Page 31 of River of Flames

"I cannot believe this," I muttered to myself, but climbed onto Theo's back and wrapped my arms around his neck.

He bounced me into position. "Comfortable back there, Miss Daisy?"

"Kind of," I said.

"That's as good as we'll get," he said, and started to walk.

"Hey," I said, after a moment. "How'd you find me, anyway?"

He didn't answer. For a second I thought he hadn't heard me, although that was ridiculous, since my face was right by his ear. "Theo," I said again, prodding at his shoulder with my chin.

Finally he said, "I had a dream."

My mouth went dry. I heard Vanessa's voice in my head, thin with exhaustion: I dreamed about you. And Dr. Blanton, grinning at me like it was a joke. I had a funny dream about you last night.

"Oh, yeah?" I said, careful to keep my voice neutral. "What was it about?"

He cleared his throat and picked up his pace. "It was stupid," he said. "Just a stupid dream."

"I mean," I said, glancing around at the darkness, "not that stupid, if you kept me from wandering to Latvia in the middle of the night."

"I don't know," he said with a sigh. "It wasn't anything, like, concrete. It was more of a feeling than anything else. It was like…I was looking for you, and you kept disappearing. I woke up and I just…I was half asleep, I just had to make sure…and you weren't in your bed."

I was sure he could feel my heart hammering against his back. I tightened my grip on him, giving up altogether on neutrality. "And then what?"

"That's it," he said, sounding almost angry. "And then I came downstairs, and I started walking, and then, I don't know. You were there."

I shivered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Theo said sharply. "I just want to know what's going on with you."

"I'd kind of like to know that too," I said. "You could start by telling me what you found back there."

Theo grunted. "I told you," he said. "Nothing."

"You shrieked a lot for nothing," I said dryly.

He didn't take the bait. In fact, he didn't reply at all. I tried again. "Please?"

His shoulders rose and fell as he sighed. "It was a rabbit," he said at last, his tone dark. "A dead rabbit."

My mouth went dry. “I…killed a rabbit?"

"I mean." Theo walked a little faster, his movements quick and tense. "I don't know that you killed it. Maybe you just…uh. Touched it."

Nausea twisted in my stomach. "Put me down," I said tightly. "I’m fine now, and we're at the road anyway."

"Yeah, you'll get tetanus, and your dad will kill me," Theo muttered, hitching me higher on his back.

"I'd rather get tetanus than argue with you."

"Who's arguing?" Theo said. "We're having a conversation."

"Not a very productive one," I said, my voice rising in desperation. "I killed an animal. You found me in the middle of a foreign country from a dream. This is important, Theo!"

Theo pulled up short. He bent, letting go of my legs so I could slide off his back to the ground. "Okay," he snapped, turning around to face me. "You want to know what I really dreamed?"

I set my jaw, feeling my heart rate pick up. "I said I did, didn't I?"

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