Page 59 of Lily's Eagle

“We’ll help you look,” the blonde woman—Cynthia— says and that seems to shut him up.

Lily has started eating her sandwich and she’s practically wolfing it down. She feels more present with every bite she takes and the fire’s warmth and the two sandwiches I’ve already eaten are starting to make me feel more like myself too. There’s no immediate danger for us from anyone here, I’m certain of that now. Tomorrow might be another matter.

“As soon as you finish eating we should get some sleep,” I tell Lily. “Best to be alert for tomorrow.”

She nods and chews quickly, then swallows and points at the wooden camp building looking at Miriam and the rest of them. “And you can all sleep in the big house. There’s plenty of beds in there all set up.”

Sharina and Miriam smile in almost the same way.

“I know,” Sharina says softly. “Miriam and I, and a few of the others, we set up this camp more than forty years ago. It’s a pity that it all went to ruin, but the time spent setting it up and the years afterwards while it was open was the most fun I’ve ever had. Such a hopeful time.”

“I think so too,” Miriam says with a smile. “This is where I fell in love with Frank.”

“Grandma,” Darius says chidingly. “Be serious.”

She looks at him and taps his thigh affectionately. “I know this is a grave time. But a little light and fun never goes amiss. You young ones forget that too often, I think.”

I’m not seeing any light or fun in this evening’s events, but I don’t say it. Lily has finished her food, so it’s time for us to go to our bed. And maybe later, once everyone else is asleep and the fire has died down, we can sneak away to figure this out on our own.

But no, that would just make us look guilty. But would it also save our assess?

I need to get word out to Cross, the sooner the better. As much as I hate to admit it, this thing might be too far over my head to figure out on my own. The same goes for Lily. But she’ll never admit that.

18

LILY

I didn’tmuch care for Eagle’s idea of fleeing the camp after everyone else went to bed, or for calling Cross to come save us, which is what he was actually suggesting when he brought it up, but I ended up relenting on the second part. If nothing else, the Devils can maybe help us solve the mystery of the disappearing women. Hawk is good at that kind of thing.

I was sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep, afraid as I was of having yet more nightmares, but I dozed off almost as soon as Eagle wrapped his arms around me under the star quilt on which we made love for the first time, and which I have now claimed as my own forever. He kissed my neck softly, whispered something I couldn’t quite understand, but felt like a touch of warmth near my heart, and that was it.

He’s whispering my name now, telling me to wake up, I think, but I really don’t want to leave the soft world of fuzzy, warm nothingness.

“It’s time,” he says louder. “Wake up.”

I open my eyes and see him standing over me, the sky outside the trailer’s grimy, tiny window still mostly dark.

“Cross says they’re on their way,” he says.

I sit up in bed, the quilt sliding off me and the cold settling in almost immediately in its absence. “You got through to him?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep so I walked up to the main road. There was a tiny bit of signal there, just enough to send the text,” he says. His voice sounds hollow and the skin of his face is sallow and papery. The idea of him walking around alone at night with those strange headlights lurking sends chills down my back.

“Are you worried?” I ask.

Strangely enough, I no longer am. I don’t remember dreaming anything at all, but somehow I still woke up knowing something new, knowing that everything will work out just fine for us. And for everyone else here.

Maybe I dreamed of the children Eagle and I will have who will run around these grasslands with no worry in the world. I think that’s it. I can still sort of hear their laughter.

But the hard look in his eyes and his tired face tell me he won’t like it much, if I try to explain that to him right now. He’s not big on mystical things, and he wouldn’t understand because he doesn’t want to. It’s enough that I know it.

I stand up and look around for some fresh clothes to wear. Not that I have many of those left. I had planned on washing some in the river one of these days, but there were so many funner things to do. He’s looking at me very intently, so I walk up to his give him a tight hug and a deep kiss.

He seems to spring back to life as our lips and tongues lock, that light that had seemed to go out last night, blazing to full brightness inside him again. The kiss lasts and lasts, until I’m sure the sun has come out in all its high summer glory outside.

But this sun is shining just for us, I realize once we pause the kiss for a moment. The light outside is the steel grey of dawn and we have no time for anything other than facing it.

“I wish we could just stay in here,” he says with a small smile.

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