by S D Hegyes
Just in case, she thought to herself as she slipped on her boots and pulled on her hat.
Once she was ready to go, she unlocked the door and opened it enough to slip through. The wind howled through the house for a moment, and then it died down as Sorsha pulled the door closed behind her.
Outside, she took a deep breath and released it in a rush. She’d grown up in Montana. She knew what the weather was like, and while it was chilly, she knew it would warm up before the day was through.
With a nod to herself, she set off for Little Bighorn. It was closer to Shaded Glade, and probably the easiest place to find a ride to Hardin with so many people visiting the monument.
It only took her thirty minutes to get there, and she’d long finished her apple and one of the water bottles by then. Part of her was tempted to eat the turkey sandwich, but she knew that wasn’t a good idea. She needed to save that for lunch. Even if it meant she remained a little hungry now.
As she shoved the empty water bottle back in her purse, she stood looking at the closed entrance to the monument.
It wasn’t open yet.
She growled at her own stupidity. Of course it wasn’t open. It wasn’t even half-past five in the morning. She doubted anyone would arrive for another hour and a half. Maybe even closer to two. She was so used to coming when it was closed, she’d forgotten the monument’s actual hours of operations.
“Stupid!” she snarled at herself as she paced before the gate, pondering her next plan.
A growl of frustration erupted from her throat. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of that. She grabbed the edges of her hat and tugged it down over her eyes, muttering under her breath.
“I can’t believe I was so stupid,” she told herself.
“You’re here early,” a voice said close to her ear.
Sorsha jumped, her hand on her chest as she swiveled around and stared at a grinning Abaddon with wide eyes. Her gaze drifted over him, taking in his appearance before she met his dark eyes again.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Was walking past when I saw you. What are you doing here?”
She chuckled. “I forgot it wasn’t open yet. I’m so used to coming at night after everyone’s left, I forgot the hours it’s open.”
Abaddon grinned and teased her. “Going to speak with spirits for people?”
“No,” she said with a small laugh. “I need a ride to Hardin.” She jerked her thumb back toward town. “I was going to hitch one. It’s only about twenty minutes from here.”
“A ride to Hardin?” He cocked his head to the side, dark eyes glittering with interest. “What are you doing in Hardin?”
“Talking to a recruiter.” She put her hands on her hips and smiled at him.
He nodded. “Ah. That’s how you plan on escaping.”
Her head bobbed up and down, making him laugh. She grinned, a huff of a laugh escaping between her lips as she did.
“So,” he said. “Need a ride?”
She turned to him. “Got a car?”
“No, but I can borrow one.”
Her brows rose. “Are you going to steal it?”
Abaddon laughed. “No.” He pointed at her. “That’s an interesting thought though. I like the way you think.”
“It was the way you said it.” She shrugged and looked around. “I don’t see a car.”
He followed her gaze. “That’s because it’s back at the hotel.”
“Hotel?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his head. “We’re staying at the hotel until we move on. I give it until Saturday or Sunday, max, and we’ll be on the road again.”
That caught her attention. “Oh?”
He gestured down the road away from the monument, and they started toward the main highway. “We move around a lot. Maybe one day we won’t, but for now, we do.”
“Running away from someone?” she teased, but when he didn’t answer, she looked at him, but he seemed lost in his thoughts. Maybe he hadn’t heard her. His eyes had a haunted glaze over them though, making her think he had.
“Everything alright?”
He shook his head and frowned at her. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Sorsha shrugged. “I’m sorry if I hit a nerve. I get the feeling it’s not all sunshine and rainbows on your end.”
Laughter filled the cold air. “That’s funny. Sunshine and rainbows.”
“It’s a phrase. You haven’t heard it before?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and his laughter halted with his silence. “No. I don’t get out much.”
“And I thought I lived among cave people.” Then she remembered his accent. “Or maybe it’s an American thing. Where are you from anyway?”
“Recently? Texas. I like it there. Hot but good. Interesting.”
“I mean country,” she pointed out. “I don’t recognize the accent.”
“That’s because it’s a mix of German and Japanese. I’m half-German, half-Japanese, and until I moved to the States, I lived in Germany for. . .” He trailed off as he counted on his fingers. “Many years,” he concluded with a grin.
“That’s cool.” She nodded. “I’d love to visit Germany one day. Been to Auschwitz?” She turned toward him and grabbed his arm. She felt him tense for a moment through the material of his jacket, but then he relaxed.
“Once or twice. Why?” He glanced at her before looking ahead again, not meeting her eyes for some reason.
“I’ve heard it still smells like a concentration camp. Even though they’re gone.” She shook her head. “I’m curious if it’s true.”
He frowned, looking down at the ground. She pondered for a moment if she shouldn’t have said anything. Was she being insensitive? If she was, he didn’t mention it.
“Places have power. Whether that power is good or bad depends on how the place is used.” He pointed behind them at the monument. “Take Little Bighorn for example. It’s the location of a tragedy in the US, but it’s become a burial ground for so many in good ways. The land is covered in spilled blood and power emanates from it.” He gestured to her. “I imagine you’ve felt it.”
She had.
“It’s the same with Auschwitz. It makes my skin crawl. So much happened there. So much blood spilled and so much pain and violence caused, and yet, it’s a symbol of what the country went through. It’s a mark of what we should avoid in the future as we move on.”
His words left her skin tingling. She couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. She rubbed her arms, trying to make the sensation end.
“Cold?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m fine actually. Just thinking.”
Abaddon glanced at her. “Thinking about what?”
“About all the places in the world like that. How many places have had so much catastrophic things occur that they hold power? And what gives them that power? Is it the blood spilled or something else?”
He laughed. “Getting a little—what’s the word for it?”
“Metaphysical?” She had no clue.
“I have no idea,” he admitted and laughed. “I have no idea what word I was searching for in English, but at this point, I don’t know if I know it in German or Japanese either.”
“How long have you spoken English?”
He shrugged. “A while, but obviously not long enough.”
Wow. Sorsha’s eyes widened. She’d heard that people from foreign countries often spoke multiple languages. Abaddon was the first person she’d met who did though. Impressive.
“What part of Germany are you from?” She didn’t know anything about Germany outside of what she’d learned about in her history books, but she asked anyway. She wanted to know as much about Abaddon as she could in the time she had. It seemed he planned on moving soon anyway.
She stopped short. Abaddon was leaving. She was too, but she didn’t have an exact date of her departure. He did. Over the weekend. The fair woul
d be the last thing they could do together.
His head tipped up, as if he realized she’d stopped, and he turned toward her. “You alright?”
“You’re leaving at the end of the week?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Probably. It’s not set in stone yet.”
“Oh.” She looked down at the ground. It didn’t change matters, and his nonchalance only depressed her.
Abaddon seemed to realize he’d upset her. He returned to her side and tipped her chin up. “Sorsha, I plan on seeing you every day I can until either one of us leaves town, but maybe it’s time we face facts. Whatever this is between us?” He gestured between the two of them. “Don’t lie and tell me it’s nothing or you wouldn’t be asking so many questions.”
His smile warmed her even as she flushed. She had begun to question if everything between them was all one-sided.
“Whatever this is between us, it’s temporary for both of us. We both have our own plans for our lives, and neither of us need to try to make this something it can’t be. Deal?”
Sorsha hated it, but he was right. Neither of them could afford to make this more than it was already. She struggled with herself for a moment. She weighed the pros and cons of starting a relationship with someone when they were both going to go their separate ways in the end.
She also studied Abaddon’s face, but he kept it neutral. She’d never met anyone who could do that as well as he could. It intrigued her because there was no way that came naturally to him. Who had he had to hide his emotions from?
Finally, she sighed and dropped her hands to her sides. “Fine. Deal.” She stuck out her hand.
Emotion flickered across Abaddon’s face as he looked down at her hand. Shock. Surprise.
He opened and closed his hand, looking at hers as if debating whether or not to take it.
What was going on? Did he not want to touch her hand? Was there something wrong with her?
Abaddon took a step toward her, closing the distance between them. He still didn’t touch her though. What was he doing? When he looked around behind her, toward the hotel, she got the feeling he wasn’t trying to do anything more but shield their actions from view. Why though?
Then he took her hand.
The moment his skin touched hers, her eyes flared yellow. Her mouth opened in shock and she stared. Yellow swirled around their conjoined hands, pale and twisting like smoke.
She yanked her hand away. “I’m sorry,” she said to him. “I don’t know what that was about.”
He chuckled, and her eyes met his. There was a flash of crimson, too quick for her to think she’d done anything more than imagine it.
Before she could stop him, he reached out and took her hand again. He held her gaze even as her eyes changed from gray to yellow again and the same misty smoke wrapped around their hands.
“Fascinating,” he whispered in awe.
“It’s why I’m a freak,” she said, pulling away once more and shoving her hand in her pocket. She wouldn’t meet his gaze, as her face twisted in the same pain that constricted her chest.
“You’re not a freak, Sorsha,” he said, but he didn’t try to touch her again. Rather, he backed away and walked past her, heading toward the hotel once more.
She shook herself clear of her emotions, telling herself she didn’t need to show Abaddon how depressed being a freak made her.
The corners of her mouth stretched into a smile. He’d touched her, not once, but twice and her power had reacted. On top of that, he hadn’t called her a freak, as the others had. He found her. . .
“Fascinating.” Her eyes widened as she repeated the word he’d used and spun her head around to watch him walk away. Even now, he was giving her space to gather herself, but he’d accepted her, told her she was fascinating.
She turned and caught up with him, a million questions running through her mind. “So, tell me about the places you’ve been. Is there a reason you’re moving around so much?”
He stuck his hands in his pockets with a grin. “We, my family and I, like traveling. We’re spending a week or two in each spot until we find a place to settle down for a while.”
“How long have you been in the States? You make it sound like you’ve only been here a short while, and yet you speak English with only a hint of an accent.”
Abaddon caught her gaze. “We’ve been stateside only a couple of months now.”
Her eyes widened. “Whoa. Your English is pretty good.”
At that, he laughed. “I learned English a long time ago. Most Americans who go overseas don’t know another language besides English. I adapted.”
Sorsha frowned. “It shouldn’t be that way. Someone should have a general idea of the language they’re speaking when they visit a country.” She shrugged. “That’s my opinion at least.”
“It wouldn’t bother me if some of those same Americans weren’t hypocritical.”
“What do you mean?” They paused at the edge of the highway, but it was still early enough there was no traffic to be seen either direction.
“Well, a lot of the Americans I’ve met in Germany would have a lot to say—negatively, mind you—about a visitor from Germany coming to the U.S. and not knowing English. That’s a bit hypocritical of them, is it not?”
She nodded. “It is. I see what you’re saying. If there was less of that, it would be more fun? Easier? Understandable?”
“All three?” He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah. Let’s go with all three choices.”
He stopped between two cars and looked at her. “I have to talk to my cousin real quick. Get the keys. Be back in a couple of minutes.” He studied her face for a moment. She wasn’t sure what he saw, but he seemed to struggle with himself for a moment before he said, “Stay here, alright?” He held up his hands, palms down, and lowered them a little, as if trying to calm her.
She chuckled at his antics. “I’m not a dog, but I’ll stay here while you grab the keys.” She leaned against the sedan she’d seen him and the other three arrive in and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting as she said she would.
With a chuckle, he climbed the stairs and rapped on the door to a room she couldn’t see from the angle where she stood.
Sorsha had always had decent hearing. When she’d been in school, she’d passed every hearing test with flying colors, hearing every beep of the machine talking in her ear.
It stumped every doctor who claimed it was impossible for her hearing to be that good. She had to be memorizing the pattern in which the beeps occurred and clicking the button when they should sound, despite not hearing them.
She wasn’t, and as much as she tried to tune out the conversation, she couldn’t help but hear it. They were above her about twenty or so feet after all. If that.
Someone opened the door shortly after the knock and Abaddon said, “Can I borrow the car?”
“What?” Whoever answered the door was a male. Sorsha wondered which of the two men it was.
“I need to make a run to Hardin. Can I drive the car?”
“I don’t see why not.” There was silence but Sorsha heard the jangle of keys a moment later. “Why are you going to Hardin?” Another yawn.
“I’m going to hunt,” Abaddon said.
Sorsha’s hands dropped to her sides. What? Surely, she’d misheard him. She glanced up, but she couldn’t see either man from where she stood, and fear trickled through her. Why was Abaddon lying? Or was he lying?
“Be careful, alright? Don’t get caught.”
“Don’t plan on it.” There was another jangle of keys. “Be back in a couple of hours. Don’t wait up, Dad.”
“You and your nicknames.”
Sorsha grinned at that, despite the fear rippling through her at the earlier statements. She could hear the teasing in Abaddon’s voice as he continued talking.
“Hey, you two make it so easy. You both hate it so much.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“At least I don’t call you Gramps.”
The other man snorted. “I’m not that old. I get it though. You’re a young, hip thing compared to me.” She heard the door shutting as he added, “I’m going back to bed.”
“Good night, Sleeping Beauty.”
“Night.”
Sorsha crossed her arms over her chest again and stared out toward the monument even as she heard Abaddon come down the stairs. Her mind pondered over the conversation, trying to make sense of everything she’d heard.
Hunt? What was Abaddon hunting? She knew he was dangerous, but now she worried she’d underestimated how dangerous.
“Hey.” He brushed his fingers against her arm, getting her attention without startling her. She turned toward him, studying him even as he held up the keys. “Got the keys. Ready to go?”
Abaddon was dangerous. She knew that. She’d always known that. The vibe of danger he put off never wavered. However, something told her that danger would never be aimed at her. She didn’t know why that was, but she trusted her instincts, and that was what they told her.
“Sure,” she said with a grin. “Ready when you are.”
12
Most of the trip was quiet. Sorsha didn’t have a lot to say. She ate the sandwich she’d packed and drank her second bottle of water. She offered Abaddon part of the sandwich, but he declined.
After finishing it, she spent most of the time looking out the window at things as they passed. The closer they got to the city, the wider her eyes got.
A handful of times she thought she saw Abaddon open and close his mouth, as if he wanted to speak but thought better of it.
Finally, she laughed. “It’s been so long,” she said in a low voice as she shook her head. She glanced over her shoulder at Abaddon. “I’d forgotten how big the city was, how much stuff is here.”
He nodded. “Where to first?”
“What time is it?” She glanced at the car’s clock without waiting for an answer. “Neither place I need to go will be open yet. I guess I really didn’t think this out well.”
“Where do you need to go? Remind me?”
She nodded. “Recruitment office and courthouse.”
“Courthouse?” He glanced at her, his brows coming together in his confusion.