After staring at me for a long moment, Phelan just shook his head with a quiet sigh.\u00a0 \u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah.\u201d\u00a0 He shoved his hands into his pockets, leaning against some nearby shelves laden with dishes and cooking utensils.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no sense in me stirring up any trouble when I need you two to be thinking logically with all the rest of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
I snorted humorlessly.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not sure how much rational there\u2019s going to be when it comes to parlaying with Cariocecus.\u00a0 You were going to kill him, remember?\u201d<\/p>\n
His nose wrinkled.\u00a0 \u201cI was,\u201d he admitted, \u201cbut something keep telling me that he\u2019s going to be more useful to us alive than he would be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you willing to stake our lives on that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision\u2019s not mine to make.\u201d\u00a0 Phelan fetched down two mugs.\u00a0 \u201cAnd that\u2019s exactly what I told him when he asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat decision are we making about questions who\u2019s asking?\u201d\u00a0 Tala seemed impossibly cheerful given the hour as she joined us near the fire, barely glancing at the kettle of water Phelan settled over the fire.\u00a0 She shot me a grin as she set down a small sack of potatoes on the table she used for food prep a few feet away from the fire.\u00a0 Pretty soon, she\u2019d be too rounded to use it properly.<\/p>\n
Twins.\u00a0 Christ.\u00a0 As if it wasn\u2019t going to be hard enough for all of us, the first ones to be born in this new world are going to be <\/i>twins.<\/i><\/p>\n
Twins born to a mother who was alone in the world except for us, her friends.\u00a0 Kurt, Tala\u2019s boyfriend, had been visiting his family on the east side of the state when the world ended.\u00a0 Odds are that he was dead like most of the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
All in all, Tala was handling that surprisingly well these days.<\/p>\n
\u201cCariocecus,\u201d I said, watching her face as I said it.\u00a0 \u201cHe made Phelan an offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made all of us an offer.\u00a0 I\u2019m just the messenger.\u201d\u00a0 Phelan rescued the kettle from the fire and started brewing up two mugs of tea from herbs he plucked from his pouch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he want?\u201d\u00a0 Tala asked quietly, her expression suddenly serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cA truce,\u201d Phelan said.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s all.\u00a0 Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tala snorted.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my reaction, too,\u201d I said, stretching slightly.\u00a0 \u201cBut we need to be open-minded about this.\u00a0 It might not hurt to entertain the possibility of talking<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s certainly a different tune from the one you were singing before,\u201d Phelan observed as he passed me one of the two mugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, well,\u201d I lied, \u201cI thought about it and maybe it\u2019s not as terrible of an idea as I thought.\u201d\u00a0 Besides, you did say that we\u2019d get information out of him at the very least.<\/i>\u00a0 \u201cMaybe I like the idea of someone else getting chewed up before things start trying to chew us up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phelan smiled wryly. \u201cThat might happen, but then again, it might not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course not.\u00a0 We\u2019ve apparently garnered too many enemies already\u2014all without trying.<\/i><\/p>\n
The curse of bloodlines and gifts we still didn\u2019t quite understand\u2014destinies we still couldn\u2019t quite fathom.<\/p>\n
I glanced at Phelan as my fingers wrapped around the warm ceramic of the mug.\u00a0 The knowledge he carried would be the key to our understanding.\u00a0 I knew that, now.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t back when I\u2019d first met him, though I\u2019d liked him, trusted him, almost instantly.<\/p>\n
I hadn\u2019t had occasion to regret it yet.<\/p>\n
He saw me watching and frowned. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter now?\u00a0 Something on my face?\u201d<\/p>\n
I choked on a laugh and shook my head.\u00a0 \u201cNo, nothing.\u00a0 Weren\u2019t you going to get Thom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were fairly keen on me not<\/i> rounding up your husband.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to tell him I had a vision,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cBut to talk about this?\u00a0 You\u2019d better get him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy this<\/i>, I\u2019m guessing you mean the Cariocecus thing,\u201d Tala said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be it.\u201d\u00a0 I stretched again and took a long, slow sip of tea.\u00a0 I could catch undercurrents of mint and spices I couldn\u2019t identify.\u00a0 Whatever it was, it was hot and soothing.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d rather have the chance to mull it over with him before we talk to anyone else about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tala smiled.\u00a0 \u201cYou just want to present a united front.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d\u00a0 I grinned back.\u00a0 \u201cAre you saying that\u2019d be a bad idea?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phelan\u2019s nose wrinkled.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m going to walk away before I hear more of this brewing plot than I want to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do that, Phelan.\u201d\u00a0 I smirked as I nodded sagely.\u00a0 \u201cYou go and do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After staring at me for a long moment, Phelan just shook his head with a quiet sigh.\u00a0 \u201cFine.\u201d \u201cYou mean that?\u201d \u201cYeah.\u201d\u00a0 He shoved his hands into his pockets, leaning against some nearby shelves laden with dishes and cooking utensils.\u00a0 … Continue reading