Free Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) by Lindsey Fairleigh, Lindsey Pogue

beside him, then froze. Eyebrows lifted and eyes
filled with what Jake thought might be embarrassment, she cleared her throat.
“Sorry,” she said, and shook her head as she let out a nervous breath. “Do you
mind if I sit?”
    “Of course not,” Jake said. He had
to resist the urge to brush her hair away from her eyes, to pull her closer, to
hold her hand, to do something that was them.
    Finally, gathering the loose
strands of her hair behind her head, Zoe twisted them away from her face before
she let them fall and unfurl down her back. She dropped her hands into her lap,
took a long, deep breath, and closed her eyes.
    Jake wanted to reach out to her,
to offer her some sort of reassurance. But then she tilted her head to the side
and peered into his eyes, which surprised him.
    “You’re avoiding me—” she said as he began, “How are you
feel—”
    She smiled at him and licked her
lips as she rested her elbows on her knees. “It’s weird,” she said, blushing.
    “Which part?” Jake asked, knowing
everything she’d learned about her life—about the world—was probably equally
difficult to grasp.
    Biting the inside of her cheek,
she studied him for a moment. “You’re more difficult to read than the others,”
she finally admitted.
    Jake felt a sudden flood of
relief.
    “Well, except for Jason. But…” She
waved the idea of her brother away. “Look, Jake…I know I’m not her , but
I—” She gazed up at him thoughtfully. “I don’t want you to have to feel like
you can’t be around me. I mean, if you still want to be. I don’t want you to
avoid me like the plague unless you…ya know…”
    “I’m not avoiding you, not
exactly,” he finally said. “I want to give you your space…a chance to get used
to things.”
    Zoe shook her head. “You’re all so
worried I’ll see too much, so you avoid me. It just makes everything
worse…harder.” She bent her knee and pulled it up, hugging it against her chest.
“I want to feel normal, but how can I when everyone acts differently around me,
when everyone tries to censor themselves…their memories?” She stared into the
fire, lost in thought.
    Jake watched her as she bit the
inside of her cheek. He’d never thought about it in that way.
    When he didn’t reply, Zoe peered at
him, her eyes softening. “I know this must be hard for you, too, and I’m sorry
I don’t remember you or us. But maybe if you just give me some time…” Her
eyebrows pinched together, and her voice sounded near pleading.
    Jake studied her a moment. “I
don’t want to rush you,” he said, and he forced himself to say the next words,
wanting, more than anything, to comfort her. “You’ll remember…soon.”
    Zoe offered him a weak smile.
“Maybe.” Her ambiguity was evident.
    “You don’t think so?”
    Zoe shrugged. “I feel like it
would’ve happened already, but…” She shook her head, her hair falling around
her face again. “Anyway, I just wanted you to know that you don’t have to avoid
me…”
    Abruptly, she rose, and without
thought, Jake reached for her hand.
    When she froze and glanced down at
his fingers entwined with hers, a weak smile tugged at her lips. She cleared
her throat. “Goodnight,” she whispered.
    “Goodnight,” he said, and he
thought he felt Zoe squeeze his fingers slightly before letting go and walking
away. He tried not to let his heart swell with too much hope as she returned to
her spot on the other side of the fire, Sam and Tavis laughing with one
another and smiling at her as she plopped down between them.

 
    6
    DANI
    MARCH 28, 1AE
    San Juan National Forest, Colorado
     
    I sat atop the
bench of the chuck wagon, the highest spot in camp, keeping watch by staring
out at the moonlit field of tall grasses and the wooded foothills beyond that.
Not that the “keeping watch” part of keeping watch was strictly necessary now
that my Ability had returned, even only partially; dozens of nocturnal creatures
were linked into