“They’re all in there,” Jonathan murmured, wrapping his fingers around hers. “Tears and Tears. I don’t even know how far back they go; I’ve barely scratched the surface. This jewel has a mind of its own, but it’s their minds, all of them. My father’s in there, and someday I will be too . . . all of us together.”
Katie closed her eyes, and for a moment she held her breath, wishing she could see the thing as Jonathan saw it, know what he knew, move through that secretive, unseen world. But she wasn’t a Tear, never had been. She would never see further than what Jonathan told her, and while there was sorrow in that thought, there was also relief. Jonathan had spent his life tormented by visions; there was a price attached to Tear’s magic, though few knew of it. Lily had, Katie felt certain, and perhaps Mum. But she sensed that Row might not know. A ghost of an idea flitted through her mind, then danced away.
What can we do? she wondered. She could take Row in a fight, perhaps. But could she kill him? She thought of the thing that had chased her through the woods, white limbs and staring red eyes, a creature that Row had undoubtedly created, operating in the dark while the rest of the Town slept. Could she kill that? She had no knife; someone had taken it off her while she was unconscious. But would it even have mattered? This tangle was too deep for knives.
“Row is powerful,” Jonathan continued. “But not infallible. He’s been playing with things he doesn’t understand, and though he doesn’t know it, that makes him weak.”
Katie nodded, understanding this statement in intent if not in specifics. Row was careful, but not cautious. His reach had always exceeded his grasp, and one of the earliest lessons Katie had learned on Tear’s practice floor was that overreach left you wide open, even if you couldn’t see the vulnerability yourself. It was always easier to see such things from outside the circle; if only she could have stood outside this circle, somehow, assessing the situation as dispassionately as she had then.
Katie.
She jumped. Something had moved in her mind, deliberate but alien, a voice that was not her own.
“What?” Jonathan asked.
She shook her head. The singing had started again upstairs. Her brain felt as though it were splitting in two. Did Jonathan know who Row’s father was? If not, she couldn’t tell him. She had never understood what she felt for this odd young man, but whatever it was, she didn’t have to tell him about William Tear, to undermine everything Jonathan thought he knew. That had never been her role.
The chain outside the door rattled, and Katie heard the snap of the padlock opening. Torchlight flooded the room, and Katie saw that they were in a long, narrow chamber, perhaps twenty feet by ten. The stone walls were slicked with moisture, trickling down from the ceiling.
Who built this? Katie wondered. And when?
Gavin came in, followed by four more men: Lear, Morgan, Howell, and Alain. Katie watched them stonily, wishing she could have her knife back for even five seconds. She couldn’t take Gavin, but the other four would be easy pickings.
“We’ve brought water,” Gavin announced shortly, as Lear and Howell placed a bucket on the ground. Gavin seemed to have read her thoughts, for he had his knife in hand, and his eyes were never far from Katie as he moved across the room.
“How long will we be down here?” she demanded.
“Not much longer, I think. Row’s busy now, but he’ll deal with you when he’s done.”
“Was I not nice enough to you, Gav?” Jonathan asked, and Katie couldn’t restrain a smile at the mockery in his voice. “Did my father not make you feel special enough?”
“It’s not about that!” Gavin snapped back. “It’s about the town we want!”
Jonathan shook his head, an expression of disgust crossing his face, and Katie saw Gavin flinch. He needed so badly to be liked, Gavin did, even by the people he had fucked over. It was a deep weakness of character, and Katie stared at him with so much contempt that he flinched again.
“What sort of town is that?” she demanded. “A town where Row tells you all what to do, and you do it? He’s certainly managed you well enough here.”
“I make my own choices!” Gavin hissed. “And none of us can do that in a town of Tears!”
“So that’s what he told you,” Jonathan mused. “We’re in the way of democracy?”
“You are!”
Katie wanted to contradict Gavin, tell him to shut up, but she could not. For a single, odd moment, she saw Jonathan through Gavin’s eyes, Row’s eyes, and honesty bubbled inside her, a truth as unpalatable as it was undeniable. They were wrong, all of them, but in this one thing, they were right. How could you tell everyone they were equal, when the Tears stood there, bright and shining, different from everyone else? How could anyone build a fair society in William Tear’s town?
But a moment later she shoved the thought away, horrified.
“And what about you four?” she asked, turning to Howell and the others. None of them would meet her eyes except Lear.
“We promised to protect the Town,” he told her. “We have to have a clear direction. We have to cut dead weight.”
“Dead weight. And what does Row plan to do with us?”