“Lixeira,” Zoë whispers as she lifts her hand to where the noise came from.
A bright light illuminates the leaves. A body shuffles in the branches as she moves her hand slowly to the right, changing the path of the light. A swift gust of wind blows through the brushwood of just one tree and a small cloud of silver quickly twirls through a few of the branches.
“Somebody was just in that tree. They left when I shined my light on them.”
I look around at the area surrounding us. “Did you see who it was?” I ask her.
“No. I was kind of hoping you did.”
“It could have been one of so many different people. We are surrounded by walkers.”
“I doubt Dr. Milton would let anyone walk with us though.”
“How would he be able to prevent the people already in pods from coming into contact with us though? If he did that, he’d risk us not finding Paul.”
“I don't know, but now that he has Eliza at the colony with him, I’m pretty sure there is nothing he can’t get done.”
We start walking again with me leading the way. “Do you think you using your powers here will make it easier for Isabel to find us?”
“I don't know. I never thought of that.”
“Maybe that’s one of the reasons your parents never let it into your life—to help keep us safe until we were ready.”
“I guess that’s possible. Especially since seeing how much they all kept away from both of us.”
“Do you honestly think that when it comes time to face her, you’ll be able to handle it?” I ask reluctantly.
“Depends on what ‘it’ is.”
“It’s everything. She’s terrifying. And she’s had a lot of time to grow stronger. Obviously she isn’t powerful enough to be human again yet, and I imagine she’s pretty pissed off about that. I’m basically the last remaining piece of her reincarnation puzzle and she hasn’t been able to get ahold of me for the last three hundred years.”
“You would go and make one of the darkest meigas in history mad at you,” Zoë says trying to lighten the mood.
“Apparently it’s what I do best,” I reply with a sarcastic streak of pride in my tone. “So all of that stuff that Eliza did to test you, how did you know what to do?”
“It was in the book she gave me. It had a spell on it to unlock my powers. She pretty much unleashed everything I had inside of me so that now I'll be able to use it.”
I let her words sink in. “What exactly do you have inside of you, Zo?”
“That’s the part I can’t tell you. I’m like, bound by some ethical code of my coven. I want to tell you—you have no idea how badly. But I'm not allowed to share my secrets. It’s kind of amazing the way all of this stuff inside of me has just awakened. I can feel it all just sort of brimming beneath the surface. I’m excited to get to use it.”
“It’s okay. I get it. I have to admit, I feel a lot better about this journey knowing that you are able to protect us. You know, in case something goes wrong."
“Yeah. So do I.”
I have become so wrapped up in our conversation that I don’t notice the footsteps on top of the cracking twigs until they are right next to us. I don’t hear the voice calling my name until it’s too late to escape.
“Emma?” a male voice calls out from the darkness, sounding incredibly surprised to see me.
Zoë and I stop dead in our tracks. “Lixeira brillante,” Zoë whispers holding her hand out, illuminating the tree cover with a blindingly bright white light.
“Emma, is that really you?”
I freeze in place. The voice sounds incredibly familiar, triggering wild running emotions in my head. It’s not a voice I ever expected to hear again.
“Who’s there?” Zoë calls. “Show yourself!”
I don’t need him to show himself to know who he is. I feel the color drain from my face as a man, dressed in dirty clothing walks out from behind a tree covering his face with his forearms. “Can you turn that light off?” he asks, annoyed.
Zoë lowers her arm. Once our eyes readjust to the low light of the forest, I can’t believe what I am seeing before my eyes. My stomach flips and I forget how to breathe. It takes what feels like an eternity for me to speak just one