Page 73 of Crown of Tides and Fury

My feet were suddenly lead, but he forced me to keep moving, lifting half my weight until I got a grip.

“Deep breath, lass.”

I sucked in a couple of breaths, hoping some brilliant idea would hitch a ride on the oxygen to my brain. “What am I going to do?”

“We have no choice. Ye’ll be a fugitive here on. We cannae risk Orion getting his mitts on ye again. Obviously, he’s been learnin’ things from his Muir hostages. By now, he’ll ken that the Grandfather has died…and been replaced. He may even ken about theThirds. We’ve heard no news from the meridians, aye? Either he’s run out of dogs or he’s applying them elsewhere. For all we ken, they’re on the streets of Oxford now, lookin’ for me, assuming I can lead him to the others. He’ll reckon ye can lead him to me, and he’d be right.”

“We need to get Persi home.”

“Aye. We do.” He watched my face while we danced around the room again.

“If you’re trying to guess how much torture I can stand before I break, I can tell you that. None. If Orion or his dogs try to take me, you’ll need to shoot me. I’m not proud of it, but I think you should know.”

“That isnae what I was wonderin’.”

“Okay. Then what?”

“With yer hair flying out behind ye, I was reminded of that housefire, and how little the hot wind seemed to affect ye.”

“Fire doesn’t scare me. Orion does.”

“And why are ye not afraid of fire?”

“My mother was a firefighter.”

He laughed. “Yer mother. Not yer da?”

“My father was a school teacher.”

“Ye never mentioned them.”

“They’re gone.” I shrugged. “She died in a helicopter crash, fighting a wildfire. My father died three weeks later, from a heart attack. Everyone said he died of a broken heart, but he didn’t. Just a heart attack.”

“Ye’re so sure?”

“I’m sure. He cheated on her. Was with another woman when she died. Pretty sure his heart didn’t break.”

“How old were ye?”

“Nineteen.”

“I am sorry, Lennon.” The song ended, but he held onto my hand. “Believe me, though, when I tell ye there is true love in the world. Even if yer parents didnae have it.”

“I know.” I smiled and pulled my hand away. “Believe me, I know.”

* * *

Wickham wasn’tthe only one who had realized how quiet the Meridian cities had been. Everly brought it up the next morning, after she’d scanned the news from various countries. There had been no deaths since Sweden.

“Perhaps we scared them off,” Brian said.

Everly shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s not like they haven’t lost dogs before.”

Wickham shared the same suspicions he’d shared with me. “We must assume the worst, that Orion kens everythin’.”

“That’s not the worst,” Kitch said. “The worst would be if he already has some of the powers.”

Wickham looked ill. “Ye’re right. Ye’re right. We must find these people and fast, so we can know what we’re workin’ with.” He went to the pile of boxes and removed the lid from the one on top. “One more to add to the list, aye?”

---