It was flashes of light between the tracks in the woods because I kept blacking out.
Eventually I blinked at the sky, it was dark. I blinked again, realizing it wasn't the sky. It was the fabric of a makeshift tent. I was lying back on a patch of earth puffed to be a bed. Apparently I blacked out way more than I thought I did.
Selena was standing outside the tent, watching with real concern at the back of the witch when the witch turned towards me. My eyes widened. "Patricia?"
Her petite physique is unmistakable, as is her raven-dark hair. Clearly the weeks of travel have been hard on her, leaving heavy bags of sleep under her eyes. "Tajiri, you're awake."
Selena crouched down to look between us, looking confused. "Do you know each other?
"We travel together," I answer her, trying to balance my head to peer up at the site. Patricia inches closer with a slimy, chunky goo on her fist.
No time to process, she lays the thing on my ribs. Although the scent of it has me hurling for a bucket to puke in, it's an ache in my chest that started to be permanent.
She moves around the tent, grabbing hold of ointment to add to the complexion. The motioning of her hands, although practiced, seems automatic and not real thought for them. "You must be tired as hell."
She nodded, the movement seemed to expel some of the stress. We've been traveling a lot ever since we split paths, and I cut her off, expelling her to tell me, "Where is Helena?"
Patrice gave a once over at Selena before looking at me with a raised eyebrow. I nodded, confirming. My niece can hear this too. There is no danger of her repeating this to anyone else.
She expelled a long breath, biting her lip. Tension in my shoulders tightened, and I wanted to shake the information out of Patrice to know. "After you had gone missing during the boat ride, Helena left in the middle of the night too. She took and stole from the captain a rescue boat and sailed after you. She told me she wasn't going to leave you behind, and you must have been in danger because you would never leave her."
But I did leave her.
A traitor and the killer. The voice in my head quivered. Who will you get killed next? If not Helena, then maybe Nyla and her pretty daughters.
I shook my hand, trying to focus. "Which way did she go? Do you know where she would be now?"
Selena held me down to the bed. I realized now that I was trying to sit up again, and my ribs started to hurt again. I coughed out a long breath that had been forced.
"What about..." I glanced at Selena thoughtfully, considering she was still a kid. I did not say the name of the man, but I mouthed out the words in silence. What about the butcher?
She gave a small shrug, but I could see the shiver that went through her at the realization of what I was asking. I knew better than to ask her more about this, especially in front of the kid.
In and out of consciousness, my head spun from strange dreams about burning ships and glowing hands and golden hair between my fingers. I felt bad. This kid, barely out of puberty, has to take care of her messed-up, long-lost uncle that she barely knows.
Selena was the only one now near me. I felt her tiny hands clutching mine when I opened my eyes. She pulled her hands from mine as if the action were forbidden or embarrassing.
"I'm sorry, Selena. I know that you didn't want this for your free day from home. "I apologize.
She shrugged. "At least now we know that you're really my uncle because I'm the only one in our family to get these dizzy spells."
I try to furiously blink against the growing tiredness in my brain. "Was there any doubt that I was your uncle?"
She nervously looked away from me, still muttering. "When you first came here, I thought that you were a scammer trying to rip off Mom."
"That's a fair assumption."
She whipped her head towards me. "You aren't mad"
"You were trying to protect my sister, your mom. Why would I be?"
I suddenly hear a scream. Both of us swish toward the noise from the side of the tent. I raise my hands to my knees, trying to steady my body to stand.
soldiers, and they're from a particular asshole's army. It's such a shame that Dad rules this area, isn't it?