Shannon and Pacifica stood in the middle of the street. The sun shone high in the sky; a gentle breeze drifted between the buildings. On such a beautiful day, the roads should have been bustling with people.
But there was no bustle. In fact, not a single person shared the street with the Casulls. Even the shops that lined the roads had their doors closed and their windows barred.
“So… I guess they’re avoiding us,” Pacifica commented.
Shannon looked around. He could sense the townspeople hidden inside the buildings. He even caught glimpses of a few of them watching him when they thought his eyes were elsewhere. Pacifica was right-—they were definitely being avoided on purpose.
The two siblings looked at each other. “What did you do?” Pacifica accused him.
“Me? I was going to ask you the same question.”
“You’re the one who’s always screwing up!”
Shannon sighed. “You’re kidding, right?”
The two argued for a few moments, then trailed off into an awkward silence. Someone usually showed up when they argued, either to stop the fight or distract Pacifica enough for her to give up.
In reality, Shannon had a pretty good idea why the townspeople’s attitude toward them had changed. Pacifica probably did, too. They just didn’t want to think about it.
“I doubt we can get any shopping done today,” Shannon said evenly. “We should probably just head home.” He turned back the way they had come.
“What? But…”
“We don’t have a choice. We could drag these people out of their homes and ask them what’s happening, but I have a feeling that would only make matters worse.”
Pacifica raised her eyes to her brother, her forehead creased in worry.
“Um… are you mad, Shannon?”
Shannon let out a breath. “Recently,” he murmured, “I’ve decided not to get angry when it doesn’t do any good. But I haven’t figured out what to do about feeling sad.”
Pacifica kept her eyes on the road. “I know what you mean,” she said softly, then grabbed hold of his sleeve. The two of them walked home in silence.
Winia peeled potatoes in her partially repaired kitchen. She hummed quietly to herself, lost in her thoughts.
She finally knew the true identities of her tenants. At first it had come as an understandable shock—the Scrapped Princess was legendary, a half-believed creature of unspeakable evil. No average country girl expected to be involved in such a tale.
However, once she’d had time to think things over, she realized that she didn’t care who the siblings were or what they ran from. Her feelings for the three of them hadn’t changed. This realization made her… glad, really. And oddly proud.
This time, she thought, I’m not going to run away.
“Winia,” called a shaking voice. Winia looked up.
In the doorway stood her grandmother, Felicia Chester. The old woman’s face was worn with age and illness. She was wrapped in a warm stole to block out the chill, and one hand rested on the doorframe for support.
Winia was surprised to see her grandmother in the kitchen. She rarely had the strength to leave her bed, let alone walk down the hallway.
“Grandma, are you feeling all right? I didn’t expect to see you up and about.” Winia hurried over to help the old woman to her chair.
“Yes, dear, I’m fine. I feel better than usual today.”
Despite her claims, the woman seemed unusually frail to Winia, who had to help her to a chair.
Winia frowned. “Is something wrong, Grandma?” she asked. “You’ve been taking that medicine Doctor Randall brought, right?”
The doctor was a frequent visitor at the inn. Since Winia’s family was too poor to pay for regular doctor visits, they had worked out an arrangement where the doctor would come whenever it was most convenient for him, and in exchange, he only charged the bare minimum of expenses. His visits averaged about once a week.
“I’ve taken it, my dear. But my health isn’t what we need to be concerned with right now.” She gave her granddaughter a piercing look.
The expression worried Winia greatly.
“Those three guests…” the old woman began.
“You mean the Casulls?”
“Yes. You must ask them to leave tomorrow. No, it would be better if they left today.”
Winia stared at her grandmother in shock. “What?” she breathed.
A pebble bounced on the cobblestones.
Shannon and Pacifica looked in the direction from where it came. A shadowy figure stood in an alley, beckoning them over.
When they moved closer, Shannon recognized the figure as Michelle from the bakery. Pacifica recognized her as well, and was about to call to her when Shannon grabbed the girl, covered her mouth, and pulled her into the alley.
“Michelle—” Shannon began, but the girl wouldn’t let him finish.
“—Something really strange is going on.”
“I know,” Shannon replied. “Is there anything you can tell us about it?”
Michelle looked at him incredulously. “You don’t know why this is happening?”
Shannon furrowed his eyebrows. “I can think of too many reasons.”
Michelle sighed. “Basically,” she explained, “people have been spreading rumors about you three. Really nasty things, too—that you’re on the run because you killed a Mauser official and Shannon raped and murdered some girl a few towns over and Raquel and Pacifica helped him cover it up, or that you’re a gang of sibling serial killers looking for your next victims.”
Pacifica’s jaw nearly hit the alley floor. “That’s awful!” she squeaked.
Shannon sent Michelle a measuring glance. “In that case,” he asked slowly, “are you okay with talking to us cold-blooded killers?”
Michelle shrugged. “I wouldn’t, if the rumors weren’t a bunch of lies.”
The confidence in her voice surprised Shannon. He hadn’t been expecting a mere acquaintance to have such faith in him.
“Um… how can you be sure?” he tried.
“Oh, I know a thing or two about people and how these things tend to work, and these rumors are spreading way too fast for ordinary word-of-mouth. And they’re really inconsistent—I mean, how many different crimes could you three have committed? It doesn’t make any sense that a bunch of completely different rumors would come up all at once.” Michelle looked him straight in the eye. “I think someone is spreading these rumors intentionally.”
Shannon sighed. “Yeah, that wouldn’t surprise me.”
Michelle put her hands on her hips. “So?” she asked. “What are you going to do?”
Shannon paused a moment. Then, finally, he rubbed his eyes. “Nothing,” he answered tiredly. “There isn’t anything we can do that’ll make this better. Even if we deny everything, I doubt anyone will believe us.”
He noticed Pacifica look away. But it’s the truth, he thought. Even if it upsets her.
Shannon glanced at Michelle. “Thank you,” he said. “But it’s time we left here, anyway.”
“An information battle?” Chris looked up at his superior curiously.
“Yes. Although due to lack of time, we were only able to execute a crude one.” Luke’s steely gaze took in the town stretched out beneath them. “Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like information about the Scrapped Princess has leaked to the townspeople.”
Chris felt a chill run down his spine. There was in fact one person who knew about Pacifica’s background— the girl from the inn, Winia. Chris hadn’t reported her. He couldn’t explain it properly (even to himself), but letting her go just felt like the right thing to do.
Chris pursed his lips and decided to keep his silence. But the whole experience was unsettling—not only had Shannon defeated him twice in combat, but now Chris was withholding information from his superiors.
“As the rumors spread,” Luke explained, “the townspeople will become convinced that those siblings are killers. Even if someone finds out the truth about the princess, they’ll just think it is an exaggeration and will most likely fall back on the more consistent rumors.” He crossed his arms. “With the people turned against them, it’s likely that the Casull siblings will be driven out of town before too long. It will be much simpler to take care of them on the road, away from witnesses.