Chapter 55: Catch the Rainbow
Calm and precise, Marcus made his way back toward Dustfall — but along the road he came across that distinctive trio: the Sisters of the Horizon, riding hard across the green plain. They were loud, talking among themselves as they went.
Time seemed to slow the moment his eyes met Victoria's, and she looked back at him flatly, as though indifferent, though with a brief flicker of familiarity.
"That was…" Lady looked back.
"That was Marcus. Bonnie isn't with him, so he probably left her behind," Victoria answered.
"Let's hope she's still in one piece," Evelyn added.
Just to be safe, they pushed faster to find the girl. It was still very dark, and a few coyotes — remnants of Marcus's supernatural power — prowled the plain, watching everything that moved with their sinister glowing eyes. None of them appeared to be about to do anything — but Lady kept a sharp eye on each one, hand on her rifle.
Cat climbed up onto Evelyn's shoulder, and she furrowed her brow, looking through the feline's eyes. The creature's night vision was excellent for moments like this — something Evelyn had always shown a talent for making the most of.
Meanwhile, Bonnie felt far too exhausted to go on. Both her mind and her body were in rough shape. She had chased Scaramuccia through the city and then gone through this entire insane plan to pull even the smallest amount of information out of him. Now that she understood the origins of it all a little better, she had come to realize this damned Cult didn't exist only in this country. That was, in every sense, a terrible thing.
But Bonnie couldn't hold on any longer. Her eyes closed, her mind fell back into the darkness once more. How many more times? She had no idea. It was something that was going to keep happening, one way or another. A mystery? Of course — her own existence was the perfect definition of one.
White mist. Coyote growls. Then the blast of a train whistle rang out hard. Samuel opened his eyes at a train station. It was a little old-fashioned, but it was the same one from Dustfall. The broad tracks, the platform with rows of seats, blurry-faced people boarding the locomotive.
And there ahead of him, Bonnie was waiting. That yellow dress and that red hair were like her signature in the middle of all that monotony.
"Bonnie."
"Samuel."
Bonnie tilted her head, pointing toward the train.
"Let's board."
Samuel followed without a word. She took the window seat while Samuel kept watch on the other side between the remaining seats. Together there, the distorted voices of memories sounded like a dissonant choir.
"So — we know more than we thought we'd ever figure out," said Samuel.
Bonnie looked out the window, the train whistling, steel wheels shrieking against the rails. After a moment, the locomotive began to move, stirring a shared memory in both of them.
"Yeah. We pulled it off," she answered. Her gaze was distant, lost somewhere out in the plain.
"I know how you feel — you made me feel it too, in that moment. Don't let the guilt eat you alive. That was what we had to do. The fair and necessary thing, nothing more, nothing less."
"I know."
She went quiet. Was she angry? Of course she was — it was there in the air, in the shimmering distortion of the memory they were inside, and in the fact that the train car had gone completely empty all at once. Noticing the silence, Samuel sighed. He leaned back into the seat and looked out at the plain alongside Bonnie.
"You know we're going to have to do even worse things, don't you? I do. This is just the beginning of the next wave of 'crimes' we commit against our enemies. You said it yourself — we'll use our trauma and frustration when the moment calls for it, and that's exactly what I did with the clown. For our sake, I'll keep doing it even when it weighs on my heart. On your heart."
"I know. It's just — sometimes I can't believe what we're capable of. Even if it was only a small 'lie' that turned into 'betrayal,' it doesn't make me feel any better. If anything, I think the only thing I can feel about it is frustrated."
Samuel let out a short, dry laugh — the first in a long time — which made Bonnie look at him almost instantly, caught off guard, one eyebrow raised.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? You know — it just strikes me as funny that you don't need to say any of that, because I can already feel exactly how you feel. And that doesn't make it better, now that I think about it."
Then, without warning, a brief rain. Both of them looked toward the window. Tears from the sky, dark clouds spreading across the vastness, calling in the cold and the damp. And on the other side, a rainbow was waiting for them.
Bonnie hesitated, and almost seemed to shift the subject entirely.
"Understanding how we feel… I wonder how much of ourselves we'll destroy over the course of this journey."
"That's something I can't answer with any certainty — but if we keep being strong the way we have been, I think we can hold onto something of ourselves for the end, when we finally get the chance to leave all of this behind."
Bonnie didn't respond. The rain cleared in a few seconds and the rainbow appeared in the sky. Samuel stayed there alongside her — and finally, he closed his eyes. In the fraction of a second his eyelids fell, he would have sworn he glimpsed something different in Bonnie. A different way of seeing things. But his eyes flew open when he felt a firm shake.
It was Evelyn, gripping him by the shoulders.
"God, you're alive. You are seriously crazy," Thieving Cat said with a smile.
Behind her stood Victoria and Lady.
"Yeah. I think I'm completely broke."
Bonnie lay back on the ground again. She expected them to come at her with questions — but instead, Victoria crouched down and asked just one.
"Tell me, girl — with everything you did tonight, after pushing yourself this far, are you satisfied?"
Raising her eyebrows, curious at the question, she answered:
"If I'm being honest with you, I'm not sure."
Victoria gave her a faint, understanding smile and offered her hand to help her up. Bonnie didn't let the chance pass and took La Señora's hand. Once her feet touched the ground, she limped a little on her way over to Capella.
Evelyn did her part, moving in close to help her up into the saddle.
"Now that we know you're still breathing, we'd better get back to the inn. You're hurt — and given the way you are, I'm honestly shocked you didn't pass out."
'Oh, believe me, I wanted to at some point,' she thought — but she had no energy left to say it out loud.
All of them on horseback, Lady cleared her throat and looked at Bonnie with those eyes that made it obvious she wanted to know something. It was a small detail Bonnie had noticed about her: the way her eyes lit up just a little whenever she was about to ask a question.
"So — I think it's time you told us what happened. I'm sure that from here on out, it's going to make a great story to tell around the campfire. I mean — Bonnie, outrunning the infamous Sheriff of Gramond County."
"I think you're already building the kind of feats people are going to remember you for, sweetheart. Just wait a little longer and someone will come up with a proper outlaw name for you."
Lady and Evelyn seemed especially excited at the idea. Even Victoria, waiting patiently for the story, seemed interested.
"Oh, well… It'll take me a minute — but I'll try."
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The voices in his mind. The memories driving themselves deep into his skull. He felt the gentle sway of a galloping horse and the small rhythmic sound of hooves hitting the ground. Despite what he heard, Scaramuccia was seeing something else entirely.
It was himself, laughing on a stage before the nobility while making witty remarks about long-dead kings. But when he looked out at the audience and found those two people in the crowd, everything turned red and black — the symbol of his Ballad burned hard beneath his feet, and the remnants of a ritual lay scattered all around him.
On his knees on the ground, weeping without restraint, he lifted the black flowers he had used. There, he closed his eyes and held the petals close as he whispered:
"Why? Why did you do this to me, Columbina?"
"Crying in your sleep, huh. I expected a little more from you for the trouble you put me through, clown," said Marcus.
Scaramuccia jolted awake and thrashed the moment he saw the rope binding his arms and legs. There was no escape.
"Easy, clown. You know, if you'd just given yourself up from the start, none of this would have happened. The Church wants you alive so they can pull every last thing they need out of you. They're a pretty soft bunch, so they probably won't kill you."
Clenching his fists tight, his gaze darkening, Scaramuccia said:
"They will."
Marcus stopped short — then shook his head.
"Whatever. Not my problem."