Weevil tilted his head. "What's wrong?"
"We had newcomers to the Colony this afternoon," she said, nodding up toward the tent. "More Scourge victims."
I hardly dared to ask. "Any River People?"
"I don't think so. But one of the arrivals was someone I knew a little. He sold meat to Jonas each week. He had a message for us, Ani."
My brow furrowed. "For us?"
"Before you left Keldan, did you ask my father to contact your family and tell them where you were?"
"Yes, though I'm sure your father wouldn't have--"
"He did, immediately after you left. That very night, our fathers formed a plan to come and rescue us from this island. Your father had access to one of the River People's boats. My father had money for some weapons in case a fight broke out."
My spirits lifted. "They're coming for us?"
She only shook her head. "The governor discovered their plan and sent wardens after them. They've already been sentenced for violating Scourge laws. She says she has to make an example of them, or the Scourge will spread across Keldan."
"They've been arrested?" I said, louder than I should have, and Weevil shushed me.
"No," she said, drawing in a sharp breath to hold her emotions together. "But they're in hiding, and it's only a matter of time before they're found and their sentence carried out. They won't be able to come get us. I'm sorry, Ani. That hope is gone."
I sat on a nearby rock and tried to absorb her words, but none of it felt real. In one moment, she had offered me more than I ever could have expected, then taken it away just as fast. With that sudden loss of hope came an even greater problem--the fact that my father was now in hiding, a fugitive from the law. Della was right. Sooner or later, the wardens would find him. I didn't know what his sentence would be, but I did understand the governor's cruelty now. She took me and would take my father too. My mother was now alone. How would she ever survive without us, even if she had the will to try?
This news crushed me. But it must have been so much worse for Della. The only thing that had kept her alive in this place was the certainty that her father was coming to rescue her. He wasn't coming now, and she had to accept that.
I considered telling her about Jonas, that we had found him and he was safe and healthy. But he also could not come out of the caves, and we had no permission to tell Della where he was, not yet. Until I knew that I could reunite her with Jonas, I couldn't say anything. But I did vow to ask tonight about bringing her to the caves. By now, Clement surely trusted me that much.
So we only thanked her for the news, and then Weevil led me behind the prison, out of sight from everyone else still at the food tent. If he hadn't been there to help me, I barely could've made the walk, and not because of the pains in my bones. This pain went much deeper.
"I'm sorry about your father," he said.
Tears spilled onto my cheeks. "Is this how it felt for you, when the governor took your father away?"
He looked down, scuffing his boot against the dirt. "Give it time. It won't always hurt like this."
I doubted that. Weevil still ached for his father's loss. I understood that ache now, more than I ever had before.
He tried again. "Listen, you helped me and my family. Once we're home, I'll help you and your mother too." Then he smiled, trying to cheer me up as well. "I don't have your gift for singing, but I'm thinking about taking up juggling. My plan is to throw balls at the townsfolk until they offer me a coin."
I snorted. "That sounds like a crime, Weevil."
"So is your singing, my friend." His smile was more sincere this time. "We'll work together, and our families will survive. I promise."
"Thank you," I said as I brushed away my tears. "Thank you for believing we'll ever get back home."
"Of course we will." He began digging in his pockets. "I found a spindlewill plant today. I don't know how it's used in the medicine, but if you chew on the leaf, I think it will be almost the same."
He pulled out from his pocket a few leaves, which he pressed into my hand. I turned them over in my fingers. They looked very similar to the thrushweed leaf, which our people used all the time.
"If it works," I said, "do you have any to share with Della? She needs this far more than I do."
"They make me turn in everything I collect each day," he said. "You don't want to know how I snuck this past them, but since you ask, I do have enough for her."
I grinned. No, I definitely did not want to know how he snuck these leaves past them.
I put the leaf in my mouth and chewed on it, eager to get the juices flowing. The taste seemed familiar, something from my childhood.