BooksBarbecue
Back Seven Devils
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1.
  4. 2.
  5. 3.
  6. 4.
  7. 5.
  8. 6.
  9. 7.
  10. 8.
  11. 9.
  12. 10.
  13. 11.
  14. 12.
  15. 13.
  16. 14.
  17. 15.
  18. 16.
  19. 17.
  20. 18.
  21. 19.
  22. 20.
  23. 21.
  24. 22.
  25. 23.
  26. 24.
  27. 25.
  28. 26.
  29. 27.
  30. 28.
  31. 29.
  32. 30.
  33. 31.
  34. 32.
  35. 33.
  36. 34.
  37. 35.
  38. 36.
  39. 37.
  40. 38.
  41. 39.
  42. 40.
  43. 41.
  44. 42.
  45. 43.
  46. 44.
  47. 45.
  48. 46.
  49. 47.
  50. 48.
  51. 49.
  52. 50.
  53. 51.
  54. 52.
  55. 53.
  56. 54.
  57. 55.
  58. 56.
  59. 57.
  60. EPILOGUE
  61. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  62. ABOUT THE AUTHORS

“If I tried, it’d be tragic.”

“Try. Needa chuckle.”

He cleared his throat. “Yer a muskeg lag.”

Clo burst out laughing despite herself. “Ye blare muskeg, so aye!”

Sher gave a rueful grin. “And that’s why I don’t. Means I can’t pose as a Myndalian when I come here. Have to pretend to be some off-world merchant. And then I get spotted.”

“What ye doin’ in Snarl, anywa’?”

“Stealing food, ships, weapons. Whatever we can.”

Like me, she thought.

“Your mother’s a friend to the resistance.”

Clo flinched, eyes darting to the window. Even here, she wouldn’t speak that word aloud. Whispers were one thing, but if the wrong ear heard, then it’d be soldiers at the door. A boot against the neck. Execution.

“Yer gonna get us fluming sunk,” Clo hissed. “Ye no care a peat fer us Snarl berms.”

Sher frowned, struggling to understand.

Clo made an impatient sound. “You’re. Going. To. Get. Her. Killed,” she said enunciating everything in insultingly slow Imperial, so he could understand her all proper-like. “You eejit.”

Sher ignored her jibe. “Your mother’s hidden me before, during the day when you were out. No one ever knew.”

Clo scowled. So, Mam had told him her name. And Mam was supposed to tell her every time a stray came through the door.

Clo finished changing the bandage, then shuffled to her worktable. The broken Mors was still borked, and she didn’t have the patience for it. She picked up the combustor for a hoverbike. Soldiers used them to skim over the swamplands between cities. She might be able to hawk it at the market for enough food to last them a week.

Sher watched her work. She didn’t like it.

“Did you teach yourself how to fix this stuff?”

She ignored him. She sure did—plenty Snarl berms were clever, but he was discounting her like all the other vial-born. His gaze prickled the back of her neck as she unscrewed the metal plate to get at the mechanical innards. Least he was quiet. Strays usually got too chatty—like his friend, Briggs. It made her brackish.

Mam returned with stew from the market. The vegetables were only a little rotten. They ate, her mother glancing nervously between them, but smiling when Sher made a gentle joke. She didn’t cough once the whole meal.

Clo made up the spare blankets into a nest for her and Mam in the corner. She curled around Mam, feeling the knobs of her spine. For the first time in weeks, Mam slept deeply. Clo turned, knowing Sher was still awake.

He stared up at the cracked ceiling, his eyes shining in the dark.

9.

CLO

Present day

Focus, Clo. Focus.

She wasn’t fifteen anymore. Not a little girl. She wasn’t stumbling through these buildings with Sher’s hand on her arm, guiding her when she might have fallen. She wasn’t some vulnerable kid.