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“Hold on just a second, Kalistratos,” Tyler says. “Don’t get the wrong idea. There’s something out here tonight, and I wasn’t going to sit here and let it get me while you sleep.”
“And a kiss would save you,” I say with a smile.
The branches shake over our heads as sparks whirl off the fire into the wind, which rushes over us like a god’s breath.
“I’m regretting it now,” he says as he pushes his face into his palms.
I’m surprised by the kiss, of course. I didn’t expect such boldness from Tyler, and I’m impressed by his resourcefulness. It did work. But the fact that the taste of his lips couldreplenish my energy at all is unexpected. It feels like I’m seeing him for the first time.
Slowly, I get up onto one knee. My entire body is sore. Something slides off my chest and falls onto the ground. It’s a small bundle of dried meat wrapped up in an astragalos leaf.
I hold it up. “Where did you get this?”
Tyler perks up with excitement. “Oh my god. You’re never going to believe this, Kalistratos. I met another Phoenikos.”
“What? Where?”
“Yeah. Near the road. His name is Airos, and he gave me this when I was trying to trap a rabbit.”
“You were trying to trap a rabbit?”
“What, you think that kissing you was the first thing I thought of? I was trying to get us food.”
“You must be mistaken,” I say. “How do you know he was a Phoenikos?”
“The feather kind of gave it away.”
Now I’m very suspicious. “They shifted in front of you?”
“No, but they were there one moment and gone thenext, and they left this golden feather floating in the air that looked a hell of a lot like what you showed me.”
I turn over the bundle in my hand, inspecting it cautiously. There’s nothing unusual about it, except for who it came from. I give it a sniff.
“It’s meat,” Tyler says.
“It could be cursed.”
He gives me a look. “It’s not. I ate some of it. Why would a Phoenikos want to curse me?”
“There are malevolent beings that can take the shape of any creature they wish.”
“You mean like Alyx? Who’s…a Phoenikos?”
“No, not like Alyx. I’m talking about trickster spirits.”
Tyler doesn’t look convinced or disturbed. He shakes his head. “This guy was a Phoenikos, I’m telling you. I can’t explain it, but there was this energy I could feel from him. I realized I felt the same way being around you and Alyx. Maybe he was sent by this Great Phoenix of yours?”
It’s beyond probability that fortune or fate would bring another one of my clan across our path—but it was also beyond probability that I would meet an omega from another world. Tyler is certain of what he’s saying; I can see it in his eyes.
I smell the meat again—smoke and honey—then tear off a chunk with my teeth. It’s delicious.
“You believe me?” he asks.
“I don’t know what I believe anymore. Life has become quite strange since I’ve met you, Tyler. I do believe that I’m fucking starving, though. And I do believe this is bringing me back to life.”
“Good,” he says with a smile. “Because I’m not giving you another kiss. What happened to you, anyway?”
“As it turns out, bending time for two is not as easy as it is for one. I didn’t know it would happen. I’m sorry for leaving you without warning.”
