Seed by Lisa Heathfield Page A

Kindred Smith runs in.
    Ellis finds Ruby and pulls her free. She’s shaking and Kindred John is by my side and he takes her from me.
    We’re pulling at the straw, the thick air dragging at my throat. I’m screaming in my head, screaming for the children. Screaming for Kate to be safe.
    We find the tunnel and there, huddled inside, are Sophie and Bobby. They’re clinging to each other, their faces alive with fear.
    “She’s not breathing,” I hear Kindred Smith say, but I don’t understand because Ellis has pulled Sophie out and she is breathing because she’s crying and he’s holding her.
    I look up and it is Kate lying motionless. Her hair is tangled with straw, her body bent at an angle, her face white as a star. Everyone is standing, just staring at her.
    “Do something,” I hear Ellis shout, but no one moves. I don’t know what to do.
    “Kate?” I say, but she’s lying there and everyone just stands, looking down at her.
    Suddenly Ellis pushes Sophie into Kindred Smith’s armsand he’s kneeling next to Kate. He’s feeling her neck, feeling her wrists.
    “Come on, Kate,” he says. He bends his face to her lips. No one moves, no one helps him. “She’s got a pulse,” he says, but he looks bewildered. Then Jack is by his side, his hand covering his own skin where the blood is pushing through.
    “Can we help her?” he asks. The Kindreds look at him. Still they don’t move.
    But I do. I run to Kate, try to lift her in my arms and shake her. “Kate!” I scream into her quiet face.
    Ellis starts to push both his hands hard into her chest. “Rub her arms, keep her warm,” he says.
    So I take her arm in both my hands and I rub it as though it is a stick, and I am lighting a fire. The Kindreds’ eyes watch us as I work on that spark to bring it to a flame, and Ellis pushes on Kate’s heart, and Jack whispers into her ear, telling her to wake up.
    Then Ellis leans in and it looks like he is going to kiss her, on her lips, but she moans and turns her head and she’s opened her eyes, looking straight into mine. I watch her fire burn again as I rub her arms and I’m crying and laughing and hugging her into me. Ellis pushes me gently away and he picks her up into his strong, safe arms.
    “We need to get her to a doctor,” he says.
    But Kindred John is blocking the way. “She is fine now. Take her into the house,” he says.
    “But she needs to see a doctor,” Ellis says.
    “No, she stays at Seed.” Kindred John reaches out to take Kate, but Ellis won’t let him.
    “Fine,” Ellis says and then he barges past Kindred John, out of the barn. I follow him toward the light of the house.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    “T hey would have let Kate die.” Ellis’s voice is hushed, but I can hear his anger in the almost-dark. Kate is lying in her bed, sleeping. The moon through the window provides the only touch of light. “They just stood by and watched.”
    “They thought it was her time,” I say. But the words feel wrong. I watch the blanket rise and fall with Kate’s restful breaths. And I know I couldn’t have let her go.
    “Bollocks,” Ellis says. I don’t want to ask what he means, but his harshness smacks into me. I don’t move. His legs are touching mine, his arms, his shoulders. We have never sat together on my bed like this, but he’s like a block of stone.
    “Nature didn’t want her yet. She let her stay,” I say quietly.
    Ellis turns so quickly that I think he wants to hit me. “For fuck’s sake, Pearl,” he says as he gets up. He lashes out at the books on the table by the door, and they smash to the ground as he goes from the room.
    I stare after him, at the door that has slammed behind him. Listen to his feet as he pounds down the corridor to the stairs.To where?
    I look over at Kate and my thoughts whir and crash and try to escape, but there’s nowhere for them to go, just round and round and round.
    Would I really have left her because it was Nature’s way? Could we really all