Duality

part twelve

Mila didn't panic immediately, because she still thought she could explain her way out if it. "Looks like someone left it here," she said innocently, stepping closer. "Maybe someone brought it here from the town."

"Here, though?" Anna asked, bending to pick up the gem. "This is so close to the hut." She weighed the gem in her palm. "It doesn't make sense."

"I don't understand humans," Mila dismissed. "They probably saw us, got scared, and dropped everything." Anna's hand lingered on the horse statue, the one that made Mila's claim hardest to sell. "Maybe that's what you've been hearing," Mila said, hoping she wasn't getting too close to the truth.

Nodding, Anna looked like she bought it. "I have sensed someone around here."

Silence fell while Anna thought and Mila bounced on her toes nervously. The cougar sat not far away, watching her.

"Should we go train?" Mila asked. She didn't want to push and seem suspicious, but the longer they stood here, the more her nerves frayed. She should've taken the time to move the gifts further out of Anna's way.

Of course she would be the one to blow the secret, not Ashton, who kept standing not a hundred feet from them.

"I thought this would be enough."

Thinking of training, Mila said, "Did you want to use these for target practice?"

Anna turned to face her. The tight lines of her face darkened the mood like the sky darkened at night. "Why have you been lying?"

Mila's pulse sounded loud in her ears as she fought to push past the rising panic. "I don't know what you mean." The notes in her hair suddenly seemed extra condemning, and she wound her hair to her shoulder furthest from Anna.

"I know you come out here," Anna said. Her lips lifted like they thought of smiling and gave up, making a half-snarl. "These are your things."

Mila couldn't see a way out—Anna had exceptional hearing and rarely lied, after all—and so she said, "Yes."

Nodding, Anna looked unsurprised. "So you've been going into town?"

"No!" Mila said before she could stop herself. Slowly but surely, she felt like she had weeks ago: a huge disappointment to Anna. How had she thought she could pull off lying? Already she wanted to cave and say she'd gone nowhere near the town, like Anna asked.

Except that opened another question—"Where did this stuff come from, Mila?"—so Mila backtracked. "Yes!"

"Which is it?" Anna snapped.

"Just once," Mila decided.

Sweeping her hand, Anna asked, "And you bought all of this and carried it here. In one go."

Mila had a feeling she should say no, but she'd boxed herself in. "Yes."

"Really."

Now Mila knew to say nothing. She turned to see if she could dismiss the cougar in the moment of silence and found the animal had already run off, probably after they'd raised their voices. If only she could flee as well.

Placing her hands over her face and speaking through them, Anna asked, "Why did you get these things?"

"I thought they would be good for target practice."

"Okay, I can't keep doing this," Anna said, dragging her hands down her face. The skin below her eyes pulled away, revealing shiny red muscle that made her foggy eyes pop crazily. "Drop the story, the excuses. What are you hiding?"

Mila tried to think her way out of the situation, and short of running away, came up with nothing. "I'm not," she said desperately, backing away.

To stop her escape, Anna gripped her arm and held. "You have none of his powers," Anna accused. If the cougar had stayed, this would have been a great introduction time. "And these things are showing up here, when you're not going into town."