Chapter 7

A feeling of numbness swept over Katie as she watched Cook carry Emily toward the tent to see Panda. She had to be okay. She just had to. Although she was only six minutes older, Katie had always felt a certain pride in her ability to take care of Emily. Secretly she knew that Emily had no need to be taken care of, but she appreciated that Emily let her pretend anyway. Now as she thought of how tiny and fragile Emily had looked lying on the forest floor, the numbness lifted and her heart clenched in terror.

She relaxed slightly as she felt a strong arm wrap around her shoulders. "What has happened, Katie?" Thomas' deep voice asked gently.

Katie's eyes welled with tears. "It's Emily. She's been shot." The tears began to fall in earnest as she told him what she knew. Thomas pulled her into his arms, murmuring comforts in French. When he felt her crying subside, he pulled back gently, "Panda will make her well. You must be strong for her, yes?" Katie gave him a watery smile. "Besides," he added, "we must know more about this man who attacked our Emily."

He was right, Katie thought. They needed more information. Taking a deep breath, Katie steeled her nerves, turning to address the mysterious girl from the woods. She found her staring from across the fire and, as their eyes connected, Katie felt her breath hitch at the intensity of the blue gaze. Something about it made her feel vulnerable and exposed, like this girl knew everything about her. All her instincts told her that this girl was incredibly dangerous and a part of her wanted to run from this girl as fast as possible. Katie's jaw tightened at the thought. Katie Fitch never backs down! She told herself, steeling her courage and making her way toward the brunette.

The other girl stayed rooted where she was, making no indication that she felt anything about Katie coming toward her. Her blue eyes remained locked on Katie's, seeming to bore right into Katie's thoughts. She's a cool one, Katie thought with begrudging admiration. Katie blinked as she found herself in front of the girl much quicker than she liked. She steeled her nerves, preparing to demand some answers. Before she could say anything though, the girl broke the silence.

"I'm sorry about having to threaten you." The girl said almost hesitantly. She sounds nervous, Katie thought, surprised. Somehow she knew that this girl was not nervous very often.

The girl continued. "I needed to protect Naomi. I didn't want anyone to get hurt." Her eyes had a slightly pleading look to them as though she was willing Katie to believe her.

Katie shivered as the girl's smoky voice washed over her. She vividly remembered the events in the clearing; the girl's warm breath on her ear, her voice murmuring soothing words. She found herself replaying it all in her mind.

Katie paced around the campsite. They were late. She had expected Cook and Emily back before dark, but the sun was setting quickly and there was no sign of them. She was worried of course, but, being her, was channeling it into anger.

"Blimey, Katie, you really should calm down. They'll be back soon." Panda called in a cheerful voice from where she was grinding up plants for one of her salves.

"Why are they so late? They know we would expect them back by sundown." Katie's tone was exasperated.

"Do you think something has happened?" Thomas asked gently.

Panda laughed. "If anything happened to Emsy, Katiekins would sense it. They have a magical twin connection."

Katie rolled her eyes as Thomas looked at her curiously. "This is true, Katie?"

"Not exactly." Katie paused, trying to think of the right words. "I can sort of sense her. Not all the time, just if she's scared or angry or-" She went still suddenly as a chill went down her spine. "-In trouble. Something's wrong." The certainty in her voice left no room for doubt and Thomas and Panda didn't hesitate when she began barking orders. "Panda stay here in case they come back. Thomas take the Eastern trail to the river; I'll take the Southern."

Thomas nodded once before taking off at a run. Katie grabbed her bow and quiver. "Keep the fire going, Panda. Send up a flare if they get back here before us." With that she took off down the path. She didn't know exactly where to go - Emily had always been a better tracker - but she trusted her instincts, reacting without a second thought when she felt the need to go off the trail. She left the path heading deeper into the woods. The feeling in her gut was getting stronger and she knew that she was on the right track. She heard a dull thud up ahead and the sound of running. Stringing an arrow on the move, she burst through the trees into a clearing. She glanced around quickly, her stomach dropping as she caught sight of Emily lying motionless on the forest floor, an arrow protruding from her shoulder. A pool of blood was forming underneath her and Katie's knees went weak as she saw how pale and fragile she looked. A blonde girl was leaning over her and moved to grip the arrow.

White hot anger filled Katie as she saw the discarded bow on the ground where the blonde girl had dropped them. She must have been the one who shot Emily, Katie concluded in her rage.

"Stop!" Katie yelled, desperate to save her sister from further danger. "Get away from her now or I will put this arrow through your head."

The girl turned on her fiercely. Katie was so taken aback at the raw anger and pain in the girl's eyes that she actually fell back a step, tensing as her back made contact with something warm and strong. Another girl had snuck up behind her and was now pressing a knife to her throat. The girl was thin, but deceptively strong and her arms remained viselike around Katie as she fought against her.

"I'm going to need you to drop the bow," The girl's voice was like a fog washing over Katie and causing goosebumps to form along her arms. "Your sister will come to no harm from us." Katie continued to struggle causing the girl's arms to flex to remain in control. Her voice lowered, becoming soothing, "Please. I don't want to hurt you. Naomi is trying to help her. Please stay still and trust me." Something in her tone made Katie want to believe her. She stilled momentarily. "Naomi!" The girl called to her friend. "You need to take the arrow out. The longer it's in there the more likely it will get infected."

"How do I know she won't hurt Emily?" Katie asked urgently, pushing forward in the girl's arms. She felt the cold steel of the knife blade against her throat and was surprised not to feel the sting of it cutting into her. She moved her head again experimentally. Still no pain. She's holding the back of the blade against me, Katie realized suddenly.

"I didn't want you to hurt yourself accidentally," the girl murmured, as though she read her thoughts. Katie felt her shift as she sheathed her knife. "I know you don't believe me, but look at them. Really look." Katie focused back on the blonde. She was tending to Emily with a look on her face as though she had never seen anything more precious. "Naomi didn't hurt your sister. She doesn't even use the same arrows." Katie glanced sharply at the quiver lying on the ground. The other girl was right. Those arrows had dark brown feathering while the arrow in Emily had red. Katie relaxed slightly.

The girl's arms gentled until they were merely resting on Katie's own and Katie was perplexed to realize that she missed the more solid contact. Soon enough the girl's grip tightened again, this time consoling her in her sobs as Emily's pained groans echoed through the clearing.

She lost focus at that point, a haze seeming to settle over her, dulling her senses and making her lose sense of time. She vaguely remembered overhearing Cook and Naomi talk as though they knew each other and the mysterious brunette girl helping to guide her along the path.

Katie shook herself back to reality. "I believe you," she breathed, meeting that unsettling blue gaze. She watched as those eyes filled with warmth at her words and felt an answering heat building within her. What was it about this girl? She wondered, slightly confused by her reaction.

"Hello, my name is Thomas. It is nice to meet you." Katie jumped a little as Thomas spoke up. She had forgotten he was there.

The girl turned to look at him, nodding slightly. "Effy." A curly-haired boy appeared beside her. "And this is JJ. JJ, this is Thomas and -" Effy looked at her expectantly.

"Katie." She managed to croak out. "Katie Fitch"

"Katie." Effy repeated softly.

Thomas cleared his throat, watching the girls as they stood not breaking eye contact. "We must see about this man who shot our Emily. He is dead, yes?"

Effy nodded without looking away from Katie.

"Yes, well JJ, could you take me to the body?" Thomas asked with a little smile. "I would like to examine it."

JJ agreed quickly, looking a bit nervously between Katie and Effy. "That's an excellent idea. I'll take you there immediately."

Effy watched the boys leave and then turned to Katie with a smirk. "Now then, what shall we do until they get back?"

Naomi couldn't stop pacing. Ever since they had brought Emily into the shelter a bouncy blonde girl had been fussing over her. The girl - Panda she thought Cook had called her - had pushed Naomi aside saying that she needed room to check out the damage. Only Cook's hand on her shoulder had prevented Naomi from attacking the smaller girl. Now Cook was helping to hold Emily still while Panda applied a poultice. Naomi couldn't see Emily and it was making her crazy.

So she paced. She paced up and down the length of the tent, then she paced some more. At one point she stopped for a moment, but her mind began dwelling on her fear and confusion again so she resumed pacing immediately. Finally she wore herself out and, turning so that she could see the little group, she sunk heavily to the floor. She sat hugging her knees, the muscles in her arms flexing methodically as she strained to hear the sounds of Emily's breath.

She heard a soft humming and glanced at Cook realizing it was him. The torchlight played off his face and for one brief moment, Noami's mind focused. He's alive. Cook's alive. She watched as his face tightened in response to Emily's groan.

"Hold on, Red." Cook cooed softly. "This will all be over soon."

The memory hit Naomi suddenly.

"Hold on, Blondie." Cook's voice drifted toward her. She could feel him pinning her down. "This will all be over soon." She tried to figure out what he meant. What will be over soon? She heard him speak sharply to someone else. "Hurry up, Freds. She's waking up."

She attempted to sit up. Then came the pain. It was white hot and ripped through her so fiercely that she cried out even in her delirium. She began to thrash around, desperate to escape.

"Shh, love." It was Cook again. "It's okay. It's okay. I know it hurts, but it's going to feel better soon."

She didn't understand. Why did everything hurt so much? She tried to speak. "Hurts…what…why?"

She felt a cool hand stroking her brow and then her brother's voice. "Noams, you have to stay still."

"Just do it, Freds." Cook said urgently. "C'mon, Blondie. Stay with me. You fell out of a tree and your arm's pretty mangled. Freds' got to put it back in place. Just hold on, babes."

Freddie gripped her arm firmly and, with a sharp motion, twisted, thrusting her arm back into the socket. The pain lessened immediately and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her relief was only temporary as she took note of a pounding in her head. As her eyes came back into focus, she found Cook's grinning face staring at her.

"Now let's look at that head." He gripped her face lightly and turned it. "You've got a nice gash going here, Blondie. Gonna leave a scar, I reckon."

Naomi put her hand up behind her left ear and flinched when she encountered something sticky. She withdrew her fingers and looked at them, blanching slightly at the sight of her own blood. Cook continued to peer at the wound.

"Yep," He said finally. "You're gonna need stitches." Opening his pack, he rummaged around, eventually finding a needle and thread.

"Were you planning on darning some socks, Cook?" Freddie scoffed behind them.

"You never know when you'll need stitches, Freds." Cook said with all the wisdom of his thirteen years before setting to work sewing Noami's skin back together.

Naomi snapped back to the present, finding herself absentmindedly tracing her fingers over the faded scar. She smiled slightly as she remembered the verbal lashing her mother have given Cook upon seeing his sloppy handiwork. She winced a little though recalling that Gina had turned her wrath on her when she found out Naomi had been leaping from tree to tree, attempting to follow the boys while they hunted.

"It's still there then?" Naomi looked up to find Cook peering at her scar.

She laughed shortly, climbing to her feet. "Of course it's still there. You wrecked it pretty good."

They stood grinning at each other for a moment before falling into a fierce hug. "I'm so sorry, Noams. I thought you were dead." She felt Cook say into her neck, his tears dampening her collar.

"I know." She said thickly as her own tears ran down her face. "Me too." Naomi pulled back a bit. "We have a lot to talk about, but…" She glanced to where Emily lay.

"You've got it bad." Cook grinned through the tears. "Your girl's gonna be fine after a little rest. You'll be shagging in no time." Naomi slapped the back of his head.

"Shut up, you twat. It's not like that. I don't even know her…I just feel - I don't know - connected to her somehow." Naomi gazed at the little redhead from across the shelter.

"Whatever you say, Naomikins." Cook held his hands up in surrender, eyes twinkling. "Whatever you say."

Naomi rolled her eyes at him. "Tell me what happened to you. I found the villagers in the woods after the attack, but your whole family was missing. No one knew where you were. I just figured-" She swallowed hard, guilt gnawing at her. "I should have searched for you."

Cook pulled her into another hug. "Stop beating yourself up. I did the same thing. When you and Freds didn't come back to the village, I assumed the worst." Cook paused. "What happened to Freds? Gina?"

"They took them, Cook." Naomi heard the hollow sound in her voice. "The attack…it wasn't just Razors. There were men. Slave traders. They had people from the village and they took Freddie and Mum." They were silent as Cook processed what she said.

"I always wondered. The attack felt too organized, too planned for Razors. They were after something or someone." Cook shook his head. "I could never figure it out."

"Cook, what about Paddy? Your mum?"

Cook's eyes filled with tears again as he thought of his brother. "Dead. Paddy tried to protect Mum from the Razors. They ripped him apart." Naomi closed her eyes in pain, both to hear of Paddy's death and at the dead quality of Cook's voice. "Mum…she just couldn't take it. When the villagers left, she refused. Wouldn't leave the house. Kept saying Paddy would come home and she had to be there." Naomi gripped Cook's shoulder tightly. "One day - maybe a month later - it was like she woke up and remembered. She just said, 'He's never coming back' and went back to bed. That night I found her. She'd slashed her wrists."

"Oh, Cook. I'm so sorry."

"I left after that. Started traveling. It was a hard life, scrounging about." His eyes brightened a bit. "After about a year though I met the twins, then Panda. Now we've got Thomas too. Got me a family again." Naomi smiled as Panda bounced over to give hug him from behind. "There's always room for more, Blondie." He added, his eyes full of hope and a bit vulnerable.

"That'd be whizzer!" Panda exclaimed. "New friends are great!"

Naomi recoiled from the idea of joining a group. Effy was all she needed. However, as her eyes drifted back to the sleeping form across the way, she found herself softening to the thought. "I'll think about it." She promised.