Page 89 of Enthraller

Her hair was plastered to her head, her face glowing with exertion, and for some reason, the silver circlet and the silver wrist bands were back on her.

She saw his gaze go to them.

“Protecting my face and hands from sharp branches,” she said, with an almost embarrassed shrug.

He reached out and pulled her to him, and for a moment they stared at each other.

Then he bent his head to kiss her and they stood, still, calm, and quiet, for a long moment.

Until the sound of a freighter overhead forced them apart.

“She’s back.” Wren didn’t release him. Instead she rested her cheek on his chest.

“How far is Professor Tai’s camp?” Ed asked.

“I actually don’t know. The professor told me it was about a day’s hike from where the SF set up their base, but she said she might move to their base after they left, as it was a better spot.” She looked over her shoulder as they both heard the freighter come down to land.

“How did you find the SF base that first time? I didn’t think about it before, but now I’m on the ground, I can see how hard it is to navigate.”

“The mountain,” she said.

He turned, keeping one arm still around her, and saw the top of the mountain rising above the treeline.

“The base was at the foot of that mountain. That’s the one thing I knew for sure. I kept it in my sights, and though I went wrong a few times and had to double back, I had somewhere to aim for.”

“And it took you three days.” Ed wondered how long they could keep out of Linao’s clutches. Especially as she had the freighter.

“I was weaker then, and I know the better routes now.” Wren lifted her shoulders. “It will still probably take two days, though.”

“Then let’s go.” Ed didn’t say it, because he knew with the two of them working together, they could do plenty of amazing things, but the chances of them making it to the mountain were not good.

And Linao would know that was the first place they’d head for.

34

The roarof the freighter overhead was by now a familiar sound.

Linao was hunting them from the air, and most likely the men were searching for them on the ground.

It was fully dark now, and that had helped when they had to break cover and run to the next patch of forest, but it was also slower going, moving through thick foliage with no lights.

Linao would surely have to pack it in soon, but so would they.

Even with her nanos, Wren was tired, and while Ed moved as if he could run all night, she suspected he wouldn’t say no to some sleep, either.

“There.” Ed had slowed down in front of her, a tall silhouette in the afterglow of Linao’s disappearing freighter, and now he stopped, pointing to a small rocky outcrop she hadn’t noticed because of the trees surrounding it.

“I think there’s a ledge up there.” Ed moved to the base of the sheer rock face, and began climbing one of the trees growing up beside it.

If there was a ledge, they’d have somewhere relatively safe to rest, so Wren followed him, and when she reached the branch above, he was crouched on a small shelf, hand out to grab her.

She grasped his hand and stretched out her leg to bridge the distance from the tree to the outcrop, letting Ed haul her to him.

They fetched up against cold, wet stone, then bent and wedged themselves under the overhang, finding a narrow strip of dry rock.

It was still cold, but if it started raining again, as it had done on and off as they’d run, they’d be out of the weather, and no one could easily sneak up on them here.

The freighter wouldn’t be able to see them, either.

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