The two hiked up the mountain trail. It was steep and rocky, and it took both grace and endurance to make progress. Thyssa’s old body – aching and uneven – would have had no chance getting up this place. Probably few malforms could. Another stark reminder that the healing water wasn’t meant for people like her.

  She was still curious about the Path of the Mind’s Eye.

  “Which path was the right one?” asked Thyssa.

  “Left,” said Merryway.

  “That’s what you saw in your mind’s eye?”

  Merryway laughed, distant and wistful. “That’s what I knew from mom’s stories.”

  “Your mother went up the mountain herself?”

  “No. She heard the stories from her mother.” Merryway looked at Thyssa, suddenly concerned. “Is the poison acting up?”

  “No worse than usual,” said Thyssa. “Why?”

  “You looked hurt. Sad.

  “I am strong.”

  “I can see that. But you can be strong and sad at the same time.” A gleam in their eye. “But I think you already knew that.”

  Thyssa looked down. “Don’t worry about me.”

  “I want to worry about other people. That’s what makes me human.”

  Thyssa’s face felt hot. “I…it’s just…it’s such a long, unbroken line.”

  “And your family isn’t.”

  Thyssa shook her head.

  “Malforms?”

  Thyssa tensed up. “What?”

  “Malforms got them?”

  Thyssa sighed. “Some died to malforms. Some died of hunger.”

  “You’re from out of the Walled Garden, too.”

  Thyssa nodded. Then she paused. “Wait. You’re not from the Walled Garden?”

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  “Only the perfect can enter. Perfect cunts, anyway.”

  Thyssa laughed, less because it was funny and more because it was cathartic to revel in hate for the Walled Garden. Then she stopped. “You’re not perfect?”

  “No?”

  “But you’re so strong and clever and pretty!”

  Merryway laughed and scratched the back of their head. “Why, thank you.”

  Thyssa narrowed her eyes. “You sound surprised?”

  “It’s just…people don’t talk to me like that.”

  Thyssa looked down. “Sorry. I’m bad at talking.”

  “No, I…” They laughed. “I like it! I just…don’t get to hear it a lot.”

  “Because you’re not perfect?”

  “Well, none of us are.”

  “A clan of outcasts.”

  Merryway laughed. “The real outcasts are in the Walled Garden. They just…cast out themselves from us poors. Don’t know what they did to themselves to be the specialest-ever humans.”

  Thyssa sighed. “You envy them.”

  “No way. I mean, they’re right fit, but they’re a bunch of creeps. I don’t know if they even know how to live outside of their city anymore.”

  “You’re nicer and prettier than any of them I’ve met.”

  “And that’s the kind of thing I never hear from my clan.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, they’re, uh, intimidated. I’m the Matriarch’s eldest and all.”

  “You’re important.”

  Merryway’s face looked grim. “I’d be a lousy replacement for mom.”

  “That can’t be true!”

  Merryway looked sad. “Don’t say that. You don’t know her.”

  “No. I don’t. But…why send someone as important as you for such a dangerous task?”

  Merryway looked at Thyssa, then suddenly perked up. “Well. Because I’m so strong and clever.”

  Thyssa nodded. “That makes sense.”

  “Still,” said Merryway. “I’m glad I don’t have to do this alone.”

  Thyssa grinned. “You would have, if you hadn’t been there at just the right time.”

  “I’m lucky like that.”

  “I would have thought I was the lucky one.”

  Merryway smiled and shrugged. “My good luck’s contagious.”

  In the corner of her eye, Thyssa saw a glint of light. She looked for where it had come from. Far in the distance, beneath them, a Stormwatch scout scanned the horizon with a long scope. They were hunting for her!

  “Hide!” hissed Thyssa. She ducked behind a boulder, and Merryway did the same.

  “What is it?” whispered Merryway.

  Thyssa hesitated. Merryway wasn’t with the perfect humans, but they weren’t with the malforms, either. If they knew Stormwatch were after her, the truth would be out, and there was no telling what side they’d be on.

  “Malform,” whispered Thyssa.

  “One?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How far?”

  “Pretty far.”

  Merryway took a deep breath. “Has it seen us?”

  “Don’t think so.”

  “How big is it?”

  Thyssa narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

  “Need to know if we can kill it if it finds us.”

  “No!”

  Merryway looked up at her, confused.

  Thyssa shook her head. “We can’t take a malform. Even a small one – if it’s out this far, it means it’s nasty enough to have lived this long. Probably killed its share of malforms, let alone a couple of humans.”

  “So what do we do if it does find us?”

  “Run for your life.”

  Thyssa found Merryway holding her hand.

  “What is it?” asked Thyssa.

  “You’re shaking,” said Merryway.

  “It’s just cold,” said Thyssa. She was full of butterflies from their touch and full of wasps from all the lies.

  The venom Spiteful Kreit burned. Thyssa chanced a second glimpse at the scout. They had put away their scope and were marching off somewhere.

  “Looks like it’s moved on,” said Thyssa. “We should do the same.”

  It was necessary, she told herself. It was a matter of survival. They could be a danger. But her heart didn’t completely believe it.