Page 19 of Simon Says

“And you’re not ever going in again.”

“That’s right.”

“So how much of this is really about the trip through the passes?”

Simon’s head jerked like he’d been busted. He took in a breath and let it out in a huff. “It’s not that I’ve never been back here. It’s just that it’s…”

“Hard.”

He looked away and nodded slightly. “And it’s never gotten easier.”

“You ready to get to work?”

When Simon turned back, she thought she saw a glimmer that hadn’t been there before.Hope. “I am. What do you need?”

“Start at the beginning and recreate what happened. As much detail as possible.” She caught herself. “Just to be clear, I mean the non-personal stuff.”

Rosie hadn’t known Simon was capable of smirking until that minute.

He pointed toward a spot in the southeast quarter of the circle. “We slept there.” He continued to talk as he began walking in that direction. “When we arrived, there was another fellow. A fae camping alone. We gave him some dinner and chatted until dark. He thanked us and said goodnight. The next morning we found he was gone when we woke.”

“Where did he sleep?”

Simon pointed to a spot between the circle and the sea. “Over there.”

“Okay. What next?”

“We were kind of delighted to be alone. We walked around the circle. On the inside. Then Sorcha started running and I chased her around the circle until I caught her right there.” He pointed to the largest stone.

Rosie looked around before following Simon to the spot where he’d last seen Sorcha. He stopped in front of the stone. “Her back was against the stone. We were kissing. She stopped abruptly and asked if I was hearing what she was hearing. I turned around to see if I could spot any vehicles approaching. I didn’t see anything. She’d proven to me that human hearing can’t compare. When I turned back to tell her I didn’t see anything, she was… I don’t really know how to describe this.

“She was inside the stone. Like a transparency. She said my name. I couldn’t hear it, but I could read it on her lips. She reached out for me and when I tried to catch her hand, I connected with stone. And she was gone.”

With a furrowed brow he looked at Rosie, eyes haunted. “She was scared. Sometimes I still wake up at night seeing that. I can’t forget it or get past it. I can’t even say I wish I could because that would feel like a betrayal. I guess what I’m saying is, I know what happened to me. I don’t know what happened to her.”

He looked at the tall stone. “This is it. The one that took her.”

Rosie felt the hum coming from the stone and instinctively pulled Simon back.

“What is it?” he said.

“Just reflex. Being on the safe side.”

“You sense something?”

Rosie debated on whether or not to answer honestly, but decided she owed him the truth. Good. Bad. Or ugly.

“Yes. I sense something.” He opened his mouth to ask what, but she interrupted before he could form a question. “I’ll share when I have something worth sharing.”

Simon closed his mouth and nodded resolutely.

“So you say you walked around the circle.”

“Yes.”

“On the inside of the ring’s rim?”

“Yes.”

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