Mirror

Telepathy

It wasn't just Tyreek calling my name. "Lithallia!" Chris hissed in my ear. I raised my head. We were still surrounded by the inky darkness of late night, but Tyreek's voice was still ringing in my ear too clearly. "Hold on Litty. Don't die on me," his voice said. I smiled because it was kind of endearing how worried he was, but I wished I could at least let him know I was only asleep.

Chris hissed in my ear again so I tuned Tyreek out. "I'm awake," I whispered. "Is something wrong?"

By the dim light of the stars I saw Chris' eyes dart toward Danny and then to the girl in my arms. "We need to go somewhere else. Leave the girl to sleep and don't let him follow."

I threw a glance over my shoulder at Danny. He made no sign that he had heard. Chris' gaze was intense. I wanted to tell him that I trusted Danny and, if something was going on, all four of us should be in on it, but Chris wasn't having any of it. He tossed me a blanket from his pack. I wrapped May up in it and laid her down next to Danny. Chris wrapped a cloak around himself and took me by the shoulder, huddling me under the same cloak. He guided me toward the river.

When I felt water run over my bare feet he stopped. "Chris, what is going on?"

"Kylee. I just got a message from Kylee."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes, yes, she's fine. She managed to retrieve her crystal ball and forced the carriage driver to return to Fillicco. She used some of her connections there to restrain him." Chris shook his head. "That's not important. She saw you in her crystal ball."

"Me? I thought she couldn't see me."

"Not much," Chris said, "but she can make predictions with the little bits of information it can give about you. You need to go to the lake without Danny."

"What?" I exclaimed. "That's ridiculous. I can't just leave him behind."

"Quiet," Chris hissed. "You don't understand, Lithallia. He's dangerous. Kylee's prophesy says when you reach the Dimensional flip you'll be killed by an old shadow in a child's body."

I nodded. I tried to remember the face of my shadow assassin. I hadn't seen it well, but he appeared young. I wouldn't have called him a child though.

Chris took hold of my shoulders and shook me vigorously. "Did none of that sink in? Killed, Lithallia, killed by a shadow in a child's body. Kylee's never been wrong. Not in all of the years I've known her."

I nodded again. No, she hadn't been wrong in her earlier predictions. I didn't think this was an exception.

"Lithallia, say something!"

"Okay," I said, feeling that Chris' hysterics made it easier for me to remain calm. "There are millions of shadows out there. I'm sure it's possible for some of them to use a kid. There's no reason to assume Kylee's prophesy is about Danny."

Chris stared at me, dumbfounded. "Do you have that much faith in the kid? Earlier, you even said you thought he could be a shadow."

"I did," I agreed, "but then why wait until we reached the lake? He could have killed me whenever he wanted. We're together all the time. As far as I know, he's protecting me."