It felt good to get back to work. Cain grunted as he lifted a support beam single handedly. Normally, the construction crew required several men to move them, but Cain had always been strong. He had impressed the supervisor so much that there was a rumor he was up for promotion.
Cain smirked. He wouldn’t accept a pay raise even if they offered it. He was comfortable just where he was. There was no point in making the men he worked with even more resentful of how capable he was. He liked to make friends where he worked and had to spent his time, not enemies. Besides, it wasn’t any special skill he had worked hard to be rewarded for. He had just always been this way. It didn’t seem fair.
“Cain!” Joe called, waving his cell phone in the air. “Phone call!”
“What?”
Cain lowered the beam in confusion. Why would anybody be calling him at work? Was it his mother? Was there some kind of emergency?
He dropped his load on the ground with a loud clanging and hurried to Joe.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the phone and holding a tight, nervous breath. “Hello?”
There was a brief silence, and then a beautiful, familiar voice reached his ears. “Cain?”
“Who is this?” Cain frowned, trying to place where he had heard the voice before.
“It’s Kyna.”
“Jesus Christ!” Cain was so startled that he nearly threw the phone away from himself. If it had been his own, he might have, but Joe was watching him like a hawk. “How did you get this number?”
“…phone book.”
“Yeah right.”
“Can we talk?”
“I’m at work!”
“It’s important. After work?”
“I really don’t know…” Cain frowned. He hadn’t told anybody about the strange incident in the woods. Not that anybody would have believed him anyway. In fact, he had almost been able to convince himself that it had all just been some kind of ridiculous dream that he’d had after eating some bad deer meat or something. It was jarring to have Kyna’s voice in his ear so unexpectedly.
“I understand that this seems strange,” she said.
“You don’t understand anything!” he exclaimed. Joe, who was standing a few feet away from Cain, raised his eyebrow. Cain lowered his voice and growled into the phone. “I’d appreciate it if you’d leave me alone.”
“…I’m sorry you feel that way.”
There was a click and he was cut off from Kyna’s voice. Cain stared at the phone in his hand, somehow feeling even more despaired that she had hung up than he was that she had called in the first place. He couldn’t get himself tangled up with someone crazy, even if she was beautiful and kind. He knew who he was, and that’s all there was to it.
He handed the phone to Joe, who knew better than to ask, and stomped back to work. Who did she think she was, anyway? Interrupting a man during a hard day’s work? He didn’t need that.
Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had allowed her his time. What kind of stuff would she spew out of her mouth next? But behind his anger was pure intrigue. He had really liked her at first. He’d never seen a more beautiful, enchanting woman. But the construction site wasn’t the kind of place for that kind of thinking.
He finished out the work day, his chest tight with apprehension. It was hard enough not to know who your parents were or why you were abandoned. If he got himself sucked into whatever twisted game she was playing, he would just end up getting himself hurt.
***
Kyna sighed, winding through the corridors to return Krista’s phone. Had she really thought that would work? She’d divined the phone number, thinking it would be the answer. Why was she disappointed that it didn’t work when it was clearly a stupid idea to call from the start?
After speaking with Cain, it sounded really unlikely that she would be able to get any help from him. How was she supposed to lure him back to Clayton? It wasn’t something to blow off when the leader of the clan asked you to do something. But Cain, the stubborn man that he was, wanted nothing to do with any of them. She couldn’t blame him but it was still really frustrating.
“Didn’t go well?” Krista asked, offering her a sad smile. Kyna shook her head.
“I’ll figure something out,” she said.
She refused to believe that it was hopeless. Kaldernon had called on her to send her message, and she knew there was nothing she could do once fate had her in its grip.
She could feel Krista’s eyes on her as she left the room. If he wouldn’t talk to her on the phone, she would just have to go and find him for herself. Nobody bothered her as she packed her things in a small satchel, and nobody asked questions when she left the safety of the underground burrows. She would just follow the same intuition that had told her how important Cain was and hope it would be good enough.
The cool air of the forest rushed at her when she stepped outside. It was both comforting and intimidating. She had never ventured far without the other Lonis. But if she went with anybody else, she was sure that her mission would fail. It was too sensitive to risk.
Kyna closed her eyes, centering herself. She would follow her feet instead of the other way around. That’s how they had been able to find the Kersh clan. It would have to be the same way that she found the man who was to liberate them and bring them back to Kaldernon.