Rimwick

Give Up The Stars

After the song, Echo left the stage quickly, and the Dusk Children dispersed. I was afraid they would riot, or set Rimwick on fire or something. Create a gallows and hang traitors or burn effigies at the stake. But they didn't. Maybe the Duskers just like listening to violent lyrics.

I find Echo in the woods below the market's hill, nestled against Roman's warm coat. He looks at me and blinks liquid brown eyes, then licks Echo's forehead.

"Gross," she mutters, but rests her head against his foreleg.

"Hey," I say. "You alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You're magic's pretty sweet."

"Thanks."

I'm not really sure if I'm welcome or not, but I sit down next to her anyway. The wet snow is soft beneath me, cold, but oddly comforting. Snowflakes formed from lace drift in leisurely circles through the stillness. We sit in a sheltered, silent harbor, where the buzzing of the cold comforts instead of numbs.

"What's it like?" Echo asks. "In Rimwick?"

"Well..." I hesitate. Awful, I could say. Everyone is a garbage can hidden behind a painted screen. I could talk about false friends and whispers as I walk down the hall, or snowballs thrown by unseen hands in the woods. But Echo wants a fairy story, and so I give her that instead.

"It's beautiful. I walk to school and listen to the birds while the sun shines on my face. There's light, everywhere, falling from the windows to cross the floor or spilling between the branches of trees. We sit on clipped grass and have picnics, and laugh and tell stories. I used to go to my friend's house every day after school and we'd paint our nails or do our hair. Sometimes we'd sneak onto the farms and throw rocks at the cows. Or we'd go to the factories and they'd give us little things, samples of candy or leftover rubber. My friend, Isaac, he got a bicycle one year and I rode on the back of it until we accidentally crashed into the side of the town hall. His mom had us spend about four hours fixing it, but then she made us lasagne so that was alright."

"It sounds wonderful," Echo sighs.

"It is," I say, and realize that I'm telling the truth. I used to really love Rimwick.

"The stars, though," Echo says. "I don't think I could give up the stars."

I gaze up, at the fairy light lanterns piercing the sky.

"Me either."

I feel a light touch on my shoulder. I look behind me- it's Fallon, her red braid falling across her shoulder. She slings her bow and quiver off her back and silently sits beside me in the snow. I turn back around and Felix is there, moving just as silently as Fallon was. No one says anything until the stars are fading and Anvil appears.

"Let me see your arm." The low whisper comes from Fallon.

Anvil stretches his hand towards his sister, pulling up the long, ragged sleeve of his graying t shirt so that she can inspect his skin. It's marked with scars that look like burn marks, but none of them are fresh. Fallon nods, and Anvil nestles into the snow next to her.

We sit like that, in the forest with lace drifting on top of us, until the light peeks out from the lattice work of trees.