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My face immediately goes hot after I’ve said this. Just trying not to get myself kidnapped.
“I bear no harm,” he says, spreading his palms. “You have nothing to fear.”
“After everything I’ve seen, I think I have plenty to fear. You stay right over there. I’m not afraid to use this knife.”
He laughs warmly. “Trust me, I know better than to test an omega’s talons. Especially when they’re expecting.”
My hand reflexively goes to my stomach. “Yeah, so back off.”
“I haven’t moved at all,” he replies calmly.
“Good, stay there. And no sudden moves.”
He eyes me contemplatively and reaches into his sleeve. I grab the hilt of the blade and draw it an inch out of the scabbard.
“Hey, what’d I say?” I’m using my big bad security guard voice, but it comes out a little deflated.
He pulls out a small package, a rectangle wrapped up in a green leaf and bound in string, and holds it up so I can see it. Then he tosses it to me. The package smells a bit like barbeque—sweet, tangy and smokey—and I can feel the texture of the dried meat through the leaf. My stomach immediately rumbles. I pull the string and unfold the package. The thick jerky gleams with marinade and looks absolutely delicious. I’m way too hungry to try and be polite about taking his food. I quickly chomp a piece. The meat is surprisingly juicy and tender.
“Thank you,” I say with my mouth full. “Um…”
“Airos,” he replies with a pleased smile.
“I’m Tyler.”
As I finish the piece of jerky, Airos takes another swig from his hip gourd and hops off the rock. His green tunic is long and billowy and wraps around his body like Jedi robes.
“Share the rest with your companion,” he says, waving one hand in the air as he starts down the hill. “Get his strength back. There are many dangers around the valley when night falls.”
I stuff another strip of jerky into my mouth and watch him go. He dips below the hill and is out of sight. I’m just perplexed at the whole interaction, but thankful I have food in my stomach.
“Hey, wait!” I say, rushing to the edge of the hill. “Be careful if you’re going that direction, there was a?—”
The supermodel alpha is nowhere to be seen.
“—landslide.”
Wonderful. A new thing to add to the list of oddities—trail ghosts. Then I see something sparkling in the air like a leaf. Except it’s not a leaf. It’s a feather—a large golden feather. It flutters down into my outstretchedpalm and vanishes with a shimmer, like one of those sparkling fireworks.
That odd familiar feeling I’d gotten about the stranger suddenly clicks. I’d had that same feeling with both Kalistratos and Alyx too; I’d just not been aware of it until now. Airos was a Phoenikos. I don’t know how I know this—it’s as weird and nebulous as a gut feeling, only stronger.
But what the hell was a Phoenikos doing out here, randomly, in the middle of nowhere? Was he some kind of messenger from the Great Phoenix? Was he even real? The package of jerky in my hand says yes, and the important thing is that I have something I can give Kalistratos.
I hurry back the way I came—thank God I remember where to go—and find the olive tree where Kalistratos is.
“Kalistratos,” I say, kneeling next to him. “I’ve got some food. Hey. Yo.”
I push the strip of jerky to his lips. He responds to the smell of the meat and opens his mouth, but the jerky just wobbles back and forth with his attempt to chew and then falls flat against his face.
“Come on. You need food, that’s what will get you back to normal. Chew, damn you.” I grab his chin and try again to get him to eat, then pull back his eyelids and poke his cheek, but it’s no use. He’s out like the dead.
I plonk onto the ground beside him and chew impatiently on the meat. The shadow from the olive tree growslong across the ground as evening approaches. Birds whirl overhead as a warm breeze whips over the rocks and is sucked into the valley. I set the jerky onto Kalistratos’s chest.
“In case you change your mind,” I mutter, then go to rummage through his satchel for something I can use to make a fire.
Unfortunately, there is no box of matches or Bic lighter in there, but I do find a small leather pouch with a piece of flint inside of it. I also find the map scroll. I take it out and unroll it, just to have a look.
What is this?
