Allie's War Season One (114 page)

“Not Seertown,” he said, his eyes still on mine.

“Then where?”

“I found us a place, Allie...it’s safe.” He cleared his throat. “We’ll be alone.”

I thought about that for another breath, then nodded. I took the hand he offered a third time. When his fingers wound into mine, I felt it down to my feet.

“Okay,” I said. “Then I’m ready.”

HE WALKED WITH a slight limp again, I noticed.

We hiked for hours, and I watched him walk. I wondered if his injuries from Terian were acting up again, or if this was something new...something related to the bruise on his face. I almost asked once we were going uphill.

In the end I didn’t, aware of his probable reaction to my bringing it up.

It felt at first like we were retracing the steps I’d taken to Tarsi’s...but at a certain point, Revik deviated.

He brought us through a ravine I didn’t recognize, then further south, towards a different crest of mountains. Helping me up onto a slim trail once we reached the other side of a narrow, heavily forested canyon, he took me past a broken wall of cliffs made up of granite-like boulders.

I gazed out over the canyon, watching birds skim along the roof of the canopy. Hearing the thundering crash of water over rocks after we’d been walking a few minutes longer, I looked around until my eyes found a high waterfall of glacier runoff. The sound grew even louder once we’d rounded another jutting section of rock. He took my hand again when we reached a section where the rocks grew slippery, leading me up to a snaking path through the trees.

The air felt colder within minutes, and thinner.

After we’d been walking another hour, I struggled a bit to breathe and stopped to rest.

Laying a hand on a tree beside the path, I looked down at the zig-zagging trail roping below, half-obscured again by trees. I saw someone on the trail then and froze, just before the figure disappeared.

“Revik,” I said quietly.

From behind, he touched my shoulder, almost tentatively.

“Adhipan,” he said. “Females only.”

I glanced up, but he didn’t return my gaze. My eyes drifted to the bruise on his face. “So much for being alone, I guess.” I tried to mask my bitterness with humor, but didn’t succeed. “I’m amazed they’re bothering to be sneaky.”

Revik touched me again. Again, his hand didn’t linger.

“They won’t be able to see us where we’re going,” he said. “Balidor promised me.”

I nodded, but didn’t quite believe it. Seers could lie as well as human beings...better, I had learned, especially when the truth interfered with their warped sense of ‘duty.’ Funny how everyone was so concerned with me now. Where had all that overbearing male concern been when Maygar decided to do his wacky claim thing...and in full view of the entire compound?

My anger deflated when I saw Revik’s eyes brighten.

It shocked me...even with what I’d felt off him before. I had to look at him twice, and even then I couldn’t make up my mind if I was right. His light closed, and I watched him, disbelieving as he wiped his face with the back of his hand, avoiding my stare.

Seers weren’t human, I reminded myself. The men had zero stigma around getting openly emotional. Actually dangerously emotional. Tightening my fingers in his, I tugged on his hand. He still wouldn’t look at me.

“Hey,” I said.

“Allie.” His voice was thick. “...the Maygar thing...”

I shook my head. “No. Revik...please. Please don’t.” Feeling him tense, I shook my head again. “It’s not you...I swear it’s not. I just don’t see any point in talking about it. It happened. It’s done.” When his face tightened, I tugged on his fingers. “Look. Everything came out okay...more or less.”

He still wouldn’t look at me.

I quieted my voice.

“...Please, baby.”

I felt him react to the endearment, glancing at me.

I caressed his fingers, feeling that ripple through his light, too. “I already yelled at Chandre, blamed you, blamed myself...I don’t have the energy to do it all again. We’re good...aren’t we?”

His jaw hardened, but he gestured a ‘yes.’ He looked like he wanted to say something anyway, but feeling me push back against his light, he didn’t.

We didn’t talk again for a few hours.

By then, we were on a high plateau.

A long, grassy field spread out before us. White-capped mountains stood on all sides. The view before me of low-seeming clouds and the strangely polarized, blue-white sun brought a chill to my spine.

Feeling suddenly like I’d stumbled into one of my dreams, I slowed my steps, my breath a little short. I glanced around at the wildflowers dotting the thigh-high grasses, feeling the sense of familiarity like a physical blow. It could have been that same field, from the jump with Tarsi.

What were we doing here, anyway? Was there an airstrip nearby?

The sky was darkening. When Revik tugged lightly on my hand, his fingers questioning, I followed. We walked through the thigh-high grass without talking, until we reached the top of a small rise.

Below, a fence ringed one portion of the field. It delineated the edges of a mown space around a low ranch house with a tile roof.

“Here?” I said, looking up at him. “You want to talk here?”

Revik nodded. He glanced up at the sky, too. I don’t know if he noticed the look of bewilderment on my face or not.

“I bought it,” he said. “We needed to modify the construct pretty extensively. It was easier to buy it, then we could rework the whole thing.” He hesitated, studying my face. “The house is pretty simple, Allie.”

I nodded, looking up at the mountains, but my mind was clunking and jerking disjointedly into its own gears, trying to chew through this new information...and the information he’d just piled on top of it.

He’d
bought
it? And how could this possibly be a good idea, the two of us alone up here? I’d assumed we were heading towards a town...or an airstrip. When he’d said we’d be alone, I’d pictured us going to Delhi, maybe even Europe.

Separate hotel rooms. That kind of thing.

Keeping my light tightly shielded, I let go of his hand to walk down the hill, wading through the tall grasses. In almost no time, I reached the gated fence.

Entering through the opening across from the cabin’s door, I strode in a rough circle around the packed dirt clearing. I knew I was stalling; I felt myself gathering imprints as well. I felt traces of the old human who had lived there before. He felt like a nice man. I saw hoof prints, what looked like at least one dog’s. He’d had grandchildren. I wondered if he’d gone to live with them. There was an old-fashioned water pump, and a trough.

Revik followed me.

It occurred to me he was watching my reactions minutely.

“It’s beautiful up here,” I said, and I meant it.

I followed with my eyes as wind rippled the grasses outside the fence. New, sharp green shoots dusted with wildflowers turned the plateau into a mosaic. A tall windmill, the old-fashioned wooden kind I liked from when I was a kid, stood behind the house, spinning evenly in a higher breeze. Beyond it, I saw what looked like horses grazing on the slope. They stood not far from a river.

“You own the horses, too?” I said.

“Yes.”

“And the river?”

Revik gave a short laugh, making a seer’s ‘more or less’ gesture with one hand. “Enough of it,” he said.

“I’m starving,” I said, looking at him again. “Is there food?”

He made a hospitable gesture towards the front door.

I followed the motion of his hand, walking in front of him. He hung back as I reached for the handle.

It wasn’t locked.

Twisting it all the way, I opened the door.

I’d expected something western, I guess, from the horses and the windmill. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw colorful wooden furniture like you might find in a Tibetan home. It had been cleaned recently...maybe even re-furnished. Thick rugs covered a flagstone floor, all the way up to the fireplace, which stood near a dining area and a heavy wooden table, also brightly painted. Behind that, I was surprised to see a real kitchen with a gas stove, a full-sized refrigerator and a sink, more brightly colored cabinets and a woodblock cutting board in the middle. I wondered what powered the electricity.

“A combination,” Revik said from behind me. “Solar and wind. There’s a fair bit up here. The generator kicks into oil when it gets low. That’s mostly for the winter...”

I glanced back to where he stood by the door. He was watching me again. He motioned towards another door, which led to a shadow-darkened back area.

“Take a shower if you want,” he said. “I’ll do something about food.”

“You don’t have to,” I began.

“Just go, Allie.” He quirked an eyebrow. “I won’t poison you...promise.”

I laughed. When he smiled, I headed for the back room. Right before the door, I stopped, remembering I hadn’t brought anything with me.

He must have felt that too.

He paused on his way to the kitchen.

“I had Cass pick out clothes,” he said. He rubbed the back of his neck, seemingly embarrassed by my surprise. “...I didn’t look, but there should be things in the closet. They did all of that in the last week...” He met my gaze. “When I got back, Allie.”

Hesitating only a second more, I nodded, trying to relax.

I didn’t miss the opening he’d left me, in telling me he’d been gone, but his words raised a whole host of other questions, too.

I entered the darkened room, still a little thrown that he’d involved Cass.

Shutting the door, I faced the dim space, trying to get my bearings.

The room itself was pretty simple. A large wardrobe made of wood and painted in bright colors, Tibetan style, stood in one corner, across from a heavily curtained window. A door to a small bathroom stood to the left of that. In there, too, the floor had been covered in thick wool rugs, and I saw candles on a wooden shelf over the bed. It was while I was looking around, still trying to collect myself, that something else occurred to me.

There was only one bed.

15

PROPOSAL

I WAS STARING into the fire when, a few hours later, Revik emerged from the bedroom, letting out a dispersing cloud of steam.