Reached

right now, won’t be clear later. But you’re strong. I know you can get it all back.”

    I remembered another part of the red garden day. And I can get it
all
back. Grandfather said so. I tighten my fingers around Ky’s and keep singing
.
     
    Wind over hill, and under tree.
    Past the border no one can see.
     
    I will sing to him until people stop dying and then I will figure out the cure.

CHAPTER 39
    KY
    P
ast the border
    No one can see.
     
    I’m in the sea.
    I go in and out. Over and under. And under. And under.
    Indie’s there in the sea.
    “You are
not
supposed to be here,” she says, annoyed. Exactly like I remember. “This is my place. I’m the one who found it.”
    “All the water in the world can’t be yours,” I say.
    “It is,” she says. “And the sky. Everything that’s blue is mine now.”
    “The mountains are blue,” I tell her.
    “Then they’re mine.”
    Up and down we go, on the waves next to each other. I start to laugh. Indie does, too. My body has stopped hurting. I feel light. I might not even have a body anymore.
    “I like the ocean,” I tell Indie.
    “I always knew you would,” Indie says. “But you can’t follow me.” Then she smiles. She slips below the waves and is gone.

CHAPTER 40
    CASSIA
    C assia,” Anna says, standing in the doorway of the infirmary, “come with us.”
    “I can’t,” I say, paging through my notes, looking up the flowers Anna mentioned.
Mariposa lily. Ephedra. Paintbrush.
Anna said she’d bring me pictures of the flowers. Did she forget? I’m about to ask her when she speaks again.
    “Not even to see the vote?” The people of the village and the farmers have gathered outside to decide what to do with the cures Oker and Xander and the other assistants have made. There’s some disagreement about what to try first and how to proceed.
    “No,” I tell Anna. “I need to keep thinking. There’s something I’ve missed. And I have to do it here. Someone’s been taking the medicine from Ky. I’m not leaving.”
    “Is that true?” Anna asks one of the medics.
    He shrugs unhappily. “It could be,” he says. “But I don’t see how. We always have medics in attendance. And who in the village would want to harm the patients? We all want to find a cure.”
    Neither Anna nor I state the obvious. Perhaps not everyone in the village feels this way.
    “I made your stone myself,” Anna says to me. She hands me a tiny stone with my name written on it.
Cassia Reyes.
I glance up at her for the first time and see that she has the blue lines painted all over her face and arms. She notices my glance. “On a voting day, I dress with the ceremonial marks,” she tells me. “It’s a Carving tradition.”
    I take the stone from her. “I have a vote?” I ask.
    “Yes,” Anna says. “It was decided by the village council that you and Xander could each have one stone, just like everyone else.”
    The gesture touches me. The people here have come to trust the two of us. “I don’t like to leave Ky,” I say. “Can someone put my stone in for me?”
    “They could,” Anna says, “but I think you should see the vote. It’s something every leader should witness.”
    What does Anna mean? I’m not a leader.
    “Would you trust Hunter to stay here and keep watch?” Anna asks. “Just for a few moments, so you can cast your vote?”
    I look at Hunter. I remember the first time I saw him. He was burying his daughter, and he put that beautiful poem to mark her place. “Yes,” I say. It won’t take long, and this way I can ask Anna about the flowers again.
    Hunter hands his stone to Anna. “I vote with Leyna,” he says.
    Anna nods. “I’ll put it there for you.”

    Anna was right.
    What I see is so extraordinary, I almost forget to breathe.
    Everyone has come with a choice in hand. Some, like Anna, carry two stones, because they have been asked by someone else to cast a vote by proxy. So much trust must exist for this to work.
    Oker and Leyna stand near the troughs, and others, including Colin, watch to make certain no one moves stones from one place to another. There are two choices today: to vote with Oker or to vote with Leyna. Some stand in indecision, but most walk right up and cast their stones into the trough near Oker. They think we should give Oker’s camassia cure to
all
of the eligible patients. The more cautious ones cast their stones with Leyna, who wants to try several different cures.
    Oker’s trough is almost full.
    The