Free Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett

warm, soft bodies, Rhys and I were quickly separated by a flurry of hugs, tears of joy, and bursts of exaltation. Before I even knew what was happening I was corralled behind a flimsy screen.
    â€œWell, she’s a Larkin, all right.” A sprightly woman with dark brown spiral curls came in close to study my face. “Just look at those eyes.”
    â€œNo need to be shy,” a burly woman said as she stripped off my blood-smeared blouse. “Can’t go to your wreathing ceremony looking like that.”
    â€œWe’re happy you’re home.” A woman glanced up at me shyly through light blond eyelashes as she crushed a soft gold substance in a pestle with gardenia-and-orange-blossom-scented oil. “You must be so proud of your mother and father.”
    â€œOff we go.” Someone peeled off my camisole.
    â€œWait . . . ,” I sputtered as I clasped my arms around my bare chest.
    Two younger girls crept behind the screen, giggling like hyenas as they pried off my boots and socks.
    â€œOkay, if you can just hold on a min—”
    â€œThis is a happy day indeed.” A small birdlike woman with brown frizzy hair reached in and ripped the bandage off my collarbone.
    â€œHey!” I yelled, but they weren’t paying any attention to me.
    â€œIs it really her?” A young girl approached, a spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks, trying to see around the ample rumps surrounding me.
    â€œOoh, look at this fancy clasp,” another woman said as she unbuttoned my skirt.
    â€œWhat the fuck?” I screamed as my skirt dropped around my ankles.
    The room went deathly silent. They all looked at me in shock—like I’d just given them a universal slap.
    I peeked my head around the screen to find Rhys biting the inside of his cheek, desperately trying not to laugh. I was on my own.
    I stood there in my underwear, covering up the best I could with my hands, trying to figure out what to do next, when Beth sidled up to me with a tense smile. “It’s part of the ceremony, Ash. Tradition,” she whispered.
    Why was she helping me? Did she know what Rhys and I were up to? She was a seer, which meant she could see thefuture. Granted, she was a broken seer, but it seemed like I should keep an eye on her anyway.
    â€œWhat she
means
is she’s excited,” Beth announced to the crowd. “Right, Ash?” She nudged me in the ribs. “That’s the word they use for excitement where she comes from.”
    â€œYeah.” I managed a shaky smile. “I’m . . . excited.”
    All the tension disappeared from Beth’s face, and the women picked up right where they left off.
    Stripped of all my clothes, I was bullied into a copper tub full of warm water and rose petals. Not the roses you’d find in a cheesy honeymoon suite. These were real roses—wild roses—the kind that gave off the scent of some forgotten time.
    I didn’t even like changing clothes for gym. Being bathed by a creepy cult was not on my favorite-things-to-do list.
    The same woman who removed my bandage reached forward to untie the ribbon from my neck; I seized her hand. “The ribbon stays.”
    â€œLet the girl be, Agnes,” a soft voice beckoned.
    I released Agnes from my vise grip. She backed away from the tub looking more than a little terrified. I had no idea what made me react so strongly.
    â€œYour ribbon’s lovely.” The woman with the kind voice settled next to me on a wooden stool. She had a shock of long white hair, and the skin around her cornflower-blue eyes looked like weathered parchment. “I’m Lucy, but my friends call me Lou.”
    I pulled my knees in tight to my chest, half intrigued, halfhorrified by the scene playing out before me. The women looked fairly normal, considering how isolated they were from the rest of the world. Maybe a century or so behind the times, fashion-wise, but they