Highlander Enchanted(96)

The idea they were watching over me out of obligation and had never wanted anything to do with me stung hard. I kind of considered them to be my extended family, however dysfunctional that was. I never suspected they didn’t feel the same.

“Where are we going?” I asked Niko to take my mind off the pain.

“You tell me. Where did your priests want you to go?”

I was quiet.

Niko glanced at me. “They didn’t tell you, either, huh? Great. Well, you’re not coming home with me. I don’t even think I can go home if you’re important enough for teams of SISA special forces to smash through the forest.”

“I don’t know where to go, Niko.”

“Just … pick a place. It won’t matter so long as it’s away from here.”

“Washington DC.”

“Worst place to be when the government is after you. Although …” He drifted off, gaze going to the west, as if he could see DC from here. “It might also be the best place to be. SISA won’t expect us to go there.”

I didn’t care what reasoning he found in it. I was going to find Herakles, the only man in the universe who wouldn’t abandon me at the first sign of trouble like the priests did. The cracking of tree trunks sounded behind us, followed by the faint tremble of the earth.

“Won’t matter if we don’t get out of here. I hope you can run as far as you can fast. We need to move.” Niko took off running towards another thatch of forest lining the opposite side of the lake.

I followed, unable to shake the sense of guilt, unease and fear churning in my belly. The destruction of our home was all my fault. Maybe that was the real reason why the priests abandoned me – because I destroyed everything they loved.