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“I dropped my cone,” Asher wailed. “Gotta get another!”
“Soon, buddy. Soon.” Gravor shut the door, cutting off Asher’s cry. “We’ve got to hide. That guy you saw in the general store . . .”
“What about him?” I peered around, scattering the tears that had formed in my eyes. That message. I knew very well what the person meant.
Our son had become a target.
“I think he could be from the commune.”
“You said they were all . . .” I lowered my voice. “You said they were dead.”
“I thought they were. I looked around after and kept going back, seeking any tracks in the area that would suggest any of them escaped, but I didn’t find any.”
Somehow, the guy had survived.
“He’ll hurt you,” I said. “Asher.” And me.
“I’m not letting anything happen to us.”
“What are we going to do?” My voice came out as a shriek. “We have to run. Hide. We’ll tell Kuunik, and he’ll know what to do.”
“He’s still overseas. I’d call him, but he’ll never get here in time. I have to act now.”
“We . . . we could go to the sheriff.”
“Is he one of us?”
I shrugged. This wasn’t something that came up in conversation.
“We can’t share all this, not with someone who’s not part of the group.”
“Betty.”
“I don’t want her to get hurt.”
She wasn’t super old, and she was still spry, but he was right. Anyone we involved could end up in the line of fire.
We needed to handle this on our own.
He waved to the car. “Let me drive?”
I gave him the keys and rushed around to the passenger side. Asher sniffed while I buckled.
“We’ll get you another cone soon, sweetie,” I said, striving to project a normal tone and expression. “Next time, I’ll give you a spoon and the entire gallon.” Something I’d done once or twice but never allowed him to do.
“Promise?”
Gravor got into the car and buckled, starting the engine.
“Promise,” I said. “We’re . . . going to take a little drive.” I had no idea where, but I trusted Gravor. He’d keep us safe.
He eased out onto the road and wove through town, ducking down side streets and sitting in parking lots behind big trucks, sometimes for half an hour.
Asher fell asleep.
“Can we go to my house and get some things?” I whispered, though there was no need to be super quiet. Asher wouldn’t wake up unless we screamed, something I was trying not to do. My baby. Gravor—the love of my life. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to them.
“I don’t dare stop at your place,” he said, his voice so stark, it made my heart come to a shuddering halt. “We’ll pick some stuff up in the next town over.” He slammed his palm on the steering wheel and ground his teeth. “I thought . . . When you told me about that guy in the store, I should’ve done something then. I thought it was nothing, just a coincidence.”
