Chapter 121: Leigh

Surprisingly, I turned out to be an okay bird hunter, though I would never tell Jo that.

At the thought of her, I quickened my pace along the stone bridge. I wished I knew what was happening with her, if she was still safely tucked away inside her house surrounded by hawthorn twigs and lilac petals to keep everything horrible away from her and Cal, if she knew yet that I had failed and that the Core had opened. Would she ever forgive me for the part I played to destroy the planet she'd fought so hard to save? I hoped so, and I hoped I would have the chance to explain it to her someday.

My red roots slithered after me while I kept the bird in sight, and that something else - that feeling that I wasn't alone - stalked after them. We were a line of prey and predator, and it was too hard to tell which was which.