Heart by Rachel Higginson

going way too fast. He handled the
wheel as best as he could, but we still slid and fishtailed and
rocked back and forth until Ryder wrestled the Bronco back under
control.
    Just when I thought I could breathe again, he
did the same thing going left and then again going left again.
    We’d come to a section of town that was made
of mostly one-way roads. We ended up going the wrong way down one
of the busier streets and cars blared their horns at as us we tried
not to hit them.
    Ryder dodged them at first, swerving right
and jerking the Bronco left again. But there was too much traffic
and they couldn’t get out of our way fast enough. In the side
mirror, I watched two of the cars that had just narrowly missed
hitting us head on, spin out before slamming into each other.
    They skidded to a stop in the middle of the
road only to have more traffic bang into them. Tires screeched,
metal screamed and all out mayhem was born as the two cars caused a
massive pile-up that reached from one side of the road to the
other.
    I felt awful for causing the chaos.
    Until they provided the perfect roadblock to
keep Nix from catching up to us.
    Ryder took another hard right, going the
correct way down the street. I spun around in my seat, anxious,
terrified and trembling. After thirty seconds, when they didn’t
appear, I started to feel the smallest blossom of hope.
    After a minute, when I could no longer see
the turn and I knew the SUV would have a difficult time finding us,
I started to breathe normally again.
    After five minutes, when Ryder slowed down to
a more normal speed and there was a good amount of space between
where we’d lost them and where we were now, I turned back around
and sat down again.
    Ryder reached out and squeezed my shaking
hand with his. His warm, calloused fingers wrapped around mind and
I felt comfort so intense, so profoundly familiar, that I had to
close my eyes from the force of it. I inhaled deeply, breathing in
his coconut shampoo. For a moment I just soaked in the peace and
simplicity of his touch , the miracle of his dare-devil driving and finally felt relief.
    We made it.
    I hoped.
    Ryder continued to make random turns, blowing
off the speed limit completely. I never calmed down completely. I
couldn’t.
    After so long of being free, Nix was in the
same town as me. All of the freedom I’d felt over the last year,
even if it had been lonely freedom, evaporated on sight. I wasn’t
free anymore, I was a prisoner.
    And Nix owned me.
    I could fight him for my entire life, I could
run every day until the end of time, but he would hunt me just as
long. As long as Nix was alive, I would never be free.
    I would never let him have me, but he would
never let me go either.
    I realized that now. It had taken coming back
to this place, nearly getting captured again, to realize there was
only one way I would ever get to truly enjoy my freedom.
    I had to kill a god.

Chapter Nine
     
    Ryder parked the car and silence filled the
space where the engine had roared moments before. We looked out on
the small town of Council Bluffs, IA and at the bluffs where the
city had gotten its name.
    The sun set in front of us, painting the sky
with vivid pastels that stretched with long fingers overhead. The
natural forest around us created walls that kept us hidden. Cicadas
buzzed loudly in hidden places and lightning bugs blinked on and
off in the cover of the trees to either side of us.
    I finally felt a small amount of peace after
a very stressful day.
    Ryder and I had been constantly moving since
we ran into Nix. Ryder developed a plan quickly, born out of
necessity and the will to live. He would drive us somewhere and
we’d sit for a few minutes, until we were dreadfully paranoid and
convinced that Nix was going to pop up at any second, then we’d get
going again.
    He’d driven almost all of the way to Des
Moines before we got gas and turned around. We stopped for fast
food around two, but it was after eight now and I was