“I needed to get you away from there . . . from him.” He reached out to touch me, but I pulled away. “I thought the corn would move you back faster than I could. I didn’t think you’d fall into another vision, I’m sorr—”
“The corn,” I whispered, tears streaming down my face. “I saw a boy come out of the sacred circle. Dark blond hair, chiseled features. He looked so familiar, but I couldn’t place him. Katia told him to run. She was trying to help him, but the corn . . .” A sobbing choking sound escaped my lips.
“Slow down,” Dane said softly.
“He must’ve been a Mendoza boy . . . one of the unchosen,” I said as I stared over the crops. “All those Larkin girls and Mendoza boys who walked the corn. They never made it to the outside world. And all those cars at the junkyard . . . all those people who came looking for Quivira . . . they’re dead.” I took in a shuddering breath. “The corn is a monster . . . and it’s eating them.”
“I know.” He took my trembling hands in his. “Everyone knows. Sometimes you can hear them screaming.”
30
STITCH
I GOT THE FIRST-AID KIT from the bag in my room and flew up the stairs three at a time. I was afraid Dane might disappear.
It was strange, but I wasn’t as surprised as I should’ve been about what was happening in the corn. When Katia turned to the Dark Spirit, she was enraged, fueled by loss and heartache. I felt for her. In her darkest moment, Katia did whatever she felt she had to do to protect her people, her way of life, but in doing so, she created a monster she could no longer control.
When I saw Dane standing by the window, right where I’d left him, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry about tonight.” He stared straight ahead over the dark water.
“You were trying to protect me,” I said as I inspected the cut on his shoulder.
“You don’t understand. I almost led you right to him.”
“But you didn’t,” I said. “Next time, you won’t let go.”
His jaw muscles tensed. “There can’t be a next time.”
“Dane, please, I just ha—”
“It’s too dangerous.” He cut me off.
He shifted his weight, and suddenly, I understood. A wave of guilt washed over me. It was wrong of me to ask him to do this in the first place. If we were caught together . . . God, I couldn’t even go there.
I set my kit on the coffee table and lit another lantern, hanging it on the iron stand. “Why did you want me to tell you what I said in Caddo at the wreathing ceremony? Why did you want Coronado to hear it?”
Dane took an unexpected step toward me. “I wanted to show him that you’re not Marie . . . or a pawn in his sick game. I may have his blood, but I have Mendoza blood, too. I wanted him to see us as human beings. Love can be a powerful thing.” His eyes locked on mine with an intensity that made me lose my train of thought. I couldn’t stop thinking about his mouth so close to mine, the way he held me in the corn.
I cleared my throat as I maneuvered one of the chairs in front of the table. “Have you ever been in the Larkin lodge before?”
“Why would you ask me that?” His body went rigid, his brows knitting into a hard line.
“Brennon said you had a lot of intention offers.” I motioned for him to take a seat on the chair.
“Oh.” He let out a gust of pent-up air. “That.” A coy smile played across his lips as he began to unbutton his shirt. “Well, if you’re trying to ask me if I’ve ever taken anyone else into the corn and then gone over to their house to play doctor, the answer would be no.” He shrugged out of his shirt.
I had no idea what my face was doing, but inside it was complete hormonal anarchy.
He sat down in the chair. I adjusted the lantern so it would shine directly on his left shoulder, then sank to the edge of the coffee table, carefully nestling my knees between his. I tried to concentrate on the contents of my kit—vials of various medicines, sutures, dressing, and a sparkling scalpel—but I couldn’t keep my eyes off him for more than a few seconds at a time.
“You’re lucky,” I said as I doused a gauze pad in antiseptic. “You’ll need a few stitches, but it looks like a clean cut.”
He followed my eyes and laughed. “Lucky? I’m an idiot. I think I fell on my own knife and then lost it in the corn. That’s what I get for trying to impress you.”
“Is that what happened?” I tried to play it off, but it felt like there were sparklers going off in my chest.
“You can’t make a wreath but you know how to use all this?”
“My mother wanted us to be able to take care of ourselves. And Rhys—” I chuckled. “Not so good with blood. We joked that she was preparing us for some kind of apocalypse, but maybe it was just Quivira.”
He studied me as I cleaned the cut. “What was it like for you . . . growing up?”
“We always thought our mom was a little crazy, the way she talked about this place, but we loved her so much, it didn’t matter.”