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“Is there a problem?”
“No, just backup I didn’t ask for.” Xhex wondered where they were hiding out. “But I appreciate them looking after me.”
“It’s good to have friends.” The wolven got to her feet as well. “You’re lucky.”
Xhex focused on the female. “What’s your name?”
“Lydia.” A hand was extended. “Lydia Susi. It’s nice to meet you, Alex.”
“That’s not my real name.” She shook what was offered. “Xhex. That’s who I am.”
A true smile came back at her, the kind that lit up those eyes. “Nice to meet you.”
Don’t do it, Xhex told herself.
Except… of course she read the female’s grid.
“Oh, shit,” she murmured.
“What? Are you all right?”
How do I explain, Xhex wondered.
“Ah, sorry. Nothing—I just… I know your man’s sick. And that’s got to be fucking awful.”
“It is… a living nightmare. I’m just muddling through, really—I worry about him, he worries about me. It’s a circle of madness that spins faster and faster as time gets tighter and tighter. I get these flares of hope and then we grate against each other and then… we find a connection. There’s no consistency to anything other than the terminal diagnosis.”
If only it were Rehv stalking around in the shadows, Xhex thought. He could tell them all why in the hell he—
All at once, an image of the entity Xhex had run into on the trail from before crossed her mind… sure as if it had been implanted into her skull.
“I think I know why we’re all here,” she said with a kind of defeat.
Blade, that bastard, had told her to come here, not Rehv. Rehv might have been the conduit… but what her brother had set her up for was the destiny. Was this her journey? Just to pass along what she had seen of that glowing entity? If so, being a messenger wasn’t a tough job—except what the fuckdid it have to do with the nightmares from the past that had haunted her for so long?
Although not anymore. She hadn’t woken up screaming during the day for months.
“Your Daniel told me he was worried about leaving you all alone,” she heard herself say to the wolven. “So there really is no medical hope for him, is there.”
Lydia took a deep breath. “No, there isn’t.”
Xhex narrowed her eyes as the female’s grid shifted: She was lying. “None?”
When a quick shake of the head came back at her, Xhex left that alone. “Well, he’s concerned that he’s going to die, and there’s going to be no one who will help you through your grief.”
As she spoke, it was strange. The voice was hers… but the words felt like someone else’s, like an energy was flowing through her to the female.
“You need to come to the mountain,” Xhex said. “This is the place where you will find your support.”
Or more like, it will find you.
Lydia put her hand on the base of her throat. Then she began to blink quicker.
Xhex reached out and touched the female’s shoulder. “You’re supposed to be here. I think that’s why you and I were put together through your man. You need to go and find the light. You need to hear the message that there is something here for you, and it will be your solace when you feel likethere is no peace to be found anywhere. The mountain has something to tell you—just like it had something to tell me. The light… is the key.”
Lydia sniffled and wiped her eyes. Then wrapped her arms around herself. “How… did it speak to you?”
“Look, I realize that you don’t know me, so there’s no frame of reference. But when I tell you I’m not into the whole divine-message thing, you’ve got to believe me.” Xhex rubbed her short hair, running her palm back and forth over her skull. “I came here one night, not knowing what to expect. I walked up the trail and this… I don’t know what the hell it was… appeared in front of me. I didn’t understand it then, but the only way this moment here, between you and me, makes any fucking sense, is that I’m supposed to tell you to come up and find it, too.”
