Read The Evensong for Free Online

pea,” Rene said, taking her hand. She dragged her towards the kitchen while I followed.
    Nine residents of the house sat around the long kitchen table. Alysana was bustling around, frantically putting together dried herbs for tea. I hovered near the back of the room, watching as Hunter gave up his seat for the girl.
    “Everyone,” Rene started as she lifted the girl into the chair. “This is Beau—she’s going to be living with us now.”
    It was a familiar statement, but one I hadn’t heard for nearly a year. This girl, Beau, was much younger than anyone I’d seen here. She looked ten, or maybe younger.
    There was a chorus of mumbled hellos, and Rene introduced every one of us. Beau hardly seemed to care; she sat stiff in the chair, still scared. Alysana put a full cup of tea in front of her, gauging her reaction. Tears were starting to well up in Beau’s huge blue eyes. Rene noticed and scooped her up immediately. The tea floated after her as she rushed Beau out of the room.
    “I wonder what’s going on,” Alysana said after a long silence. “She seems a little . . . panicky.”
    “Wonder where she’s going to sleep,” I replied, thinking to myself. I hoped she wouldn’t try to put her in my room. I liked having the place to myself.
    “Probably with Justine and Hank, if there’s enough room,” Alysana replied as everyone else started talking again.
    “Did she tell you she was going after another one?” I asked, leaning against the wall. Rene usually alerted us when someone else was going to be moving in.
    Alysana shook her head. “Nope. She didn’t mention anything. She just rushed out of here and came back with Beau.”
    I bit my lip in thought, wondering what was wrong with this month. First the whole thing with Stranger, now a peculiarly frantic Rene. I hoped it would all be over by the time my ceremony came around. I was nervous about it as it was, but worrying about other things would make it worse.
    Everyone was a little uneasy the rest of the night. I ate a meager dinner with Alysana and Omar while we watched movies. I could hardly concentrate though; my mind was on the next morning. It was still raining a little outside, so I hoped Stranger might have been wrong about the rain. If it’s raining at all in the morning, I won’t go, I promised myself before I went to bed.
    Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep at all. In the next room—reserved for the younger kids—Beau was crying through most of the night.
    Walking to the swamps the next morning, I stared up at the sky, wondering why it was against me. There was no sign of any blue, just deep gray, almost lavender. It smelled faintly of rain, but I attributed that to the storm that had come around at midnight. The ground was still wet, and everything would stay damp until the clouds disappeared.
    My shoes left diamond patterns in the unpaved road as I walked. There was no sign of Stranger yet. At least, not that I could see of him. The wall of trees could be skewering my view, so I kept my eyes down on the ground. I wondered what we would do while walking around the place. There wasn’t all that much now that I thought about it. I went there to project, and he obviously couldn’t do the same. Say I told him about me, I could take him with me, but that was strictly against any laws I knew. So what then? Talk about him some more maybe?
    Soon, I’d stepped into the dripping trees and the soggy ground. Looking around, I didn’t see Stranger at first, but as I walked closer to the spot I called my own, I found him sitting on the same fallen log I usually occupied. He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled, moving over and gesturing to the spot next to him.
    “Sorry—didn’t mean to steal your spot,” he said as I hesitated next to him.
    “It’s fine,” I said, sitting down. I stared out at the familiar scene ahead of me, aware that he was watching me. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. “So—this is