The Sisterhood: Season Three: The Sisterhood (Seasons), #3

By Tali Inlow

CONTINUE THE JOURNEY WITH SEASON THREE

 

Autumn Parish never wanted to be a hero. But as she treks across the desolate Midwest years after the collapse of society, a hero is exactly what she's become: a SHEPHERD, weaving magic from words and guiding people between this life and the next.

 

Summer Norwood rules a wild outpost on the outskirts of what used to be Phoenix, but her grasp on power is fragile. As the SHERIFF, she has a massive target on her back. With evil brewing, she vows not to go down without a fight.

 

In their childhoods, both were students at the Whitmore School for Girls in Appalachia, an elite and intensely secretive SCHOOL where young women were taught how to conquer the world. Those who attended became part of the Sisterhood, a network spanning the globe, their influence and power unparalleled.

 

Desire drew Autumn and Summer together from different worlds, taking them from enemies to lovers at Whitmore. But betrayal ultimately tore them apart. Twenty-five years later, when Autumn receives a magical summons drawing her west, she never expected to be reunited with the woman who betrayed her all those years before. But when Autumn realizes that other members of their Sisterhood are in danger, she may have to put their past where it belongs, teaming up with Summer to save them all.

 

***The Sisterhood is a serialized speculative fiction adventure. Start with SEASON ONE to discover kick-ass heroines surviving at the end of the world and bonds of friendship and love built to overcome any obstacle. For fans of The 100, Into the Badlands, or Mad Max: Fury Road.*** 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Two Is Enough Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Jan 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393259756

Tali Inlow

Tali Inlow is an up-and-coming author of queer speculative fiction. 

Book preview

THE JOURNEY OF THE SISTERHOOD

THIS IS A SERIALIZED saga—if you haven’t read previous episodes yet, go back and start at the beginning!

And once you get to the end of this book, check the links there to continue the journey.

EPISODE SEVEN

The Shepherd

AUTUMN IS USED TO WALKING well beyond the time when the sun has set and darkness has enveloped the surrounding land. But September does not have the same long years of experience, nor does she possess Autumn’s profound and generations’-long connection to the earth.

She explains this connection to September. How she walked the night forest barefoot with her grandmother under the light of the full moon, and how her grandfather spent many an evening telling her stories of the animals and how they came to be, of their peoples’ relationship with the plants. Twilight excursions off the beaten paths with her mother, searching for herbs. Trap-setting with her grandfather. And these precious little facts about Autumn would be well-received if not for September nearly twisting her ankle while listening.

Autumn is freer with her stories than she has been with anyone in a very long time. Perhaps ever. But this girl, however unknowing, is strangely deserving of Autumn’s truths, she feels.

If there’s a reason to regret the openness, it has not yet made itself known.

"Shit, Autumn. I understand that you’re, like, some next level Native tracker or whatever. But a girl’s gotta have at least a little light, you know?"

Autumn chuckles and blinks into the darkness. Her eyes adjusted so easily to the setting sun that she’d hardly noticed the change. She is relentless in her pursuit of reaching their planned meeting spot by dusk tomorrow, and these last couple of miles have been invaluable in keeping that goal achievable. The girl didn’t twist her ankle after all, and that means their time spent walking in the dark has been worthwhile.

For a moment, Autumn ponders what on earth she would do if September were to twist an ankle. Break a bone. Become somehow incapacitated here, in the Ozarks, so close to Autumn’s destination but still so far away. Autumn could not abandon September, that she knows for sure. Not after fate has brought them together after a lifetime apart.

If anything happens to slow Autumn and September down, Autumn knows that her Whitmore twin would wait for her, but not for an indefinite amount of time, no. Iris would pause her travels for two or three days, perhaps a week at the very most. And then she would be on her way, after leaving some clue for Autumn to pick up whenever she did eventually arrive.

And of course Autumn would follow the Summons, information or companionship from Iris or not. But the going is hard without Iris, always harder than with. Autumn is used to being alone, but she’s not used to months on end without seeing the other woman at all. It would be bearable but awful.

And if something were to happen to September, something that Autumn might fail to save her from...

Autumn shakes herself. The thought, too evil, now banished from her mind. Instead, she imagines the look on Iris’s face when they meet, September close on Autumn’s heels. A mirror image of her mother, September is, like looking back into the past and plucking that living, breathing visage of a young woman out of it. Dragging her into a future wholly different—but circumstances hardly matter to someone of Norwood stock, Autumn had learned that a long, long time ago.

This, she can read on September’s face—that she is different from the young woman her mother once was, but similar enough to have Autumn on guard. Because Autumn’s heart is an easy target for a Norwood woman, and she isn’t certain that she wouldn’t derail all of her plans in an instant for this girl if need be.

How do you find shelter at night, kid?

Not a kid, September quickly rebutts, "and I find shelter in the daylight—that’s how I have shelter at night."

Chuckling, Autumn reaches out and pulls the other woman to a gentle halt. Her strong fingers are wrapped loosely around September’s wrist as she moves to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

Look, there. She raises her hand, and September’s with it. She moves the woman’s arm so that her gaze can peer down the length of her own arm. Autumn moves September’s extended hand along the horizon. Do you see how the hillside changes there? The shift in the treeline? September nods silently. Now close your eyes. Listen. She watches as September’s eyes slip shut. What do you hear?

Swallowing hard and with brow furrowed, September says, I hear... insects. The rustling of dry, burnt leaves...

Yes, Autumn encourages her, and what else?

She scrunches up her nose. "God, is that... water? Do I hear water nearby?"

Autumn grins crookedly. Now open your eyes again. Where is the water coming from?

Slowly, September squints against the dark, back where Autumn had first directed her hand. She points of her own volition this time, her fingertips dragging a line along the horizon. She stops at the spot where the treeline shifts. There, she says.

Good, Autumn replies, then she takes off walking.

Hey, wait up!

"Hopalong, kid—we’ve got a camp to set up. And since you’ve found water nearby,