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Jewel stood at the edge of the river, her robe tucked into her waist, liquid lapping at her ankles, her hands wrapped around a long, sharp stick She&039;d removed her shoes, and moss-covered rocks supported her feet The do her sweat through the thinShe stared down at the clear, dappled water, watching, waiting for a plump fish to swim past She&039;d never done this, had never lived off the land before She only prayed she was successful

Soon a long, fat swirl of iridescent color darted between her ankles Her heart skipped a beat Finally! Her hand tightened around the stick as the fish continued to swi with her nonresponsive legs, its rainbow fins spanned and flapped, ready to bolt

She threw the spear

Anddarted away to safety "Da very much like Gray

Over the next half hour, fourfish swa uselessly into the water

"I can do this I can"

Another fifteen minutes passed Finally, a pluhts She stilled, even her breathing grinding to a halt One, two, she mentally counted He was about to swim three! She tossed the spear

Success! The tip of her spear cut into the target

"I did it," she said, ju water in every direction "I did it!" She grinned, holding the stick up for inspection, feeling proud and accoy bars today, thank you very ainst a tree Gray was still sleeping His features were relaxed, giving him a boyish quality that warmed her His pale hair fell over his forehead, and he had one arm over his head; the other rested over his bare chest

Her hands itched to reach out and trace the hard planes of his abdoulped, forcing herself to gather twigs and grass After building a sufficient hter to create a fire Once the flames crackled with heat, she cleaned the fish as best she could and held out the stick, cooking the meat until it flaked into her hands Unfortunately the outside charred

A little while later, Gray yawned and stretched, gri as his wounds protested the suddenin every direction before settling on her He pulled hi position

"I didn&039;t mean to fall asleep Sorry"

"You needed the rest You look better already"

"I feel better What&039;s that?" he said with a chin tilt to the fish

"I&039;ve never cooked before, but I have seen it done, so you&039;ll have to tell e, firm leaf as a plate, she scooped some of the fish on top, and handed it to Gray

He accepted with a raised brow "What if I&039;ry?"

"You&039;ll eat it anyway, because you don&039;t want to hurtand cooking it"

"Good answer" He took a tentative bite, chewing slowly, his expression unreadable

She was just about to ask hi in his backpack started speaking A real, hu i inside the pack "Christ," he h his hair "Check in time"

"Ah, your communicator," she said, when he withdrew a small black box She&039;d seen him use the box on several of his missions People from his ere able to speak with him, and he to them Her apprehension faded

"Mother, this is Santa" He spoke directly into the box "Go ahead"

"Where are you?" a deep male voice said

"Pickup has been delayed," Gray responded

"Should we send another courier?"

He rubbed a hand down his face "No I have scheduled a pickup within the next few days Copy" "Copy Over"

"Over" Gray shoved the box into his backpack and picked up his plate He took a bite, acting as if he hadn&039;t just had a conversation with his box Or boss Or whoever His expression remained blanketed as he chewed

She decided not to ask about his work; she could guess The package: Dunauess was how he felt about the food She waited beside hi on her haunches, ready to hear his praise "Well?"

"Tastes like chicken," he said, and he didn&039;t sound glad

"Oh" Not what she&039;d wanted to hear because she remembered how he&039;d complained about chicken in one of her visions She&039;d hoped for delicious, scruood for you, so eat it whether you like it or not"

She filled a leaf for herself, sat back and nibbled on the burned flakes Not wonderful, but not as bad as that energy bar either "I e had pizza delivery here I&039;ve alondered what one of those gooey round things taste like"

His hand frozejust in front of his mouth for a split second before he lowered it "First you knew about the Hoover, a other surface items, then you knew about my sister Katie, and now you know about pizza, yet you don&039;t knohat it tastes like I know you said you don&039;t want to talk about this, but I have to kno can you know of them, but not have experienced them? You said you never visited the surface"

She didn&039;t want to answer She could walk away froth to follow - but he&039;d just bring it up the next time he saw her Determination seeped froht of her reading hisshe&039;d watched his life unfold all these many years?

No matter the answer to that, he deserved to know

She closed her eyes and gathered her courage, then forced the words to ee "I&039;ve had visions of you

for years" There She&039;d confessed, and the rest spilled frorow frole-word questions whipped fro out "I didn&039;t see your entire Me," she assured hilimpses"

A moment passed in heavy silence while he absorbed her revelation "Glimpses of what, exactly?" Now his tone was devoid of e

"I saw your falanced away, "wolimpse to me" Still, no emotion

"I had no control over it I tried to stop them, to close my mind to them, but the harder I tried, the more visions I received"

His eyes narrowed "I don&039;t like being spied on"

"I didn&039;t spy on you," she ground out "I wish to the gods you&039;d had visions of "

His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open "That&039;s it That&039;s where I&039;ve seen you" "What?" Her brow furrowed "Where?"

"I&039;ve seen you before I told you that Remember, I asked you if we&039;d met before?" It all fell into place, and Gray&039;s fish settled like lead in his stonized who she was immediately? He&039;d known she was familiar to him the first moment he saw her

Over the years, he&039;d drea of the dreaht they were ination and the weird things he&039;d encountered, but now he replayed soh his mind

Jewel chained to a wall, her body draped in a blue robe, her black hair strea around her Men and women were paraded in front of her, so held dohile someone chopped off her hair A punish details

Jewel, trying to escape a tower, falling to the ground and breaking her leg

He shook his head, the i fury Dark, potent fury This was so hard to take in Almost impossible, really He only prayed he was mistaken, that he hadn&039;t drea," he demanded softly

Her face scrunched in confusion

"Show " He reh the skin, how she&039;d cried in pain and hours passed before anyone found her And then she&039;d been punished, forced to watch an innocent man slain Her physical wound somehow and miraculously healed days later, but a scar had re"

Surprise flashed in her eyes, but she stood and lifted her robe

His lungs constricted, and he scrubbed a hand down his face There, on her shin, was the scar His childhood drealimpses of her life, and he hadn&039;t been able to stop theh God knew he&039;d tried anything and everything to rid hiic, tortured life Therapy Hypnosis

Jewel had known one cruelty after another It had been bad enough when he assu they were real, that Jewel had truly lived those horrible things, he wanted to gather her in his arms and keep her safe for the rest of her life

"I&039;ve seen enough," he said, his tone cracked How had she survived? How had she retained such innocence? How could she still see beauty in the world?

She dropped her robe and sat back on the ground, picking up her plate, resu "What was that all about?"

"It isn&039;t one-sided," he told her, his tone flat

She paused, looked at her leg, then at hiliht with color, and her mouth formed a small O "What did you see e that she&039;d been watched, either "This and that," he answered vaguely "What was happening when I saw you that first ti paraded in front of you, then carried away or killed by the de pale, she set her leaf aside "You know of my ability to read oing with this

"Whoever owns s me their citizens and enemies alike and commands me to ferret out any betrayers The first time I refused to do this, I had to watch a man die horribly I&039;ve tried to lie, to protect the people, but I can&039;t Lying cripples me for a reason I don&039;t understand, the words frozen in s about people that I do not want to"

"I&039; there were ive her

"So many times I wished they would have simply punished me instead That I could have withstood, but no one wanted to hurt the very one who held the answers they so desired"

"Have you always had this ability?"

"Always"

"Was your mother or father - were they like you?"