Lost Energy (28 page)

"Oh." I slung the offered
bag across my shoulder. "Thank you."

The soldier smiled, handing off
weapons to both Winston and Farren before everyone else tending to them went to
dole out the only resources Empyrean had left. Winston checked his weapon
before holstering it in his belt. He gave a half-salute to us before heading
over to everyone else.

Farren slid his gun in the same
place after giving it a little twirl around his finger.

Rolling my eyes, I turned in a
circle and gave a mock bow. "Well?"

"Eh." He waved a hand
toward my torso. "Too skinny."

"How 'bout you bite me, 'kay?"

He winked. "Wouldn't want to
make Tarek jealous. You might like the way I bite better."

"Ugh, gross, Ginger."

Laughing, he yanked me to his side.
"Agreed. Listen," he veered off to a corner and lowered his voice to
a whisper, "Cara's place isn't far. Wilma agreed to take a route that
passes by. We'll have maybe a minute tops to check if…if she…"

I nodded when he didn't finish. "Okay."

Farren grabbed my gun and pointed
to a small button by the trigger. "Turn off the safety and shoot." He
yanked out a clip carrying at least a hundred tiny glowing orbs then locked it
back in. "And pull out and refill with the ones in your bag when empty."

"Great. Thanks. But that still
doesn't help with my aim."

He grinned. "Shoot real close."

I snatched my gun. "Best
instructor ever."

"One more thing," he
tilted my chin, his face turning serious. "Those guns with the mercury
bullets, they're what we in the authority affectionately call soul-stealers. If
a bullet lodges in your body, you die. Forever. No take-backs or redoes,
understand?"

"Wilma told me." I
panicked. "Jesus, so if you'd have–"

"My energy would be powering a
fucking toaster or something on Exemplar right now."

My arms whipped around his waist
and squeezed like the contact could erase the memory. "Avoid soul-stealers.
Check."

CARA

F
ear used to be something I chased. Not
fear, really, but how I reacted to it. Proof, when fight or flight kicked in, I
still felt like having a go at the whole life thing. When a door off the military
room opened to an underground tunnel leading into the city, I was never more
positive that I craved life. Not that I had any doubts lately.

Winston and his group took off in
the opposite direction, toward the fields. He said nothing to me before leaving–just
gave that cocky nod and led his team. Zander hugged me, kissed my cheek, and
made me promise not to be stupid.

Always hated making promises I had
no intention of keeping, but whatever.

My group remained quiet,
maneuvering around puddles of stagnant water and trying not to gag when it
became obvious the tunnels were underground sewage passageways. Avery held a
perfumed rag to her nose, which pissed me off. After I stepped in a brown
puddle that smelled like ass, I put that blame directly on her shoulders, too.

"Why the scowl, kid?"
Farren held my elbow, leading me away from the others. "Someone shit in
your Cheerios? Or on your boots?" He pointed to my soaked hikers. It didn't
make matters better when the moisture seeped through the thin material, soaking
my socks.

"I'm fine. Thinking about
people who annoy me is all." I said it loud enough for everyone to hear
and emphasized with a thumb shot at exactly whom I found irritating so no one
misunderstood.

Wilma snorted and said something
about subtlety, while Nicolette consoled Avery, who even managed to weep annoyingly.
When I glanced over, Nicolette made sure to narrow her eyes and mouth,
Watch
it
.

Whatever.

I turned around, flying the bird
behind my back.
Watch this.

Farren shook his head, but smiled
as we evaded the deeper slushy brown puddles. "Lighten up."

I kicked a little muck on his
boots. "Nope."

He jumped, unsuccessfully dodging
the brown sludge. "Ah! You'll pay for that one." He stomped his foot,
the stubborn filth refusing to let go. "When you least suspect it. I'm
like a shit ninja. You'll wake up one morning with squid crap all over your
face."

I snorted, kicking a little more
his way. "Sure, if I live past tonight."

His smile disappeared as he came to
a dead stop and clamped his meaty palms on my shoulders. "Stop being so
goddamned doomsday, Lena."

"I'm just saying–"

"You're not going to die. I
won't let you."

I glanced back at Wilma because
Farren's intense eyes made me squirm. She had her arms crossed with a smirk on
her face. "You'd best listen to him."

What?

I turned to face Farren's angry
glare again. "Okay, fine. I won't say it again. Maybe
you
should
lighten up."

His eyes closed, lids squeezed shut
before they slowly opened, all the serious gone. One big hand drifted to my
elbow, while the other dropped to his side as we continued down the tunnel.
Nothing was said for a few seconds, the plop and drip of smelly condensation leaking
from the walls to the ground keeping us company.

He switched his grip from my elbow
to clasp my hand. "I'll never lighten up. Not when it involves your life."

The rest of the tunnel trip remained
quiet.

Wilma eventually took the lead,
guiding the way with a small, oval device that gave off enough green light to blind
somebody. We could've done without it thanks to our glowing suits. But when the
orb switched to red, and she stopped to look up, the thing turned out to be a high-tech
GPS.

"This is where we get off,"
Wilma said.

Above our heads, the ceiling
revealed a manhole cover the width of maybe Farren's shoulders. Not too big,
but enough for us to squeeze through. Black slime oozed from it, either hiding
a latch or maybe eating it. From the smell polluting the tunnel, the
plausibility of the crap coating the cover being alive leaned toward the high
end on the more-than-likely scale.

Wilma tossed Farren the device and
climbed the equally slimy iron brackets leading up to fresher air with as much
stealth as a Navy Seal. Still amazed me how graceful she moved considering
her…um…voluptuousness.

Any concerns about how the cover
would let us free flew out the stinky crap tunnel. When she made it to the top,
Wilma flicked a few fingers, and the thing shifted to the side a few inches.
She listened with her eyes closed a few minutes before waving at Farren. She
then used her skills to move the cover the rest of the way. Before Farren began
to climb, Wilma had already squeezed through the opening, disappearing from
sight.

He latched onto the brackets, the
squishy sound of skin touching slime as cringe inducing as grinding teeth. He
took a few steps upward and glanced down to Nicolette. "You next. We'll
make sure it's clear before these two come up."

"Got it." She guided Avery
to stand next to me.

We watched them disappear, the
awkward tension as thick as the shit smell that would forever stain my nose
hairs.

"I am so sorry, Lena." Avery's
soft voice snaked through the filth.

Breathing deep through my nose–and
gagging because, you know, shit–I shook my head, still focused on the opening,
and hoped for cleaner air. "Don't worry about it."

"Well, I do. When I came to
you…" She paused. "I should have never…" She didn't finish.

"Should have never what?"
My hand moved to push the hair from my face when I glanced down at her, but
stopped right before my dirty fingers had a chance to give me an outhouse
makeover.

She wrung her hands, tears coating
her eyelashes. "Told you Cassondra sought revenge."

"So I could be blindsided when
she came to kill me? Gee, thanks."

Her whimpers turned to sobs. "She
was not seeking revenge, Lena."

Rage, blinding and black, made my
hands shake. The only reason I came to Empyrean was the imminent threat from
Cassondra. I'd have stayed away and ignored Avery's desire to close the lines–lived
by the goddamn rules! Because of a lie, an entire world suffered. "Why
would you…"

"Because I needed your help!
The lines, they must be–"

"You should've told me what
you really wanted." I stepped closer to her whimpering form, wanting to
hit her. Worse. "Or stayed the fuck away!
This
, all of it, is your
fault."

"I'm so very sorry."

My hands raked through my hair
anyway, an action better than tearing her face apart. "Everything that has
happened could've been avoided if you told me the goddamn truth."

Tears tracked clean paths down her
dirty face, which did nothing more than strengthen the urge to slap her. "I
was so desperate."

"
Desperate
?" I
backed away from her. "Teenesee, her people, they don't deserve this. All
these deaths are on your shoulders. Live with that." I shifted my satchel
and concentrated on the opening. "Stop crying."

She didn't respond, and I didn't expect
her to.

A few more minutes ticked by before
Wilma stuck her head in to give us the all clear. I waved for Avery to go
first, in case her weak arms couldn't pull her up. The long drop would probably
do her some damage. Hard to admit, but we needed her. After this? Well, she and
her watchdog would need to find somewhere else to hide.

As soon as she made it up about
five feet, I started to climb, prepared to stop a fall. She slipped a few
times, but finally made it to the top. Nicolette bent down to help drag her
out. As soon as she was out of the way, I scaled the brackets quickly, jumping
out into a pitch-black alley, except for our glowing suits.

I whispered, "What's next?"

Wilma swooped over and grabbed my
elbow. She held a finger to her lips, shaking her head.

I nodded, swallowing hard. Even
though darkness blanketed us, it couldn't hide the crying and distant screams. The
smell… Worse than the sewer. Smoke stung my eyes as the stench, like road kill
on a sweltering August day, slammed into me. I slapped a hand over my nose, my
eyes watering.

They were burning the bodies.

I stumbled until I found an object
to lean against, trying hard not to double over or crawl back into the sewer. I
had no clue what I held onto, but it was metal and cool, a relief from the hot,
suffocating smoke. The town's buoyancy didn't help matters either, the swaying ground
cheering on my roiling stomach. Wilma grabbed my shoulders, her eyes pleading
with me, her lips a thin line. I locked on her face, the smoke squeezing my
lungs. Horror softened to revulsion until blessed shock kicked in. After raising
my thumb, Wilma let go, motioning for everyone to gather around.

In quick, sharp hand gestures,
Wilma told us to go to the left, make a right, and stay quiet. She jabbed a
finger at Farren, indicating he'd bring up the rear. At his nod, Wilma pointed
to Nicolette, flattened her palm, and used two fingers to show her flanking Avery
and me. When everyone nodded our understanding, she took the lead, sliding
against the wall of some shop. Drawing our guns, we moved forward.

We slinked to the end of the alley,
our boots soundless against the cobblestone. Wilma waved for us to stay against
the wall as she peered around the corner. Her head whipped back, and she turned
off her suit. We followed her lead and reached under our armpits as Protectors
waltzed by, joking like they were out for a night of clubbing. One stopped
right by the alley, scratching his head. As he turned toward the entry, searching
with a small light, Wilma waved her hand in front of his face.

Another came up to slap him on the
back. Wilma waved her other hand. "Hey, what's the deal, man?"

"Don't you feel that?"

The other guy stopped for a second,
looking straight at us. "Nope. We gotta go. Cassondra wants everyone back
in fifteen."

They both gave one more direct look
at us, causing my breath to hitch. I wanted to scream, run…shoot them, but I
stayed as quiet and still as everyone else. As the group moved on, Wilma
dropped her hands, only to bend and grab her knees, breathing heavy.

I rubbed her shoulder, feeling her
tremble underneath my fingers. "You okay?"

Shit, how'd she do that?
From what I knew, persuasion didn't
work on Exemplians, retired or otherwise. She was stronger than I thought.

She looked up at me, face pale and
sweaty. "Yeah, give me a minute."

I waited for her to catch her
breath. If my heart refused to slow down, there was a good chance I might keel
over.

Once Wilma straightened, she
brushed a shaky hand through her hair and looked past me to the others. "You
all hear what he said?"

"We got problems." Farren
squeezed his gun tighter, his fingertips white.

"No shit." Wilma gestured
toward Avery. "Why the hell are you smiling? You miss Cassondra, do you?"

Avery, who up to this point acted
like a helpless kitten, shook her head and stood taller. "I do not miss
her in the least. On the contrary, I'd as soon gut her with a fishing knife.
No, there is some good from her being here."

Wilma rolled her eyes. "Such
as?"

"No one is monitoring the
screens. Oh, I'm sure this dimension is under scrutiny, but Arcus and Earth are
safe. Synod elders worry about this war, not what might be happening in places
where Lena dwells. They do not seek personal revenge."

That… Well that actually made me
happy. Not happy enough to forgive her for starting a war, but relieved,
nonetheless.

Wilma turned on her suit, and we
did the same. "Okay." She pointed left. "One stop and we move on
to the nest. Lena and Avery should start to feel it at about a half-mile from
this point."

Avery gave her Protector a quick
glance. The exchange made me nervous. She hid something else, and whatever it
was, it'd be bad. When this was over, I'd have a hard time not killing her.
Yet, after I told everyone what she'd done, I may have to wait in line.