At least she didn’t seem to be afraid of me, but we couldn’t stay in the church. No, we had to find somewhere else to go. Thruor’s place had probably also been targeted – I wasn’t worried about her, she could look after herself, but…

Bruce? I couldn’t involve him in this. Or Mike – he was a cop and knew the risks, but this was above his pay grade. Or maybe not. I wasn’t sure. I paced up and down the aisle, frustrated and suspecting that I was looking more and more like a vengeful spirit as time went on.

“You’re making me dizzy.” Kanesha had flopped down onto the front pew on the left side, which can’t have been comfortable. They didn’t design churches for comfort. They designed them, I suspected, to keep people from falling asleep during bad sermons.

“I’m trying to think where to go.”

“Then stop and let me think.”

With a sigh, I sat down on the pew behind hers. “You mean…”

“Let me think.”

The silence that followed was an uncertain, threatened thing. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. “Out of town comes to mind.”

Now I’d done it. I had to take her with me – she was dead if I left her on her own, but the entire future I had seen for her was gone and it was my fault.

My fault for liking her. No, my fault for wanting her. Doing so made her a threat to them. It didn’t matter if I never acted on it. It didn’t matter if I never admitted I loved her; they knew. Some of them knew. Maybe it was obvious in the way I looked at her.

“No. If we leave, we have absolutely no resources.”

“If we stay, we bring this down on anyone we stay with.”

“Too late,” Kanesha said, grimly. “They’re going to target everyone you know anyway. What about Thruor’s safe house?”

“The only one I know about is compromised. She might have others.” I let out a breath. “If this was a movie, convenient divine intervention would show up right about now.”

“I think that’s supposed to be you.”

I felt a blush color my cheeks. “Don’t talk like that. I’m not. I don’t have the power for this. He’s trying to give me no choices except to go with him. Pretty soon, he’ll be offering to spare your life…”

“Don’t take that bargain. I’m not worth the world.”

“You are to me” was what came out, the normal filter between my thoughts and my words failing in that moment. She was to me.

“Jane…”

“I love you.” That too came out without any filter. “I won’t let them kill you.”

“Then I have to leave. I’ll compromise you if I stay.”

“You’ll die if you leave. Stay. I’ll find another solution. Or you will.” In that moment, I knew she was the one with the answers, at least this once. That she knew what to do, she just had to work it out.

Whatever it was.