Terrible thoughts raced through my mind until Greer finally returned an hour later. I felt better and at ease as soon as he walked in, and that convinced me without a doubt I had been right. He had been the man at the opera. He might have had his reason to lie, but it wasn’t a good sign. He gave me unexplained feelings, and he lied. I had learned my lesson. I couldn’t trust this guy. I could trust no one. I needed to focus my thoughts and try to form a plan, a goal, something. First, I needed to be safe… and I meant really safe. Not just safe in a tent in the woods. I would stay with this guy until I had that or until I saw a better opportunity. Next, I had to find the words somehow and find a cure. Lothaire had given his life to get me this necklace. It had to amount to something. After I did that, I had to get home. To another world. I had to do all of this by myself because I could trust no one.
Chapter 23
Bird Attack
Before sunrise, Greer shook me awake and then left the tent so I could get ready. I cleaned myself with the products he’d packed me and they all worked incredibly well, but I wore the same barely clean clothes from yesterday. My body ached in ways I didn’t know possible, and my arms, legs, forehead—you name it—were swollen from retained water. There was no time to complain. After a Cloverfield bar, we were off again.
Our hike, while beautiful, was long and offered little to report. Greer looped ahead a lot to check for Libratiers and ‘traps of the forest’, whatever that meant. Not that he’d explain it; trust me, I asked. He said I’d know it if I saw it. I asked a lot of questions, like “where we are going “or “why are we going there?” He ignored many of my questions, which thoroughly annoyed me. To be fair, he did occasionally tell me not to step here, be careful, or—his favorite—"put your sunglasses back on”, but that was it.
That was fine. I didn’t really need him. I had the necklace, and I needed to find the words. I had more information than I did before. Lothaire had had the necklace, and so I knew their relationship was part of the puzzle. I had pieced together what I thought had happened between Lothaire and Grandma. He loved her, but after he saw her powers, he ended things. He had loved her the rest of his life, and if he were still alive in the bird somewhere, he loved her still. He’d kept her necklace the whole time. If Lothaire had the words, I was sunk, but if he didn’t, and they were still out there, I’d find them.
By late afternoon, I was stumbling forward more than walking. We stopped once more at the river to rest for the night. Small boulders popped out of the water and created the perfect place to sit and dangle our feet in the current.
“Here.” Greer handed me the canteen. “Go to the moving water and fill up.”
I was too tired to mention to him that he was being rude. "Please" and "thank you" go a lot further than "here". I took off my boots, stretching my feet and toes. I’d thought my feet were bad that morning—now my ankles were huge and at least triple their size. I pulled up the bottom of my pants and waded into the swift water, careful not to slip on the flat stones. My soles ached from hiking.
I wasn’t so sure hiking was the right word for it. I missed our family hikes in Gettysburg and the field resort with the rented camper. Dad would give us history lessons, recite the Gettysburg Address. Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth to this continent a new nation. Conceived in liberty.
Lincoln. This world didn’t have a President Abraham Lincoln. They had Lincoln, the poet. Just another monarchy, same old as in 18th century Europe. My dad believed in America, the symbols of our country. He’d hate everything about this place. I wished he were here.
With the canteen filled, I headed back to camp. Greer was on the shore reading a newspaper projected from his cubox. When I finally waded back to Greer, he informed me that he needed to make another phone call, and he’d keep it short.
It was fine. While it was true I felt better when I gazed at him, I knew from the Merrics not to trust that feeling. It wasn’t real.
I found a nice boulder on the shore and leaned back, careful to keep my feet in the water. I longed to lose the uniform and go for a swim, and if I knew Greer wasn’t coming back for a while or if I had more than my underwear to swim in, I’d go right in. I thought I still might. Didn’t a black bra and underwear work as a bikini?
A fish swam in a low pool. I lay my sunglasses down on the rock so I could watch it circling. A cool breeze swept over my cheek, and out of the corner of my eye, something moved on the rock next to where I was sitting. I slowly turned. A beautiful brown owl perched on the rock not two feet away from me. Startled, I jumped. The bird swiveled its head down, confused. The large owl was impossibly cute, and
