Page 19 of High Noon

He nodded. “Hotah and I differ. He laughs and tells silly stories. Enoch likes him better, I think, but we both respect Enoch for what he is. But mostly, we honor Enoch for what he chooses not to be. He could easily choose to be a scourge upon mankind, Eve.”

Kohana watched me with wary eyes. He’d given me his visions. He trusted me. Now it was up to me to make sure my heart didn’t turn evil, that I wasn’t turned and didn’t become a monster, able to travel through time. Able to seek revenge on anyone I pleased.

The feathers of his bracelet tickled my thigh through my suit.

I didn’t understand how he could be so afraid of me and yet so kind. “I promise, Kohana, I’m not here to hurt anyone.”

He gave a nod. “I certainly hope not. And I hope that soon, you leave this place and never return.”

What could I say to that? I desperately wanted to go home and never come back – not to any time. I wanted to go home, kill Victor and Kael, claim my freedom, and walk the hell out of the Compound and Verona with middle fingers in the air, daring anyone else to try to take my freedom away again.

We sat in silence for several minutes before Kohana stood and escorted me back to the tipi I shared with Maru. He went back to his tipi, but he didn’t fall asleep. Restless, I heard him roll from one side to the other for the better part of an hour. I was just as anxious.

My mind whirled. I needed to know something, and I wondered if the spring would tell me the answer if I stepped in while thinking about it. If I concentrated hard enough, would the waters divulge the answer?

There was only one way to find out.

I checked to make sure Maru was still solidly asleep, lifted the flap of my tipi, and took off.

Through the darkness, I ran.

Kohana shouted behind me, struggling to keep up, but he wouldn’t be able to.

How did he hear me?

I wandered in the dark near the hills I thought the spring was located until I found it. Sharp, excruciating pain split through my head as I trudged into the glowing blue water. Each step was harder to take than the last.

“Eve, no!” Kohana shouted from far off. “Don’t step into the spring!”

Too late for that.

I was waist deep. Another step, and I sank beneath the surface.

For a moment, there was only the cloudy, churning blue water and me. Nothing happened. But when it did, I frantically struggled to break the surface. Something held me under, held me captive.

I wanted the hell out. A feeling of darkness and evil engulfed me. It clawed at my lungs and wrapped around my ankles, holding me under water.

I’d asked for another vision. The spring gave me one I’d never forget.

I thrashed, struggling to push up from the bottom but unable to breach the surface.

Then things grew dark.

All I can think about is the smell of blood. The coppery tang is all around me. The darkness clears, and I realize where I am. I’m here. Blood pools in the spring, turning the glowing blue to rust. Kohana’s body floats face-up in the enchanted water. I stand at the edge of the pool, laughing, and then a feeling of sadness overwhelms me so quickly that before I know it, I’m sobbing. “Where is he?” I scream, as if Kohana can still answer.

Suddenly, I’m not watching the scene from the outside. I’m back in my body, in skin that doesn’t seem like it fits at all. I feel the pain that emanates from the dark heart of which Kohana spoke and all I can think about is killing Enoch. Of making him pay for all he’s done to tear apart everything I loved.

He wouldn’t do that, I tried to tell myself.

“But he did!” I cry aloud.

Fang tips bite into the pillowy flesh of my bottom lip as I consider my next move. “I will find him, and then I will end him. He will never hurt anyone like this again. I’m the only one strong enough to do it.”

The scent of blood overwhelms me with a need so sudden, I stumble away from the spring, leaving Kohana’s body to rot in the magical pool he’d once forced me into.

Hotah met me half-way down the hill. “Eve,” he breathes, relieved. “You’ve returned.”

“Where is Enoch?”

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