Earth(66)

"What? Why not?"

Erika walked me over to a desk and pulled out a pencil and a piece of paper. "We need a meals roster. Start with your name."

After a sideways glance at her, I fumbled with the pencil, trying to pick it up with my right hand. It wasn't happening. The bandages were way too thick and my fingers weren't cooperating. I picked up the pencil with my left hand and attempted to write my name. The word 'Lucy' was readable, but it took forever.

"Now write 250 more names. And oh, by the way, you have only ten minutes."

"Fine." I straightened up from the desk. "I get it. So what am I supposed to do now?"

She removed the pencil from my hand and replaced it with a spade. "Gardening duty."

"Seriously?"

"What?" She put her arm around me, leading me outside. "Most Earths pine for the chance. Working all day in your element – what could be better?"

"It's just…my wrist hurts." We turned in between two buildings and emerged into a large parking lot, or what used to be one, anyway. Where the asphalt was not dug up to make way for plants, you could still see the painted parking space lines. Twelve rectangles of dirt, evenly spaced from each other, stood waiting for me.

"Digging will take your mind off the pain," Erika said. "I'll have you back on admin duty as soon as you can write. Today you guys are planting the mobile gardens."

We stepped back as the trucks carrying vines and plants were pushed in.

"Why can't they stay mobile?" I asked.

We both waived at Clay, one of the workers.

"Because our plan worked," whispered Erika. "We can't make it over the Rockies before the first big storm – or so says the weather girl." She smiled down at me. "We're riding out the winter in Denver."

"Cool." I spun the spade around in my hand.

Plenty of time for planning. And planting, apparently.

"Well." She stepped away. "I gotta go. Things to do. Favors to fulfill."

"Or vice versa," I mumbled under my breath.

"I'll be back later to check on you!" Erika disappeared back in between the two buildings.

I chose a truck and hauled myself up onto it. Pumpkins – very seasonal. My stomach rumbled, but I passed on a trip to the kitchens. I needed the time to think. Besides, it was unlikely Shawn would be by here. Hard labor wasn't his thing.

I borrowed a pair of shears and cut the larger, ripe pumpkins from the vine and loaded them into a wheelbarrow.

I could start recruiting, I thought. Between Micah, Clay, and me we might be able to have a significant force within a few months. Erika said there were plenty of Wiccans here. But would they leave One Less for me?

I scooted the pumpkins that still had growing to do over to the side of the truck bed and hopped down. As long as I balanced them in my inner arms, they didn't hurt my wrist too much. I started transferring them to the ground, pulling their vines with me.

Maybe I could just kill him. Make it look like an accident and hang around to find out if someone else takes over. I paused. Then what? Go down the line, killing one successor after another? No, I couldn't do that.

I finished with the pumpkins and left to help with the broccoli. I was replanting my fifth crown when a woman about my age with waist-length, dark-brown hair knelt in the dirt beside me. I paused, wiping the sweat off my forehead. She planted her crown and rocked back against her heels. She closed her eyes, and I felt the energy in the air shift. I tensed, but her face was peaceful; not like she was preparing to attack. A few seconds later, the broccoli leaves slowly unfolded from their withered curls.

I squinted at them – they looked greener.

"There," she said, looking at me with her grey-blue eyes and a smile. "The roots are a bit stronger – it'll help them last through the colder nights."

"That…" I hesitated, running the pad of my finger across one of the leaves. "Is probably the most useful magic I've ever seen."

She laughed. "You should see what I can do with squash." She held out her hand. "I'm Kassandra."

I shook her hand, looking at the Chinese symbols on her forearms. "Lucy."

She caught me glancing. "This one means 'Acceptance of Fate', and this one means 'Karma'." She looked at me again. Her eyes were calculating. "What do yours mean?"

"Oh." I touched my finger to the side of my face, at the cherry blossom branches. I racked my brain for an answer – one did not simply tattoo their face with insignificant symbols. I thought of the tree's short blooming period. "This is for mortality. A reminder of the nature of life, and those we lose along the way."

She nodded her head. The way her eyes bore through me was almost unnerving.