Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,68

who had been taken from their own kind when they were so young they couldn’t remember who they were or where they came from. How could we walk away when we were needed?”

Jesse gave him a nod of encouragement, then glanced at Virgil and Tolya. Tell them more.

“I am Evan Hua. This is my partner, Kenneth Stone.” He smiled at the feathered girl. “This is Charlee Hawk.”

“Hawkgard,” Jesse corrected. “Her correct last name would be Hawkgard.

“Charlee Hawkgard,” Evan said. “Our growling boy is Mason Wolf … Wolfgard.”

“Mace,” the boy muttered, turning his head to give Virgil a quick look before hiding his face again.

“Our mischief-maker is Zane Coyotegard.”

The Coyote grinned at Jesse, revealing a missing tooth.

“And this is Maddie,” Kenneth Stone said, his hand on the blood prophet’s shoulder.

“That one was a stray too?” Virgil’s amber eyes held flickers of red.

The men hesitated. Jesse sucked in a breath.

“What we did was wrong in the eyes of the law but right in terms of the heart,” Kenneth said.

“I helped her hide,” Mace said.

“We all helped,” Charlee said, reaching for Maddie’s hand.

“The young man wasn’t wrong about the belt,” Evan said. “The child was reported missing. The whole neighborhood was searching for her. When we found her hiding with our children … The welts and bruises told a different story from the tearful parents pleading for help in finding her.”

Kenneth took up their story. “We began to wonder when they didn’t have a single photograph of her to put on TV. The people claiming to be her parents weren’t Intuits, and she’s …”

“We know what she is.” Tolya gave the men a smile that bordered on terrifying. “We can tell by her scent. Unlike the rest of you humans, her kind doesn’t smell like prey.”

Kenneth swallowed hard. “We’d already been planning to leave. It was a human town, and the children couldn’t always hide their true natures. When we left, we smuggled Maddie out and took her with us.”

“I did not believe the parents’ tears,” Evan said. “I did believe the child’s desperation not to be found. I felt, and still believe, Maddie would not have survived much longer in that house.”

Silence. No one spoke. No one moved.

Finally, Tolya said, “What work can you do?”

“I am a priest,” Evan said. “I have worked in several Universal Temples. Kenneth is a teacher.”

A sound of disgust came from one of the Simple Life women.

Virgil bared his teeth at the woman, effectively discouraging her from making another sound. Then he studied Mace. “You know how to shift, pup?”

Mace nodded.

“You remember living with a pack?”

Mace gave Virgil a defiant look. “This is my pack.”

Throughout the whole exchange, Joshua’s focus never left Maddie. “A place with no memories, no stain of darkness. In a clean place, birds return to sing.”

Strange boy, Jesse thought. She wasn’t sure Joshua could speak prophecy the way the girls who were blood prophets could, but she had a feeling he was more than an Intuit if he was seeing images rather than having feelings about his surroundings.

“Can you recognize this stain of darkness?” Tolya asked.

Joshua stood, then blinked as if coming out of a light nap. “Yes.”

Tolya looked at Virgil, then turned to the two men. “We don’t have a priest yet or a teacher.”

Jesse saw Kenneth hesitate and knew the reason. “You don’t have to open the whole school building for the handful of children currently living in Bennett. There is a community center next door to the Universal Temple. One of the rooms in that building could be turned into a classroom for now. In fact, it would be good to open the center so that everyone could use it for a number of activities like a quilting circle and … and …” She fumbled. What did she know about such activities? She preferred target practice and reading to handcrafts.

“Candice taught Quiet Mind classes,” Lila said. “She’s interested in doing that here too. And she can teach frontier dancing.”

“I … uh …” Candice glanced around, then nodded. “I could do that.”

Lila beamed. Virgil grunted.

“Did you bring luggage?” Tolya asked the men.

“We left everything at the train station,” Evan said.

Tolya nodded. “Nicolai will look after it. Sheriff Wolfgard and Deputy Paniccia will escort you to the hotel. Afterward, you’ll come to my office and review what is required to be a resident of Bennett. If you want to stay after knowing our rules, we’ll take a look at houses tomorrow and see what can be done about moving you into one