The Garden of Darkness

Bear took her down.

Clare grabbed Bear’s back, not wanting to see her dog kill the woman, but then the man turned away from Sheba and attacked her. Clare fought back, and she was strong, but the man was stronger. He managed to get his hands around her throat.

It was all happening so fast, too fast. She saw Sheba, wide awake now, pulling back on her tether; she heard Jem shouting something; behind him, the door to the house opened and Ramah came running towards her; Bear was turning away from the woman, but it all seemed too late, too late. Clare pulled at the hands around her throat, but the man was strong and there were now large black patches swimming through her vision. Then there was more and more black and all the light seemed to be pouring away.

Jem reached her even before Bear did. She was so lightheaded that the thought seemed to register from far away: Jem was coming for her. And then she was breathing again and the black patches began to recede as Jem tore the Cured away from her. The Cured ran into the night. The woman Cured lay, unmoving, on the ground. And then Jem’s arms were around Clare, and Clare was embarrassed because the tears were streaking down her face, and the moonlight was on Jem’s face, just like the light that had made Sheba glow. Clare didn’t hear Ramah, although she could see she was speaking.

“Jem,” Clare said. And then the darkness took her.





CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE





THE VISION GARDEN





WHEN CLARE CAME to, they were still outside. Jem had his arm around her.“She’s back,” he said to the others. Mirri and Sarai clearly wanted a family hug, but Jem kept them at bay. “She looks kind of fragile.”

The woman Cured was still alive, and they helped Ramah and Bird Boy tie her hands with duct tape. They couldn’t bring themselves to hurt her. Not in cold blood. Not when she was so injured and bewildered; it wasn’t her fault she was a Cured. Finally they managed to get her into the house. Clare came in leaning on Jem.

They dragged the woman to the sofa, tied her feet, and covered her with a blanket so she wouldn’t get cold. Her scarred face was encrusted with blood. She lay there, helpless, unconscious, her thin hair spread out on the pillow.

Clare gently pulled away from Jem. Leaning down, she put her ear to the woman’s mouth and, with her hand, tried to feel for a pulse.

“She’s alive,” said Clare.

“Did you think your dog would kill her?” asked Ramah.

“Yes,” said Jem and Clare together.

Ramah fetched some towels, warm water and disinfectant. She washed away the blood from the woman’s face and discovered puncture wounds on her neck, chest, and arms.

“Your dog missed the jugular by an inch,” said Ramah.

“What’s the juggler?” asked Mirri.

“Jugular,” said Sarai. “It carries blood.”

Mirri was impressed. “Your vocab list is working.”

The Cured opened her eyes. One of them was half obscured by a flap of flesh, but they could see that the other was a deep brown. She moaned and moved into a corner of the sofa. As she did, her hair was pulled away from her neck, and they could all see the orange patch behind her ear.

“Tell us your name,” said Jem.

“I want to kill you,” said the Cured. “I could feed on you.”

“She’s decompensating,” said Ramah.

“What does that mean?” asked Mirri.

“Even her craziness is breaking down.”

“We need to look at the patch on her neck,” said Jem.

Ramah brought some tweezers from the bathroom and a little plate from the kitchen. When she saw this, the Cured began to struggle, and Jem and Clare had to hold her down. Quickly, Ramah used the tweezers to peel off the patch. It was about the size of a quarter. She placed it on the plate.

“I see that one dead,” said the Cured, pointing at Bird Boy.

Ramah pulled Bird Boy away from the Cured, and then sent him to play with Bear. Ramah, Clare and Jem bent over the plate and examined the patch. The sticky side was face up, grey and featureless. Ramah turned the patch over, and tiny letters at the edge were clearly visible. SYLVER. The patch was much thicker than Clare had thought it would be, about the size of two quarters pressed together.

“I wonder how it works,” said Clare.

Mirri, Sarai and Bird Boy came over to look at the contents of the plate.

“I wish we knew what ‘SYLVER’ actually means,” said Clare. “Before my family and I left the city, I saw ‘SYLVER’ spray painted on a notice about the Cure. I had thought the cure was an injection.”

“I want to know why the patch isn’t skin-colored,” said Mirri.

“Why should it be?” asked Jem irritably.

“My father’s was skin-colored.”

Ramah looked at Mirri thoughtfully. The others stared.