Page 74 of Balance

It worked better barefoot, of course; and as the scent of pine and damp moss would wash over me, it was easy to imagine the earth thrumming under my feet, or to even hear the whispering of the forest.

In those moments, I used to be able to move in the dark without needing to open my eyes at all.

But right now, I wasn’t closing my eyes, and I wasn’t concentrating nearly as much. Still, though, my feet seemed to move forward on their own as I moved with a gravity, obeying a pull I didn’t quite understand.

A twig snapped near me, and I blinked, the world slamming into focus once again. I was in a different stretch of the forest now, but it didn’t feel like I’d moved very far at all.

And now I was lost. Crap.

“Titus?” He had exceptional hearing, but he still might struggle with this. Despite my attempts, my voice had come out weaker than expected. I stepped forward once more, the earth giving way softly under my feet. My spine prickled. “Miles?”

I didn’t see them, but I knew there were eyes following my every movement. I could feel them passing over my skin, causing the hair on my arms to stand.

It couldn’t be either of them. They wouldn’t try to scare me. Not like this.

“Guys…” I was suffocating and lost. How had I even gotten here?

A low sound rumbled at my left. The last semblance of my bravery fled. Blackness swarmed my vision. Dropping the lantern in my haste, I ran.

Where are they?

I squeezed my eyes shut, relying solely on my instincts to drive me forward and to keep me from crashing into anything.

Where did Titus go? Where was Miles?

My last thought was barely complete before I collided with a warm form and we both went tumbling to the ground.

“Bianca?” Miles’s shocked—and slightly breathless—voice poured over me like honey, dulling the edges of my panic until all I could focus on was him. “What are you doing here?”

I could only stare at the man under me as the darkness receded from my vision. “Miles…”

He wore a tan fleece, camouflage pants, and combat boots—it was an awful combination that made me wonder if, while we were home and in civilization, someone else laid out his clothes for him. The neck of his once-white turtleneck was covered with the clumsy smudges of black and green face-paint while faint traces of said colors were still patched in pieces along the bridge of his thick nose, wide forehead, and full cheeks.

There was pink too—coloring his expression as his deep gaze roamed over my face.

Miles.

I pressed to my knees, straddling him, and couldn’t hold back from tracing my fingers over the fading paint, just needing to feel that he was alive and here.

No matter what had happened earlier, I wasn’t imaginingthis.

It was almost something of a dream—this was the first time I’d witnessed Miles with anything more than a scratchy stubble, and though his beard was still wiry, it had grown in much fuller than the last time I’d seen him unshaven.

So, given time, hecouldgrow a beard.

The knot in my chest loosened as the rest of the tension I’d been carrying for weeks began to fade away. He was finally with me again, and, even though he would probably hate the idea of me thinking this, he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

It was like I was finally anchored back to earth after flying free in the wind.

“What are you doing here?” he asked incredulously. He touched my shoulders, the warmth of his hands seeping into my joints. He sat up, with me still in his lap, until our noses were almost touching. “Howdid you get here?”

The shock of our meeting began to fade, and reality settled in.

We’d finally found him! Or rather,I’dfound him. Titus had been useless in the end, leaving me to fend for myself. All that posturing and his childish games. What in the world was the point of abandoning me?

“Titus found me five minutes ago,” Miles said, still searching my face. “He didn’t tell me you were here too. Did everyone come?”

All right, so I hadn’t been the first to find Miles. No matter. I would be the first to joyously welcome him back into the fold. I wasn’t entirely certain of the nature of their relationship, but sometimes it seemed rather petty. Titus probably hadn’t been very forthcoming with his affection.