That was kind of clever, actually, I think. She is a smart girl. She just has her crazy alternate universe mixed up with reality, which is kind of sad.

What’s wrong with me? I get kicked out of school just before graduation, I botch up my one chance to earn some respect from my dad, and I’m falling for a lunatic. I wish I could just wipe the slate clean and start back at square one. If I hadn’t cheated on the test, I would be graduating and getting ready for my freshman year at Yale.

I have to prove myself. I know how Juneau thinks better than these play-it-by-the-rule subservient goons of Dad’s do. As soon as I can get away from them, I’ll continue the search for her on my own.

I ride the rest of the way in silence, trying not to think about her honey-colored eyes.

41

JUNEAU

I’VE PACED MYSELF AT A FAST HOBBLE ACROSS THE pastureland and stay as close as I can to the clumps of trees so that I’m not an easily spottable lone figure wading through the seas of knee-high grass. I see up ahead that at the base of the mountain there is a curtain of trees. Hiding will be easier once I am among them.

I look up at the position of the moon and find the constellations. It’s around midnight.

Setting my sights on a small stream that flows out of the wooded mountainside, I do my hop-limp-hop toward the water. When I reach it, I follow it just past the tree line, and, once hidden among the evergreens, slump to the ground and scoop several handfuls of water to my lips. It is ice-cold and delicious. Filling my canteen, I allow myself a few minutes to recover but know I can’t stay here for long.

I lie back, nesting my head in a pillow of leaves, and close my eyes. I am deep-breathing, trying to restore myself enough to be able to trek for a few hours, when I hear the crunching of boots on twigs. I shoot up into a sitting position, grab my bag, rifle through it, and in three seconds am on one knee, pointing my crossbow in the direction of the light that bobs toward me through the woods.

How did Whit’s men manage to get so far in front of me? I didn’t see anyone else on the pastureland leading up to the mountain. I kneel there, one eye closed, the other peering through my crossbow’s metal sight, when I hear a woman’s voice.

“Don’t shoot. I’m totally harmless.”

I keep my finger on the trigger, ready to fire, and watch the flashlight approach until the person stands five feet away. The light points straight into my eyes, “Yep, it’s you,” she says, and then angles the light up at her own face. “See?” she says. “I’m just a woman. Not an ax murderer.”

I grab my improvised crutch and use it to push myself up into a standing position as the stranger approaches, but keep the crossbow pointed in her direction.

“Looks like you’ve hurt your foot,” she says, staring at the crutch. “Well, we better get you back to my house. Would it be easier if you put an arm around my shoulder?”

“Who—who are you?” I stammer.

“My mom named me Tallulah Mae, but you can call me Tallie.”

I stare at her. Who is this woman who just appeared out of nowhere? I don’t think she’s with Whit—I never saw any women with him in the Readings. And from the way that she waits, arms crossed, for me to say something, I can tell her attitude is impatient rather than menacing. She throws off her hood and a cascade of elbow-length red curly hair springs free. “See. A normal, unthreatening, thirtysomething woman. Not a serial killer bone in my body, I swear.” And she gives this grin that wipes any lingering doubt from my mind.

“There are some men after me,” I say, half whispering, and dart an anxious look over my shoulder toward the pastureland.

“Yeah, I kind of figured that,” she says. “It’s okay. I’m ninety-nine percent sure they won’t follow us, and my house is just five minutes upslope. Now come on, let’s get you indoors.” And she drapes my arm around her shoulder and helps me hobble much more quickly than I could on my own.

As we follow the stream uphill, I don’t see anything slightly resembling a house or any sign of civilization. And then, all of a sudden we are approaching a large log cabin. “Wow, I didn’t even see that coming!” I exclaim.

“Camouflage,” she says proudly. “I’ve planted trees strategically around the place so that even if lights are on, you can’t see them from the base of the mountain.”

We come around a clump of bushes and I get a full view. It stops me in my tracks. “Your house is built over the stream?” I gasp.

The main section of the log cabin is two stories high, but there’s a windowed room—like a closed-in balcony just as wide as the house—that stretches over the rushing water and is supported by stilt-like wood columns on the far bank.

“Yep. You’d think it was just whimsy, but in fact it’s terribly practical to have running water so close.” Smiling, she opens the door and helps me totter through. Her jade-green eyes sparkle, and the smile on her bowed lips is genuine and friendly.

“Let’s see about this foot now. I’m going to be really careful,” she says, and eases my tennis shoe off my hurt foot. I wince as a lightning bolt of pain passes through my ankle, but the shoe is off and now Tallie’s peeling back the sock. “Well, now. It looks like you might have a sprain here,” she says, touching the swollen skin lightly. “But if you were able to put a tiny bit of weight on it, which you did, then it must not be too bad. Let’s get you over to the couch and ice it.”

She leads me into the space, which I see is one big sparsely furnished room lit brightly by a half-dozen oil-burning lamps.

She eyes me merrily. “Don’t usually like guests. But you’re a special exception.”

“Why’s that?” I ask. I hobble my way across the room and lower myself onto the couch, swinging around to prop my hurt foot on the cushions.

“Because I was expecting you,” she says matter-of-factly, staring straight at my right eye.

“But why?” I ask. “And how did you know where to find me?”

“Do we have to share all our secrets right away?” she asks, and pulls a metal box from a corner cupboard. She starts rummaging through it. “Let’s see. Ace bandage might come in handy. Skin’s not broken, so we don’t need disinfectant. Ah, here,” she says, and pulls out a plastic pouch the size of a paperback book and begins squishing it in her hands. She presses it against my ankle, and I gasp in surprise.