It felt weird that I was finally here, with them.
“Where to, Gabby?” Sam asked.
“South, I guess. There’s still not much movement,” she answered.
“What about Jim?” Winifred asked.
“He’s staying ahead of the Urbat for now. You might want to suggest that he find a car, though. They’re definitely tracking him. Others are moving position to the north of him. They aren’t coming at him but repositioning, I think.”
“Urbat?” I asked, unsure.
“Yes,” Winifred said. “How does Blake know where to place his men?”
“He doesn’t. His men have phones and send out group texts when they sight one of you or catch your scent trail. By communicating where you are and aren’t, they slowly pinpoint you. Sometimes.”
“Seriously?” Bethi said from behind me. “A mix of dumb luck and technology is kicking our asses? We need to end this now. We’re all together like she wanted.” Something tugged on my seat, and her voice moved closer. “Tell me you know how to make the Judgement so this can finally end.”
My chest tightened as I realized which Judgement spoke.
“You dream our past lives?” I asked.
“Yep. Every crappy one of them.”
“Can you tell me about mine?”
“There’s not much to tell. You’ve always died young.”
“That’s what I thought.” But not this lifetime. This lifetime would hold so much more suffering for me. For all of us.
“She’s told me what we are. Hope. Peace. Strength. Fortune. Wisdom.” Bethi said the last word with contempt. “I know what the others can do, but I’m not sure what Courage does. In each brief glimpse of your lives, you’re always sorta blind.”
“Not sort of. I am blind. To this world.”
“This world?” she asked.
“Yes. This world. The coveted playground for all the races to rule. It’s not the only world, just the most desirable one to inhabit. And, I don’t know how to make the final Judgement. The Lady only tells me the things I need to know when I need to know them.”
Bethi made a sound of frustration.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It’s not you. It’s her and the dreams. I’m so tired of dying.”
I couldn’t reassure Bethi. Not with what I did know.
“I do know that we need to decide what Judgement to make before the Judgement can be made.”
“What do you mean?” she asked through a yawn.
“Will we Judge in favor of the Urbat or the werewolves?”
There was a moment of silence.
“Bethi’s sleeping. Perhaps this conversation should wait until we’re all together again,” Gabby said.
I nodded and turned my head to watch the Others zoom around trees and signs and houses. After years of waiting, everything was starting to fall into place at an alarming speed.
Courage,the Lady whispered from the grey, a reminder of what I would need.
