“What about friends . . . hobbies?”
“I played sports, Rhys played chess,” I said, tearing off another piece of gauze from the kit. “It sounds weird, but it always felt like I was waiting for something—waiting for my life to begin.”
I wasn’t sure if his legs were narrowing in on mine or if mine were spreading farther apart, but when our legs touched, a shivering ripple rushed beneath my skin.
I tried to focus on preparing the sutures. “Aren’t you the slightest bit nervous that a seventeen-year-old girl is going to stitch you up?”
“I think I’m in good hands.” He stroked his thumb against the side of my knee. “Tell me. What does it feel like when you disappear into your visions—the conduit memories?”
“Like standing on the edge of a precipice . . . sort of like the feeling I get when you touch me.”
The corner of his mouth curled into a smile.
I looked down, a deep blush creeping over my cheeks. I couldn’t believe I just said that. Pull yourself together, Ash.
I started to prepare an injection of a local anesthetic, but he shook his head.
“I don’t need that.”
“It’s just lidocaine.” I held up the bottle, but he didn’t even glance at it.
“Okay,” I said as I set it aside, pretending not to notice his touch. “It’s going to hurt like hell.”
After taking a deep breath, I inserted the suture needle into the edge of his torn flesh, pulling it all the way through to the knot at the end.
He hardly flinched.
“You said you’ve been seeing memories of Katia and Marie. Can you tell me about them?”
It still felt strange talking about this, but there was something about Dane that made me want to open up. “I saw Coronado’s face when he found out what Katia’s blood could do. I saw Coronado talking Marie into telling him where to find Katia and Alonso on the summer solstice. But the memory that sticks with me the most . . . the one that haunts me . . . is when I saw my mother and father in the sacred circle. Katia cut into my mother’s palm and said, ‘A vessel at last.’”
He flinched.
“Sorry.” I held the wound shut with a lighter touch and kept stitching.
He looked down at my legs. “What about your knee at the field?”
So he did notice. “At first I thought it was because my mother pricked her finger when she was giving me the last protection mark, but I think the same thing might be happening to my brother. The cut on his lip at the shinny game—it closed up almost immediately.”
“That makes sense.” His shoulders relaxed again. “When Nina walked the corn, she was pregnant with you and your brother. You have some of Katia’s blood in you, too. My guess is when Katia came to get your mother in New York City, it ignited something in you as well. You’re twins. The smallest trace of an immortal’s blood can be very potent.”
“You’d think all of this would bring Rhys and me closer together, but I’ve never felt more distant from him.” I sighed as I tied off the last stitch. “He’s always had a bad feeling about Quivira. I’m the one who wanted to come. Even now, with everything that’s gone down, something about being here feels right.”
“Does he have any idea what’s happening to him? What’s happening at Quivira?”
I shook my head. “Just being here freaks him out enough. If he knew what was really going on with the corn . . . or with me . . . he’d . . . I don’t even know what he’d do, but it wouldn’t be pretty. Rhys agreed to stay until tomorrow—he doesn’t know we can’t leave.”
“What are you going to tell him?”
“The truth, I guess. I don’t think I have any other choice.”
“You’re a good sister,” he said as I put a butterfly bandage over the sutures. “The separation you’re feeling . . . sometimes people distance themselves from things they know they’ll have to say good-bye to one day.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re a conduit, Ashlyn. Deep down, Rhys must know what that means for you. It would be difficult watching the person you love . . . disappear.”
It took me aback. Even Dane knew I was doomed. He knew it better than anyone.
I pretended to reorganize my supplies. “Why don’t you leave Quivira?” I asked, desperate to change the subject. “You’re the one person who can walk the corn. You could start a new life . . . leave all this.”
“And go where?” He tilted his head, like he was amused.
“Anywhere. I’ve got money. You can have it.”
His smile faded as he eased his hands over my knees. “Maybe we could go together. We can bring Rhys and Beth, too.”
I felt my heart pick up speed at the thought . . . at his touch. “What about Coronado? Won’t he be waiting for us?”