Dani didn’t know what to do about Miles, so she remained silent. He recognized her, knew her, but she had never seen him before. His face kept shifting between joy and something much more distressing, like pain. He stepped toward her, and she took a step back.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t believe it’s really you. The last time I saw you …” Miles shook his head. “You were dead. But you’re here, alive, and you look the exact same as I remember you. How can you stand there and not say anything to me?”
“I’ve never seen you before today,” Dani said. “I’m sorry.”
Miles pinched the bridge of his nose. “Making me believe you were dead for the last fifteen years hasn’t been enough torture? Now you pretend you don’t know me? How did you survive? You had a huge hole in your chest. I know! I put it there.”
Oliver stared up at his father. “You shot her?”
“Well, I mean, I didn’t shoot her on purpose,” Miles said hastily. “I was on an MP raid and Wardens arrived. Everything went to hell. I lost most of my team in the firefight. Dani kept us from getting killed by a quake grenade, but I lost track of her after that. The Wardens attacked, and a few of us were pinned by sniper fire. The shooting stopped, and the sniper stood, so I fired, but …” He turned his gaze to Dani. “I’d already pulled the trigger when I realized I shot the wrong person. You fell, and when I found you, you were already dead—from my gun, the fall, or both, I don’t know. Someone attacked me from behind, knocked me out. After that, two other MPs found me and dragged me out. They insisted there wasn’t a woman’s body, only blood, where they found me.”
“She must be an Echo,” Oliver said.
Miles shook his head. “She never turned blue. Dani, you remember that day, right?”
Dani shook her head.
“Christ! Do you at least remember us? You and me?” Miles took another step toward her.
Dani tensed at his approach, and he backed away.
“We were in a relationship, Dani. It was a bit tumultuous at times, but I loved you.”
Dani remained silent.
Miles turned to Jace. “Have you lost your memories too, Jace?”
“No,” he said.
“Please stop making us both suffer, Jace,” Dani said. “Is what he says true?”
Jace sighed. “Yeah. He’s telling the truth. Miles, Dani is an Echo. I struck you from behind before her body began to heal. I wrapped her in a blanket and took her away. I met your two MPs as I was leaving with her and traded information about your location for passage by them.”
Miles’s jaw dropped, and his gaze darted back to Dani. “You’re an Echo?”
She nodded. She glanced at Gavin; he remained silent. He didn’t seem at all surprised by the revelation. She returned her attention to Miles. “When my body heals, the injuries disappear, along with my memories. I come back as a ten-year-old kid and don’t remember anything. I don’t even remember the war or what started it. Jace is my brother. If I didn’t keep dying, I’d be around seventy-one now.”
Miles shook his head. “You lived as a human when we were together.”
“At that time, she believed she was a human,” Jace said. “I never told her she was an Echo in that life until the day she died.”
“You let me believe that I killed the woman I loved.” Miles trembled with anger. “For fifteen fucking years, I have carried that grief with me, Jace. Not only was she dead, I was the one who accidentally killed her. Do you have any idea the kind of torment I’ve lived with over that day?”
Jace scowled. “I don’t give a shit about you. Dani is my sister, and I keep her safe. I’ve been with her for three regens, raising her from a child that forgets who I am each time. You think I’m worried about your feelings?”
Before the men could come to blows, Dani stepped between them. “Stop. Please, stop. I’m sorry I don’t remember you, Miles. Whatever we had for a relationship is over. It died the day you shot me. I know it wasn’t intentional, and I don’t blame you. We can’t change what happened. Please just agree to stop fighting for a few minutes. Oliver is here, he’s safe, and I’m sure he wants to go home.”
“I don’t mind staying,” Oliver said. “I like Brody.”
“Brody? The dog?” Miles asked.
Oliver nodded.
The dog, still perched on the bed, wagged his tail upon having attention directed his way.
“Dani, you had a dog named Brody before,” Miles said.
Jace groaned. “This is the fourth iteration.”
“Did you nickname him B, too?” Miles asked.
Dani’s brow creased. She had only nicknamed the dog yesterday, but apparently this, too, was a behavior she repeated each regen. “Jace says I’m stuck in a cycle with my lives. I forget everything except survival skills. I also adopt a dog each time and name him Brody.”
“Not this time,” Jace said.
“Shut up, Jace. Miles, please take Oliver home. Make sure he takes a good, hot bath. Sorry to drag him into a brothel for the night, but Aunt Hattie’s was my only option for no questions but plenty of privacy. Other Brigands would pounce on the chance to take him and hold him for ransom.” Or worse.
“Thank you for looking after him.” Miles looked shell-shocked. “Will I see you again?”
Dani shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Do you still steal everything you can from the MPs?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe.”
He smiled. “Then I imagine we’ll cross paths again. I’ll never arrest you, Dani. I know you hate the MPs.”
“She doesn’t hate them,” Oliver interjected. “She hates that they ‘maintain the status quo’ and won’t change their tactics. She thinks the Brigands and MPs should join forces to take out the Wardens.”
Dani winced and cursed under her breath. “I said all that stuff after drinking Aunt Hattie’s potion.”
Gavin snorted a laugh. “An inebriated Dani. I’d pay money to see that.”
Oliver gave Brody a parting kiss on his snout and hugged Dani. “Bye.”
Dani patted him on the back, unsure what to do about the hugging. “Uh, bye.”
He released her and returned to his father’s side. Gavin opened the door for them, and closed it once they were out.
Jace stood with his arms crossed again. His persistent stubbornness annoyed her.
“You took his side,” he said.
“I didn’t take anyone’s side. That’s what is pissing you off the most.” Dani turned to Gavin. “Is there a place Brody and I can stay that’s not a brothel? I think it’s time I moved out of my brother’s house.”
“Sure,” Gavin said.
Jace’s face fell. “You can’t move! If you die—”
“Yes, Jace, I go back to being a ten-year-old. I get it. You’re still keeping secrets from me. I’m done. I’ll pack my stuff today and leave.”
“Gavin, if anything happens to her—”
“Jace! Give it a rest. He’s an Echo too. He knows how this shit works.”
Jace stared at Gavin. “Is this true?”
“Yeah.” Gavin looked at Dani. “How long have you known?”
“Figured it out a while ago. It’s not a big deal. C’mon, B.” The dog leapt from the bed. She scratched behind his ear, and he licked her hand. She shoved her things back into her bag. “Aunt Hattie will want her room back, I’m sure. Though she does enjoy seeing you, brother.” Dani limped to the door and walked out with Brody. Gavin closed the door and quickly caught up to her with his long strides.
Mary stopped them before they could leave. “Quite the gathering in that room today. Fun?” She winked.
“Loads,” Dani said with a flat tone.
Mary smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles from her dress. Her outfit was a stark contrast to Dani’s faded and battered shirt and trousers. “Coming back tonight?”
“Not tonight, sorry. I like the yellow, Mary. It suits you better than the red.”
Mary’s face lit with a smile. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to wear this dress when you decide to come back.”
“Yeah, okay.” Dani continued through the back of the house and out the rear door.
Brody trotted off into some tall grass to relieve himself.
Gavin gave Dani a searching look. “I know you’re friends, but I think Mary genuinely likes you.”
“Uh-huh. Stop grinning. I didn’t mean to throw you in the middle of my issues with Jace, but I was desperate. I need to be away from him for a while.”
“It’s not a problem. I want to know how you figured out I was an Echo.”
Since her limping gait created a horribly slow pace, Dani opted to walk while they talked. She wanted to reach her new home, wherever it was, sometime today. “You said you were a marine. It’s a dated term. After the war started, all military personnel were reallocated to Commonwealth troops. They have ground, air, and sea troops. The formal troop branches for the army, navy, air force, coasties, and marines all dissolved with the United Nations.”
“Yes, they did,” Gavin said with a nod.
“You look like you’re in your forties, and the war started fifty-nine years ago. You’re too young, physically, to have been a marine without being an Echo with at least one or two regens.” Dani’s back began to cramp, and the throb in her ankle returned. “You had no reaction to the news that I’m one too. You already knew?”
“You were eighteen when Jace hired me to train you. There was too much knowledge locked away in your head for someone of that age. Your memories are in there somewhere.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted them to resurface. A war starting and her parents dying weren’t memories she cared to recover.
Gavin squinted at her. “You really don’t recall anything of your life with Miles?”
She shook her head. “I noticed you kept the medicine bottle. Can I have a sip?”
“No. That stuff will melt your brain.”
“I never sleep well, and I slept great last night.”
“Passing out is not the same as sleeping. We’re not in a rush to be anywhere; we can stop as needed. Once you’re settled for the night, I’ll take a look at your ankle.”
“Where are you taking me to stay?”
“Mount Hope.”
Dani stopped. “The cemetery?”
“Yeah.”
“Because that’s not a creepy place to live.”
Gavin laughed. Brody’s heavy feet thundered by as he caught up from wandering in the grass outside Aunt Hattie’s and raced ahead.
Dani resumed limping. “Brothel one night, cemetery the next. Lovely.”