Page 37 of That Ain’t Witchcraft

“Your dad’s sort of a dick, isn’t he?” asked Sam.

“Yeah, he is,” said James. “I should probably defend him, but why bother? It won’t make him any less of an asshole.”

“Fun times.” I walked over to lean against Sam’s chair. I was too filled with nervous energy to sit; I’d wind up carving notes in the table without realizing I was doing it, and I didn’t feel like paying for a new one. “To answer the question of what’s wrong: Leonard Cunningham, presumptive heir to the Covenant of St. George—as in, he’s going to be the man in charge as soon as his grandfather dies, whether of natural or Leonard-induced causes—has tracked me down.”

Cylia paled. Fern made a small, unhappy sound. Sam said nothing, but his tail snaked out to wrap around my ankle once again, keeping me anchored where I was. It felt like a tether, like a lifeline. As long as he was holding on to me, I couldn’t drift away. “If any of you want to leave, this is the time to do it.”

“I’ve heard of the Covenant,” said James thoughtfully. “They’re a holy order, right? They hunt monsters.”

“Everyone in this room who’s classified as a monster by the Covenant, raise your hand,” said Cylia.

Four hands went up. James paled. I looked at him steadily.

“Hand up, Iceman,” I said. “They’d kill you, too, for the crime of not being an ordinary human. Or, if you seemed dedicated enough to the cause of human ascendency, they’d use you, breed you, and use your kids, right up until the day when you weren’t useful enough. Then they’d kill you the way they’ve killed hundreds of innocent cryptids. Some of them might be sorry.”

Some of them. Not many, and even thinking that some of them might understand mercy felt like a betrayal of my family. Still, I’ve spent enough time with the Covenant that I can’t think of them as an unflinching force of hate the way I used to.

Chloe snored. Margaret just wanted to understand her place in the world, when her family and her community were at the kind of odds that could only be resolved with a shovel and a shallow grave. Even Leo had a tendency to hum under his breath when he was focusing on something. They’re people to me. Much as I don’t want them to be, they’re people.

“Some of them would be sorry,” I amended. “Some of them would carry your death for the rest of their lives. But since they’d never be able to put it down, they’d find a way to use it. To say ‘see, if it weren’t for the monsters, he would have lived,’ and not acknowledge that they’d been the ones to pull the trigger. If you’re convinced enough that you’re in the right about something, lying to yourself gets easy. Don’t let the fact that you’re human lull you into thinking you’re safe.”

James had grown, if possible, even paler. “And you brought this to my town? Why?”

“I promise, I didn’t do it on purpose,” I said. “The full story would take a long damn time to tell.”

“I think I deserve it.”

“And you’ll get it, after we decide what we’re going to do.” I looked to Fern and Cylia. “I don’t think he saw you, or if he did, I don’t think he’s made you. Neither of you was with the carnival, and the population density at Lowryland kept them from getting a lock on me there.”

“Plus keeping a tail on me when I don’t want it there is virtually impossible, unless you have a blood sample,” said Cylia. “Nice try. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I,” said Fern. “Teammates stick together.”

“You guys …” I shook my head. “You could get hurt. Really hurt.”

“Remember Smashed Potatoes, from the Concussion Stand?” asked Fern. “She left, like, half her face on the track. Her actual face. I think she had to get dental implants. We can get hurt anywhere. It’s better to get hurt doing something you love, or helping someone you love, than to get hurt because the world isn’t fair. You can’t make us leave.”

“I have a lot of knives,” I said.

“That’s nice,” said Cylia. “You’ll never hit me.”

James looked between the two of them, finally cracking a small smile as he turned back to me. “You’re so lucky,” he said. “You have two Sallys. I can’t leave here. Even if I wanted to, even if I had money or somewhere to go, I can’t. I have to find a way to save her, or at the very least avenge her, and that’s not going to happen if I’m running.”

“He already knows who I am,” said Sam amiably. “If he touches you, or comes anywhere near me, I’m gonna twist his head off and use it as a basketball.”

We were all quiet for a moment.

“Too much?” asked Sam.

“The sad part is, no,” I said. “That’s actually really sweet. Thank you. All of you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” said James. “I’ll stop coming around if it’s not safe. Sally matters more than any of you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right,” I said. “I understand.”

“We all do,” said Cylia. “But you need the books we have here, and I’m assuming you can’t move them to your place without your father figuring it out.”

“Yeah,” said James. “It’s going to be hard enough spending time here without him getting suspicious.”