Mavis's resistance crumpled and she handed me Fawn. You should rest before you collapse or get sick.' She hesitated. 'The rest of your family needs you, as well. Panicked, Mavis pulled Fawn closer to her. I'd stayed with Mavis's children on occasion, which helped with both. But I needed to earn money, and I had to make a few acquaintances in order to keep up with the gossip.

Another rule to being on the run was to avoid getting close to anyone. In a few moments, she wouldn't have the breath to scream.

Underneath the sheen of tears and red flush of fever, the little girl's skin had death's pale hue. She held the two-year-old girl in her strong arms, and the knowledge that her child was dying shone in her brown eyes. When it opened, her mother, Mavis, stared wordlessly at me. I knocked on my downstairs neighbors' door loud enough for the sound to be heard over the child's wet wails. My current hideout was above the family with the dying child. They were hard to find as most towns had burned the plague victims' homes in the misguided attempt to destroy the disease. The dark color ideal for blending into shadows.Īnother trick of being on the run involved finding a second-floor room with both front and back doors and no skeletons. There was no time to waste when escaping, so I wore my black travel pants and black shirt to bed every night.

When you were on the run, the possibility of being surprised in the middle of the night was high. I didn't need to change since I would never sleep in nightclothes or without my boots on. Nothing else.įlinging my blankets off, I hurried downstairs. For what? My life? Yes, I live and breathe and exist. Three terrible years full of fear and loneliness. But in the midst of the chaos, no one listened to reason. A war that had been started by healers, who then spread the deadly disease, and refused to heal it. The horrors from the dark years of the plague were still fresh in the survivors' minds. Her family would thank me by turning me in to the town watch. One piece pleaded for me to save her, urging me to heal the girl with the bright smile and ginger curls. Tossing and turning on my thin mattress, I listened to her cries as they sawed through the floorboards and through my heart, cutting it in two. Her lungs were so full of fluid she'd drown in another few hours.

Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder