Bonds That Break (The Havoc Chronicles Book 3) (16 page)

And I couldn't tell anyone about it.

"Madison," he said. "I've been thinking a lot since Thuanar almost killed me."

Dang it. Decision time.

It couldn't be any more obvious where this was going. Did I stop him now and let him know I wasn't interested, or did I let him get everything off his chest? The first option was a bit more harsh, but it saved him potential long-term embarrassment since I would stop him before he could actually
say
any words he would regret. Letting him get everything off his chest would be awkward for both of us, but I could do my best to let him down easy.

"You know what life's like as a Berserker. The danger. The travel. The loneliness." He paused and looked at me meaningfully.

Ok, it was time to stop this. It was the only humane thing to do.

"Listen, Josiah, I hear what you are saying. It's a harsh and lonely life."

"Exactly!" he said, a bit too eagerly.

"But..." I let the word hang in the air for a moment, giving him the opportunity to get out of this gracefully.

"I know," he said, taking the out. "But that's just the reality of our lives." He looked away and I saw the red flush in his cheeks.

Before either of us could say anymore, Amy pulled into the driveway. She was still my Amy, but she just seemed to be growing up and maturing faster than me. She looked older than when I had last seen her. More confident and poised. The summer had been good to her.

She wore a short skirt, cute sandals with just the right amount of heel on them and a bright blue blouse that brought out the color in her eyes – and showed off her favorite assets.

I saw her eyeing Josiah while she walked towards us. She deliberately ignored him and gave me a big hug.

"Madison!" she said. "It's so good to have you back!" She let go and turned to face Josiah. "And who is your new friend? I don't believe we've met." She flashed him a flirtatious smile.

Before I could make introductions, Josiah bowed deeply and took off his hat, revealing his dark curly hair. "Josiah," he said. "Josiah Smith. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Amy's flashed me a mischievous look while Josiah's head was lowered in the bow. She mouthed the word "wow". I guess I could understand her reaction. He was sort of cute if you liked modern-day cowboys. What Amy didn't realize is that this wasn't just a cultural thing. Josiah was the real thing – a genuine cowboy from the old days.

She held out a hand and he shook it. "My name's Amy," she said. "Amy Patterson."

"Amy's my best friend," I said.

"Madison and I go way back," Amy said. "How do you two know each other?"

I paused for a moment. I hadn't expected this and didn't have a decent cover story in place.

"He's my, uh... cousin," I finished lamely.

Josiah smirked at my lame cover story, but went along with it. "That's right. We don't get to see each other very often, but we managed to have some family time this summer."

"That's great," said Amy. "Were you with them on their eight billion month world tour?" She was clearly still a bit bitter about not seeing me.

Josiah gave me a meaningful look. "For part of it," he said and gave me a wink. "Anyway, I had just stopped by for a moment. I need to head out."

He once again took off his hat, gave us a small bow, and took off in his car.

Amy watched him go, with that predatory look she always got when she saw a cute guy. Once he was out of sight she put a hand over her heart.

"I swear, Madison you know the cutest boys!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house. "It's like some sort of superpower."

Something like that.

***

Amy and I talked for hours. Having Josiah there to break the ice had been a lucky thing. She focused on boys and how cute he was rather than giving me the queen mother of all guilt trips that I had been expecting.

I told her about the places we visited and the sites we had seen. I left out the monsters I fought, the Havoc I bound, and limbs I had reattached. Listening to myself talk, it certainly sounded like I had a great trip. Too bad I couldn't have experienced the world the way I described it to Amy. My actual experience was colored by the pressure of finding a Havoc and constantly having my life in jeopardy.

After getting out the bare minimum to appease her, I steered the conversation back to Amy and asked about what she did and how things were going with her.

"Josh and I broke up," she said. "Not that we were officially an item. We went out a few times while you were gone, but after that earthquake at Prom things were just never the same. I don't know, he seemed somehow shook up about it. Weird, huh?"

Actually it wasn't weird at all. Josh had stayed behind with Ginger while I had fought Osadyn and bound him. He knew it wasn't an earthquake, and I was sure he was probably suffering from PTSD or something. I couldn't really blame him. Being up close and personal with a Havoc was not pleasant for a Berserker. I could only imagine how terrifying it must have been for him to see the monster and realize he was completely powerless to stop it.

But I couldn't tell Amy that. Instead I managed a lame, "Yeah, that is weird."

Eventually the topic turned back to me, and I told Amy about my dad. Well, the made up version where he got sick and was in a coma.

Amy gave me a huge hug, and I started crying. It felt good to have her support again. I had really missed her over the past few months. Yes, I had Rhys and the other Berserkers, but I had only known them for a short period of time. Amy had been with me for most of my life. There was a power that came with that kind of lasting relationship that there was no shortcut to building.

After that, I told her I needed to get back to the hospital to visit my dad.

"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked.

I considered it for a minute, but ultimately decided it would be better not to let her get so close to the situation. Who knew if the people who had tried to kill me were going to come back to finish the job?

"I'll be ok," I told her. "My mom is there, and so is Rhys."

Amy gave me a knowing smile. "Rhys is there? Say no more."

***

When I got back to the hospital, I could tell something had changed.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Rhys and Shing looked at each other for a moment and then turned back to me. They both looked very somber. Well, that wasn't too much of a change for Shing – he very serious by nature – but seeing that look on Rhys' face scared me. 

"The council wants us to report back to them on what happened with Thuanar," Rhys said. "In person."

"Fly back to Hawaii?" I asked. "Now? With my dad in the hospital? With Thuanar and Margil both free?"

Rhys slowly nodded. "That's what they want," he said.

I took a deep breath. This was really too much. There was no way I was going to leave my dad for that long just so I could make a report to the council.

"Everyone else can go," I said, "but I'm not. I'm not leaving my Dad for a report. Josiah, Miguel, and Onaona can tell them what happened. They don't need all of us."

Rhys took a step toward me and held out his arms. I closed the distance in an instant. I threw my arms around Rhys and squeezed him as tightly as I could – not 'zerking, of course, I didn't want to pop him. He wrapped his arms around me and held me for several minutes, neither of us saying anything. I buried my face in his shoulder and let his comforting scent soothe me.

"You're right," Rhys finally said, breaking the silence. "They can go back and make the report for us. The council won't like it, and they will continue to insist that we come back until we comply, but for now that seems like the best solution." He hesitated for a moment, as if deciding what to say next. "But I do think you and I need to go somewhere."

I let go of my squeeze and pulled back slightly so I could see Rhys. "Like where?"

"Antarctica."

I started to laugh, and quickly realized I was the only one laughing. "Wait, you're serious?"

"I am."

"But why? It's cold, and uninhabited, and, well, cold."

"It's also home to the one creature whose venom may be able to counter the toxin's effects on your father."

For the first time since we had gotten back to Washington I felt a small surge of hope.

"May be able to?" I asked.

"May," said Rhys. "Because your dad was a Berserker and no longer is, the toxin is acting strangely. If he were simply human, he should be long dead by now, and if he were a Berserker, he should be trashing about with strange hallucinations. This half-dead coma isn't something we've seen before. I can't promise that this will work. We may not even be able to find the creature."

"But it's a chance," I said.

"A small chance," said Rhys. "But yes, it is a chance."

"But what about dad? We can't just leave him alone. I know there really isn't anything we can do for him, but I just hate the idea of him being alone. I know my mom will stay here, but with the Haze on her that means there is no one who actually knows what’s wrong with him."

Shing stood up from where he had been sitting by my dad. "I will stay with him," he said. "I owe your father my life several times over. I will remain with him while you and Rhys go seek out a potential cure."

I fought back tears as I gave Shing a big hug. I knew how he felt about this kind of overt expression of emotion, but we both knew the hug was more for me than for him.

He hugged me back and for the first time it didn't feel awkward.

"Ok, then," I said. "I guess we're going to Antarctica."

Chapter 10

Cold and Comfortless

It took two days, a lot of phone calls, and an obscene amount of money to get the trip organized. The personal concierge that came with my Black Card was very helpful in getting the transportation arranged. But since we were going on such short notice, we had to pay quite a few bribes to get the proper permissions for travel and landing. I had no idea it would be that complicated to go down there.

Also, since it was summer up here, that meant we were going to be traveling down there in the middle of their winter. The days would be short and the weather would be, well, horrifically cold. I wasn't very comforted when I did my research and found out that the temperatures were currently around -100 Fahrenheit in the Antarctic interior. A few more degrees and it would be colder than dry ice.

For a normal person, going to Antarctica at this time of year would practically be suicide, but Rhys assured me that our Berserker powers gave us a huge advantage. While the cold might feel uncomfortable, we wouldn't lose all our body heat and die like normal people would. We also didn't have to worry about sunburn or ice blindness from reflected sunlight. Not because of our Berserker powers, but because during the winter the amount of daylight was minimal, and would decrease the closer we got to the South Pole.

Josiah, Miguel, and Onaona had taken a few days to recuperate at the Berserker house while they waited to see what happened with my dad. But once the council summoned us, they left immediately for Hawaii to report back.

Break over.

Rhys was right and the council was not pleased that he, Shing, and I refused their summons. Rhys was the one who talked with them, and I could tell from listening to his side of the conversation that our refusal to come did not go over very well. That fact that my dad was unconscious and this was our best chance of helping him didn’t seem to matter. They were clearly ready to sacrifice him for what they viewed as the greater good.

Dad showed no signs of improvement before we left. But to be fair he didn't show any signs of getting worse either – unless you count nothing changing over a longer period of time as getting worse. Which, to be honest, I kind of did.

Shing stayed glued to Dad's side, only leaving for short breaks to eat and bathe. He even had a bed set up in the room so he could sleep there. Knowing that Shing would be there to watch out for him gave me a tiny bit of comfort in leaving. I knew that without this venom there wasn't much of anything Shing could do, but his calm and steady presence gave me some peace.

So with much trepidation and unease, we hopped on a flight down to Tiera Del Fuego. From there we would catch a chartered flight that would take us directly to Antarctica. That was the best case scenario. Given the fact that it was winter down there and the weather had been particularly bad recently, there was a good chance that flying there wouldn't be possible and we would have to take a boat. That would mean traveling over hundreds of miles of really rough water over a period of days rather than hours.

I really hoped the weather wasn't bad.

On the flight I had another dream.

I saw a giant tree – bigger than anything I had ever seen before. It dwarfed even the giant redwoods I had once seen on a trip down through California. The trunk was as wide around as a dozen houses and it extended so high up in the air that I couldn't see the top because it penetrated the clouds.

The branches were filled with all sorts of life – animals, birds, and insects. They squawked, growled, and buzzed, making a terrible racket.

My attention was drawn to two black birds I was pretty sure were the same ones I had seen sitting on the one-eyed man's shoulders in a previous dream. They made no motion or sound. They simply sat there, observing me. They seemed to have a majesty and dignity about them that set them apart from the other animals. They would not make noise simply to make noise, and when they spoke, you would have no choice but to listen.

At the base of the tree was a large pool full of sparkling water. Gigantic white swans the size of elephants glided across the surface, and I had the feeling they were guardians, protecting it from the other creatures in the tree.

From around the side of the tree came a huge serpent. At least that was the closest thing I could think of to describe it. It was long and sinuous, with shiny scales and an over-large head. Its body was so long I couldn’t see the end of it and it used its powerful muscles to cling tight to the trunk of the tree and slide along it. As it slithered past I noticed that despite my initial impression, it was no serpent, but what I could only describe as... a dragon. While it certainly looked like a snake, it had several sets of small legs spaced along the length of its body.