Something, just a flicker, passed across her eyes.
"I killed him," she whispered. "He's gone because of me." This was the most she'd said to him in two weeks.
"No! He's dead because Julian is mad," Philip answered. "You gave Robert a gift and that's all." Her jaw was trembling slightly, but he couldn't stop himself. "And there are others out there alone, who would risk anything not to be alone anymore… if they just knew where to go."
He took his hands from her arms, and she didn't try to stand up again.
"I'll help you find them," he said more gently. "We lost Robert, but Rose is here with us. And now that we know Julian is hunting again, I'll know what to do. It will be different next time. I promise. Whoever we find, I'll get them home."
Another flicker passed across her eyes. "You want to? You want to help us start looking?" she asked. "You'd protect whoever we found?"
"Yes."
He would have promised her anything.
"Wade… he bought a computer," she said. "Maybe we could search for news stories when we wake up tonight. Like Rose did, only faster."
It took every ounce of strength for him to keep his face still. He simply nodded. "We could start tonight." But his voice sounded weak and ragged to his own ears. He was so close, so close to reaching her that he didn't want to press this further-for fear she'd slip completely away again.
He stood up.
She touched his leg. "Don't leave. Would you sleep in here today? Like we did at Rose's and on the train?"
He looked down into her face.
Just like that, Eleisha was back inside her body.
He didn't trust himself to speak and pulled his T-shirt over his head, dropping it on a chair and moving around to the other side of the bed. He lay back onto her pillows, and she crawled over to curl up against him with her head on his shoulder.
"Tonight?" she asked again.
He had failed her in some things, and he kept dark secrets she would never understand. But he'd brought her back, and that was all that mattered. If finding lost members of their kind would keep her with him, he'd go wherever she asked.
"Yes," he said. "We'll start searching for the others tonight."