Chapter 19: Ghosts
I drop my stick. “The Mara are ghosts?”
“Not exactly,” Cadence sounds bored. “But neither is Ravel if you ask me. Which you should have.”
“You heard him too? Back by the stream?”
“I heard the same thing you did. You just never asked. Which, again, could have made things a whole lot simpler. But now you need to get back to Gran.”
Then, apparently in revenge, she refuses to answer any more of my questions. So I take the long way back, watching people dash around in controlled alarm. Little kids dart in circles waving toy weapons like miniatures of the sticks and branches Steph’s been using to train me, which is depressing. Eager-looking teens in dark combat gear and securely holstered weaponry quick-march in packs, and more than a few of their elders seem to be marsha
