Reap (The Harvest Saga Book 1) by Bond Casey L

Author:Bond, Casey L. [Bond, Casey L.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

LIFE PASSED IN A BLUR for the next several hours and days. Friday evening swooped in like a thief in the night, having stolen the time it seemed it would take to get here. All teams had converged in the center of the orchard, plucking the last of the succulent fruit from the boughs. The smell of sweet apples and crisp leaves floated gently on the cool breeze. Days were now shortening and darkness came quickly in the evenings now.

I pulled the last apple that I could see from a branch above me and settled back into my spot where a large limb meets its lifeline, the backbone, and strength of the tree itself. The fruit itself this year was huge. My hand wouldn’t even fit around it. I remember in scant years when I could easily wrap all my fingers around it and touch my palm on the other side. Those years had been dry and I had been smaller then than now, so I could imagine just how difficult it had been.

Swirls of red, light and bright green streak down the side of the shiny orb, the stem attached still held tight to one leaf for dear life–its last attempt to cling to its mother.

I hadn’t seen Zander or his horrible family since the day of the hearing before the Council. Nor had I seen Norris and both of those facts had made the rest of the week just barely tolerable for me. The council had ordered her body exhumed to further the investigation into her death. They had banned the Preston’s or Norris from being present during the examination, and during the re-interment. After Lulu was examined, she was laid to rest properly. As was customary, I wasn’t allowed to be present while she was interred.

I had a feeling that as Lulu was once again committed to the earth, the secrets surrounding her death had died and been buried as well. When I was given permission, I visited her grave and placed a small bouquet of the remaining wildflowers on top of the earthen mound that now blanketed her. She always loved wildflowers, especially the bright bluish-purple ones that grew tall, whose edges were jagged and uneven. She said those were the strongest and in a world full of weeds, one had to be strong to survive. To avoid being smothered, they had to have deep roots with which to draw up water from the ground.

Crew’s hand fell upon my own pulling me back to reality, grounding me. I needed it. I needed him. I knew he was leaving soon. Tomorrow would be our harvest festival and then he would be sent home, his help no longer required by our village, by the Greaters that brought him here. I wasn’t sure I would be able to stand seeing him go. Eyes of molten honey bore into me. I wondered if he felt the same way. Not that it really mattered. The Greaters, in one way or another, dictated every move we made, everything we did in our lives, however short or long they might be.

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