Chapter Nineteen
We were winging things as usual.
Dash and I had no plan, no destination in mind—only to outrun the Institute until we figured out the reasoning behind the need for an army of people with unusual gifts.
I couldn’t say I was thrilled to be traipsing around in the woods again. Besides the bugs as big as my hand and the cracked-out animals, Misty Grove could be both magical and fatal. It was as if it couldn’t make up its mind whether to dazzle or kill me.
“So, what part of the Heights are we venturing to?” I asked, stepping over a mound of moss that I was certain housed a nasty little critter I didn’t want to meet.
“Huh?” Dash stared off into the woods, lost in his own little world. I watched as the silver flecks in his eyes came back into focus. “Um, I don’t know yet.”
“Are you okay?” He was more than distracted. I could sense it.
“Yeah. Just thinking,” he muttered.
“About?” I prompted.
“Something is following us.”
“What?” I hissed between my teeth, frantically looking over my shoulder.
Dash shook his head and grabbed my hand. “Keep moving. You would make a horrible spy.”
I scowled. “How long have you known?”
He shrugged, lacing our fingers together, which somehow took the sting out of him not telling me sooner. “Pretty much since we left Hurst.”
“That was hours ago. Why didn’t you say anything?” I could have done something—no clue what, but at least I could have paid attention more.
His eyes darkened, a rigidness moving into his shoulders. “I didn’t want to spook them or tip them off until I figured out their intentions and if they were alone.”
We kept walking, our pace even. I had to fight the instinct to hurry my strides and put as much distance between us and whoever tracked us as I could. “And did you? Are they alone?”
“I don’t think what is following us is a person.”
My head did a double take. “Say again?”
“I’m not sure they are human,” he responded.
“What else could possibly be pursuing us? Do creatures do that in the Heights?”
Dash lowered his lashes, shielding his eyes. “I haven’t come across anything this intelligent. If it was hunting us for food, it would have already made its move. The fact that it keeps its distance, only watching us, makes me nervous.”
I slung my hair up into a quick messy bun in case any action suddenly came our way. “You think it might have something to do with the Institute?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
That I could attest to. “Do we do something?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. Just keep walking and act normal.”
He was funny. There was nothing normal about being stalked, and the only thing I could think to do was create a distraction. “Is there a holding house nearby?”
Dash gave me a droll look. “No, not for miles that I know of.”
“Oh.”
“Why the long face?”
I peeked at him. “I was thinking about your family. They’re still out there.”
“I haven’t given up, if that’s what you’re hinting at. I’m prioritizing. Right now, we need to fly under the radar and avoid the holding houses. I’m not willing to take the chance now that they’ve increased security. We’d be walking right into their trap.”
“I never meant for you to stop searching. It isn’t fair.” I had found my family, however messed up they might be, but Dash was still an orphan in the Heights. Regardless that it was unintentional, I was the reason he couldn’t continue the search. The guilt felt all too real inside me.
His sharp eyes darted toward the treetops. “Neither is living a life on the run.” He had stopped walking and slipped a hand to the small of my back. “You haven’t done anything to deserve their relentless pursuit.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, angling my head to the side. “Just unlucky genes.”
He grinned. “I like your genes,” he murmured, leaning forward and brushing his lips across mine.
It was easy to settle into the kiss, so beautiful and perfect. A feeling of completeness filled me. Dash might not have said he loved me, but every time his lips touched mine, he claimed me as his. This was my kind of distraction, and I completely forgot about the prospective danger … at least for a hot minute.
As I wove my fingers into his silky hair, something rustled in the trees, shaking the leaves over our heads, and Dash stiffened. We broke apart, and my eyes were drawn to a branch that hung eye level to Dash and me. There was no mistaking those golden eyes.
“Blink, what are you doing here?” I groaned. Couldn’t he have waited a few minutes? I wasn’t nearly done kissing Dash.
The bird cocked his head from side to side. “It’s nice to see you too.”
“You know this creature?” Dash asked, giving the large black bird the stink eye.
I nodded, a little taken back he could see the sometimes obxnious bird. “This is the Blinken. He helped me escape the Institute.”
“A bird?” Dash questioned, doubt lacing his tone.
“Don’t give me that look. He isn’t just a bird. Are you?”
“I should think not.” Blink flared the feathers trailing down his neck.
Dash’s brows furrowed. “You weren’t kidding. It talks.”
“You helped save my friend. I don’t know how to thank you. We never would have escaped if it weren’t for your help. I owe you,” I told Blink.
“A debt one day I might need to collect, but not today.”
“Someone is coming.” Dash spun around.
The bird’s feathers ruffled, standing straight out. “Trouble is on its way. Stop eating each other’s faces off and defend yourself, unless you want to die lip locked.”
“You brought them here. Led them straight to us,” Dash hurled at the bird.
Outrage splashed across Blink’s eyes. “As if. Get your head out of your ass and protect her.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing since she woke up?” Dash growled.
“If you ask me, you aren’t living up to your reputation, Slayer. If you were, the Institute never would have gotten her.”
Dash cracked his neck. “Tell me why I can’t kill the bird.”
The last thing I wanted to do right now was argue with Dash—about a bird nonetheless. “Because he led me to you… And he is useful, you can’t dispute that.”
“He’s a bird. Why should I trust him?”
I slipped my fingers into Dash’s and tugged. “Can we just get out of here?”
“Finally, the smartest thing either of you have said all day,” Blink griped.
Dash frowned, and I was concerned he was going to pluck every feather from the bird, but his eyes went over my head, and a second later, an arrow whizzed by, just barely nicking my ear. I opened my mouth to shriek, but Dash acted fast. He tackled me to the ground, flattening his body over mine. His silver eyes pinned me to the dirt as he pressed a finger to my lips. “Don’t move,” he whispered.
“A little warning next time would be nice,” I shot back. I did my best to ignore the tingles radiating within me.