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I sat down, legs dangling. “Are you sure about this?”
“Hey, don’t you trust me?” Alex took my hand with a grin and tugged; as I launched myself off the edge, he caught me solidly. Slowly, I slid down his body as he lowered me to the ground.
The feel of him so close was very…distracting. For a second I found myself wondering why we hadn’t brought a blanket, then rolled my eyes. I was really starting to develop a one-track mind. It was kind of hard not to – Alex was like a drug I could never get enough of.
“Good catch,” I said. Somehow my voice was normal.
I could tell Alex’s thoughts had been travelling in the same direction. He shook his head as if to clear it. “Well, it helps when the person you’re catching is extremely cute. ”
We sat on the ground with our backs against the rock, stretching our legs out and gazing up at the stars. They glittered coldly across the night sky. I pointed to a small, bright zigzag. “Cassiopeia, right?”
Alex put his arm around me. “I’ve taught you well, grasshopper. ”
I tickled him just under his armpit: the one place he was ticklish. “Maybe, but you still can’t fix an engine. ”
He gave a yelp of laughter, twisting away. “No fair, you know all my weak spots. Yeah, guilty as charged. ”
As I settled against him, the desert lay vast and still around us. It was so desolate, as if we were up on the surface of the moon. As if no one else even existed.
Yet barely a hundred miles away lay the ruins of Las Vegas – and like in all the ruined cities, people still lived there, somehow, in shelters made from collapsed buildings. A helpless anger touched me. It was the same all over, for anyone who didn’t go to an Eden. Across the country were thousands of “dark towns” with buildings still intact, but no electricity – all people could do was scavenge and try their best to survive. Not all of them did.
The quakes had changed everything, for ever.
Stop. Don’t go there, I warned myself. It was too late; I was already reliving the earthquake that had flattened Mexico City. I shivered as I recalled that groaning roar. And a lot of our recruits had been through even worse. When I’d first held their hands to make sure we could trust them, I’d seen so much sorrow – so much pain.
I looked up to find Alex studying me. “What are you thinking?” he asked softly.
I swallowed. “Just…wondering what we’ll do if we actually succeed. Where would you want to go? Someplace up in the mountains, maybe, like back to the cabin?”
One of his eyebrows rose sceptically. “A, anywhere as long as it’s with you, and, B, why do I have the feeling that you’re sitting there blaming yourself again?”
I stared out at the desert and couldn’t answer.
“Stop,” Alex said in a low voice. He cupped my face in his hands, gently forcing me to look at him. “Listen to me. It wasn’t your fault. ”
I managed a tiny smile. “Are you turning psychic now?”
“Yeah, I wonder how I can possibly manage to know what you’re thinking, when you’re such a total enigma. ”
I choked out a laugh. “Pretty predictable, huh?”
“When it comes to this? Just a little. ” He rested his forehead against mine. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have to – we’d already had this conversation more times than I could count.
“You know what I really want to do if we win?” said Alex finally.
“No, what?”
He hesitated, his gaze searching mine. “I want to find your mother,” he said. “I want that for you more than anything, Willow. I don’t care if we have to spend years looking for her – if we can, then we’re going to do it. ”
My throat went tight. I checked on my mother psychically every day. It was always such a relief to feel that she was still okay – even though I had no idea where she was or who was keeping her safe. And just the fact that Alex wanted that for me…it meant everything.
“Thank you,” I said.
I stretched upwards, brushing his lips lightly with my own. Then again, more lingeringly. Much more lingeringly. Alex wrapped his arms around me, pulling me onto his lap. His lips were so familiar – warm, slightly rough, as intoxicating as the first time we’d ever kissed. When we finally came up for air, I felt dizzy.
“Maybe one of these years, I’ll get used to how amazing that feels,” I whispered, stroking his warm back under his shirt.
“Really?” Alex said huskily. “I never will – not if we live to be a hundred. ” His heartbeat pounded against mine. “Willow, listen – do you really feel like staying out here? Maybe we could—”
“Go back to our room instead?” I finished for him. I kissed his nose. “Yes, you are definitely reading my mind,” I said solemnly.
Suddenly we were both laughing. My laugh turned to a squeal as Alex scooped an arm under my knees and lurched up with me in his arms. He nibbled at my earlobe. “So I guess this is our walk biting the dust. ”
I twined my arms around his neck. “Yeah, Matt’s going to be laughing at us. We’ve hardly been gone any time at all. ”
“You know what, that is so far down on my list of priorities right now that it’s practically nonexistent. ” Grinning, Alex gave me a boost and I scrambled onto the boulder. With a quick jump, he braced himself against the top and began to lift himself up.
Admiring the motion of his muscles, I smiled and crouched down, stretching a hand out to help…and then terror slammed into me like a fist of ice.
I gasped and rocked backwards, stunned by its intensity. It was the same fear I’d felt that afternoon, times about a thousand. My stomach knotted, adrenalin surging through me.
Something was going to happen soon. Oh god, something terrible was going to happen—
Alex was beside me, clutching my shoulders. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
“Something…I don’t…something bad…” My mouth felt thick and clumsy.
His fingers tightened. “Willow, come on, talk to me!”
The primal fear released its grip a fraction, leaving dread as thick as swamp water. “Something’s going to happen! ”I burst out. “We’ve got to go – we’ve got to stop it!”
I turned and ran, stumbling over the uneven rock and then skidding down the other side. I was pounding towards the base when Alex caught up, darting in front of me and grabbing my arms again. “Willow, wait! What’s going on?”
“I don’t know!” I cried. “But we’ve got to go – we’ve got to!”
“Go where?”
I realized I had no idea. I looked around wildly, as if the answer might be lying somewhere on the desert ground. There was nothing.
I reached quickly inside myself; I could sense that my angel was just as worried as I was. Shifting my consciousness to hers, I lifted out of my human body and soared up into the stars.
The fear hit me again, full force. Fighting against panic, I glided, reaching out with everything I had.
“Are you getting anything?” Alex asked. In my human form, I was aware of his hands, warm on my arms. He stood peering up at my angel’s bright form.
No, I started to say…but instead my voice came out in a ragged whisper: “The east. ”
Angel Fever Page 9
