The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti

Author:Kate Moretti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

CHAPTER 22

Bridget, Thursday, May 7, 2015

“It was a poisoned berry bush. By the paper mill, arsenic in the soil, and it poisoned the berries.” Dale’s face was flushed, breathless with the delivery. Bridget was grading journals, her feet propped up on her desk, her chair leaned back. She read every third one, skimming the rest. So tired of teenage angst.

“What?” Bridget asked, distracted.

“The birds. The DEP figured it out. It’s all rumor right now, but they’re saying it was an arsenic poisoning. From the paper mill.” Dale’s hands waved toward the window.

“I’m not sure that makes sense. Wouldn’t the water be contaminated, then?” Bridget tapped her pen against her teeth, thinking. They’d taken air, water, and plant samples from around the town for days after, their vans and Tyvek suits all anyone could talk about.

Bridget was beginning to think the town itself was a blight. A poison.

It reminded her of something.

“Dale,” she said, but he was already halfway out the door, hot to be the first to spread two-week-old news that no one cared about anymore. Talk of Nate and Lucia had replaced the birds in the halls, in the cafeteria, the faculty lounge. Everywhere. The story of Lucia’s “abilities” had spread, well, like wildfire. She even heard that Lucia’s eyes glowed red and she mumbled some kind of spell that everyone, even Principal Bachman, had heard. It was all nonsense, but it seemed like only Bridget treated it that way, brushing off the whispers with a wave of her hand, a little burst of air from the back of her throat in disgust.

They’d hired a substitute to replace Nate. She was young, twenty-two, fresh out of college, scrubbed clean and squeaky. It was almost a mockery. She wondered if they did it on purpose. She was blond and wore turtlenecks. The boys elbowed each other when she walked down the hall and the irony hadn’t escaped Bridget.

Dale turned back, poking his head back in, his glasses slid so far down his nose she couldn’t see his eyes.

“Have you seen Lucia?” Bridget asked. “She hasn’t been in school since the paper incident. Today is day four.”

“Hmmm, was she suspended?” Dale asked, obtuse. Deliberately, Bridget thought.

“No. Because Riana almost set her on fire? No, Dale. Lucia was not suspended for that.”

“Well, not exactly, and we don’t know what happened,” Dale stammered, then backed out of the room, waving a little, his smile watery.

Bridget sighed. Because Lucia was clearly capable of setting things on fire with her mind. The idea that there were teachers playing into this, well, the whole thing was disgusting.

The phone on her desk buzzed. Her mother-in-law’s number, but Bridget declined it with a twinge of guilt. Sorry, Petra. The voice mail later: Have you thought more about a location? Please call, Bridget. Time is running out.

Bridget deleted the voice mail. She had more important things to take care of. Between classes, she snuck into the office and peeked at the attendance sheets for the week. Lucia’s name had been on the list Tuesday, Wednesday, and today.

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