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were thick with rainbow-hued leaves that held back the sun. The stillness pressed down like an invisible hand and the silence was loud enough to raise the hairs on Cyrus's neck. |
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''Spooky back here," he said. |
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"Yeah. Nice to be out of the wind, though." |
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All at once Kyna jerked the zipper on her jacket down and began fumbling with the catch on the necklace. She took it off, placed it in her lap and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. |
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"What's the matter?" Cyrus asked. |
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"I don't know. Every now and then this thing feels like it's burning a hole in my neck." |
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"What is it?" he asked, lifting the strap with one finger. |
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"If I tell you, you promise not to go all male on me?" |
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Cyrus let the necklace drop and wiped his hand on his trouser leg. "Who, me?" |
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"Oh. Well, it's easy to see why you two had such a special relationship." |
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"Don't be crass. I think he was trying to be nice. He knows how much I like Indian jewelry." |
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"Funny, it doesn't look Indian. It looks kind of . . . dumb." When Kyna rolled her eyes, he looked back up the trail and said, "How far" Then he abruptly fell silent and Kyna jumped. |
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Cyrus stared at the top of the rise until his eyes watered. After two minutes he shook his head and replied, "Nothing. Shadows. You know how the light plays tricks in the woods." |
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He gave Kyna a smile that masked the fact that all of his special senses had suddenly gone on full alert. As she continued to extol the virtues of the Anasazi, the woods, the sky and nature in general, Cyrus did his best to appear relaxed and interested. At the same time, he used his ears as twin directional microphones to carefully scan the trees back where the trail began its downward slope. He could almost swear that he had seen something moving up there. A tall, thin silhouette |
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