Kayla knew it was childish, but she stuck her tongue out at him anyway. It made her feel better. And she didn’t have the strength to argue. She smothered the grin when Jaden’s eyes flamed with warning of what he would do to that tongue when her parents weren’t around. Heat tingled in her veins, but the thought of her parents had her gaze sliding back to them. Her mom was all worry, her dad . . . “What aren’t you telling me?”
Vicken’s smile was grim as he placed a hand on her arm. “Honey, I promise you’ll hear what I have to say. But I want to hear your side of the story first. No, let me rephrase—I need to hear what happened to you.”
Kayla studied him a moment before acquiescing. “Okay, but I’m holding you to that promise.” Her dad’s smile was his only acknowledgment. “Where was I? Oh yes, Atu asked about my injuries.” Kayla was nervous. What will they make of it all? But none of it was my fault. And she was done lying. To anyone, about anything. “When I woke up after the crash, there wasn’t a part of my body that didn’t hurt. And I couldn’t move.”
Jaden, seated on the bed next to her again, went still. “Couldn’t move as in Gaptors had zapped you?”
Kayla shrugged. “I don’t think so. I still had my ring, so that should’ve countered the numbing effects, right?” Jaden nodded agreement. “In which case it’s more likely that one of my injuries was causing temporary paralysis.”
It was Atu’s turn to interrupt. “Temporary?”
“Yes, just before they came to get me, I could move the tip of one finger. And then, a few minutes later, two whole fingers.”
“Where did they take you?”
Jaden’s voice was quiet, but his anguish ripped into her soul. Kayla took his hand in hers. “To surgery. Slurpy wanted me healed so I would be ready for the next part of his plan.” When Jaden’s face paled, she knew she was spilling details too fast, too haphazardly. One glance at her parents’ faces confirmed it. “Okay, all of you take it down a notch. I feel like someone will combust at any moment. I’m fine! Nothing terrible happened to me. I’m here and nothing that transpired there will scar me for life. No PTSD, okay? Are we clear?”
“Okay,” Jaden mumbled.
But his breathing was audible. Like he was using it as a tool to calm himself. Kayla observed as he concentrated on relaxing. Although his breathing settled and his face was rigid with control, the tension never left his shoulders, and his eyes remained haunted. She squeezed his hand. His eyes darted to hers, those incredible dark blue pools.
Kayla smiled. “You’re getting better at managing your temper.”
Jaden snorted. “I’m glad you think so.”
But his eyes had cleared a little. “Isn’t my opinion the only one that counts?”
This time, Jaden laughed, and the same emotion stirred the water in those pools. “I missed you.”
The laughter bubbled out of Kayla, a pure expression of her relief that his eyes could still smile. She tried not to think of how much she had missed them. Those tiny crinkles at the sides, that never-ending blue she could lose herself in.
Her father cleared his throat. “Should we give you two some time alone?” His tone was dry, but he was smiling. As though he too didn’t care what she did right now. Just cherished the fact that she was here to do anything.
“Let me finish my story. How about I tell it without interruptions so I can tell it in the order it happened and with none of you panicking every time I say something that might hint at peril?”
Her father nodded, and her mother grabbed the hand that wasn’t holding Jaden’s. “Sweetheart, you tell the story any way you want. Just tell it already.”
Kayla caught her mother’s implied plea to put her father out of his misery. “Here’s the short version. I don’t know how badly injured I was, but when they took me into surgery, Slurpy was there.” She cringed as they all tensed again, but they kept quiet. “He wasn’t there to hurt me. In fact, just before they put me under, I heard him telling someone else in the room that he would take care of my more serious injuries. The way he said it, I don’t think he intended using traditional methods.” Kayla paused. “Atu, is it possible he can heal like you do?”
Atu’s face was grave. “We have passed this gift down through my family since the days of our forefathers. If the legend we transferred with it to each generation is true, then this gift came from Zareh.” He smiled when he saw their shock. “I don’t know why that surprises you. But I told you that to answer your question. If Zareh could bless us with this gift, who knows what power the usurper has? I would say it’s in the realm of possibility that the usurper can heal like I do. Possibly better.”
Kayla chewed on his answer for a second. “I’m going with that because when I woke up after the ‘surgery,’ only minor injuries remained. Except for my leg.” She put up a hand forestalling the questions. “While they had me in surgery, they implanted a tiny chip in my leg that would transmit pain every time I moved a certain way. Its purpose was to stop me from thinking I could escape by making me believe I had broken my leg in the accident, meaning running would be impossible.”
Jaden whistled. “That must be some chip.”
Kayla grinned. “No, sorry, I didn’t bring it with me.”
Jaden returned the smile, and Kayla’s heart lifted at the sight. But she needed to finish. She had to tell them. “Then Tarise appeared and warned me about the water.” A giggle rippled out of her at their confusion.
“She warned you?” Jaden repeated as though he’d misheard.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. She only warned me because I was part of her escape plan. She needed me so she could get away.” Kayla outlined all that had happened afterward, culminating in the way Tarise pushed her out of that other world and through the gate.
Vicken’s voice was steel. “That’s why you thought she was trying to kill you? Because she pushed you through, guessing you would fall to your death?”
“I believe so. Only I didn’t end up in the sky. I think I was on the ground when I passed out on this side.”
“We found you on the ice, a short distance from Sven’s home,” Jaden supplied.
Nodding, Kayla said, “Yes, that would make sense. I remember something frozen and hard against my face. And thinking the chill would slow the bleeding.” She thought a moment longer. “Perhaps the way the gate works is it puts you though on the other side in the environment you’re familiar with—water for fish, sky for Gaptors, land for humans?”
Jaden was following her logic. “That would explain why Tarise ended up in a different place.” Kayla raised her eyebrows. Jaden shrugged. “She said she came after you when you ‘fell’ through the gate.”
Kayla rolled her eyes. “I fell through?”
Jaden put his hands up. “I know, I know. We don’t trust her. And I’ll tell you more about that later. But let’s finish with your story first. If she came through on a Gaptor, chasing after you like she says, your theory means she would’ve come through in the sky. That’s why she couldn’t find you. You weren’t in the air. You were on the ground hundreds of feet below.”
Shuddering, Kayla said, “I’m glad she didn’t find me. I don’t think she would’ve saved me.”
“And when she couldn’t find you, she came crawling back here like the maggot she is,” Jaden hissed.
Everyone was silent, but their expressions told Kayla they were trying to comprehend what had happened. Kayla didn’t want them dwelling on how close she had come to death—on more than one occasion. “You said you had your own reasons for not trusting Tarise. Is that what you’ve been keeping from me?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jaden smiled at Kayla. He was still trying to accept she was here. That she’d been returned to him. Then something she’d said made him sit up straighter. “Before I answer, can I go back and check on something you said earlier?”
“As long as you’re not just procrastinating about answering my question, shoot.”
“You said that y
ou destroyed the comm room there?” At her nod, Jaden asked, “From what you said, I’m assuming Slurpy wasn’t there?”
“No, and I didn’t see him anywhere else while I was trying to escape. Why?”
Jaden glanced at Vicken. The man’s icy expression confirmed he knew what Jaden was up to, and Vicken had reached the same conclusion. “We just paid Tarise a visit.” When Kayla’s eyes went to her father, Jaden rushed on. “Don’t worry, she’s in a cell Sven constructed for her.” Jaden grimaced. “But don’t call it that if you speak to Sven. You know how he is about prisons.”
Kayla raised an eyebrow. “I’ll heed the warning. What happened with Tarise?”
“She told us she had heard Slurpy in the comm room right before you left.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Yes, one of many she told us.” Her father’s voice was quiet and soothing.
“Why would she lie about that? What did she say Slurpy was doing in the comm room?”
“Ranting at his minions. I’m guessing she had to finagle a way to tell us what she knew without making it sound suspicious.”
“Jaden, what did she say?”
Jaden grinned. “Now don’t get impatient.” When Kayla crossed her arms and glared at him, he chuckled. “Tarise told us she overheard the destination for the next part of our quest.”
Kayla’s expression was a combination of glee and suspicion. “It’s possible she would know. She had free rein of the place. In her wanderings, she could’ve overheard Slurpy mentioning the location. But I doubt he would’ve been that careless.”
“I agree. There are three possibilities that I can see: that she genuinely overheard him, that he told her to tell us where to go, or that she just made the whole thing up.” Jaden caught the appreciative gleam in Vicken’s eyes as he turned to him. “Did you have others?”
“No, I think you about covered it.”
“But what would make you think there’s even a chance she’s telling the truth—either because she overheard or because it’s what Slurpy told her to say?”
“Because she added a grain of truth to it. Isn’t that the best way to lie?” Jaden squirmed under another speculative gaze from Vicken. Deciding to ignore Vicken’s reactions, he focused on Kayla. She was glaring again.
“I’ve about had it with you two,” Kayla warned.
“Sorry, I’ll get to the point. A lot of things happened while you were gone, the most notable of which was recovering all the medallions Slurpy’s been stealing over the centuries.” Kayla gaped. “There’s more, and I’ll get to that in a second. But the reason there’s a slim chance Tarise is telling the truth is because she also said she’d overheard Slurpy ranting about the cache being found and retrieved.”
Kayla leaned towards him. “And?”
Jaden chuckled. She knew him so well. “What we aren’t sure of is whether Slurpy also knows that we stole one of his communication devices.”
Kayla blinked. “A communication device? There was one there?” She waved a dismissive hand. “No, never mind. I never heard about a missing communication device and Tarise never mentioned it. Neither fact answers your question either way.”
Jaden rubbed his jaw. “Unfortunately not. We’ll just have to pray he isn’t aware of the loss.”
Kayla wriggled against the pillows until she was more comfortable. “Why wouldn’t he be?”
“It’s time I caught you up on what’s been happening here, starting with how Tarise betrayed you.” Kayla’s face paled, and Jaden wondered if he shouldn’t have led with that.
But Kayla squeezed his hand. “Tell me,” she breathed.
Jaden studied her face, finding resolve there. If he didn’t tell her, she would wheedle it out of someone else. Better if he controlled the flow of information. He could parse it out so she only received manageable snippets.
Even with this approach and omitting large sections, by the time Jaden concluded with retrieving the cache, destroying the Gaptor nest and stealing the communication device, Kayla’s face was wan.
“You know most of it now. It’s a good place to stop so you can get some rest.” Jaden squeezed her hand before releasing it.
“No, don’t go, tell me the rest,” Kayla begged, her feeble attempt at grabbing his hand failing.
Jaden raised his eyebrows. “And here I thought you were the one with the medical knowledge.” As though she understood what he was saying, she slid her hands under the sheet. “Hiding your hands won’t help. You’re exhausted, and you know it. Get your rest, or we’ll all walk out that door!”
“Like I believe you’d do that. Or that my parents would.” She glanced at them, her half-smile fading when she noticed her mother’s stern expression.
Sadie closed in on the bed. “Sit up a minute and let me fluff your pillows. Then you’ll do as Jaden said and sleep. Or we will carry out his threat—and drag him with us if need be.”
Her tone brooked no argument, and Jaden chuckled as Kayla sighed theatrically but did as her mother asked. With the pillows rearranged, Kayla obediently lay back down again. With a wink at them all, she closed her eyes.
Jaden guessed she probably only meant to close them for a second, but her ruse worked against her. In three blinks, she was asleep, her deep, regular breathing a comfort to them all. Catching his eye, Vicken gestured that they should speak outside. Jaden gave Kayla a quick kiss on her cheek, then followed Vicken out.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Vicken said, “Kayla won’t want to wait. As soon as she thinks she’s well enough, she’ll be itching to get out of here. With that in mind, while she rests, I think I’ll make that scouting trip I mentioned earlier.”
Jaden blinked. “You don’t want to stay here with her while she recovers?”
“She has you and her mother. Between the two of you, I think she’ll have more attention than she wants.”
Jaden wasn’t sure whether Vicken was joking. “But you’re her dad. If you’re not there, she’ll want to know where you are. And how do you think that’ll play out when we tell her you’ve gone ahead of us to scout the area Tarise mentioned?”
Vicken’s laugh was mirthless. “You won’t tell her where I went. Sadie knows how to handle her. Kayla will just think I’m off on another one of my missions. Like I’ve been so many times before.”
Vicken’s tone was distant as he said the last part, his regret evident. “I’m sure she understood that was your work—” Jaden began.
“Work or not, I could’ve settled a long time ago. I wish we had.” Vicken shook his head. “But better late than never, right? We’ve found a perfect place to call home. And when all this,” he waved a hand in the air, “is over, we can settle into it.”
“It’s something we can all look forward to,” Jaden murmured. He didn’t add the part that nagged at him—if they survived.
Vicken put a hand on his shoulder. “There’s no choice but to stay positive. Letting doubt in is not an option. We have to believe we can do this.”
For whatever reason, his words made Jaden think of the two leather strips they had recovered and the messages written on them: “Believing with faith” on the first and “Living with hope” on the second. What did the strips mean? Were they simply meant to be encouragements on this journey? Or did they have some deeper purpose? Still pondering the matter, he nodded to acknowledge what Vicken had said but didn’t speak.
“I’ll give Sadie the specs. I plan to leave tomorrow morning.”
That woke Jaden up. “You’re going alone? Shouldn’t you take some of the others with you?”
Holding up a hand, Vicken said, “I won’t go alone. But I won’t be taking any of the people here either. Although they’ve improved, they lack the skills I require. I’ll take my usual team with me.” He grinned at Jaden’s obvious relief. “Yes, I don’t plan on you having to tell my daughter you fed me to the wolves without backup.”
Jaden laughed. “Thanks, I appreciate you considering my welfare.”
&n
bsp; Vicken chuckled. “It’s her welfare I’m thinking about, not yours.”
His comment only made Jaden laugh more. “Ouch!”
“You’ll get over it.” Vicken grinned. “Alright, let’s go find that place on a map, and then you can get back to Kayla.”
“You’re not joining me?”
“I have arrangements to make, and I should do that while Kayla rests. My guess is she won’t be waking up again until tomorrow, so I have a few hours to set things up.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
True to what Vicken guessed, Kayla slept through the night and halfway into the next morning. Jaden expected Vicken to leave at first light—wasn’t that what spies did?—but Vicken stayed until Kayla woke up. Then he and Sadie chatted up a storm with her while she ate a hearty breakfast.
As Jaden observed, part of him wondered whether Vicken had stayed so he could see Kayla one last time in case things didn’t go as planned. But Vicken let no hint of any doubts slip as he conversed with Kayla.
Sliding his gaze across to Jaden as though aware Jaden had been watching him, Vicken said, “You’re not eating?”
Jaden huffed a laugh. “Contrary to what everyone thinks, I don’t eat all the time.”
“Just most of it,” Kayla said around a mouthful of egg.
“I’m not eating now, am I?”
Kayla’s gaze was shrewd. “When did you last eat?”
“Okay, I give up with you and your lawyer mom!” Jaden wouldn’t admit to eating while fetching Kayla’s breakfast.
Sadie blinked her surprise, then giggled. “You didn’t just say that!”
“I certainly did. Kayla learned from the best. She could squeeze a confession from a soda can if she needed to.”
Now Kayla’s dad was laughing too. “You’re more like your mother than you realize.”
Kayla’s face was priceless. “I like to think I’m more like you.”
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