She didn’t feel guilty.
She’d done what she had to do; what Sam had begged her to do. She glared at Josie.
“You had no choice.” Josie ignored the glare. “You couldn’t have saved him.”
“I know that.”
“Do you? Deep down, don’t you wonder whether there was anything you could have done differently? Some way you could have put him back together. Made him whole again.”
No.
Her eyes pricked and she looked away, blinked, and gritted her teeth, but she didn’t answer.
What was there to say?
Josie was talking crap.
“You have to learn to forgive yourself, Kaitlin. Let go of your anger and stop pushing everyone away.”
Kaitlin swallowed the rest of her wine, put the glass down gently, and stood up. “I’m going to bed.”
“And you’ve got to stop running,” Josie called after her.
Josie was right.
After all, the end of the world was coming.
Soon, there would be nowhere left to run.
Chapter 3
Kane strolled up the steep narrow track at the back of the house. The sky was already lightening, but the sun remained hidden behind the looming mountains. This was his favorite time of day, when the air was still relatively cool. Later, the heat would drive him inside.
Or it would have, if he hadn’t been leaving that morning.
All around, the chatter of monkeys, and the screams of birds filled his ears. Vegetation crowded in on either side, but the path was clear. Behind him, Kpo the leopard kept pace, his big pads making no sound on the track. He’d found Kpo abandoned as a cub after a bush fire and had raised the leopard as a friend.
The track ended abruptly at a sheer wall of rock that touched the sky above him. A gap in the rock showed him the entrance to the cave. Leila sat on a boulder outside, her rifle across her knee, relaxed but alert.
Leila was the closest thing he’d had to a mother after his own had left for Scotland in 1878 when he was four years old. His people were long-lived—they didn’t age, and most illnesses didn’t touch them—though they could still be killed by an accident, and this was a dangerous place to live. Leila was around 400 years old, and the oldest of the three remaining guardians. She’d never left their home, never seen anything of the outside world and distrusted anything new. Only now was she finally coming to trust the electronic surveillance systems they’d installed.
For centuries, they’d had to rely on themselves. As long as Kane could remember, there had only been three guardians. Plus him, of course. Jonas, their leader, and Leila and Brandon. They’d been left behind to safeguard their secret here in the Mountains of the Moon. Kane hadn’t wanted to leave with his parents and the others, so he’d run away—far enough so he couldn’t be picked up—only returning when they were long gone.
It had been a hard life. They’d picked, or caught, everything they’d eaten, living as hunter-gatherers, not wanting to farm the land around the hidden homestead, in case they brought attention to themselves. Clothes had been fashioned from animal hide, but most of the time, he’d run around naked. Who was there to see that cared?
But when he’d turned seventeen, Jonas had sent him away; he’d said the world was shrinking, and they needed to understand what was happening, to be prepared for anyone who might discover this place and the secrets they guarded. Theyhad to ensure the machine was kept safe until the time of the mission.
And so, he’d left the only home he’d ever known.
At first, he’d lived on the edge of communities, learning their ways, their languages, how they’d thought and dressed. He’d been a quick learner but reluctant to make the move to become a part of a bigger society, to let others know him. That hadn’t changed. But his white skin had stood out, and he’d had to think up stories of who he was and why he was there.
He’d told people that he’d been orphaned, lost in the jungle, his parents dead. Some had helped him, and the others… He’d grown clever at reading their thoughts, recognizing their intentions. He’d killed his first man when he was eighteen. It had been a matter of life and death, and he’d thought no more of it than he would have killing a wild pig for food.
He’d gravitated to the coastal towns, found others with white skin, learned to dress, to fit in, and had eventually gotten a boat to England. He’d hated it at first, with its rain and lack of sun. So, he’d signed on with other boats, traveled the world. Occasionally, he’d returned to Uganda, taking with him anything that he thought might be useful—mainly weapons. He would always remember Leila’s delight when he’d handed over her first rifle. Later he’d taken her an AK47—she’d loved that even more. But also, they’d appreciated the knowledge of the outside world.
He’d never stayed home long. He’d outgrown the place; had a life he loved away from here. In fact, there were times he’d almost forgotten about the mission, though it had always been at the back of his mind. And as the time drew nearer, he’d begun to wonder more and more.
Then nearly four years ago, Jonas had been fatally injured in an accident when he’d been out hunting in the mountains. It had been shortly after Kane had become aware of the Kindred’s—and Kaitlin’s—existence. He’d heard her brother’s screams—therewas something about pain and fear that amplified their powers—and he’d gone looking and had found Kaitlin.
