More than once over the years, he’d helped a neighbor fight off those others. And he’d buried friends as well as enemies.
He’d seen crows circling in the distance, beyond their quiet acres. He’d seen the lightning flash black.
Now his daughter would go beyond him, into that dark and dangerous world. And he, a man, a solider, a father, was helpless to stop it.
He looked over at her, his long, lanky, lovely girl. The sun glinted on the dark braid down her back. She wore one of his mother’s old gardening hats, a wide-brimmed straw. The faded blue shirt had been his mother’s, too, and showed that his girl had sprouted what Lana called booblets.
He didn’t like to think about it.
He’d bartered for the jeans—on the baggy side, as she was so slim—and the sturdy brown boots.
He wanted to hold her there, just like that. Standing in the little vineyard, a bunch of ripe purple grapes in her hand, her face lifted up to the sun.
With his eyes still on her, he hauled up the split wood to add to the stack. He saw her stiffen, watched her turn slowly, her face blank—a mask of control no one so young should wear.
She set the grapes in her basket, slid the clippers into the sheath on her belt, and began to walk down the terraced rows of the vineyard.
Everything went silent. The laughter of the boys, the hum of bees and chickens. The dogs didn’t bark. Simon felt for a moment, one long, breaking moment, the world stopped breathing.
His did.
Mallick stood at the edge of the farm road, holding the reins of his horse. The same horse he’d ridden thirteen years before, Simon would swear it. He looked the same as well, not a day older, the dark hair waving down, the white streak in his beard.
Lana stood in the garden, one hand pressed to her heart, the other fisted at her side.
Simon dropped the wood on the ground, rushed forward.
“Dad.” Her voice steady, her eyes dry, Fallon stopped to reach for his arm.
Until she had, he didn’t realize he had a hand on the gun in his belt.
“You should get Ethan,” she told him. “He’s crying.”
“Baby.”
“I’m okay. I need you to help me do this. Please, please, Daddy, help me do this.”
The mask slipped; his daughter’s eyes pleaded with him. “Go to your mom first. I’ll get the boys.”
So she went to her mother, took Lana’s hand. Together they walked to Mallick.
“Lady,” he said, “the years sit well on you, and on this land.”
“A choice, you said. You can’t make her go.”
“Mom.”
Already grieving, Lana rounded on Fallon. “I’m your mother. I decide. You’re not old enough to make a choice like this. You don’t know what’s out there. You don’t—”
She broke off when Fallon’s arms came around her, when Fallon spoke in her head.
I know what you know. I’ve seen what you’ve seen. I’ve dreamed what you’ve dreamed. Help me do this. Help me be strong like you. Let me go so I can be what you helped make me. Let me go so I can come back.
Fallon drew back, but kept her mother’s hand as she faced Mallick.
“Have you chosen, Fallon Swift?”
“Will they be safe while I’m gone? I won’t leave my family unless I know they’ll be safe.”
“No harm comes to them while you train with me.”
“If it does, you’ll pay for it.”
He nodded. “Understood. Simon Swift.” Absently he patted one of the dogs who sniffed at him as Simon led the boys up. Mallick scanned the boys, the grim-faced Colin, the cool-eyed Travis, Ethan, who knuckled away tears. “You’ve made fine sons. May I water my horse while you say good-bye?”
“Now? But she hasn’t had her cake or her gifts. I—I have to help her pack.”
“Mom. I’m packed. I’m ready. I’ll go get my things.”
Saying nothing, Simon gestured Mallick to the water trough by the barn.
“I … I need to pack some food. She needs to have her cake.”
Lana escaped into the house.
“Go get your presents for your sister,” Simon told the boys. He crossed to Mallick. “Where are you taking her?”
“Not as far as you fear, not as near as you might wish. I can’t tell you more, for her safety.”
“And how do we know she’s safe?”
“You know duty, and she’s my duty. Believe me, I would lay my life down for her. Not for love, as you would, but for duty that’s as strong in me. She is my purpose, my hope, my duty. I will not fail her.”
“You know duty,” Simon repeated. “Believe me, if harm comes to her, I will hunt you down whoever and whatever you are. And wherever you are, I will find you and I will kill you.”
“If harm comes to her, Simon Swift, I will already be dead. And what is left of the world will wish for the same fate. In two years she’ll come back to you, and you’ll see what you helped her become.”
“Two years from now, if she’s not back safe, I’ll come for you.”
He strode away, stopping short when Fallon came out with a small duffel bag. “I need to saddle Grace.”
“I’ll do it.” Travis rushed out. “I’ll do it. I made you this.”
He offered her a leather sheath for her knife, one with symbols carefully burned into the leather.
“They’re magick symbols to keep the blade sharp and clean, and to help it strike true.”
“It’s really beautiful, Travis. You … must’ve worked on it a long time.”
“I know you have to go.” When his voice thickened, he swallowed. “I know you’re afraid, but you’ll come back.”
“Yes. I’ll come back.”
“You’ll be different, but you’ll come back. I’ll bring Grace.”
She started to speak to her father, struggled for what she wanted to say. Colin and Ethan came out and spared her.
“I don’t want you to go.” Ethan flung his arms around her legs. “Don’t go away.”
“I have to, for a while, and I need you to do something for me.” She opened her bag, took out the pink bear. “I need you to take care of her, okay? She really needs to be snuggled at night.”
“You should take her with you.”
“She doesn’t want to go. She wants to stay here. Will you take care of her until I get home?”
“I won’t let anything happen to her. I made you this. Well, mostly Dad made it, but I helped, and I said make a flower, and I painted it. It’s a birthday flower.”
She took the little wooden tulip painted bright and inexpertly pink and green. “It’s really pretty. Thanks, Ethan.”
She crouched to tuck it into her bag, then unbuckled her knife sheath to replace it with her new one.
“I did this.” Colin shoved a little box at her.
From inside, she lifted out a small wind chime. Thin white stones, pieces of smooth colored glass hung from fishing wire attached to an old metal hook.
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s stupid, but—”
“It’s beautiful.”
She saw tears in him, barely held back, and hugged him hard. “You’re the president now,” she whispered. “Don’t forget.”
When her mother came out, Fallon saw the signs of weeping even through the glamour.
“There’s some of your cake, and bread from this morning, some meat and cheese, and … Well, here’s Travis with Grace. I’ll put this in your saddlebag.”
“I’ll do it.” Colin took the food pack, and the duffel.
“It’s so fast,” Lana murmured. “It’s all too fast.”
Afraid she’d lose her nerve, Fallon bent down, hugged Ethan. “Take care of the bear, and don’t let the big guys push you around.”
She straightened, turned to Travis, held tight. “Don’t even think about moving into my room.”
Then to Colin. “Try not to be such a big jerk.”
“You’re the jerk.”
“Try not to screw up too much while I’m gone.”