Free Aerenden: The Child Returns (Ærenden) by Kristen Taber Page B

safe.”
    “Good.
We’d better keep it in the backpack for now.”
    She
pulled it over her head and handed it to him. Nick found the amulet’s velvet
pouch inside a front pocket of the backpack, stored the necklace inside, then
removed a plastic first aid kit from another zippered compartment. After
wrapping Meaghan’s foot and ankle with a bandage from the kit, he tended to her
other wounds, covering them with gauze and antibiotic cream. Once he had
finished, he sat back to study her.
    “I
know it hurts,” he said, “but I can’t light a fire to make jicab tea right now.
As soon as it’s safe, I will.” He stowed the first aid kit and her sneaker,
then stood and slipped the backpack over his shoulders again. “I’m afraid your
injury will slow us down, so we don’t have time to take a break. Do you want to
lean on me?”
    “I
can try.” She took his hand and allowed him to pull her up from the stump.
Balancing on her good foot, she leaned against him. He slung an arm around her
waist. At first, their movements were tentative and slow, but as they developed
a rhythm, matching each other’s steps, they were able to move at a quicker pace
through the forest.
    Meaghan
focused on the ground in front of her, careful to avoid tripping over rocks or
roots. She did not want to slow their progress even further. When they
approached a thick curtain of vines, Nick tapped them with his stick, waited a
moment, and then started to walk through them. She hesitated and he tightened
his grip on her waist.
    “They
won’t hurt you,” he said. “They didn’t react when I touched them. They aren’t
creeper vines.”
    “Creeper
vines,” she echoed. A chill ran through her. “Why do you have to test them with
the stick? Why can’t you sense them?”
    “Because
they aren’t magical.” He urged her forward with the slightest pressure from his
arm. “They’re a different species of vine which can think and react. They
attack when they’re provoked. You must have stepped on one.”
    “I
was running. I,” she hesitated, swallowing hard when a vine brushed her cheek.
“I tripped.”
    “Why
were you running?”
    “The
man. He scared me and…” her voice failed her as another vine brushed her
shoulder.
    “What
man?” Nick stopped and stared at her. A breeze stirred the vines. They swayed
around her, brushing her head, her cheek, and her neck. She felt sick. She
wanted to run, but her ankle throbbed and she knew it would not hold her.
    Fear
quickened her breathing. “Please. The vines. I can’t…”
    He
scooped her into his arms. The vines cleared from her sight as he carried her
through the curtain, setting her down on the other side in front of an oak
tree. She leaned against it, closing her eyes to calm her speeding heart.
    “I’m
sorry,” she said.
    She
felt Nick’s hand on her cheek and she opened her eyes. “I’m the one who should
be sorry,” he told her. “I’m not doing a good job of protecting you, am I?”
    “So
far, I’d say you are.” She covered his hand with hers and smiled. “I’m still
alive, despite my tendency for getting into trouble. At the rate I’m going,
you’ll wish you’d never met me by tomorrow afternoon.”
    “We’ll
see.” He chuckled, and then broke their contact, his face turning serious.
“Tell me about the man.”
    “I
trailed behind,” she confessed, lacing her hands together in front of her. “I
shouldn’t have, but I did. That’s when I heard him. His voice came from every
direction. It made it impossible for me to find him, but he had to have been
hiding someplace nearby because he said he was watching me.”
    “This
happened right before you ran into the creeper?” he asked. She nodded and he
slid a hand between hers. “Did anything else odd happen at the time? Was there
wind or water?”
    “There
was wind,” she answered. “The more he spoke, the stronger it got. When it
swirled around me, I ran.”
    “He
came on the wind,” Nick said and to