by Trisha Leigh
“History, daft girl. The kind they don’t teach you because it shows you how to survive. And they don’t care about that.” She pinches my nose. “But you should.”
“History.” The word, applied to Earth instead of the Others for the first time, feels new in my mouth, like a whispered secret disappearing before I can make it out. “You’re avoiding the question about what happened to you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Come on, I want to show you something.”
Pax and I exchange a glance, but as always, we can’t talk adequately without words. The anger brewing in his gaze says he’s not giving up on finding out who hurt her, and I’m not, either, but if she doesn’t want to talk about it, there’s not much we can do. Finally I shrug and we follow her through the trees, skirting the steepest hills that rise around us like thick, broken hands reaching for the stars.
Our trio stays silent, even though we have much to discuss. Regardless of whether Greer tells us what happened to her, I need her to tell me again where we are and how close we are to Rapid City so that Pax and I can make plans.
As usual, the Sidhe girl is way ahead of me. We stumble out of the underbrush onto a big road, though not as large as the I-80 Pax and I followed west from Des Moines.
“You follow this road down that way, not far, a little less than two miles.” She points, not meeting our eyes. “Then you’ll see a bigger highway, and you’ll want to go south. That’s left. I can’t tell you what to look for, or where the Others’ Underground Core is, but walk that way. You can’t miss it.”
“Why don’t you take us there?”
“Althea, you know I can’t stay. The only reason I can be here now is because of the crisis, but even that is not diverting everyone’s attention.” She unconsciously touches the bruise darkening on her face. “Do you two have a plan? For after you get Deshi?”
“Not really,” Pax grunts, kicking a rock onto the road.
I think for a moment about telling Greer everything, about what we can do to the human minds, that somehow bringing them all back so they can help us fight might be the only way to win. A glance from Pax stops me, as though he knows what I’m thinking and doesn’t agree.
Greer can’t protect her alcove, her secret knowledge, the way we can. Griffin’s face as he studied my wall made of air and ice and fire, filled with a strange longing that didn’t seem to fit him, reminds me of that fact.
“Cadi said only the Elements—and I guess us—can totally block ourselves from the Others’ brain invasion. Is that true? You and your brother can’t?”
Greer winces in response to my question, but she forces a smile. “It’s true. If Nat and I could do what you do, we could run away together. Our lives might only last as long as Earth, but at least they’d be our own.”
I watch her carefully, unsure what to do with this new melancholy Greer. “So, how do the Others not know we’ve been talking, or that Griffin helped us last winter?”
“Because they haven’t asked or gone looking for that particular piece of knowledge. They can only share events as they happen, and then only if they purposely reach out inside the hive.”
“I don’t understand.” She calls me daft and stupid sometimes, but I want to fully grasp this concept, so I chance the question.
“Hmm.” She runs her fingertips over her hair, and the dirt and tangles disappear behind them, leaving clean, shining locks in their wake. “Like, if I wanted to tell the Others what I was doing right now, all I’d have to do is let the thoughts out of my grasp, let them flow out of my mind and into the hive. Otherwise they don’t know, unless they’re purposely listening in.”
It’s a concept that makes a little bit of sense when I catch sight of it from the corner of my eye, but muddles when I try to pin it down. “What about memories?”
“There are too many; the Prime is good at finding them but he still has to know either what he’s looking for or the exact day or time it happened to unearth it quickly.”
Pax intervenes before Greer can go on. “Who cares? How is any of this going to help us get Deshi back? It doesn’t even matter right now what we’ll do after that if we can’t get to him.” He takes a step toward Greer, reaching out as though he’s going to grab her hands. “You must know exactly where they’re keeping him, or why Cadi made it sound as though rescuing him is going to be near impossible. If we just knew, then—”
“Pax, stop.” The helpless expression on Greer’s face, falling further and further into despair as he derides her for something completely outside her control, twists my heart. “Let’s just walk back to the cabin. I’m freezing.”
We traipse back through the trees in silence, the crack of sticks under our feet and the sound of our breath joining the sound of chirping birds and squirrels scrambling among the trees. Small buds emerge at the end of bare branches, promising that warmth and green leaves aren’t far behind. Wolf bounds ahead, coming back to check on us every few minutes. I wish so badly we could truly confide in Greer and Griffin; their abilities and knowledge would be priceless in this fight, but we can’t put them in a position to betray us.
I’m not sure how Griffin would feel about that, if he would really care, but Greer would. I glance sideways at her marred face, part of yesterday’s conversation coming back to me in a flash. We’ve passed back into the graveyard when the suspicion finds its way out of my mouth and slams our little parade to a halt. “Zakej did that to you, didn’t he?”
She said she hadn’t seen Kendaja but that Zakej had been to visit. The disgust twisting her pretty mouth tells me I’ve hit the nail on the head.
“It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that he doesn’t know about Nat, and he doesn’t know that Griffin and I have been helping you.”
There’s pride in her voice at being able to keep those secrets from him, though obviously she won’t be able to keep them forever. If Zakej or the Prime suspected anything amiss, they would be able to find out what they wanted, even if it took them a couple of hours.
Pax seems to realize this the same moment I do. “We need to leave this place as soon as Lucas gets back.”
“We were going to anyway. I’m done hiding from the Others, Pax. It’s time to figure out how to go on the offensive.”
Greer nods along with us, her eyes far away. “I didn’t tell him anything about you guys. Zakej. He didn’t want anything. Not information, anyway.” She hugs herself tight, as though protecting her body from a threat, and the truth roils in my stomach.
“He tried to…touch you?” I can’t make myself say anything else. I don’t even know the words, to describe what takes place after people Partner, how they create new human children, but it’s obvious that it’s something special and personal.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Not for me, Hard Place. I’m not worth it, and I can handle Zakej. Griffin may sound arrogant to you, but he’s right about our people. I have adequate defenses when it comes to such things. He’s not going to violate me. Not that way.”
Before I can swallow enough of my horror and disgust to force words past my lips, Greer collapses to the muddy earth, whacking her head on Calamity Jane’s tombstone on the way down.
CHAPTER 13.
Bright purple blood flows freely from the gash on Greer’s temple.
Pax and I drop beside her, our pants getting soaked through at the knees from the wet grass. Panic makes the world move in slow motion, causes my senses to question what they’re seeing. A minute ago Greer had been talking and walking and showing us the way to Deshi and now she won’t wake up.
“Greer. Greer!”
She doesn’t respond. I sit back on my heels and bite back a sob, and then she starts jerking as though she’s plugged into an electrical socket. Her muscles bulge and tighten, pulling her into a rigid position, then releasing her. The process stops and starts so many times in the next three or four minutes I’m sure there’s no way she’s going to survive it.
“Pax, what’s happening to her? We have to make it stop, she’s going to die!”
“I don’t know, Summer. I don’t know! It could be because she hit her head, maybe brain damage. Or a seizure? One of my Atlanta dad’s patients had one, once.”
I take a deep breath, pulling off my sweatshirt and pressing it to her temple, too frantic to feel the cold. The ever-present heat inside me flows outward, singing through my blood and warming my skin to an unbearable degree. The scents of jasmine and burning leaves collide in the graveyard, heightening my nausea.
“It’s not a head injury, Pax. Something’s happened. With the Others. Zakej must have found her missing and went to her sinum.”
“If he knows she’s gone, they’re going to be able to find her. To find us.” He shoots to his feet, hands tangled in his hair. “We have to go.”
“Go? Pax, we can’t leave her here like this! She’s been trying to help us and you want to walk away and let him find her after everything she told us today? He’ll kill her.” Anger pours through me, and when the scent of smoldering cotton meets my nose, I yank my hands away from the sweatshirt.
Some deep breaths help with my control but not my rage. What Pax is saying has to be considered— we definitely need to do something fast—but that doesn’t mean we have to leave her behind. There has to be another way.
When I voice the sentiment to Pax, he shakes his head. “You said it yourself, she can’t hide from them the way we can. They don’t have the ability to build the barriers. That’s why you haven’t told her about the veils, right?”
He’s right. “Yes, but what if we can build one for her?”
I’m desperate, and the quick shake of Pax’s head tells me he knows it. “You’re talking about messing with her mind. How well has that turned out for any of us in the past? How well did that turn out just this morning?”
“It worked with Leah. And Brittany.”
“Two successes. How many failures? Do you want to kill her?”
My heart cleaves in two, his words flashing the horrible truth in front of my face. “They’re going to kill her, anyway.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Do you think we can get her back to the cabin? No matter what, we need to leave, and fast, but those maps and everything will tell the Others what we’ve learned. It either needs to be burned or we need to take it with us.”
Without a word he bends down and gathers Greer to his chest as though she weighs less than the air he commands, then strides off toward our makeshift home. It takes us less than ten minutes to return, Wolf running nervous circles around us the whole time. Pax settles Greer on the couch, repositioning the sweatshirt against her weeping forehead, then raises his eyebrows in a silent question.
“We need to know what’s happening. I’ll be right back.” Before he can stop me I close my eyes, concentrate on my sinum, and land in the hive mind of the Others.
It’s quieter than normal, but not as silent as the last time I was here. I step out into the hallway, following the sounds of raised voices and wishing there were a way to call Griffin to my side. He would know what to do, and even if he didn’t, I’d love to be able to hand over the care of his sister to someone who has a clue what to do.
Shouting filters from the common room, the torture room, a place I can’t enter without being discovered. I strain to hear, recognizing Zakej’s voice after a moment, interrupted by his sister’s excited giggles. The combination stills me with terror.
“You want to kill him fast, hard, brutal, but oh to do it slow, brother, with kisses soft soft kisses is better, better.”
I can see her in my mind’s eye, twitching and jerking in anticipation of stealing the life from whomever she’s offering her kiss of death.
“Silence, sister. I’ll deal with traitors in my own way.”
“She’s a total crackpot, Zakej, but she’s still smarter than you are.” The familiar, arrogant cadence of Griffin’s voice steals my breath.
Kendaja wants to kill him? From what I’ve seen, she often gets what she wants, and a little pit of panic roots in my stomach. Griffin may drive me to Breaking, but he’s been invaluable. Why are the Sidhe under attack now, after years of being ignored by their captors?
“I would be careful what you say in front of her. I’m really not sure how strong this leash of mine is, you know.”
“Don’t be dense, Zakej. I’m on your side, you know, regarding my sister’s affair. A disgrace, just as you said. Still, if you kill him now, that’s kind of the end of his use, don’t you think?”
So they have Nat and Griffin.
I’m trying follow Griffin’s train of thought, wondering if he means what he’s saying or if he’s trying to save his own backside. Probably a little bit of both. The important thing is, Greer’s affair with Nat is no longer a secret. Knowing this dumps guilt over my head like bucket of slimy water, and I hope that’s the only thing that’s no longer hidden.
“As much as it pains me to say this, you have a point. I have you and Natej in the Core. Your sister is missing but not for long. We’re going to collect her—the Wardens tell me she’s less than an hour away.” Zakej’s sentence is punctuated by the unmistakable sound of a fist meeting flesh, then a weakened groan. It doesn’t sound like Griffin, and I can’t imagine what Nat must look like by now without aching all over.
A biting cold surrounds my wrists, squeezes tight. I smell pine the instant before I jerk backward, slamming into the tunnel wall and then waking up in the cabin.
I’m ready to snap at Pax for pulling me out of the hive before I was ready, but instead Lucas’s face, pinched with exhaustion and worry, greets me.
I smash into him, relishing the moment when his strong, freezing arms fold me tight against his chest. Tears fill my eyes and I choke on a sob, shaking my head in embarrassment when he pulls away to look into my eyes. “I’m okay. I’m glad you’re back, that’s all. I didn’t think …never mind, it doesn’t matter what I thought. You’re here.”
He leans forward, pressing his cheek against mine for a brief second. “Where you are, I am,” he whispers into my ear.
The flutter of his chilly lips against my skin sends delightful shivers down my neck, and this time when I pull away, reluctance pounds through me. Could he be telling the truth about wanting to be where I am? If it’s true, maybe we mean more than his misplaced allegiance to the Others.
The desire to throw myself back into his arms, to ask the question with my lips, threatens to overtake good sense. Lucas looks back at me hungrily, but then Pax moves into the corner of my vision and we both take a step back.
Whether or not Lucas is here to stay, and feelings aside, Greer’s warning remains. Shutting out Pax isn’t an option, and we’ve got bigger problems.
“What did you see?” Pax asks the question, irritation and worry fighting for prominence in his voice.
His eyes leave mine for a split second, flashing to Lucas and back with a glint of apology. Pax moves from beside the couch, where he’s bandaged poor Greer’s head, and walks to my side, pulling me away from Lucas. Though my skin immediately warms up from the distance, I’m not ready to be apart from Lucas yet, and reach out, snagging his hand.
“Winter came barging in the cabin all moody, then had a conniption fit when you didn’t react. When I told him you’d gone to get information, he went in after you.”
I let go of Lucas and move to Greer’s side, pressing a hand against her cheek. “She seems to have settled down, at least.”
“She hasn’t had one of those muscle spasms since we’ve been back in the cabin.”
“Zakej found out about her relationship with Natej. I don’t know how, but he’s got Nat and Griffin captive. He’s planning on killing at least his Warden, and Greer, too. They’re on their way here; they located her through her sinum. We’ve got less than an hour to figure out what to do and get out.”
“Figure out what to do? You mean, other than scram?” Pax jerks his thumb towar
d two bulging backpacks by the door. “I packed a few things. We know where we’re going. We leave Greer and go.”
“I can’t do that, Pax. She’s my friend. Even if she weren’t, no one deserves to die the way they’re going to kill her. They’ll break her apart, and after what she told us earlier about what Zakej was…after in the prison, I can’t. We can’t leave her to that.”
“What are you talking about?” Lucas asks in a voice as dark as the night sky, his eyes stormy.
“Zakej gave Greer that bruise on her cheek. After he tried something inappropriate.” I realize, from the protective set of his body, what Lucas would do to anyone who tried to hurt me, and then I know what happened. “I bet Nat found out what happened this morning and went after Zakej.”
“At least someone did. I would have done it myself the next time I saw his ugly face,” Pax spits from behind me.
Lucas says nothing, but the anger radiating off him in brisk pine-scented waves tells me he agrees. I love them both so much in that moment, for being the type of boys who know unquestioningly when something is wrong and would try to prevent it even when it affects a half-Other girl they barely know.
Tears fill my eyes, but I blink them away and swallow hard. We’re running out of time, and if we take Greer with us they’ll only follow us. “They’re going to make her watch, once they get her back. While they kill Nat.”
“Do they know she’s with us?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Pax grunts in response, crossing his arms and looking to Lucas for support. “C’mon, man. I like the girl, I do, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. If there were a way to save her, I would do it in a second. But she’s a flashing beacon leading the Others right to us.”
Lucas nods at Pax and then frowns in my direction, tugging hard on his left ear. “I know you don’t want to hear this, Althea, but we might have to put Greer in the category of people we can’t help until we help ourselves.”