Firewalker (Worldwalker 2)

Lily thought about Scot for the first time since she’d left her world, and her homesickness intensified. She couldn’t go home. None of them could. They were all remembering that—and the people they’d left behind.

“Who knew Ohio was so gorgeous?” Breakfast said cheerfully. He never let the group wallow for too long.

Una shook her head at him, a tender smile on her face. “My bighearted boy,” she said, and gave him one of her rare public kisses.

Lily became intensely aware of the weight of Tristan’s arm across her shoulders and the warmth of his body against hers. She stole a glance at him. His hair was longer, and his skin was tanned from wind and sunshine. He was leaner now, but just as strong as he ever was. He looked rougher, and she realized that somewhere along the way, her Tristan had stopped appearing and behaving like a charming but irresponsible boy. He’d stopped being the guy who’d cheated on her, and had become a man. The change suited him.

Tristan caught Lily staring at him and glanced down shyly. “Come on. Let’s give them some time alone,” he said, and led Lily back to the campfire and the chatter of friends. Over the next few nights, Tristan caught Lily staring at him over the flames, and he wasn’t the only one.

Una became particularly interested in the thickening atmosphere between Tristan and Lily, and brought it up one afternoon when they were alone and stuck with dish duty by the river.

“So, what’s up with you and Tristan?” Una asked.

Lily scrubbed a crusty pot with a little more force than necessary. “Nothing. I’m just looking,” she replied.

“He is easy to look at,” Una said with a grin. “You know, no one would blame you if they saw him coming out of your tent in the morning.”

“That’s not going to happen, Una.”

“I’m just saying.” Una raised her soapy hands in surrender.

Lily paused in her work and looked up at Una. “It’s nice to be wanted, but I’m not ready. Would you be ready to move on to another guy if Breakfast hurt you?”

“Immediately,” Una said quickly. “I find another guy and get him into my tent right away. But I’d never move on.”

Lily smiled in understanding. “I can’t do that, Una.”

They left the mountains behind and were able to travel much faster. As they rode west, they ran into other small tribes, some heading to the Ocean of Grass to h

unt buffalo and others hunting for minerals and ores that trickled down with the mountain streams.

“Most of the rivers have been picked clean,” Caleb said as they parted company with a hungry tribe that was little more than four or five family groups clinging to one another. Juliet had given them a small pot of healing salve for basically nothing, as they had nothing to trade. “But no one wants to go into the mines,” he said, shifting in his saddle and stifling his compassion. “I don’t think they’re going to have much of a choice, though.”

“Where are the mines?” Lily asked.

“Back in the hills,” the other Tristan said. “They mine coal, iron, zinc, and other minerals that the cities need and that Outlanders generally don’t. Only the most desperate go down into them.”

“Are there Woven down in them?” Lily asked.

“Woven don’t go underground,” Juliet said. She looked at her and held up a hand in surrender before Lily could comment. “No one knows why, exactly. But I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“The mines are dangerous in other ways, I’m guessing. Are there a lot of cave-ins?” she asked.

Rowan had mentioned the mines once before and how the cities exploited the Outlanders by paying them a pittance for the ores they sold after all the hazardous work they did. The way Rowan had talked about the mines made it seem like most Outlanders would do anything to avoid them. Lily didn’t bring Rowan into the conversation. It had been over a month since she’d last seen him, but it didn’t matter. She still felt like he was near.

Caleb sat tight-lipped and shifted uncomfortably again in his saddle. “Yes, there are a lot of cave-ins, bad air, you name it. It’s hell down in the mines. I spent a season in them after I dropped out of training as a mechanic at the Citadel,” he said quietly.

Lily looked at Caleb, surprised he’d mentioned the Citadel. He rarely spoke about his training as a mechanic. He’d left everything but warrior magic to Lily’s other mechanics, and avoided assisting her in the rituals to make clean water, cleansers, or medicine for the group. Lily sensed a dark memory behind his dislike for the rituals, and she wished he’d talk about it. She got the terrible feeling that the witch or crucible who trained him had mistreated him in some way.

Lily saw Una staring at Caleb with wide, sad eyes and wondered if the two of them had more in common than she was privy to. She didn’t pry. Keeping the peace between so many telepathically connected individuals meant that they all had to give one another space and know when to back off a subject. Lily’s inner circle of Juliet, the Tristans, Una, Breakfast, and Caleb would sometimes go days without speaking and purposely put a lot of physical distance between themselves on the trail. Not because they were arguing, but because they needed a break from always having someone so close to them, brushing up against their minds.

The rest of the braves needed their space as well. While they craved Lily’s strength and her presence, it was the first time any of them had spent so much time around a witch. Many of them found it hard to adjust to having her in their minds and none of them were accustomed to sharing their headspace with someone who could potentially possess them. It set them on edge. Tempers ran high and the trail seemed to get longer every day.

Lily started to understand why witches lived in citadels, separated from the rest of their claimed for most of the day. She had become a sounding board for everyone’s emotions, and more often than not, even non–stone kin were affected by one another’s moods because they were connected through her. Lily needed a buffer, but there was no way to seclude herself while they all rode on horseback across the ever-flattening terrain.

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