Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 69
ran away?"
"I don't know what he told her," she said. "He's a
compassionate enough man, if a bit of a libertine. I'm sure he
wouldn't hurt her by telling her that, if he thought he could trust
her with the truth."
Jordan chewed on that. Just how much could Emmy be
trusted with something like that? He had to admit he didn't
know; she kept secrets pretty well, he thought, but what about
the secret abduction of her brother? It made more sense to let
her believe the lie everybody else had heard.
In which case she would believe he had abandoned her.
After a while he asked, "How can you know where we
are? You say you aren't a morph, but you're not using a
compass or anything. And you can see in the dark." And
you're pretty strong, but he didn't say that.
They were walking through an area of new growth now.
Slender willows and white birch stood in startled lines all
around, and the sun had full access to the ground. Very high in
the sky, mountainous white clouds were piling up over one
another.
Lady May squinted up at them. "Storm coming," she
said.
"What are we going to do when it rains? We'll get
soaked."
"Yes." She shrugged. "We should be under shelter in
time."
"How do you know that?"
Lady May sighed. "It's rather difficult to explain," she
said. "And I really didn't want to get into it yet. But you and I
are going to have to make an agreement to work together, I
mean really work together, and I'm going to tell you some
things and you're going to tell me some. Understand?"