Free Silver Dew by Suzi Davis

study the designs every night before you sleep so that you might remember more. It could be the key to understanding your magic.” Sebastian waited patiently for my answer, gently stroking my short, tangled hair. The gesture felt so bizarrely familiar, almost identical to the way he had comforted me (or Caoilinn) nearly two thousand years in the past and just moments ago, all at the same time.
    “I’m not sure how much more I want to remember,” I confessed quietly. “It scares me, Sebastian. She scares me.”
    Sebastian laughed out loud. “That’s ridiculous, Gracelynn. How can you be afraid of yourself?”
    “I’m not Caoilinn,” I stubbornly stated, pulling away from the warmth of his arms.
    “No, you’re not anymore,” he agreed patiently, “but you once were. You don’t need to be afraid of what you’ll remember, I’m sure it can only help. Caoilinn was very much like you – sweet, caring, passionate, innocent – you have nothing to fear from her.”
    I didn’t answer. I wasn’t so certain that I agreed but I couldn’t see any benefit from stating so. I couldn’t help but remember the intense and possessive way Caoilinn had felt when she looked at Sebastian, when she had decided that she wanted him. I glanced up at the sky that had shifted from a black-blue on one horizon to a bright azure at the other, trying to push my dark thoughts away along with the fading night. Sebastian followed my gaze.
    “The sun will be rising soon. Shall we break camp?”
    “I couldn’t sleep anymore if I wanted to,” I agreed. I paused before rising, straining to get a read on the energy that clung to the air around us. I realized, with great relief, that the heavy sense of creeping, impending doom that had hung over us last night had now evaporated like midnight’s mist at dawn. “Have the Others moved any closer?”
    Sebastian immediately shook his head. “No and I’m almost certain they won’t. If we make good time over the next few days we should be able to put some real distance between us – as long as we appear to be charging towards their fifth, of course,” he added with a cheeky grin. He held his hand down to me and pulled me to my feet beside him.
    “Are you going to tell me about this plan of yours then?” I asked curiously and with a touch of wariness.
    “Yes, but let’s get moving first. I’m anxious to be on our way.”
    I quickly tried to examine his expression before he turned away. There was a furrow between his brows that seemed to grow deeper with each passing day and a near-constant strain to his eyes that made me wonder if his headaches ever completely left him. I tried to push aside my concern or at least attempt to hide it from him. I knew that it would only add more stress to his already over-loaded mind if he realized how worried I was. All I could do for now was to want for him to be okay and I definitely did, more than anything. So why wasn’t it working?
    It took us only a few minutes to break camp. I rolled up the tarpaulin and our blankets together into a tightly packed bedroll that I lashed beneath Sebastian’s backpack, then scattered the remaining firewood and carefully packed up our water bottles and supplies. While Sebastian dealt with the remnants of the fire, I jogged a short ways into the woods for some privacy to change into an only slightly-less stained shirt than the one I’d had on. When I returned to camp his pack was already on his back and the small clearing looked exactly as it had when we’d found it. There were no traces of our being there, not that it would stop the Others.
    Sebastian handed me my backpack with a smile.
    “Are you ready to go for a morning run?”
    I groaned in response as I shrugged into my backpack and adjusted the straps so they wouldn’t slip off my shoulders. “Just do me a favor, please?” I requested as we were ready to set out.
    “Anything,” he automatically agreed.
    “Want us to get away from them. Want us to be safe.