“How?”
“I look like a sinner’s soul, Mother says, like a monster. I’m disgusting and I’m green. Green all over, like rotten. You can see my eyes in the dark. Father says my eyes are enough to get me killed. Stuff is wrong with me! All over. Everything.”
Liar
. “I don’t see any light. Your eyes don’t shine in the dark!”
“I’m trying to keep ’em closed or look away.” The boy’s voice tightened again with emotion. “I don’t want you to—You’d be scared, but I want to help. Don’t be scared!”
“Let me see.”
Evin peered into the blackness in the voice’s direction, expecting the stranger to give up his bluff and make excuses about why he couldn’t produce any shining eye trick. Then maybe Evin could pry some truth out of him, find out how to get out of here and go home. The boy’s breathing became shallow and hitched. Evin waited a moment for the story to come spilling out, but instead there was a sound of movement. The stranger scooted closer.
A huff of breath washed over Evin’s face, and he flinched. Scant inches away, the boy whispered, “Please don’t be scared.”
Eyes like burning yellow lamps split open in the darkness.
“Lords!” Evin threw up an arm to push away whatever this thing was before him and scrabbled to try to get away from it.
The panicked motion made Evin’s head pound again. Tiny specks of light appeared and faded in his vision. He had to stop to battle nausea.
The creature’s miserable pleading continued. “I’m sorry; I’m sorry. I knew you’d be scared, but I won’t hurt you, I promise, please…”
Evin tried to get hold of himself and put the image of those unnatural eyes out of his mind. His breath came in gulps. The thing wasn’t looking at him now, thank the lords, and that made it easier to control his urge to run screaming through the darkness. Finally he calmed enough to say, “Okay. Okay. That was bad—”
“I’m sorry; I’m sorry.”
“Shut up! It’s not your fault.” He took a deep breath. “I didn’t believe you, so I got surprised. That’s all.” Then he tried to make his voice less harsh and said, “Stop sniveling and act like a man, or whatever you are, okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
While Evin’s nerves settled again and the creature seemed to compose itself, Evin spoke. “Okay, okay. You have to hide, I understand now. And you helped me and you’re not going to hurt me. I believe you.” He paused to let his words soothe the thing, then continued, “The reason we’re in trouble is because you scared Tyber really bad when you chased him away, right? And if he saw your eyes…well, he’s gonna have the village panicking with tales of a monster come to get us. They’ll search for me. They might use dogs to find the monster. And then they’ll kill the monster. But you didn’t hurt Tyber, did you?”
“No, not a bit.” The glowing eyes appeared again, looking to Evin for help, and Evin had to fight back another surge of panic. Lords, they were terrible!
Evin tried to concentrate on solving their problem. “So…if I can get back to the village really soon, as fast as I can, then I’ll tell another story. No monster. Tyber can’t talk about what we were up to, so who knows what kind of story he made up. If I show up without a scratch and tell a better lie, maybe they’ll stop looking.”
“But you do have a scratch! He hurt you.”
“I’ll think of something. Tyber will punish me for it, and his friends too, but—wait.”
Daubrec was destroyed by a demon. Even if nobody believes Tyber, they’ll search
. “Tell me something. Do you know much about hunting? About dogs?”
“Yes, I know lots. My father teaches me.”
“Okay, we need to split up, and you have to use whatever you know to throw off the dogs. Are we close to the river?”
“I can get us there quick if I carry you.”
Evin suppressed a shudder. “Okay, that’s good. It’ll put your scent on me, then we can split up and you can use the water to fool the dogs. Does that sound good?”
“Yes.” The blazing eyes looked down at the floor. “I’m…I’m sorry you have to touch me. I didn’t mean none of this.”
Evin didn’t want to think about that. “Let’s go.”
* * *
The quickest way out of the cave was for the boy-thing to carry Evin, which he did easily, with no more trouble than Evin might have carrying a lapdog. Evin was mortified at the thought of anyone carrying him like an infant, but also frightened about what he would see when they left the cave. They neared the entrance, and the moon’s light grew enough for Evin to make out his surroundings.
The creature moved very fast, leaving the cave and plunging into the forest at a run. Evin could probably run as fast in an open field during the day, but nobody could sprint through the forest like this at night.
This thing must see perfectly in the dark
. That’s why there had been no lantern in the cave. Evin found his attention fixed on the trees and branches that flew by, because he was terrified to look up and see exactly what kind of monster held him to its breast.
But now that he thought about it that way, he had to look.
He steeled himself and glanced sideways out of the corner of one eye.
He saw a face. Like a person’s face, not the ravening beast he had feared. He turned his head and tried to get a better view despite the shadows racing over them in the night. The eyes were there—and yes, they were awful—and very dark skin and darker hair. He was big, this creature, with wide, solid features. But he wasn’t a creature. He was a young man about Evin’s age.
Relief flowed through Evin’s body, relaxing him enough to make him feel almost buoyant. Burning curiosity soon followed.
“Stop. Put me down and let me see you.” The stranger did stop and gently set Evin on his feet.
Evin found he had to look up into the face revealed by the moonlight. The stranger’s skin was perfect and smooth, as if carved from some kind of deep green stone. A mop of wavy dark hair framed his face, and his eyes burned down upon Evin with a shy, shamed expression. He had wide cheekbones and a dimpled chin. A thin strip of the same dark hair traced along the underside of his jaw.
He was terrifying and he was strange. But he was beautiful.
Evin touched his cheek. It was soft and very cold. He closed his eyes, seemed to relax a little at Evin’s touch, and exhaled a long breath.
“What’s your name?” Evin asked softly.
“G-Gareth.”
“Gareth. I’m Evin. Thank you for trying to help me.”
Evin saw pitiful gratitude in Gareth’s strange eyes, but all Gareth said was, “I was stupid. I’m sorry.”
“No. It was a mistake, just a mistake. And—listen to me, okay?”
The yellow eyes fixed on Evin’s face.
“You’re not a monster, Gareth. Not a monster at all. I think—”
“No,” Gareth said, as if Evin’s gentle words were too much to accept. The baying of hounds sounded in the distance.
Without another word, Gareth scooped Evin into his arms and raced toward the river.
Chapter Six
The upset in the village over Tyber’s wild story lasted for several days, but because the dogs could find nothing and Evin steadfastly denied ever having been kidnapped, it all finally settled down and life returned to normal.
Except that Evin wanted to see Gareth again. Evin wanted to learn more about what Gareth was and where he came from. Where he lived, and how long he had been there.
In truth, Evin could make some guesses. He didn’t want to upset Gareth by asking about them too soon, but…
There was only one forbidden place near the village. The mountain where the trapper, Rhyd, lived. Everyone knew Rhyd was adamant about keeping people off his land. Villagers said there were different kinds of traps all over the mountain, and that some of the large game traps could be dangerous. So everyone stayed away. Mostly.
The way Gareth spoke about his parents, he must be very different from them, which could mean that the parents were normal-looking, like Rhyd and his wife. What was her name? Evin didn’t know if he had ever heard it.
Gareth was fascinating because he was so different. It was exciting to have such a fantastic secret. Evin understood that Gareth had to remain hidden away, because his parents were right: People wouldn’t understand. They would kill him.
But Evin could keep secrets better than anyone.
There was something more too.
He watches us. Wants to know things
. Gareth needed to know someone different, not like the parents who said those mean things to him.
Mama and Papa love me. And Madame Tabeau. Gareth doesn’t have anybody.
Evin began to go out regularly at night with the pretense of walking around the village. Each time, he carried his lantern and tried to make sure that anyone else wandering about would see him just strolling. Out for some exercise, nothing strange about that.
But whenever it worked out that he could move unobserved a little farther into the woods, he would take a detour to get as close as possible to Rhyd’s land without straying far from the village. And when he wandered out that way, he would say Gareth’s name in a low voice, as if he were only mentioning it to a tree or passing light bug.
Tonight, as he came to the low stone wall surrounding the inner part of the village, the moment seemed right to move farther into the woods. He put his lantern atop the wall, scrambled over it, then hooded the lantern and struck out closer to Rhyd’s land, stepping carefully until his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
When he said Gareth’s name, a soft voice answered, “I’m here.”
Evin stopped walking and looked around. “Where?”
Glowing eyes appeared, peeking around a tree in the darkness ahead. Even though seeing Gareth was what he had hoped for, Evin’s blood ran cold, and it took a moment to regain his composure. He glanced around again to make sure they were alone, then approached and said, “Hi.”
“Hi. How did you find me?”
“In truth, you found me. You already said you watch us whenever you can.”
“Oh. Yes.”
Their conversation seemed to have run its course. Evin tried to find something else to talk about.
Gareth said, “You didn’t tell them nothing about me.”
Evin smiled. “I told ’em I was chased by a wolf. Tyber had everyone worked up with his story of the demon that took me, but then I showed up all safe and the dogs didn’t get you. Now nobody believes him.” The smile faded. “Tyber won’t forget this. He’ll hurt me when he can, and he’ll try to get the townsmen to find you and kill you. You have to watch out for him.”
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let him hurt you no more.”
Evin touched his arm. “I know. You were being stupid. But it was for a good reason, and I’m glad. Otherwise we were never going to meet, eh? You were just going to keep watching us all from far away.”
“Yes,” Gareth said. “Nobody’s supposed to know about me. They’d hurt me because I’m ugly. Even you’re scared.”
It was an accusation.
Evin tried to come up with some half-truth that might make Gareth feel better, but he couldn’t think of one. “Where can we go talk?”
“Over here.” Gareth led him to a thicket where they could sit unobserved even if other townsfolk happened to wander about for some reason. The center of the thicket had a bald patch of ground and opened to the sky, so Evin could see a little better. He sat with his legs in front of him and leaned back on his hands. Gareth sat beside him, cross-legged.
Evin said, “You’re right. Your eyes are scary in the dark, and it’s weird that you’re all green. Your parents were right to hide you to keep you safe. But that stuff doesn’t make you ugly, and it doesn’t mean you can’t have friends.”
Gareth looked down at his hands twisting in his lap.
“Okay,” Evin said, “maybe you can’t have a great lot of friends and keep hidden. But I can be your friend.”
“I can’t tell my parents I have friends, and you can’t tell nobody nothing about me!”
“So we won’t tell anybody. I promise. But even though you’re a little scary, I want to be your friend.”
“Why?”
Evin scooted over to face Gareth and crossed his legs so that his knees were touching Gareth’s shins. Despite the clothing they wore, Evin noticed again how much cooler Gareth’s body was. Evin reached into Gareth’s lap, took a hand, and held it between both of his own. “I don’t know how to…well… You came from nowhere to help me when Tyber was hurting me. I needed help and you were there.” He held Gareth’s unresisting hand to his chest. “But you need help too, don’t you? You’re not a monster. You’re good, aren’t you? But you don’t have anybody, any friends. You’re hiding and you’re alone.”
Gareth seemed to struggle to control his breathing.
“When we were in the cave, I could hear how sad you were. You don’t have to tell me stuff you’re not supposed to talk about, but you can talk to me if you want, tell me how you feel.”
“No, I—” Gareth’s voice cracked.
“You told me some mean things your parents said. You need someone else to tell you—”
“Please, don’t!” Gareth snatched his hand away as if Evin had stung him. He leaped to his feet and darted out of the thicket.
Evin called in a loud whisper. “Gareth, wait!” The footfalls stopped. “I’m sorry. I wanted to help.”
Gareth stalked back into view. “You’re just like
him
. You just want to make me feel bad.”
“No, I said it wrong. I want to help.”
“I said no!”
“Okay then, but please don’t run away. We won’t say anything at all if you don’t want to. Just tell me what you want.”
Gareth stood before Evin for a while, breathing heavily, saying nothing, and flexing his hands.
“I won’t pry anymore. You decide what we talk about.” Evin took a step back and gestured at the ground, hoping Gareth would sit again.
Gareth didn’t sit, but he didn’t leave, either. The set of his shoulders slowly relaxed, and the restless movement of his hands stopped before he spoke again.
“In the woods…why did you do this?” Gareth put a hand to his own cheek. He touched it lightly with his fingertips, imitating the way Evin had done.
His parents never comfort him
. Evin searched for the way to explain to someone who had never been taught anything. “When people are sad…people who like them touch them. Like that sometimes. To help them feel better.”