Chapter 24. The Stone House Is Empty

Josie's POV

The council was still sitting in my father's house when I got there, a long low room with a fireplace at each end. They didn't stop talking when I came in. They stopped breathing.

There were fifteen of them around the table. Old men and old women, mostly, with the hard, careful faces of people who've buried more than they've kept. Teague. Hattie, which surprised me. My mother, by the far fire, with her arms folded. And Jonah at the head of the table with his huge hands flat on the wood, as if he were holding it down.

"You don't sit on this council," he said.

"I know." I stayed standing. "I'm not asking to sit. I'm asking to say one thing before you hang a man."

"He's not a man. He's the one who lit my house."

"I know what he is."