The line delineating the caravan from the hiking path Shilloh had chosen was underscored very emphatically.

  "HIKE!"

  An unusually football-shaped root vegetable hurtled towards Scotty's head. With a grimace, he stepped to the side, and snatched the vegetable out of the air one-handed. At the same time, his free hand snaked out to Birch's head and pushed her down nose-first as she tried to race out from behind a tent and tackle him.

  As the stain on her shirt and scraped palm would later attest, Scotty was absolutely, one hundred percent, Blightbane. Fancy footwork saw him slipping off to the side even as Birch skidded face down across the ground.

  He looked at the tuber with an I-just-smelled-shit-in-my-fridge sneer. "Sports. Disgusting."

  He tossed it over his shoulder where it arced through the air and plonked on Birch's head as she raised herself from the ground.

  "Owww. Who throws stuff at a lady?"

  Shilloh covered her mouth, not sure if she wanted to laugh or was worried about the face plant her insane friend had just taken.

  Scotty didn't turn around, "You're a lady like I'm a peanut butter sandwich."

  Birch subtly winked at her before running off after the fussy man, "Chivalry is dead!"

  "And you'll follow it if you try to make me do jock shit like that again! Football? Really? I'm going to have to watch anime for hours if I want anyone at the game store to still respect me."

  "Oh! Can I watch too?"

  "Sure. Wanna watch some real ecchi garbage and see how long it takes Agnes to explode?"

  "Fuck yeah!"

  Shilloh watched the whole thing smiling, but on a deeper level, she saw Scotty in a new light. The way he had handled himself at the bar had been impressive. But the things he had done out in the woods were a step beyond what she would expect from even a trained soldier.

  Jasque moved with supernatural grace. Pure and simple, he possessed a superhuman capability honed by an inhuman obsession.

  Scotty, though, was human. If she hadn't recently tried fighting and shooting, he would probably be what she expected combat to be like, just based on all the action movies out there.

  Thing was, she had tried those things. She knew what professionally good people looked like. The perfect smoothness, the clean reactions, and the years of blue-collar patience that slowly but continually shaved off a quarter second from your old record. That, stacked over time, was a professional approach. It was awe-inspiring to see.

  Until she had seen Scotty, she could never have imagined what it looked like to be an order of magnitude better than that. She would need to train for years just to start understanding what he was doing to be so fucking good with that gun. Right now, it looked near magical. Which made his equally insane skill as an enchanter even more shocking.

  Being world-class in one thing was hard enough. To make it two was hard to believe. But she had been right there. When activated, the enchanted stake had felt to her magic senses like watching all the machined metal bits of a bank vault's door move in perfect, micrometer-precise choreography.

  It was hard to look at him now and not spot the hidden firearms, the veins on his hands and forearms, the hollow cheeks advertising someone who had spent so long enchanting and shooting that his body had long since burnt off all its fat to replace skipped meals.

  He might have had classic science fiction playing in the background, but he had still put in hours. Hours that added up to years' worth of skill, separating their levels of capability with all the oppressive finality of a lead curtain.

  Well, more accurate to say that it separated them for now.

  With a smile, she felt the bouncing, surging ball of sunlight in her stomach that urged her forward. Shilloh was excited. She wanted to read Bane protocol books and craved to get a compound interest calculator running so she could imagine the types of land and construction she could buy at different pay grades.

  Early morning training couldn't come soon enough. Not when it would bring her closer to her new mission.

  The sight of Wade waiting by her tent wasn't even able to squash that sense of drive. Maybe it was a coward's move, but knowing she could easily fall into something that would eat all her thoughts and emotions (even if they were bad ones) for weeks if not months, gave her a measure of courage.

  Whatever happened, the sure knowledge in her heart that she had the sanctuary of obsession induced blindness at her fingertips gave her courage.

  She had been nervous about this talk all morning; time to get it done.

  "Come on," she said, giving him a warm smile, "I know a good spot to talk."

  ~~~

  She didn't take them far, just a few hundred feet away to a fold-out table and chairs that weren't currently being used. Someone had dragged it a bit away from he caravan so it could shelter in the shade of a gorgeous oak.

  The temptation to brush her senses across the tree was strong. It had just hit adulthood, spread its boughs wide, and was in an excellent spot for all the best things a young, freshly established tree could look forward to.

  "He telling you some good secrets?" Wade asked, pointing at the tree with his chin.

  "Nah. Just imagining what a great time it must be for him. He's really living the high life now."

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  "Yeah? How so?"

  They spent a while talking about he secret lives of trees. The positions of hills that carried just the right amount of water, the underground networks that passed messages tree to tree. The hum of activity she felt tickling her toes with gossip, and how this young man was finally prosperous enough that he was able to spare water to help others. Though she noted somewhat mournfully that he had just come to the attention of some birds that he could ignore now, but would eventually learn to be very grumpy about.

  "You're right," Wade said, smiling up at the oak." Life really is rolling out the red carpet for him. That's why you're in such a good mood?"

  "No. Scotty just helped me reframe things. Helped me see some ways I might be able to make a positive difference as part of the banes. Like tricks that I remember from my life in the other world that would reduce friction for humans and their neighbors."

  Wade nodded," Having a goal helps."

  "Fuck a goal. I have a mission. That means I'm about to happen to the Blightbanes. Not the other way around."

  He laughed, but not in a way that was disbelieving. Just the affectionate schadenfreude one felt before siccing a much-loved nuisance on others.

  "I always said you were going to knock 'em dead."

  "Just you wait and see. I have ideas."

  She smiled with evil intent, and he mimed a shiver of fear. They fell into a comfortable silence that gradually became more tension-laden.

  Though it was hard, she separated her mind from all the racing possibilities that were trying to encompass her mind. Getting lost in its flighty drive was addictive. Especially when he alternative was sitting in the anxiety of the moment.

  But, like she had been thinking at various times all that day, her momma hadn't raised a wuss. "So," she said," are you ready to talk about last night?"

  Wade took a dead leaf that had fallen on the table and started slowly shredding it.

  "Yeah."

  He didn't say anything. Just shredding the lead into the smallest pieces he could with his almost non-existent short fingernails.

  "Are we waiting on anything in particular or…?"

  He sighed and glanced up at her without moving his head, "Sorta hoping, sorta dreading that you were going to say you were just drunk and it was not a big deal."

  "I said that I was barely buzzed! And it's not a new thing. I've been—," she grimaced. "You've got some things going for you. Some frustrating things, that's for damn sure. But, I mean, you're not hopeless."

  Instead of firing back, his shoulders hunched in smaller, and he grabbed a new leaf to shred.

  "Wait, no," she said," what's this? You're supposed to quip back."

  He shrugged, "You didn't say anything untrue."

  She stared at him before groaning and letting her forehead hit her palm. "Fuck me. You know I like staying in my emotionally stunted comfort zone."

  "I'm sorry," Wade said, voice small.

  "Hey, no. None of that. We're not going back to the puppy kicking itself conversation. I don't think you're interested in just sex, right?"

  He nodded in confirmation.

  "Yeah. I figured because of…," she remembered him with perfect clarity. The way he looked at her with aching eyes. Him telling her she was amazing and deserved deserved the best. Shilloh cleared her throat, "Last night."

  Some part of her wanted to grab her own leaf to shred, but that might have come across as mocking. Instead, she squared her shoulders and tried to spear him with her eyes, "I have been really enjoying hanging out with you. And even though I think we have some diverging views, I also think you are a good man, and that I would really enjoy going on a date with you."

  Her internal monologue went on to mention that she would be willing to have some crazy wild monkey sex, too. Honestly, it would be worth it even if the sex was bad. Then the attraction would die; she'd survive an awkward week or two, and she'd be left free. And if it was good… well, depending on how good, that might be worth a few awkward days too.

  She kept that as an inside thought, though.

  Her steely-eyed, magic-behemoth nodded his head before clenching his fists, breathing out a slow breath, and manually relaxing all of his muscles.

  "In a normal world, I would love to take you out and see what we'd be like as a couple," Wade said, with all the bearing of a resolute but unexcited martyr pouring gasoline on his head. "I know that there's lots of stuff that we don't agree on, but whenever we talk, I always come out smarter, happier, and feeling like we found common ground. That we're building something from the talks. In the end, that's what I want: to build something"

  His eyes met hers, and she was shocked to see the intense, pressurized emotions bottled up behind them. Sure, this was rough on her, but the dude looked like he was about to perform surgery on his own gunshot wound.

  "But—while avoiding the rule about being mean to myself—I think I can safely say I have some serious battle scars, and a significant amount of baggage."

  "Same."

  He gave her a grim little grin, "Probably why we get on. Still, I feel like I need to be clear on two things. First off, I haven't really had much opportunity to test it out, so I may be talking out of my ass, but casual stuff doesn't feel right to me. I've always liked the idea of being part of a two-person team that carries each other forward. Or, like a mentor of mine might have phrased it, a partner, not a plaything. Just sex might be possible, but I think it would sit wrong afterwards."

  Shilloh nodded, though some avoidant part of herself withered. As much as she yelled at the stupid characters in Agnes's books who always said they would just 'fuck and get it out of their systems,' she still wanted to close her eyes, plug her ears, and pretend like that would work in her situation. It would have been a very comforting lie.

  "I understand that," she tried not to let her voice do weird things. This was already uncomfortably direct. "I'm not opposed to the idea of dating for real. Though I've worked really hard to not let myself even think about it because of the witness protections thing."

  Wade snorted," I know, right? When I was thinking through things last night, I tried asking myself if you were my type, then I realized I'd pushed away the thought of ever dating so thoroughly that I don't even know if I have a type."

  "You ever do the thing where you start building up reasons why single or double mattresses are really much better, and you're actually lucky that you won't ever have to share with someone?"

  "Yes!"

  They both smiled at each other, but Wade's smile collapsed before too long. "Sorry if this is weird, but I want to put it all on the table to make sure there's no chance of miscommunication."

  Another person may have reached out and grabbed his hand. The dude looked like he needed some support. But Shilloh wasn't quite there yet, especially with the suspicion building in her gut. "I appreciate the honesty. Though it does sound a lot like you're about to break up with me before we even have a date."

  Wade grabbed both of her hands with his and leaned in. Well, shit, apparently he was there.

  Oddly enough, she wasn't mad about it.

  "I do not want to break up with you," he said, his hands squeezing hers. "You are hilarious, and so smart. Just being around you makes me so comfortable that I'm able to do things and think things that I never would have on my own. Not in a million years. You are amazing. I danced around you, and I have not slept a wink since last night. My head has been a madhouse of what-ifs, imaginary future issues, and fun vacation plans. A very nerdy mutual friend actually had to smack some sense into me so I could even talk to you. All that to say, if dating is just spending time together, taking a step forward, and then scoping out if we want to make whatever step comes next, then I absolutely would like to do that with you."

  He squeezed her hands one last time before pulling his own back.

  "But—"

  She grit her teeth. Here it fucking comes, she thought.

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