He didn’t slow his steps.
I found myself trying to get close to him the other way, reaching towards him almost unconsciously...and a rush of nausea hit me, hard enough to make me stumble again. The man glanced back at me in the same instant, his pale eyes briefly reflecting the light of the moon.
The nausea worsened even as my mind sifted backwards, explaining the facts to me belatedly.
He was a seer, and he wasn’t wearing one of those collars.
I panicked as the feeling of him in me strengthened. I tried to push him out of my head, to get free of him, but I had no idea how.
Allie...calm down, he sent.
“Let me go! I’ll call SCARB!”
His reaction shocked me.
He laughed.
It had been a childish threat, spoken in desperation. When he only laughed at me again, I followed after him in spite of myself, still struggling to see his face in the dark, to remember what he looked like. There was too much light; I couldn’t see past it.
When he looked back the next time, I saw my eyes reflected in his, glowing a pale green. He frowned, staring at me a few seconds longer, then only looked away.
“You’ll need to learn to control that,” was all he said.
I barely heard him as I held up my hand. A sickly, green light illuminated the lines of my palm, like from a phone or a dying flashlight. I realized that light had to be coming from me, from my eyes, but the information wouldn’t compute.
Fear leaked into my voice, raising it an octave.
“Holy crap...”
“You’ll need to learn to control that,” he said again.
His physical voice shocked me that time, maybe because I finally really heard it. It was deep. It also carried an accent, but not one I would’ve expected. It was Germanic-sounding, European. He gestured briefly towards my face, still walking fast.
“Can you...stop it, Esteemed Bridge?” He continued pulling me along with him deeper into the trees, even as he continued to speak. “At some point, you must have learned to control it. See if you can now,” he suggested. “While we walk.”
“Who are you?” My voice shook. “What have you done to me?”
That time, he barely spared me a glance.
Still, I could have sworn I felt something like impatience coming off him, maybe wafting off him like a scent. On the surface, he only inclined his head, still walking fast as he gestured towards me with his free hand. The way he did it struck me as formal, perhaps even conveying respect, but he did it hurriedly.
Dehgoies. The word landed directly in my mind. Revik.
I could only struggle after him, fighting to think as I strove to keep up with his long legs.
Deh-go-ies, he repeated, slower. Re-vik.
“What is that?” I said. “A name?”#p#分页标题#e#
“I will answer whatever you ask...”
His physical voice shocked me again, making me flinch. Glancing back at me as if he felt it, he hesitated, then tugged harder on my arm, leading me deeper into the trees.
“...But not now, Esteemed Bridge,” he finished belatedly.
“Where are we going?” I tried to piece together how I’d even gotten there from the diner. “Where are you taking me?”
“Please be quiet.” He held a finger to his lips. “Please.”
“No,” I snapped. “I need you to stop! I need you to stop right now!”
He halted at once, so quickly I nearly ran into him.
He didn’t release my arm, but turned, meeting my gaze. The look on his face made me think he’d resigned himself to reassure me, at least the bare minimum.
But he didn’t like it.
I need to get us a car, he said. We have to leave this place, Allie...now. Before they set up blockades, and close off the city.
“Blockades?”
He made an irritated-sounding clicking noise with his tongue, one that sounded oddly familiar to me, although I couldn’t immediately place why.
You don’t remember any of it? he sent then. What you did, in that diner? He gestured towards my face with his free hand. Every intelligence group and law enforcement branch housed in this city will be after you, once they see that surveillance feed. It has likely made it to federal channels already. How can you be surprised by this? Now?
I stared up at him.
In desperation, I flipped over the arm connected to the wrist he held, showing him the barcode on my inner arm. I pointed out the “H” designation from among my collection of tats.
“I’m human, man. Hu-man. Get it?”
He held up his own arm, showing me his racial-cat tattoo. I lowered mine, staring at the “H” on his pale skin in disbelief.
“I’m not,” he said, his voice cold.
Looking away at my silence, his eyes scanned the pitch black trees.
Can we go now?
“Where are you taking me?”