Page 115 of Balance

Jerk.

“It could be a ghost, I guess.” I frowned in the direction he was pointing. One of us was going to have to be brave. And it certainly wasn’t going to be him. “If only there was someone here who would know if one was nearby. I guess we have no choice but to blindly risk a vengeful spirit’s murderous wrath.”

“I know! We need Bryce!” His breath hitched—the weight of his terror so profound that he missed my glare.

We absolutely didnotneed Bryce. Not for this.

“What if there’s…” Then his words trailed off, shoulder’s relaxing, and he turned his face toward me, shooting me a disapproving look. “Hey! That wasn’t nice!”

“What in the world was that?” There was no reason for me to feel guilty, so why did my heart twist at the fear on his face. Besides, what was this nonsense about relying on Bryce for ghostly needs? This better not have been a habit of his. I smacked his arm. “Why would there be a ghost in the middle of the mountains anyway?”

“It’s possible.” His wounded eyes caused my heart to clench painfully. “People die in the mountains all the time. Do you know how often people come to hide out here?”

“Like who?”

He put the knife away, counting off on his fingers. “Criminals, people who just get lost, the off-grid homesteaders—”

“I thought to live off-grid you still needed to register with the government.” Now I was fully awake and ready to take the next shift—once Miles did what he needed to do.

“How do you know so much about off-grid living?” Miles asked, wiggling closer to the fire and rebuilding the stick teepee.

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, a husky female voice cut into our conversation. “What are you doing here?”

I screamed, and jumped forward, pressing into Miles’s back. The witch had a similarly alarmed reaction—hand resting on my hip as he held me behind him.

Moonlight streamed through the branches, casting a soft blue glow on the elderly woman pressing her way past the foliage, a small lantern in her grip. The woman was short, and slightly round around the middle, and had a heart-shaped face. Her silver hair fell in waves over her shoulders, and she wore a threadbare dress that reached her mid-calf, thick boots, and an open coat. She walked with a limp, leaning heavily on a knobby wooden staff until she’d crossed the clearing, coming to a stop some feet from the two of us.

She paused, looking at us with an indiscernible expression, before she asked, “Are you lost?”

I clutched at the stiff fabric of his shirt. I wanted to respond, but my heart was still racing and my throat choked closed.

All my determination to be brave, and I’d hidden like a coward in the end.

Miles sucked in a sharp breath. “Kathleen?”

The woman gasped suddenly. “My goodness! Miles?”

Miles lowered his arm, relaxing slightly, but his voice was thick with disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

I glanced between them, loosening my grip.

“What areyoudoing here?” she asked instead, and her gaze traveled over me. “And with a girl.” She narrowed her eyes, gaze disapproving. “You’re not running from the council, are you?”

“The council?” Miles sputtered, shakily getting to his feet. He brushed at the remains of his pants nervously. “No, I’m on a pilgrimage.”

“You’re half-dressed.” She frowned deeply. “And you brought a woman with you? What kind of pilgrimage is this?”

“My graduation is soon…” Miles frowned at the ground, ignoring her query about my presence. “I wasn’t sure what else to do. I need to do the spell.”

With that extremely vague explanation, her face softened. She sighed, glancing at the almost full moon before tentatively reaching for him. “I understand,” she said, pausing with her hand inches from his arm. “But that doesn’t explain your companion.”

Her statement seemed to snap Miles out of his depressed state. He glanced up, blinking rapidly. When he’d stood, I remained on the ground, my legs folded under me. I hadn’t been sure how to react to the woman’s presence. Obviously the two of them knew each other. The idea of interjecting myself into the conversation made my stomach twist.

So, instead, I hugged myself, waiting for his reaction.

“Sorry!” He forgot about the woman at once, kneeling in front of me. His calloused hand brushed down my arm, and his lips twisted in a lopsided grin. “I didn’t mean to freak out.”

“You were going to sacrifice me,” I said, still not entirely over his earlier betrayal. “You thought she was a ghost.”