by Tracy Korn
"That's great, but what does purify us mean?" Tieg insists, his voice lower and more menacing now. Veece smiles without feeling, apparently trying to maintain the balance in the room.
"It means there are things out there that feed off of trouble," Cal says, crossing to Veece's side. "The Mountain protects itself from sabotage by not allowing destructive energies near it," he explains, looking out onto the rest of us. "The Rush sees those energies in you somehow, pulls them out of you and drops them in your path so you have to destroy them yourself before it will let you pass. The more consumed you are by anger, jealousy, revenge…the harder your road will be," he adds, then looks over to Dell, whose eyes fall to the ground.
"Coming from or going to that mountain doesn't matter either—it'll find you either way," Dell adds, almost as an afterthought. "Suggest you all get right with your sentiments, or else hide them real good."
"Where's Liddick?" I whisper to Zoe, who is a few feet away. She shrugs as she tightens the lacing around her wrist.
"He knows when we're lighting out," she whispers.
"All right, just wait…" Arco's voice is suddenly loud and startling next to me. "You're saying this land between here and that other volcano is going to be able to read our motivations or something? But we have people in there. Of course we're not coming in peace."
"The fact I'm having the chance to tell you at all is more than Vox had, so all I can say is try not to fixate on what you think happened or is happening to them. This is going to be a one hour at a time kind of trek. Wondering about anything past that just makes the road longer and harder," Cal answers, grinding his teeth together on the last word, which makes his jaw and temple jump in unison.
"So it's rigged to sense an attack? The mountain is rigged against an ambush? That's what you're just now saying?" Tieg asks through an incredulous laugh as Dez grips his arm and whispers something to him, apparently in effort to dial him down.
"Listen, cloudy," Dell says in an amused voice as he takes a step toward Tieg, whose guffaws disintegrate as he raises his eyebrows and squares his stance like he's preparing for a fight. "You go right on thinking what a gut-roll everything is out there, and we'll see how funny it is when the trees don't like the smug look on your face and start conspiring to remove it—your face, wise? The look comes with it."
Tieg blinks his narrow, unnaturally blue eyes and swallows, quickly returning his expression to neutral.
"We did not anticipate that you would be leaving right now," Jove adds. "But…it has come to my attention that you have all been treated, and that you believe someone in the Motherland can reverse it. Our own ancestors also pursued this path, and we will not stand in your way," he says, but is interrupted by another crack of what sounds like thunder before he starts again. "The storm will give you shelter from the zephyrs who plague the Bale field boundary, but you must go now. Your treatments will be permanent in eight days—if you reach the Motherland after that, do not attempt to surface. You will not survive. Return here, and we will make a place for you." Another crash of thunder interrupts Jove and rumbles out after a long roll. "Go now. You are in good hands," he says, extending his hand toward the fissure. When I look toward it, I'm startled to see that the other Council members have joined us, along with Kora, Myka, Ada, and all the Badlanders who have helped us. General nods at me, his golden eyes reminding me again of Mr. Tark's smile of approval after the beach attack virtuo-cine.
"This way," Dell says, moving back through the fissure. Everyone touches his shoulders as he passes, and Calliope gives him a hug. Veece and Cal exchange glances, and Cal nods to him.
"I'll bring back the NET," he says quietly, then crosses to Jove, who grips his shoulder in response with a nod. Cal turns to follow Dell through the tunnel of people that is slowly forming, and Veece brings his hands to Zoe's face when she crosses to him. He touches his forehead to hers as he says something in his Vishan language, and after a second, she wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him, which seems to startle him. Jove closes his eyes in a long blink and lets out an exasperated sigh, and I can't help smiling when she makes her way to me with both of them in her wake.
"What? Think you're the only ones with amenities?" she whispers, winking at me and raising a copper eyebrow to Arco as she passes us. "Better close that before something flies in," she adds over her shoulder, clicking her teeth and darting a glance at my mouth, which has apparently fallen open. Arco coughs a laugh and shakes his head, and I feel heat flooding my face when I see Fraya and Myra grinning stupidly at me.
"Thank you for everything," Dez says to Jove and Veece as they move through the fissure together with Tieg, Joss, and then Myra, who echo the sentiment. Jax is the last to shake Jove's hand before he crosses back to Arco, slapping a broad hand on his back.
"Well, let's go get our people," Jax says with a nod, and then meets my eyes. "Let's go get Dad, Jazz."
I nod, and follow him, Fraya, and Arco to the fissure, hugging Kesh and Vita as I pass, but I can't help turning back around to take one more look at the silent arena. Where are you? I think, but Liddick doesn't answer me.
***
The tubular clouds I saw this morning aren't gray any more with intermittent light behind them. They're the color of soot now, and the flickering light is so constant that it's almost not a flicker at all. I can see the zephyrs darting in and out of the Bale stalks, but only here and there. The rest of them start to dive, but then stop when the lightning flashes or the thunder cracks, which is almost every few minutes. The overly saturated gold of the stalks stands out even more against the dark gray backdrop, which reflects off the inky black, volcanic rock under our feet.
Cal, Del, and Zoe pour their spring water over their heads and instruct us to do the same before leading Joss, Myra, and most of the rest of our group start to follow them, but Arco, Jax, and Fraya must still be coming up through the corridor. I look around frantically for Liddick and finally find him leaning against the outside of the rock face watching the zephyrs high up in the storm just a few hundred feet away.
There you are! I think, relieved, but he doesn't turn away from the sky as another crack of thunder sends the zephyrs scattering from the Bale stalks. What are you doing up here? I ask him in my head.
Making my peace, he thinks on the tail of the rumbling, and I don't know how to respond. Myka said you were looking for me earlier…I add, grasping for something to offset this stiffness between us now that he knows how I feel about Arco once and for all. Liddick nods absently without looking at me.
"I talked to Azeris last night…after I left the Lookout Pier" he says out loud, pushing a smile to the side of his mouth and shaking his head with a huffed laugh. "Almost fell down that stupid rise when the message hit," he says, then pushes off the wall and takes a step toward the others as he looks over at me. "The biodesigners are moving Lyden and Arwyn to Phase Three in two days, not two weeks," he adds abruptly, hooking his thumbs in the side rigging loops of his dive suit and looking toward Cal, who seems to be giving instructions to the others.
Arco, Jax, and Fraya appear from the fissure just behind me before I have a chance to respond to Liddick, and by the time I turn back around to find Dell making his way over to us, Liddick has joined Cal's group.
"Come on! We're going to cut along the perimeter—stay out of the field!" Dell shouts to us over the roar of the wind as he waves us to join Cal and the others. Heavy, warm drops the size of marbles start to fall, and I'm immediately startled by how hard they hit—like someone has flicked my shoulder, my cheek, the top of my head with their thumb and finger.
"We need to get out of this!" Tieg shouts as we close the gap between groups, but Dell quickly cuts him off.
"Stay close together—no holes in the line!" he calls from the rear of our group as we start to approach the outer row of Bale that seems to meet up with the trees in the distance. "We'll be clear of the zephyr pack once we cross the line!"
Zoe falls back and closes the hole just
behind me, jogging a few steps as her voice strains over the bowling wind. "Liddick is with Cal—in the front, you saw?" she asks, and I look back over my shoulder to see him just in front of Joss and Myra. I nod to Zoe.
"Thanks," I say, trying to be loud enough for her to hear me, but quiet enough so the zephyrs don't. I fail on the latter as the group of Bale stalks right next to me immediately bend into my path and begin shaking so hard they blur like they did when Zoe and I came out here harvesting. I startle so badly that I stumble and fall on my knees trying to jump out of the way, then look up right into the eye of a little gray, wispy tornado, which is as big as I am.
Rows and rows of fine, pointy teeth swirl in opposite directions like hundreds of tiny wheel cogs, and I don't even have to make myself stifle the scream I feel pushing up from my chest because the instant terror that accompanies it forces my throat closed. I can't move…I can't move…is all I can think, until several pairs of arms jerk me to my feet and pull me forward as we all break into a run toward the tree line, holes appearing in our line as more little funnel clouds materialize overhead. Their low, reverberating buzz finds its way into my teeth and behind my eyes where it vibrates my skull and muffles Dell's desperate calls for us all to stay together, but it's too late. Joss is near the front of our group, and is suddenly jerked into the air by one of the rotating dark clouds, which instantly begins passing over him end to end so quickly I can't even see it any more. His skin gives way to red as two other zephyr clouds begin racing over him too, peeling the layers of his skin and muscle away so fast now that I don't even have time to blink before his muffled screams stop, and he's just completely…gone.
"Stay together! Close the gaps!" Dell shouts as Cal waves Myra toward the trees, and the deafening hum in my ears fades in the presence of her shrill, anguished sobs as we cross the boundary line into the Rush.
CHAPTER 39
The Rainforest
The heavy, marble sized raindrops pelt us from the sky when we finally get past the Bale stalks and the packs of zephyrs darting after us. Here in the rainforest, all I see are vines and walls of green.
"Up here! Move!" Cal calls back to us, then points to a huge tree with visible roots that look like pythons twisting and gripping the ground, until they disappear well beyond the tree and into a carpet of enormous leaves. "Get inside!"
Get inside? I think, puzzled, until I get closer and see that the front of the tree is nothing in comparison to the width…it must be 12 feet deep and just as wide. The inside of it is dark and smells like musty earth as another flash of lightning forces my eyes closed, followed by the giant crack of thunder that I feel vibrate through my bones. I bring my hands to my ears too late, and only manage to muffle the ringing left by the thunder clap.
"Everyone OK?" Dell asks, filing into the tree with Liddick, who looks like he's going to kill someone. Water streams down the angles of his face as he shoves both his hands through his long, wet hair, the rain coloring it as dark as the tree behind him. His hands crackle with light that he quickly snuffs out by making fists and taking a deep breath. His eyes are wild, and I feel my heart start to pound in answer to the pace of his.
Liddick…Liddick, listen to me…I start to think, but it's so hard to shut out the feeling—his feeling—of thousands of tiny irons being shoved into my veins. I panic for a second when I remember that the Vishan treatment has made it so we can physically feel what the other feels…I don't know if I can do this all the way through the Rush. What if one of us is hurt, or…killed? I wonder, but the thought washes away in the flood of wanting to hit something…to hit someone until I can force whatever this is out of me, and it feels like any second that's exactly what I'll do. Liddick! Look at me! I shout to him in my head as I move to him. I grip his biceps and meet his eyes, which are still wild and murderous. "Look at me!" I say out loud over the barrage of rain pounding the ground outside and beating the outer bark of the tree. His eyes focus and lose their violence when he finally registers what I'm saying, and his dark brows snap inward as he wipes more streaks of rain from his face and pushes them through his hair again. He locks his hands behind his head and walks past me to sit against the tree wall where Dez moves quickly to his side. He grips the back of his neck with both hands and props his elbows against his knees as his head falls forward, and an ache starts in my chest.
Arco moves to my side and pulls me against him. I turn into his chest and close my eyes, but then open them immediately when I see the image of Joss being yanked into the air and then the obscene, white bulge of his eyes against the red, wrapping muscles of his face—
I choke on the gasp I suck in and cough, then feel my heart pounding again in my ears.
"It's OK…we're OK," Arco says into my hair, and I let go of him to find Myra. She's shaking, curled into Fraya with Jax at their side. Our eyes connect, and his chest heaves as he shakes his head in shock and disbelief.
Tieg wipes the water from his squared face and covers his mouth as he brings a hand to his hip. He takes a deep breath, then shakes his head just like Jax. Ellis wraps his long arms around himself and clenches his jaw over and over again, making the muscle in his cheek pulse as Avis sits against the wall and hugs his knees, then rocks back on his heels over and over again. Zoe pushes her rain-soaked red hair off her forehead and crouches next to Myra, then starts pushing Myra's wet hair from her face.
"It was quick, wise? It was quick…" she says softly and repeatedly, but Myra doesn't say a word, or even blink.
"We need a fire," Dell says, blowing out a breath and searching the ground, then moves to the side of the tree and pulls the knife from his leg sheath. "Could you dig a hole?" he asks over his shoulder and tosses a piece of thick bark to Cal, who nods and moves a few feet from the tree opening to start gouging at in the ground.
Zoe pushes the last of Myra's hair from her face, but keeps repeating the motion anyway as she sings a quiet song to her. A steady stream of tears drip from Fraya's cheeks as she watches them, and Jax puts his arm around her. Zoe nods to him, taking Myra into her arms as she continues her song. Fraya buries her face in Jax's chest, and he rests his chin on the top of her head, kissing it as his brows crash together. He looks over at me and I nod to him quickly to let him know that I understand and that he doesn't have to hold back anything just because he's my big brother by one minute and 18 seconds. I nod again to him, and then again until he finally lets the tears come. He closes his eyes and leans into Fraya's wet hair, and I keep nodding even though he can't see me any more. I just keep nodding.
"Hey…hey…" Arco whispers from somewhere far away, so I'm surprised when I feel his arms wrap around my shoulders from behind and his warm breath on my neck as he talks. "Come here," he says, loosening his arms enough for me to turn into him if I want to, but I can't lay my cheek against his chest and feel warm and safe enough to close my eyes only to see Joss again, suspended 10 feet over my head, being stripped and peeled. I shake my head to clear the thought, which keeps finding me every time I manage to escape it. I pull my hair through my hands and wring out the water, then lean back against Arco, his arms crossing over my shoulders as I watch Cal finish digging the hole, then teepee the pieces of wood Dell has been cutting from the inside of the tree.
"The fire will keep animals out—we'll be safe in here until the storm passes," Cal says, just before looking up at Avis, who is still rocking back on his heels against the tree wall. "Avis…Avis—" he says, but it's not until the second time his name is called that Avis stops rocking and turns to him. "We need a core and some rings…" he says, nodding to the beginnings of the fire pit. Avis blinks several times as he comes back into himself, then wipes the water from the broad planes of his face. He shuffles over to Cal, who nods again and passes him the collected wood, then gets out his knife to help Dell sheer more from the tree.
Liddick has lifted his head, but has buried his face behind his interlaced hands as he sits with his knees still pulled up, and for a second it looks like he's asleep.
He must feel me watching him because he opens his eyes and stares into mine. Dez has entwined her arms around his and is resting her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed and her face still wet either with tears or the torrential downpour or both.
Don't do that again, Liddick…I think. Don't close off. No matter how bad it gets out here. I almost couldn't find you. The ghost of a smile touches the corner of Liddick's mouth, but then disappears.
I almost couldn't find me either. He was right next to me, Rip…right there next to me and then… he trails off, then closes his eyes again and leans his head back against the tree. Avis pulls a small red flame from his palm and lights the wood scraps, the glow illuminating the wide smile that spreads over his face, liberating his troubled, deep-set eyes.
"I did it," Avis says to himself, then looks up at Ellis and nods. "I did it," he repeats. Ellis smiles, exhausted, and Avis returns his attention to the fire, adding more of the wood shavings, and then larger pieces all around it. After several minutes, the flames stretch the circumference of the pit, and Dell stacks the rest of the wood against the inner wall at his feet. I look over to Myra again, whose eyes are still wide and staring as she sits cradled in Zoe's arms.
This is a vacuum…a swirl of twisting pain that is somehow forced into the center of a void I can't reach. It's everything and nothing at the same time—a silence that is much too loud to bear. I feel it most when I exhale, but I know there's more breath inside that will not release. I take another half-breath, and then another, knowing I must lose a second of each of them through some kind of one-way membrane inside me, and no matter how hard I try to push them out before they accumulate and suffocate me, the closest I can get to them is trying to draw out a yawn that never comes.
Cal puts the last of his wood next to Dell's and both of them sit with their legs outstretched near the fire. Cal grips Avis's shoulder and nods to the flames, which makes Avis beam with pride.