“There’s a story there,” Cameron said. “One I don’t think I’ve heard yet.”
“It doesn’t really bear repeating,” Thom said. “I was an idiot, that’s all. I thought that if I pretended I didn’t give a damn and got away from her, broke shit off with her, I could protect her from something I kept seeing.”
Cameron frowned, crossing his arms as they walked. “You guys both have visions, right?”
Thom nodded slowly. “Yeah. I was in denial about it for a long time, though—I wanted to believe what I was seeing was just nightmares.” His voice dropped. “I still hope that some of what I’ve seen are just nightmares.”
“Like what?” Cameron asked without thinking. He saw Thom wince and regretted asking.
Probably hit a nerve and probably shouldn’t have asked that question. Step lightly, remember?
“I thought I saw her die,” Thom said simply, shoving his hands deep into his pockets as they emerged from the shadows of the corridor and into the tents beyond. “I’m still not sure if I did or I didn’t, but that’s what I thought I saw and that’s what triggered everything else. I denied what I could see and that put a serious strain on our relationship, then I broke things off because I thought that maybe, just maybe, it’d protect her. Took me months and the end of the world to realize that I was probably the biggest idiot to live through the apocalypse.”
“Was that when you married her?” Cameron asked.
“Something like that,” he said.
Cameron realized it was the graveyard watch when he saw Rory sitting next to the fire and staring off into the night. The wind tugged hard on the tent’s walls, hard enough that Cameron could hear them snapping and straining against the wind.
Rory glanced toward the sound of their footsteps. “What are you two doing up?”
“Storm woke Marin and Neve,” Thom said. “Figured we’d come out and see if it’s as bad as it sounds.”
“Bad enough that Paul and Brandon went to go make sure the animals are secure,” Rory said. “They haven’t come back yet and they left ten minutes ago. Either there’s a ruckus that I can’t hear over the wind, or they got lost on the way there.”
“Could be they just decided to feed everyone as long as they were out there,” Cameron said, feeling an uncomfortable shudder in his stomach. “You know, instead of waiting until morning.”
“Maybe,” Rory agreed. “Pressure’s bad. Giving me a headache.”
“Well, if we can’t get back to sleep in a little while, maybe we’ll come relieve you,” Thom said, scrubbing a hand over his face before he yanked on his gloves. “That way, you can fall over into bed.”
Rory grunted. “I’m more worried about what it means. I’m not usually the one that gets a headache during a storm. That’s Drew’s thing.”
Cameron frowned a little. “But you’re sure it’s just the pressure change?”
“I don’t see how it could be anything else,” Rory said, then paused, looking at them for a long moment. “You’re not suggesting that it’s something else, are you?”
Thom looked at Cameron, who shifted from one foot to the other, abruptly uncomfortable.
Why the hell did I even suggest it could be something else? Of course it’s not anything else. What else would it be?
Something that Phelan or Thordin or Neve would point to—a warning. A sign. Something.
“I don’t know,” Cameron said honestly. “I really don’t know.”
