“That makes one of us.” I rub the ache in my shoulder as I scan the field. “Tell Gaia to call off her damn smazes. I know they’re out here.”
“Gaia and I are only concerned for your safety. We’ve been following your progress since you left the cabin.”
“If you were so concerned about our safety, maybe you could have sent your almighty girlfriend to help us out.”
“You know she can’t do that, Jack. The Guard is too powerful. And with Chronos at the helm of the Observatory, there’s far too much risk. If he suspects Gaia of being disloyal, he could turn them all loose upon her—Seasons and Guards alike. She can’t leave. Not yet. Not until you’ve garnered enough sympathy for your cause.”
“Cause?” Ice crackles over the receiver. “There is no cause! We’re just trying to survive! Chronos put a bounty on our heads. He’s opened up the borders to make it easier for them to hunt us. You seriously think anyone will sympathize with us now?”
“All he’s managed to do is show them the hypocrisy of his own laws. The Seasons have always been told the borders between regions are unbreachable. That there is no reward in pushing boundaries. In more ways than one, you’ve proven him wrong.” The edge in his voice softens. “You did well at the cabin.”
“We all nearly died!”
“And yet,” he says, “here you are.”
I grind the heels of my palms into my eyes and lean against the pay phone. “I killed another Season. Névé Onding.” It hurts to say her name. Ihave no right to hold even that small piece of her inside me, and the weight of what I took from her feels heavier with every hour I carry it around. “I took her magic. The last thing I deserve is anyone’s sympathy.”
His voice falls soft. “You did what you felt you must. Of this, I have no doubt. As far as anyone at the Observatory is aware, Névé died in battle. There was no footage to prove otherwise. The brief clips the other Seasons have seen will win over their minds and hearts. At Croatan Beach, you proved you will kill to protect one another. At the cabin, you presented them with the choice to walk away, join you, or die. That’s one more choice than Chronos has ever given them. You’ve shown them their assumptions are wrong, Jack. You’ve proven that alliances are possible. That hearts are penetrable. That rules can be challenged. You’ve given them much to think about. Now you must show them how powerful you’ve become.”
My fist smacks the wall. “No! We’re not showing anyone anything. There’s been no sign of Chronos’s Guard since we lost them at Croatan Beach, and that’s how it’d better stay. Tonight, we rest. Then we run.” There’s no way I’m telling him where. We’ll be in Arizona in two days as long as no one finds us. If Chronos follows the dummy routes we planted in my memories, he’ll be looking for us in Wyoming, Seattle, or the Dakotas. We’ll make a quick stop to see Amber’s mother and get out of Phoenix before anyone knows we’re in town.
“The mortal boy you left in the woods survived,” Lyon says, slicing through my thoughts. “His parents have filed a report with the police. He told them you’re in possession of a firearm, and he’s provided physical descriptions of each of you. By tonight, every law enforcement agency will be alerted to you. If you’re sighted, every Season in the central states will be upon you by morning.”
I swear under my breath, ready to smash the receiver against the machine. This is exactly what Julio was afraid would happen. All he wanted was one night. All I wanted was to get us to Arizona in one piece. To get Fleur someplace safe. For Chronos and Gaia and everyone else to just forget about us.
“This battle is not yet lost,” Lyon says, his voice low. There’s a rumble in it, like thunder in the distance. “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity. A perfect storm lies ahead. You can let it destroy you, or you can take control of it. How the story ends is up to you.”
The line goes quiet.
“Professor? Professor!” An operator’s recorded message tells me our call is over.
I slam down the receiver. Head in my hands, I sink down the wall. Another slow song plays softly through the wooden slats. I listen to the snap of pool balls. To the low laughter of the frat boys inside. I can’t go in yet. My arms are glazed over with ice and Fleur will know something’s wrong the second she looks at me. I don’t have the heart to break the news to them, and no one but Lyon knows exactly where we are. Not yet. All we have to do is lie low, keep moving, and ditch Gaia’s spies.
Hands jammed in my pockets, I walk around the building to the front of the bar. When I’m sure I’m alone, I pop the sedan’s trunk.
The kid’s rifle is draped over Julio’s guitar bag. My shoulder aches at the sight of it. I look around for a sewer hole or a culvert, somewhere safe to dump it, when I see something move across the parking lot.
I scoop up the rifle.
Finger on the trigger, I swing the barrel, chasing a fast-moving shadow as it ducks behind a row of trash barrels.
“Who’s there?” I call out. I scent the air, taking a slow step toward the foul-smelling cans.
A wisp of gray mist slithers between them. Probably the same damn smaze that’s always chasing me around the Observatory, eager to rat me out. My shoulders slump and I let the rifle tip sag.
“Go! Get out of here!” I bark at it. Maybe I should feel relieved to see it. Relieved that Lyon was probably the one to send it. That he’s been watching our backs all along. But as the smaze’s smokelike tendrils peer around the can, something else about my conversation with Lyon wraps darkly around my mind.
You did well at the cabin.
It was more than a reflection or an observation. More than a show of sympathy or support. It felt like we passed some kind of a test. He warned us they were coming. He knew when they would arrive, told us how to prepare...
Now you must show them how powerful you’ve become.
The curious gray mist creeps closer. Was it Lyon? Was he the one who’s been leaking our location to Chronos? Has he been using us all along?
The Guard is too powerful. And with Chronos at the helm of the Observatory, there’s far too much risk.... She can’t leave. Not yet. Not until you’ve garnered enough sympathy for your cause....
I’ve no teeth for battle.That’s what he told me, right before he convinced me to stay at the cabin and fight.
