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his skin.
    “How does that feel?” she asked when she opened her eyes,
looking first at Noah and then at you.
    You touched your cheek but felt nothing. “Better,” you said.
Noah’s reply was the same.
    She dropped the stone back into its box. “I’ll get your brother
to run over to the law hall. That man should be locked up.”
    “It’s too late for that. I think I killed him.” You looked up
at her. “Please don’t tell them. I don’t want to go to prison.”
    “You won’t go to prison, hani .” She stood up, shaking
her head. “Don’t worry.”
    She left the room and went upstairs. Noah smiled, rubbing his
throat.
    “I think you saved my life. Again,” he said.
    You prodded your cheek, still feeling nothing where moments
before it had been burning in pain. “What did she do to me?”
    “Radust.” Noah shrugged. “Ma always uses it when we get hurt.”
    “I can’t feel it.”
    “But that’s good, right?”
    “I guess.”
    “Ethan must have gone out,” Adina said when she returned. “You
two stay here.” She smiled and placed a small key on the table. “Only if her
father comes back. I’m going to find someone. I’ll not be long.”
    She kissed him on the top of the head and pulled on her shoes.
You sat in silence until the door shut behind her.
    “What is it?” you asked.
    “Come and see.” Noah picked up the key and led you from the
kitchen to a glass fronted case in the hallway. “It belonged to our father,
when he was a soldier.”
    Through the glass, you saw a long, silver sword, the blade
sharp and clean. A tiny keyhole marked the position of the lock that kept the
weapon secure.
    “I bet you wish you hadn’t looked for me now,” you said. “I bet
your life was better before.”
    “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “We missed you when you didn’t
come back. And Ma really liked you too. You’re not like any of the girls I’ve
ever met.”
    Ethan came in almost an hour later and suggested a game of
cards. You were glad when he didn’t ask about the bruises; you didn’t want to
relive the story. He and Noah exchanged a few peculiar looks. You wondered if
being twins meant they could communicate without words or if they were just
cheating at the game; you lost every single round.
    Adina returned after your fifth consecutive defeat, her face
halfway between happy and worried.
    “You didn’t kill him,” she said, pouring cups of tea. “He
wasn’t there when the soldiers went to look.”
    “He’s not dead?” You sat up. “Then he’ll look for me. And he’ll
be angry.” You stood. “I should go.”
    “You’ll go nowhere.” Adina put her hand on your shoulder.
“Tonight, you’ll stay here and in the morning, we’ll try to find somewhere safe
for you to live, hai na ?”
    Choice: 31. Stay with Them or 32. Leave Landia

24.     COVER IT UP
    “I think I killed him,” you replied. “I think he’s dead.”
    “Come on. We’ll go back to mine. Ma will know what to do.”
    “No. We have to move him. We have to get rid of the body.
They’ll arrest me if they find out.”
    Noah shook his head. “Ma will know what to do.”
    You sighed. “Just go home. I’ll deal with this by myself.”
    “Are you sure? Ma will help us.”
    “It’s got nothing to do with you, Noah. Just go home.”
    Noah nodded and went down the stairs. You saw him to the door
and let him walk away before you went back to move the body. The floor was wet
from the contents of the jug and the sheet you used to wrap his body soaked up
the liquid, turning the fabric a nasty shade of pink.
    He was heavy – far too heavy to lift. Instead, you dragged him,
his skull thumping on every step on the way down, leaving a trail of red in his
wake. You paused when you got to the door, taking a moment to breathe and
consider what to do next. You could easily drag him to the woods and leave him
to be eaten by the landsharks. However, he was less likely to be discovered if
you took him just a little