Tainted Rescue

by Jenn Vakey

She didn't look at me as she spoke. Her fingers were twisting together like she was nervous even to be asking it. It made my heart race seeing it. The only reason she would be anxious was if it wasn't an innocent question.

  “That tradition predates Eden,” I answered. “But yes. Although, it's understood that the girl actually has say in the matter. She can't be forced into courting someone like in Eden.”

  Leeya nodded, but she still wouldn't look at me. I knew she must have considered what would happen if Alister asked Orson. I could see that all over her face when Joury was talking about it. Although if that was the only reason she was asking, she would have relaxed after my explanation. That meant I was correct, and this was about more than just that.

  Was that what Leeya wanted? It was where I had been before everything that had happened, which had been a shocking realization. Honestly, it wasn't something I had ever really saw myself wanting. During that week I spent with Linley when I first brought her in, though, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Leeya. It was then that I realized that I actually missed seeing her. It was a constant fight not to go out and talk to her when I knew she was in the clinic.

  That day in the river when I kissed her, I knew I was done. I wanted her. I wanted to be with her. Not that I had intended to rush into anything. She was still too fresh out of Eden. She had needed time to adjust to the way we lived now. But then Auggie had ran back into camp in a panic and told me that Leeya had gone out searching for a missing woman alone. I thought there was a chance I had lost her forever, and it had been my breaking point. As soon as I had her in my arms again, I knew that I would do anything to keep her there. So I took the leap.

  I had assumed she hadn't actually meant what she said about wanting the house by the river. It was still so hard to let go of that fear of distrust. To accept that there really could have been more to what she had been feeling for me than I was willing to let myself believe. What if I gave into those feelings again and found out she really didn't feel the way I did?

  I knew what I needed to do. I needed to get answers to the questions I had. I needed to hear her out and listen to the entire story. It was the only way I was going to be able to decide what I actually wanted. If I even wanted to consider courting her, marrying her again. I couldn’t just count on how I felt anymore, otherwise I would always doubt her.

  Joury’s trees did a good job of clearing the debris. It only took an hour before we were moving again. I didn't like the delay, but we should still have enough time to get inside before dark set in. If we ran into any more problems before we reached the river, we'd just camp there for the night. I wasn't going to risk it.

  Another hour passed without any sign of trouble. I was actually starting to think we wouldn't have any before a rustling sound in the woods sounded from just ahead of us. An animal. It was too close for the entire group to be able to get past it before it reached the path.

  Leeya, who had been walking just a little ahead of me, stopped abruptly. In the time we had known each other, the girl had been through a lot. She ran toward danger like no one I had ever seen before. That's what made this reaction so different. It was almost like she was frozen in fear, unable to keep moving ahead.

  As the sounds moves steadily closer, she stumbled back a few steps. I reached out and grabbed her arm to steady her, holding her in place just ahead of me. I was met with the strong desire to wrap my arm around her, to make sure she felt safe, but I couldn't do that. Not here. Not with so many people around. So I just held her there as close as I dared and hoped it would be enough, my other arm ready to grab my staff if needed.

  Everyone but Zaydan slowly backed up as the brush started to move around the animal. Seeing that was when I actually started to worry myself. My hand tightened on Leeya, pulling her until her body was pressed against mine. Ready to push her behind me if I needed to. There was too much movement. Whatever was coming, it was larger than a snox. If Zaydan couldn't talk it down, hopefully the crossbow in his hand would be enough.

  Then it stepped out.

  I had been envisioning one of the larger animals from Denver, like a tiger or lion. This thing looked more timid than dangerous, though. Doing a mental recap through my history lessons, I actually recognized it too. It had short blonde hair and stood a little higher than my knee. Large black eyes that were darting around.

  “What is that?” Leeya whispered.

  “It's a dog.”

  The creature looked between all of us, as if assessing the danger. There was a fabric band tied around its neck. Not tightly enough to cut off airflow. More like a decoration. Like someone had tamed it.

  Zaydan started talking in a low voice, pulling the dog's attention quickly to him. It whimpered slightly, then sat down.

  “It's not going to hurt us,” Zaydan called back. “I think he's just hungry.”

  “We should still kill it,” Jaythan said from his place behind me. “A hungry animal is a dangerous animal.”

  Leeya stiffened at his words, then stepped out of my hold. Before I could stop her, she started walking slowly toward it. I wanted to pull her back. I was all for her conquering her fear of animals, but this didn't seem like the best way to go about it. Still, I had to trust her. Trust. I almost laughed at myself for even thinking it. With this, though, I needed to trust that she knew what she was doing. That didn't mean it wasn’t making me nervous. My grip was already in place on my staff before she made it more than two feet ahead of me.

  Everyone else tensed too as she moved forward. Well, everyone but Zaydan. He took a step back to let her pass, but didn't go further. He wouldn't leave her unprotected, no matter how safe he believed the situation to be.

  “Hi,” she said, her voice sweet and gentle. The dog watched her approach, pulling back just slightly until she crouched down and held her hand out toward it. My jaw clenched as I held my breath. I didn't like this.

  The dog moved its head cautiously toward her hand, sniffing when it reached her fingers. Then, after a few tense seconds, it licked her. “Good boy,” she said, then moved her hands slowly up and started scratching the top of his head.

  No one else spoke a word. We were all just standing there staring at the scene playing out in front of us. Watching as the dog relaxed a little before Leeya reached into her bag and pulled out some of her food. She held it out for him, which he willingly took from her. Then she started scratching his head and neck again as she stood.

  When she turned and started walking back toward me, the animal actually followed her. He was still warily watching everyone else, but not to the point that I feared he was just waiting to attack. And with that, we started moving again.

  “Kip,” Leeya said with a smile after another half an hour had passed.

  I looked over at her as we walked, fairly certain she was just making up words at this point. She met my eye, then motioned to the dog walking at her side.

  “That’s what I’m going to name him,” she explained. “Kip.”

  So she was planning on actually keeping the thing? There were so many reasons why that wasn’t a good idea, but I couldn’t honestly say it surprised me.

  “What?” she asked, giving me a curious look. “What’s that look for?”

  I shook my head, unable to keep the smirk from my face. “You have a tendency of picking up strays.”

  That got a smile from her. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for her to keep the creature. She actually looked more relaxed than I had seen her in a while. Happier.

  She shrugged and started to respond, but another movement in the tree line caught our attention before she could. There was no warning this time. One moment everything was still, then a hiss filled the air and a snox jumped out and landed just six feet ahead of her on the path.

  All of that lightness about her vanished instantly. Her hands moved up to her bastons and she pulled them out with ease. I was just a second behind her with my staff. The move had been so sudden that the group ahead of us didn’t notice for
several more steps. We couldn’t call out to them. I knew better than that. Anything could set these things off. I couldn’t even risk pulling her back toward me this time. Even an attempt to pull its focus from her to me could cause it to attack, and there was no way of knowing which of us it would go for.

  Leeya’s fear was stronger than I had ever seen it. Even several feet away, I could hear her panicked breathing. See the way her body trembled. I couldn’t blame her. I remembered all too well the state she was in when I found her at the archway. I hadn’t really known what to think at the time when I walked up. She was just there on the ground, unconscious. I had felt it when I turned her over to look for the mark. The fever that had taken hold of her. Then she tried to push me away and I saw the bite on her arm. I heard her ask me to let her die.

  In my periphery, I could see the others turn back to face us. Zaydan had the crossbow. He didn’t get a chance to take the shot, though.

  I might not have been able to place myself between the snox and Leeya, but someone did. Kip. He sprang forward and landed between them, letting out a deep, guttural growl. I was sure the snox was going to attack, but it didn’t. After the two exchanged growls for what felt like the longest moments of my life, it backed away into the tree line. Kip turned his body and kept his focus on where it had vanished until he was comfortable it was gone. Then he turned around and moved back to Leeya, pushing his head up against her knee. Like he was comforting her.

  She let out a deep, shaky breath and pushed her bastons back into her harness, then dropped down and rested her head against his, gliding her hands down the side of his body.

  “Okay,” I said, putting my staff away. “I guess we can let him tag along.”

  Leeya peered up at me and gave me a faint smile. I could still see that fear there, along with the appreciation she was giving at my concession. I knew there would be a battle to face when we returned to Alkwin, but in that moment I knew I wasn’t going to let anyone take the animal from her.

  * * *

  I watched Leeya when I knew we were coming up on the river. It was wider than the one in Alkwin. Sometime before I left Eden a dock had been built to secure our boat. When Leeya saw it, she gasped. She practically ran toward it. You would think that a girl who had never traveled by boat might be little hesitant. I know I was the first time I did. I was certain when I looked at the structure that it would get us halfway there and go down. Not Leeya. As soon as Zaydan held his hand out for her, she took it and jumped in. Kip was right behind her. Just as fearless as she was. It was like the two were made for each other.

  I wasn't sure what the boat was made of. It was solid like wood or metal, but it wasn't either of those things. I asked our Makers in Denver once, and they just laughed and said something about trade secrets. It was sturdy, though, and could hold a dozen people comfortably.

  Leeya took a seat near the front, her eyes moving out over the water. After making sure we were ready to go, I sat across from her in my normal spot and took the wheel to steer us.

  “So,” she said, looking down at the wheel under my hands. “How does this thing actually move?”

  I smirked, already ready for one of those reactions from her, and pointed back to Zaydan. She looked back just in time to see him kicking his shoes aside as he pulled his shirt off. Then, without warning, he jumped off the back of the boat. She gave a startled little gasp, more so when the water around us started to move and push the boat forward. Zaydan just held onto the back, his arms resting on it like nothing was going on.

  “Okay, I get that his mermaid abilities make the water move, but why's he in the water?” she asked, looking back to me for an answer.

  “We don't only get the abilities,” I explained. “Some of us also get limitations. For instance, there is a woman in Alkwin with vampire based abilities. You haven't met her, because she has an allergy to the sun. It burns her skin, so she only comes out at night. With Zaydan, he has to be in the water for an hour a day or he'll get sick. It isn’t noticeable during the warmer months because he spends the time at the river. But now you’ll know why when he takes long showers during the winter.”

  Leeya sank back into her seat. I could tell the news bothered her. Not many people really thought about the downsides of abilities. Most people didn't know about them at all. The only downside they saw was the fact that we were hunted.

  The truth was, every ability could have a downside. As she saw herself with Jaron and Noella, telekinesis could be dangerous. It was also very physically draining. Before control was learned, it was common for those of us with telekinesis to wear ourselves out to the point of collapsing from exhaustion. Aarys’ mother had to teach her not to cry at a young age, and had to go so far as keeping the infant sedated until they could make it outside of Eden. Had she not been a Healer, chances were they wouldn’t have made it out at all.

  Even Leeya’s siren ability had a downside. Knowing when someone was telling the truth was useful, but I didn't know if I would always want to know when someone was lying.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  LEEYA

  I thought the river ride was exciting, but that was nothing compared to seeing the city for the first time. I was sure we would need to stop when we reached it, but the river actually cut through it, even going through the crumbled remains of a building at one point. I looked to Rhydian to question it, but he must have been anticipating it.

  “As far as we’ve been able to determine, the river wasn’t actually here before the war,” he said, steering us like it was second nature.

  The city itself was magnificent. Okay, the buildings were beyond repair and the wilderness had clearly taken the land back. What looked to have been streets had trees and plants sprouting right up out of them. While many of the large structures were still standing, most were missing entire chunks from the walls. It did allow us to see right into them, but it did little to help me imagine what the city would have looked like when it was still in use.

  “I meant what I said,” Rhydian’s voice sliced through my thoughts. “Don’t wander. Stay out in the open and with the group. Most of the predatory animals come out at night, but they live in the buildings.”

  I didn’t argue. As much as I wanted to see what life had been like for people living hundreds of years ago, I had no desire for a close encounter with an animal.

  The trip still took another hour after we reached the city. Rhydian took the boat deep into it, although we still remained relatively close to the border. I wasn’t sure if it was just from convenience with the river or by design. I would have though most of the animals would want to stick closer to the woods, but in really thinking about it, this whole place really was the wilderness now. It was like a giant playground they had free reign over.

  Just before the river cut through another building, Rhydian steered the boat to the side and he and Zaydan got to work tying it off. I was eager to jump out and have a look around, but I decided patience was best here. We weren’t far from sunset. I would never hear the end of it if I managed to get lost.

  Our group disembarked, weapons at the ready as we started walking into the city. Unlike on the path, the road was easier to make out here. It was made of the same material from what I could tell, but the buildings lining both sides had held the plant growth back more.

  We walked just over a block before Zaydan jogged ahead and got to work unlocking a chain that held two metal doors together. Once he had it open, he looked in cautiously, then lead the way in. Once the last of us were in, he secured it again.

  Unlike a lot of the buildings we had seen, this one had actually survived time fairly well. The flooring was hard, similar to the way it was in Eden. There were large cracks running through it, but I wasn’t afraid I’d fall through when I attempted to cross it.

  As for the walls, chunks were missing, revealing the stone behind them. Everything in general was either peeling away, cracked, or missing entirely. It might not be pretty, but it did actually appear to be so
lid.

  “We’re going up,” Rhydian said, motioning to a set of stairs that were just visible through a doorway. The door itself, metal like the ones we had walked through, was hanging from the hinges. I thought it looked ominous, but no one else minded. Joury took the lead, Zaydan right behind her. Then Verity and Jaythan. Rhydian stayed back, not rushing me as I looked around.

  “It used to be an apartment building,” he said. “Similar to the ones in Eden for the people who haven’t gotten their housing assignment. It’s structurally sound. We also keep it locked up to prevent anyone coming in. Or any animals.”

  “Anyone?” I asked, looking up to meet his eyes. “How many people are here?”

  He started walking toward the stairs. I followed, Kip right on my heels. Like me, he seemed a little nervous.

  “We have our Maker camp on the northern edge of the city,” he said. He stood back and motioned me to go up after the others. “They usually don’t leave there unless they need to work in one of the buildings. Others will come in from time to time. People from other camps, or ones who have been banished and have chosen to life on their own.”

  I nodded, my thoughts going back to that first Tainted man I’d encountered that hadn’t been a member of Alkwin. It wasn’t one of my favorite memories.

  “We’re safe here,” he added. His tone was casual, but it still left me wondering if he hadn’t said it to ease my worries.

  When we reached the third floor, he motioned me through another door. This one lead to a hallway lined with doors on both sides. I could see one opened at the other end, shadows coming out from movement on the inside.

  Like with what I now knew to be the lobby of the building, the facade inside was heavily worn. The floors were wood, but it didn’t look aged. I was fairly certain it had actually been replaced to make sure this was a safe place to stay when people needed to come into Denver.

  Rhydian walked in behind me and locked the door. Joury went straight to a closet and started pulling out rolled up mats, tossing one to each person in the room. Definitely better than sleeping on the floor.