Page 96 of After 5
Caiyan told me the seer didn’t exactly have her key, whatever that meant. Maybe another traveler was coming, and maybe that would be my ride home, or at least the traveler could take me to another time where I could summon Ace. There were a lot of maybes in my plan.
How was I going to find the seer in time? And there was the whole missing general problem. What would happen if General Lee wasn’t giving orders?
I needed to find Gertie. She was the only hope to keep this battle from becoming more of an unorganized mess without the leader of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Gertie knew every move of every officer in the entire battle. She could give the orders that Lee would have given.
One thing at a time, Jen. My inner voice hid her head under a blanket. I yanked it off. Not this time. I was on my own, and nothing would prevent me from keeping Mortas away from his prize.
I unlatched the key around my neck and tucked it inside a spare sock I’d found in my knapsack. I secured the key in an area not likely checked in a pat down.
For the moment, the key would offer some protection against dying of a gunshot wound, but the protection to prevent Caiyan from identifying me as a traveler, I feared, would be greater.
I’d need to keep my distance from him. Hopefully, he would lead me to the seer, and I wouldn’t mess up our lives together by interacting with him.
I hunkered down as the last light disappeared from the horizon and the symphony of cannons and guns played in the distance.
A haunting darkness crept through the hazy smoke. The full moonlight offered a ghostly illumination of the woods.
Occasionally, I would see soldiers patrolling them and medics retrieving the wounded. The spooky hallows and the smell of earth turned with the metallic scent of blood had my creep-o-meter off the charts. I rubbed my arms and hugged them around me, worried my goosebumps might be permanent.
After the haze settled, Caiyan had not appeared.
“Where are you?” I asked out loud. “You should have arrived by now.” I looked down at the blank sword. The words Caiyan damaged in Purley were missing. Then it hit me. It was me. I wrote the words on the sword.
I searched my medical bag. Inside I found a small kit containing a bottle of laudanum, scissors, gauze, needles—I shuddered—and a small scalpel.
Choosing the scalpel, I scratched the words into the steel blade. Find Victory at Gettysburg 1stTX RW. I returned the unsheathed sword and scabbard next to Boon, made the sign of the cross, and retreated to my hidey-hole.
Leaning back against the hard rock, I waited and I prayed.
Shortly after I added my graffiti to the sword, a subtle flash followed by a sharp pop and a swift breeze filled the area around me with static electricity. Caiyan’s red phone booth appeared between two giant white oaks.
My heart sighed. It had been years since I had seen his vessel. After he traded his key to save me, he had been traveling in the Thunder key’s vessel, and then nothing. A wayward warrior lost without his armor and valiant steed.
Caiyan strode from the phone booth, this time dressed in Confederate grays. A confident gait to his step. He relaxed when he thought he was alone and sent his vessel away with the snap of his fingers.
I sat stone still in the shadows, half hidden by the thick vines from a nearby gooseberry bush.
He walked to the clearing where Boon lay dead.
I swallowed hard as he bent at one knee and surveyed the man. He reached in and checked his pulse. Then the surprising happened, a tear leaked down his cheek and he swiped it away with the sleeve of his jacket.
I had never seen him cry. Never. His concern over this man broke me, and I wiped away a tear of my own.
Caiyan’s head jerked up at my careless movement and he scanned the area. When his gaze passed over me, I let out a breath.
He sheathed the sword, stood, and attached it to his belt. He turned and left in the opposite direction. I moved to follow him.
Keeping to the shadows, I entered the path he took and watched my footing in the darkness as I moved slowly after him.
Not too far down the path, he pounced on me from behind. I gave a startled shriek, and he covered my mouth. His arms wrapped around me pressing me to his body. His other hand a deadly grasp on my throat. A flashback of the first time we met gave my heart a tug.
Thankful I had taken off my key and the heat between us could be blamed on the humid July weather and not our gift, I controlled my emotions and the heat lessened.
“Who are you?” he asked. A perfectly mastered southern drawl, husky and infectious, demanded more than asked in my ear. His scent made my lady parts tingle and I mentally counted to five.
“Answer me,” his grip around my throat tightened.
