Authors: Erin Bowman
Stolen (11 page)
“I didn’t. Not even when I saw them walking around town, crying and coughing. Their skin peeled. Their eyes went yellow. Some of them got on their horses and left. Most went to the church and prayed. I watched them all from my window, but I kept it closed, just like Mama told me to. I didn’t touch the window until it was silent, and when it was, I pushed it open and climbed out.
“Everyone that stayed was dead. Mama was in bed. I wanted to bury her, because I know that’s what you’re supposed to do, but I wasn’t strong enough to move her. The only ones I could manage were the small ones. The babies. And Sophie. I buried Sophie, too.”
He keeps talking, about how he lived off canned fruit and chicken eggs. How he melted snow for water and gathered clothes and blankets from other houses to keep warm. How he goes back to his house only once each day to record a nick on his bedpost, but never lingers because of the smell of decay. I don’t understand how someone so young can go through so much alone.
“Rusty and I stay in Mr. Bennett’s house because it’s empty,” Aiden explains. “I’m running out of food, though. And it’s getting hard to feed all the chickens and horses—most are sick or dying. Are you going to leave me here? In the morning?”
“Of course not,” Emma says, but no one else speaks up. Bree has this pained look on her face and I know she’s thinking the same thing I am: An eight-year-old boy is going to slow us down.
Owen runs a hand over his head and gazes at the fire. “We’re on a strict schedule.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“It’s not like I want this, Emma, but we have to average around twenty miles a day. There’s no way he’ll keep up with us.”
“So you’re just going to leave him here?” She’s almost shouting now. “You can’t! We can put him on a horse if pace is your concern.” My father remains quiet, refuses to make eye contact. Emma turns to me. “Tell him, Gray. Please. If anyone can talk sense into him it’s you.”
She looks even more desperate than she did when I found out about her and Craw, when she apologized to me again and again and again. I wonder if siding with her now will make our conversations come easier. They’ve been forced at best, even when we’ve been trying so hard.
But my father is right. We still have another two weeks of travel before we reach Bone Harbor, a small town that sits along a stretch of ocean cutting north through nearly half the country. A boat is waiting to ferry us closer to Group A while simultaneously keeping us out of the Order’s eye. Without the boat, there’s a domed city we’d have to pass near.
Haven
, I think Clipper called it. Either way, Aiden will slow us drastically.
I glance at the boy and his face is hopeful in the firelight, his eyes as wide as Emma’s. I don’t want to let either of them down.
“If we leave him, we’re as good as letting him starve to death,” I say to my father.
He sighs, rubs his forehead. “You’re right. You’re both right.” He looks at Aiden for a long while. Exhales again. Then finally: “You can come, but only until we find somewhere safer, a place you can settle with the living.”
“Oh, thank you,” Aiden exclaims. “Thank you! Can I bring Rusty, too?”
“Why not? It will be good to have a dog around. They’re clever creatures, good judges of character, fantastic on watch.”
Sammy frowns. “Sir, I’m honored you think so highly of me, but I’m a little offended you’ve mistaken me for a dog.”
The group dissolves into laughter.
“Bed,” Owen orders. “Everyone. Now. Breakfast is at first light and then we’re moving again.”
Photo by Tamara Namaste (www.tnamastephotography.com)
ERIN BOWMAN
used to tell stories visually as a web designer. Now a full-time writer, she relies solely on words. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, and when not writing she can often be found hiking, commenting on good typography, and obsessing over all things Harry Potter. She is also the author of
Taken
and
Frozen
. You can visit her online at www.embowman.com.
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COPYRIGHT
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Tree photography by iStockPhoto
STOLEN
:
A TAKEN NOVELLA
. Text copyright © 2014 by Erin Bowman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition January 2014 ISBN 9780062303363
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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