6. Eva

Chapter 6

"Eva," Iago says, his eyes glinting with a strange intensity as he looks down at where I lay in bed. "I have the key to the basement. It's time for you to see what's down there."

I frown, my mind still hazy from sleep and the lingering nightmare. Why is he so insistent about the basement? And how did he get the key?

"Eva, Eva, Eva," Iago chants, his grin stretching wider. "You must come with me. You will not regret it. Once you see what's in the basement, you will know what to do. I promise you that. You can trust me."

I look at Iago, and a shiver runs down my spine. There's something unsettling about his eagerness, the way his grass green eyes bore into me. But I've always wanted to know what the Magus keeps in the basement, hidden from me and everyone else. I believe seeing whatever is down there will give me my answer.

Slowly, I nod and rise from the bed. Iago's grin, impossibly, grows even wider. His straight, white teeth gleaming like paint. "Oh!" he exclaims. "You are listening to me. You do understand what must be done."

I don't understand anything, but I follow him out of the room and down the grand staircase. The manor is silent, the only sound the echoing tap of our footsteps on the polished floor. Iago leads me out the door, and around to the hidden door in the exterior wall. The same door the Magus had forbidden me from entering so long ago.

With a flourish, Iago produces a key from his pocket and unlocks the door. It swings inward with a groan, revealing a dark, winding staircase. A musty smell wafts up from below, tinged with something sharp and chemical.

"After you, Eva," Iago says, gesturing for me to descend.

My heart pounds as I step onto the first stair. The darkness seems to swallow me whole as I make my way down, my hand trailing along the damp stone wall. At the bottom, Iago lights a torch, casting eerie shadows across the cavernous space.

And then I see them. Lining the walls, illuminated in the flickering torchlight, are rows upon rows of glass tanks. And floating within them, suspended in glowing liquid, are bodies. Women's bodies, all identical, all with my face.

I stumble back, a scream lodging in my throat. Iago's hand clamps down on my shoulder, his fingers digging into my flesh.

"Behold, Eva," he whispers, his breath hot against my ear. "Your sisters. Your predecessors. The Magus's failed attempts."

I shake my head, unable to tear my eyes away from the tanks. Some of the bodies are misshapen, grotesque. Others look almost perfect, like sleeping dolls. But they all have my face, my hair, my form.

"What... what are they?" I choke out, bile rising in my throat.

"Clones, Eva," Iago says, his voice tinged with a perverse delight. "Copies, if you will. You are a copy, a clone. The thirteenth attempt, the only one to survive. The Magus has been trying to bring back his obsession for centuries, and you are the closest he's come."

I feel as if the floor has dropped out from under me. The room spins, and I hug myself, as if I can squeeze sanity into this insane situation. Memories flash through my mind–waking up in the manor with no recollection of my past, the Magus's cold, assessing gaze, the way he spoke to me as if I were a possession.

Iago leads me deeper into the chamber, past the tanks, to a workbench strewn with vials, beakers, and strange instruments. "This is where he made you, Eva," he says, running his elegant fingers along the edge of the wooden table. "Pieced you together from bits of flesh and bone, infused you with life and magtech in his alchemical tanks."

I feel a scream building in my chest, clawing at my throat. I want to run, to hide, to wake up from this twisted nightmare. But I am rooted to the spot, transfixed by the horror before me. My face, but not my face, someone else's face, floats in a tank in front of me, pale, with the peaceful expression of a good dream.

"Why…" I whisper, my voice cracking. "Why are you showing me this?"

Iago spins to face me, his eyes wild. "Because you need to know the truth, Eva. You need to understand what you are, and why the Magus could never truly care for you. He created you to belong to him. Not to belong to yourself. You're a puppet. Replaceable."

I sink to my knees, the cold stone floor biting into my skin. Tears stream down my face as the reality of my existence crashes over me. I am not a person, not really. I am a thing, a creation, a pale imitation of someone long dead.

Iago crouches beside me, his hand stroking my long hair. "But you can be more than that, Eva," he murmurs, his voice silken and seductive. "You can break free of his control, forge your own path. I can help you, if you let me."

I look up at him through my tears, my vision blurred. A part of me recoils from his touch, from the gleam of madness in his eyes. But another part, the part that is drowning in despair and confusion, yearns for any glimmer of hope, any chance of escape.

"What... what do I have to do?" I ask, my voice small and broken.

Iago's lips curve into a smile, sharp and predatory. "The cryometery, Eva. They're waiting for you. You must go to them now, before Genji realizes what's happening. Take Genji's horse and go to them."

I blink, confusion mingling with the horror still coursing through my veins. "Go to them? Who? Do you mean Theo? And Patty?"

"Meet them in the cryometery, Eva," Iago says, his voice urgent. "Your chance to escape this twisted destiny. Genji will never expect you to flee. He thinks you're too broken, too obedient to even consider it."

He pulls me to my feet, his grip firm and insistent. "You must ride fast and far, Eva. Don't look back, don't hesitate. Just keep going until you're far beyond the reach of Genji's power. Genji is busy. He won't notice for hours. Theo is waiting."

I stare at him, my mind reeling. The thought of escape, of freedom, is both exhilarating and terrifying. Can I really do this? Can I leave behind the only life I've ever known, the only identity I've ever claimed, even if it's all been a lie?

Iago seems to sense my hesitation. He leans in close, his breath hot against my cheek. "You're stronger than you know, Eva. Stronger than he ever anticipated. You have the power to rewrite your story, to create a new destiny for yourself. But you must act now, before it's too late."

I take a deep, shuddering breath. The weight of my newly discovered past, of the horror surrounding my very existence, threatens to crush me. But beneath it all, a tiny spark of defiance kindles to life. I am not just a thing, not just an imitation. I am Eva, and I will not let the Magus define me.

With a nod, I pull away from Iago and turn towards the workbench with all its strange implements. Amongst them are scissors. I snatch them up into my hands and gather my hair into a ponytail. Snip, snip, snip and it is done. I can vaguely see my reflection in the glass tanks. Without my hair, which used to be my favorite feature, I no longer look so much like the sleeping dolls. I toss the hair to the floor without a second glance. My expression is another thing that separates me from the sleeping corpses. I wear an expression of resolve, while their faces are as expressionless as the Magus's. I shudder.

Iago laughs, "You can totally pass for a boy now. I had thought you were prettier than that!"

I don't have the energy to be offended. I look at him. He creeps me out. He gives me the absolute willies. He reminds me of a grave. But he saved me by showing me this. If he hadn't shown this to me, I would have been a coward, complacent to my fate as the Magus's bride. "Thank you," I whisper.

The pleasant expression on his face twists into a mask of rage and then back into a grin faster than I can process. "You're welcome," he says.

My legs tremble as I turn around and ascend, step by step, back into the world above. With each footfall, my resolve grows stronger. I will ride into the unknown, into a future of my own making. I will leave this nightmare behind and forge a new path, whatever may come.

As I emerge into the gray light of dawn, the scent of rain heavy in the air, I feel a strange sense of calm settle over me. The horses, Hoofer and Blacky, are in their stalls. They nicker softly as I approach.

My body moves on its own, and this is the way it must be. My brain is paralyzed. I wouldn't have been able to make the decision if I thought about it.

I place the new saddle on Hoofer, my horse—on what is truly the Magus's horse that he's let me ride, and the Magus's saddle that he said he's given to me—but I know that everything, even the clothes on my back truly belong to him, not to me. He has no use for dresses, but still, he owns my dresses, just as he's owned me. I clench my teeth, thinking of how I'm a doll and all my clothes are a doll's clothes.

I consider putting an old saddle on the horse but knowing too that I have no money and no means, I will steal the new saddle that was given to me. With the money I make from selling it I will be able to buy a decent, plain saddle, and more—goods that I will no more have earned or deserved than anything else.

At the last minute, I look over to Blacky's stall, and see him watching me. He snorts and tosses his head. Blacky, I realize, is the horse I should be stealing. Blacky is the only horse big enough for the Magus to ride and if I take him instead of Hoofer, the Magus will have a much more difficult time chasing after me. I pat Hoofer's muzzle once more and whisper my goodbyes to her before saddling up Blacky.

With a deep breath, I swing myself into the saddle. The leather is cool and supple beneath my fingers, the horse's flank warm and solid between my legs. For a moment, I hesitate, looking back at the looming bulk of the manor. If I didn't know the truth of my origins, I could have spent the rest of my life here.

But then I turn my face towards the horizon, towards a future I cannot predict. With a flick of the reins, I urge my mount forward. We break into a gallop, the wind whipping through my hair, the drumming of hoofbeats echoing the pounding of my heart.

We gallop through the trees. I don't feel the branches scratching against my face or the wind or the rain. My body by instinct knows where to direct Blacky while my brain is nowhere to be found.

And my body does not let me down, because there Theo stands, in the middle of the cryometery, the place I thought I would one day be buried. I will never see this place again.

Theo hugs me, tighter than he ever has. I can't breathe, but I don't want to. I hug him back, trying to crush him against me, feel the truth in his flesh. He is real.

"Eva, oh Eva," he murmurs, running his hands through my mutilated hair.

"Theo," I say.

What we didn't say: it is going to be all right; we'll get through this, the Magus won't come after us, we'll escape, we'll be fine.

I want to ask Theo how he got there, if Iago told him to wait here, if Theo knows what I am, but now was not the time for that either.

Patty is here too, sitting huddled on the log of a fallen tree. She got up when she saw me. She smiled, as if this was just another day. As if she had just caught me and her son out in the mud, making a mess of things. Just another little mess that she would clean up.

We ride for days, avoiding villages and people altogether, living off our meager supplies. In just a week, we've traveled farther than Theo, or I had ever gone before (and even Patty was from a village in the opposite direction.) The scenery has gradually changed as we have traveled northward, the vegetation is greener, the trees are bigger, and the weather has been cooling—we are lucky it isn't winter. We haven't wanted to risk leaving a trace of campfires. We wake up in the morning to a gray mist swirling around ruddy tree trunks too thick to wrap your arms around. Though the mist has been clearing as the day wears on, it sets the tone for the day. When you can't see the birds singing their morning songs in the trees, you feel as if you are eavesdropping, and you need to keep your mouth shut to be polite.

Of course, there is also the feeling that the Magus will reach out of any shadow and grab me. But there has been no sign of him. It is almost as if he decided not to chase me down—it is hard to believe he wouldn't have been able to track us by now, even with that rain and even if he still doesn't have a horse. He did, after all, burn down Theo and Patty's home because of me. Chasing me down afterwards should only follow suit.

The mist makes everything seem like a dream. I wouldn't believe Theo and Patty about what the Magus did to their home, nor would I even believe my own memory if I didn't have proof of the marriage snug in my pocket, in the form of a ring.

Iago told Theo and Patty to wait for me in the cryometery, after he helped burn down their home. I don't tell Theo and Patty about what Iago told me. I won't tell them what I really am. As far as I'm concerned, the farther away we get from the Magus, the more I'm my own human. Not a ‘clone' and not a ‘copy.'

We are stopped for a break and Theo is handing out our provisions when he says, "We need to go to a village soon and get more supplies, and maybe we can ask which of these plants are edible while we are at it."

I sag with relief. I swallow the stale bread I've been chewing. "I can't wait to take a bath," I say. My whole body aches from all the horseback riding and sleeping on the hard ground—my legs, my arms, my butt. Not to mention, I feel filthy. My clothes are glued to me with the sweat and oil of my skin, and I can smell my feet even with my boots on.

"I wish you could take a bath, and I've gotta be blunt, dear, you stink. But where do you expect to take a bath?" says Patty.

I frown. I had private bathing chambers back in the Magus's manor. "A bath house?" I say.

"With that haircut and those clothes, which side of the bathhouse? Men or women?" Patty chortles, "Did you forget we are in hiding?"

"No, of course not. But…"

"Mom is right, Eva. You stink. Like, really badly. I can smell you from my horse."

I throw a stick at Theo, and he ducks, laughing.

"But seriously, Eva, we are on the run. We can't just go waltzing into a village and hope for the best. We need to be smart about this," Theo says.

"And you're smart?" I say, rolling my eyes. It feels good to banter with Theo again. The last few days have been rough, mentally and spiritually in addition to physically. Our stupid banter makes me feel like we are back at home.

"Smarter than you."

Patty laughs, "Is that how you're going to talk to your future wife?"

I stiffen at the mention of me as Theo's future wife.

I don't know why I lied. I told Patty and Theo that I ran away because the Magus was acting strange. I had tried to be as vague as possible…I said nothing of our marriage. I said nothing about how I just stood there while the Magus put a ring on my finger and kissed me. I even told them I lost Theo's ring myself. Increasingly, I've been finding out what a cesspit of a person I am. I guess I don't want Patty and Theo to find out too and leave me. Was the original Eva a cesspit too? I don't want to be like her. I hope she was a sweet angel so that I'm nothing like her.

Besides, Theo could still marry me, couldn't he? I mean, my marriage to the Magus was never properly consummated. It doesn't count. Guilt is a parasite that lives inside my intestines.

It is a few more hours before we ride by what seems to be a dirt road, and a few more hours still of traveling along the road before we reach the outskirts of a village even smaller than our own.

After some discussion, we decide that Theo should visit the village alone. Patty and I graze the horses in a small, lush clearing we find nearby while Theo walks into the village with a small pouch of glips. The fear of theft is a real thing.

"I wish we could do something about your hair," Patty is saying. "It was so beautiful. I don't see why you had to cut it. If you still had your hair, we could buy a big estate and claim that Theo and I are your servants and you a highborn lady. But nobody is going to believe you're a highborn lady with hair like that. Heck, I don't know if we are going to be able to claim you are a lady at all. What reason could we give for your messy hair other than running away? No one is going to let us settle down in their town if they know a Magi is after us."

I run my fingers through my short hair. I've grown to rather like how light my head feels, "It'll grow back."

Patty sighs, "I thought this was going to be a chance to live the high life with all that money, but I guess not."

This has always been Patty's way of cheering me up. When I was in a bad mood, Patty would always divert my attention. If I lost my favorite shoes? "Oh no," Patty would say, "Wherever we end up finding them will smell like your feet." If the other villagers ignored me? "Oh no, those poor villagers are so stupid and ignorant. I feel sorry for them." And now if we were running for our lives from one of the most powerful beings on Earth? "Oh no, why'd you have to cut your hair, now we can't live in a castle."

I love her so much. I'm so lucky to have her and Theo in my life. I don't deserve them.

Theo comes back, looking like a turtle, laden with as many supplies as he can carry.

"And I thought our town was backward," he says as he heaves his sacks to the ground, "They didn't even have a bathhouse."

"Obviously," Patty says, from where she's sitting on the ground, trying to tug knots out of her messy red hair. "We smelled you before we saw you."

"Now is that any way to speak to your son?" Theo laughs.

"Course it is. Now let us take a look at your loot."

We scarf down the best tasting bread, cheese, and meat I've ever had (I guess hunger really is the best sauce) as Theo pulls items from the pack.

"Here are some fresh trousers and tunics for you, Eva. I hope they aren't too big. This is for collecting water from the nighttime mist, here is a bow and arrow—the merchant I spoke to said they occasionally spot furies around here."

"Fridge," I say, "Furies? I thought we were way too far south for furies."

Theo shrugs, "I thought so too. But they shouldn't be too much of a problem. They rarely attack humans. We aren't easy prey."

"Rarely isn't never," I point out.

"We just need to be smart. Stick together. Don't fall for any of their tricks," Theo says, taking my hand and squeezing it. His hand is big, thick, and rough from labor. A solid, scarred, ruddy, laborer's hand—nothing like the Magus's perfect hand. I do like Theo's hand, but it feels so awkward that he is doing this in front of Patty. It feels awkward that he is doing this at all. Now is not the time for any kind of romance.

I pull my hand away and pick up the bow and arrows to make it seem as if I needed my hand and wasn't just pulling away to avoid him.

"Can you teach me how to shoot?" I ask. In retrospect, it would have been a lot more helpful if the Magus had taught me archery. He taught me sword fighting instead. When am I ever going to need to sword fight? Why did he teach me how to fight at all? I'd slice off his head with a sword if I got a chance.

"Of course I'll teach you, but let's wait until we find some place to settle down," Theo says.

Patty pulls an arrow from the quiver and examines it, "Maybe you can teach me too. I don't want to be defenseless against dragons."

"I'm telling you guys, as long as we stick together, we'll be fine. They usually avoid humans," Theo grins. His attitude reassures me, and I smile back at him.

Theo leads us to a stream that the merchant told him about. The water is shallow, maybe two feet deep at its deepest point, sluggish and full of larvae, but either we wash here or die of suffocation when we choke on the stench of our unwashed bodies, as Patty points out.

Patty and I wash first, using a small cooking pot to pour water over ourselves. Patty looks so small and fragile naked. She's ghostly pale where her skin never sees the sun. I can see the scars on her belly from her pregnancy with Theo. She's beautiful. I hope that one day my body, too, will have those scars to mark me as a real woman. I hope I can raise a child as well as she raised Theo. I hope my uterus works.

She is a good five inches shorter than I am, and not for the first time, I feel gargantuan and manly standing next to her.

"So, you don't want to hold my son's hand, huh?" she says out of the blue, blunt as usual.

"Of-of course I do!" I dump a pot of water on my head and vigorously scrub, "I do!"

"You don't have to lie to me, dear. I know you better than you know yourself. And it's all right," she shrugs, splashing water up her legs.

"I just didn't want to hold his hand in front of you!" I say. "It's so awkward."

Patty dunks her head in the water then pulls it back up. She says, "I'm telling you, dear, it's all right. You don't need to make excuses to me. It would be weirder if you really did have feelings for him. I see you as a daughter, and I don't know why he sees you as a woman instead of as a sister."

"I do have feelings for him!" I stand frozen.

"Okay, okay. I'm just telling you that it is all right not to have feelings for him. I just don't want you to hurt him." She looks at me, and I realize she's serious despite her flippant attitude.

My feelings shift from embarrassed to annoyed, like the flip of a coin. How could she think I could hurt Theo? "I love Theo," I say, trying to keep my anger from showing.

"I've seen the way you look at the Magus. I wanted to leave right away. I didn't trust that mad priest when he said to wait in the cryometery for you. But Theo insisted we wait for you. I didn't think you were going to come," Patty sighed. "I hope I am wrong about this too."

I wade farther into the muggy stream towards the other side, wanting to put more distance between us. I do love Theo. I do. I do. I do. The same words I said when I married the Magus.

I hear Patty splashing up behind me, and as I turn to face her, I slip on the rock I am standing on. In what seems like comically slow motion, Patty grabs me by the arm to steady me, but instead of steadying me, she goes down with me, splashing down into the shallow water.

"Ow!" she says and then she laughs.

I laugh with her. What else is there to do? Life is so absurd.

As we dry off, I notice a red line of blood on Patty's ankle.

"What's that?"

"I think I got a scratch on a rock when we fell. It's nothing to worry about."

It becomes something to worry about.

Two days later, when we are washing at a different stream, I notice the skin around the scratch is pink and inflamed. Patty's entire calf looks slightly swollen.

"Patty!" I say, "That doesn't look right! Why didn't you say something? We need to get that healed."

Patty shrugs and smiles, "It's no big deal. It hardly hurts at all. I don't want to hold us up. I've been pouring alcohol on it. It'll heal just fine on its own."

"It looks infected."

Patty smiles and shrugs again, but says nothing, effectively ending our discussion.

That doesn't stop me from telling Theo as soon as we were done bathing.

"Look at Patty's leg. She's hurt."

Patty laughs. "Hurt? It's just a scratch."

Theo and I approach, and without asking for permission, I pull up Patty's dress on the side the scratched leg is on. On closer inspection, the scratch looks worse than I had originally thought. The skin is swollen, taut and shiny.

Theo glides a finger along her calf. "Well, we can't do anything about it now. At the next town, I'll buy some poultices and medicinal herbs."

"You kids are making a mountain out of a molehill; I'm telling you, I'm fine. The only problem is my beautiful leg doesn't look too pretty right now. So embarrassing."

Theo shrugs and smiles, but the smile does not reach his eyes. When we ride on, he sets a faster pace than we've gone every day but the first. I can tell he is worried and that worries me.

At dusk, we still haven't passed a village. Patty still insists she is fine, but when we look at her wound, we see that the swelling has only grown worse and now there is pus oozing out in little white pearls. All we can do is pour more alcohol on the wound and hope for the best.

I wake before dawn to find Patty next to me, sweaty and feverish. She is trembling in her sleep, though she is wrapped with blankets.

"Theo!" I yell, shaking his shoulder, "Theo wake up! We need to go! We need to get Patty to a village!"

Theo takes one look at Patty and rushes to gather our gear. I put my hand against Patty's forehead and find she is burning up. The Magus would know how to help her… But is he even chasing us? Did he ever care about me?

"What are you doing? Help me! We need to go!" Theo snarls at me.

Shocked out of my reverie—Theo has never spoken to me in that tone before—I get up and get the horses ready.

"Maybe we should go back to the Magus, he could use magtech to help Patty," I don't know where the words falling out of my mouth are coming from.

Theo pauses in his rush to look at me—and if looks could kill, I'd be dead.

"What is wrong with you?" he spits the words out like foul-tasting food, then heaves Patty onto Blacky and jumps on behind her.

"Never mind," he says. "Let's go."

Without waiting to see me jump astride Horsey, he kicks Blacky into a gallop and takes off. I follow after him, wondering, what IS wrong with me? For me to even suggest going back to the Magus, when he is the very thing we are running from—I'm insane. And Theo doesn't even know the half of it.

It is the height of noon when we finally reach a village, one slightly bigger than the one we are from. The layout seems similar, but the buildings are constructed in an unfamiliar way. Instead of wood, the walls of all their huts are made from brick, which only the wealthiest merchants from our village can afford.

It doesn't take long for a gaggle of gawking children to form behind us—even in this wealthy village, it seems strangers are a rarity.

"Where is your village's physician?" Theo asks the tallest boy, who looks to be about nine.

"Next door to Missus Liger's house," the boy replies unhelpfully. "What's wrong with that lady, is she sick?"

"Can you bring me to the physician? I'll give you a half-glip if you hurry," Theo replies.

The boy's eyes light up, "Follow me!" He takes off running, with the rest of the children and us following him.

At the door to the physician's cottage, Theo thanks the boy, who takes the half-glip and runs off. The other children run off behind him. Theo leaps off Blacky and hands me the reins. Patty, swaddled in a blanket, is slumped forward and breathing heavily. Pounding on the door to the physician's house, Theo yells, "Hey, I have a sick woman here, we need help!"

No one answers the door, but a middle-aged woman passing nearby stops to tell us that Dr. Limetree is probably off in the forest gathering herbs and won't be back for several hours.

Theo groans and takes Patty from the horse. He slides down against the door to the physician's cottage, sitting down while cradling her as easily as a baby. I hadn't realized he had such strength.

"I'm fine," Patty says weakly in a way that makes it very clear she's not fine. She passes out again.

"Where are y'all from anyway?" the woman asks, "Your lady's sick? We don't get too many strangers ‘round these parts."

She seems to be settling in to talk to us. I don't say anything as I tie the horses to the post. I'm wearing men's clothes. I have a male haircut, and I'm as tall as a short man. I'm worried my voice would give me away as female. We don't need any more scrutiny.

"Rohnert," Theo answers without looking up from Patty's sweat-beaded face, "We're from Rohnert."

"Rohnert? I've never ‘eard of Rohnert. Tis it far aways?" The woman asks, "What brings you to Petalulma?"

"Our town got hit with plague," Theo lies without skipping a beat, "We got out of there early though, as soon as we heard."

"That lady has plague?" the woman asks, alarmed. Her lips part, and I notice that she is missing a few teeth, and the teeth she has are yellow.

"No, she has a leg infection," Theo answers. I wish he would stop talking to this lady. Our business is no one's but our own. There is no need to tell this lady anything, even if he is telling her lies.

The lady nods knowingly as her eyes roam over me and our horses.

"Those are awfully nice-looking horses, and that is an awful nice saddle for such a young man," she says.

"That's none of your business," I snap, wishing I could stuff the words back in my throat even as I'm saying them.

Luckily, though, the lady doesn't catch the high-pitched femininity of my voice—or maybe my voice isn't all that feminine? "You need to teach your brother to respect his elders," the lady tells Theo, striding off in a huff. I'm not sorry to see her go.

"What an idiot," I tell Theo, "Can you believe she thought we are brothers?" Even if I am dressed as a boy, the thought of Theo and I looking related in any way IS idiotic. I've got unfreckled skin, brown eyes, and dull dark hair, while Theo is ruddy, freckled with green eyes and rusty red hair. I'm all bones, and he is solid muscle. I'm a boring old twig and he is the brilliant leaves of autumn.

"You're the idiot," Theo sighs, none of the usual playfulness in his voice, "You need to learn to hold your tongue."

I want to argue, but I can tell from the look on Theo's face that now isn't the time. I watch as he tenderly wipes damp hair from Patty's shining face. I notice for the first time that her hair isn't all red, like Theo's: a lot of it is gray. When did that happen? She's always been so vibrant, I hadn't noticed.

"She's going to recover," I tell Theo, sliding down to lean on the door beside him, "She managed to raise you, didn't she? If she can survive that, she can survive anything."

Theo doesn't laugh. He doesn't look at me. He slowly closes his eyes and opens them. "For now," he says, "Your name is Kairm. You were the son of the mayor in our town. Both your parents died of the plague, but my mother and I took you with me because my mother was your nursemaid, and she couldn't bear to leave you behind to die. My name," Theo hesitates, "George, and my mother's name is…Ivy. Got it? Kairm, George, Ivy."

I nod. "Kairm, George, Ivy," I say, tasting the unfamiliar names on my tongue, "Kairm." I like the name. If I were a boy, I might name myself Kairm.

"And you've got to remember, Kairm," Theo goes on, "that you may have been raised to be a spoiled dimwit by your wealthy parents, but we are out in the real world now, and you need to learn how to get along with people quick unless you plan on getting us killed."

"I'll try," I promise.

"Don't just try. I'm telling you: DO."

I don't know how I feel about this serious, pragmatic Theo telling me what to do. I wish he would go back to teasing me and making stupid jokes. We wait in silence for what seems like hours. I busy myself by observing the villagers passing by. No one talks to us after that first lady. They don't even look at us, which is fine by me because it is all the easier to stare at people who aren't staring back.

Finally, a squat bald man carrying a satchel comes hurrying up, "You there!" he says, "What are you doing at my door, with the plague! Leave this village at once. You think to condemn us all?"

"We don't have the plague. My mother has a leg infection," Theo says with admirable restraint.

The doctor looks skeptical but cautiously approaches. "You're right. That doesn't look like plague. Damn rumors. Here, move out of the way. Come inside."

We follow the doctor into a well-furnished, homey living room.

"Set her down here, and let's take a look," the doctor is all business.

Theo sets Patty down on the leather couch, and she moans. The doctor tsks as he pulls up her dress. The pus is oozing out more than it was this morning. He pokes the calf, and Patty moans more, her eyes fluttering but ultimately remaining closed.

The doctor stands up, looking from Theo to me and back again. "Payment first, diagnosis and treatment second."

Without a word, Theo reaches into his pouch and hands the doctor a handful of glips.

"This is too much! Far more than enough!" the doctor says but hurries out of the room to stash the glips anyway. Greedy bastard.

He runs back into the room with a different satchel and immediately gets to work, speaking as he tightly ties a thick cord around Patty's calf, rubbing a poultice on her leg, and wrapping a bandage over that.

"Your mother is gravely ill. I'm afraid she is not going to make it. The best I can do is try to stop the infection from spreading upward, but I am afraid it is already too late. This poultice will hopefully draw some of the evil spirits from her wound, and I will say a cleansing prayer over her," he hands a cup to Theo. "Have her drink that."

Theo takes the cup and dribbles some of a green liquid into Patty's mouth, though just as much gets on her dress. My stomach tightens, and my eyes sting. I didn't think I was capable of crying anymore, but clearly, I was wrong. I look up at the ceiling, trying to hold it together. This is my fault, I think. If only I hadn't fallen, Patty wouldn't have reached for me and gotten that scratch. If only I hadn't run away with them, they could have settled down already without worrying that the Magus was chasing them. If only I never existed—the Magus wouldn't have burned down their home. It is all my fault.

"Surely there is something," Theo whispers, his voice cracking. "There must be something you can do."

The doctor swallows, "I can't do anything…But, and I am only telling this because you paid me so generously, there is a chance, a slight chance mind you, that magtech could save her."

"You can do magtech?" Theo gasps.

"No, no, of course not! That's illegal! But…yes, if you can get her to Esseff, there are rumors that they practice magtech there, and perhaps if you can get her there in time a sorcerer would be able to save her."

"Where is Esseff?"

The doctor wipes his brow. "That's just the thing. It is a five days' journey northwest of here, on the coast, and I doubt she will survive another two days."

A sob bursts from my mouth, and Theo puts a steadying hand on my arm. I should be the one comforting him, not the other way around…I'm so fridging useless.

"We will leave immediately," Theo says, "She WILL survive."

"It's hopeless," I whisper. "Even if it is only a five-day journey from here, we won't be able to get there without a guide who knows the way, and how are we going to get a guide on such short notice?"

The doctor smiles thinly. "Do you really want to try and save your mother?" he asks Theo, "Would you be willing to risk your own life to save her?"

"Of course!"

"Will you be able to keep a secret? And not tell anyone where you got it from?"

"Got what from?" I ask.

"Yes," says Theo. "Of course."

The doctor leaves the room again and returns a moment later with a rolled-up yellowed piece of parchment.

Theo and I gasp in unison as he unravels it in front of us—it is a map. A real map, with roads and place names marked on it and everything. I've never seen such an illicit item. Maps have been declared illegal ever since the battle of Ellay, when the Dieagians used maps to target Ellay's weak spots and slaughter people en masse until a Magi stepped in—that must have been hundreds of years ago, and I thought every map was long gone.

"Where did you get that?" Theo asks, "If it was known you had it, you'd be executed!"

"It isn't mine. It is yours now," the doctor says. "You're the ones who will be executed if you are discovered with it."

He points at the map, "Here we are, and here is Esseff. If you follow this line here, you will be able to reach Esseff in about five days. Maybe four if you hurry. But you're going to have to be very careful—this area is infested with furies, and dragons live right outside of Esseff. It is an extremely dangerous journey—so dangerous that no guide would be willing to bring you. It'll take a miracle for you to make it there alive, let alone with a sick woman."

Theo meets my eyes, and I nod.

"What choice do we have?" I say.

"Thank you," says Theo, "Thank you so much."

The doctor shrugs, "Don't thank me. I don't know if I've done the right thing. I may be sentencing you all to death by telling you this—killing all three of you instead of one."

"Thank you all the same."

The doctor hands me a satchel, "In there are fresh bandages, poultices, and medicine. Change her bandage every three hours and try to get her to drink the medicine at least three times a day. You did not get that map from me. You never saw me."

"Thank you," Theo and I say again.

Though if I am being honest with myself, I'm not thankful. I think the doctor is right, and he has sentenced all three of us to death. But what can I do but follow Theo and try to save Patty? I squash the little voice in my head that tries to answer that question with, Run back to the Magus.