The Last Hunter: Collected Edition (Antarktos Saga #1-5)

“—Islands.” I finish the thought for her. We’ve had this conversation before, and she’s taking it in the same direction.

“Solomon Grundy,” we say at the same time.

“The nursery rhyme,” she says.

“And the evil comic-book zombie super villain,” I say, quoting twelve year old Mira verbatim.

“Are you in my head?” she asks.

“Of the creatures on Antarktos capable of doing such a thing, I am not one of them.”

“Antarktos,” she says, and I’m pretty sure it’s the only word in my reply that she’s heard.

“The Greek for Antarctica,” I say, and then I remember the word’s true significance. “It’s what Merrill—your father—calls this place.”

She looks me in the eyes. “You could still be in my head. You could be lying.”

“I’m not,” I say. Thanks to my perfect memory, I could recite every conversation we had during our time together. I could perfectly describe her house or the way her mother’s chocolate chip cookies taste, or I could rattle off a number of 1980s pop culture references, but it could all come from her mind. There is nothing I can say that will make her believe me, at least not without physical contact. “I promise.”

It’s a simple claim, the kind made between children, and it carries all the innocence and earnest emotion I can muster, which is actually quite a lot.

She smiles, her teeth gleaming white against her light brown skin. “You promise? Are you serious?”

I hold out my left hand and extend my pinkie. “Pinky promise.”

The absurdity of my request and the goofy smile on my face seems to put her at ease. She lowers the knife some. “You’re really one of the good guys?”

She steps forward, raising her pinky.

“Actually,” I say. “I’m leading them.”

When she’s stunned by my wild claim, I close the distance between us, wrap my finger around hers and recite the song lyrics she once sang to me. “Any hemisphere. No man’s land. Ain’t no asylum here. King Solomon he never lived round here.”

I’m dizzied by a pulse of energy that jolts my body before flowing from my hand to Mira’s. She jumps back, as though a lightning bolt has passed between us. With a gasp, she stumbles back, hands on her head. She stumbles for a moment, weak and disoriented.

“Mira,” I say.

Her eyes lock on to me. She squints, looking me up and down once, but then focuses on my eyes. Her hand slowly rises to her mouth. Tears well up and tumble down her cheeks. “King Solomon,” she whispers.

I nod slowly, a smile forming on my lips. “It’s me, Mira.”

She notices the knife in her hand. It falls from her grasp and clatters to the stone floor.

“Sol!” she shouts, and smiles so big and bright that it breaks my heart. I have waited a long time for this moment. When she charges toward me, arms out-stretched, I find myself weak with emotion.

She leaps at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and colliding full force with my chest. Overcome as I am, the impact knocks me back. My Jell-O legs fail me. We fall.

But before slamming into the stone floor, a gust of wind creates a buffer, cushioning our landing. Mira sits up, face radiant. She grips my cheeks in her hands. “It’s really you!”

I laugh and nod, feeling almost like myself again. Like little Sol.

She embraces me again, crushing herself against me. Her tears mingle with my own as they drip down the sides of my neck. Then she kisses me. On the cheek. Long and hard. If she’d done something like that when we first met, I probably would have passed out, but the expression of love is very welcome now. She kisses me again, on the forehead. Then the other cheek and I’m suddenly enveloped in a wave of kisses that make me laugh. There is nothing sexual about the kisses. Nothing intimate. We’re more like two puppies reunited after a long time apart.

But when Kainda clears her throat, there is no doubt that she sees things differently.





7



I cringe at the way Mira jumps away from my reclined body. It makes us look all the more guilty. But then I see the knife reappear in Mira’s hand and she’s got it pointed at Kainda. “Get behind me, Sol.”

She sees Kainda as a threat, like she did me before her memory was restored. Thankfully, her offer to protect me is probably the best thing she could have done.

I look up at Kainda, and she at me. We maintain our straight faces for just a moment, but then break out laughing. Our voices roll through the cavern, echoing back to us. It’s ten seconds before either of us can control ourselves, but when we finally do, and I look at Mira again, she just looks annoyed.

I sit up and hold up my hands, much like I did when Mira had the knife to my throat. “It’s okay, Mira, she’s with me.”

“I’m with you?” Kainda says, her tone revealing that she has not forgotten about the shower of kisses.