Lupi 04 - Night Season

great one for expectations.” He let a few inches come between them without releasing her. “You’re all right, Kai?”
    â€œI guess I can be scared and okay at the same time. Excited, too. It’s a whole new world, after all. I’m all boggled about it.” Kai drew air in through her nose, sighed it out, and nodded once. “Let’s get moving.”
    She shrugged into her backpack and tucked the sleeping bags beneath her arms. They’d not be afoot long, so the weight wasn’t a major issue. Still, he carried more of their gear, which was sensible. Nathan was probably five times as strong as she normally was, and she wasn’t normal now. Hunger gnawed at her, a hunger food couldn’t satisfy since it wasn’t hers. She tired quickly.
    Not for much longer, though.
    Kai’s backpack held a change of clothes, thermal underthings, plenty of clean socks and underwear, their medical kit, and a few more odds and ends. Nathan’s carried the heavier items—their cleverly compact tent, camping tools, and trade goods: several packets of cinnamon; a roll of zippable plastic bags; a pair of small, sharp axes; four very fine knives; two boxes of nails; a hammer and a small spade; and a pound each of gold and silver made up into chains.
    Nathan lifted the oversize duffel and they walked slowly away from the car. Kai’s friend Ginger would retrieve it later today. Ginger knew Kai was leaving with Nathan, but had no inkling just how far they meant to travel. The story Kai had given her for abandoning the vehicle out here was pretty lame, as Ginger had pointed out several times, but Kai was used to Ginger’s inquisitiveness. And Ginger was used to not getting all of her questions answered.
    Kai hoped hard that she would see her friend again. “You’re looking forward to this.”
    â€œParts of it, yes. Your home is lovely, but I’ve been here a long time. And even with the recent influx of magic, it’s still a bit thin here for me.” Without breaking stride or changing tone he added, “You’ll do, Kai. I know you’ve doubts, and that’s as it should be, for this quest is a testing. But you’ll do.”
    And that, of course, was where the ohmygod scale came from. Not a fear of running out of tampons. Though she sincerely hoped she’d packed enough; if she hadn’t, she’d make do. The fear that she couldn’t learn enough, understand enough, to do what she was supposed to—oh, yes, that was huge.
    One step at a time , she reminded herself, following him through the darkness around the side of the old house. He could see here, she thought. She couldn’t, not yet—certainly not in the shadow of the derelict building. She couldn’t hear his footsteps, either. Just her own.
    They reached what she would have called the backyard had it possessed anything other than dirt, trash, and dead weeds. Kai could see those weeds now, their rustly skeletons smudging air on its way from black to gray. The sky had lightened from ink to charcoal overhead, with a band of steel along the horizon. She moved up beside Nathan.
    Like Grandfather said, swallowing tomorrow’s troubles will give you gas today. And yet…“I don’t see why we’re doing it this way. You could find it. That’s what you do. ”
    â€œI could, once I got the scent. But that isn’t what my queen wishes. And no,” he said with a sideways smile for her, “while her wishes are sufficient for me, I don’t expect you to accept them without a question or two. I imagine she saw something that led her to send us this way about things, rather than another.”
    â€œBy ‘saw’ do you mean foreseeing? Or farseeing?”
    â€œLikely both. Odds are, she has her hand on a pattern developing there, and this is the best way for it to proceed.”
    â€œOr she may just want to make this as hard as possible on me.”
    â€œThat’s also possible. Eh.” He rubbed his nose with his free hand. “You’re all puckered with worry, and a bit angry, too, and I’m still giddy with relief, which is a bad match in our moods. But it will work out, Kai. You’ll see.”
    Nathan was giddy because his queen hadn’t killed her six days ago. Kai had been pretty relieved herself at the time. The queen and her brother had thought she was a binder, a rare and dangerous type of telepath who