Lilou nodded. She’d been used to doing that in London, but these past couple of years spent wandering the hills and woods—back in a landscape that reminded her so much of her early days—she’d been able to let her guard slip for long periods of time, and it had felt good. But now she was worried that she was out of practice. Angela and Sammi couldn’t afford attention being drawn to them, so it was Lilou’s responsibility to be as careful as she could.

They took a nook by the window and when the waitress came they ordered coffee and sandwiches. She glanced at Lilou several times as she scratched on her pad, even looking back over her shoulder as she returned to the counter.

“I’m trying,” Lilou said, looking down at her hands. She clutched them before her on the table, concentrating on her white knuckles. Over the decades and centuries it had become second nature to draw in her nymph’s allure and conceal it from the human world around her.

She glanced around the diner, and no one was looking her way, no eyes were widening at her natural beauty. For now, it would do.

“It’s good to be away from home,” Sammi said. “But do you really believe your friend might still be alive? After all that time buried at the bottom of a reservoir?”

“I doubt it,” Lilou said.

Their coffees came, and this time the waitress only gave Lilou a couple of glances before going to another table.

“But you said...?” Angela began.

“If there’s any slight, remote chance, then I have to see.” She stirred her coffee and breathed in the warm aroma. It smelled good. It brought memories of times near and far, and places as well. Some of them settled her, a few troubled her even more. The longer she lived, the more the structure of her life consisted of memories rather than new experiences.

“And you wanted to get us away from the cabin,” Sammi said.

“Of course I did. I care about both of you.”

“Company for you,” Angela said, but there was no bitterness to her voice.

“I don’t have much,” Lilou said. “Even the couple of Kin I’ve come across here are private, unsociable creatures.”

“It’s good for us,” Sammi said.

“Sure.” Angela sipped her coffee.

“And it’ll be a harmless adventure,” Lilou said. “A road trip to an old valley full of muddy ruins. It’ll take your mind off things.”

Neither Angela nor Sammi replied, and Lilou knew what that meant because she was thinking the same thing. No it won’t be harmless.