Chapter 7

Cory took the place next to me on the bed, sitting close enough that I could feel his heat though it didn't annoy me quite as much as the desert heat. He smelled like soap, sweat, and sage.

I cleared my throat. "You probably guessed from when I showed up here the first time th at I was running from something. And I was. I was homeless at the time. Had been for a few months. I nearly died in the cold."

Cory's hand gripped mine, his heat enveloping my suddenly cold fingers.

I looked down at the contrast between his large, dark hand engulfing my small, pale one. "A man, Stan, found me. He was homeless, too. He lived with three others under an overpass in the city. They didn't have more than cardboard boxes and things that people had thrown out. What Stan did have, he shared. He saved my life, more than once actually."

"More than once?" he prodded.

"It was a very dark time in my life. I had just been betrayed by the first person that I thought had genuinely loved me."

"What, like he cheated on you?"

I snorted. More like he lied and told me to assassinate the newly elected president of Somalia, leaving a trail of bodies, including little Salim's father. "Something like that."

"So you ran away from home? Because of a guy?" His face was skeptical.

"No, I didn't...you see I was working for…" I trailed off, realizing that I couldn't explain how I was feeling when every explanation tied into things that I wasn't ready to share. "Uh, you know what, I think I'm ready to fall asleep now."

Cory stared at me a long time. "I know you're putting a wall up, Jodie. I may be younger than Jay and not as wise as Paw, but I'm not stupid. But, I'm not going to push you either. I don't want to drag your secrets out of you. That would be a hollow victory. I want you to come to me willingly to share them." He let his words hang heavy in the air, then got to his feet after patting me on my good thigh. "Sleep tight."

A rock settled in my gut as I watched him walk out. "Cory," I called. He paused in the doorway to look back at me. "I'm 19, too."

His grin came back, stretching across his face, and I knew that he appreciated the shared piece of knowledge. "Get some sleep, kid."

"Hey, I'm still older than you."

"When's your birthday?"

I mumbled my answer.

His grin widened. "I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"I said it's in December."

"So, you're five months older than me. You seem so…"

"I know."

"Short."

"Wait, what?" I asked. "Not so much more mature? You just think I'm short?"

He winked and left the room, pulling the door closed. "Sleep tight, Jodie."

I shook my head at his antics but smiled all the same. It felt good to be here. I turned, prepared for a few hours of sweaty, itchy tossing. But that didn't happen.

Instead, I woke, reaching for blankets to chase off the chill with the smell of spices in the air. The dual assault to my senses drew me from my sleep. I yawned and stretched, sitting up. My muscles were stiff, and I really, really had to go to the bathroom. As quickly as possible, I got dressed, not even blinking an eye about hopping out my window. I felt like I had to burst.

It was dark outside, though the moon lit the desert well enough that I could see the nearby plateaus that framed the south side of the farm. I walked until I was just barely far enough from the house to do my business. My walk back was much more leisurely without the urgent press on my bladder. I inhaled the sweet, dusty smell of the desert night, feeling the cool air as it moved over my skin.

I could hear the crickets and other night critters out with the downed sun. The horses and sheep were quiet in their stalls until I passed close to the corral. One horse woke and whinnied before going silent once more.

When I opened the door to the house, the guys looked up, surprised at their front door opening but not scared by it. Their biggest obstacle in life had been Ye'iitsoh, and with it gone, they had nothing to worry about. It was nice, relaxing. I wanted to feel that way. I didn't want to constantly be looking over my shoulder, wondering if or when the government would decide to come after me again.

"Hey." My voice was soft as I shut the door behind me. "Have room for one more? I'm starving."

Paul smiled and gestured me in. "Of course. It's good to see you up and moving around."

"Yeah, well, Jay was right. I needed the sleep."

"I'll say, you were asleep for two days," Cory griped, getting his foot kicked under the table by Jay.

I paused in the middle of stabbing a baked potato for myself from the bowl. "You're joking, right?"

No one said anything, but they didn't need to. Their silence said it all.

I cleared my throat and continued to fill my plate, realizing why I'd had to use the restroom so badly now and also why I was so hungry.

I wondered vaguely if the drug McGrath had been pumping into my arm just before Black Sun had still been lingering in my system, and I'd just been so pumped up on adrenaline that I hadn't noticed until I felt safe. Of course, how could I explain to this family that some four-star general had started pumping me up full of drugs to put me in a permanent coma because he didn't want me as an enemy in the Infraworld if he killed me to shut me up?

"Sorry. I uh...it's been a long few months," I said lamely. I felt like every evasion only made Jay all the madder, but Paul and Cory, whether they believed me or not, just nodded their heads at my non-explanation.

"So," Paul started, moving the food around on his plate. "Cory tells us that you're nineteen?"

I nodded, my mouth too full to speak.

Paul wasn't finished. He stared at his plate, filling his fork as he continued. "What do you think about going to school?"

My own fork clattered to my plate as I inhaled my food down into my airway. I coughed, trying to clear it out. Jay took the pitcher on the table and filled my mug with water. I took a sip, grateful at the gesture. "I'm sorry-" My voice was croaky, so I took another sip and cleared it. "I'm sorry, but you want me to go to school?"

"Yes, I think it would be good. I don't know how long you were homeless for-"

"Cory's shared a lot of information, hasn't he?" I asked, giving said guy a pointed look.

He raised his hands in innocence, his face full of alarm. "I just told them your age. I promise."

"You talked to Cory?" Jay asked, his voice neutral.

I turned to him, trying to read his thoughts. Was he upset that I hadn't shared with him? Was he relieved that I was talking to someone? I couldn't tell.

Paul held his hands up, stopping the chaos. "Before we get too far off topic, Cory didn't tell me what you talked about him with. I could though when you showed up here, that living out of a backpack wasn't new to you."

Jay turned to me. "You were homeless? How long were you homeless for?" he demanded, his voice concerned.

I shifted in my seat, pushing the food around on my plate.

Paul spoke to his son in their native language. The words sounded sharp. Whatever was said, Jay quieted without a response. Paul turned back to me. "Now, I don't know how long you were homeless for, but it doesn't matter. If you had a gap in your education-"

"I have my GED," I interrupted. "I got it early. I'd even taken college classes by the time I came here."

Not that I'd be able to prove any of that. I felt like a ghost. Everything I had, had come from the government. Now that I was trying to stay off their radar, none of it was worth anything. Who cared that I earned my GED when I was training at the CIA? If I didn't have proof of it, it was just my word.

"Good," Paul said. "That's good. But, I still think it would be good for you to be around other people your age."

I paused and tilted my head, remembering all the horrible times I'd thought the same thing. "No, I disagree. That would not be a good thing. Besides, I'm too old."

"No," Cory reassured me. "I'm going into my senior year next year, too. When we got rid of Ye'iitsoh, people started moving back onto the reservation. There were enough students to reopen the school, and the elders felt that our generation missed out on a lot of our culture by going to regular school. So they've added another grade or two on for those of us that missed out."

I paused, thinking about that. Aiden-my heart panged in my chest-Aiden wasn't here anymore. Would I be able to make friends? If weird things weren't happening around me, maybe they wouldn't think I was weird? I wasn't the same girl I'd been just wanting to be like everyone else. I'd already accepted that, Aiden or not, I never would be...but that didn't mean that a small slice of normalcy wouldn't be nice.

I shook my head. "But, I don't have any papers or anything. How could I enroll?"

Jay spoke up this time, and I was surprised. I thought he might be the least enthusiastic about the whole idea, but he seemed to be on board as well. "Most of the kids here don't have much in the way of documentation other than what the BIA requires."

"BIA?"

"Bureau of Indian Affairs."

"Right."

"If Paw claims you as his own, they wouldn't bat an eye. They all know they owe our family so much. They knew we were the last ones remaining on our land, the rest driven away because of Ye'iitsoh. We'll make sure that they know they owe you, too."

"No," I shouted, and then took a breath to calm myself. "I mean, no, thank you. I don't want to stand out. All my life, I've wanted to have a bit of normalcy. That'll be hard to do if they think I'm some kind of demon-slayer," I joked, knowing in the back of my head at how true that statement was.

Paul smiled at me, his face warm and his gray hair framing his face. "Okay, no demon-slayer tales around the fire, then, yázhí . You'll be just regular old Jodie."

" Yázhí ? What does that mean?"

"Little one," Cory answered with a grin.

"Oh, fuck," I mumbled, knowing that Cory would not be letting me live that down after I made sure to point out how I was a whole, whopping five months older than him earlier-err, yesterday?

Paul shook his head fondly at our antics, seeming to guess the nature of our cryptic interaction. Even Jay had a small smirk on his face.

Paul looked at me. "So, what do you think?"

I sighed. "I...I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask. And you have time. School won't start until next month."

I nodded and went back to eating. The conversation flowed around me, but all I could concentrate on was the bombshell Paul had dropped on me-did I want to go to school?