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It makes me want to sob.
“Ten minutes to landing. Please buckle your seatbelt. You unbuckled it in your sleep.”
I hear a whine from Winnie in my lap, her little pink tongue licking my thumb. Unfocused eyes, dry and heavy-lidded, open slowly.
I stare out the plane's window at the vast darkness below, the plane's wing lights blinking a dull red. I've been lucky to sleep through the night, waking up a few times to the plane's bumps and turns. I missed the take off, but I'm awake now.
I pretend to fall asleep again. I am very good at pretending.
It's how I listen. How I learn.
And how I know more than they realize.
"You did good," Malcolm murmurs to Jason, who makes a snorting sound.
"I could have done better."
"You did better than good. Rudy was stupid. What the hell was he thinking?"
"The princess is safe, isn't she? That's all that matters."
"Yes. She is safe. But now we need to keep her safe until she reaches her husband."
"Because of the men?"
"Yes."
"You're in charge of her security now?" That's Malcolm, asking Jason.
"After that stunt Rudy pulled, you bet I am. And she is safe. The men can't get to her." Jason sighs. "But there's more."
"Not that you've told me about."
"Can't. You know that."
"But you have told me about the men."
"I have."
"She's just a girl."
"A girl who will save the world."
I'm not a girl, I want to protest. I'm twenty-four. Almost old enough to fulfill the prophecy.
So close.
Guilt pours through me. I shouldn't eavesdrop. They tell me what I need to know.
I need to tell them. Need to tell them I've been listening. Need to tell them to forget it all.
I am a twenty-four-year-old woman.
But then I see them behind my closed eyelids.
The men.
Hundreds of them.
