“Dole-haters,” Alex said, feeling a chill down his spine. He curled into a fetal position, shaking hard. “They roped my ankles, smashed my kneecaps.”
“Your knees are badly swollen, but the kneecap isn’t broken,” she said, sitting next to his pillow, stroking his hair. “This is what broke your exoskeleton?”
Alex nodded. “They covered me in cheap vodka.”
Jen inhaled sharply. She spooned behind him, looping her arm protectively across his shoulders. “You’re not burned,” she whispered. “They stopped.”
“Coro killed them,” Alex said. “He thinks Ketlin is stirring trouble, and he wanted to send a message. And he wants something from me. I don’t know what. I almost told you not to come back.”
“Um. Person!” Amanda called from the hallway. “Where am I going?”
“In here, Amanda,” Jennifer called, quickly wiping the tears from her face.
“Oh.” Amanda opened the door, then stopped in the doorway, looking out, then back in, confused. “I have these. I couldn’t find the ice,” she said, holding out a box of thermal strips.
“Jennifer. My name is Jennifer, remember?” Jen said, wiping her nose on her sleeve, then taking the supplies from Amanda.
“Where’s my mom?” Amanda asked, looking at her empty hands. “She was just here.”
“You’re having a hallucination again,” Jen said gently.
“Oh.” She fidgeted in the doorway, the heels of her hands pressed to her eyes. Though in her late twenties, she looked like a ten-year-old for the uncertainty she showed. “My disease sucks.”
“If I take you to the hospital, I can probably steal the medicine I need for her,” Jennifer said to Alex, measuring out a thermal strip and pressing it to the side of his face.
“Danny?” Amanda called, limping into the hall, scratching at her sun-bronzed skin. “I’m seeing houses. Am I in a house?”
“Stay here, sweetie. He wanted to finish his bath,” Jen called.
“I don’t hear water.” Amanda stumbled back in, her confusion growing by the moment. She touched her ears, then shrugged off whatever thought nagged her and came to help Jennifer wrap Alex’s knee. “Now that I’m safe with you, he’s probably gone to find Tray.”
Jennifer’s face paled and she hopped from the bed, abandoning Alex. “Danny!”
Amanda looked up, but didn’t seem to comprehend Jen’s urgency. She just focused on nursing. “Where does it hurt most?”
“Lower back,” Alex said, lifting his shirt to show where he’d been jabbed. “Do you remember me?”
“I remember your face,” she said, rubbing her forehead, tapping on a metallic device attached above her brow. “You have more edges than I remember.”
“You look better than I remember,” he said. The last time he’d seen her, she was emaciated and sickly. “The wilderness was much kinder to you than it was to Danny.”
“Found him!” Jen shouted from the hall. A few minutes later, the water started.
“Were you limping or am I shaking that much?” Alex asked.
“Limping. Danny.” She hesitated, wiping her cheek against her shoulder. “Zen makes Danny crazy. He attacked me. And then he would fall over half-asleep and sing songs.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry,” Alex said, reaching out to her. Amanda squeaked and scooted off the bed.
“Alex. I’m Alex,” he reminded her, shifting so he didn’t have to twist to keep his eyes on her. “When Lily, your godmother, died, I took you in, remember? Jennifer and I took you in.”
Amanda limped in circles, tugging at the roots of her hair.
“We set up a room for you,” Alex continued. “We saved all your things from Terrana, so it looks like it did when you were seventeen. Will you be okay seeing that again?”
She paused and cocked her head. “Are my parents coming back? Can I see them?”
“They’re not coming,” Alex smiled. “But I have pictures. They’re all hanging up in your room. Jen thought it would help you feel safe.”
Her breath quickened as she processed the information. “I want to see.”
“Down the hall, on the right,” he pointed.
“Will you be okay on your own?” she checked.
He smiled at her sweetness and nodded, but the moment he was alone, he felt sick again. He focused on the chill of the thermal compresses on his face, his back, and his knee. He hated feeling powerless in his own body, especially now that he had two new charges to look after.
“Lie here with Alex,” he heard Jennifer say. She shuffled Danny into the room and made him sit on the bed. Danny’s skin looked raw from scrubbing, and his beard was trimmed back enough to show bruising on his jaw and neck. He’d changed into flannel sleep pants and a sweater that was too heavy for the weather. He smelled of soap and mint toothpaste.
“Lie down for a minute. I’ll bring up some food,” Jen said softly. “Where’s Amanda?”
“She wanted to see the pictures in her room,” Alex said.
Nodding, Jen left them alone. She shouldn’t have had to do all this alone. Alex should have talked to her before going to the dole line. He should have known better.
Danny nestled against Alex’s side, his quivering body only adding to Alex’s rattling nerves. “This isn’t hurting you, is it?”
“No, I needed a hug,” Alex said, embracing his friend. “Amanda wouldn’t let me touch her.”
“She’s sick. And you can’t hug her better,” he said, choking up as he forced those sage words. “Have you seen Tray at all?”
“Not yet. But we will find a way,” Alex promised, realizing it might be a blessing to be on Coro’s radar. “You and I will find a way.”
The trip from Kemah to the Pear suburb of Sienna was long and frustrating, and Chase often thought of how much easier it’d be if he and Danny had ever gotten that damn Bobsled to fly. With all the regulations about pollution and clean energy, personal vehicles relied on foot power or solar tech, and only a fraction of solar radiation made it into the Dome.
Chase spent the afternoon surveying the damage on Oriana, figuring out how long it might take to repair. Sky had said that Sikorsky was paying for the refurbishing of the ship, and Chase hated taking money from that man, but the memory of Danny begged for absolution. Hawk knew about Danny and the Bobsled, so somewhere, Hawk, Danny, Sky, and the ‘sled must have overlapped.
Trudging through the door of his and Noelle’s two-bedroom apartment, he shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over the back of the couch.
“Thank Zive. I thought you were dead!” Noelle exclaimed, bustling out of the dining room (which they never dined in), kissing him hard. She was an athletic, chocolate-skinned woman, with thick, soft lips, and she hummed into the kiss, looping her arms around his neck. Chase sighed in relief, forgetting his troubles and deepening the kiss. Kissing Noelle brought a completely different feeling than kissing Sky. Noelle gave him comfortable, constant love.
“Blake didn’t know what happened,” she said between kisses. “He said this thug burst into the shop with a stunner, knocked everyone out, and when they woke up, you were gone. What happened? Was it Bloods? Dragons? Black Stones? Sabers?”
“Sikorsky,” Chase said. He’d never counted the gangs in Pear, but he preferred the variety to having a single, crushing crime boss in the region.
“Sikorsky? What’s he doing all the way in Pear?” she balked, the news breaking their sensuous reunion.
“He wanted me to fix a ship in Kemah,” Chase stammered, resting his hands on her hips, rubbing the soft fabric of her workout clothes. He didn’t know what to tell her, and he was happy enough just being home.
“Why you? Doesn’t he have his own mechanics without trundling all the way out here?” she criticized.
“I know the Captain. Knew.” Chase looked away. The relief and comfort at having her love was tempered by guilt. He didn’t want to explain about Sky and Oriana. Then he noticed the half-packed duffle on the dining table.
“You don’t have to go on the run. No one is coming after you.”
“Oh, that?” she said, frowning, then laughing. “That’s something else.”
“Are you moving out?” Chase asked, his stomach dropping.
“No it’s good news. Sort of,” she rambled. “Except for the part where we’re apart. I got a sponsor for the Olympic tryouts. I’m going to Olcott to train.”
“Oh. Congratulations,” Chase stammered. He felt genuinely happy for her, and as soon as he recovered from the shock of the news, they kissed gleefully. Noelle had been swimming competitively since grade school, and she’d been talking about competing in the cross-bay swim since they met.
“But if you need me here for awhile—”
“No, I think it would be better if I stayed in Kemah,” Chase stammered.
“You’re going back?” Noelle balked.
Chase shrugged. He hadn’t figured out much, but he felt like he needed to help Oriana to make things right with Danny. To put his friend to rest. “I don’t want my shop getting shot up again,” he mumbled. “It’s just a few days.”
“Do what you have to do,” she whispered in his ear, leaving a trail of kisses along his jaw, latching on when their lips met.
“Oh, my goodness. I’m going to miss you,” Chase said, breaking the kiss for air.
“Olcott to Kemah is the swim I’m training for. Maybe we could have dinner,” she teased, her hands wandering under his clothes, her lips brushing his neck and shoulders.
Delightedly, they undressed each other, and ravished each other’s bodies, sharing laughter and pleasure. Afterward, they lay panting on the couch, their naked bodies wrapped together in a loose knit blanket that Noelle’s sister had made. When Sky hugged him that afternoon, he’d felt safe, but with Noelle, he felt he was pulling her into danger, leaving her vulnerable to attack, and that made him feel guilty. Not wanting to spoil the moment, Chase pretended to sleep, and taking the hint, she laid with him quietly. Then she whispered that she needed to leave for Olcott and left him alone under the blanket.
He heard her dress and gather her things. When the door opened, guilt prompted him to move, and he got up from the couch, taking the blanket as a covering.
“Bye, babe. Good luck,” he said, kissing her cheek and wrapping his blanket around her for a farewell hug. She held him tenderly, but the warmth never escalated to heat.
“Call me. Even if I’m swimming across the ocean, I’ll stop to talk to you,” she whispered. She was a good woman and didn’t want to leave him alone when she could tell something was wrong. His stomach muscles contracted as the sadness rippled through him, but she needed to leave, and it was a bad time to dump problems on her that she couldn’t fix.
“You could come with me,” she said, reading into the silence. “I don’t mind. Sikorsky’s not afraid of the small gangs in Pear, but he won’t go into Olcott. That’s Genova territory.”
“I know this ship. I’ll be okay.” Chase kissed her face, coaxing her lips to his, and after one last kiss, she left. She was too perfect for him. He stood by the door, blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Then his Virp chimed.
Noelle was calling him already.
“You’re barely down the steps. What did you forget?” he chuckled.
“What’s the point of technology if you don’t use it? I hate traveling alone,” Noelle replied.
“You want me to get dressed?” Chase asked, biting his lip. Danny was gone, Tray was trapped in Clover, and Sky was going to abandon him anyway. Kemah wasn’t worth losing her.
“No, just talk to me,” she chirped. Her tone said that idle chatter and small talk would suffice. He laughed, transferring the call to his Feather, and going into their bedroom. They could talk all night.
13
Alex kept a death grip on the railing as he walked down the stairs. It had been three days since the attack, and while his legs were healed, the slightest noise startled him. With two extra people in the house, there were a lot of noises. His breath hitched at the sound of footsteps behind him.
Amanda trudged down the stairs, pausing to run her fingers along the pictures hanging on the wall. Every one was handpicked from their time on Terrana, and meant to remind Amanda that she was among friends. She pulled each one off the wall, transferred the pictures to her Virp, and hugged the framed photos to her chest. She’d done the same thing yesterday morning, though her memory went in and out with her sanity.
“Bunna?” Alex asked, motioning her to follow him. The clothes Alex had acquired for her two months ago were fit to the rail-thin, malnourished state they’d found her in, but she’d easily put on fifteen pounds since, which meant that she and Danny had access to decent food.
The new clothes she’d selected for herself had arrived last night, and she’d already modified the garments to reflect her personal flare. Her black shorts had been rolled up so that it hit mid-thigh and hugged her hips. She used a vest over a red t-shirt to bring in her waistline. The shirtsleeves had been sheered off, cut into strips, and braided into a belt. Instead of a glove, her Virp was attached to a wrist cuff. Her black, mid-calf length boots were scuffed, and she carried them in one hand while on her feet she wore fuzzy, cloud-patterned slippers.
“Is Danny in there?” she asked, touching Alex’s elbow.
“He’s not going to hurt you,” Alex encouraged, peering in to check for trouble. Danny sat silently at the table, eyes on his Virp. He’d shaved his face, but left the shaggy hair. A bowl of chunky soup sat in front of him, but looked as though it had gone cold, waiting for him to notice.
“How long have you been up?” Alex asked, putting a hand on Danny’s shoulder. Danny pressed his cheek to Alex’s arm, absorbing a moment of intimacy without the effort of an embrace. Alex felt the low-grade fever radiating from his skin. It had been long enough to know that the fever wasn’t a side effect of Detox.
“He kept coming into my room,” Amanda complained, keeping her distance from Danny as she circled toward the bunna pot.
“She was having nightmares and she crawled into my bed,” Danny muttered. “She only does that when she’s about to lose it. When she’s about to stab me. That’s why I’m up. I couldn’t sleep.”
“That’s not why,” Amanda retorted. “He’s afraid he’s going to wake up and we’ll be out there again. He’s afraid we’re not safe. It’s not over.”
“We’re going to have a talk about boundaries,” Alex suggested, taking his oatmeal to the table.
“Danny, my hands are shaking too much to grill the tomatoes,” Amanda said, shaking out her hand, then making a fist. Alex knew it wasn’t the caffeine in the bunna. It was her brain telling her over and over that the Guard was coming after her and she needed to run. She wasn’t shy about asking for help when she needed it, but she’d exhausted Danny with her demands for his attention. Danny’s issues expressed as a seemingly unshakable depression that erupted occasionally into panic attacks.
“I can help,” Alex offered, pumping his own fingers to make sure his hands were steady. Amanda liked warming rice and tomatoes over the stove for breakfast, and she’d acted independently the first few days, but since last night, she’d started clinging to them. Alex had been waiting for days for a proper hug, and he felt guilty for enjoying the neediness that seemed to be emerging.
“How are the new identities coming?” Alex asked.
“Mine’s done. Amanda’s doesn’t exist yet,” Danny sighed, sipping his soup. He made a face at the cup and dipped his finger in, confirming the soup was cold. “Having untreated schizophrenia at this stage is unheard of outside of severe neglect and abuse cases. She’s probably beyond the surgical cure and going to need medication for the rest of her life, and that means she needs an identity that gets her in and out of a pharmacy. Even at its height, the Citizens’ Channel never had a template medical history to explain why someone would go untreated for so long. The minute she goes to a doctor, it would trigger an investigation from Adult Protective Ser
vices.”
“So we fabricate a treatment history,” Alex said.
“Only any treatment we put on that list is one she doesn’t get to try,” Danny pointed out.
“My new ID needs a pilot certification,” Amanda said, looping her arms around Alex’s elbow. “I want to be a pilot, like my dad.”
“Amanda, the industry your dad and I worked no longer exists or I wouldn’t be a dole,” Alex said, scooting the tomatoes around the pan.
“I wouldn’t have to fly a spaceship,” Amanda sighed, putting her hand on his, directing the spatula. Then her arm twitched and she brought both hands against her chest. “There are other places in the world. Besides, I like flying in the atmosphere. Feeling the wind under my wings.”
“Really? How much flying did Danny let you do out there?” Alex laughed, kissing her hairline.
“A lot. Especially once I got this,” she said, tapping her the ocular device on her brow. “I could finally read the controls. But it’s good to learn the way I did. Your eyes only distract you from feeling the wind.”
“I bet that made Corey jealous—Danny letting you fly. Is she still putting stars in your eyes?” Alex asked, glancing at Danny, hoping to entice him into the conversation. “You told me Saskia is safe with Tray, but you never said where you stashed Corey in all this?”
Amanda tugged Alex’s shirt and shook her head. “He still cries for her. He wants to go back for her body.”
“For her body,” Alex repeated, dropping the spatula. Corey was dead, and Alex had been teasing Danny about their fledgling love. “Oh, Danny. I’m sorry.”
Danny slammed his Virp on the table and buried his face in his hands. Then he scooted back from the table and put his head between his legs, heaving up what little soup he’d managed to swallow.
“Well, I came home at the wrong time,” Jennifer said, kicking the front door closed and hurrying over to the table. Alex tossed her a damp rag and she laid it across Danny’s neck, running her long fingernails over his back. “Is it something you ate?”
The Gray Market: A Space Opera Adventure Series (The New Dawn Book 5) Page 11