by Lea Kirk
Chapter Nineteen
Nick rested his head against the cabinet. Outside the wind roared around the cube-shelter shaking the walls, trying to force its way inside. The sound was creepier than a Hitchcock movie. It would be so much nicer to be snuggled in bed listening to this with Saku, instead of holding Dante’s pain-wracked body. On the other hand, as egotistical as admitting it sounded, he was the best choice for this job. No parent could have done better at raising the obnoxious teenager Nick Bock had been than Dante, and it would take a lifetime to repay that debt.
If only Saku were here, then they could heal him and the fear and uncertainty would be over. By now she must have figured out that he and Dante were MIA. Good thing she was too level-headed to demand a search and rescue be mounted tonight. Hopefully Dante would make it through the night, and possibly all of tomorrow. There was no telling how long the storm would rage.
Dante’s head rolled to one side against Nick’s shoulder and the healer grunted. Nick reached for a water packet and snapped the pouch open.
“Mother above, this is the worst hangover I have ever had,” Dante muttered.
Nick suppressed a quip about the dastardly effects of ryma. “I wish I could make the pain go away.”
“Me too. It’s not too intolerable at the moment, though.”
“Water?” Nick held the pouch in front of Dante, and his friend shifted to accept it.
“She was beautiful, like an ancient vision coming across the water,” Dante murmured.
Dammit. Delirium must be beginning. “Yes, she was.”
A jolt shook Dante’s body and Nick wrapped his arms around him to keep him upright in case the shudder turned into another seizure.
“I am coherent, Nick. It is Zumari I speak of, my wife.”
Warmth crept over Nick’s ears. “Oh. Sorry. I actually did think you were out of it and were about to seize again.” He loosened his grip. “If you don’t want to talk about this, I’ll understand.”
“I only want you to know that I love her, will always. But, her life depends on no one finding her, so do not seek her out once I am gone.”
“Dante….”
“This is my wish, Nick. Leave her in safety.” Dante turned his head, his dark hair tickling Nick’s chin. “Besides, Graig would kill you if you tried.”
A soft chortle escaped Nick. “I’m sure he would.”
“What I did to her was terrible. Mother above, it nearly ended my life. If not for Gryf and Graig…. Had I the ability to touch the source of my power as you and Sakura can, I would have destroyed my Gift.”
Jesus, what had Dante done that was so terrible he’d willingly snuff out the one thing that defined him more than anything?
“I altered her physical appearance. Not by much, but her eyes…they used to be jewel green, like Terrian emeralds. So beautiful.”
The corners of Nick’s mouth pulled down. Changing her appearance didn’t seem so terrible.
“Then I erased her memory.”
Holy, shit. Now that was bad. “All of it?”
“Everything,” Dante said. “Everything. I gave her new memories, a life, and a family without me.”
“But, Dante, that’s…illegal. Even the healer’s oath forbids taking another’s memories.”
“There were extenuating circumstances, and it was sanctioned.”
“Like what sort of circumstances, and who’d sanction that?”
Dante’s soft chuckle reached Nick’s ear. “This is where my story ends, Nick. Everything done was done for her, and I only agreed to it because I love her.”
Love, not loved.
That must be why he didn’t destroy himself. A chill crept down Nick’s spine. If Dante had, then where would he be? Alex and Saku, too? Lost, maybe even rogue. Their Gifts in the hands of people who would manipulate them in order to control even a portion of the galaxy, if not the whole thing. Dante, and others like him, made sure that didn’t happen by guiding new healers until they reached their potential.
Running away to New L.A. had been the wrong thing to do. If the crisis with the dissenters hadn’t come up, he would have deserted his responsibility. Eventually, he might have become a pawn in someone else’s game, willing or not. God, he hoped he was smarter than that.
But, if he were so smart, then why hadn’t he completely immersed himself in his calling? He was a healer, as defined by his Gift as Dante was by his own. He could make a difference to somebody, maybe many somebodies. If he and Dante got out of this mess, he would have a heart-to-heart with Saku about their long-term plans.
“Carry her memory in your heart when I am gone, Nick,” Dante murmured. “But, do not search her out and undo what I have done. Promise me this.”
The sting of tears pricked Nick’s eyes and he swallowed against the rock that seemed to be lodged in his throat. He stroked one hand over his friend’s hair. “I so vow, ades.”
Dante set the water pouch on the blanket. “I will sleep now while the pain is not so bad.”
“Good idea.” He adjusted the blankets to cover Dante up to his shoulders. “Do you want me to put you in the healing sleep?”
“Please.”
Nick lifted his hand to hover near his friend’s temple. “Sleep, ades. I will be here.”
~*~
Agony sliced through Nick’s head like a red-hot knife, waking him from a dreamless sleep. His hoarse scream echoed in the confines of the shelter as he pressed his hands against his temples. Dante’s weight shifted as the other healer slumped over Nick’s right leg. Cool air prickled his skin, but did nothing to alleviate the pain.
Words he wanted to say eluded him. Escape the pain, get away from it. Nick slid left, his palm skidding over powdery ground.
Dirt. He should stay on the blanket. Why, he had no idea, only that it was important.
Warmth tingled through him, his Gift trying to heal him. It wasn’t going to be enough. He needed Saku, but he would never see her again. Not in this lifetime. The pain of loss lanced through his heart and he curled his fingers like claws digging into the dirt.
Sakura.
~*~
Sakura curled her bare toes into the rug under the dining table and released a jaw-cracking yawn. It seemed like her feet itched to move, literally. Sleep had not come last night and now her mind drifted like the snowflakes outside. It’d be easy to blame the noise of the storm for her insomnia, but that would be a lie. Nick’s absence was like a giant hole straight through the middle of her. She slid her feet back and forth, the silken fibers of the rug relieving the tingling sensation a bit.
The front door opened.
“Mama!” Flora cried, leaping up from her spot on the couch. “Did you find them?”
Alex moved into the room to allow a contingent of Anferthians to enter. “Not yet, sweetie. The tracks have been pretty well covered.”
“We will not stop, little one,” K’rona said.
Sakura rubbed her feet over the rug again, but the tingling itch didn’t go away. “This is strange, but it feels like Nick is close. I cannot explain it, but I started feeling him just before you came in.”
Maybe it was just Alex’s presence. She pulled up one foot to scratch it, but the itch disappeared the moment it left the floor. The corners of her mouth pulled down. That was weird. She set her foot back on the rug and itch returned.
“Maybe you should take Sakura with you when you go back out, K’rona,” Alex said. “I’ll stay with Flora.”
Feet up, no itch. Feet down, itch. What was happening? She focused on where the bottom of her feet were in contact with the rug. A hint of music, extremely faint, but it was there. She pushed out of her chair so fast it toppled, then she crouched on the floor with her palms pressed to the rug.
Alex moved closer. “Sakura, what are you doing?”
Yes, yes, it was there. “I think…. Wait a minute. I want to try something.” She launched to her feet and squeezed through the grou
p of Anferthians standing just inside the door, each wearing identical expressions of confusion on their broad faces. If she could get outside, she could be sure. She stepped through the door.
“Sakura, your boots….”
Soft snowflakes brushed her face. Not the howling storm of last night, but biting cold all the same. She dropped down on all fours again, her hands and knees sunk into the snow. Nick’s Gift signature seemed clearer, but still not strong enough. She dug into the frigid powder. An enormous hand closed around her waist and pulled her out of the snow.
“What is it you do, fyhen?” Concern and curiosity seemed to war for prominence in K’rona’s eyes. “Explain yourself.”
“It’s Nick. I need to touch the ground to be sure, but I think he is calling me.” And that did not sound the least bit crazy. A tremor ran through her, maybe from the cold or maybe from the anxiety filling her.
K’rona and Alex exchanged a glance, then the Anferthian woman released her grip. “All of you, out here. Fyhen needs our help.”
In less than a minute, the Anferthians had exposed a six-foot swath of damp dirt. Sakura knelt and pressed her palms against the hard-packed earth. The signature of Nick’s Gift was definitely there, like a message sent to her. But, from where? Maybe she could follow it back to its point of origin, but she would need to be in full contact. She sat up and stripped off her shirt, then lay on her stomach with nothing but her black tank top between herself and the frigid ground.
Nick’s music flowed through her and her Gift responded, following the psychic trail through Center Village, the woods, to South. He was farther than she thought, somewhere beyond South. Her breaths came in short, quick pants. Extending herself beyond her endurance seemed like the only way she could find him. It might wipe her out, but if he could blast his Gift through the Matiran soil to get her attention, then she could trace the call back to him.
In theory. And theory always looked good on paper. Practical application, on the other hand….
A warm, slight weight rested between her shoulder blades and the gentle ocean waves of Alex’s signature washed over her.
“Let me help, Sakura.” Alex’s voice came from above her. “You’re expending too much energy. Tap into mine.”
The boost from Alex’s Gift eased Sakura’s struggle and propelled her forward into the wilderness toward a stand of trees…a small, white shelter…hand in the dirt. Nick.
Oh. No. Nausea roiled in her stomach and she lurched to her feet. There was no time to waste. She bolted in the direction of Nick’s call.
“Sakura! Stop!”
Alex’s shout didn’t stop her. Nothing would stop her. Nick’s life depended on her reaching him, soon.
Smack!
She bounced off something very large and solid and fell backward, butt-first into the snow. She blinked up at the towering form.
Storo bent over. “I thought you were the smart healer. Please, tell me I am not mistaken.”
“What?”
“Where do you go dressed in summer wear, little blossom? Do you desire a hideous death?”
He liked nicknames. Little Blossom had been hers since he found out what her name translated to, and she liked it. “I know where Nick is.”
“Then, by all means, you must show us…after you are properly attired for the journey.” He scooped her up and tucked her under his arm like a football.
“Put me down, Storo!” What was he doing? This was urgent. If they did not leave now, Nick and Dante would die. She tried to peel his fingers back but they did not budge, so she kicked and flailed.
Smaller hands grasped her by her ears and she froze. Storo had stopped walking and Alex’s face was inches from her own.
“Stop it now, Sakura.” Nick’s sister had a very definite mom voice.
A dry sob shook her. She needed to take a breath and calm down enough to explain the situation. “I found Nick, Alex. And Dante, too.” When had she started thinking of Magister by his first name?
“Yes, and you’ll take us to them as soon as you’re dressed.”
Misery threatened to overwhelm her common sense. She met Alex’s stern gaze. “But, they are infected with the illness.”
Alex’s face paled. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Alex glanced to her right. “K’rona, help me get her ready. We need to hurry.”
~*~
Saku. She was here, Nick could have sworn he’d sensed her fragrant essence, but then he’d sunk back into the abyss of blackness. How many times had he drifted in and out since? Maybe it’d been his imagination, because he sure as hell couldn’t sense her now. There didn’t seem to be anything now other than the hard-packed ground under his fingers and a dull ache in his head. Most likely the result of the contaminant’s attack. He reached out a hand and encountered a body.
“Dante?” Sometime recently he must have swallowed a rusty railroad spike.
“Here,” Dante groaned. “Glad you’re awake.”
“How long was I out?”
“No idea.” Dante’s weight shifted and Nick gasped at the stinging rush of blood returning to his leg. “Would you happen to know how much time we have left? Waiting for the next bout of pain has redefined tedium for me.”
“No idea.” Seemed like a nice generic answer. Nick levered himself into a sitting position. “Not long, given the body part under siege.”
“Your report said that the contaminant attacks the victim’s weakest point. That it has attacked my brain is disheartening.”
Terrians and Matirans were biologically identical, and Anferthians were close yet maybe different enough to trigger this accelerated scenario. Could their physical differences be the key? Or, maybe it was the Gift he and Dante had, but that didn’t explain why the contaminant chose to attack their brains. “Dante, I’m going to try scanning myself. I really want to know why this thing acts as it does.”
“Do you require assistance?”
“No. Just listen, I’ll be giving you a blow-by-blow as I figure things out.” He closed his eyes and extended his senses through his body. “The contaminant is also in my brain as well, as I suspected.” Why it had attacked both of them in the same locale was a mystery. It wasn’t consistent with how it struck at the weakest points of the dissenters’ physiology. How could it determine this was the place to go in both him and Dante? “If…no, wait. Dante, I’m going to try to get inside this thing.”
“Are you certain that is wise?”
“No, of course not. But I’m doing it anyway.” Anything he found out, he could write down for Sakura and the search parties to find.
“Be careful, Nick.”
He opened his eyes a slit and gave his mentor a grin. “You know me.”
“Yes,” Dante mumbled. “I certainly do.”
Centering himself, he redirected his Gift to his brain. The contaminant’s methodical and repetitive bombardment of the same areas was expected. It was only a matter of time before it wore down the healthy tissue and gained access to the core. Even though he couldn’t visually see the abscesses like he could with his patients, their heat was palpable. And so was.... “A biological code, too precise to be a natural occurrence, just like Sakura thought. Dante, I’m looking at the proof that someone deliberately engineered this contaminant and is using it as a biological weapon. Could Haesi make something like that?”
“Seven years ago I would have said no, but now I suspect it is very much in the realm of possibility.”
Nick withdrew from his scan and squinted at Dante. “We already know that it exploits the weakest points in each victim. But, in us our brains are not the weakest points, they’re just the organ furthest from our strongest points—our Sources.”
“Your Source, perhaps,” Dante said, “but the existence of mine has not been confirmed.”
“C’mon, Dante, you know it’s there because you carry a Gift. Just because you haven’t accessed it the way Saku and c
an access ours, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
Dante grunted. “Perhaps.”
“Not perhaps, I am right. If I were the contaminant, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near the one thing with the potential to annihilate me.”
“Are you saying it can adapt to the environment of its host?”
“Exactly.” He tensed, a small, shuddering wince caught in his throat as a sharp, hot poker stabbed at the base of his skull.
The other healer’s brow furrowed like a professor holding Nick’s hypothesis up to the light and turning it to examine it from every direction. Finally, he nodded. “You make a very convincing argument, Nick.”
Nick gave his head a shake. “Thank you, Magister. But, it’s useless since it looks like we’re going to die here.”
Chapter Twenty
Sakura crunched through the snowbank behind Storo. The thumps of several pairs of booted feet came from behind her. The search party had left the outer wheel hours ago. Endless whiteness as far as she could see, the monotony of it broken by the stark black lines of the next mountain range in the distance, and a stand of trees to the right. Why did everything appear so much closer on a map? The deception was unfair and cruel. She much preferred working in the solid parameters of bodies. No matter how big or small the patient, everything was contained in a specific, easily accessible area. Dealing with sentient lifeforms also had the decided advantage of not being cold.
She wiped the back of her glove under her nose. “We need to stop. It’s hard to feel Nick now.” The echo of his signature had faded into almost nothing. “Oof.” She staggered back a step and raised her chin to better view Storo. She should have been paying closer attention where she was going. This time she’d plowed into his butt, which was a little less embarrassing than running into his crotch like she had earlier.
Storo twisted partway around, an amused gleam in his eyes. “Are you well, little blossom?”
“Fine.”
“You asked to stop. Do you need to get bearings on Nick’s location?”