Page 18 of High Noon

“Since I did not know you until this day, I believe The Great Spirit has warned me against you.”

My heart sank. “I know you have no reason to trust me, and I have no idea how you saw me before I even appeared. Frankly, your vision scares the hell out of me. But I love Enoch. I would never hurt him.”

He tilted his head and appraised me. “This woman had your face, but she did not have your heart. I now know that you and she were not the same.”

Wait. Could it be a clone?“Did she have a mark on her wrist?”

He shook his head. “I saw no markings. She looked exactly as you do, with the exception of her fanged teeth.”

“She had been turned into a vampire?”

“Not a vampire,” he asserted. “That was the third part of my first vision. You were kangi. You tore through my village, not even sparing the children, and a pair of dark wings arched from your back. Not made of feathers like the raven, but made of thick, swirling, black smoke.”

“At the end of the vision I received, I kill him. I kill Enoch,” I burst out. Kohana’s eyes sharpened on mine.

Telling him, saying it out loud, made bile rise in my throat. I scrambled out of the tipi just in time to vomit into the grass. Kohana came outside with me but didn’t offer to help. Why would he? To him, I was a bloodthirsty monster with smoky wings.

Which was ridiculous.

I was as human as he.

Well… mostly.

I made a mental note not to disappear in front of him.

I heaved until I couldn’t anymore, and then Kohana offered me a skin of water. I rinsed the bitter taste out of my mouth and took several sips, calming my breathing. Once my heartbeat calmed, we went back inside the tipi.

“What do I do now? What does this mean?”

“It is your vision, Eve,” Kohana said. “The meaning is for you to determine.”

“Can I go back to the spring?” I blurted. I’d vowed never to go near it again, but what if I could learn more?

“No.” His voice was stern.

“Why?”

“It isn’t wise to trouble the waters so soon.”

“There’s more. What aren’t you telling me?”

“I’m terrified of what might be revealed to you if you step back in,” he answered.

I was terrified of what wouldn’t.

He slipped off a strand of leather that was bound around to his wrist and grabbed my hand. “This will offer a measure of protection against any darkness you might be at war against.”

I looked at the delicate strand and the twin feathers dangling from it. “Thank you. Why would you give this to me?”

“Because of my second vision.”

“What happened in it?” My chest hurt just thinking about it, but it couldn’t be worse than the first one.

“I saw you among tall houses made of stone. You and Enoch were fighting an enemy together. Side by side. Your heart wasn’t evil. It wasn’t full of darkness. And neither was his.”

In his second vision, my heart wasn’t full of darkness. That’s why he was trying to help me.

“You love Enoch like a brother?” I asked.

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