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"I thought you were not convinced," Luca said.
"I looked back at you—" Theo rotated his upper body in the seat, reenacting his movements. "You were stiff. Your eyes—" He halted for a moment, an expression of distress flashing across his face. "Your eyes were open wide. You had a look on your face like you were seeing something you couldn't believe."
Luca was shaking his head. "No," he said. "I do not agree. River, I think the look on your face was fear."
I expected Theo to give some sort of sharp retort or correction, maybe pointing out that he knew me better than anyone, but he didn't. "Yeah," he said grimly. "Yeah, it was."
"Did I—" I tightened my hands around each other. "Did I shake? Maybe it was a seizure."
"If that was a seizure, it didn't look like any I've ever seen," Theo said.
I put my face in my hands, unable to take their worried expressions one second longer.
"River." Theo put a reassuring hand on my back. "I promise you, we are going to figure out what's going on."
I am here.
I unclasped my hands and put them palm-down on my thighs, then straightened up. "I'm okay," I said. "You're right. We're going to get help, and it's going to be fine."
Luca reached back with one hand and briefly squeezed my knee. "We are with you."
I took a deep breath, looking down at the ring on my finger, the rubies sparkling merrily in the dappled sunlight. I remembered Ona's words, the crimson gleam in her blue gaze. She had survived, somehow.
I am here.
I am here.
22
The rest of the car ride was so uneventful it was almost sedate. We passed through a big city, then small towns, then collections of houses that could barely be called villages. The road grew narrower, more winding, until we were climbing a two-lane road through trees so lush and thick that they blotted out the sunlight almost entirely. Theo was napping, half-buried beneath wrappers from three different sandwich shops, and Luca was on at least his fifth cup of coffee. I spent the hours focusing as hard as I could on the present: the press of my forehead on the cool window glass, the sound of the wheels on the road, the distant calls of raptors wheeling through the crystalline sky. Several times, the forced mindfulness overwhelmed me, and I found myself dozing, only to jerk awake a moment later in a panic.
"Hey." Theo's voice was gentle. He put a hand on my knee.
I rubbed my eyes. "I wasn't sleeping," I said loudly.
"You should sleep," Luca said, from the driver's seat. "Nothing will happen. We are here."
I shuddered. What if I threw open the door and flung myself out of the car? What if I reached forward and yanked the wheel from Luca's grasp? "You don't know that."
"Sure we do," Theo said easily. He reached across me and gave the door handle a tug.
I let out a horrified yelp, grabbing his arm and wrenching it away from the door, but it was too late. The latch was—
No. The latch wasn't doing anything. The door stayed firmly closed, and Theo smiled at me.
"Child safety locks," he said. "You couldn't get out if you tried."
I pressed a hand to my pounding heart. "Don't do that," I gasped.
Theo gave me a little one-shoulder shrug. "Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "Just wanted you to know you're safe."
"Doesn't help," I grumbled, but the next time I felt sleep overtaking me, I let it.
I woke with leaden limbs, my neck so stiff I could barely get my head upright. The car was stopped, the engine silent.
"Did I—" I croaked, looking from Theo to Luca.
"No," Theo said quickly. "Just sleeping."
