Beyond Wisherton

By Amanda Hamm

Wisherton is surrounded by a Wasteland filled with terrifying Herders. Sevra Say has lived twelve years grateful for the giant wall that keeps Wisherton safe. But now her life is threatened by something inside Wisherton, something that makes her believe getting past the wall may be the only way to save her family.

With the help of her three siblings, Sevra will embark on an impossible quest and come face to face with what lies beyond Wisherton.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Before Someday Publishing
• Release date: Mar 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370414246

Book preview

Beyond Wisherton

Amanda Hamm

Copyright 2017 Amanda Hamm

All rights reserved. Before Someday Publishing

Smashwords Edition

Beyond Wisherton is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, events, etc. are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Chapter 1 – Yavic and Lolly Find Out

Chapter 2 – Samtry Finds Out

Chapter 3 – No One Else Finds Out

Chapter 4 – Under the Wall

Chapter 5 – Not Alone

Chapter 6 – Still Not Alone

Chapter 7 – Tames

Chapter 8 – The First Night

Chapter 9 – The Second Night

Chapter 10 – A Dark Day

Chapter 11 – After the Rain

Chapter 12 – Mud

Chapter 13 – Fewls

Chapter 14 – Sevra

Chapter 1

Yavic and Lolly Find Out

I think I have a gift, Sevra said, her eyes pleading with her brother to understand, but I swear I don’t know how I got it.

Yavic couldn’t make any sense of what his sister said. She never did anything wrong. She was the last person who would ever be tempted to join the Herders. She was the last person who would even joke about it. What are you talking about? he asked.

A gift, Sevra hissed. I have one.

She did not have a gift. Yavic was quite certain of that. Sevra had barged into his room while he was trying to do his homework. She’d looked into the hallway and closed the door behind her. She was sitting on the end of the bed, wringing the corner of his blanket tightly between her hands. Sevra was clearly upset about something and whatever it was, it was probably more interesting than the equations he was supposed to be solving. Yavic turned in his chair, away from his desk and towards his sister. What makes you think you have a gift?

I don’t think it, she said. "I know it."

You said you thought it.

I was… trying to prepare you.

Yavic sighed at her overly dramatic tone. Prepare me for what?

For… She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This.

This? You wanted to prepare me for a boring conversation?

No, for… Her head jerked sideways to look at the door as it opened.

What are you guys talking about? Their little sister poked her head through the door. Lolly’s deep brown eyes were wide with curiosity. Everyone else in the family had green eyes. And a safer level of curiosity.

Get out! Sevra snapped.

The eyes shifted in response to the reprimand. Lolly closed the door slowly, watching her siblings the whole time.

Sevra was battling too much fear at the moment to register any guilt for dismissing her sister so roughly. She still wasn’t sure it was a good idea to tell Yavic. Lolly was only eight years old. There was no way she could keep it a secret.

Sevra, Yavic said, what is going on? He was looking at her with more concern now.

I have a gift. It got a little easier to say each time. Easier, but no less terrifying.

You said that already. Why do you think you have a gift?

I’m too strong.

How strong? he asked.

"Too strong."

How do you know you’re too strong?

This conversation was not going at all the way Sevra had pictured. She expected Yavic to be as freaked out as she was as soon as she told him. She felt an odd sort of gratitude towards her older brother for peppering her with annoying questions instead. She suddenly wanted to laugh. Stand up, she said.

Yavic did as she requested.

Sevra also stood then she picked him up.

Yavic didn’t think that proved anything. Though he was fourteen and Sevra was only twelve, she was two inches – all right three – taller than he was. It wasn’t inconceivable that she would be able to pick him up. The fact that she didn’t appear to struggle at all only made Yavic embarrassed about possibly being too skinny and not concerned that his sister might be too strong.

One look at her brother’s face made Sevra put him down. What do I need to do to prove it to you? she asked.

Um… Yavic surveyed the items in his room. There was a chest in the corner. It was mostly full of books, and he knew he couldn’t lift it. Try that chest, he said.

Sevra nodded and walked over to it without a word. She lifted the chest easily. Then, to make absolutely sure he believed her, she balanced it on one hand like a waitress with a tray of drinks.

Wow, Yavic said.

But his voice had an echo. Lolly’s face was back by the door. Her expression awed. How’d you do that, Sevra?

Sevra quickly put the chest down. The damage had been done though. She sank to the floor with her head in her hands. Panic threatened to swallow her whole. They would find out. This night could be the last she spent in her own home.

Yavic motioned Lolly into the room and tried to take control of the situation. Sevra had a gift? He knew in his heart it wasn’t possible. There was no way she could have done anything to earn a gift from the Herders. But how else could she have lifted that chest? They had a serious problem. Lolly knew, too. That made the problem about three hundred million times more serious. Maybe four hundred million times.

He looked up and down the hallway before he closed his door again. The last thing they needed was for Samtry to wonder what the rest of them were doing. He put a chair in front of the door to at least give them some warning. You cannot tell anyone, he said to Lolly. He tried to convey the importance of the command with his tone and his expression. Though if Sevra’s crumpled form and whimpering sounds didn’t convey that they were in trouble, there was probably nothing he could add.

Lolly’s initial amazement had already disappeared. She swallowed hard before she addressed her brother in a faint voice. Are they going to take her?

He shook his head firmly. He had no idea how he could make that true, but he was going to try. Not if we can help it, he said.

Yavic lowered himself to the rug to sit next to Sevra. Lolly followed his lead and looked between them. No one said anything for what felt like a long time. Sevra quieted at the show of support. Her hands still mostly covered her face though.

How did she get it? Lolly asked.

Yavic glanced at Sevra, who did not have her ears covered. I don’t know, he said. I’m sure it was a mistake. Some kind of mistake.

Lolly nodded with conviction.

Sevra saw it between her fingers. She saw that neither her brother nor her sister believed she had crossed over. A bit of the pressure squeezing the breath out of her loosened. She put her hands in her lap. You believe me when I say I don’t know how I got it?

Yes, Yavic said.

Of course, Lolly added.

Thank you.

The way Sevra was looking at Yavic made him uncomfortable. It looked as though she was about to hug him or something. Look, he said, we all know you’re the good kid. It’s really obnoxious the way you go around trying to please everyone all the time. It isn’t shocking to think you haven’t turned your back.

Maybe it was an accident, Lolly piped up.

You can’t turn your back on the Creator by accident, Yavic said. Everyone knows that.

Lolly stuck her chin out stubbornly. Maybe the Herders didn’t know it was an accident?

Really? They have the power to read the direction of our hearts right through the wall. The power to mysteriously deliver the rewards. But they can’t tell who means it? Yavic thought he laced the words with enough condescension to deflate Lolly’s idea.

She was forcefully shaking her head though. Maybe, she said, maybe it was the Herders’ accident. Maybe they meant to give it to someone else named Sevra.

Yavic just rolled his eyes at that suggestion.

Sevra had been letting them talk, but it wasn’t doing them any good. Okay, she said, I don’t think it matters how I got it. The important thing is what I’m supposed to do now.

Should we tell Mom and Dad? Lolly asked.

No! the older siblings said together.

Why not? Lolly looked at Sevra. They’ll believe you, too.

That’s exactly why we can’t tell them. If they try to defend me, they’ll be taken, too. Just like Mom’s parents.

Keeping this from their parents didn’t feel right. Lolly reluctantly agreed. She hated the sadness that invaded her mom’s eyes whenever anyone spoke of her brother or her parents. Sevra’s gift would hurt her. "What are we going to do?"

Yavic turned to Sevra. Can you hide it?

I’ve been hiding it for at least a year, she said. "But there have been some close calls, and it’s getting harder and harder and… that’s why I had to tell someone."

He thought maybe he should be honored that Sevra had chosen him to tell. This was too big though. He sort of wished someone had been someone not named Yavic. What close calls? he asked. Talking felt a little bit like doing something.

A few weeks ago was the worst. Remember how I got in trouble at school because I wouldn’t do something the teacher asked?

Of course we remember, Yavic said. Mom and Dad nearly fell over in shock when you brought home the demerit.

She asked me to bring over the fitness box. I knew it was full of balls, balls that anyone in my class could have lifted easily. But I got this fear – just out of nowhere – that it was some sort of trick. I convinced myself that she’d replaced the balls with something really heavy to trick me into displaying a gift in front of the whole class.

You couldn’t just open it first to see what was in it?

Sevra glared at her brother. "Of course that makes sense now. I was way too busy panicking at the time to come up with any reasonable ideas. In fact, I’m almost always panicking. Every time I pick something up, I’m wondering if I should be able to. And should I make it look difficult? What if I make it look too difficult? What if that makes someone guess that I’m faking? What if something heavy falls near me and I catch it without thinking?"

That last one sounded pretty unlikely to Yavic. He was beginning to think his sister thought too much. She needed to relax. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to relax if he was the one with a gift though. It was scary enough to know someone. I wonder if it’s true, he said rather absently.

If what’s true? Lolly was eyeing him hopefully, sort of as though she was hoping he’d change the subject altogether.

Sevra was looking at him without hope. It was unkind to grasp at straws in front of her. His instincts were telling him to grasp at anything though, anything that might fix the problem. Well, he said, people were talking at school a while back. They were saying – I didn’t think it could be true so didn’t pay close attention, but – well, they were saying that they’d heard of a person who got a gift and managed to get the Herders to take it back before anyone found out.

Really? Sevra sat up much straighter. How? I’ve never heard anyone say that. How’d he do it?

I don’t know. Perhaps Yavic should have done a little more thinking before he brought it up. It might just be a made-up story.

But what if it’s not? Sevra said. What if there is a way?

Ask them, Lolly said. If they can see when you turn to their side, then they can see the question. Just ask them to take it back.

Sevra closed her eyes. Lolly, she said, "don’t you think I’ve tried that?