"I don't know," Dameon said around a mouthful of food, "but it must be a pretty good hiding spot if it works every year and he doesn’t have to pay for it."
Father sighed and turned to me. "You have your plans all sorted out then, Dahlia?"
"Of course," I said, not hearing the confidence in my voice that I had with Bisa earlier. "I'll be fine, I've got plans and backup plans."
He nodded, apparently satisfied, and turned to Dameon. "I heard Broskow was giving you trouble earlier."
Dameon had been drinking water, but slowly put his cup down, his eyes downcast as he gave a short nod.
Father clenched his jaw. "Did they hurt you?"
He shrugged, still not meeting our father’s eyes. Mother looked like she wanted to go hug him, but Father shook his head.
"It's not your fault that they pick on you," he tried to reassure in an awkward voice.
"I know," Dameon muttered. "I just wish they would at least wait until The Seeking began. I want to be able to hide like Darik and Dahlia do. I'm sick of being picked on every year when The Seeking gets close."
"Oh, Dameon," Mother said and I could hear the sorrow in her voice.
"Do you think I don't get picked on every year?” I asked. “Or that Darik doesn't?"
Dameon looked at me, his cheeks streaked with tears.
"It happens every year, especially once October hits. I can't even walk to Bisa's without getting insults from people like Broskow. These people aren't going to go away, and the longer we're part of the Exalted Family, the worse it's going to get."
"That's enough," Father said, drumming his fingers on the table. "There's no need to scare him like that, Dahlia."
"It's true though. All it takes is one misstep. All it takes is one person seeing him through a window, and he’s on the run like us, if he’s not captured or killed first. I know you all don’t like to talk about what it’s like, but he needs to be ready for anything. Even if it feels safe, it might not be." I locked eyes with Dameon, feeling my throat clenching as tears threatened. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you, kiddo.”
Mother dabbed at the corner of her eye with a napkin, unable to look at me.
"This isn't the time," Father emphasized, glaring at me.
A silence fell over us as the clock chimed. It had a low tone for a bell, but it was loud enough to be heard at every end of the town.
One, two, three.
I suddenly worried that I had lost track of time. It was only getting dark when I went to help Dameon, but that must have been eight o'clock at least. The walk back, dinner: how much time had it taken?
Seven, eight, nine.
My chest grew tight, waiting for the additional bells. It couldn't be much later, they would have heard the chimes, wouldn't they?
Ten, Eleven.
At once we all got to our feet. I grabbed rolls and stuffed them into my pockets. Mother's voice was shrill and panicked, "Jamel, how is it so late? It couldn't possibly be midnight already!"
Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen.
"Is somebody drunk?" I asked as I pulled on my cloak.
"No." Father stared out the window toward the center of Carra. "Apparently The Seeking starts early this year."
I hugged Mother as tightly as I could. Her face was wet with tears; I hated that our last moments were cut short.
I hated that I had snapped at Dameon for no good reason.
I hated that I had started an argument when I should have been enjoying what could have been our last minutes together.
Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty.
"They can't do that, can they?" she asked as I let go and turned to hug Dameon. "We're still the Exalted Family until midnight. They can't take that away from us, not yet!"
"I’m sorry," I said in Dameon's ear, blocking out Mother’s cries. "Be safe. Don't take any chances. If things look suspicious you run, okay?"
His voice broke as he whispered back, "I love you, Dahlia. Please be careful!"
Twenty-one, Twenty-two.
As I pulled away, Father grabbed me for a quick hug and said, "Go, and stay to the woods as much as you can. There's no telling who will try to take advantage of the extra time. Don't let them catch you off guard."
I nodded to show him I understood and kissed him on his cheek, his beard scratchy on my lips.
"Stay safe, sweetheart."
I headed out the front door and into the night, my pockets overflowing with biscuits. Already I felt like a hunted animal as I took a hard left and headed for the darkness and safety of the trees.
This year The Seeking would be longer than any other.
The bell mocked us all as its chimes continued.
Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five.
II
Hiding Places
4
The Hollow
I must have walked a hundred feet or so by the time I saw the villagers stomping down the dirt road toward the Exalted House. There were at least twenty of them holding their torches high, the light making their smug grins easily visible despite the distance between us. I ducked back further into the woods, until I could only catch glimpses of them. Who had been paid off to make the clock chimes meaningless?
It was obviously supposed to be a jab at Father. He had bribed them the first year to chime the bells an hour early. That was what got our family into the Exalted House to begin with, but it wasn't even close to midnight yet.
It felt like something Broskow would try, especially after Dameon escaped from them earlier. I scanned the faces as best I could, but there was no sign of him. I couldn't even hear his dogs barking, and he brought those with him every Seeking. His absence only made me more eager to get to my hiding place as quickly as possible. If Broskow was behind fixing the clock, but wasn't heading for the Exalted House, where exactly was he?
A cold wind swept through the trees and I shivered. The sooner I was hidden, the better I would feel.
* * *
I walked carefully through the woods, stepping around piles of dried leaves and navigating through tall grass and thick foliage. October was perhaps the worst time of the year to try to sneak through the woods. Many of the trees were already bare, but some of them still had their leaves, and those were the ones I tried to stay near. I needed whatever coverage I could find.
Down a short hill, I came across a pile of dead leaves that had collected against a deep trench, completely obscuring the ground. The wind was stronger here and I could see more leaves settle against the mound while I stood. Going through it would make a ton of noise.
I took a few moments to look for an alternate path, but couldn't see one. This section of leaves was actually smaller than other areas of the embankment, at least the parts that weren’t overgrown with trees and undergrowth. Likely this used to mark the boundary of someone’s land, and the trench was supposed to help with drainage, but it was also very good at collecting leaves.
I took a breath to steady my nerves. Every second I wasted, I could feel Broskow's dogs getting closer to me as I lost ground. Normally I might try climbing a tree and leaping across to avoid the leaf pile, but there were only saplings here, nothing that could hold my weight. The only path was through.