“Not in that direction.”

“This will be quite a journey for you then,” she said, and despite everything, she could not keep the edge from her voice.

He responded with a hollow laugh. “The journey of a lifetime,” he replied.

*   *   *

They spent the next two hours shopping. Everything about this encounter was so strange that Kit knew she should not be unnerved by the peculiarity of this, but she was. Such a friendly, casual, intimate activity—shopping for clothes with a friend—and here she was with a madman, picking out shirts and comfortable trousers and undergarments while he stood grimly by. She only had a bare minimum of cash on her, which she had told him, but he had waved that concern aside so she assumed he planned to pay for everything. Which made the whole event even more bizarre.

He had his own purchases to make, which included a couple of inexpensive suitcases so that they didn’t have to carry their new clothes in paper bags. He also surprised her by stopping at a nondescript little drug store and buying a handful of medical supplies.

“You’re limping,” he said gruffly once they were back on the street. He led her to a bench on the sidewalk, and they both sat down. “You can wrap your ankle with that. And here’s a couple of pain pills. I think you should take them.”

Kit was not one to dose herself with remedies, and this was not a compound she was familiar with. “I’m—I don’t like to take drugs. And I’ve never heard of this. What if it makes me loopy?”

He gave her a wintry smile. “This will make you feel a lot better. Trust me.” He reached into one of his other bags and pulled out a big plastic bottle, rattling with capsules. “And here. Have one of these while you’re at it.”

He shook a pill into her hand, and she eyed it dubiously. “And what is this supposed to do for me?”

“Kind of like a vaccine. It’ll protect you against any infectious gulden diseases that the indigo body isn’t used to fighting off.”

She tried to hand it back to him. “My body knows all about gulden diseases,” she said. “I’ve lived in Geldricht half my life.”

He closed her fingers around the pill. “Take it. You’ve been in the city how long now? A few months?”

“Six or seven months,” she admitted.

“Long enough for you to lose your immunity. Take it. I don’t want you getting sick on me just when I need you most.”

She gazed at him resentfully. “Then why don’t you take one?”

“I’ve already had mine. I’m protected.”