Blood Red Road

sounds too good to be true.
    You got no right to say that. You don’t know nuthin about him.
    I says it real quick, to block out the thought of how Lugh’s bin changin over the past year or so. How he was that last day. How he said he couldn’t wait to leave Silverlake an the look on his face when he called Pa a foolish old man livin in a dream world. I hate that Pa died with them bein the last words spoke between ’em.
    Hey, says Jack, I’m sorry, it was a stupid thing to say. I’m sorry. So, if yer twins he must look the same as you?
    I turn on my side to face him.
    No, I says. He’s beautiful. Like Ma was. Gold hair like the sun. Long, in a braid right down to his waist.
    Yer hair’s startin to grow back, he says. It’s dark.
    Black, I says. Like my pa’s. It used to be nice. Thick an long an … I must look real stupid.
    No, he says.
    When Ma was alive, she used to say, yer the night-time, Saba, Lugh’s the day. I’m the one who always takes things too serious. Lugh’s the one who smiles, makes you laugh. He’s a good person, Lugh. He’s everythin I ain’t.
    Is that what you believe? That you ain’t a good person? That you ain’t beautiful?
    I don’t say nuthin.
    You must miss him, he says.
    I never knew that missin somebody could hurt, I says. But it does. Deep inside. Like it’s in my bones. We ain’t never bin apart till now. Never. I dunno how to be without him. It’s like … I ain’t nuthin.
    Don’t say that, he says. Don’t ever say that. You are somethin, Saba. Somethin good an strong an true. With him or without him.
    He reaches over an brushes my tears away with his thumb. I didn’t even know I was cryin. A warm path trails behind his touch.
    The clouds clear fer a moment an I dive into his strange silvery eyes. They’re like a moonlit lake. We lie there fer a good long time, jest starin at each other in the soft, piney night. At last he says, We’ll find him. I promise. Now try an git some sleep. I’ll take first watch.
    Wake me when it’s my turn, I says.
    I will, he says.
    G’night, Jack.
    G’night.
    He sits, his back propped aginst a tree.
    Jack? I whisper.
    What?
    Thank you.
    Sweet dreams, Saba.
    But I don’t sleep fer ages.
    Somethin good an strong an true. That’s what he said. Nobody ever used such words about me before. I wonder if he really means ’em.
    The Jack I seen up till now, that Jack’s all charm an quick words an easy smiles. But the way he is tonight, the way he was while we was talkin, I warn’t expectin that. It put me in mind of Mercy. I felt this … stillness, I guess you’d call it … at the heart of him. That’s the same feelin I got from her. Stillness, like calm water.
    I dunno what to make of it. It don’t seem to fit. An jest when I thought I had him all figgered out too.
    But the thing is, I think I might be … startin to trust him. I know Maev thinks he’s hidin somethin, that he’s got secrets. An she could be right. She’s seen a lot more of the world than me, met a lot more people. Emmi seems to like him jest fine, but what does she know? She’s jest a little kid.
    I dunno if I’m right to trust him.
    I stare up. The gray clouds brush over the black of the night sky.
    I wish Lugh was here. He’d tell me. He’d know.

    It’s the middle of the day. We’re still in the foothills, dry an dusty, but the land’s gittin hillier, rockier, with more’n more tree cover as we go along.
    Jack’s bin ridin a little ways ahead of us all mornin. I’m glad not to hafta say much to him. I’m wishin I hadn’t of said so much to him last night. I ain’t quite sure why I did. I shouldn’t of let him fool me into sleepin next to him.
    Emmi’s ridin beside me an Nero’s hitchin a ride on Hermes’ rump. Emmi starts lookin behind us, over her shoulder.
    What is it? I says.
    She frowns. Nuthin, she says. But as we go on, she keeps lookin back. I can tell she ain’t easy. That she’s got somethin on her mind. Finally, I cain’t take it no more. I reach over an grab Joy’s reins. Bring her to a halt.
    Yer drivin me crazy, Em, I says. Tell me what it is.
    Jack turns Ajax around an rides back to join us. What’s goin on? he says. What is it, Emmi?
    She chews on her bottom lip. Looks all uneasy.
    Emmi, I says. Spit it out or I’ll shake it outta you.
    I … I think somebody’s followin us, she says at last.
    What? I says.
    Where? says Jack. He reaches into his saddlebag an pulls somethin out.
    South, says Emmi pointin