Page 8 of High Noon

Kangi.

“Eve!” Enoch screamed into my face, shaking me until the world around us cleared. I’m in the spring, I told myself. I was trembling so hard, I belatedly realized it wasn’t the spring’s bubbles troubling the water. It was me.

Kohana waded in with Hotah close on his heels. If they meant to drag me from the blue, devilish water, there was no need. My ass was out of there. I pulled away from Enoch and scrambled to the rocks, making sure not even the tips of my toes were submerged. I was never going into that spring ever again.

Kohana began to shout. His words were harsh as he gestured at me. I knew what he wanted, but I needed to think about what to say. I couldn’t very well tell Enoch my vision consisted of staking his sister, Titus, Asa, and Abram, before saving him for last. Couldn’t tell him I plunged a stake into his heart and walked away as he lay dying.

I would never do that, so whatever kind of vision it was, it wasn’t true. It can’t come true.

“Crows!” I screamed, furiously thinking, my mind grasping onto a plausible thread. “I saw crows. They were clawing at me and pecking at my eyes.” I scrubbed trembling fingers over my cheeks, relieved to find them intact. Not even a scratch marred my skin.

Enoch stilled, his lips slowly parting.

Kohana stared at me like he knew I was lying, or at the very least hadn’t told him everything. I didn’t care what he thought. I just wanted the hell out of that place. I took off down the mountain, my legs quivering so hard, I lost my footing twice on the way down.

“Eve!” Enoch cried out as he ran after me. I thought he’d grab my arm and ask me what my problem was, but instead, he pushed me out of the way. I crashed against the trunk of a fallen pine and watched as he stretched out his arms. With an audible “Oof!” he caught someone, the force of which knocked Enoch off balance. He tipped backward and the two tumbled down the hill.

My first thought was that it was Titus, but that wasn’t who it was at all. My mind couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing, but I would recognize the familiar shape filling that tech suit anywhere, in any time. His dark hair spilled over his shoulders as he rolled to his feet and immediately put distance between himself and Enoch.

“You caught me,” he breathed. “I thought for sure I was dead.”

I stood up on shaky legs. “Maru?”

His eyes met mine and he visibly relaxed. “Thank God.”

I scuttled down the hill to him. The hug I intended to give him was more of a tackle, and the impact sent us tumbling the rest of the way down the hill, bumping and bruising ourselves on the rocks and debris.

He winced when we finally came to a stop, but my heart sang. I was still shaking from the experience in the spring, but seeing Maru was such a surprise and a blessing, I couldn’t help but laugh and look at him in wonder.

Am I still in the spring having a vision? Or is Maru really here?

“How are you here? Why are you here? How’d you find me?”

Maru let me pull him up but kept his eyes trained on Enoch, who watched him just as sharply.

“Maru, Enoch won’t hurt you.”

His eyes flicked to me. “So you wrote.”

“You got my letter?” My mouth gaped open dumbly.

“Yep. He delivered it – personally,” he answered, nodding toward Enoch.

“Was he nice?” I asked carefully.

“Yes,” he said hesitantly.

I understood why he still couldn’t place his full trust in Enoch. We knew him as a monster and had done nothing but train to annihilate him for years. But now? Now, I loved him. I loved him so much it hurt us both sometimes.

Enoch called me his heart, but he forgot to mention to Hotah that he was my heart, too.

How was I going to explain all that had happened?

Maru watched carefully as Hotah descended the hill, palms out. “He’s a friend,” Enoch announced.

Hotah chuckled as he glanced between the three of us and then asked, “Exactly how many more of your friends will rain from the sky today, Kangi?”

Kohana stood atop the hill, silently watching us from above. He wasn’t surprised that Maru had fallen from the sky, which meant he probably saw me fall and Enoch catch me. But that wasn’t what needled me. Something in his eyes was bothersome.

I wasn’t sure if Kohana was friend… or foe.

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