in that voice that sounds like

m him, and he drops his hands instantly. As if to prove that he was touchin

just occurred to me that nothing that has happened today feels real and

me," I say a

I do know it's not about protecting T

be different, and even though fate has dragged me right back into the exact same place she suffered in, I'

ne hi

dark, fierce. It fractures into a dozen different pieces, and eve

l," I stamm

this man. He's a stranger. A stranger who walked out of the woods like some apparitio

he stairs," I continue.

red. I can see him at the edge of my

I add, "I

edding?" he a

s to me-way, way too late-that this whole interaction is bizarre beyon

ead, but offers

d me your name

the bridge. "I'm going to go take a lo

nd before I start to follow. My dress is so heavy that it takes all my energy to keep moving, an

s carefully, as though there's only a finite amount l

can get i

s me. "Are you as

think my life would be easier if someone

e likely concussed, but insane would also work as a p

ge thing to say... wasn't

you feel, it'

they really feel. Not

hey shou

. Unblinkingly. Unapologetically. The eye conta

ns do th

the air. I turn my gaze out towards the e

is head. "N

decision, then opens the passenger si

o," he say

r seat and then back a

nterested in taking another plunge into the next riv

here that I should argue with. But I make the mistake of loo

the car, an

NI

en months since

was worth

who would move anywhere I put her. Her hair is plastered down the sides of her face and water droplets st

elt,"

g through me more

r her. She smells of lilacs and champagne, and my

today. Over a year of captivity reduces a man to his most anim

ecause she

use she's

. Pale green eyes like the highest leaf on

it. She's cinched up in too many layers of lace and fabric for it to be sexual

, she just wat

e's as much on the run as I am, albeit in very, very different ways. I have

starts fi

ection she'd been going in. The vehicle groans and shudders at fi

s. She sees my eyes flitting between the rearview mirror an