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disappeared into the trees.
    “I haven’t seen a bird other than crows in months,” he said
moving to sit next to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her
close against him.
    She settled in like she belonged there and the pain in his
chest returned.
    “Neither have I, but things are changing, Ian. I can feel
it.”
    “What do you mean?”
    She turned in his arms and peered up at him. Her eyes’
watery depths made his breath catch. In another time he would have liked to
keep her with him always. In another time she probably would not have given him
a second look.
    “The house where you found me is the house where I was born.
It was where I lived my life. In fact before the End of Days I had not traveled
much farther than New York City in my life.”
    He thought about the changes she had endured over the last
ten months but asked, “What does that have to do with this change?”
    “After December I was pursued by Mictlan almost immediately.
I ran, but he found me. He cannot come into this world without help. He tried
to use my gift to break through and would have succeeded if you hadn’t come.”
    “How did he capture you before?” Ian feared the answer but
asked nonetheless.
    “Somehow he can track me. He has help like that creature
yesterday. All of his minions don’t look so hideous but the smell is always
there. They fester because they should not live in our world. One of them
trapped me and brought me to him.”
    “When was that?”
    Her eyes filled with tears. She shook her head. “May, maybe
June.”
    He tightened his hold on her. “And where did he keep you all
these months?”
    She shrugged. “The place is not solid so it’s hard to
describe.”
    “Did he hurt you?”
    “Almost constantly.”
    He cradled her head in his hand and held her to his chest.
Kissing her hair, he said, “I’m so sorry.”
    “What do you have to be sorry about, Ian? None of this is
your fault.”
    “Yet I feel as if I should have come for you much sooner. I
know it sounds nuts. I didn’t even know you existed until a few days ago, but I
should have come to you.”
    She pushed away enough so that she could look him in the
eye. “It’s all part of the journey, Ian. I have to go to Mexico, stand on the
Pyramid of the Sun, look down the Avenue of the Dead and face Mictlan on the
Pyramid of the Moon.”
    “And what will happen?” he asked, frowning.
    She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
    He moved away from her completely and stood up from the
bench so fast that it swung back and forth and she had to grip the arm to keep
in place.
    “You don’t know, but you’re willing to travel thousands of
miles to stand on some ruin. Are you some kind of virgin sacrifice? I can
assure the ‘powers that be’ that you are no virgin.” His anger flooded out with
the words.
    When he turned back he expected to see hurt or anger in her
eyes, but she just smiled sadly.
    He turned away.
    “Ian, look at me,” she said, more like his mother than his
lover.
    He obeyed.
    “Why did you come to Lake George?”
    He threw his arms out to the side. “I told you already. I
don’t know. It was a coincidence.”
    “How did you know that I needed you yesterday in the
bedroom?”
    His mind reeled thinking about how his heart had begun to
race while he built a fire. She was still upstairs when he’d known she was in
trouble and he had to get to her. “I just knew,” he said.
    Amused, she asked, “And this morning, did you search the
entire house for me or come directly here?”
    “I knew you were here,” he admitted in a voice barely above
a whisper.
    She stood up and crossed the porch. Her head on his chest,
she wrapped her arms around him. “I have to go to Mexico, but you don’t. You
will be safe if you stay away from me, and I want you to be safe.
    “I have no idea what will happen. I could very well be some
kind of human sacrifice. I only know that I have to go.”
    He kissed her hair and lifted her until she