The plan hadn’t gotten more complicated.We were here before dawn, enough time for the Walches to spread out and man the bolt holes that might be our only escape route out.
They’d activated cameras and magical items which could survey a wide area and would rely on those to find us if the battle with Headwaters went wrong.
It was obviously going to go wrong.
The Walches piled out of their car and headed off.
Cardamon walked over to us.“I’m coming with you.I’ll be out of line of sight, but I want to know exactly where you make your stand.
“Not sure why you’re telling us,” I said.“It’s not like we can argue any of you out of this insane plan.”
“Exactly.”His smile was bright in the darkness.“I’ve faced down power, enormous power.Didn’t always come out of those fights whole.But I’m still alive.”
“Your point?”I pushed the door and got out.Abbi bounced down after me, kitten Hado on her heels.
I moved around to the back for the witch’s box.
“You’re still alive too.”
Lula’s door opened with a creak, then clunked shut.
Card touched my arm.“Don’t forget things can change in a flash.Fate can tip her hand.”
“If Fate was ever on our side,” I said, “she’d have tipped her hand by now.”
“We don’t know the minds of gods.”
“Not that it would make any difference.”
Lu strode over to us her boots scraping gravel over pavement.
“This way,” she said.
This was it.No more time to argue or speculate.Before Headwaters arrived, we needed to find the ground where we would make our stand.
Lu moved swiftly and silently across the lot and located an animal trail we followed into the hills.
I walked behind her, Abbi behind me, Card taking up the rear.
None of us spoke, saving our breath for the hike, keeping our ears and eyes open for any sign of Headwaters arriving early.
My stomach rolled with nerves and anger, but I pushed panic, fear, worry, and rage away.
If we were going to get through this, one of us needed to keep a level head.
That one of us was me.
I focused on my feet, on the smell of damp and dust, on the coolness of the air in my lungs.
We had walked this world for decades, traveled the Route over and over.Images of the good times flashed through my mind—those stolen moments together in graveyards, magic watch stopping time long enough for us to touch.Lu’s birthday just a few weeks ago, her surprise and delight at the cake and gifts.
Nights in the back of the truck with the stars above us, when all the world breathed, and we breathed with it.
It hadn’t been enough.But then a million lifetimes wouldn’t be enough with Lula.
Lu took turns that led us farther and farther from the highway.
The hum and rush of cars and trucks faded into nothing.Only the sound of our footsteps broke the stillness of the early morning.
