Free Pandora's Genes by Kathryn Lance Page B

must and prove to Zach that her childishness was in the past.
    She took a deep breath and stretched, trying to work out the stiffness of sleeping in the damp. She brushed leaves from her hair and straightened it with her fingers. She would follow Zach’s instructions and meet him at the place he had talked about – the Garden. A little flame of fear that he might not have escaped from the highwaymen licked at the edges of her mind. She shook her head. Zach was strong, and good – he could not have been overcome by two such evil men. He was probably at the Garden already, waiting for her.
    But where was it? She had become hopelessly turned around yesterday. He had told her to find the lake and follow it to the north, but she had no idea where it was from here, or even which direction she had come from. She felt that she must be east of the bridge where they had met the highwaymen, in which case the lake must lie even further east. But the clouds obscured the sun. She looked through the dark canopy of leaves and finally decided that it was a little lighter in one direction: very well, she would follow the light. She stood and shook out her cloak, preparing for the walk, and then she heard the rhythmic footsteps and faint whistling of a hard-ridden mount.
    It was Zach. Somehow, he had tracked her. Her heart began to beat so rapidly that she felt dizzy, and she turned to greet the approaching rider. After a moment Zach’s mount broke past the bushes and she cried out to the hooded figure riding it, “Zach!”
    “Halt!” cried the rider. A hand snaked out of the cloak and used a short whip on the rearing mount.
    Evvy put her hand to her mouth.
    “So there you are,” said the gruff voice. His hood fell back to reveal the black-bearded face of Orin, the highwayman. “Who would have thought a little girl could run so far in the dark? I would have caught you last night but for this deena-cursed mount. She sat right down at dusk and wouldn’t budge no matter how I beat her.”
    “Where’s Zach?” Evvy demanded, her voice quavering.
    “Your ‘father?’ Gone to where he won’t cause trouble for anyone else,” said Orin.
    “What do you mean?”
    For an answer the man grinned and slowly pulled a finger across his throat. He began gingerly to dismount while the mount, her shiny tan flanks spotted with dried blood, danced nervously, whistling.
    “Hold still, you deena-cursed beast!” cried the highwayman.
    Evvy watched in fascination and terror, and only when the man stood on the ground did she think to begin edging into the brush.
    “Oh, no, you don’t,” he said. He dropped the reins and lunged at Evvy, pulling her to the ground.
    “No!” she cried, and rolled away. As she did, the seal ring tumbled from her hand, and before she could retrieve it, Orin had picked it up and slipped it on his own finger.
    “Give that back!” she cried and grabbed for his hand. Orin deftly grasped her wrist and pulled her toward him.
    “It fits me just fine, don’t it?” he said, admiring its gleam in the pale light. “I’m just about your papa’s size . . . most likely all his things would fit me.”
    The grip of Orin’s hand on her wrist seemed to freeze her, the pressure spreading up her arm and through her body. What would Zach do if he were here? Somehow he would try to outwit the big man. Through the panicked jumble in her mind, Evvy said the only thing she could think of, her voice shaking slightly.
    “You’d better let me go. I’m not what you think. The truth is I belong to the Principal.”
    Orin gaped at her, his thick eyebrows meeting quizzically; then suddenly he began to laugh, a loud, full roar from deep within him. “Well, ain’t that just what Ermil and me thought?” he said. “The reward’s going to be more metal than we can count.” Then his face changed. His eyes became narrow and slipped out of focus. “The Principal’s going to be real happy to get you back,” he murmured. With force,