Page 17 of A Blade of Lies and Spirits

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Walker’s prediction proved correct.I would need time to heal, more time spent feeling weaker than I liked, but at least it seemed I’d eventually feel more like my old self. After a week’s time spent at the rest facility, I was done being here, even though I still felt like shit. I just wanted to be home. I wanted to see my boy, that would help more than any amount of rest.

The door to my room opened, the whooshing sound loud in the silence. Walker walked in looking hot-as-sin in a tailored shirt and leather pants. His black hair pulled back once more in a long braid down his back, it was asking to be untied and to run my fingers through the silky soft strands. If I was feeling better, I might just do something about that.

“They’re letting you go on the understanding you’ll take it easy on our mission. Nothing crazy.” Walker set a package on the shelf.

I nodded. “Sure.”

He shook his head at the easy agreement, probably because he knew how desperate I was to get out of here. “I mean it, I know you want to help the swampers, but my job is to make sure you don’t hurt yourself again.”

Yeah, right. My loose medical tunic was half off before my weight fully hit my feet. Walker chuckled and turned around as the garment cleared my head. Unfortunately, the movement seemed to be too much for my current state.

As the room spun, I grabbed the chair. Fighting weak knees, I lunged toward the pile of folded clothing. New, a dark blue scooped shirt and leather pants. The boots were mine, the backup pair I kept at the Dumonts’. I breathed a sigh of relief. Breaking in footwear took forever.

“So, investigating the Wendigo… we’ll go back to DC now, after I see some people, right? I need your code for the commcode, too. I also have a list of items I need to trade with the swampers before we go back.” I wanted to tell him about Dmitri, but couldn’t quite get it out yet.

“Yes, maybe. What kind of things?” Walker answered.

“Food, vitamins, batteries, antibiotic salves, candy, antiseptic, seasonings, some smart metal or plastic. There’re some things in my room at the Dumont’s house I want to bring that I’ve been saving since I have prior warning.”

His brow furrowed. “Except for the smart materials, the others should be provided by the nearest city.”

I snorted. “Wardens hassle everyone trying to get in. If you don’t meet the standards, you aren’t admitted, so you can’t get those supplies. I think the budget there got cut again, so the Administrator slashed that expense line. Probably hopes the tourists from Capitol and big rich cities will bring money in, so their amenities don’t get cut. Medtechs still go out, but it’s just for vaccines and one-shot treatments.”

I took a deep breath of unscented air when we left the building. Medcenters were located on the outskirts of major cities, and this one was no exception. Mountains cupped Capitol, and the medcenter’s location overlooked the sprawl of the city below. The residential sections would be a hike from here.

But I was just glad to be free, even if I wasn’t quite feeling like myself. Maybe because I needed to rest, or maybe because of the injury to my soul that we couldn’t discuss in the medcenter.

In his vehicle, before he could even get it started, I asked, “Where’s the fragment of the wendigo? Unrelated, but important to me, will my soul heal, or is that piece gone?”

“The shadow is in my workroom. I don’t know how long it will take for your soul to completely heal. It depends on a lot of different things. Sometimes it never grows back. Having kids helps it—I don’t know why—for both men and women. It varies so much, and it’s not been studied a lot.”

“How did the owls do it?” Burrow into what made me, me I meant.

His hand cupped the back of my neck, and I relaxed. Concern on his part, but no fear or worry. “You let them.”

“How can I give permission without knowing it?” I hadn’t said anything, or even thought about giving them permission.

“You wanted to help. You wanted the demon contained. The demon was trying to rip off pieces of your soul, too, and you weren’t letting it. Consent plays a big part in those kinds of exchanges.”

“So, how does missing a part of my soul affect me?” It was weird thinking I’d been missing part of it. I remembered from one of Ethan’s lessons that it could regrow, but I hadn’t listened to the rest.

“You right now? Not at all; it regenerated while you kept trying to drag me into bed. It was sweet, actually.”

I pinched his arm. He was messing with me. “How did it affect me? How do you know this?”

He glanced over at me, a gleam of humor in his eyes. “I’m a necromancer, Alys. Healing and hurting souls is the basis of my talent. And I’ve been keeping an eye on yours for the past week to be sure you’d be all right.

“As for your other question, it depends. The exhaustion you felt was because a part of your soul was missing; though people get used to it with time. That loss shows as a dulling of connection and enjoyment, depression, suggestibility. Those are the most common effects, but it really does change with the person, since people and their souls are unique.”

“You burned the…” Had hedestroyedpart of my soul? I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. He’d taken the shadow from the wendigo and stored it. DId that mean the shadow was part of somebody’s soul? The thought made my head hurt.

“Remnants of a soul taken by a demon? Yes.” His emotions didn’t change. Walker was scary sometimes.

The scenery passed in a green and blue blur as I digested the comment.

“How do you stay out of jail?” I asked, as he settled the grav on the landing pad nearest the Dumonts’. Maybe I could use his system, since I was pretty sure everything he’d done was illegal.

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