The door creaked softly as I closed it behind me.Grains of sand stuck to the soles of my feet, despite the large section of fake grass set down, like that tricked anyone into thinking this was more homey with the greenery.Due to the sand, however, brown rested between the blades of faded grass.
The lights that hung from the awning spread a glow across the make-shift patio, the same picnic table we’d sat at for most dinners right there.
I stepped beyond, onto the patio, the moon large in the open sky.I had to admit, the lack of light pollution gave for one hell of a view of the darkness above.
The air was dry and dirty, and a part of me felt as though it might have coated my lungs when I breathed it in.All we had to do was get through this damn dungeon, and I could go back to somewhere else, somewhere better.
My senses weren’t as great as Carter or Ingram’s, but they weren’t useless, either, a point proven when movement to the side of the RV caught my attention.
A figure moved there, in the darkness, outside the circle of light spread from the patio.Despite not being combat, instinct proved stronger than skills as I moved.
The idea of someone against the RV—not just anywhere, but hands gripping the window edge that led into the room where Yun slept—infuriated me.
I grabbed the person and twisted them, slamming them against the dirt.They had a small, thin frame—a woman?I’d learned not to worry too much about that when it came to potential espers, because size didn’t mean a damn thing.A female esper could kill me just as fast as a male could.
And I had no intention of fucking around when it came to Yun’s safety.
The new position—flat on their back and with my hand around their throat—put them in enough light for me to make sense of their face.
Yun.
My brain stalled.As much as people made fun of me for it not working at all, the truth was that it usually worked well enough.That wasn’t the case right now.It seemed to fully shut down, like the view of Yun’s wide, frightened eyes and my hand around her thin throat was enough to derail me.I couldn’t work out that, couldn’t believe it was true.
Until my all but useless mind stuttered to a rough start yet again and I wondered what the fuck I was doing.
I yanked backward, pulling away from her, hasty and frantic words falling from my lips.An apology?An explanation?I had no idea what they meant, but I still offered them like pointless gifts.
She rolled over and scooted backward in the dirt, putting space between us—space I didn’t reclaim.Instead, I lifted my hands, palms out, trying to slow my own breathing just as much as reassure her.
Funny that I seemed just as thrown as her, like we both needed to sit down and take one big breath.
Until I focused my attention on her fully, ignoring my own hesitations, and realized we were actuallynothingalike.While it threw me a bit, the way her heart raced, the rise in blood pressure, all the signs of stress on her body went to show she was in a significantly worse position.
So I pulled myself together, focusing instead on Yun.I crouched, then dropped to my knees.It had seemed to help before when I’d tried to look smaller, so maybe it would this time?
“I’m sorry,” I said, keeping my voice quiet.“I didn’t know it was you.I just saw someone at your window and thought someone was breaking in.”
She lifted her gaze to mine, the dim light making her eyes look almost fully black.Worse, the small bit of light showed off darkness around her throat.
A bruise?
I gulped down a curse, not wanting to frighten her anymore by showing just how that bruise affected me.The last thing I’d ever want was to leave such an ugly mark on a guide—especiallythisguide.
“Why don’t you try to slow down your breathing, huh?”
She narrowed her eyes, and that spark of anger did me some good, at least.It said she wasn’t in a full blown panic attack.Sure, I’d fucked up, but seeing her crying and shaking would have been really fucking hard to stomach.
“Don’t tell me how to breathe.”
“Sorry,” I said, rubbing a hand against the back of my neck.“I can just tell you’re pretty close to passing out, and I figured you probably didn’t want that to happen.”
She didn’t dare close her eyes, as though she needed to keep an eye on me, but she did try to draw air in and out slowly.The breathing was stilted, not nearly so smooth as I’d prefer, but better than nothing.After a long moment, her heart didn’t race quite so fast and her blood pressure had dropped.Still elevated, but it didn’t seem that she would lose consciousness now.
“I didn’t hurt you,” she said, voice soft.
“What?”
“You had your hand on my throat, but I didn’t use my power against you.”
