Of Blood and Bone (Chronicles of The One #2)(130)

“The book he was working on.”

“Yeah, and a kind of journal, random thoughts and observations. We hoped we’d find you, then when we didn’t, we hoped you’d find your way back even though Starr told Flynn what you’d said. Will and I decided we’d take the house, and I found this. I put it away, held on to it in case I ever got the chance to give it to you.”

“This means so much.” Lana took the drive, closed her hand around it. “So much, Arlys. I’ll give it to Fallon. It should be hers.”

“I was afraid it would make you sad.”

“No. It reminds me he had hope, too. He was writing again. It reminds me what he did, what I did, to protect the child we’d made together. And what Simon did to protect her, right from the start. It reminds me giving up is never an option.”



Every night Fallon traveled with Duncan and Antonia to repeat the spell. On the third night, they traveled throughout Russia, on the fifth, Asia.

They told no one.

Fallon updated her maps, plotted locations. She believed once they’d eliminated the worst of man-made destruction, they could move on.

During the day she worked with organizing and housing arriving recruits. She found Katie invaluable with her capacity for creating lists, spreadsheets, organizing data, and her innate ability to welcome strangers with warmth.

“They need to start training.”

Katie sat at a picnic table outside the barracks working on a laptop. People milled around; children played with dogs. Two of those dogs were Jem and Scout.

“They need to start training,” Fallon repeated. “They need structure, discipline.”

“Yes, I know.” Katie continued working without looking up. “But right now they’re not soldiers, or a lot of them aren’t. They’re adjusting to a new place. And we’re working to ensure there’s adequate housing, supplies. Rachel and her team are still doing medical evaluations. We have over four hundred of the eight hundred plus you expect.”

“I know all you’ve done, are doing.” But a storm’s coming, Fallon thought. Something big and dark, and soon. Still the crystal wouldn’t clear for her, wouldn’t show her.

She sat, waited for Katie to look up.

“With the data you’ve collected, I know how many we have with medical training, with specific skills, with battle experience, with families.”

Katie folded her hands to show she listened. “You’d already collected most of that.”

“But not all, not as detailed. People talk to you. They don’t just tell you they were a surgical resident before. They also tell you they liked to garden as a hobby or paint or they have a child with an aptitude for building. They tell you what they hope for, what they’re afraid of. I’m learning from you how to see the whole, and not just the pieces I need to fit the whole.”

Katie sat back. “But they need to train.”

“It needs to start. I’ve asked my dad to take charge of this base. He has the experience. He’ll need help, others who can train, make decisions, lead.”

“Poe,” Katie said immediately, and Fallon smiled.

“I agree.”

“I know you said Maggie, and she’s a good choice. There’s Deborah Harniss. USMC. She was a JAG lawyer. She’s a shifter, and I think she’d be willing to work at one of the other bases.”

“I don’t know her, but if she comes from you, I’d like to ask her, or have you ask her.”

“I will, and I’ll have her come speak with you.”

“We need two cooks, a supply officer, a communication officer. From your list and mine, we have those inside the recruits.”

“And using people from inside and out helps them blend, take some ownership.”

Working with someone who knew how to run things helped smooth the road, Fallon thought.

“For blending, I’d like some of the recruits—experienced for now—to join your supply runs, scavenger and scouting missions. Hunting parties.”

“Give me the names, where you want them. We’ll work them into the rotation.”

“Thanks.”

Katie shook her head. “I want none of this to be necessary because I can remember a time when it wasn’t. You can’t. My children can’t. So I’m going to do everything I can to work toward a time when it won’t be necessary again. Isn’t that what you and Duncan and Tonia are doing every night? No, they didn’t tell me,” she said when Fallon’s face shuttered. “I know they’ve been gone, just like I know they’re exhausted and starving every morning. Just like I know your parents know. And they probably feel, as I do, frustrated none of you trust us enough to talk to us.”

“It’s not that. Oh, I’m so bad at this. It’s not trust. We knew you’d worry.”

“And you actually think we don’t or won’t by being kept in the dark?”

“I’m really bad at this,” Fallon repeated. “I’m sorry. Yes, we’ve been continuing what we began the night we took Arlys and Chuck. We’ve stockpiled supplies and equipment. We should be done in another week, maybe ten days. The ICBMs don’t take as much power to eliminate, but—”

“ICBMs.” Katie sighed.