Free Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett Page B

shoulder, startling me. “It might seem like a bunch of hooey to you that we’re going ahead with the wreathing ceremony this year when there’s no need, but it’s tradition. We didn’t even know until a few days ago that Nina and Thomas were the chosen vessels. Katia kept it a secret all this time to protect them from Coronado. But now the chosen vessels are coming home to walk the corn once again,” she said with a childlike grin.
    â€œWhat does that mean, ‘walk the corn’?” I asked, peeling a rose petal off my shoulder.
    â€œAt the wreathing ceremony, the Larkin girl chooses a Mendoza boy—the boy of her heart. Then, at high noon on the summer solstice, Katia leads the couple into the corn, to a barren sacred circle of earth—the spiritual heart of Quivira. There, Katia tests the girl’s blood, hoping to find her vessel—the perfect match, so she can be free of her bond to Coronado and be reunited with Alonso.”
    â€œBut what will happen
this
year? To my mom, and my . . . dad.” Just saying the word
dad
out loud made my heart ache in a way I hadn’t expected.
    â€œNina and Thomas will walk the corn—for the last time. Katia will take them to the sacred circle. As Katia’s soul enters the vessel, she’ll shed her body, like a cocoon. When that happens, Coronado will be forced out of his own body. Without a vessel of his own, his soul will be forced to wander the earth alone, always searching, always longing. The Great Spirit will deliver Alonso’s soul into the Mendoza vessel and they’ll live happily ever after.”
    I couldn’t help thinking of the dead girl, the wound on the palm of her hand. “What happened to all the Larkin girls and Mendoza boys who went to the sacred circle before my mother and father?”
    Lou’s fingers stiffened in my hair. A look of regret seemed to pass over her face. “People don’t speak from beyond the corn,” she said in a hushed tone.
    The woman with frizzy brown curls came near and Lou’s whole demeanor changed. “The unchosen Larkin girl and the Mendoza boy leave the safety of the corn to live their lives in the outside world. But
this
year is special.” She leaned back, resuming her scrubbing duties. “After the ritual is complete, we’ll be one big happy family. Forever.”
    I couldn’t help thinking I was missing something. Why was this such a big deal to them? What were they getting out of it?
    An explosion of giggles pulled my attention to the center of the room, where girls of every age were scrambling around trying to get ready—brushing one another’s hair, doing last-minute mending. I think that’s what made it so unsettling; it was all so ordinary, like they were getting ready for a school dance, not preparing for a cult ceremony.
    â€œWhat exactly do I have to do at this wreathing thing?” I asked as Lou began to work my tangles out with a wide-toothed wooden comb.
    â€œGirls, bring the basket, please.”
    Lou made room for Beth and another girl to step forward and kneel in front of the tub; they were carrying a large basket brimming with dark green leaves from the cornstalks.
    â€œThis is Lauren Mendoza, and you know our Beth.” I liked the way she said
our Beth
like she belonged to everyone. There was something so endearing and goofy about this girl.
    Beth extended the basket to me. “Please, take a leaf.” I noticed a scar on her inner wrist—an unmistakable C brandedinto her delicate skin. I looked around for the same mark on the other girls, but only Beth had one.
    â€œThe girls will show you how to make the wreath,” Lou said as she dried my hair with a cloth.
    The other girl, Lauren, was stunning—olive skin, long dark hair parted in the center, showing off her widow’s peak. The last bit of light streaming through the window seemed to bend to her face as if it