Free The Humming of Numbers by Joni Sensel Page B

has taught me. She eases pain and heals sick folk and helps babies come into the world without killing their mothers on the way. Most of the time, anyway.”
    â€œDoes your mother stop babies from being born, too?” he asked. “That’s a sin, witch or not.”
    The storm on her face held back her words while she kept climbing down. When they had both settled their feet again on the earth, Aidan reached for Lana’s arm. He meant to appease her anger and his own trepidation with a reminder of what mattered now.

    â€œListen-”
    She jerked away. “No! Spare me your sermon! If you were a girl, and you had ever been raped, you would not think my mother’s work such a sin!”
    Shock bound them both for an instant. Lana whirled to cover her face with her hands and then flatten them against the oak’s trunk as if borrowing strength.
    Aidan drew a few difficult breaths, trying to seal his foolish mouth, but he couldn’t stand to leave her words dangling in the air between them. The look on her face was too raw. He touched her elbow.
    â€œLana … ?”
    Her eyes flicked to him darkly, then away. Those wounded eyes answered the question in his mind. He wanted to tell her he was sorry, but it seemed the useless words would only prolong a painful blaze he wished he had never kindled.
    She crossed her arms tightly and turned, her face closed. “Never mind.”
    â€œLet’s get away from here,” he sighed, starting off. Lana did not follow.
    â€œWait,” she said. “This tree sheltered us without being properly asked. I need to thank it.”
    Raising his eyebrows, he stepped back. “How are you going to do that?” He half expected her to launch into some deranged dance or call in some spirit. He wouldn’t
stop her, because they would surely be dead if they had not climbed that tree, but a tremor of worry coursed the back of his neck.
    She cast about nearby. She found a few white pebbles and a small patch of wood violet. Aidan watched while she plucked a flower and arranged it with the stones at the base of the tree. When she was done, she tipped her head to gaze into the tree’s branches and whispered, “For Aidan and me. ‘Gratitude for wood and bough, for haven given us just now.”’ She rose, casting him a baleful glance.
    â€œGratitude,” he repeated, nodding. He released a tense breath, relieved that a verse he’d heard before had been her only incantation.
    They slipped silently through the forest again. They began more carefully than before, Lana pausing several times to work her hazel rod. But being constantly alert was exhausting, and the rod did not point out danger again. As the hour waned, Aidan hoped the raiders would either be hunkering down for the evening or, better yet, leaving before the afternoon light dwindled.
    â€œIs this hiding place much farther?” he asked.
    â€œNot too far,” she said. “It’ll be a good place for the night. You’ll see.”
    Aidan didn’t answer. He resolved to stash her away, if her choice seemed as safe as she said, and then return to sneak up on the abbey once the sun set. He had to find
out if Rory and brothers Eamon and Nathan and the others were safe. If so, he could collect Lana again and they could both slip inside the guardian wall.
    â€œI’m sorry I made you angry before,” he said, after a moment.
    â€œWhen you told me you could hear numbers,” she said, “I didn’t ask if you were crazy.”
    Heat rose into his scalp. “I don’t think it is really the same,” he ventured.
    â€œYes, it is,” she replied. “You hear something most people don’t: the secret sounds of numbers hidden inside everything. I can feel and … and draw out the secrets hidden in trees. We both know some secrets. The only difference I can see, really, is that I have someone who can show me how to use what