I PULLED OVER HALFWAY back to pack central. My eyes kept leaking, a frustrating occurrence. But that wasn’t why I stopped on the shoulder and padded into the trees.
The Guardian, I knew, could see what happened for miles in every direction. She could, but she didn’t often pay attention to happenings outside her immediate vicinity. As long as I didn’t draw her attention, she might remain unaware of the danger Lenny’s wife was sending her way. I might still have time to collect allies of my own.
To that end, I left my shoes on but let my tears fall into cushions of mosses, steering clear of the one nearby patch of wildflowers. The Guardian was fond of the little blue blooms, I’d noticed, while Erskine was drawn to salt.
Sure enough, warmth whuffled on the back of my neck after only a few
