Chapter 21
WHEN THE BUS STOPS outside Lament’s only gas station, an unsettled feeling comes over Cate. She tries to ignore it, hiking her duffel bag higher on her shoulder. The weight of it keeps her from wanting to move, but she knows it’s now or never.
Once more unto the breach.
“Thank you,” she says to the no-nonsense driver.
He grunts and opens the doors.
There, outside the bus, stands Bev. Was she always so beautiful? Her hair is pulled back in a neat ponytail—it’s long. Is there a salon in Lament, or will they have to learn to cut each other’s hair?
“Are you getting off or what?” the bus driver grunts.
“Yes, sorry, I am,” Cate replies, but there was really no reason for him to ask that question so rudely. He could just as easily have spoken to her in a respectful tone.
Wh
