As if to prove that she could be trusted, Fay spoke clearly across the radio while talking to her brother. Maisie was able to read Fay’s lips clearly. “Mun, I’m headed down to you. I caught a varmint, and I might need your help bringing it down.” Fay paused to listen to her brother’s answer. “Sheepshead Ledge.” She glanced at the sky. “Get some dry clothes ready and a fire. Looks like rain again.”
Fay slipped her radio back into her pocket. Satisfied that Fay wasn’t going to betray her, Maisie took the hand that her new friend held out and used it to haul herself to her feet. She adjusted her backpack, and Fay signaled her dogs with a whistle and hand gesture. Pepper ran ahead, sniffing and scouting their path. Clove trotted alongside Maisie, his wet nose nudging her hand every now and then. Staying close to Fay’s side, Maisie felt some of the tension ease out of her shoulders and neck. She wasn’t alone. She didn’t have to pick and hack her way across the mountain. She had a place to sleep tonight and the promise of food. All in all, her day was looking up.
Fay garnered her attention with a flick of her hand and then asked, “Why were you in the camp? The government or the Splinters?”
“Both,” Maisie answered. Even though she wanted to trust Fay, the woman was still a stranger. Remembering that Fay had mentioned her family, Maisie worried that trouble would follow her down the mountain to Fay’s front door. Not wanting to get anyone killed, she confessed, “My family is part of the Splinter network. My stepfather and stepbrothers,” she clarified. “I was working with the sky warriors. Sort of,” she added, with a wiggle of her flattened hand. “My contact was betrayed, and my family let the Splinter leader and his goons take me.”
Fay shook her head and then said, “Your family sounds like a bunch of assholes.”
Maisie laughed and then conceded, “They are. Most of them. Kris is okay. He’s closest to my age. We grew up together, and he always tried to look out for me.”
“Was he there when you were taken?”
“No. He's been away on a mission for a long time.” Maisie’s thoughts drifted to the last time she had seen Kris. He had been more than reluctant to go. For most of his life, he had been enthusiastic and had volunteered at sixteen to join a cell. When he had come back for that last visit, something had changed. He was colder, and his eyes seemed dull and lifeless. Whatever he had seen or done had killed all the joy inside him.
Just before Kris had ducked into the ship that last night of his visit, she had caught his gaze and dared to sign one word to him. Run.
His eyes had widened briefly, and he had nodded as discreetly as possible before flashing the sign for survive. Looking back, she had to wonder if he had known what was coming for her. Maybe she wasn’t the only one working with Devious.
“No,” she answered finally. “He’s gone.”
That was the last time she had seen him. Eleven months without a word to her, her stepfather or his brothers. Even though she missed him terribly and worried for him, she hoped with every fiber of her being that his silence was a sign that he had taken her advice and ran from the Splinters. She liked to imagine he had gotten far away, found some hole in the wall place at the end of the galaxy and started a new life.
“Dead?”
Maisie shrugged. “I’m not sure. He left almost a year ago and hasn’t been heard from since.”
“I’m sorry.”
Maisie gave in to Clove’s constant nudging and scratched between his ears as they walked. “Do you have brothers or sisters?”
Fay smiled. “Seven brothers. Six living,” she clarified with a few hand movements. “I’m the only girl and the youngest.”
Maisie couldn’t imagine having that many siblings. “And you all live together?”
“Mostly,” Fay said. “Mun, Dale, Cotton and I live with our Pa in the main homestead. Clem, Vern and Oat have families so they live in cabins they built nearby.”
Maisie was impressed with how quickly she finger-spelled the names and told her so. Fay shrugged and explained, “I learned to sign the same time I learned to read so it’s all the same to me. I have to remind myself not to sign when I’m around others.” She