Squaring her shoulders, she raised her hand to point at herself in the mirror, looking herself in the eye.
You’ve come so far. Don’t mess it up now.You’re so close.
Her little self-pep talk finished, Zina turned on her heel and marched out of the bathroom to find Trent spreading some fresh sheets over the bed.
“I found these in the cupboard – can’t say they’ll do much but it’s an extra layer between you and the mattress, which I thought you might appreciate,” he said, apparently in answer to Zina’s baffled look.
“Oh – right. Um. I appreciate that,” she said, watching as he quickly and efficiently tucked the sheets in around the mattress. For all Trent’s lackadaisical exterior, he could make a bed with hospital corners like no one’s business.
“Anyway, you need to get some rest,” Trent said. “How long have you been awake for now?”
“Not that lo—” Zina started to say, before a yawn cracked her mouth wide open, and she realized just how incrediblybone tiredshe was. Now that the adrenaline of the last few days had worn off, she wasexhausted.
“That’s what I thought,” Trent said, a hint of laughter in his voice. “I told you – I’ll take first watch. I’m not the one who’s been on the run this whole time.”
Instinctively, Zina’s eyes darted to her bag, with the eggs stored securely inside. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Trent – far from it – it was just that she’d been keeping them safe for so long now that letting go was hard.
“Don’t worry about them,” Trent said soothingly. “I’ll keep them by me – keep them in my lap, if you like. Nothing’s getting to them. Okay?”
Zina nodded, swallowing. Either way, she needed sleep. “Okay.”
She hesitated a moment longer, and then crawled into the bed, with its double layer of sheets, pulling the thin blanket over her. The weather was pretty warm still, so she didn’t need much.
Her eyes felt heavy. She could feel herself falling asleep from almost the instant her head touched the pillow – and the last thing she saw before her eyes closed was Trent’s sharp profile as he kept a vigilant watch out of the motel window, the afternoon light filtering in through the ragged, aging lacy curtains.
* * *
“Hey – time to wake up.”
“Bluurgh?!”
Zina sat bolt upright, wakefulness hitting her like a ton of bricks. Her muscles tensed, and she prepared herself to jump out of bed – to defend herself if she had to –
“Hey, hey – easy now. It’s just me.”
Zina blinked in the half-light, as memories came flooding back to her.
The guys yesterday – the eggs – Trent –
“Is everything all right?” she asked, glancing around the room. Trent seemed to be calm where he stood by the bed, so she had to assume nothing too urgent was going down.
“Everything’s good as gold,” Trent assured her. “I haven’t seen hide nor hair of those guys all night – though that doesn’t mean they’re gone for good. We should get moving as soon as we can.”
“Another bus?” Zina asked, rolling out of bed.
“If we have to,” Trent said. “But let’s get stocked up first and have some breakfast, and plot our next move from there. If we’re going out to Jackson’s Ridge, we’ll need our own wheels. No buses go out there unless you charter one – you can only get there by private car or by air. Or, I guess, by foot. But I wouldn’t rate our chances in the heat.”
I might, if I had my shifter form,Zina thought, biting her lip. Her antelope would have been able to speed through the desert sands, at least for a while. But Trent was right – the car would have to do.
“All right, well, we’ll see what we can do,” she said. “But first, like you said – breakfast. And supplies.”
It was early, but it seemed even this small town was already up and running. The diner they’d eaten at yesterday offered a breakfast menu of eggs, sausages and beans, and Zina had to say she kind of relished the fats and proteins after living so scantily for so long, snatching snacks from vending machines and convenience stores to eat on the run.
“So – where to first?” Trent asked her, as he mopped up the last of the bean sauce with a piece of white toast.
“I think we should invest in some new clothes,” Zina said, after a moment’s thought. “Maybe some hair dye.”
“For you? You haven’t got much left to dye,” Trent pointed out.
