Of course, he and Jim were the only ones in the unit.
Tamron responded in an icy tone. “Your responsibility in this was never in question.”
Will couldn’t help himself. “Sir, I apologize, but if there had not been restricted technology left at the site, the site’s discovery would not have been so easy.”
Will could see Jim’s horrified expression out of the corner of his eye. This blatant display of disrespect did not faze Tamron, though.
“The discovery was made easy after the use of a satellite phone that became necessary only after you deviated from protocol,” he replied.
Al spoke up at this point in an attempt to rescue Will from causing further damage by continuing to argue. “It doesn’t matter whose fault this is. That was quick thinking, boys. Now, we would like to get out of this field and leave.” Al indicated their entrapment with a wave of his arm.
Tamron was not so easily led astray. “Furthermore,” he continued, “I would have expected you to be able to follow a simple directive.”
“The directive was to keep eyes on her.” Will indicated Preda.
“Maybe we should have this conversation elsewhere,” Jim quietly interjected.
“You knew damn well she was in my possession,” said Tamron. “I expected better from you.”
“Maybe I’m just following my father’s example,” Will whispered.
Foxy flinched at the statement as though it had been a personal jab.
“Wait a minute. Foxy’s your father?” Preda asked, trailing off at the end like she felt guilty for speaking.
Everyone stopped and stared at her in stunned silence. After a few seconds, Jim started laughing loudly. “You call him Foxy?” he managed to ask after catching his breath.
Will started to smile, and Tamron just shook his head as though resigned to his new name. After a moment he looked at Jim and said, “Get us out of here.”
19
Preda should have seen the resemblance between father and son sooner, but Foxy didn’t smile often enough. She had rarely caught glimpses of the same crooked smile from him. It was the same one that she was used to seeing during lunch breaks at school from Will. She had learned so many things in the past two days that shattered her perception of herself and life before Phillip Torrance had died. This was the first time she felt betrayed by her own senses.
It was an odd thing to hear the conversation between Will and his father. They mentioned her as if she was just the object of a military assignment. When she had first seen Will come out the door of the warehouse into the alley, Preda had felt elated. Soon after, though, it occurred to her that Will had been talking to her at school only because she was part of some mission. It had been too good to be true to think he would actually be interested in her as a friend.
After Tamron requested that they be let out, Jim snapped to attention immediately. For all Foxy’s gruffness, people respected the man. Jim walked Al through dismantling the outer layers of the box carefully until he had exposed a green chip among the wiring. Once that was removed, the humming stopped, and Jim walked into their circle to collect the box and the pieces removed from it.
Preda couldn’t believe Jim Acres was some sort of mechanical wizard. She became lost in her thoughts but was brought abruptly back to reality when Al put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at his reassuring eyes. “It’s only a little farther to the docks, Preda,” he said. “Think you can make it?”
She nodded slowly. Truthfully she felt a little weak and could only think of lying down, but she would never admit that to anyone.
The walk to the docks was a blur. Will walked behind the group as if he was expecting an ambush at any time. Preda had never noticed, but he walked with the grace and kinetic energy of Fiver when he was hunting a squirrel outside. His movements were conserved, and his eyes seemed to travel everywhere but toward her or his father.
Foxy had fallen back slightly to walk beside her instead of in front of her. Preda got the feeling he was preparing to catch her in the likely event she collapsed. Although she was secretly grateful for his presence, she was determined not to need it.
Jim had disappeared ahead of them to scout. Every once in a while, Foxy halted them until he received a signal from Jim to move forward. Preda remembered Jim as a funny flirt at school who always had girls hanging off him. He had come off as someone who didn’t care much for books or school. Jim hadn’t given her the time of day until now.
A fog had been rolling in as they walked, and Preda found herself staring at her feet. She was lulled into a confidence, being surrounded by a vanguard. In the night’s silence, she started to hum without realizing it. The song she hummed was the tune that had always come into her head before falling asleep at night. It had the cadence of a lullaby, and she found its familiar lull comforting.
It was a minute before she noticed the others had stopped walking and were all staring at her. She stopped humming and broke the spell, but the men were still looking at her as though paralyzed.
“Vozia,” Al mumbled.
Preda laughed nervously. “What’s wrong?”
Will was looking at her as if she was a wild animal he was trying not to spook. Foxy answered her with another question. “How do you know that song, Preda?”
“I made it up when I was a little girl,” she said.
Will just shook his head slowly in wonder, and Al whistled softly.
“Let’s keep moving,” said Foxy.
Preda was careful not to hum after that and paid more attention to her surroundings. She knew this was not the time to ask more questions, but she would remember to ask what that was all about later.
As they neared the docks, the fog started to clear, and Preda could smell algae and salt in the breeze. The front of an enormous ocean liner appeared in the night at the end of the dock. Barnacles covered its black hull. They were visible in a thick line with each dip of a wave against the dock.
They found themselves surrounded by men and women in uniform coveralls who were silently loading boxes and crates onto the ship. As Preda and their group passed them, they stopped what they were doing and bowed.
By the time they started to walk up the ramp to the ship, at least thirty people were standing still in the quiet night, bent at their waists in respect. Men had moved aside for her and stood in a line along the sides of the ramp to let her pass. Preda was trembling by the time they reached the ship, and she turned out to those still on the docks and ramp below. “Is this because of me or you?” she whispered to Foxy.
“They’re scared of me, Preda, but they’ve never done this for me,” he answered quietly.
Preda didn’t know what was coming over her. Her toes started to tingle again until the sensation was moving up to her ankles. She took a deep breath and projected her voice over the people in front of her. “Thank you.”
Her voice rang crystal clear through the night air, and it felt as though the whole night stopped to pay attention. Even the waves under the ship seemed to stop moving. Preda was surprised to see tears in the eyes of the people closest to her on the ramp. Suddenly she realized her legs were completely numb, and they suddenly gave out from underneath her. Her vision went dark.
20
Will had learned from a young age, especially with his father around, that the Vozia were an inescapable part of their culture. They had been the ruling family since the start of their written history. Unlike their cousins on Earth, they were fortunate enough to know their origins on Vaka. Tamron had personally taught him the histories when he was a young boy. It was ingrained in him that his purpose in life was always to ensure the survival of the ruling family.
Unfortunately there was only one Vozia left, and everyone in Will’s generation had no memory of what it was like to actually hear one speak. None of the lessons from his childhood could have prepared him for the reality. Look
ing around at the Ceren and Landi family crew members, Will knew he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
It felt like flying. Thank you. It was just two words, but the feeling she projected into them washed over everyone within earshot. Suddenly she fell, and the Earth started moving again. Tamron caught her before she hit the floor, and he deftly turned to carry her belowdecks. Will and Jim followed in silence until he placed her unconscious form on a bed in a cabin. Al came in with a box in his arms, and to Will’s amazement, he opened it to release a cat with one ear into her room. Afterward he and Jim found themselves standing in the hall outside with Al and Tamron.
“Is that supposed to happen?” asked Jim.
“No,” answered Al. “That was the first time I’ve ever heard her project her voice. She is more powerful than her parents, and she has no one to teach her how to control it. She’s also lost a lot of blood, so that’s likely playing a role.”
“Lost a lot of blood?” asked Will, alarmed.
Tamron answered him. “There was an altercation at the airport, and she was stabbed. She is fine now and will recover completely.”
He spoke with finality, as if that should be the end of it, but Will was not going to let it go so easily. “Stabbed?” he exclaimed. “How did that happen? How did you let her out of your sight?”
Al stepped in and tried to ease the rising tension in the hallway. “To be fair, young Will, you have not tried to tell her no when she really wants something. She insisted on going to the bathroom in a crowded airport. We underestimated the range and capability of the Soundless ones to manipulate multiple people at once. The whole bathroom was theirs by the time she was in there.”
“We were lucky. It will not happen again,” said Tamron with an edge to his voice that ceased all arguing. He looked at Will and Jim and said, “You two will take shifts outside her door for the duration of the trip.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.
Tamron turned to walk away from them, but he stopped before leaving and leaned down toward Will. “I am grateful you are OK and with us here. If you ever defy my orders again, you will regret it.”
He had spoken the words quietly while looking into his son’s eyes for confirmation that he understood. Will could only nod in reply before his father turned and walked away.
Once Tamron was out of earshot, Al sighed. “He has been under a lot of stress lately and blames himself for her injury. He really does care about you, Will. I am very glad you both are here.”
With that he left Will and Jim standing in the hallway alone outside Preda’s door. After a moment Jim said, “Do you think Al’s glad we’re here so we can stand guard and he can sleep?”
Will punched his friend in the arm and smiled. They were both exhausted from the night before and had not slept since they had discovered the compromised rendezvous location.
“I will take the first shift. You sleep,” Will said to Jim.
Jim looked as if he was too tired to protest and nodded gratefully. “I’ll relieve you in four hours,” he replied and trudged off to find an empty bunk.
The ship was an enormous ocean liner and would be carrying only about a hundred people for this trip. It was still more people than it usually ferried back and forth, but the goal was to remove as many Vakans that had been stationed here as they could. They were finally leaving this place, and word had spread fast. Many were converging on these and other ports to make the final trip to Deception Island.
Will settled into a relaxed stance against Preda’s door and tried to concentrate on staying alert. He had always had a nervous energy and soon found himself pacing in the hall. After about an hour, he suddenly heard a scream. Fear laced that scream, and it was coming from Preda. Will’s reflexes were already on edge, but the sound sent him into hyperdrive. He burst through the door, and it slammed open against the wall on the other side, partially coming off its hinges on top. Preda was thrashing underneath her covers, and it took Will a moment to realize she was having a dream.
He let out a shaky sigh, sat on the edge of her bed, calmly placed a hand on top of her forehead, and smoothed her hair back. Her skin felt as if it was on fire. As soon as his hand touched her, she calmed, and her breathing slowed to a normal rate. He was about to get up and see about fixing the door when her eyes suddenly opened, and she looked at him with a calm, appraising expression.
“Um, you were having a nightmare, I think,” Will managed to stammer, and he quickly removed his hand from her forehead.
The cat with one ear came over to him from where he had been curled up on Preda’s other side and started to rub against his arm. Will started to rub the cat’s good ear without even thinking about it. When Preda didn’t respond right away, he stood and started to replace the door in the frame.
“I think you have a fever,” he said without looking at her. He could hear her sit up in the bed behind him and feel her staring at him while he worked on the broken hinges. “I’ll call Al to come look at you in a minute.”
“How did the door break?” she asked quietly.
Will didn’t know how to answer her. The answer in his head sounded ridiculous. Well, Preda, he thought. You were having a nightmare in a secure ocean liner, and even though your door was unlocked, I slammed it open in my overzealous attempt to get in here and rescue you. No. He couldn’t say that aloud.
Instead he said, “These ships get rusty, and the hinge was weak.”
That sounded stupid even to his ears. Preda was quiet for a minute as he finally replaced the hinge on the door. The screws were stripped, and Will would have to make Jim take a look at it later, but it would work for now.
As he was leaving and shutting the door behind him, Preda called out. “Wait.”
Al was right. Will couldn’t have kept leaving even if he had wanted to.
21
Preda didn’t know why she wanted him to stay, but she did. She didn’t remember the dream she had been having, and her head felt fuzzy. She figured this must be what a hangover felt like. She could feel the sweat dripping down her back as she sat up in bed. When Will wasn’t looking, she tried to brush her fingers through her hair. She thought it probably looked like a drenched rat’s nest. She would have to ask Al to wash it again soon.
Preda’s throat felt like sandpaper, and she wanted nothing more than a glass of water, but she didn’t know where she was. The last thing she remembered was standing on the edge of a ship and thanking a bunch of strangers. It was an unusual feeling, but she felt as though she knew those people—as if she belonged with them.
Preda looked around the room and saw another door partially ajar. It led to a small bathroom no bigger than the one on the airplane.
She started to get out of bed when Will stopped her. “Don’t move. What do you need? I can get it.”
She looked at him for a second before reaching a decision. “Water, please,” she croaked.
He moved as if grateful for the request, and she leaned back against the wall behind her narrow bed. Fiver was purring. He got up and gingerly made his way onto her chest. He settled in on her right side with her arm supporting the cat. He was still being careful with her left side. Will came out with a glass of water and handed it to Preda. She drank the entire thing in two grateful gulps, and Will started to turn away. He mumbled something about letting her rest.
“Please stay and talk to me,” she said.
Preda didn’t know why, but she sensed he represented someone from her old life. She felt as if she could ask him questions and he would actually give her answers. Will turned around and sat on the end of the bed by her feet. He was careful not to touch her.
“What happened? Where are we? Where are we going? Who are you?” she asked in quick succession as soon as he sat down.
Will gave her a crooked smile at the onslaught of questions. “For someone who wouldn’t speak a single wor
d to me before, you sure have a lot of questions now,” he said.
He looked as though he immediately regretted the statement as soon as it left his mouth, but Preda laughed. His smile slowly returned, and she answered him. “I’ve never spoken more in my entire life than I have in the past two days,” she exclaimed. “I was so afraid I was going to hurt people…”
She trailed off. She turned a little more somber and shrugged.
“Yeah. Sorry about that.” He was nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s not that you can’t hurt people, because you can. I mean…it’s just not very likely unless you’re trying to. I mean…I know you wouldn’t try to hurt anyone, but your father, I mean, Torrance, he thought…”
Preda thought Will looked as if he was drowning, and decided to save him. “It’s OK. I understand.” She had killed a man. She shuddered at the memory. “How about my first question. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “You did this thing where you projected your voice so that everyone around you felt it. Then suddenly the feeling was gone and you collapsed.”
Projected? Preda considered the word and felt it was fitting.
“My toes were tingling,” she murmured. She would have to start to pay attention to that feeling. Maybe it meant she was doing something wrong. “OK. Next one. Where are we?”
Will smiled in relief. He knew the answer to this one. “We’re on a ship—the SS Ryndam. I’ve been on this particular ship dozens of times. Her official history is that she sank in 2003 on the way to the shipyard where she was going to be destroyed. She never sank, though, and the name painted on her hull now is Maryn. The new name means ‘to come from the sea,’ but we know her as the Ryndam. I’m told a newer ship officially holds the name now. Some cruise ship.” He trailed off.
Preda's Voice (Guardians of Vaka Book 1) Page 9