Page 25 of Tear of Destiny

He’s still avoiding my eye. I can see that he’s uncomfortable discussing it with me – a Tempes. He runs his hand through his hair, unsure how much to tell me.

“The Assembly figures the hospital has been under surveillance for a while and that the Tempes had identified one of us – probably Orlow, because he was the first to be attacked.”

“But you don’t believe that?” I ask.

He hesitates. His eyes dart around restlessly. He looks angry, tense, and then he blurts, “Teresa, they really did a number on Orlow. They seemed to have no doubt that he was a Noctu. He’s only been with us two weeks. Before that, he was stationed in Russia. How could they be so sure? Just because they saw him coming and going from the hospital and thought he looked suspicious? I know his key spirit would have stayed out of sight. Nobody’s stupid enough to walk around openly with their spirit.”

“But maybe they spotted it at some point. I mean, our spiritsalways try to stick close to us.”

Noah snorts. “That’s exactly what the Assembly said.”

“And what do you think?”

“I don’t know. But when the rest of us came out… We could have just been ordinary people coming to the aid of someone lying on the ground. But they attacked us immediately too. As if they knew exactly who we all were. And I’ve never seen any of those hunters before.”

I look closely at him, unsure what he’s driving at.

“Maybe someone betrayed us.”

“You’re thinking of Travis,” I say, surprised.

“That’s one possibility, but I somehow doubt it. I can’t describe it, but when they attacked, there seemed to be no hesitation, as if they knew us all by sight.” He runs his hand through his hair again and looks around pensively. “Everything went wrong.”

I put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

A tired smile appears on his face. “I know it’s not your fault. I’m not angry with you.”

I nod and look into his exhausted face, into his dark eyes, which look kind of clouded, without their usual radiance. I impulsively step closer and put my arms around him. “I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt. But this is bad enough.” I hate to see him like this.

He returns the hug, holding me tight so that I’m enveloped by his warmth. It feels good to be so close to him. I breathe in his wonderful scent and have to admit to myself that I haven’t felt this good in ages.

His fingers affectionately stroke my hair, and he keeps holding me tight. “Tess,” he murmurs. His voice tickles my bare neck, and I feel a sudden tingling sensation across my back and in my belly. I quickly step back from him and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, embarrassed.

“Where were you headed just now?”

A wry smile spreads across his face, but he answers my question. “The hospital.”

I stare at him, baffled. “Where you just got attacked?”

“I want to see if they’re still there and if I can spot anyone staking the place out.”

“Does that mean you intend to keep going back to the hospital to collect dying breaths?”

“We’ll have to come up with another strategy that makes it harder for them to catch us. We’ll post new Noctu there – ones the Tempes don’t know. And maybe rely more on our keys to move in and out of the area. That was unnecessary before now because we weren’t on anyone’s radar. But we can’t let them drive us out. The Odyss – all of us – depend on dying breaths, and there aren’t too many places where we can easily gather them.”

“And you really think you’ll be left in peace there? They’ll surely send more people and try to find out which of the staff are Noctu. And what about you? You can’t be part of the Read & Dream program anymore.”

“They won’t expect us to go straight back and continue our work. And like I said, it’ll take them a while to find out which of the new people are Noctu. And as for me, they can’t scare me off that easily.”

I glance in the direction of the hospital and gulp. There’s nothing I can do to stop Noah, and I’ll just have to trust that he knows what he’s doing.

“Let’s talk about something else,” he says, tracing my cheek with his fingertips and prompting me to look up into his warm eyes. “How are you?”

“I feel good. No more flaming fingers, and I haven’t felt the urge again. So hopefully we can stop our swimming excursions soon.”

His expression changes; his gaze latches onto mine and won’t let go. “That’s good to hear, but I was referring more tosomething else. You know what I mean.”

I sigh and try to locate that feeling inside me. Lately, I’ve been trying to keep it hidden so it doesn’t surge over me like a gigantic wave and sweep me away.

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