CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A day after fleeing Bruxa’s Eye on Paulo’s small plane, Ana sat next to Cam on the biggest airplane she’d ever seen.
“You all right?”
Cam’s voice sounded like it was pushing its way through water to get to her. She jerked her head. It was the first question he’d asked her, and some of the very few words he’d spoken to her since they’d fled Bruxa’s Eye. They’d made it to a bigger city on the coast, gotten two hidden hotel rooms for the night, then caught this monster of a plane that was supposed to take them to London.
Cam had barely spoken to her since that thing they did, but she’d caught him looking at her dozens of times as if he didn’t know how to deal with her. Good, because she didn’t know how to deal with him.
She jumped when she felt his warm, hard palm cover hers on the plastic arm rest. She twitched, but didn’t loosen her grip. Couldn’t loosen it, even though this was the first time he’d touched her since the other night.
“You weren’t afraid on the other planes,” he said. His low, concerned voice soothed her, if only a bit. “Remember that you can aetherwalk to safety if something goes wrong.”
Though huge, the plane was nearly empty. The only other passengers sat several rows ahead. The lights had been dimmed for anyone who wanted to sleep, according to the announcement made by a dark-haired woman in a red suit with matching lipstick. Ana had kept her eyes glued to the red scarf tied right below the beautiful woman’s chin.
“I’m not afraid.” Her voice almost cracked, and it horrified her.
He squeezed her hand, then pried it off the arm rest to grip in his own.
“Why are you being so nice?” she asked.
“I’m not. You’re terrified. I’m simply not being an asshole about it.”
A grin tried and failed to pull at her lips.
“Why, Ana?”
Some of their walls had broken down over the last days, it seemed. She drew in a ragged breath. “My bow. I’ve never been away from it.”
“Shit.” Realization tinged his voice.
Unlike the two tiny Mythean planes they’d taken, this stupid, gigantic ocean-crossing plane required that she pack her bow in the hold because the airline was run by mortals. For the first time in thousands of years, Ana had been parted from her bow. It was her protection, her friend, her past.
They’d been pretty sure the gods hadn’t followed them to Sao Luis, the city where they’d caught this plane, so there was no reason to think the gods could find them and send the plane into the sea. But if something did go wrong, she’d have to aetherwalk and leave her bow.
Leave her bow. She shuddered. It would be as good as gone; she had no idea how to get it back from the hold. Didn’t even know where such a place would be on such a big plane.
“I’ve seen how you hold it,” he said. “You clutch it when you’re nervous. I noticed that back when I first met you.”
That made her turn her head to look at him. The aloofness had faded from his eyes. The gray was warm with memory, his lovely mouth slightly upturned in his harshly beautiful face.
“Really?” she asked.
“In the forest. I’ve seen you do it recently, too.”
He’d noticed that about her? Her bow was more than just a thing to her. It defined her—restrung thousands of times, imbued with magic to make the wood last. It was her safety blanket, as stupid as it sounded.
“I know how it feels,” he said. “Giving up my bow after godhood was one of the worst things I’ve ever had to do. Took a hell of a long time to get used to.”
She couldn’t even imagine. “This is the first you’ve really spoken to me in almost two days.”
“Been thinking.”
“About what?”
“About a lot of things. About how to help you get out of Otherworld.” Cam’s eyes met hers. Hers looked a little less panicked, he noted with relief.
Her jaw slackened. “Wow. Thanks. Does this have anything to do with what happened when you tied me up?”