Fire Country

“I—I don’t know. I never really thought ’bout it that way. I guess…” I think ’bout Skye, ’bout her raven-black hair, ’bout her contagious laugh, ’bout how she was everything I’m not. Popular, coordinated, pretty. There’s no sadness for her in my heart. No. She doesn’t feel dead.

I shake my head.

“Well there’s your answer,” she says matter of factly.

“But Circ doesn’t feel dead either,” I say, feeling my heart crumble even as I say it.

“Siena,” she says, putting down the britches. “You can’t do this to yourself. Do you see him sometimes?”

I nod. I see him in everything. But I can’t tell her that. Instead I say, “Sometimes.”

She curls an arm around me, pulls me in. “I still see my first love, too,” she whispers. “Sometimes.”

My head jerks, eyes widen. “You mean, there was someone else ’sides Father?”

She laughs and it reminds me of Skye. They were always a lot alike. “Your father is my Call.” She drops her voice even further, looks ’round as if the hut walls might be listening. “Brev was my true love.”

I straighten up, all my attention on my mother and this surprising revelation. “Who was he?”

She stares at me wistfully and I can tell she’s looking right through me. “The son of a Greynote. Kind eyes, bluer than the winter rains. Soft hands, but strong, too. Oh, I remember spending too much time kissing him behind the border tents.”

“Mother!” I exclaim, shocked. “But that’s where the shilts go.”

Her grin makes me grin, too. “I wasn’t shilty, Siena. I only ever went there with Brev. Besides, people doing what makes them happy ain’t shilty.” It’s fu

The door slams and Father clomps in. My head is spi

“You’ve got Call Class,” he says gruffly.

I stand up, meet my mother’s eyes for an instant, share our secrets without words, desperately wanting to ask her more. Smiling, I follow my mother’s Call outside.

~~~

Call Class. Our chance to ask questions. And we got plenty.

There are ’bout thirty of us. Me, Lara, and a bunch of others who’ve never really tried to talk to me. The Teacher, a squat woman with laser-sharp eyes, is whacking away the questions with an ease that can only come with experience. She must teach Call Class a lot.

“Can I choose my Call, because there’s this guy…?” one girl asks, twirling her hair with one finger. Everyone knows the answer to that question, so it makes half the class crack up. I just stare straight ahead.

Teacher sighs, but answers anyway. “All Calls are at random. An eligible Pre-Bearer’s name is selected and then an eligible male name is selected. Listen, Younglings, because this is important. You do not get to choose your Call because it doesn’t matter who it is. All that matters is that you Bear children and help our tribe survive. That’s it.”

“What do I do if I don’t like my Call?” a whiny girl asks, apparently not getting Teacher’s message.

“Deal with it,” says Teacher. “Next.”

“How do I know if I’m satisfying my Call?” asks one of the shiltier girls, gri

“I’m sure you know the answer to that already,” Teacher says, unblinking. A few Pre-Bearers giggle and the shilty girl blushes and ducks her head. “Next.”

“What if I miss my Call?” a familiar voice asks from beside me. My heart stops. Every head in the room turns to look at Lara. And ’cause I’m sitting next to her, they look at me too. Guilty by association. There’s a speck of durt on one of my feet and I’m determined to stare it away.

“No one misses their Call,” Teacher answers, as if it’s a perfectly valid question. “Next.” I can still feel the eyes on us, but then one by one, they turn back to face the front.

“Why’d you ask that?” I hiss.

“Just for fun,” Lara says, gri

“You got a fu

“Now it’s your turn,” she says, winking.

I raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Ask a question. A real question. Not something that she’s heard a million times, that she expects you to ask. Something else. Try to rattle her. For fun.”

I shake my head. “You’re wooloo,” I say, but immediately start thinking about what question’ll surprise the unflappable Teacher.

Another girl asks, “Do I have to have a Call-Sister?”

Stupid girl, I think. This is stuff we’ve been learning for years. Teacher sighs, but responds, her voice monotone and rehearsed. “A Call-Family is comprised of a man and his three Calls, who Bear his children. Every three years, each Call-Mother is required to become big with child and Bear a new child. They take turns until the family has grown to its maximum sustainable size, which includes three children per Call-Mother, or nine children total. It’s at this time only that it will be considered a Full-Family and Bearing shall cease. Next.”

The question pops into my mind like most of my random thoughts do. Quickly and vividly. Circ’s bloody face wet with tears. His body, still stronger’n most, weakened by injury and blood loss. His voice, urgent and stronger’n expected as he gives me his charm. My charm now. My fingers play on the pointer charm dangling from my bracelet. The question comes out. “What if my Call is dead?” I murmur, almost to myself. The question is rude, uncouth, and inappropriate in a lot of ways. There’s a good chance I’ll go to Scorch just for asking it.

“Excuse me?” Teacher says.

Lara is tapping her foot with excitement next to me.

“What if my Call is dead?” I say again, louder this time.

Teacher’s eyes narrow. “I’m not sure what you’re playing at, Youngling, but what you ask is impossible. You haven’t received a Call yet, so he can’t be dead.”

I chose him and he chose me. It’s what I want to say, but I know how it’ll sound. Like I’m just some lovestruck Youngling. The other girls’ll laugh and Teacher’ll come down hard on me. Not today. “Thank you, Teacher,” I say.

Lara giggles.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Call. Those two words pierce my skull the moment I open my eyes and am blinded by a bright sliver of sunlight. No going back.

I peer out the window, surprised to see the deep red, cloudless sky, and brilliant orange sun emerging from the horizon. It’s been raining for two days straight, which is normal for this time of year, but for some reason it’s decided to stop for such an important moment in my life.

There’s a shout from outside, but I roll over, pull my tugskin blanket over my ears. It’s the last morning I’ll wake up alone. At least until I hafta share my Call with my first Call-Sister. Or perhaps I’ll be the first Call-Sister for someone else, which means I’ll hafta share my Call right away. That wouldn’t be so bad, not with a guy who’s not Circ. Less pressure on me that way.

The door explodes open and I hear heavy boots stomp across the floor. Father. No one else can walk so angrily. “Siena, pretending to sleep won’t work. You’re going to tell me what you know about Lara immediately.”

Lara? Since when does my father even know who Lara is? He’s never said a word ’bout her ’fore. Oh sun goddess! I think. He’s found out ’bout the things she’s been saying to me. About there being another way. ’Bout missing the Call. ’Bout the Wilds.