“You have no idea if that thing came for me or was here for someone else and stumbled upon me.”
He let out a half laugh. “It didn’t come for anyone else.”
“How do you know? You can’t be sure.”
“I know the history and three generations back of every person here but you. I should’ve pressed you on this before you left and I let it go. Not anymore.”
Was he joking? Surely he was exaggerating at least. There were too many people here to know everyone’s history. If he wanted to press me, it was one thing. I could understand why he thought digging into my history might lead to something, but I disliked being bullshitted.
“Kenny the tailor,” I said, daring him to supply the evidence.
“I’ll play your game, but then we’re playing mine.” He watched me, waiting for an agreement.
“Fine,” I said with a shrug.
“Kenny was born in Barkle. Came over with his parents, who were also born there, as well as his grandparents.” There was a gleam in his eye.
Cocky bastard. One person didn’t mean anything. “Sylvia, the cook who makes the good biscuits?”
He leaned back, stretching his neck. “Born here. Her father and mother came together after one of the wars broke out with Bedlam and Dorley. Her grandparents were born in both of those countries and died in that war. By the way, her biscuit recipe was handed down from her grandmother on her mother’s side, in case you were wondering.”
“Burtie the burier.” The little fucker wasn’t even human. Good luck with that one.
“Burtie was a mountain gnome, from a long line of gnomes before him. I can’t tell you where they originally hail from because if I say the name, you’ll die instantly. It’s a spell that was cast by his ancestors to guard their home. Are you happy with that, or would you like to continue? I can do this all night if you’d like. Feel free to ask for a substitution, but I don’t feel right about you dying over a name.”
I grabbed the flask and downed half the contents.
“Good thing I didn’t bring you the bottle,” he said.
“My full name is Chiara Rokke. I was born in a place called Crisp.” I watched for recognition. Even as a child, I knew the place I’d come from was small, even by this world’s standards.
He nodded. “I know of it. Keep going.”
“My mother was a lower servant to the ruling family. My father was a farmer. There was nothing out of the ordinary about either of them.” There, all my secrets were on the table. As I’d told him, there was nothing special.
His expression was intent as ever. “How did you end up with the slavers?”
I downed the rest of the flask. This was where things went bad, at least memory-wise. I’d had a warm and loving family one night and then been in a living hell the next. I had no desire to relive it. “I went to bed on a day like any other. I woke up in the dead pile the next morning. Before I knew what was happening, slavers grabbed me. That’s my long and illustrious tale of woe, and all I know.”
“I’m going to go there tomorrow. You don’t need to come with me.” He stood, grabbing the chair and swinging it back into the corner.
“You really think I’m going to let you dig around in my past and not be there?” He was begging to get tackled if he thought he’d do this alone.
He let out a short laugh, this one warm and genuine. “Of course I didn’t.”
“If we’re going, and you want to actually find something, we need to bring Sneak.”
“Why?”
“Because everything you might want to know about my family history will be in one place, and it’ll be easier with him there. They keep records of all the family trees of everyone born in Crisp.”
“Do you remember where it is?”
“Won’t know until we get there.”
Ryker nodded and then left, taking any chance of sleep with him.
Seventeen
The sun was still sleeping, but I was up and digging around in the dirt. The fourth worm of the morning was wiggling like it had been zapped with a hit of adrenaline. Before I could even ask it a question, it leapt out of my hand like it was on fire and hit the dirt.
Shit. I shoved my hands in the dirt, giving another push of magic until I wavered a little to the right.
Nothing.
I caught sight of grey dreadlocks swing in the breeze as the healer made her way over to me.
“Ah, my best client. Having some issues?”
“Nope. Not at all.” I stood up, transferring the dirt on my hands to my legs. The last thing I needed was her trying to con me out of a few years for payment. I’d just gotten my life back and was planning on being very stingy with it.
She was looking at the unused circle I’d drawn. “Looks like you can’t worm anymore.”
“I can’t, but it’s not a problem.” I dragged a boot over the dirt, smearing the circle. I turned toward Ryker’s as the sun began to rise. No way I’d let him leave here without me and some flimsy excuse that I’d been two minutes late.
“I know what the problem is, but you’re not going to like it,” she said.
I stopped like I’d hit a brick wall and looked back at her.
She smiled like she’d just caught a big, fat fish.
I crossed my arms, pretending that my insides weren’t wiggling like I’d gotten dragged out of a pond. “How many years is this going to cost?”
“For my best customer? Free.” She walked toward me.
“Am I sick again?” My hand went to my chest. I didn’t feel sick, but there was something wrong. I didn’t glitch for this long and think everything was great.
She tapped a finger on my chest. “No. Not sick. You’re too conflicted, and it’s screwing with the worm. It’s all over you. You’re a walking mess.”
“I’m not a mess, and I’m hardly conflicted.” I smoothed back some strands sticking up. The woman was a con artist if I’d ever met one. Her next words were probably going to pitch a cure that would cost me a decade.
“If you say so.” She tipped her head in my direction and sashayed away.
“I do,” I said, hoping she heard me.
* * *
Ryker was standing outside his place with Sneak and Burn beside him when I walked up. Switch was standing several feet away.
“Where’s Knife? Is he coming?” I glanced around, expecting him to walk up at any second. “Didn’t you tell him we were going?” I asked, looking at Ryker.
“No,” Ryker said. “We need to get in and out light. You ready?” Before I had a chance to answer, he was waving Switch over. “Come on.”
“Who’s going? You two?” Switch inched away like we were a pack of rabid dogs.
“The four of us,” Ryker answered, waving again, as if that would quicken Switch’s pace.
Switch stopped moving. “Four? I can’t do four. I’ve done three tops for short hops. That’s it.”
Ryker took a step toward him. “She’ll juice you. It’ll be fine.”
Switch was beginning to twitch again. “I’m going to need one hell of a lot of juice to pull that off.”
“How much more?” I crossed my arms, edging closer to him. Every part of me felt sucked dry since the ward, like I’d spent the night with a pack of leeches and now someone asked me to open a vein.
“Like twice what you gave me when we went to Cacoy to see the Mushroom Man?” Switch nibbled on his cuticle like it was a link of sausage.
Twice? I shook my head. “I don’t think I have it. I was warding my place all yesterday, and then…” They didn’t need to know about the failed worm attempts and the lack of sleep. “It was a lot. I don’t know what I have left.” If I were to use my magic alone, I definitely couldn’t do it. But there was a way.
I knew how horrible it felt to have my magic taken. Hopefully it wouldn’t be so bad on the other end, being a taker. Ryker had tapped into my magic enough. It wouldn’t be so bad for him to see what it felt like. At least he’d know it was coming
, which was more than I’d gotten.
“Give us a minute,” I said, and broke from the group, knowing Ryker was going to follow me. His steps were right behind as I walked far enough that the perked ears wouldn’t hear. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t lean forward to listen.
His tense jaw told me he already knew what I was going to suggest. He was a smart man. It wasn’t a surprise he’d known this was coming.
I breathed until I couldn’t get one more ounce of air in and then held it. As soon as I exhaled, I let the words fly out. “I think I’ve got to tap into your magic and take a little taste.”
I cleared my throat and gave him my best smile. I’d been working on it. It wasn’t horribly awkward anymore. Dez had said it was only mildly so now. And the truth was that I wanted to do this. I’d dreamed of having a reason to do this.
He didn’t speak right away, but at least he nodded. “Fine.”
“Good.” Why’d he agree so easily? Did he know something I didn’t? Was there a bad part to taking too?
“You don’t think it’s going to get…” I rubbed a palm on my hip and shifted my weight from foot to foot. Freaky? It was already that. Freakier? How much worse could it get when you already felt like you were peeking into the abyss every time you felt it? “…weird?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll see.” His words were clipped with a razor’s edge, and the set of his shoulders did nothing to soften them.
I fisted my hands at my hips and jutted a foot out. It was fine to take my magic at a whim, but magic forbid I had to take his. “We don’t have to do this. This isn’t my choice. I’m trying to get us there in one piece.”
“I know, and I didn’t say it was.” His words were right, but he looked at me like I was about to slaughter everyone at the Valley. What the hell? I nearly wanted to shove him in the chest. “If you could juice Switch, I’d gladly let you do it with mine if you asked.” He’d never done that, though.
“I said it was fine.” His words came through a clenched jaw.
Clearly it wasn’t, but he’d deal with it as I had. Maybe it was better he hated it. He’d think twice before doing it to me again.
We stood, saying nothing for a few seconds. I could see the guys staring our way. They were probably wondering why we weren’t talking or moving.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asked.
“As far as taking some of your magic? No. But I’ll figure it out.” After all, he had, several times.
His chin dropped an inch and his eyes narrowed. “Don’t pull too much.”
“Seriously? I’m not looking to use your magic any more than I need to.” He was so lucky we had an audience or I’d try to kick his ass right now. He was even luckier that I knew I’d lose, or I might do it with the audience.
“That’s not the problem.” The way he stepped closer made me think he might’ve wanted to kick my ass just as badly.
“Then what? There definitely is a problem.”
He turned, creating a wall between me and the guys. “I don’t know what will happen if you pull too much. I’m not sure what you can handle. I don’t know if it’ll hurt you. Your magic is younger.”
“Oh.” The fists at my hips fell limp to my sides. I shuffled my feet, and the stone wall of the building beside us was suddenly fascinating. He was worried I’d get hurt? That was why he was mad? This nice stuff he kept pulling lately was a real head trip.
“What did you think?” he asked, not sounding so nice anymore.
I shrugged and waved a hand in the air. “I had no idea.”
Definitely not that he’d been nervous about me stealing his magic. I’d take that to my grave.
“I’ll push my magic toward you, but be conservative.” He turned toward the group and then waited for me to precede him.
I stopped beside Switch and gripped his hand tightly, and then did the same to Ryker’s. Burn and Sneak completed the loop. I looked around the circle, making sure everyone had a firm grip on the person next to them. “We ready?” I asked.
I heard a chorus of yeses and deafening silence from my right.
Switch was staring at me, his palm was sweaty, and his nose was twitching.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked.
I dipped my chin to rub it on my shoulder, scratching an itch as I waited for him to reply.
“Nah, no. Nah.” His eyes shot to the guys before coming back to me. “No. Nothing is wrong.”
I let go of Ryker’s hand. “We need a minute. We’ll be right back.”
I pulled at Switch, and he didn’t hesitate. I waited until we were ten feet away. “What is it?”
“Did you talk to Ruck?”
“Yes. Congratulations. Now what’s wrong?”
“Knife has been looking for me. I know he wants me to go back to Dorley.” He had the look of a cornered cat in his eyes.
“I’ll figure something out. Dodge him until I do.”
“You promise?” he asked.
“I promise to try. It’s the best I can do, but I mean it. I’m not going to leave my best friend’s man behind if I can help it.”
Switch wrapped his arms around me, and I felt the tingle of his magic brushing up against mine. It was all warm and fuzzy, like a puppy’s kisses. Did Ruck feel this when they were together? Dulls didn’t usually feel magic, but I hoped some of this made it through. I pulled away before Switch turned me into a bigger mush ball than him.
“Come on. Let’s get going.”
We rejoined the group and Ryker asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. He needed reassurance.”
He gave me a nod, as if he accepted the answer. I knew him well enough to know he didn’t.
“Juice me up as soon as you’re ready,” Switch said as we re-formed the circle.
“Okay.”
I held his hand while I mentally tiptoed next to the abyss that was Ryker’s magic. He was right. I was going to need to be careful. The closer I got, the more I could feel the waves of it crashing against me. It was nothing like mine. It was aggressive, like it wanted to come out and play. Wanted to be used.
“You almost ready?” Switch asked.
It had only been a few seconds, but I could already feel the eyes on me, as if they were sensing something wrong. I nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
Do it. Just do it and get it over with. How bad could it be?
I stuck a figurative toe into the abyss, trying to tap into a small ripple of magic. What I got was a tidal wave.
Eighteen
“Bugs, come on, wake up.”
Strong arms were around my waist, my head lolling on my shoulders as the haze cleared. I felt like I’d been swept up in a blast that had ricocheted me to the other side of the world. From the chill in the air, it had. I’d forgotten how cold it was in Crisp.
“I’m good. I’m here.” It took me a second to find my feet underneath me. I pulled out of Ryker’s embrace before the sizzle of our magic took care of the chill.
I shook my head, trying to clear the rest of the haze.
“Did you not hear me tell you to take only a little?” Ryker asked.
“I only dipped in. Maybe you pushed too hard?” I crossed my arms, trying to keep my body heat from escaping quicker than I could generate it.
“You dipped in too far,” he barked as he pulled off a woolen sweater. I was freezing, and he was stripping. That just proved he belonged in the underworld.
I was counting heads, making sure we didn’t lose anyone, when I was temporarily blinded by wool over my eyes.
“What are you doing…” I stopped yelling as I found the armholes and my head broke through the top. Damn this man and his nice gestures. He needed to cut that out. He was making it impossible to keep my needed quota of anger toward him.
I was about to give Ryker an evil glare to get him back in line when I saw Switch sitting on the ground. His legs were sprawled out in the snow and he was shaking his head. I must have channeled t
oo much of the blast through me and into him. “You okay?”
Please be okay. It was bad enough he was calling himself a bird these days. If I did any more damage to Switch, Ruck was never going to shut up about it.
He looked up, his head tilted at a funny angle. “Yeah, a little stunned, is all.”
Sneak held his hand out, and Switch took the help, standing.
“If it’s okay, I’m going to get going.” Switch was rubbing his arms and took a step sideways that didn’t look intentional.
“Be back at dawn,” Ryker said. “Dawn here, not dawn back at the Valley.”
Switch nodded. He gave me a last glance, a hint of the promise he was going to hold me to in his eyes. Then he was gone.
Sneak took off to go check the perimeter, and things were feeling oddly familiar. I knew the drill. It was like when we’d gone hunting stones. Sneak was clearing the area. Then Ryker and Sneak would go up ahead, scouting, flushing out any possible threats. Burn and I would follow after. We’d follow the same plan as always, except Ryker hadn’t been depleted all those other times. This time he was.
Why was I getting a knot in my stomach over it? He was a grown man. He’d lived a lot longer than me. He knew his vulnerabilities. He didn’t need me to list them.
“The border to Crisp is an hour from here. I’ll go up ahead with Sneak.” Ryker grabbed a stick, drew a rough shape in the dirt, and pointed to a spot. “You’ll meet us at the forest’s edge near the northern corner. There’s an entrance there not many know about. We’ll be waiting.”
Did he not know he was weakened? No. He had to feel it.
Sneak came back. Ryker tossed down the branch he’d been using, acting like things were normal. It wasn’t normal at all. Maybe he did need me to spell it out for him? Dumb man. He was going to get himself killed.
“What happens if you run into trouble when you’re drained?” I asked, shifting my hands to my waist.
“You didn’t take all my magic.”
Wait a second. This was so wrong. The wrongest thing ever to exist. “You don’t feel that gaping hole, the soul-sucking feeling? Is that what you’re saying?”
Blood Binds: Wyrd Blood Book Three Page 10