Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 165
appeared behind the girl.
"Perce!" She ran to him. Perce reached over the fence as
she threw her arms around him. "What’s going to happen?"
"The old man said they wanted to take me away." Perce
laughed giddily. "We never believed he really spoke to them,
remember? All those years... He said they’ll take me. And I’ll
never see you again."
She buried her face in his neck, crying. He could see her
parents standing in awkward confusion nearby. They were
staring at the sky.
"I came to say goodbye."
"No," she said, muffled. "You can hide here. We’ll take
care of you. They’ll go away."
"I tried hiding," he said. "They found me--started to pull
the stables down around me! I ran to the river--dove in and let
the rapids take me awhile. That’s the only way I got as far
ahead as I did. If I stay they’ll kill you to get at me. But I
couldn’t go without saying goodbye."
She shook her head.
"There’s so much I want to say," he mumbled.
"Something--I wanted to say something to let you know how
much you mean to me."
He pulled away, leaving her reaching for him over the
fence. "All I could think of was when we were twelve.
Remember when we played hide-and-seek in the orchard?
That day? I dream about it all the time. Have, ever since."
Turning away to face the darkness, he said, "That’s all--I
remember that day. Goodbye, Lena."
She screamed after him but he ran with renewed energy.
Armiger deduced he wanted to get as far from the cottage as he
could before whatever was coming found him.
Perce ran around the goat pen and down a laneway that