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“Okay. So, if I’m one of them now, then they should help me out.” Erin’s gut roiled with anxiety.
The misgivings were plain on Meri’s face. “I mean, sure, that makes sense. You’re pretty much in or out with them.”
“But not always in?” Erin brushed tears from her face.
“Not always. But again, I can’t rightly say.” Meri’s composure broke for a moment, compassion warring with her measured demeanor. “Fuck it,” she murmured to herself, digging into her pocket and pulling out a small stone. Meri hesitated a moment and then held it out to Erin. “Here, take this.”
Erin held out her uninjured hand, and Meri dropped the stone into her palm. The stone was hot against her flesh, palpable waves of energy thrumming across her skin. “What’s it do?”
“It’s my calling card. If things go sideways, hold on to it and think of me, and I’ll show up.”
“Thank you, Meri.” Erin pocketed the stone, not understanding how that might work, but not doubting Meri for a moment. Having a stone as a calling card was perhaps the least odd thing that had happened lately. “But I thought you couldn’t help me?”
“I mean, I technically can’t. But call me if you need to, and hell, I’ll do something.” Meri looked like she’d swallowed a bitter pill. Her brow and lips scrunched up into frowns.
“You’re solid, you know that?” Erin replied.
Meri sighed. “I’ve been in similar shoes, and you deserve to have someone watching your back.”
Drums beat somewhere in the hills, and Erin shot to her feet, feeling driven toward the sound. Was it hills or towering buildings? She couldn’t pinpoint the source. Only that she felt it soaring through her, calling her name.
“I am called.”
Meri shook her head and waved her off. “Get down with your touched self.”
Erin shot down the road, answering the call in her blood.
CHAPTER21
ERIN
An edge of frustration and anger fueled Erin’s speed as she flew through the city. Erin had persevered for years to get that entry-level job at Pythia, and the waitress job, although less prestigious, hadn’t exactly fallen into her lap either. Everything had finally started to come together.
And just as Erin was moving up at the marketing firm, just when she thought everything was coming together, the bottom inevitably dropped out. Her future now laid in a pile, shattered into a million tiny shards of ruin.
It’s the moment the cosmos tells you your dreams don’t matter one iota. That everything you’ve clung to for so long is without merit. And it’s the moment you’re utterly destroyed and reborn, all in an instant. Stripped of all that was, stripped of the assumptive yoke you’ve thoughtlessly given yourself over to, at this moment, this singular instant, your eyes have a spark of clarity.
At least the sienna and orange-toned dusk was breathtaking, a welcome relief from her beleaguered thoughts. Luckily, the Corporations had yet to figure out a way to charge citizens for the beautiful sunsets and mountain views of Colorado. Except for the value added city tax, a charge based on the added quality of life for living in nicer areas.
Damn the Corporations.
Whatever had happened to Erin out in those woods, she knew this moment was a culmination of that raw, elemental power. Something had taken root in her, shook her foundation to the core, and cracked open her base. Although she’d lost her jobs and for all she knew she’d be out on the street in T-Minus two weeks, this moment was worth every second.
She had to find him. Find answers to what had happened to her.
Erin came to a stop, the air around her a mini whirlwind of dust and leaves. Where was she? The uplifted, scarlet sandstone ridge of the hogback rising before her marked Erin’s location as just outside of Morrison. The iconic landmark separated the metro area from the mountainous wilderness beyond. The outgrowth of city homes and buildings pressed to the very edge, but none crossed the ridge top.
Turning away from the city, Erin headed deeper into the mountains, returning to the place of her transformation, seeking answers from the man with the long, golden hair.
Right now, she felt so alive, so fully drawn into her own skin it crackled with anticipation, and she might just burst. Was she scared? Sure, her heart was beating at a million miles an hour, but the surrounding colors were vivid and alive in a way she’d never seen before. No, that’s not true. They’d been like this in the forest. Withhim. But now, that same clarity was here, and yet she was all alone. Or was she? The air itself vibrated around her. Was this real or an illusion? But then she caught the scent,hisscent. Musky, earthy, full of green spring shoots and a hint of wine. Her lips curled as she panted, anticipating.
The hunt was on.
She sprinted even faster, running past the city limits and up into the hills. Erin sped toward her favorite haunt, returning to the scene of the crime. Could she find it again in the fading light of the day? Even as the dusk progressed into evening, her vision remained acute and her memory of the location uncommonly clear.
There were no drums to guide Erin, but she caught glimpses of the light of a bonfire in the distance and knew she’d returned to the scene of the prior bacchanal. Erin slowed her pace, striding into the open glen.
Only one man stood near the fire, his eyes unerringly on Erin as she approached. The only noises were the crackling of the wood as the roaring fire licked around it, reaching toward the sky, and the sound of wind blowing gently through the boughs above. He was dressed casually, in a linen shirt and khakis, his hair a touch unkempt and the long strings of beads around his neck reminding her of meditation stones. His skin shone with a slight golden hue, as if he’d dusted himself with glitter on the way to this odd meeting. He looked for all the world like a burner lost in the woods, except she knew he wasn’t lost.
