Her mouth opened, closed again, then she fell towards him. he caught her in his arms and held her tight, smoothing her hair as if she was a child.
"Tell me," he finally said.
She pulled back from him, body singing like a violin string, her face a mask of anguish.
"It's come back," she said, her voice a dread whisper.
"What has?" he asked, though he didn't have to.
"It's come back again. It's all going to start over."
"Where?"
"I don't know yet. I saw it, and it saw me. It knows where I am. It knows where we are."
He took her shoulders with both hands, gripping too tight. A dreadful surge of certainty clenched in the pit of his stomach as he looked into her eyes and saw the truth of it.
He stayed like that, locked with her for a long time until finally he relaxed, and drew her back down on him, thinking. He had too many people to protect. And he'd found Lorna Breck. It might have brought them together, this Shrike, but he would never let it pull them apart.
"Well, we won't wait for it this time." he said.
THE END.