Range (26 page)

And sigh. My stars.

I have no urge to count at the moment and I take that as a very good sign. This has been one of the better days since I was brought out of the morph. It's a lot like life in the old days—constant action and excitement. I've sorta missed it. Hanging out on a tropical beach is fun for a day or two, but it's boring.

Soft footsteps behind me make me jump up into a ready position but it's just the tall guy I was avoiding before.

"Ah," he says. "Then you're not deaf as well?"

"I'm not a mute, either. She tends to lie a bit." I sit back down and continue my survey of the sky.

"Mind if I sit?"

I shrug. "Mountain Republic is still a free country, right? Sit if you want."

"Not interested in the party?"

"I'm cold, that's all."

He walks out in front of me a few paces and then takes a seat on a small rock across from my log. "Your friend back there told me your name, but I'm not interested in her lie. So, you wanna tell it to me? Or should I guess?"

I look him in the face. He's got sandy blond hair from what I can tell and the firelight dances across his face in a way that creates shadows over his eyes, preventing me from seeing their true color. He's wearing a white tee shirt and a pair of jeans with those sneakers that are so popular in the Utopias. He sorta reminds me of Gideon with his looks.

"Go ahead and guess."

He drags his hand through the loose dirt for a few seconds and then looks up at me through the hair that partially covers his eyes. "Junco."

I'm not surprised, not really. "So what do you want?"

He straightens up at my questions. "Who says I want something?"

"So you're just here to what? Check up on me? See how I'm doing? Give me a break. Just tell me what you want, OK?"

He stares at me and I meet his gaze. It's pretty intense, enough to make me want to pull my eyes away, but I force myself to hold steady. "Maybe I should introduce myself first? Would that work?"

"Hey, it's your party. You can do it—"

He grabs my shoulder and we are… somewhere else. It's not space, because there are no stars. It's not a ship because there are no walls. It's… it's just nothing. Nothingness.

I take a breath and swallow down the fear. "Typically a name will do."

He lets go and turns me to face him. "I am Caleb. Do you know who Caleb is, Junco?"

There are probably millions of Calebs in the world but I know exactly which one he's talking about. "A spy."

He exhales a rush of air in an obvious sigh of relief. "Yes. Well done. I had my doubts about your father's early training methods but I guess those were unfounded. Continue."

I stare at him as these words sink in. "My father? What the hell does he have to do with anything?"

"Later." And then he prods me on with a slight wave of his hand.

"A spy who went above and beyond his call of duty to report back accurate intelligence to the Hebrews when they wanted to invade Canaan."

The description of Caleb slides off my tongue with ease, a result of my rather extensive recall training as a child. RR Sunday School was an endless barrage of memorizing passages and descriptions of every important person and act in the Bible. I went for fourteen years and never missed a day if you don't count my periodic bouts with insanity, and considering that I have a near perfect photographic memory of anything written, this recitation is not difficult.

"Nice," he says as his eyes sparkle with pleasure. "Those marks on your back, do you know what they mean?"

I shake my head.

"Try."

"Archer scars, I guess."

"They are the mark of the Fallen, Junco. You have been claimed and marked by Inanna for Lucan. And this will not work for us. It's unfortunate the way it turned out, and I'm sure we're not the only ones who are disappointed, but it cannot be undone, I'm sorry."

I blink at him.

"I'm Caleb and all I want is the truth so I can report back accurate intelligence. So tell me, Junco—who do you answer to?"

I know this answer as well, it was part of my Sunday school training along with the freaking Bible bullshit, but I suddenly have to urge to go off script. "Gideon," I say with satisfaction. "I answer to Gideon."

He sighs and turns his back to me for a moment as I take a small bit of pleasure in his disappointment. "But you made your promise back in the Runout valley, Junco. Surely you remember that?"

Wait. "What?"

"Was Gideon saved or not?" He turns back and his eyes dart back and forth, searching mine for answers.

"You know he was."

"So, I don't understand your confusion. You begged for his life, said you'd do anything, remember?"

I will do anything, God.

Anything.

Just save my friend.

"Gideon's powers come from us, Junco. So his survival is our gift to you."

I close my eyes and admit defeat. I prayed for his life to be spared. I should've known there'd be strings. I should've known. "I remember."

Caleb smiles and seems pleased with my admission. "You must not enter the Pillar with anyone else. Especially Gideon, Junco. Do you understand?"

I totally should've stayed with Tier. Maybe I can port back? I look around at the darkness, the nothingness of where we are and have a lot of doubts about that. "Why? I mean, maybe I will agree to go inside the Pillar alone, but just tell me why."

"Because Gideon does not belong to you, Junco."

I snort out some air at this. "The fuck he doesn't! Gideon
is
mine! And if that's your reason, well, that's definitely not good enough for me." Things start to take on more form and make more sense and then we are back in front of the fire, I'm sitting on a log and Caleb is across from me sitting on a rock. A trick? He tricked me somehow.

"This is your only warning, Junco. Do not cross me."

"I don't even know who you are."

"Look at me, Junco."

I lift my eyes and stare into him as he presses something cold into my hand. It takes a lot of willpower to look away from his face, but I finally manage to glance down at the object. "Tier's true north compass." I finger the smooth silver then pop open the clasp and wait for the needle to settle.

It's pointing to Caleb.

I drop it and stand abruptly, turning to find Polaris in the night sky. It's behind me, so the needle is pointing south when I turn back to Caleb. "It's pointing to you."

"It points to me because I am your true north, Junco. Fate can shift but Destiny is fixed."

Sera's words, back when I was in that virtual cabin after Deliverance.

"You can resist Fate if you want. You can refuse to play along and you can quit. But Destiny cannot be changed. And your Destiny is to meet the end, one way or another. You can go prepared or not. You can fight or surrender. You can control all those things, but what you cannot change is the fact that you will be there."

I swallow down the bile that is rising in my throat and scan the horizon, looking at anything but him.

He takes a step towards me and then leans into my ear to whisper, "Do not waste Selia, she is critical."

I just stare at him as he walks past and then I hear Selia's voice behind me. "Ready, uh—" She's still lying and forgot what name she gave me.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Chapter Thirty

We're about two hours northeast of Vegas if what Caleb says is correct and really, after all the bullshit he just laid on me, is he gonna be lying about that? His buddy, Jacob, directs Selia to the backseat of a late-model Ripper that barely seats two, let alone four. I'm glad he's squished back there with her, I'd rather have control of the door anyway, you know? Just in case this guy goes apeshit on me and I need a quick escape route.

I shake my head after that thought. It's pretty dumb. I'm not interested in running. The next person who attacks me will find one pissed-off bitch to contend with.

They all chat endlessly as we rage down the desert highway towards the glow of light that spews out of the distant horizon. It's like a beacon. Or whatever the opposite of beacon is, because I'm pretty sure no one in Sin City wants me to drop by for a visit.

Someone pushes on my shoulder and I jolt myself out of my funk. "What?"

"Jacob wants to know what high school you went to, Abi."

I contort my body so I can look back at Selia. She's sitting in the seat behind me, so all I see is the friend Jacob. I narrow my eyes at him. "What the hell does that matter?"

Selia interrupts my bad mood. "We both went to Goshen High out on the Western Slope, five years apart."

I roll my eyes back at the Jacob guy. "How convenient." I'd forgotten that Selia was from the MR. That realization bothers me for some reason.

Caleb interjects before I can answer, "Which school, Abi?"

"My name is Junco, right? I'm pretty fucking sure everyone in this vehicle knows that, so why the fuck are all of you calling me Abi?"

"Answer my question, Junco."

"I'm a cadet rat, OK? I went to Council 1 Cadets. Happy?"

"Oh shit," Selia says. "We're getting out. Pull over."

Caleb just laughs. "I'm not dropping the two of you off in the middle of the desert dressed like prostitutes. Really, Selia."

Selia snarls at him as she pushes her head up through the slit that separates my seat from Caleb. "I said, pull the fucking car over or Junco will subvert the electronics and pull it over on her own."

I will? I probably could. If I can tap into phone lines, how hard would it be to take over this car? Easy, I bet.

My eyebrows shoot up when Caleb pulls off the road and settles into a small turnout, cuts the engine and the lights, and we all sit in the silent darkness.

"Now what?" Caleb asks.

Selia kicks my seat. "Open the door, Junco."

I sigh. "No, just go, Caleb. Selia, I'm not interested in getting out, walking to Vegas, or using an unorthodox method to get us there. Just let the man drive. What's he gonna do? Kill us?" I laugh. Shit, I'd actually love for him to try because it's been a while since I had a decent one-on-one fight.

Caleb starts the engine and pulls back out on the road before Selia can even answer me. I hear her slump back against her seat and huff out some air. The car is silent after that and I just sit and stare at my reflection in the passenger window, my face distorted with the curve of the glass and the orange glow that radiates out from the dashboard lights.

About an hour later, just as the sun is coming up in the east and bathing the desert in a wash of orange and pink, Caleb turns into a Chick-Chick-Chicken, parks the car, and opens his door to let Jacob out. "Selia," he commands, "go with Jacob so Junco and I can talk."

I expect a battle of words at the very least but she climbs over the hump that separates her seat from Jacob's and exits the car.

Caleb gets back in and I wait for it.

"Let me be very clear, Junco. You have rules and obligations, do you understand this?"

I shake my head. "I rule myself and I've been thinking about that whole prayer out on the battlefield." I wait for his anger and then smile and continue. "I'm just not convinced that I'm obligated to go forth with what you're asking, ya know? I mean, I figure Inanna taking me was a pretty severe trade for saving Gideon's life. So I think God and I are even, I don't owe you and I'm not interested in your plan for me. I'm taking Option B, Junco fate shift."

He reaches over and grabs my wrist and squeezes. It's painful, I'm not gonna lie, but it's not even close to the pain Inanna inflicted on me in the tank. "Break the bones. Go ahead. I'll heal."

He stares at me.

"Your rules, Junco—you will follow my orders and enter the Pillar alone. You will give us the results we're after and you will report back as instructed. Do you understand me?"

"I understand your words, yes. But I will not comply. Period. That discussion is now over. I follow Gideon's orders, and that's it, do
you
understand? I'm not your servant, I'm not your slave, I'm not your warrior. I'm nothing to you. I'm not interested in this job or mission or whatever the fuck you Bible people are calling it, and I certainly have no moral obligation to deliver results because I have no morals."

His eyes blaze at me, not in the way that Tier's eyes might, but just a normal I-hate-your-fucking-guts blaze of anger kind of way. "You will, Junco. You will do what I ask or I will revisit you and
make
you do it."

I laugh at this. "Oh, Caleb, that is a good one. And ya know, if I hadn't already been told by Tier that I have the Power of Decision I might've believed that." I stop just long enough to gauge his reaction. "But I'm pretty sure that I'm driving the float in this little parade we have going, so you can keep your threats and—"

His attack crashes me back against the passenger door and his hand is wrapped around my neck. I head-butt him in the forehead so fucking hard the blood that spews out of the wound splashes down on my face. He hesitates before grabbing both wrists as he leans back to stay out of the reach of my skull.