Outcasts (The Safe Lands) by Jill Williamson

Author:Jill Williamson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780310724254
Publisher: Blink
Published: 2013-02-05T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

18

The next night Omar helped Zane haul a truckload of food and supplies to the cabin. Omar wore his Wyndo watch, and the SimTag detector made it easy to know that no officials were following them. He didn’t want to go inside, though. He still couldn’t believe Shay had told Jemma he was the Owl after she’d promised not to. He’d convinced himself Shay was different from other girls.

Wrong again.

Omar managed to stay outside the cabin, enjoying the soft breeze and leaving things on the porch for Jordan to take inside, but when his aunt Chipeta asked him to carry a box of clothing inside, he couldn’t really say no.

He lugged the box after his aunt, who led him to Shay and Mary’s room. Shay wasn’t inside.

“Just put it on one of the beds,” Aunt Chipeta said.

Omar dropped the box on Shay’s bed and spotted the painting he’d given her hanging on the wall above the headboard. His heart seemed to bob, like it was trying to soar but had been anchored by Shay’s big fat mouth. He fled the house, made it to the front porch, down the steps …

“Omar.”

So close. He took a deep breath and turned around. Shay walked down the steps and across the gravel, clutching a stack of envelopes in her hands. Maybe he should just let it go, forgive her for telling. Levi had freaked out at first, but he was already accepting the Owl now that he’d seen the nest and knew Zane was helping. That wasn’t the point, though. Shay had promised not to tell. She wasn’t any different than Bel or Red or any other blabbermouth girl.

“What’s wrong?” Shay asked, stopping very close to him.

He looked down on her face. The curl had come back into her hair, framing her face in tangles of brown and silver, the soft wind making it sway. Her burnt umber eyes stared into his, and he felt himself slip, the quicksand pulling him in. “You told Jemma I was the Owl,” he said before falling completely under her influence.

She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “No, I didn’t.”

“Now you’re going to lie?”

Her eyebrows pinched together. “I’m not. I swear it on the Bible.”

Omar frowned, unsure how much the Bible mattered to Shay. She’d memorized much of it. Could she be telling the truth? Was there some misunderstanding here?

An urge seized him. Kiss her, it said. She could be yours.

Kiss Shay? He inched back, afraid of himself, of how carnal he’d become. “I don’t want to talk to you right now,” he said. “And stop giving me those stupid messages to deliver. I’m done helping you.”

Her eyes swelled with tears, but she said nothing. Just stared at him. Why wouldn’t she fight back? Didn’t she care that he’d insulted her messages?

His posture sagged at her silence. He wanted her to say something. Anything. But she just stood there, staring, fighting back tears, clutching her letters to her chest. He felt terrible and mean. His words had hurt her.

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