Page 84 of A Land So Wide
Sky lights,she thought fondly, and felt to make sure the beaded necklace was still secure.
The morning came rushing back to her, and she sat up with a gasp.
Crossing the river.
The slip.
The fall.
The Bright-Eyed.
Carefully, she pushed herself up, wincing with every flex of muscle. Pain radiated from her temple where she’d struck it trying to find her way out of the current’s hold.
The sky lights continued moving in identical precision, and Greer rubbed at her eyes, certain she was seeing double. She worried that something important in her mind had been jarred out of place, but the colors shifted once more, becoming a single spiral, tinged pink.
Greer let her gaze fall from the sky to take in her surroundings. She blinked against the darkness, unable to understand how she could see the trees around her so clearly. It was obviously night, and the moon was nothing more than a sliver, but it felt as bright as day.
Even though it made her stomach curdle, Greer turned her head, rotating right, toward the river, then left, where the Bright-Eyed should have been.
In its place was a great blaze of fire, crackling and warm.
That’s why I can see,she realized dully.
Her thoughts were plodding and slow. It felt impossible to tie concepts together, and she was certain the injury had done something terrible to her head.
On the far side of the fire sat a figure.
“Oh,” she murmured with incomprehension.
“You’re awake.”
“I think I have a concussion. Or…something,” Greer admitted, wanting to retch as her sense of equilibrium careened, making her see things that were not there, things that could not be there. She closed her eyes, praying that when she opened them, things would seem normal again.
She opened them wide and cursed.
Because there, on the opposite side of the fire, sat Noah Finn.
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“Ican explaineverything,” he said, leaping to his feet as he saw her look of recognition.
“You’re dead,” she said, staggering to her feet. Greer held out her arms, listing heavily to the left. She swatted at him even though he stayed back, giving her a sizable berth. “I saw you die.” She frowned, seeing him in double. “Saw…See…I didn’t see. Not exactly. But you died. In that clearing.”
He shook his head, and even that motion made her queasy. “I can see why you’d—”
“See,” she interrupted, fixated. She could feel herself bogged in the mire of her thoughts but was powerless to escape. “I see.”
“Your head…You need help.”
“I don’t need anything.You’redead.”
“I’m not,” he promised.
Greer had so many words that wanted to come out, but they were tangled and twisting, piling up in her mouth. She could pry just one free, and its simplicity felt like a victory. “How?”
Finn took a step closer, but stopped when Greer flinched. “You’re certain you want to know?”
She wasn’t, but she nodded anyway.
