Aeralis Read Online Free

fair.”
    “Maybe not,” Ann agreed. “But it’s what I have to do.”
     
    ~
     
    Ivy and I helped Ann carry her things to the farm, and I settled her into my old room. Being back felt like a dream—similar to my memories, but different. Some of the furniture had shifted, a thick coat of dust covered the tables and shelves, and the walls felt tighter around me. It was as if I’d grown in size, or the house had shrunk. I trailed my hand across the top of my bureau, leaving streaks in the wake of my fingertips.
    Ann kept her mouth fixed in a smile, but I could see the glimmer of apprehension that shimmered in her eyes as she looked through the window at the yard and the Frost beyond.
    “You’ve both been injected with serum,” I said quietly as I knelt to help her unpack her things. “Watchers won’t attack you if they get a whiff of your blood. Remember that.”
    “Yes. Too bad bears don’t respond to the serum as well.” Ann reached into her luggage and began pulling out cloaks and dresses. She crossed the room to the bureau and opened a drawer. She dumped the things inside and stopped, lowering her head. “I’m scared, Lia.”
    “We don’t get many bears this close to the village.”
    Ann giggled, a half-hysterical sound. She shut the drawer and turned to face me. “It isn’t as if I haven’t lived out in the wilderness before. I don’t know why I’m being such a mouse about it.”
    It was true—she’d spent several weeks with us as a fugitive in the Frost ruins, but she’d never been on her own with only her father for company.
    “But this time...” She stopped. “I’m not a traitor, Lia.”
    “I know.”
    She chewed her lip. “It will be lonely here.”
    “I’ll visit you,” I promised. “We’re not abandoning you.”
    She nodded slowly and went to unpack the rest of her things.
    “I’ll see how your father is coming,” I said.
    Below, I found Ivy building a fire while the former Mayor watched with fascination and apprehension. I realized with bemusement that neither Ann nor her father had probably done much—if any—household work. They’d always had servants for that. Well, no longer.
    The sight of the warm wooden walls and narrow, shuttered windows made my chest ache with longing to stay. I missed this place to my bones, but my work was far from done. They needed me in the village.
    “Thank you for your assistance,” the Mayor murmured to Ivy. He looked away from me, and I realized he was afraid of me now.
    Ann descended the stairs and looked at us, then the fire. Silence fell over the room.
    “We should get back to the village,” Ivy said softly.
    Ann crossed the room and hugged me. I clung to her a moment, squeezing her tight to reassure myself that she was safe, that she was going to be all right here without me, without any protection. Despite my assurances to her earlier, I was worried.
    “We’ll be fine,” she whispered, as if reading my thoughts.
    Ivy and I left the house and started across the yard. I listened to the sound of our boots squishing in the sludge of melting snow and inhaled the scent of pine and wet earth.
    “It’s stupid,” Ivy muttered without looking at me.
    “Yes,” I agreed, and I wondered when my sister and I had stopped fighting and started sharing the same thoughts and opinions. We were shoulder to shoulder as we walked, and I realized she was almost as tall as I was. She was almost a woman now.
    I stopped by the barn.
    “You go on,” I told Ivy. “I have something I need to do.”
    The barn door creaked as I shoved it open. Sunlight illuminated the space, catching dust motes and making them sparkle. The air smelled of must and old hay, and I sneezed as I stepped around scattered farm tools. I crossed the room to the compartment in the floor that led to the lower room beneath the barn, the one where my parents had kept their secret life as Thorns agents and Weaver heritage keepers hidden from us.
    My fingers automatically found the