Page 8 of Stars in Umbra
‘Where the heck else will I go?’
He watched as she flew out of the barn and into the night.
She made him eat slices of warmed buttered toast, preserved fruit, and a bit of cured meat.
While he shoved sustenance into his mouth, she busied herself, creating a sleeping area on a bed of old hay and thick canvas sacks.
When he was done, she helped him to it, topped up his water, and tucked a blanket over his shivering form.
When he tried to ask her to leave again, she rolled her eyes and sat cross-legged beside him.
‘Not a chance,’ she declared. ‘I’ve a barn to muck out.’
He scoffed, then lay back in surrender, too weak and cold to fight back.
The quilt wafted with soap and lavender root, and of her, floral, clean, and earthy.
The kindness of it all swelled in his throat.
Healmostwept.
He sensed her eyes glide over his face, taking in the embedded gem and wearable tech indents, before returning to the medical bandages.
‘Your eyes glow. You must be a meta.’
He wassomething, for sure, but he didn’t reply, deciding to say nothing.
‘Who hurt you?’
‘Can’t say,’ he grumbled.
‘Can’t or won’t?’
He narrowed his eyes at her as his brain tried to parse her meaning.
He found nothing, nor any clue who had operated on him and implanted the neural node he sensed throbbing behind his right eye.
‘How come you’re so far away from home?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’
He really had no idea.
She must have gotten the message because her questions ceased.
She got busy mucking out stalls in the barn, and his eyes followed her as she strutted past with shovels, then buckets to water the animals.
She was hardworking, he surmised, with a touch of respect.
After a beat, she excused herself.
‘I’d better go. My parents will be wondering where I’ve gone, even though it is the holidays. I’ll be back this evening.’
She shoved a retro comm tab at him. ‘It’s my classic Comm Tab 3VG model. Read or watch a show on Sysnet. Relax. You’re safe here.’
She placed the device by him, then rose and smiled.
Those doe brown eyes gazed down on him, and he lost himself in them until she darted away.
