Eternal by Pati Nagle Read Free Book Online

beside me, gently laying an arm across my shoulders. “So am I.”
    I lost it. The sobs just came shuddering up and I couldn’t hold them back anymore. Madera gathered me into his arms and let me bawl all over him.
    After a while I was cried out. He kept holding me until I sat up, wiping my eyes with my hand. He then produced a handkerchief—a real, cloth handkerchief—and gave it to me.
    â€œ Thanks.”
    I mopped my face and tried to pull myself together. Madera went back to planting, scooping some of the dirt back into the monster hole I’d made and setting a baby plant on top of it. After a while I shoved the soggy handkerchief in my pocket and picked up the trowel again.
    We finished the planting in silence. Madera gave me the hose while he gathered up the empty pots. There was something soothing about the gently flowing water, the young, green things we’d put in the ground. When all the plants were watered we went back into the house.
    Len had made some sandwiches. I was surprised at how late it was—almost noon—and that I was actually hungry. I pulled off the work gloves to wash my hands, and the band-aid came off with them. I started to cuss, then realized my finger didn’t hurt.
    The cut was healed. Hell, it was gone . I couldn’t find it at all.
    I looked around for Madera, but he’d slipped away, probably to check on Savhoran. Len beckoned me over to the table, and I gave in.
    I had intended to challenge her about why we were leaving early, but after what Madera had said, I understood it. Was not happy about it, but understood.
    If the best thing I could do for Savhoran was leave, then I’d leave. I wished I could say goodbye, at least. It hurt to just go.
    Caeran arrived as we were finishing lunch; I heard Len’s car pull up to the front of the house. Amazing how quiet it was out here.
    I went to my room to collect my bag and met Madera on the portal carrying it out. I glanced past him toward Savhoran’s room. The door was shut. Nothing to do but follow Madera to the entryway.
    Len was there with her bag, talking to Caeran and one of his cousins. The cousin looked at me, smiled briefly—Nathrin, I thought—then said something to Madera and went through the door into the plazuela .
    Caeran looked worried, but greeted me with a smile. The four of us went out to the car. Caeran and Madera put the bags in the trunk, then it was goodbyes all around.
    When Madera came up to me, I held out my hand. “Thanks for your hospitality.”
    He took my hand and clasped it with both of his. “Be safe.”
    His eyes were blue, I noticed. Filled with kindness and regret.
    â€œ Thanks,” I said, and got in the back seat before I could make a fool of myself again.
    The back seat was my territory, safe from prying eyes. I buckled in and hugged myself and didn’t look back as we drove away.
    We drove for a long time along one side of a big, empty field on the right and a fence on the left. Madera’s property must be huge.
    Crazy to be leaving like this. Poor Caeran had been driving a lot—and I knew for a fact that he hadn’t gotten his license until a few months before.
    Somewhere past Mora I fell asleep. Woke up when we stopped for gas in Las Vegas. I went into the convenience store to pee, and picked up a soda after eying the ice cream.
    While I was waiting in line to pay, my gaze drifted across a rack of newspapers. An Albuquerque Journal had a big black headline:
    â€œ CAMPUS KILLER RETURNS?”

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    I picked the paper up and started reading the story. “A man’s body was found on the UNM campus early Friday morning, apparently…”
    â€œ Is that all for you, miss?”
    I looked up at the cashier, then nodded and put the paper and my soda on the counter. I hadn’t bought a newspaper since my pet parakeet died when I was in middle school.
    I pocketed my change and went back to the car, where I read