Dallas was standing just barely inside the cave entrance when I returned, and I wondered if he'd been doing that the entire time I'd been gone. He didn't greet me with words, but a warm hug that I gladly returned, shivering slightly from the cold. Still silent, he lead me to the fire. He waited until I warmed up before asking any questions.
"How did it go?" he asked, pulling me against his side. I snuggled into him gratefully. "It went pretty well. He told me his name, which I can't pronounce, but told me to call him Jas. He said that we should locate the horsemen and get them to like me. He also mentioned something about...nevermind," I say, deciding at the last moment to leave out the bit about the supposed necklace in Dallas's pocket.
"Mentioned something about what?" Dallas asked curiously. "I...forget," I say, biting my lip and hoping he believes me. "Bullshit," he says, shifting away from me. "Just tell me what it was, Anastasia." I take a deep breath. "He told me to ask about the necklace in your pocket," I mutter. Dallas looks confused for a moment, then proceeds to pull out a necklace. There's nothing fancy about it; it's rather plain. The chain is a dull bronze color, the charm just a tiny ruby in a casing that faintly resembles the shape of a heart. In all honesty, it's much more feminine that something I expected Dallas to have. He hands it to me and I reach out and let him drop it into my hand, the delicate chain pooling in my palm.
"It was my mother's," he says simply, and I nod. I have no idea why this necklace would have anything to do with why Jas called him a parasite. "You can have it. It'd look good on you," Dallas whispers. I turn to look up at him. "Are you sure?" I ask. He smiles and leans down, kissing my forehead. "Of course I'm sure. It's better for the necklace to be worn than lay tangled in the bottom of my pocket." I look up at him for a moment, a small smile on my face. I turn and lift my hair up, handing the necklace to him. He puts it around my neck, the cool chain settling comfortably at the base of my throat. He fastens the clasp.
And that's when I feel it. A surge of power that makes me feel as though I could decide whether a person lives or dies. It races through my veins, then settles, still there, making me feel electrifying. I turn sharply and look at Dallas. He's smiling at me obliviously. "I'm going to go to...relieve myself," I murmur quietly and stand, slipping out of the cave. Bones follows me, silently padding along at my ankles, his tail wagging rapidly.
I lean against a tree in the cold air, breathing in and out. The power I felt is still there, and the necklace itself seems to thrum with power. Part of me wishes that Jas was here to explain everything to me because I just don't understand. After a few minutes, I stand up and turn to walk back to the cave. I happen to glance at the tree I'd been leaning on and notice that it's blackened and dead. I shudder and wish I'd checked it before leaning on it.
