One of Us Buried by Johanna Craven (year 2 reading books TXT) 📕

found Lottie pacing back and forth across the bank, arms wrapped around herself. Wind was rippling the surface of the water.

“Lottie?” I demanded, shaking myself free of Owen and Brady’s grip. “You knew about this?”

“I’m sorry, Nell,” she said. “I told them to bring you here. There are things you ought to know. Things between you and Blackwell have gone too far.”

“What do you mean ‘things between me and Blackwell’?”

Lottie sighed. “Come on, Nell. I’m no fool. We all saw the two of you together on Christmas night. Breathing on each other’s necks. You mean to tell me there’s nothing between you?”

“I clean the lieutenant’s house,” I snapped. “Nothing more.”

Lottie took my arm and led me towards the log. She sat, tugging me down beside her.

“Are you truly warning me away from Blackwell?” I hissed. “When you’re spending your time around Patrick Owen? He terrified me, charging into the hut like that! I thought I was going to end up like Maggie!” I knew Owen could hear me. I didn’t care.

“I’m sorry,” said Lottie. “I didn’t mean for you to be afraid.”

“And what exactly did you imagine I might feel?” I glared at her, then looked up at Owen and Brady. “What’s this all about?”

Lottie looked up at the two men.

“You ever heard of Castle Hill?” asked Brady.

I felt the muscles in my neck tense. “Yes,” I said tersely. “I know of the uprising.” I couldn’t help feeling a tiny flicker of self-satisfaction. The men had clearly been hoping to catch me unaware. I got to my feet, needing to face them. I was eye-to-eye with Owen, but Brady still towered over me.

“He told you then?” said Owen. “The things he did?”

My silence brought a smirk to his face.

“Thought not.” He took a step closer, his breath hot and stale against my nose. I wrapped my arms around myself tightly.

“That lieutenant of yours is a murderer.”

I kept my gaze steady. “He’s a solider,” I said. “Of course he’s killed.”

A cold laugh from Brady. Lottie looked up from the log, her eyes darting between me and the men. Above our heads, the trees rustled in the hot wind.

“We just wanted freedom,” said Owen. “A ship to take us home. There weren’t no one needed to die. But the lobsters marched up from Parramatta and surrounded us at Rouse Hill. Told us they were willing to parley. But when our leader come down the hill to speak with them, Major Johnson put a damn pistol to his head. Ordered his men to open fire.”

“What were you expecting?” I hissed. “That the army would just stand by and allow prisoners to sail out of this place?”

I turned to leave, but Owen grabbed my arm, yanking me back.

“The lobsters were sent out into the bush,” he told me, his nose close to mine. “To hunt down those of us who got away. Hunt us down like animals. All throughout the settlement. Just like they did in Ireland.”

I stiffened, unable to look at him.

“Lieutenant Blackwell, he went downriver. Three of my cousins lived out near Squires’ inn, all of them sent out together after the rebellion in Ireland. Two of them weren’t even at Castle Hill. But Blackwell, he just saw croppies and pulled the trigger. Charged into their hut and shot the three of them without asking no questions.”

His words hung in the stillness for a second. I held his gaze.

“I don’t believe you,” I said. “I know him. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Lottie hissed, getting to her feet.

“Is he? And how do you know that? Were you there?” I turned back to Owen and Brady. “Were any of you there?”

“I was there,” Owen spat. “I went out after the fight to check on my cousins. Bullets in their chests. Point-blank range.” He leaned close to me. “My cousin’s wife was hiding in the woods. She saw it all. I went out into the bush after I found the bodies. Saw Blackwell riding off. Too far away for me to shoot.”

I started charging away. Lottie called my name. Her footsteps crunched behind me and she snatched my arm. I yanked away.

“Let go of me.”

“Listen to them, Nell.” Her voice was pleading.

“Listen to them?” I repeated. “Listen to these lies they’re spouting? Do you actually believe this?”

“Yes,” she said. “I do.”

I shook my head in frustration. “You’ve been blinded by Owen. All of you, you think he’s your way to freedom, but you’re wrong. Following a man like him is going to destroy you.”

“You’ve no idea what you’re on about,” Lottie hissed. “You’re the one who’s been blinded. You’re so desperate to believe you got someone who cares about you that you’re refusing to accept the things he’s done.”

I kept striding back to the hut.

“Nell,” called Lottie. “I told Owen to come for you because you need to know this. I’m scared for you. Blackwell; he’s dangerous.”

I whirled around to face her. “All the while you’re spending your time with the man who killed Maggie?”

  Lottie didn’t answer.

“Stay away from me,” I hissed. “And tell those bastards to stay away from Blackwell.”

I paced back and forth across the empty hut, anger bubbling inside me. With too much energy and no thought of what to do with it, I went back to the river to fill a bucket for cleaning. Water sloshing over the sides, I took it back to the hut and unloaded everything from the shelves, dumping it onto the table. There was the locket containing Sophia’s portrait, tucked in between the books. I wondered when Blackwell had taken it from the chest.

I scrubbed violently at the dusty shelves, rage at Owen shooting through me. There was rage at Lottie too. For the first time since