Page 35 of High Noon

I glanced down to see it completely wink out. I let out a curse to match his. “Why does everything on and in me stop working?” I grumped, waiting for the world to steady.

Maru plopped down beside me. “At least you won that duel. This is the wild west. He could’ve blown your head off instead of going for your torso.”

“This is gonna sound strange, but I don’t feel like much of a winner right now.”

He smiled. “You always have been, even when you didn’t see it.”

If he could see me in the vision the spring produced, he wouldn’t think that at all. He hugged me, holding me tight for a few minutes. “I thought you were dead.”

“This was nothing. I thought I’d died the first time I landed. Well, with every landing but this one.”

“Kael wouldn’t say anything about where or when you were, but assured me you weren’t dead, so I had hope. But when Yarrow…” he paused to compose himself. “Well, I knew I had to come after you. Even if I’m not sure what to do going forward.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re out of our element here, but if we get pulled back to the Compound, I’m afraid we won’t leave it alive.”

Hotah and Kohana checked the clone’s body for more weapons, finding only the pistol and holster of stakes we’d already seen. Kohana tucked the pistol into a satchel.

“Unload it,” Maru warned. Kohana glared at Maru in response. “Fine, shoot yourself in the leg and bleed to death. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He looked at me. “What is their problem?”

I hooked a thumb at my chest. “Me.”

“What do you mean you? And why did Abram 1868 not even try to speak with you? He just aimed and fired. Did Kael program him to assassinate you – us, I wonder?”

I shook my head, perplexed. “I don’t know about the clone. Honestly, it could be almost anything. Could be a new order from Kael, or maybe a screw was knocked loose when he traveled. During my last jump, one of my clones was making a play for Asa. She threatened Titus when he landed because she wanted to be the first one to return to Kael after being bitten, because apparently that was their new mission. But as far as Kohana… I know what his problem is.” I wished I could tell Maru what I saw. “Kohana had a disturbing vision, and I played the starring role.”

Maru took a deep breath. “Did you see the same thing during your time in the spring?”

“Damn it. Why can’t I lie better? I tell you I see crows, and you instinctually know I saw more than that.”

“You were shaking like… Well, I’ve never seen you so upset before.” He shook his head. “I don’t remember everything that happened to us. I may never get those memories back, but I do know terror when I see it. I know that some of what you went through was traumatizing, at least temporarily, and I also know that whatever you saw was worse than anything you’d actually experienced. Also, I’m your closest friend. Of course I know when you lie. And I know the scale of the lies you try to tell.”

“Maybe I should stop lying altogether,” I pouted.

“You can’t. You only lie to protect, and you’re a natural guardian, Eve.”

“I’m not a guardian. I’m a monster.” My voice broke on the word, but it was true. I didn’t want to become a bloodthirsty thing that had only to see Enoch to cut down anyone standing between her and him.

Kohana stood over us, arms crossed. “You would share your vision with him?”

“Of course,” I answered.

“But you would not share it with Enoch?”

“Because I don’t want to hurt him.” I remembered how he tore at his hair before I jumped from Asa’s roof. I didn’t want to give him another reason to feel like that because of me.

Kohana crouched down in front of us. “Hotah, bring my bag.”

Hotah muttered something under his breath, but set about the task as the horses peacefully grazed on the wistful grasses that bent to the will of the wind.

He threw a leather bag at Kohana, who withdrew a simple leather strand. “Sit across from her,” he instructed Maru, who shifted into the position. Kohana moved to sit beside us. He held a hand up and told us to meet palms, and then tied the leather around our wrists.

“What is this supposed to do?” I asked skeptically.

“When will you learn to trust me?” he asked.

“Trust is earned,” I mumbled.

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