March 1692, Outskirts of Salem Village
The crow followed him for a while.
It kept landing ahead of him on branches, watching him pass, then flapping forward to the next tree. Levi didn’t like it. Crows were ill omens in the village, everyone said so, and he’d had enough ill for one morning.
“Go away,” he told it.
It cawed at him, still following.
He walked faster.
The woods thinned as the outskirts of Salem village came into view, the gray smoke of morning fires rising above the rooftops. The sun was barely up, beams just starting to break through the bare trees. His feet were soaking wet from the mud and his nose was running.
He’d left her there. Just left.
He kept thinking about it, turning it over like a bad coin with identical sides. He had tried to wake her, he had shaken her, smacked her, yelled, pulled at her. She slept like she was in a coffin at the bottom of a well. There was nothing he could have done.
Levi knew all of that, logically. And yet, the guilt nagged at him, like the crow that was still following him.
Goody Martin’s door was unlatched, the way she always left it in the morning when she was already up and about. He pushed through it and stood dripping in the entryway.
She was at the fire, stirring what smelled like porridge for breakfast. Goody turned at the sound of him, nearly dropping the spoon into the vat whenever saw his face.
“Levi!” She set her spoon down hastily with a clatter. “Where hast thou been!?"
She crossed the room and crouched down to his level, her hands on his shoulders. Her eyes searched his face, and she could tell by his expression and mud-caked clothes that something had gone awry.
“And Lils? What of the girl? Heavens, I need to know what hath happened to you both."
The corners of his mouth began to involuntarily wobble downward in a sad frown and he held back tears.
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“They took her, Goody. From the hollow.” His voice came out small and strained. “We ran there after Samuel accused her in the market, we outran him and Constable Herrick. But they came back in the morning with two other big men from the village. Must've tracked us all night. I heard them tramping through in the morn, I awoke as they were upon us and I... I tried to wake her but I—she wouldn’t—” He stopped. “I ran, Goody. I hid up in a tree and I ran. And they captured Lils and bound her.”
A flicker moved through Goody Martin’s expression. Quick and dark, like a cloud crossing the sun.
“You did right to run if she would not waken,” Goody squeezed his hand.
“But I left Lils. I left her with those men!" He wailed.
“I said you did right, Levi,” she said again, firmer. “What would thee have done? Stood before Samuel Proctor and fought him off?” She squeezed his shoulders reassuringly. “Thee being taken too would not have helped her, nor you. Thee coming back to me does.”
He wiped his nose on his sleeve. Goody didn’t scold him for using his sleeve, for once.
“They bound Lils at her wrists and she...” he said. “She didn’t fight at all.”
He thought about Lils being dragged away by Samuel, her hair loose, keeping herself upright even as they dragged her to her feet.
“She looked back before Samuel took her onward. Like she was looking for me.”
Goody looked sad. “Did she now?"
She turned away from him then and stared into the fire for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice was measured, attempting to mask her emotions.
“They’ll take her to the town jailhouse. That’s where they keep them all before the examinations.” She picked her spoon back up to stir, thinking. “Lils is clever. She’ll keep her head about her for as long as she can.”
“Can we help her?” Levi asked. “What can we can do?”
Goody Martin looked at him, sizing him up. She could tell the boy truly cared for Lils. “There may be something yet,” she said. “But that is not to decide for today. Today, thee will eat and warm thyself and will not go near the village square or wonder anywhere out of my sight. Dost thou understand me?”
“Aye, Goody.”
“Good. And that means there will be time today to wash thy stinking, mud-laden clothes.” She ladled something into a bowl, hearty and thick, and set it on the table. Porridge, Levi realized, with a scrape of the good honey she kept for special occasions.
"You must stay in the house for now, so help me Lord."
Levi sat and picked at his bowl of porridge. At least the crow had finally stopped following him and flown away, was no longer hovering creepily out in the yard, looking in through a window with its beady eyes.
“Goody?”
“Mmhm?”
“Lils says strange names aloud in her sleep.” He picked up the spoon again. “I hear her repeating sometimes when I come to wake her for the morning eggs. Lucy, Aunt Ivy, and Holly. Stevon too. And there's Becca. I know she misses them.”
“Hmm, peculiar names.” Goody Martin nodded. “She's far away from her real kinfolk, of course she misses them.”
“Do you think they’re looking for her? Her kin, I mean."
Goody leaned forward. “It's hard to know,” she said sadly. “It's hard to know for certain of anything in these dark days."
Levi picked up the spoon again and devoured more porridge, really taking a moment to appreciate the sweetness of the honey this time.
Outside, the village was waking up for the day. He could hear the sounds pouring in through the window; dogs barking, the distant rumble of carts, the low murmurs of people waking up and getting on with their morning routines.
In the jailhouse across the village, Levi imagined Lils in the dark and damp, completely alone and scared.
I’m coming, Lils. Just hold on.
Levi ate his porridge, chewing slowly. Eating and hiding were the two primary tasks Goody Martin had given him today, so he would do those properly.
He owed Lils that much, at least. He would be strong for what was coming next.