Chapter 248 — Hutena on the Road
By daylight, the road looked less dangerous.
That was the first lie the morning told them.
The trees were green again.
The sky was blue.
Birds had returned to the branches.
There was even sunlight warming the road instead of the pale, colorless glow they'd grown used to near the edge of Eden.
If they had not spent the last several days watching impossible things crawl out of trees and Hell burn through roads, they might have called it beautiful.
Instead, everyone was suspicious of it.
Crowley walked near the front with Gabriel.
Sera and Tala followed behind them, arguing quietly over the map.
Henry walked with Charon perched on his shoulder.
Brook stayed somewhere in the middle.
Hutena walked alone.
She had been quiet since they left the ruined chapel.
Not frightened.
Not distant.
Just thoughtful.
Every now and then she glanced toward Brook.
She had been doing it for nearly an hour.
Eventually, Brook noticed.
"You keep looking at me."
Hutena looked away.
"No, I don't."
"You do."
"I look at everyone."
"You've looked at me six times."
Hutena raised an eyebrow.
"You counted?"
"Apparently."
"Then perhaps you're the one watching me."
Brook smiled.
"Maybe."
Hutena looked at him again.
This time, she didn't look away.
"Your hands."
Brook glanced down.
"What about them?"
"They're still."
He frowned.
"So?"
"They weren't always."
Brook's smile disappeared.
Hutena kept walking.
"When you were younger, when you were frightened, when you were angry… your hands moved."
She glanced down again.
"Now they don't."
Brook flexed his fingers.
"They work."
"I didn't say they didn't."
"Then what's wrong with them?"
"Nothing."
Hutena looked forward.
"That's what bothers me."
Brook was quiet.
Ahead of them, Crowley turned slightly.
He had heard.
He didn't look back.
Gabriel did.
His eyes moved briefly to Brook's hands.
Then to Hutena.
He said nothing.
The road curved around a low hill.
The group slowed.
Sera held the map out.
"This doesn't match."
Crowley looked over her shoulder.
"That's because your map is terrible."
"My map was accurate yesterday."
"Maps don't become terrible overnight."
"This one apparently did."
Henry leaned over.
"Maybe we're on the wrong road."
Sera looked at him.
"We are."
Henry blinked.
"Oh."
Charon lifted his head.
"Excellent navigation."
Henry frowned.
"I was trying to help."
"You succeeded."
"How?"
"We now know we're lost."
Crowley glanced at them.
"I've known that for the last twenty minutes."
Sera folded the map.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I wanted to see how long you'd take."
"You're insufferable."
"Yes."
Gabriel smiled.
"He's enjoying this."
"I always enjoy being right."
"You weren't right," Sera said. "You were silent."
"Which allowed everyone else to be wrong."
Sera stared at him.
Gabriel laughed.
Henry shook his head.
"Can we just find the road?"
Tala crouched beside the dirt.
She pressed two fingers against it.
"North."
Everyone looked at her.
Sera opened the map again.
"North?"
Tala nodded.
"The ground slopes that way."
Crowley stared at her.
"You got that from touching dirt?"
"Yes."
"Of course you did."
Tala stood.
"There's water north."
Henry pointed.
"How far?"
Tala thought about it.
"Not far."
Charon whispered into Henry's ear.
"That means anything from ten minutes to three days."
Tala looked directly at Charon.
"Twenty minutes."
Charon stared.
"That's unsettling."
Henry laughed.
They turned north.
The water was a shallow stream.
It wasn't much.
But after hours of walking, everyone treated it like treasure.
Henry dropped his pack.
"Finally."
Sera sat on a flat stone.
"Don't drink it."
Henry stopped.
"I wasn't."
"You were absolutely going to."
"I was going to inspect it."
"With your mouth?"
Henry looked offended.
Charon leaned toward Sera.
"He does that."
"I know."
Brook crouched near the water.
He scooped some into his hands.
Clear.
Cold.
He watched the water run between his fingers.
Michael's voice came from somewhere deep inside him.
It is clean.
Brook looked around.
Nobody had spoken.
Lucifer laughed softly.
You really need to stop checking whether everyone else can hear us.
Brook lowered his hands.
I'm trying.
Death's voice came afterward.
Trying is a living habit.
Brook frowned.
What does that mean?
It means you still have one.
Brook didn't answer.
Michael was quiet for a moment.
Then:
For now.
Brook stared at the water.
He didn't like the way those two words felt.
Hutena was watching him from the other side of the stream.
She couldn't hear them.
But somehow, she knew something had happened.
"Brook?"
He looked up.
"Yeah?"
"You disappeared."
"I was right here."
"I know."
She smiled faintly.
"That's not what I meant."
Brook stood.
"Water's clean."
Henry immediately stepped forward.
"Finally."
Sera caught his sleeve.
"Let Tala check it."
Henry sighed.
"Everyone treats me like a child."
Charon raised his hand.
"I support this treatment."
"You're not helping."
They ate beside the stream.
Nothing special.
Dry bread.
Fruit.
A little meat.
The remains of the supplies they had managed to protect from the last few days.
Crowley complained about the bread.
Sera complained about Crowley complaining about the bread.
Gabriel broke his piece in half and gave some to Tala.
Henry fed Charon a piece even though Charon couldn't technically eat.
"Why are you doing that?" Sera asked.
"He likes it."
Charon nodded.
"It is delicious."
"You don't have a stomach," Sera said.
"I have standards."
Crowley looked over.
"That explains why you hate my cooking."
Charon pointed at him.
"Exactly."
Crowley looked genuinely offended.
Gabriel laughed.
Hutena sat slightly apart.
Brook noticed.
He picked up an apple.
"You want one?"
She looked at him.
"Yes."
He tossed it.
She caught it.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
She turned the apple in her hand.
"Do you always do that?"
"What?"
"Act like everything is normal."
Brook thought about it.
"No."
"You do."
"Maybe."
Hutena smiled.
"You don't know."
"No."
She took a bite.
Neither spoke for a while.
Then Hutena said quietly,
"If you go into Eden, I can't see you."
Brook looked at her.
"I've heard that."
"No."
Her eyes met his.
"You haven't heard what I mean."
Brook waited.
Hutena put the apple down.
"I see futures."
"I know."
"Usually, I see possibilities."
She rubbed her thumb over the apple's skin.
"Sometimes they're clear. Sometimes they're horrible. Sometimes they're both."
Brook stayed silent.
"But when I look at Eden…"
She swallowed.
"I see you walking in."
A pause.
"I see the others with you."
Another.
"Then I see the door close."
Brook's expression tightened.
"And?"
"I can't see which Brook comes out."
Henry had stopped eating.
Sera looked up.
Even Crowley was listening now.
Gabriel slowly lowered his cup.
Hutena noticed everyone watching her.
She sighed.
"I didn't want to say it like that."
Crowley leaned back.
"Unfortunately, it's the clearest thing you've said."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Hutena looked at Brook again.
"There are two possibilities."
Brook waited.
"In one, you come out."
"What's the other?"
"You come out."
Brook frowned.
"That's the same thing."
"No."
Hutena shook her head.
"In one future, you're still you."
Silence.
"In the other…"
She stopped.
"What?" Brook asked.
"I don't know."
That answer seemed to bother her more than anything else.
She picked up the apple again.
"I hate not knowing."
Sera looked at her.
"You usually know?"
"No."
"Then why does this scare you?"
Hutena looked down.
"Because I can't see the missing part."
She tapped the apple against her knee.
"The future isn't dark there."
"It's absent."
Nobody joked after that.
Later, they continued walking.
The heat became stronger.
Henry eventually began limping.
Sera noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Henry."
"It's my boot."
Charon looked down.
"Your boot is trying to kill you."
Henry sighed.
"It's rubbing my ankle."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Because we were walking."
Sera stopped.
"Sit."
Henry sat on a fallen log.
"It's fine."
"That's the second time someone has said that today."
Hutena crouched beside him.
"Let me see."
Henry looked surprised.
"You?"
"I have hands."
"I wasn't questioning that."
"Good."
She loosened the boot.
The leather had rubbed his ankle raw.
Hutena pulled a small strip of cloth from her bag.
Sera watched.
"Where did you get that?"
"My clothes."
"You carry spare cloth?"
"I've been alive a long time."
Henry smiled.
"Fair."
Hutena wrapped the cloth around his ankle carefully.
"Too tight?"
"No."
"Too loose?"
"No."
"Then stop moving."
"I'm not moving."
"You are."
Charon raised a finger.
"He is."
Henry looked at him.
"Whose side are you on?"
"Whoever is winning."
Sera laughed.
Hutena finished the knot.
"There."
Henry stood.
He took a few steps.
The limp was gone.
"Better."
"Good."
He looked at her.
"Thank you."
Hutena smiled.
"You're welcome."
Then she noticed Brook watching.
Not staring.
Just watching.
His expression was unreadable.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"You've been doing that a lot."
Brook smiled.
"Maybe I'm learning."
"Learning what?"
"That you know how to be normal."
Hutena laughed.
"I spent most of my life being normal."
Sera raised an eyebrow.
"You're the Book of the Future."
Hutena looked at her.
"Yes."
"That's not normal."
"No."
She smiled.
"But I still have to eat."
Henry nodded.
"That's probably the most important thing."
Hutena pointed at him.
"Exactly."
Charon whispered,
"Finally, someone understands."
They reached the top of a small rise near sunset.
The land beyond opened into a broad valley.
No white trees.
No black fire.
No angels.
No demons.
Just grass bending in the wind.
Brook stopped.
The others gathered around him.
Gabriel looked toward the horizon.
"We should camp there."
Crowley pointed toward a line of trees.
"Too exposed."
Sera looked left.
"There's a stream."
Tala closed her eyes.
"Water underground."
Henry groaned.
"Can we just pick somewhere?"
Crowley looked at him.
"That's how people die."
"We've been doing that for days."
"Exactly."
Henry threw his hands up.
"Fine."
Hutena laughed.
Brook looked at her.
She was smiling.
Not prophetically.
Not sadly.
Not like someone carrying knowledge no one else could see.
Just smiling.
For a moment, she looked like anyone else walking beside friends.
Then she looked at Brook's hands.
Again.
They were resting at his sides.
Still.
Too still.
Her smile faded slightly.
Brook noticed.
"What?"
Hutena shook her head.
"Nothing."
She walked past him.
Brook watched her go.
Inside him, Lucifer's voice stirred.
She sees it.
Michael answered calmly.
She sees something.
Death spoke last.
Everyone sees something.
Brook looked at his hands.
His fingers moved.
Once.
Twice.
He closed them.
Then opened them.
Human enough.
For now.
Ahead, Crowley was arguing with Sera about where to camp.
Henry was complaining that nobody listened to him.
Charon was insisting he had excellent survival instincts.
Gabriel was laughing.
Tala was walking barefoot through the grass.
Hutena was helping Henry adjust his bandage.
Brook watched them.
Then he followed.
Behind them, the road disappeared over the hill.
And far beyond it, where the white country had been left behind, something beneath the roots continued moving.
Not quickly.
Not angrily.
Just following the path they had taken.
End of Chapter 248