Chapter 5
Chapter 5 — The Stakes
Jonas and Marius follow Elena to the east boundary where surveyors are working near the old oak. Elena confronts the men with quiet authority, producing the bundle of papers from her coat. Aldona arrives with information about a new municipal land review. Vytautas appears unexpectedly at the edge of the field. Elena reveals she has been waiting for this moment since her trip to Vilnius decades ago. Jonas witnesses his grandmother's resolve and begins to understand what she has been carrying. The chapter ends with Elena making a declaration about the boundary that changes everything.
Jonas grabbed his coat from the hook, the leather satchel swinging against his hip as he followed Marius through the door. The cold hit his face like water. October had turned the air brittle overnight, and the frost on the grass crackled under their boots as they crossed the yard. Marius walked fast for a man who usually strolled, his breath coming in ragged plumes.
"How long ago did you see them?" Jonas asked.
"Ten minutes. Maybe less. I was checking the east fence — the wire's loose where the deer get through — and I heard the machine." Marius's hands were shaking. Not from cold. From something else. "I thought it was someone clearing brush. Then I saw the flags."
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