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tasted old blood fro have I

been here?"

"In this rooers over his stomach

His hair, which floated around his shoulders, was as snohite as

his beard, although his upper lip was bare But the reseht and black and keen as

an old prophet’s "Six days ago I arrived last night just before sunset

I was here when you surfaced the first tiht the emphasis "What do you mean, in this room?

Where was I before?"

"What do you remember?"

"Snow," he said, hoarsely He didn’t want to think about the

drealass, and the sound of the

lier-trap What else?"

"Weight on my back, and I remember the cold, and it hurt

my chest, whenever I tried to move I couldn’t breathe, like kn-knives

" He was starting to shiver "I c-couldn’t"

"Easy" The oldhand on Chris’s forearm

"That’s in the past"

"But how far in the past?"

"Teeks"

"I’ve been out for teeks?" His heart skipped "What month

is it?"

"It’s the end of the first week of March Take it easy, Chris You’re

safe now"

"That’s what you keep saying Was I in a coer-trap Hannah said you couldn’t

breathe, were in intense pain, had lost a tremendous amount of

blood Every time they tried tochest was suddenly prickly with sweat

"II couldn’t"

"Take it easy" The old ," he whispered "When Hannah gave ht it was poison and she was trying to kill uess" It was all a bad dream, like the one about my dad and h or break into

tears "I dreaht I was dead"

"That’s because, for all intents and purposes," the old man said,

"you were"

56

"What?" When he tried to start up fro into his wrists and ankles "What are you talking about? What are you saying?"

"Easy, Christopher," the old ht he was screa, but he could only ainst the sheets, his neck so stiff he heard the creak of bone "You’re telling me I was dead? That Hannah really poisoned , to help you let go She stayed with you until you slipped away It didn’t take long You were quite weak already If Ellie hadn’t found you when she did and sent Eli for help, you ot to you"

"Ellie and her dog k-kept ed as he collapsed back onto the bed "They kept me arm" Chris’s eyes burned, and when he closed the? Embarrassed, he rolled his face away

"Yes, our little fisherwoman’s quite resourceful," the old ht pressure of a thu away the wet on his face "It is not weakness to beco boy, Christopher"

"But how can I still be alive?" Chris whispered He opened his eyes "You said I was dead I f-felt iven poison that should’ve killed you but didn’t You should be dead, but you’re not" The old entle hand on Chris’s cheek, a touch for which Chris was alrateful "I can’t explain it"

"Maybe it wasn’t as bad as Hannah thought" He could feel the tears dribbling into his hair "She shouldn’t have done that I’h, but would you have drunk poison willingly? Would you have had faith in a girl you’d neverto die and this was , wasn’t she?"

"She may have beenmistaken about the extent of your injuries Hannah’s quite skillful She’ll be a fine healer someday But no, she’s not a doctor"

"Are you?"

"No But I’ve been a healer for a very long tier-trap"

"How did they" He heard hiet the trap off It hurt too ue Hannah orried I would bleed even ht" The old man’s tone was dry, factual "After you slipped away, they turned you over and pulled you off I believe they cut a spike or two to do it"

Cutthe door and his li pinned to a dissecting pad, stroked the s his neck They would’ve bundled hi his wrapped corpse onto a horse Or had the horse drag ot spooked He supposed he was lucky they hadn’t decided to bury him under rocks

"Nathan was hit with a ? I heard his neck break Did he cole" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>