The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe) by Ambelin Kwaymullina

to the center after they’d heard what happened. That should have struck me as wrong instantly, and would have, if I hadn’t been so caught up in being terrified for Bry. No matter how futile or dangerous Em had thought it was, she definitely would have sent someone. Daniel, probably, since he was the fastest of the Runners. Although Briony herself was much quicker than she’d ever let on. She had to be, or she couldn’t have gotten in and out of the Firstwood fast enough to maintain contact with the government without arousing suspicion.
Why didn’t I see it?
Why hadn’t I noticed something was wrong, before she’d told them about the pact, before Jaz had died?
    Grief washed over me, weighing me down, and I began to sink. I fell gently away from consciousness and life, drifting through nothingness, until my feet touched what felt like dirt. The blackness winked out, leaving me standing among trees — big tuarts and smaller peppermints and, in between and around, all the other plant life of the forest. The Firstwood?
Sort of
. Everything was brighter than it should be, the colors so vivid it almost hurt to look at them. Plus I was glowing with a faint blue light. Was this the Balance?
    When Citizens died, their spirits were supposed to go to the greater Balance, the world soul. I thought Illegals did, too, even though the government said our fate was “uncertain,” being as we were outside the natural order. But if this was the Balance, then I was . . . dead. I supposed I should have been upset about that, but all I felt was an overwhelming sense of relief.
If I’m dead, I’m free
. No more worries, no more responsibilities, and no one else to save. The government couldn’t hurt me, and I couldn’t hurt anyone else, couldn’t
fail
anyone else, ever again.
    I surveyed my surroundings. Souls were meant to either exist in the Balance as energy or be born back into a body, and it didn’t seem like I’d become energy. So I should be on my way to being reborn. I brightened, thinking it’d be great to come back as a wolf, or maybe something that could fly, like a hawk. Anything other than a Citizen. Except it wasn’t clear how I was meant to get to my new life. There didn’t seem to be any pathway to follow, or anyone to guide me, either. “Hello?” I called. “Is anybody out there?”
    A twig snapped behind me, and I spun around to find myself facing a tall, olive-skinned girl. She tipped her head to one side, gazing at me out of eyes that were a peculiar shade of light green. “Hi, Ash.”
    I gasped. “Georgie? You aren’t . . . You’re not . . . Georgie, are you dead?”
    She shook her head, sending her long black curls flying around her shoulders. “I think I’m dreaming.”
    “You can’t be.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because this is the greater Balance. You can’t get here by dreaming.”
    “But,” she replied in a bewildered tone, “I
am
here.”
    “I know! Are you sure you’re not dead?”
    She laughed. “I’m alive — I promise. I came because you needed me.”
    “I do?” An idea popped into my head. “Hey, are you my guide? Are you just appearing as Georgie, like the part of my subconscious that appears as Ember?”
    “I don’t know. Am I?”
    “Well,
I
don’t know!”
    She shrugged. “I guess neither of us knows. Anyway, what’s important is, we have to go.”
    “To the next life?”
    “No, Ash! To see the Serpent.”
    I gaped at her in dismay. “The Serpent? Is
he
dead? Did the government catch him?”
    For a second, she looked very confused. Then her face cleared, and she said in a slow, careful tone, “No, Ash. Not
that
Serpent. The — um, other one.”
    “What other one?”
    “You’ll see. Come on.”
    She tore off through the trees, and I ran after her, following along behind as she emerged from the undergrowth and pelted along one of the forest trails. The geography of this Firstwood seemed to be pretty much the same as the one I knew, almost as if it reflected my