Black Locust Letters by Nicolette Jinks Read Free Book Online Page A

silence for a while, savoring the meadow in moonlight.
Leaves gleamed with a trace of dew as though diamond dust had been
sprinkled on them, and lantern light reflected in the ripples of
the Tempest River. It was her companion who sighed. “For a few
hours a night, the moon is up and all is still, and I can forget
that there is stone and concrete and money and orders, and the
ancient calling in my blood says that the night is crawling with
things long-forgotten but not absent.”
    For
her whole life, Betty had often thought that very same thing,
thinking that the moon and the shadows held secrets that she could
never unlock. She didn't know exactly what he was talking about,
but she felt a resonance in her very bones. Now Betty looked into
his amber eyes, wondering which he resented more: The humans, or
the things of the night. She wanted to huddle under his arm, but
firmly resisted the temptation.
    She
glanced at the increasingly drunken crowd. “I should be
going.”
    “ There are certainly no buses running at this hour, or at
least none that go here. And I would not recommend finding a ride.
Let me escort you home.”
    Sudden unease settled in her gut, but she wasn't sure why.
The night was treacherous to be alone in, but was she any safer
with Clarkin? She forced a smile.
    “ I
will be fine, but I appreciate your concern.”
    “ Then allow me to help you find a car for hire. They'll be
heavily booked.”
    Betty hesitated, but decided that he was right: She'd had to
share a car to get here, and if she were to go home, she would want
to be cautious both of who drove her and who else was in the taxi.
Still, she was not certain. His very presence unnerved
her.
    With
as few good-byes as possible, they made their escape, and none too
soon, for soon there came the stench of burning clothes as a
streaker set fire to his costume and ran to cannonball into the
river. Dare or lost bet, Betty wasn't sure, and didn't want to find
out.
    The
Carnival was only getting started. A few of the Secret Police stood
watch on the hill as Betty and Clarkin passed, but she wasn't sure
what they would do if anything actually happened. Clarkin nodded to
each in turn.
    Clarkin walked through the parking lot quickly, holding
Betty's hand protectively, and for an instant she forgot her
misgivings and was glad to have a man to take the brunt of the eyes
which would have turned predatory on a lone female. After the
better part of an hour, her feet were beginning to ache, and she
had to admit that if they'd just started to walk for her home,
they'd be half-way there by now.
    “ Why
don't we turn for town? I'd rather walk in the right direction,”
Betty said, and they did so, taking the shoulder of the road with
as little fuss as they could.
    Betty tried to plan how to get rid of Clarkin at her
doorstep, and convince herself that that was what she wanted to
do.

Chapter 7
    They
hadn't gone more than five or ten minutes when there came the
clopping of horse hooves and the creaking of wheels. Clarkin nudged
them to the side, where they stood to watch as two Clydesdales
swayed down the center of the road, pulling behind them a wooden
hay wagon loaded with square bales set up along the sides as
seating. Sweat marked the horse's necks and flanks, dried as though
they had been working all night and were now going to their
home.
    “ Whoa, there. That you, Hannah?” The man sitting on the bench
holding the reins paused to lift up a lantern glowing with
lightning bugs.
    “ Froglips?” Clarkin asked back, surprised. “You calling it a
night already?”
    “ Tammy's thrown a shoe, and I won't lame her up over a few
hundred bucks and drunken pukers. What you doin' walking
home?”
    As
though remembering her, Clarkin stepped up to the light and
presented the woman he'd been hiding behind his shoulders. “This is
Betty Cratchet. Betty, this is Charles Smith. And the beasts are
Tammy and Toby.”
    Betty stroked the hip of the nearest horse, not sure which
one