Chapter 157

We stopped at the living house - the one that had twisted into a Weeping Gallows - and I opened the way.

The bark split where the door had once been, peeling back with a dry, fibrous sound. Dull red light bled out from within.

“Everyone hold tight,” I said, taking Mirri’s and Lilae’s hands. “Don’t let anyone get pulled away. You know what we faced last time. None of it is real - no matter how it makes you feel.”

Mirri reached out and took Elise’s hand, offering her a small, steady smile. Elise returned it with a quiet nod.

I steadied myself, sharpened my Will, and stepped forward.

The branches and roots peeled aside, granting us passage. The whispers rose immediately - soft, insistent, promising things we all knew it couldn’t give.

We didn’t hesitate. We walked in.

Inside, the air pulsed with that same dull red glow. Vines and roots writhed along the walls and ceiling like coiled serpents, shifting, watching. I tightened my grip on Mirri and Lilae and kept moving.

Something inside me stirred. Something in my Faith reacted - the little marble rattling in the hollow of my soul - began to vibrate. Not gently. Not passively. It buzzed, sharp and agitated, like it was trying to break free.

Several vines lashed toward us-

-and recoiled just short of contact. They didn’t strike. They flinched.

The rest followed, shrinking back, withdrawing from our path as if we were something to be avoided.

I felt Mirri tense beside me. Lilae’s grip tightened.

This wasn’t how it had gone last time.

We pressed forward anyway. The vines parted as we moved, the path opening ahead of us. Inside, that marble within me buzzes like an angry wasp - colliding with the edges of my soul like it was trying to get out.

Ahead, the exit came into view.

We didn’t slow.

The red glow thinned. The air shifted. Then sunlight.

A broad row of trees surrounded us, just beyond them a circular path, trimmed grass, the path as it doubled back, and another row of trees.

To the left, Philadelphia’s skyline rose in the distance, City Hall standing dead ahead. To the right, three bronze statues and a wide sweep of stone steps.

The Philadelphia Art Museum.

Cars circled the park, engines rumbling, horns cutting through the air, exhaust hanging faintly over everything. The sound hit all at once - too loud, too constant after the silence we’d left behind.

“What’s that place?” Lilae asked, pointing. “Is that where the president lives?”

I let out a short laugh. “No. That’s the art museum. Maybe we’ll check it out later.”

I scanned the area.

A couple hundred people, easy. Joggers cutting across the grass. People walking dogs. Tourists drifting toward the steps. Normal. Busy. Alive.

We’d come out close to where we had last time. Was that coincidence? Or was something pulling us here?

Noraethil was nearly five hundred miles from the keep. Whatever the Gallows were doing, distance didn’t matter on this side.

My Faith-scape still hadn’t faded. It lay over everything, faint but constant. Last time, I’d only seen my family’s beacons. Now…

…There was a glow at the museum. Faint. Subtle. But there. Had it always been there? Or had something changed?

I didn’t have time to figure it out. Another glow caught my eye. Fainter. Black, threaded through with veins of pulsing green.

The woman carrying it met my gaze. Then she ran.

“Elise - still her mana,” I said, already moving.

Elise followed my focus instantly. “STOP,” she said, but the word didn’t exist. The space where it should have been simply… vanished.

People nearby flinched, scattered, instinctively pulling away.

The woman froze mid-stride.

I reached her in seconds, wrenching the phone from her hand and turning her to face me. Up close, she looked human. Completely ordinary.

But the faint pulse of Faith and the way Elise had locked her down told me everything I needed to know. She didn’t belong here.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” I said as the others closed in. “But we will if we have to.”

Her eyes were wide. Locked. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.

“So here’s what’s going to happen,” I continued. “We’re going to release your mana. Then we’re going to walk over to that bench, and we’re going to talk.”

I leaned in slightly. “If you try to run, no one will find what’s left of you. And it’ll happen so fast, not even a camera will catch it.”

I held her gaze for a long moment. “Are we clear?”

She couldn’t answer.

I straightened. “Let her go, Elise.”

The moment her mana returned, she collapsed backward, scrambling away on her hands. “Keep it away from me!” she shouted, eyes locked on Elise.

“Lilae,” I said calmly, “take Elise over to the shade so she doesn’t burn.”

They moved off together.

I turned back to the woman. “Now,” I said, “are you ready to talk?”

* * *

We sat at the picnic table. The woman didn’t look happy about it, but she stayed put. That was enough for now.

“Who are you?” I asked.

She tried to meet my gaze, but looked away almost immediately. Her eyes flicked past me - caught on Elise - and lingered there a moment too long. “What is that… thing?” she asked, her voice tight.

“She’s not a thing,” I said evenly. “She’s a woman. A very lovely one, if you’d bother to look properly.” I didn’t take my eyes off her. “She can also disintegrate you with a thought. So maybe show some respect.”

She swallowed.

I leaned forward slightly. “Let’s try that again. Who are you?”

“…Erin,” she said, eyes dropping to the table.

“And you’re working for the Covenant of Mercy? Watching the tree - tracking who comes and goes?”

A small nod. No words.

“Are you Gallowborn?”

Her eyes flicked up, just for a second, then away again. “I don’t know what that is.”

“Were you born from a tree?”

“I… don’t know. Maybe?” There was no conviction in it. Just confusion.

I studied her for a moment. “Why are you answering my questions?”

That made her hesitate. Her brow furrowed slightly, like she didn’t understand the question. “Because you’ll kill me if I don’t?” she said finally. It came out uncertain. Like she wasn’t sure if that was the right answer.

That wasn’t what I meant. If the Covenant had imprinted her properly, she wouldn’t be sitting here talking to me. She’d be fighting, running… or dead.

“What are the first words you remember hearing?” I asked.

She froze.

For a moment, I thought she wouldn’t answer.

Then, quietly, “Stop being a fucking dumbass and think for yourself.”

Her head dropped as soon as she said it.

That definitely wasn’t the Covenant.

“Who said that?” I asked, softer now.

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “She said it… killed a man… and then left.” Her hands tightened in her lap. “I was… stuck behind the tree for a while after that.”

Mirri and I exchanged a glance.

“What happened next?” Mirri asked.

“Some men came,” Erin said. “They helped me out. Told me the Covenant of Mercy was the most important thing. That I should obey without question.” Her voice flattened, like she was repeating something she’d been told too many times. “That someone named Benedrict was the only person who mattered. That everything I did should be for him.”

She didn’t look up.

“They brought me here,” she continued. “Told me to learn everything I could. Gave me a phone. I knew how to use it, even though I’d never seen one before.” A faint frown tugged at her lips. “Same with a computer.”

“You’re from here,” I murmured. “Can you use magic?”

She shook her head.

“Probably no flowlines,” Mirri said. “Like you.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Makes sense.” I looked back at Erin. “And they took you to our world because there aren’t any Gallows here.”

She hesitated, then looked at me again. “You asked if I was… Gallowborn.” The word felt unfamiliar in her mouth. “What does that mean?”

“It means you were human,” I said. “And the Covenant fed you to a carnivorous tree that turned you into a person made of vines and thorns. Does that sound right?”

She nodded, small and uneasy.

“What do you remember about the woman who spoke to you?” I asked. “The one who said those first words.”

Erin shifted uncomfortably. “I… wasn’t really thinking. I could barely open my eyes. I don’t think I saw her clearly.”

“Try,” Mirri said gently. “Even if it sounds strange.”

Erin swallowed. “She had dark hair. I think.” She hesitated. “And… she looked like she worked outside?”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Like… a tan? Or a sunburn.”

I dragged a hand down my face. “How many arms did she have?”

Erin stiffened. “I-I don’t-”

“Just tell me she had four arms and we can skip the rest.”

She looked up at me, startled, really meeting my eyes for the first time. “H-how did you know?”

I let out a slow breath. “Because she’s my daughter.”

* * *

Erin didn’t know much about what the Covenant was actually doing. She wasn’t meant to. She was meant to obey. But she knew enough.

They were moving guns. ****, too. Injecting people before they were fed to the trees - and dosing them regularly afterward. Every few hours, she thought, though she didn’t have a solid timetable. She also wasn’t sure what the **** were or what they did.

Her memories only stretched back about two weeks. No past. No connections. No place to go. So she stayed with the Covenant. Not out of loyalty, but out of fear.

She’d been assigned to watch this portal, but she knew of two others nearby - one in Washington Square, another in Fairmount Park. Same job, same waiting.

We were the first to come through without warning. That alone made this worth something.

“Alright,” I said, leaning back slightly. “Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to let you go. You keep doing your job - watch the portal. And we’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention us to anyone.”

Mirri’s head snapped toward me. “We’re just letting her go?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know she’s not lying?” she shot back. “She gets her phone back, and the first thing she does is call them.”

“She’s not brainwashed like the others,” I said. “She’s scared.” I exhaled slowly. “And my gut says she’s telling the truth. At least… most of it.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t know if that’s me hoping for the best or something Solenna gifted me with, but I believe her.”

Mirri didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue further.

Erin glanced between us, uncertain. “So… what happens now?”

“Now,” I said, “you unlock your phone and tell me where the nearest DMV is. I need to renew my driver’s license.”

* * *

We passed the Philadelphia Free Library on the way to the DMV, much to Lilae’s visible and vocal disappointment. She kept glancing back at it like it might vanish if she looked away too long.

“Later,” I promised. “I need an ID first. Trust me, it makes everything easier.”

She didn’t like it, but she nodded.

The DMV took an hour and a half.

Apparently, when your license has been expired for three years, you don’t “renew” it - you start over. Forms, photos, and a full driving test. By the time it was done, I had a temporary license and a headache, but at least I was legal again.

On the way back, we stopped at another pawn shop. I sold a couple more gold coins. The guy behind the counter was more cautious this time - asked more questions, took his time - but the license helped. He settled on fifteen hundred per coin and I walked out six thousand dollars richer.

Then we headed back to the library.

The building rose up ahead of us - broad, square, and unmistakably neoclassical. I’d heard it was modeled after French palaces, and I could see it. Massive arched windows lined the first floor, taller rectangular ones stacked above them. It was exactly what I expected from any one of a number of iconic buildings in Philly.

Inside, the lobby opened wide - marble floors, pillars marching in rows, a coffered ceiling thirty feet overhead - each recessed panel catching the light just right. Wide halls stretched deeper into the building, disappearing into quiet.

Lilae pointed down one of them. “What’s down there?”

“All kinds of things,” I said. “Music rooms. Archives. They have a lot more than just books here.”

She looked like she wanted to sprint off immediately.

“Later,” I said again, steering her toward the stairs.

We took the wide marble steps up to the second floor.

The arts and literature room opened around us and Lilae stopped dead.

Shelves stretched in every direction, lining the walls and filling the floor in long, orderly rows. A mezzanine wrapped around the upper level, another ring of books circling the room like a second horizon.

It was impressive.

Still, after Master Edevane’s library and the one in the demesne it felt… airy. Open. The ceiling soared forty feet overhead, the mezzanine sitting maybe twelve feet up, but the shelves up there were only about five feet tall. That left great stretches of wall rising untouched toward the ceiling, broken only by arches and ornamentation. It was beautiful, but empty.

“Wow!” Lilae blurted. “It’s as big as yours, Elise!”

“Try to keep your voice down,” I said softly. “People are studying.”

She clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes still wide.

I slipped an arm around her shoulders and guided her down a short hall into the social sciences and history section. If anything, it was bigger.

“Holy shit!” she exclaimed.

“Lilae, language,” I chastise.

“Sorry,” she whispered, barely containing herself. “There’s so many books…” Her gaze darted everywhere at once. “What’s down there?”

I followed her pointing finger toward another section.

“What does the sign say?” I asked.

“Business… science… industry…” she read slowly, like each word was a discovery. Then she pointed again. “And those?”

Rows of computers.

I grinned. “Two-thousand-dollar decks of cards.”

All three of them turned to look at me with blank stares.

“Sorry…old joke,” I said. “They’re computers. And those are what are really going to blow your minds.”

I gestured toward the front desk. “Let me get a library card, and I’ll show you.”