Kindred Spirit - Noah Harris Page 0,42

he didn’t think it was because of hunger either.

“All good back there?” Jacob asked softly.

Levi looked down, sighing. “About as good as it’s going to get. Don’t know how good of a job I did, though.”

“As long as I’m not gushing blood everywhere, I’ll be fine.”

Levi doubted that but began packing up. “Thank you.”

Jacob rolled onto his back, moving his leg and wincing. “For what?”

“For saving my life, taking that piece of metal for me, and for keeping me distracted so I wouldn’t get freaked out trying to patch your leg.”

He was doing what he was ordered to do, and helping you save his life. There’s nothing noble about that.

Maybe, but that didn’t mean Levi wasn’t thankful all the same. Protecting Levi might have been Jacob’s orders, but he’d done it without a moment’s hesitation. As a matter of fact, he seemed dedicated to it, and orders or not, it was impressive. If Levi allowed himself to be honest, he would even say Jacob was impressive, but he wasn’t ready to say those words out loud.

“You’re welcome,” Jacob said gently.

Levi zipped the bag shut. “You’re going to need to rest. I know you’re not going to want to stick around here forever, but you should take a break, at least.”

“Yes, sir.”

Levi eyed him warily. “Quit that.”

“What?”

“Just...quit.”

Jacob’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “We’ll stop here. It’s as good a place as any for the moment. Gives us time to rest and time for me to come up with the next course of action.”

Levi grabbed the few snacks at the bottom of the bag. “That was just round one, wasn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Great.”

What was his life coming to?

Jacob

After several hours rest, Jacob wasn’t going to proclaim himself as feeling better. The snacks and water combined with taking it easy in the warm spring sunlight had certainly left him feeling stronger. It had not, however, provided him with any idea of what they should do next.

“Getting back to the house isn’t an option,” Levi helpfully informed him.

Jacob chewed on the remainder of the last piece of jerky. “Yeah, no offense, but I figured that one out on my own.”

“Because you blew it up.”

“Technically, 2218 did that.”

“Semantics. You set it to blow, knowing they’d probably try to turn that damn light on.”

“Yeah, but you gotta admit, it was pretty neat.”

“Sure, the piece of shrapnel in your leg was really neat.”

Jacob snorted. “Wouldn’t be the first time a piece of metal ended up in my body. You get used to it.”

“I doubt that.”

“Yeah, but it helps to say it.”

Levi glanced over at him wryly, hesitated, then rolled his eyes. They were sat in a small clearing in the woods, though what part of the woods, Jacob couldn’t say. The two of them had said very little as they’d rested from the harrowing escape from 2218. Jacob occasionally caught the other man looking off into the distance, sometimes just a vacant stare, sometimes with a vague gesture, and sometimes with a mutter of words under his breath that Jacob could never catch.

“So,” Jacob began. “You and Lou.”

Levi sighed. “I’m going to be honest…”

“I’m shocked.”

“I thought you’d bring him up a lot sooner than this.”

Jacob shrugged. “I guess I was kind of hoping you might bring it up on your own.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And maybe I just thought you needed some time to mull it over before I brought it up.”

Levi gave him another suspicious look, which again, Jacob only shrugged at. In the short time he’d gotten to know Levi, Jacob had picked up on a few things. Namely, despite how blunt and straightforward Levi was, there was plenty he held close to his chest. And he gave a great deal of thought to many things. The thing was, he had the advantage of blunt speech, which might give someone else the idea that Levi always said what he was thinking. Jacob was beginning to see that it was the complete opposite. The honesty Levi showed was a smokescreen for what he was hiding.

Levi glanced to the left, raised one shoulder, and let it drop. “Lou is Lou. I’ve always known him.”

Jacob nodded. “So, they’re right, you are a medium.”

Levi hesitated, then shook his head. “I don’t see or talk to ghosts. There’s only Lou. And honestly? Most of the time, I don’t even see him. I think it takes a lot out of him to make himself visible to me for long periods of time.”

“But throwing a full-grown man against a tree and shattering his spine?”

Levi looked down at