"No, but you can act in the present." He jumped to his feet in a lovely, graceful motion and began pacing. "Now. We have to think fast. Pr esuma bly everyone here thinks you're dead."
"Yes, but-"
"So the answer is simple. You have to get out of j the area and stay out. Go someplace where you won't be recognized, where nobody will care if you're new or illegal. Witches. That's it!
I've got some cross-cousins in Las Vegas that will put you up.
The main thing is to leave now."
Poppy's head wasn't just whirling, it was reeling. She felt dizzy and physically sick, as if she'd just stepped off Space Mountain at Disneyland. "What? I don't even understand what you're talking about," she said feebly.
"'I'll explain on the way. Come on, hurry! Do you have some clothes you want to take?"
poppy planted her feet solidly on the floor. She shook her head to try and dear it. "Look, I don't know what you're saying, but I can't go anywhere right now. I have to wait for James."
"But don't you see?" Ash stopped his whirlwind pacing and rounded on her. His eyes were green and hypnotically brilliant.
"That's just what you can't do. James can't even know where you're going."
,what?"
"Don't you see?" Ash said again. He spread his hands and spoke almost pityingly. "You're the only thing putting James in danger. As long as you're here, anybody can look at you and put the pieces together. You're circumstantial evidence that he's committed a crime."
Poppy understood that. "But I can just wait and James can go away with me. He would want that."
"But it wouldn't work," Ash said softly. "It doesn't matter where you go; whenever you're together, you're a danger to him. One look at you and any decent vampire can sense the truth."
Poppy's knees felt weak.
Ash spoke soberly. "I'm not saying that you'll be much safer yourself if you leave. You bring your own danger with you, because of what you are. But as long as you're away from James, nobody can connect you with him. It's the only way to keep him safe. Do you see?"
"Yes. Yes, I see that now." The ground seemed to have disappeared beneath Poppy. She was falling, not into music, but into an icy dark void. There was nothing to hold on to.
"But, of course, it's a lot to expect, to ask you to give him up.
You may not want to make that kind of sacrifice-"
Poppy's chin came up. She was blind and empty and giddy, but she spoke to Ash with utter contempt, spitting out the words. "After everything he sacrifi ced for me? What do you think I am?"
Ash bowed his head. "You're a brave one, little dreamer. I can't believe you were ever human." Then he looked up and spoke briskly. "So do you want to pack?"
"I don't have much," Poppy said, slowly, because moving and speaking hurt her. She walked toward the bedroom as i f th e floor was covered with broken glass. "Hardly anything. But I have to write a note for James."
"No, no," Ash said. "That's the last thing you want to do. Well, after all," he added as she swiveled slowly to look at him,
"James being so noble and lovestruck and everything-if you let him know where you're going, he'll come right after you. And then where will you be?"
Poppy shook her head. "I ... okay." Still shaking her head, s he s tumbled into the bedroom. She wasn't going to argue with him anymore, but she wasn't going to take his advice, either. She shut the bedroom door and tried as hard as she co uld to shield her mind. She visualized a stone wall around her thoughts.
Stuffing her sweat pants and T-shirt a nd whi te dress into the duffel bag took thirty seconds. Then she found a book under the nightstand and a felt-tip pen in the drawer. She tore the flyleaf out of the book and scribbled rapidly.
Dear James,
I'm so sorry, but if I stay to explain this to you, I know you'll try to stop me. Ash has made me understand the truth-that as long as I stick around I'm putting your life in danger. And I just can't do that. If something happened to you because of me, I would die. I really would.
I'm going away now. Ash is taking me somewhere far away where you won't find me. Where they won't care what I am. I'll be safe there. You'll be safe here. And even if we're not together, we'll never really be apart.
I love you. I'll love you forever. But I have to do this.
Please tell Phil goodbye.
Your soulmate, Poppy.
She was dripping tears onto the paper as she signed it.She put the flyleaf on the pillow and went out to Ash.
"Oh, there, there," he said. "Don't cry. You're doing the right thing." He put an arm around her shoulders. Poppy was too miserable to shrug it off.
She looked at him. "One thing. Won't I be putting you in danger if I go with you? I mean, somebody might think you were the one who made me an illegal vampire."
He looked at her with wide, earnest eyes. They happened to be blue-violet at the moment.
"I'm willing to take that risk," he said. "I have a lot of respect for you."
James took the stairs two at a time, sending probing thoughts ahead of him and then refusing to believe what his own senses told him.
She had to be there. She had to be....
He pounded on the door at the same time as he was thrusting the key into' the lock. At the same time as he was shouting mentally.
Poppy! Poppy, answer me! Poppy!
And then, even with the door flung open and his own thoughts ricocheting off the emptiness in the apartment, he still didn't want to believe. He ran around, looking in every room, his heart thudding louder and louder in his chest. Her duffel bag was gone. Her clothes were gone. She was gone.