I drew Grief anyway. “Jack, stay. And don’t scare the robokitty. Astral, you stay too. We may need you later. With your head attached.”
“Okey dokey, pokey!” she said. Vayl raised his eyebrows at me as I shrugged. Personality change was one thing, but this cheerful bullshit was wearing thin quick. Deciding it would be okay if Jack gave Astral another nasty surprise, I approached the Jeep’s driver side, keeping step with Vayl, who’d taken the opposite.
“Ready?” he asked softly.
I reached forward. Wrapped my hand around the back door handle. Raised my gun and nodded once.
“Now.”
We jerked the doors open, Vayl’s sweep of frigid powers preceding my shout of, “Don’t move!” I jumped back as a body flopped out the door, torso first, its hips and legs remaining inside. It was dade’s mistress. Or what was left of her. “Shit!”
I moved back into position, training Grief on every possible point of attack. All I saw was a second body, slumped over the feet of the first, still bleeding onto Ruvin’s upholstery. They were both full of bullet wounds and missing their heads, so we couldn’t tell who the second body belonged to until Vayl slipped off its wedding ring. Lyssa & Max forever had been engraved on the inside.
“I believe that is the marketing executive,” he said.
“Which means Ruvin and the software engineers are missing.”
We did a quick perimeter check. No more bodies. No sign of a struggle.
“Why?” I murmured. “You just change the tire and keep moving. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Do you suppose Ruvin told them about us?”
“Possibly.” It didn’t feel right though. “Maybe… I don’t know, maybe Brude had something to do with this. He’s got resources other than me. And the shaman might be able to reach into the beyond. Maybe they connected somehow. Maybe he let the information slip before I got a handle on him.”
Vayl sent me a piercing look. “Are you saying you have control now?”
I hesitated. Aw, what the hell. I hadn’t heard a peep from him, and my whole crew of mental misfits had returned. “Yeah. As much as I can with him stuck in my brain. I know my thoughts are my own. He can’t move me. And he can’t snoop into my conversations anymore.”
Vayl stepped toward me. For a second I thought he looked taller. Then I realized the relief had been so immense that I’d actually seen it release him. He grasped my shoulders, stared deep into my eyes, like he needed more assurance.
“Yes,” he murmured. “Finally. I knew you could do it.”
“We did it. Together.”
Realization widened his eyes. “Ahh. I only wish…” He rubbed his thumb across my bottom lip, leaving a trail of tingles that multiplied so rapidly I had to grab his elbows to hold myself steady. He went on. “But we have just begun this night’s work.”
Dammit! We need another vacation! To Mars!
“True,” I said, sighing. Vayl’s phone rang again and we stared at it with dread. But this time the source was expected. Vayl spoke into it for a total of ten seconds and then hung up.
“That was just Bergman confirming what we already suspected. The software engineers, Johnson and Tykes, are both carrying gnome larvae for the Ufranites.”
“Okay. So our targets are clear.”
“And now I can clarify our other plans as well. You see, the flat tire idea was never real. We only developed it because we were sure Brude would find a way to leak it.” Vayl’s voice had loosened in his relief, become fuller as if every revelation released a strangler from his throat.
“Oh. So. Where are they?”
“They are on foot, just as we wished it.” He paused. Grimaced so deeply the sides of his lips actually turned down. “We should have been here sooner to chase them into the ambush we had set up, but the news about Pete…” He paused. We both drew a breath before he went on. “Ruvin’s chatter leads us to believe we should still be able to turn events to our advantage.”
“What ambush are you talking about? And how are you hearing Ruvin but I’m not?”
Vayl chose to answer the second question. “Ruvin is carrying a bug, so we can listen in on his conversation.”
“On another frequency,” I said bitterly.
Vayl said, “Tap your earpiece three times.”
I followed his instructions, realizing I was aping the move Cole had made when we’d arrived back at the house after the failed kangaroo petting mission, when he’d been so eager to talk to Cassandra. Suddenly I could hear Ruvin, panting, saying, “Are you sure I can’t talk you out of this? Aw!” And the sound of his feet scrabbling to keep himself upright after an obvious shove.
Vayl said, “You must understand, our misdirections have only been because of Brude. Because we could not work out how to fool him without excluding you as well. And…”
“What?”
“You are not going to like this.”
“So say it fast.”
“Come, let us walk while we talk.” We started up the hill to the west of the car. In a low voice so as not to spook those we pursued Vayl said, “We have proof that the Ufranites are not acting alone. They are, in fact, being funded by a group who wants to keep the moon free from human interference. At first it bewildered us how such vastly different others could meet. But Cassandra’s investigations have yielded a trove of information.”
“I like that,” said Cassandra. “It makes me sound like the kind of pirate who would never hurt anyone.”
I stuck my finger in my ear. “Cassandra! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“But you didn’t just hunker down like I told you to.”
“How could I? When you handed me the drawing from the dead guard, I Saw that some of the gnomes were disgusted with the shaman and I knew that could be our route to discrediting him. After Cole translated ‘ylmi’ to mean ‘tainted’ I realized the gnomes with the crowns were actually Ufranites with stars on their heads. Pure gnomish. And the sign of the Resistance is the star tattoo, just like the one we saw on the guard. So I began searching for others like him. I had so many visions I began to feel like I was walking in a dream. But I found them. They’re only a handful, but they recently discovered the truth. That the shaman is a female, born without a tail or a blue nose.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“Not yet. They’re taking me to her quarters now. As soon as I touch her belongings, I’ll know.”
“What about this partnership?”
“That was what I’d sensed earlier with Ethan Mreck’s death. Werewolves. The Ufranites are working with the Valencian Weres, who will come out of this deal wielding vast powers among all moon-changers if they can prevent humans from further exploring, or worse, settling on their most sacred site.”
“I don’t get where Brude fits in though. Or how the Ufranites and the Weres partnered up to start with.”
“I think he might be the middleman. The guards say the shaman took a pilgrimage that catalyzed her rise to power, because that’s where she heard the voice of Ufran. Guess where she went?”
“Dunno.”
“Scotland. Just south of Inverness, to be exact.”
“No way.”
I could almost hear Cassandra’s head bobbing. “According to the shaman, Ufran wears his hair in long black braids. And his chest is covered with tattoos.”
“Oh. Shit.”
* * *
Vayl and I didn’t have time to hash everything out. But he’d probably already reached the conclusions I was rapidly catching up to. If Brude had cooked up this deal years ago, then his infiltration of my psyche had a lot more to do with my current mission than my future afterlife. The bastard must’ve been shaping this scheme for ages. He’d just been waiting for the perfect patsy to ride to the finish line. And boy was I ever ideal. I wanted to put my hands to my head and shake it till his teeth rattled.
No! yelled Teen Me. What if that breaks the locks?
Fine, I won’t. But i
f he ever makes it to solid again, I’m carving another tattoo on that jerkoff. And it’s going hilt deep.
Ruvin’s voice interrupted my internal bitchfest. “Here’s the trail I told you about.” He was panting. Fearful. On the edge of tears. He must’ve thought our no-show meant we’d deserted him.
He said, “Watch your step; it’s curvy. But it’ll lead us to that rock shelter I told you about. The Ufranites and the aborigines both worship there.” Information he wanted us to have, not the Odeam team. But they didn’t know that.
The voice I’d come to know as “Johnson” said, “That’s common knowledge, dumbass, otherwise we wouldn’t be following you.”
A grunt from Ruvin. I wished they wouldn’t keep pushing him. It was already getting tough to control my temper. And the last thing this country needed was another bushfire.
Vayl and I followed their trail, a series of signposts ranging from crushed grass to white scars where the bark had been brushed off the remains of fire-blackened pines.
“Explain this,” I whispered, mostly to calm myself down. “How is it better for them to walk than to drive on a spare? And you still haven’t answered my ambush question. Is Cole up there? Or have you called in even more reinforcements?” The thought chilled me. My people I could trust not to blab about my current condition. Strangers—never.
“No, we have not requested extra help. Yes, Cole is in position higher up the hill. Ruvin and the Odeam team are walking because the Jeep’s spare is back at the rental house.”
“Okay. But why not stay on the road?”
“Ruvin produced a map that he told them the original carrier had given him in case of emergency. It proves that the Ufranites have a tunnel leading directly from the rock shelter to the Space Complex, so they will still be able to get inside and hatch the larvae without interference. By the way, remind me to praise Bergman for his quick work in drawing that up. It looks remarkably authentic.”
As I made the ascent, moving carefully past rocks that would gleefully snap an ankle if I stepped wrong, I said, “This should be a pretty quick hit, then. As long as we haven’t been followed.”
Which was when I heard it. A scrabbling among the rocks. Not claws, like you might expect to hear from a foraging wombat or opossum. No, that was definitely the click of a heel.
“Call Astral,” whispered Vayl.
“Why? She’s stuck in the Wheezer.”
“No, she is not.”
He must’ve left its door cracked. Which means Jack’s loose too. Shit! Okay, worry later. I whispered, “Here, kitty. Make it fast, and give me video on your way to my location.”
Astral’s view appeared in front of me. She’d leaped out of the car and come racing up the hill. I couldn’t tell where Jack’s curious nose had taken him, but I did see her pass a series of armed Ufranites. They were moving slowly, creeping along so the night noises, mostly crickets and the occasional hooting owl, covered their advance.
“I count ten gnomes at our backs,” I whispered. I drew Grief as I looked ahead. Could they be trying to herd us into another crowd waiting up the tree-dotted hill? Probably not if Cole was already there. Which meant they just wanted us to move too far from the road to consider escaping by car.
Vayl paused, checking the trail, considering our options. He tapped his ear. “Are you both in position?” he asked.
When Vayl nodded at a conversation I couldn’t hear, I said, “You didn’t tell me about a second sniper up here. Which means you’re still hiding stuff from me. And while I understand why, I’m about to risk my life without knowing the whole picture. Which is pissing me off.”
“Will you ever fully trust me?”
“I have no idea. I’m trying, but people close to me have been jerking me around my whole life. It’s hard to put your next breath in another person’s hands after that.”
“But I am not another person,” he said. “I am your sverhamin.”
The first of the gnomes had almost reached Grief’s range. Which meant I’d be a clear target for his weapon as well. I sighed. “What do you want me to do?”
“Kiss me.”
My supervisor had just been killed. My dog was missing. A radical fringe group of gnomes had partnered with a bunch of Weres to destroy one of my country’s most precious resources. And suddenly that was all I wanted to do. I rose on tiptoe, felt him lean down and wrap his arms around me. Our lips met, a mix of despair and promise in their tender touch. What an odd time to feel home.
Vayl moved his caress down to my neck. “You must survive this,” he murmured against my throat. “Promise me you will live on.” Like I was crushed inside, where even surgeons couldn’t reach.
“I promise,” I said. Because we both needed me to, though I didn’t understand the source of his request until he kissed me again, and I felt his fangs pierce my bottom lip.
Cold shot through me, an icicle rocket threatening to rip off the top of my head. I screamed into his mouth as frost rimmed my teeth and tongue. The skin on my face and hands tightened painfully. My entire body felt like it had been buried in a snow bank. I jerked away, too cold even to shiver. I stared down at my arms. They were covered in ice.
“What have you done to me?” I demanded. It took a while to get the words out. My mouth didn’t want to work anymore.
He stared intently, his expression an odd mixture of triumph and dread. “I have lent you this, my greatest power, because I could not warn you that Cassandra had Seen this attack, embroiled as it had been in all her other visions of the shaman, the Weres, and Brude. If you had donned a bulletproof vest for this leg of our mission, we assumed Brude would have soon become suspicious and warned the shaman. So I have armored you.” He stopped, swallowed. “Are you all right?”
I tried to shake my head. But it didn’t want to turn. So cold, right to my core, as if he’d pumped liquid nitrogen directly into my bloodstream. I could feel everything falling, failing. I wanted to shriek, but my mouth had frozen shut.
“Jasmine?” Cassandra could’ve been a mile beneath my feet, crouching behind an Ufranite sun generator, but her voice sounded close and urgent as she said, “Listen to me. Vayl only attempted this because of my vision. You can survive, but you must summon up that rage, the one that burns so hot in you that it catches your surroundings on fire when you release it.”
I can’t! It’ll ash part of my soul!
Though it wasn’t one of her skills, it seemed like she could read my mind when she added, “The ice will keep it contained, Jaz. I Saw this. Call out your fury. Let it warm you.”
I reached for the anger that always seemed to simmer right beneath my civilized surface. And found it, churning like liquid iron around a massive anvil engraved with the names of everyone I’d ever lost. The newest, pete, shone like silver next to the others, which had aged to dull pewter.
Suddenly all the voices in my head, the ones who’d stayed and those that had just returned, screamed, Pete’s dead! Matt’s dead! Jessie’s dead! They’re never coming back, and I’m possessed, and my mother’s hell-self tried to kill me less than two weeks ago and everybody I know has been Lying To Me! FUUUUUUCK!
I opened my eyes, not even realizing I’d closed them until I saw Vayl’s face hovering over mine, eyes wide, jaw tight with suppressed panic. I blinked. Nodded. I’m okay. The ice still encased me, but now it felt less like a freezer pop body bag and more like mega-stiff coveralls.
“They are coming,” he said. “We must lead them up this hill to the path.”
“Why?”
“Cole and Kyphas are waiting among the trees, perhaps fifty yards up.”
“Kyphas? So that whole sickbed thing…”
Vayl’s lips tightened. “It was largely an act to mislead Brude. I made a separate deal with her, when you—and he—could not hear. She has agreed to fight with us.”
“Because it’s in her best interests to!”
“She has also vowed to do no violence to any within our Trust.”
�
�Trust. That word bites on so many levels,” I muttered as we struggled up the slope, both of us now armored in such thick coatings of ice that when the first shots hit us we barely noticed them. In fact, some of them actually sounded pleasant, like Jack barking, that’s how wishful my thinking had become.
“Faster,” Vayl urged.
I grunted to let him know I was moving as quick as my creaking outer skin would allow. But when I felt the impact of a gnome slug slam into my back, I paused. Did a slow-motion spin. Raised Grief and commanded my finger to pull the trigger. The extra three seconds it took helped my aim. The guard crumpled, a hole in the socket where his eye had once been.
I glanced at my gun and felt glad I’d been holding it when Vayl had covered me. Because its grip had frozen to my palm, and if I hadn’t had my finger inside the trigger guard when the icing had gone down, I’d be cruising the woods for a club right now.
I backed up, took out another pursuer who was so sure of his future success that he’d stepped out from behind a grass tree to shoot. His buddy, sitting in the lower branches of the tree next door, dropped to the ground to check on him. I took him out, as well as another guard who was moving toward us from the same small hide.
“Come, Jasmine, run!”
Turning back, I forced my legs into a slow lope, my inner fire warming my muscles as the adrenaline boosts from all the shards flying off my body boosted me to even greater speed. Vayl led me straight uphill to a spot where a gravel path crossed ours. We turned sharply right to follow it. The trail would’ve been a cinch in any other conditions. Rising gently upward toward the skirts of Mount Eliza, its width allowed us to jog shoulder to shoulder. In places planked bridges gave us easy access to the opposite sides of shallow gullies. To our right, the trees grew closer together, giving us better cover than we’d had since beginning the chase. To our left large rocks had begun to take the place of trees, jutting from the side of the hill like giant, fleshy mushrooms.
“Do you see the bend in the path ahead of us?” Vayl asked.
“Yeah.”
“That is our goal.”
I’d turned to shoot again when I heard the sound of gunfire coming from behind us. We’d passed Cole. I’d seen the flash from his muzzle. Heard the death-scream of a pursuer. Swift movement from Astral’s feed caught my eye. Kyphas, flinging her boomerang, laughed with delight as she watched it crush the throat of a careless Ufranite before it flipped back into her hand.
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