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Chapter Six
Prophecy
For the first five minutes, I couldn’t believe she was lying against me. And then I recalled the ache in my injured shoulder. Where she lay. I was fairly certain she’d fallen right to sleep, but I still didn’t move for another half hour.
When I finally shifted, my arm gave a scream of relief and my shoulder a cry of pain. Emily mumbled something unintelligible and slid lower until her head rested on my leg and her shoulder against the floor. I attempted to adjust the blanket to better cover her, but she had it tucked up under her chin in a tight fist.
And then my arm just hovered there, over her. She was finally still. And cold. And had lost her sister.
Everything about her begged to be touched. And yet, even with her head against my leg, I hesitated. It seemed important somehow. My hand ached to wrap around her. I settled for an elbow, placing the length of my arm over hers to keep her warm, and she squeezed her arms tighter into her chest, and then snuggled closer.
It was becoming harder not to fall asleep. After so many hours, my breath began to match the slow, drawn-out rhythm of hers. Our body heat began to level out between the cover and carpet, and even the ache of my shoulder became a dull background noise to the dust motes that danced in the tiny rays of dim light filtering through the blinds. My eyelids were getting heavy, but I knew I couldn’t sleep. Not even here.
There was no way to be certain Morgan couldn’t find us. No guarantee that at any moment a dark figure wouldn’t pass in front of our window on its way to the door, leaving no more than a brief shadow in its wake… a brief shadow over the dust motes floating among the rays of afternoon light.
I cursed, suddenly roused from my stupor.
Emily jerked awake. I held her still for a moment, my hand hard on her shoulder. I didn’t hear the door.
I slid carefully from beneath her, and then tight against the wall to see out the window. A tall, dark-skinned man in a business suit was crossing the lawn. He peered into the windows of the house next door, and then crossed the street to check there.
I watched him until he was three houses down. Emily moved silently beside me, her body flat against the wall in waiting.
“He’s looking for us,” I whispered, “but it seems pretty random. He’s undoubtedly swept the entire area.”
Emily leaned in front of me to peek out the space between the blind and the frame.
Her face was inches from mine when she whispered hopefully, “He left his car.”
I shook my head. “Right now, they don’t know we’re here. If we take the car, we’d be giving them a lead.”
She nodded, and the little sigh of breath she let go hit the skin of my neck.
I had to touch her again. My hand found her waist. “We need to let him get out of here, report back that he didn’t find any sign of us. And then we’ll go.”
“To Brianna?” she asked.
“To a safe house. Somewhere Morgan can’t find you and the others can protect you.” And I would have to leave her.
“Is that where Bri is?” she said. “I know you can’t tell me, but I mean, is that the kind of place she’s in?”
Against all reason, my head gave a small nod.
“Then why can’t we go there?” She leaned closer, her whispers taking on an edge of desperation. “If she’s safe there, then we’d be safe there.”
“No. I won’t risk it. Morgan is searching for us as we speak.”
“He’s searching for her, too,” she argued. “And if all he plans to do with me is use me against Brianna, then the best place for us to be is together. If he gets to her, then at least I’ll be with her.”
“I can’t take you to her.”
“But—”
I cut her off. “I will keep her from Morgan. I won’t risk him getting to her. There are things you don’t know, and you’re just going to have to trust me until I sort things out.”
She opened her mouth to protest and then suddenly stopped. I couldn’t tell whether she’d held back her retort, or simply realized she was nearly pressed up against me as we argued in undertones. She stepped back and leaned once more on the wall, staring across the room rapt in thought.
We were both silent as the man reappeared on the street and walked toward his car. The muffled thump of a car door, and then the engine turning over, and he was driving away. And I was alone with Emily again, with seventy miles of road between us and the safe house I wanted her in.
