Winter Halo (Outcast 2)

“Meaning someone suspects that you taking the caretaker job at the museum was a little out of the ordinary.” I poured some trail mix into my hand. “It’s also going to

make it damn difficult for us to get back in there.”

“She said to wait until dawn. We’re not going to get there much before five, so you won’t have to hang around in the forest for too long.”

“Says the person who’s not going to hang about in the darkness for long,” I muttered as I scooped another mouthful of trail mix.

“I can’t. But I’ve got a couple of rifles in the rear you can have.” Jarren’s gaze met mine through the mirror. “Jonas will keep you safe enough—”

“Oh, she’s not afraid of the dark,” Jonas interrupted, voice dry. “And she’s certainly not afraid of either vampires or wraiths.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” I said. “I’m terrified of them both.”

“Yeah,” he said. “That’s why you went into a den of vamps alone—”

“I wasn’t alone. The ghosts were with me.”

“That,” he said, “is hardly the point.”

“Ghosts? What ghosts?” Jarren said, his gaze swinging between the two of us.

“Ghosts of the dead,” Jonas said. “She can converse with them.”

“Not a talent that would be that useful in this day and age, I’d imagine,” Jarren said.

“And that,” Jonas said heavily, “is where you would be very wrong. Can this thing go any faster?”

Jarren’s amused expression suggested he was well aware that particular line of questioning was now well and truly out-of-bounds. “Why don’t we find out?”

The ATV didn’t exactly leap forward, but over the next couple of minutes it gradually picked up speed. I finished the trail mix, then started in on the beef jerky. It was even tougher than the stuff I had at the bunker, but it at least stopped my stomach from complaining too loudly. As the dark landscape continued to slip by, I leaned back, closed my eyes, and in very little time was fast asleep.

It was the lack of noise that woke me. I sat upright, blinking the sleep away as I looked around. Night still held sway, but the ATV had slowed, and was now moving silently through trees rather than vast, empty fields. Light shone in the distance, a glow so bright it chased the stars from the sky.

Central.

We were nearly home. Relief flooded me. I’d come so close to never getting back here. To leaving my little ones alone . . .

Cat, Bear, I’m back. Safe and whole, I wanted to add, but didn’t. There was little point in alarming them with what might have been. It was better if they simply didn’t know.

Jarren halted the ATV and flicked a switch. As the doors silently opened, he twisted around in his seat and said, “Right, I can’t risk going any farther. The rifles are in the rear storage. Take what you want. And if you need any help, with anything else, you know where to find me.”

“We do. And thanks.” Jonas gripped his grandson’s arm for a moment, then climbed out and walked around the back of the vehicle. I echoed Jonas’s thanks, then jumped out and stepped back as the doors closed. Jonas reappeared and tossed me a rifle and some ammunition. I slung the former over my shoulder and clipped the ammunition to my pants. And felt safer for the weight of them. I might not be soldier-trained, but I’d certainly grown used to having weapons at hand over the years since the war—at least when I ventured out at night, anyway.

As the big vehicle began a slow-sweeping turn through the trees, my two little ghosts found me, bombarding me with images of everything that had happened since we left. Apparently, Nuri had been using the earth magic to do a little rock rearranging, and while she hadn’t totally uncovered the hidden escape tunnel, she had exposed the beginnings of it.

“Why would Nuri . . .” The question faded as I glanced at Jonas. His eyes were narrowed and his expression was a mix of concentration and amusement. “What’s wrong?”

“I can hear them.”

I blinked. “The ghosts?”

Cat and Bear reacted to this bit of news by dancing joyously around his head. He half raised a hand, as if to swat them away, then stopped.

“And it sure as hell is going to take some getting used to.” He paused. “Are they always this . . . rambunctious?”

“Only when they’re excited. They’re children, remember?”

“Something I hadn’t really appreciated until now.” His concentration grew for a minute, and then Cat and Bear laughed.