Away

CHAPTER 25





ELIZABETH WATCHED AS Jonathan walked toward the greenhouse. His image was speckled with smudges and dirt, from the greenhouse glass that hadn’t been properly cleaned since Rachel left. Elizabeth didn’t care. She didn’t care about much now.

“I’ve made a little something to eat, up at the house.” Jonathan still sounded almost shy about his presence in the main house. He’d been staying there since they all Crossed. She wasn’t certain if he was worried about EOs coming around or if he thought she would kill herself as soon as he let her out of his sight. He hadn’t asked if he could stay; he’d just shown up with an overnight bag the night they left, and moved into the guest room.

“I suppose it’s more of your soup?” Elizabeth smiled. He didn’t seem to know how to make anything but soup. They’d had endless varieties of it, soup for lunch, soup for dinner. She sipped some to please him, but she wasn’t ever hungry.

“I tried something a little different.” He turned to go and then turned back. “You coming?”

“I’ll be there soon.”

The table in the dining room was set for two. He’d tried to put everything in the right place, but he had the water tumblers wrong. It looked like the “something a little different” was sandwiches. She sat while he was still in the kitchen, so that he wouldn’t have a chance to fuss at pulling her chair out.

He came out carrying a pitcher of water and a book.

“What’s that?”

“This,” he said, pouring her water, “is a book from Bensen Library.” He sat down at his place.

“It smells quite musty. Do we have to have it at the table while we eat?” She looked at her sandwich with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

“It’s a book about that island. The one Rachel said they were going to find.”

Elizabeth kept her eyes down.

“At least I think it is.” Jonathan flipped the book open to a marked page. “It says here that these islands were excluded from Unifolle’s border system—cost too much money, of course. And the big one has to be the one Rachel meant—she said they called it Salishan. Here.” He pointed at a map in the book. “It’s just called ‘relinquished lands,’ with a number next to it.”

“Why would I care to know this, Jonathan?” Elizabeth had to steel herself not to scream at him to shut up. She didn’t want to know about where Rachel was going, about where she should have been going, with Indigo. She didn’t care.

Jonathan looked up from the book. He watched her for a minute, and then he spoke.

“You don’t care now, Elizabeth. But I know you. I know you will care someday. And I think I might be up for a trip, myself. But that trip will take some planning, and some finagling and some work. And I just figured I’d start that going, while you get some rest.”

Elizabeth still didn’t look up. She thought about how he had seen her through another time like this—a dark time. She thought about how he had tried to keep her here. Now he was ready to help her go. But Indigo was dead. What was there to go for?

As if he had heard her thoughts, Jonathan answered her. “There are lots of different kinds of love, aren’t there?”

She looked up at him.

“That girl loves you, Elizabeth. And I know you love her. That’s worth going.”

Elizabeth looked back down at her sandwich. She still felt numb, and cold, and bleak. But maybe he was right. Maybe she wouldn’t feel that way forever.

“Jonathan,” she said.

“Yes, Elizabeth.”

“I think, tonight, I’ll cook.”





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