The Curse of the Blessed

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Mam dragged me back home as soon as she could. She'd come out to see what all the commotion was, and she'd heard the tail end of the Head Man's speech—Reed's death sentence. I struggled to get back to Lark. I couldn't see her in the crowd. She needed friends around her: people who understood and could comfort her. She needed us. The other Blesseds. Her companions on the quest.

But Mam wouldn't listen, and I didn't know where Lark had gone, so I simply followed Mam back to the house.

The moment the door closed—when she released my arm—I turned on her, striking out with a level of sarcasm I'd never dared to use with her before. "What was that you said about the Head Man not performing the death sentence? He wouldn't be so extreme? He would never do something like that?"

"I'll admit that I was wrong there," she said, tone cold. "Still, he has to stick to the rules he's made, doesn't he?"

"So he can kill kids now? That's okay?"

"No," she said, "it's not. You know what else is not okay? When people who know better risk their village and the lives of the people within it so that they can play with forbidden magic. Dangerous magic. Reed's actions put us all at risk."

I shook my head. "No, Mam, they didn't. You're blind. Magic never did anything it wasn't told to do. Are we cursing the town? Of course not. Although the way things are going, I think I can perfectly understand why the Magician did."

Mam glared at me. "What, is that supposed to be funny? You have no reverence, Fyra. You don't understand power. It is dangerous."

"I know that. The Head Man's power is what's going to be killing my friend, soon enough."

Mam's voice grew soft. "Trust me. They won't kill him. Even when the Magician's magic ran rampant through the town, and the elders held a council to decide what to do with him, they offered him a choice. Exile or death."

"Right," I said sarcastically. "Because that's so much better than killing him outright."

"Watch your tone."

"No, I will not watch my tone. They will kill Reed a week from now, do you understand? They will kill him. If they exile him, it'll be just as good as killing him. No one will ever see him again-"

"Good! He's put us all in danger!"

"He saved a child!" I stared at Mam. "When are you going to realize how twisted your thinking is? You're killing a kid for trying to save another kid. Those scales are not balanced."

"You are young, Fyra. You do not understand."

"I understand perfectly well."

"No, you-"

I held up a hand, and to my surprise, Mam fell silent.

"Just hear me out," I said. "You think that the curse will come back if we use too much magic. You think that we're carelessly putting people in danger. You think that—though plenty of Blesseds have managed to live and use magic in this town without messing anything up—they should be killed for being what they are."

"Fyra-"

My voice rose. "You think it's right to kill people for using magic because the magic itself is evil, no matter how good the deeds that are done with it. You think it's all right for kids to die. You think it's all right to kill them."

"Fyra, I don't-"

"And even if you do not," I shouted, "you're too cowardly to say otherwise. You're too cowardly to stand up for yourselves—for us."