Page 33 of Skinwalker's Bane
She laughed, her gaze meeting his. Despite the tired lines around his eyes, they were warm and…
Devin looked down at the counter and rubbed at what she thought might be a smudge on the cool polished stone.
“Why did you invite me here?” Adam asked. His voice was low.
“To tell you about my appointment with the Captain.” Devin lifted her chin. “You were the only one who sent me a message. It felt as though you were the only one who cared what happened. Well, except for Bishan, but he’s paid to care. So I thought I would repay your kindness.”
“It wasn’t kindness.” His voice was even lower.
It was hard to look away from his gaze. He was looking at her steadily, his eyes narrowed—and not with tiredness.
Her heart gave an extra heavy beat, then hurried on. “It looks like kindness from where I’m standing.”
“I don’t think you’re that stupid,” Adam replied. “I think you’re a lot smarter than most people realize.”
She jumped again, although not for the same reason. “I don’t know about that.”
“Magorian certainly does, now,” Adam added. “Why am I here, Devin? You lost one skinwalker. Are you looking for a replacement?”
Shocked slithered through her. “No!” she said quickly. “Stars above, no. That would be…I hadn’t even thought of it that way. I keep forgetting you are a skinwalker,” she added awkwardly.
“Even though you explicitly invited me here after my shift?”
“I mean, I don’t forget, exactly. I just…” She bit her lip, trying to pull the words together properly. This lack of articulation was awful. Then she found the words. “I didn’t forget you are a skinwalker. It just sits at the back of my mind, an irrelevant fact. You’re so very different from Lincoln, you see.”
“I am?” Adam seemed surprised. Then his expression darkened. “The more I find out about Lincoln, the more I’m starting to realize how different from me he was.” He got to his feet. “I should go and get some sleep.”
She wanted to protest. It was nice having someone here in her little kitchen. It was nice having Adam here. She kept her mouth shut, though. He had to have sleep—it was critical for skinwalkers to be alert and well-rested when they headed outside. She knew that much from knowing Lincoln. He had lived hard, yet he had been cautious about minimizing risks.
“I’ll call the taxiboat for you.” She went over to the little terminal in the corner and tapped the permanent hard switch that was built into all Palatine terminals. It would trigger an alert to bring a taxiboat here.
He waited for her to turn around. “I’ll wait outside,” he said. “I can walk around out there. I’ll fall asleep on my feet if I stay still much longer.”
“That’s not good. I’ll wait with you. In case you do fall asleep. I’ll roll you into the taxi.”
He smiled. “You know, I can actually see you doing that. With your shoe, of course.”
She took him out to the front yard with its rocks and boulders and green growing things. The dusty smell of dirt and moss was thick in the air, despite the coolness of the night washing over them. It was only the daylights that maintained the heat. At night, it could get almost chilly.
The bare patch of dirt in front of the formal edging of the yard was where the taxiboats generally landed. The anti-gravity suspension fields and the weight of the boats themselves had worn the earth smooth. The delicate lichens that grew on the top of the Table did not survive there.
The bald patch was surrounded by low-lying bushes—creosote and sage, mostly—that perfumed the air softly.
They moved out toward the edge of the landing patch. If necessary, Adam could walk up and down the patch until the boat arrived. Devin would stay with him to make sure he got in it safely.
As soon as they stepped onto the dirt, their shoes crunching in the dry sand, four figures rose up from among the sage bushes. The light from the house didn’t reach out this far and they were merely silhouettes in the dark. Just the fact that they had been hiding in the bushes was alarming enough. Devin gasped, stepping back. “Who are you?” she demanded.
Adam pushed her back. “Go inside,” he said, as the figures moved toward them. “They’re not here for you. If you go inside, they’ll leave you alone.”
“No,” she said flatly. “I’m not leaving you out here.”
The figures were all male. Their size told her that. They came running at Adam, their silence completely unnerving.
Adam stepped closer to meet them and her heart squeezed in terror. How could he do that? How could he stepintodanger?
All four of them couldn’t attack him at once. There just wasn’t enough room. The first leapt at him, the breath whistling out of him with a hard grunt as he threw himself at Adam, his hands out.
Adam seemed to sway and swivel sideways. The man shot past him. As he passed, Adam rammed his elbow into the man’s back. The attacker gave another heavy wheeze and stumbled, then fell forward onto the sand and rolled. He had been moving too fast. Little eddies of dust rose up around him.
