Page 30 of Echoes of War

Amaia released a low laugh that let me know she’d forgotten that Abel was a Tinkerer. I had, too, honestly until our conversation had drifted to our lives in The After on the way to meet Amaia and the others earlier in the week. It wasn’t his most powerful gift, in fact, he didn’t appear to be powerful at all,mostof the time. There were times he let it slip, showing there was more there than what he exhibited.

He’d bounced with excitement at the opportunity to help me restore what he’d referred to as a ‘beauty’ he’d stumbled across on one of his many unsanctioned adventures. After making me swearI’d say nothing to his overlord, Abel had rerouted us to Indian Roadmaster. It wasn’t my Kawasaki, but it would do. We need longevity anyway, not speed.

Wide, dark brown eyes stared at me with an expression that could bring me to my knees. No one, not even Finley, had ever looked at me with such warmth. With admiration. She didn’t even realize how much she controlled me. I was merely a puppet in her show. Amaia was infuriating, and that was fucking perfect for me.

I didn’t want a tender love or even a soft one. I wanted a love fueled by fire and intensity. Fire had always felt safe to me, kept the monster beneath my skin at bay and away.

“It’ll only get us halfway there,” I added, breaking the eye lock we’d fallen victim to. “The roads are blocked around Pine City, but it will cut our travel time down in half. I figured you wouldn’t want to be away longer than we had to.”

She smiled at me, “As much as I hate this place, they aren’t quite ready to be left on their own. Not with Reina, Tomoe, and Abel behind these walls.”

“Figured he wouldn’t be left behind.” I chuckled, glad that we were on the same page. “He’s a good kid, Riley did well.”

“Riley always does well.”

“Tell me about it. You ready?” I asked, sliding onto the bike and tightening the straps of my pack to give her more room.

“Um, sure.”

Amaia hesitated, taking a step closer and then recoiled.

“Don’t tell me,” I taunted, “miss fearless is actually scared of something.”

“I’m not scared, I’m … nervous. I’ve never ridden a bike before, let alone a motorcycle.”

I offered out a hand. “You trust me?”

Her lips twisted and her thinking face took over her expression. My heart sank to my ass. Of course she didn’t, trust wasasking for a lot after what Sloan had revealed. Just because she accepted me, cared for me, didn’t mean she trusted me.

“You know I do,” she said, breaking my doom-filled thoughts. Amaia bit her lip and I desperately wanted to bite it for her. She took my hand, sliding onto the back. Her fingernail pierced through layers of clothing as she held onto my waist for dear life. For someone who claimed weweredeath, it was comical how she was now hesitant to get on the back. We ran a slim-to-none chance of crashing without anyone else on the road.

I cranked the engine, ironically pleased by the silence it offered thanks to Abel’s rain-man mind. “Then hold on tight.”

Time flies when you’ve got the world’s toughest woman clutching the air out of you in fear for her life. A little over an hour and we’d pulled the bike into a random garage in some neighborhood in Pine City. The roads had been clear for the most part until we’d reached the extent of Duluth’s clearing efforts. Or maybe it was a strategic blockade, cutting off a major pathway to their shitty enclosure. Who knew? I doubted it, though; if they’d always leaned on Amaia’s expertise, then there was a strong chance they hadn’t thought to plan such an effort. Duluth had likely run out of resources and called it a day. As things stood, they were able to get far enough without resistance for trade.

We had to walk the rest of the day to our first stopping point in North Branch. It would take another two days to get to St. Paul from there. As luck would have it, those two days had flown by without a hitch. Amaia and I slept in shifts, four hours on, four hours off. With only the two of us, it left us vulnerable. Traveling in a small group gave you a fighting chance against humans and Pansies alike.

My journey to Monterey had been relatively sleepless. Over time, I became accustomed to running off the bare minimum.Suckerpunch guarded as much as a guard dog was capable, but waking up to low growls was about the same as being caught with your pants down. You were fucked either way—one just came with a slight warning, while the other came with consequences.

I wanted to punch myself for letting myself get comfortable with decent sleep. It had made me weak, and now we would pay the price for it. She claimed she was okay, that insomnia had taken over her life in The Before, with not much having changed over the years. After our nights together, I knew the truth, Amaia loved her sleep. Now the dark circles under her eyes were proof that her body, in fact, did crave more than a few restless hours of shut eye.

St. Paul was an occupied city, but not walled in. There were different sectors that existed within the city. It wasn’t total anarchy, but it was close. Some sectors got along with other divisions better than others. Then there were the occupants who had no friends in the city, only people who feared them. Occupants such as thebrujas.

I get it, people feared what they didn’t understand. As I said time and time again, fear is what keeps you alive. You just had to know when showing you were scared was okay and when it would damn you. In this case, fear got you far.

“This is …”

I interrupted, taking in the horror on her face as we strolled through the city. “Anticlimactic? Depressing? A piece of shit?”

“I was only going to say not like Monterey,” she chuckled nervously, “but sure.”

Her hair was free and bouncing against her shoulders. The last hair tie she’d had popped over a day ago. She’d yelled out as if it was her last piece of food. It felt silly to me because even though we both stunk and hadn’t bathed in days, she looked divine. I knew it wasn’t about aesthetics to her though, Amaia grew frustrated with every curl that betrayed her, popping into her face.It’s a hazard, she’d claimed, rolling her eyes at the confusion in my eyes and ignorance to the problem.

“Yeah, no place islikeMonterey. I told you that.”

She glanced up at me, questioning, not knowing where the bite in my reply had come from. I cursed myself, not wanting to fall back into this routine with her. She didn’t deserve it. For once since I’d known her, she hadn’t done anything reckless in at least a few days.

“You okay?” Amaia asked.

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