Oh, good. You're okay. You need to go back to the well. Fast, before we lose the lightning.
It was the last place I wanted to be. The mention of lightning reminded me Carter needed it to fuel sending me back in time, the way he had the night I arrived. I looked around my room with dread and regret.
I really did like it here. I had seen the possibility of remaining here with Taylor, too. The thought of him made my heart and stomach twist hard enough for me to ache. I could stay here, where we had hoped to make a home …
But with all the memories that now haunted me … with Philip waiting in the shadows …
The urge to run and never look back filled me with scared energy that replaced my exhaustion. I didn't even ask Carter where he planned on sending me. I didn't care, so long as it was far, far from here, somewhere where I could forget about Taylor and how I'd probably un-created the only good man left in the world.
I left quickly and quietly, hurried down the stairs of the brightly lit house and fled out the front door.
With some dread, I returned to the gruesome scene behind the barn then texted Carter. I'm here.
The massive man I'd seen before disengaged from the shadows of the smaller barn. Clutching my phone, I resisted the urge to run. He'd protected me once, and Carter swore he wanted me alive for some reason.
"Kneel," the man ordered in a voice low and gruff enough to be thunder.
Swallowing a sob, I obeyed and closed my eyes, shivering as much from cold as emotion.
Just know you gave me - and Fighting Badger - the peace we otherwise never would've known. You made a difference. Taylor's parting words echoed in my thoughts. They were generous, considerate, an attempt to comfort me in the face of being un-created, erased from history, the universe.
You made a difference.
I didn't deserve the words or the emotion behind him, as if he truly believed I'd helped him and Fighting Badger. Only I would mourn the man who didn't exist. Only I would remember him. Only I would know there once was a good man named Taylor Hansen, whose sole wish in life was to retire and live in peace with me.
He deserved so much more, and I had taken everything from him.
The tears began again. I made no effort to stem them this time.
The shadowy figure pressed a large thumb to the back of my neck. I waited for the brilliant light or maybe, for him to chop off my head the way he had halved Nell.