first caught sight of Resurrection. That huge fortress risin up in front of us. A garrison of Tonton inside with their arsenal of weapons. All of them. Only five of us. It seemed so impossible we jest about lost heart. Not you. Tiny things can cause big trouble, that’s what you said. We did. An we can do it agin.
She starts to nod. Skeeter bite brings fever, she says. Little thorn sticks in you, yer blood goes bad. All right. Let’s see you do this thing. That makes you the only holdout, Creed.
Slim says, Jump off the cliff with the rest of us, son. You never know, we might jest sprout wings an fly.
Creed’s bin eyes-to-the-ground, arms crossed over his chest, shakin his head from time to time. I don’t believe this, he says. All of yuz. It’s a complete waste of time. Go on, do what you like. He starts to walk away. He raises his voice, not lookin back as he says, When you crash, come find me an we’ll talk about a proper fight. That’s if I’m still around.
Creed! I call after him. One chance! C’mon!
He waves a hand in dismissal an disappears over the edge of the hill.
I got it! cries Peg.
We all turn. She’s grabbed hold of the windcrank on the nose of her airbuggy. She hangs her weight to shove it around. It turns. Once. Very slowly. Then, very slowly, the whole thing collapses.
I’m headin down the hill to find a quiet place to think when Ash comes chasin after me. Wait up! she calls.
There bein only room fer one on the narrow, zigzaggy path, she has to stick behind me. As we pick our rocky way down, she says, Pretty wild idea. You changed yer tune some.
Whatever it takes, Ash. My mind’s clear on this, I says. Like I said, it’s the only thing that makes sense.
There’s the scrabble of feet behind us. We look back to find Emmi an Tracker in pursuit. He flies past, leapin the rocks like a mountain goat, an disappears.
’Scuse me, comin through! As Emmi squeezes an elbows past Ash, her feet slide out from beneath her. Whoops!
Whoa! Ash grabs her collar to save her from a tumble. What’s the hurry, ma’am?
Em clutches herself upright, hangin on my arm. She looks at me. With her clear as a summer raindrop eyes. I won’t ever let you down agin, not ever, she says. I’m gonna step up, I swear. You’ll see.
Then she’s squirmed past me, scramblin headlong down the path.
Hey! I call. Come back here so I can yell at you. Don’t think you ain’t in trouble, Emmi.
She’s a rocket, that girl, says Ash. What’s the trouble?
She let Nero go loose when I told her to keep him with her. Unreliable Em strikes agin. I shake my head as we go on.
Ash says, Hey, Saba. You thought any more about what I said?
Thought about what?
Nero, she says. Who might of snatched him like that. You must of noticed. He’s okay with all us females—even Peg, an he don’t know her. But he’s still nervy with the boys—men—whatever. He don’t trust ’em. That tells you somethin right there.
That bit of cord Emmi handed me. It’s still in my pocket. I ain’t gave it another thought.
I stop. I turn to her. So who’re you accusin, Ash, huh? My brother? Tommo? Slim? Absolutely not. Never. An Creed an me, we might have our differences of opinion, but I’ve trusted him with my life. Jest like I have all of yuz, an you ain’t never let me down. I got no reason to suspect any of yuz.
Who did it, then? she says.
She ain’t gonna leave this, I can tell by her face. An I sure as hell cain’t tell her it was a Tonton doin DeMalo’s work. That would only lead to more questions. It’s five nights to the blood moon. I could scream at her fer wastin my time like this.
Look, I says. I got a pretty good idea who did this an why. As her mouth drops open in surprise, I says, I ain’t at liberty to say no more than that. I glance up at Nero, who’s sailin around above us. There warn’t no harm done to Nero an that’s the main thing, I says. I don’t wanna talk about this agin, Ash. I got a lot to do, a lot to think about.
She’s lookin at me like I jest sprouted another head. Fine, she says, whatever. You got big things on yer plate. No problem.
I know her. I know how her mind works. Ash, I ferbid you to go pokin around, I says. There ain’t nuthin to discover here, believe me. An I don’t want you talkin to nobody about it, an I want yer word on it. I hold out my hand to her. C’mon, gimme yer promise, right now.
You are so wrong-headed on this, she says. But I stare her out till she shrugs with bad grace. On yer wrong head be it, then, she says. She grabs my hand an gives it her usual. A quick, hard tug towards her, like it’s a stuck pump handle.
Ash’s word is solid. With her promise to me handset, we carry on down.
I need Mercy with me at the babyhouse. I won’t know ezzackly what my plan is till I meet with Jack an his New Eden rebels later today. But if we’re gonna go baby stealin, we’ll need somebody who’s skilled with infants. Who better than Mercy? She also knows the workins of a babyhouse from the inside.
So I’m forced to tell her about Jack. She don’t know him an she’s only newly arrived among us, so she ain’t had her prejudice set about him one way or the other. Unlike everybody else, I think I can trust her with this secret.
On our way to the meet spot, the watermill in Sector Four, I fill her in on Jack an his New Eden rebels. How Bram, with the help of his woman Cassie, had carefully an slowly put together a little gang. How they’d hardly got started when he got killed in action. How Jack took them over. How him an me work together.
Mercy don’t say much. She nods from time to time. At the end of my piece she says, The heartstone burns for this man. Am I right?