those would be like gouging out an eye or cutting off a limb.
And self-mutilation would make her unstable.
Once he tamped the ground a few times, satisfied with his work, her father moved to the base of the hemlock tree and stripped the bark in three places. A signal to end the ceremony. Without another glance at his daughter or the grave, he started back toward Proem. She got up to trail behind, but stopped and traced the tree’s fresh wounds. No name. No heart. Just the strikes. The tree, once a symbol of safety, became Sarah Fleming’s grave marker.
* * *
The following weeks and months, Liberty caught snips of the colonists’ conversations. A few were affected by her loss, offered tears and wordless hugs in sympathy. Others relaxed and let down their guard, feeling somehow safer with her gone.
But the majority agreed a mother’s instinct was a distraction. It compromised the skills needed to survive. The poor thing may have been able to bustle more effectively if she hadn’t had her daughter with her.
She stayed until she reached the age of pardon, twenty-one, which her father granted without argument.
And soon she saw the white auras.
Chapter One
Present Day.
The seasons in northern Pennsylvania fluctuated between raging hot and bitter cold, but the cavern in Montgomery Woods stayed comfortable all year long.
Well, comfortable unless you were petite, like Liberty’s sister-in-law, Katie, then your toes turned into tiny snowdrops after walking around on the limestone longer than five minutes.
Liberty handed Katie a pair of fuzzy socks she’d retrieved from her chamber. “These should help.”
Katie took them, and nodded, looking at her with a pair of almond shaped eyes that tipped up at the corners. Liberty had decided long ago they looked feline, though all the cats she’d met were much less aloof. At most, her thanks was the straight pin smile Katie offered.
Fair enough. Katie still hadn’t forgiven her and Liberty still didn’t care.
“Anything else I can get you?”
“No thanks, the socks are enough.”
Liberty grit her teeth, turned away, and crossed the room to sit next to her husband, Nathaniel. They locked eyes. He winked, patting the cushion next to him, pleased with her cordial behavior. She shrugged. It was a small gesture, all things considered.
Gathered in the largest of the five chambers of the cavern, the sitting room, they sat on furniture Nathaniel had constructed from scraps of pressure-treated wood. Liberty thieved as little as possible, so she thanked Mother Nature for the cushions, having been retrieved after a windstorm.
She noticed Adrian had entered their unofficial meeting, and found a seat at her small desk near the doorway. The lanterns in the sitting chamber softly lit the center of the space, but Adrian sat on the edge, in the shadows. She imagined if she lived in a real house, she’d place her desk in a corner. Then he could sit facing it for eternity.
“So, Gabe,” Nathaniel said, hands laced together and elbows propped on his knees like a man without a care in the world, “out with it, already. What’s the big news?”
Katie and her husband, Gabriel, had arrived the previous night with their son, Adrian, in tow. The spontaneous visit unsettled Liberty, and with a sick anticipation gnawing in her stomach, she’d tossed and turned, unable to sleep at all.
“Yes,” Liberty said, hoping for something benign like a baby announcement, though doubtful with Katie as big as a willow branch. “Please share.”
“Well actually, Nathaniel.” Gabriel made it a point to direct his words to her husband. “Cutler sent us with a message for you.”
Liberty stared at the smiling couple, kept a straight face, and didn’t bat an eyelash. Cutler, her sister Patience’s mate, had a message for Liberty’s. She could tell this news was fantastic already.
“Cutler?” Nathaniel repeated, not bothering to hide his surprise.
Katie nodded and grabbed Gabriel’s hand, a genuine grin plastered on her face. “Yes, it’s very exciting.”
Liberty paid close attention to her own posture, her expression. No need for word to get back to Proem concerning poor Liberty Brewster, perched on the edge of sanity ever since she’d lost her daughter. Nope. She took a shallow breath. She wouldn’t give it to them.
Nathaniel sat and waited for more, and Gabriel spoke up, “Cutler would like you.” He looked at her, added, “And Liberty, to consider moving back to Proem.”
Katie squirmed, couldn’t stand not being the one to tell the story, and took over for Gabriel. “Not just move back, Nate, he wants you to be on his Council.” She