Liar's Harvest (The Emergent Earth) (38 page)

I decided to spend the night on the porch. No sense in taking up space in the house, especially since I didn’t sleep. I was leaning on the rail, staring out into the darkness, when Anne crept outside to join me. The screen door creaked as she gently eased it shut behind her.

“Jesus, it’s cold out here.”

I shrugged. Even wearing nothing but jeans and a flannel shirt, the freezing air simply brushed across my skin, unable to chill me.

She put her elbows on the porch rail and leaned against me. “That little girl’s name is Katy. In case you were wondering.”

“I’m glad she’s okay.”

“People were asking about you. They want to thank you, ask you what was going on, that kind of stuff.”

“I’ve been here all night. They could have come out.”

“Yeah, standing out here in the freezing cold with your face all pinched up and scowly is real inviting. I can’t believe they didn’t rush out to give you a big ol’ hug.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Okay. I get it. First thing tomorrow I’m going to go inside and be the mayor of happy town.”

“Good.” She nudged me with her shoulder and smiled. “Can you believe we saved all of them? I mean, the ones that made it to the forest, anyway. Prime didn’t get a single one.”

“We? I didn’t have anything to do with it. That was all you.”

“Chuck helped.”

“Yeah, after you rescued his ass.”

She laughed. “I guess so.”

“Patrick would have been proud.”

“Maybe. Then again, maybe I don’t care what the old bastard would have thought. I’m proud. I did something that mattered.” A look of astonishment crossed her face. “I mattered.”

“Just like always. I guess you already forgot that you put an end to Piotr and saved the world back at Belmont.”

She took my hand. “We did it together. And if we have to, we’ll do it again.” She looked out into the dark. “And we will, won’t we?”

I thought about the fox and why all of this started in the first place. And then I stopped thinking about it and squeezed Anne’s hand back.

“Probably. But not today.”

And I was content.

Acknowledgments

T
hanks once again to award-winning artist Vincent Chong for knocking another one out of the park. You always deliver more and better than I ask for.

See more of Vincent’s work at
http://vincentchong-art.co.uk
.

I’d also like to thank my editor, Neal Hock, for helping me see the forest for the trees and my copyeditor Cory Whiteland for rescuing me from the land of comma overuse and awkward phrasing.  Thanks for making me look like I know what I'm doing, guys.  I know it isn't easy.

Also by Michael Langlois

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His captors think they can hold him.
They’re wrong.

What do you say when offered a lifelong position in the most powerful and corrupt secret organization in mankind’s history?

If you want your life to last longer than the job interview, you say yes.

In exchange for wealth, power, and training for his newly discovered abilities, all Daniel has to do is help them reach a new, unsuspecting world.

To make things worse, a group of desperate escapees pin their thin hopes on him, willing to risk everything on a miracle that Daniel has no idea how to provide.

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Buy it now on
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About the Author

Michael Langlois
lives in Texas with his family, two dogs, a cat, and BB, The Most Confident Rabbit in the World. When he’s not playing tabletop board games, video games, or waxing nostalgic about zombies on his blog, he will occasionally stop procrastinating and write something.

You can follow his antics at
michael-langlois.net
.

Copyright © 2012 Michael Langlois

All Rights Reserved.

Electronic Edition: October 2012