She said she could see ghosts." Blackwood said to himself, "Hmm.
A girl whose boyfriend is the Alpha of the Tri-Cities.
A girl with an affinity for ghosts." And being much older than me, he might have known more about walkers than I did.
So he put two and two together and got, "Hey, I wonder if she might not be that walker who was raised by Bran a few years ago." So he asked Amber if I was from Montana.
And she told him I was raised by a foster family there.
Maybe he wanted something from a walker.
Here I had an uncomfortable moment remembering Stefan telling me about the Master of Milan, who was addicted to the blood of werewolves.
But Stefan had taken blood from me and hadn't seemed to be much affected by it.
Anyway, suppose Blackwood wanted a walker and so he sent Amber to find me and persuade me to come to Spokane.
I didn't like it as well as the KISS theory.
But that was mostly because it meant that he wouldn't quit hunting me just because I'd escaped from this car.
It meant that he'd just keep coming until he got what he wanted--or he was killed.
It fit what I knew.
Walkers are rare.
If there are other walkers around, I've never met one.
So if he figured out what I was, and he wanted one, it would be logical for him to come after me.
The question it left me was, What did he want with a walker? The tingling in my arms and legs had faded and left only a dogged ache behind.
It was time to escape ...
and then I really thought about what Corban had said: "He has Chad." Corban had kidnapped me because Blackwood had Chad.
I wondered what Blackwood would do if Corban came back, and I'd escaped him.
Maybe he'd just send him out again.
But I remembered Marsilia's indifference when she'd ordered Estelle's man killed ...
when she'd killed all of Stefan's people.
She was hurt that he was still angry with her after he'd figured out what she had done.
Maybe she had no understanding of Stefan's attachment to his people ...
because humans were food.
Maybe Blackwood would simply kill Chad.
I couldn't take that chance.
Abruptly, the sharp edge of terror made itself at home in my innards because I really was trapped.
I couldn't escape, not when it could mean that Chad would die.