Page 4 (1/2)
"There’s snowfall twoit to the south, I take it?"
"Trying," Lewis said "This whole region’s soaked withdown There’s only so far you can push the syste I want is to start a winter storet out of here How’s Mom, by the way?"
"Quiet"
Mom? I debated it for a few seconds, then asked aloud Both hter and knotted the right boot
"Mother Earth," Lewis said "The prience of the planet Moure out if he was joking, and decided-rather grimly-that he wasn’t Great Wardens who could control all kinds of things Spooky disappearing Djinn And now the ground I alking on had so out to be a real education
I tied offmy pack David had balanced it well; it seemed to ride nicely, with no extra strain
"I can take it if you get tired," David said, walking past me
I snorted "I’m surprised you didn’t try to take it in the first place"
"I know better," he said "When you want help, you’ll ask for it"
We’d left the caain David was in front of me, Lewis ahead of hiet "David? About last nightwhat I saidabout children"
No answer He kept walking, long strides, following Lewis’s progress I had to hurry to keep up
"Is there a child?" I asked My heart was ha, and I didn’t think it was fro on?"
"Not now"
"Yeah, now Look, the way you reacted-"
"I can’t talk about it now"
"But-"
He turned, and I stumbled to a halt, suddenly aware of just how tall he was He wasn’t especially broad, but I’d had ainst his chest, and I knew that there was muscle under that checked shirt Plus, he’d throis across the clearing like a plush toy
"What do you want to know?" he asked, face taut, voice intense "That we had a child? We did Her name was Imara She was part of our souls, Jo, and how do you think it feels for nize her naust of cold wind, and followed Lewis up the slope Lewis had paused at the top, looking down at us
He didn’t say anything, just plunged down the other side I savedone foot in front of the other
I for sohter, for God’s sake How could I re and not re her, or
Or how she’d died Because even though nobody had said it, that hat everybody meant Imara had been born, and Imara had died, and I had noI’d lost, that was the piece that made me feel desperately, horribly incouess was an old-growth forest of the Great Northwest Oregon, Washington-so fast to keep his body heat up We didn’t take breaks When we finally stopped, I dropped ered off into the woods to pee When I ca, and he rapped in one of the unrolled sleeping bags, shivering
His lips and eyelids had turned a delicate shade of lilac
"Dammit, take the coat," I deet you a jacket, then! Hell, he broughtout David, I was sure "When I need one"
"Unless you’rethe new fall line of lipstick, and this season’s color is Corpse Blue, you’d better daet you one now!"
"I didn’t know you cared" Shaky sarcasood front, but it was all marshmallow and foa stuck out here" I didn’t et him a coat?" Out of the corner of ainst a tree The expression on his face ht have been a smile
"Of course," he said, and hed until I was afraid he was going to spit up a lung I did what any medically inarticulate person would do; I rubbed and pounded his back Which probably didn’t help at all, but he didn’t see, he leaned over, breathing in shallow gasps, face a dirty gray
"What’s wrong with you?" I asked "And don’t tell me you’re tired, or you’ve been up for three days, or whatever bullshit you’ve been shoveling at David"
He pressed a hand to his ribs "Took a little fall Maybe you saw it"
Oh, shit David had thrown hiain, I hadn’t figured it was any big deal
Wrong
"Earth Wardens can’t heal the Couple of broken ribs Bit of a punctured lung Nothing to alert the National Guard over"
"Can’t David just, you knooop us out of here? To wherever he goes to buy retail?"
Lewis shook his head His breathing was easing up a little "Free Djinn-well, I guess they’re all Free Djinn now-can’t take hu with them when they do that The times they’ve tried it, the results haven’t been exactly encouraging"
"Meaning?"
"Dead people"
Great So David could go in and out, but we had to hoof it "What about a helicopter? Some kind of rescue service?"