Shifting Currents (10 page)

“Did you hunt them down and kill them?”

“Would you be afraid of me if I said yes?’

She shook her head.

He nodded his.

“Good,” she said. “But you probably should have left one alive for questioning.”

“Maybe next time. When they haven’t threatened my mate.”

“Is this mate talk for show?”

He shook his head this time. “You affect me.”

Hope fluttered in Bethany’s chest. Maybe they could have something real. “We should talk about this.”

“We will. Once the danger is past.”

“Should I go talk to Lewis and Clark now?”

“No,” Lucas said. “They’ll be busy tonight…interviewing.”

“Shouldn’t I interview?”

“Over my dead body,” he said in a low, warning growl. “Besides, you’re a Tech. You’re already hired.”

“You sound so sure.”

“One in five left in this part of the world. You’re worth your weight in gold.”

“So,” Bethany said. “You think there will be a next attack?”

He nodded. “But not on my watch. You and Lisa can take the tent.”

“Where did you get the tent? I thought you came here with nothing.”

He scowled into the night. “Lisa is very resourceful.”

“I cleaned up after the Tech bombing and was paid for it. You have a suspicious mind,” Lisa said from inside the tent.

“I’ll switch to cat form and guard the perimeter,” Lucas said, ignoring his sister, but his frown eased slightly.

“What about you? Don’t you need to sleep?”

“I’ll catnap.” He grinned at her.

She pulled her gun out of his pants.

“Careful now,” he warned.

“The safety’s on.”

“The safety is a mechanical device, and mechanical devices are known to fail now and again. When was the last time you fired that thing?”

“Not often enough,” she said. “I can’t bear to waste the bullets. When times get tough, I use them to hunt bunnies.”

“It helps if you call them rabbits. Or dinner.”

“Not with my aim.”

“Could you hit something if you wanted to?”

“I find a man’s chest at point-blank range an easier target than a bounding bunny in a field.”

Lucas grunted and pointed to the pavilion-style tent. “There should be plenty of furs and blankets to keep you warm. Don’t shoot the cougar,” he said and shifted into a gorgeous cat, flicking his tail across her knees.

Chapter Six

Bethany

The next morning Bethany woke up alone. Making her way to the showers, she waited in line for her turn, hoping that the bags of sun-warmed water had kept their temperature overnight.

“Why aren’t you over by the elders’ cabins warming up their morning habitual?” a grouchy young woman asked.

“I wasn’t on the duty list,” Bethany said. The truth was with only five Techs left, their abilities probably wouldn’t be used for anything but the most important tasks.

The young woman gave a snort. “You Techs are all prima donnas. You should try working for a living. Your back aches, you grow old before your time. Meh, all you do is meditate and…”

“Take energy into my body from various places. Sometimes that energy is benign like a summer breeze. Sometimes it’s from anger. Sometimes the energy tapped is too much, and a Tech will fry from the inside out like crispy pork fat left on the fire too long. Have you ever seen someone boil alive like a human lobster?”

For some reason, the woman left her place in the queue and hurried down toward the breakfast crowd. Bethany saw her retch when the smell of bacon wafted by in the breeze.

“Making friends?” Lem said coming up behind her.

“It’s what I do. So are you here to drag me off somewhere else?” She crossed her arms and glared at him.

“Maya sent me to go with you to talk to these Lewis and Clark fellers.”

“She doesn’t trust me to come back.”

“I don’t know anything anymore. All I know is I have to huck it across the damned country to make sure you survive.” Lem kicked the dirt.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do. And you ain’t going to change my mind neither.”

“Okay,” Bethany said, raising her hands to calm him down. “We’ll go get cleaned up and then make our way over to them. I don’t even know where they are.”

“They’re sitting like the King and King of England up on the dais by where the elders were at yesterday.”

“Lem, what are you going to tell them you can do?”

“I may not have claws and sharp teeth,” he started to say.

“Or know how to use a gun,” Bethany interjected.

“But I can handle myself in a fight. Besides, I’m a good cook and lover. Too bad I weren’t a better one. We wouldn’t be in this mess.” He stepped in close to her, his lips almost touching hers. “I can go longer than that stupid hunter.”

Bethany shoved him back. “Knock it off. I’m not doing this because of Keith.”

“Would you have looked at that big Shifter twice if you were still with Keith?”

“Hell yes, he’s got a fine ass. And Keith is just an ass.”

Lem turned beet red. “You don’t have to talk all nasty like that.”

“Lucas likes me for me. Not because I can charge up his batteries. And I’m not talking dirty.”

“Everyone needs a Tech, Bethany. It doesn’t mean they don’t like you also.”

Bethany shrugged. “I know that. In my head. It’s my heart sometimes that needs some persuading.”

Lem walked into his shower and was done before Bethany got to the head of hers. The water was tepid and came out in a weak drizzle. It had been a dry few days, and the buckets that were carried over from the lake hadn’t had time to warm up in the sun. But as she looked at the scratches on her arm and leg from where the glass had cut her yesterday, she decided to count her blessings. Lucas and Lisa had helped patch her up. Nothing looked infected, but she gave everything a thorough cleaning. Wincing as she bandaged herself back up, Bethany knew it could have been worse.

Dressed in her usual camo pants and sweatshirt, Bethany offered half her earbuds as a peace offering to Lem, and they listened to some music as they walked to where Lewis and Clark were indeed holding court. The one with the eyes like a snake, Lewis, saw her immediately and she found herself ahead of about ten people.

“Lady Tech, you’re hired,” he said.

“I’ve got a few conditions,” she said.

“I’m sure we can accommodate you.”

“I’m bringing with me two Shifters, a leatherworker, and a…cook.” She looked askance at Lem.

“I make a mean chili and can stretch stone soup for four days.”

Lewis looked less than thrilled. “I can accommodate your team. We’re leaving this afternoon.”

“So soon?”

“The elders are getting restless, and they’re afraid we’re going to take all the Techs with us. Dreadful business yesterday, wasn’t it? However did you survive?”

Bethany smiled. “I’m hard to kill.”

“Good,” Lewis said and handed her a piece of leather with grommets punched in. She recognized it as a payment chit.

“Outfit yourself with whatever supplies you need. Have the merchants attach their bills to the grommets. They will be paid by nightfall.”

“What’s the limit?” Bethany said trying to keep the awe out of her voice.

“That’s up to you. It’s your money, taken out of what we find in California.” Lewis dismissed her with a glance and smiled up at a Shifter standing behind her.

Lisa joined up with her and Lem, and they stocked up on clothes, blankets, dried fruits and meats, and other supplies. Bethany splurged on water purification tablets and Lisa on fifty feet of silk rope. Lem got a personal media player, and offered her a chance to swap music in exchange for her charging it up. At least he wasn’t offering sex, Bethany thought with a grin. He also picked up some quivers of arrows. She hadn’t known he could shoot a bow. They wound up having to get larger packs because Lisa and Lucas couldn’t carry their own gear in animal form. But Bethany thought a sore back was a small price to pay for having Shifters she could trust at her back. Karen had her own wagon, and her leather was neatly stored, so there was room to sit in the back if it started to rain. She was waiting for them after the market. They stored some of the heavier gear in the back of her wagon.

Maya put on a great show of giving them her blessing, kissing both of Bethany’s cheeks. Maya pulled Lem aside for what looked like a last-minute lecture and wound up swatting him on the butt when he left. Bethany frowned, wondering if Maya had taken advantage of Lem. If Lem was willing, Bethany didn’t know why it bothered her so much. But she didn’t like the abuse of power, and she was glad to be walking away from the Bluff tribe. Only she knew she wouldn’t be back. If the rest of them wanted to return, fine. But she thought that she’d be better off with Daniel, wherever he might be. And if California really was the land of opportunity, there wouldn’t be a need to return all the way here. Maya had to at least suspect her thoughts, which was why she had told Lem to go with her. Bethany was pretty sure she could either lose Lem or persuade him not to go back either. In any case, she would worry about it when the time came.

There were about twenty other people waiting to start off in the caravan. Bethany saw quickly that they should have spent some money on horses or a wagon. They were the only ones hoofing it.

“I’d fit you in, but I needed the room for supplies,” Karen said with a rueful grin. “If you don’t mind lying on all the leather, you might be able to get back there.”

“That’s okay,” Bethany said. “I can walk for a bit, and I’m sure I can trade for a ride. Have you seen Lisa and Lucas?”

Karen pointed to the sky. “Scouting ahead with the other Shifters.”

“Scoutin’ for what?” Lem asked.

“Just making sure there aren’t any surprises.”

“Any surprises won’t come in broad daylight,” Lem said.

“Better safe than sorry,” Karen said and with a nod snapped her reins so her horses moved along with the caravan.

Lem and Bethany walked together in companionable silence.

“Heya,” a blue-eyed woman jawing on a beef jerky stick called down to them from her place at the head of a wagon. “You’re a Tech, right?”

Bethany nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“You and your buddy can ride up here with me if you provide some music for the trail.” She pointed her boot at a beat-up old boom box. It still had the antennae intact, but Bethany sensed it didn’t have any batteries inside. It would be a tougher pull. Instead of charging the batteries, she would have to be the battery. But she’d be able to keep up with the caravan.

“Deal,” Bethany said and hoisted herself up into the seat.

“I’m going to go around back and try and get some sleep,” Lem said.

“Bless ya if you can,” the woman said. “I always get sick something fierce. My name’s Jesse.”

“Lem.” He nodded at her, his eyes lingering on the woman’s open shirt a bit before he got flustered and climbed into the back of the covered wagon.

“He yours?” Jesse asked.

“No, ma’am,” Bethany said.

“Good,” Jesse said and whipped up the reins.

They took off at a slow clip, following Lewis and Clark who were on horseback, and another wagon, which looked mostly empty. Bethany cocked her ear to the wind and filtered through the band waves that were playing through eternity. “What kind of music do you like?” she said as a pretty red-tailed hawk perched on her shoulder, gripping the leather of her jacket in her talons. Bethany assumed it was Lisa.

Jesse blinked at the bird and then recovered. “I, uh, don’t rightly have a favorite. Just nothing depressing.”

Bethany nodded and brought in some classical Vivaldi. There were always older stuff on the airwaves, so it was a lesser drain. The meteorite had blasted through towns, splintered buildings, and darkened the sun. But on some frequency, it was still the age of radio. Every now and then, she could get a drama or a comedy skit. The old radio sputtered, and the music crackled through the speakers until she was able to fiddle with the knobs so they were in better sync. The wind helped power the airwaves into her, and because she wasn’t shuffling for something specific, it was a mild pull. She could still look out at the landscape.

Bethany caught a glimpse of Lucas in eagle form as he whirled around the caravan and then scouted ahead. She frowned as she took one last look at the conclave.

“Forgetting something?” Jesse asked.

“Just saying good-bye.”

“And good riddance,” Jesse muttered under her breath.

“What tribe are you from?”

“All of them. None of them. Lately, I’ve been hoofing it with the Nomads. I’ve got a way with horses.”

“Why good riddance?”

Jesse shrugged. “Bored, I guess. Been there, done that. What about you?”

“I’m hoping to meet up with my brother.”

“I figured you being a Tech and all, he’d have a radio or something.”

Bethany shook her head. “There wasn’t a lot of time to plan, and we got separated.”

“That happens a lot, I guess. What makes you think he’s in California?”

“It’s the farthest you can get from where we were.”

“I hear that,” Jesse said.

They didn’t say much on the long journey across the rubble-strewn roads and paths. They were headed toward the old city where the train station was. Lisa came and went, and Lucas spiraled around for the day. But mostly it was a monotonous drive. The sky was ashy, and what trees had survived or grown under the faded sky were bare, stretching skeletal branches into the roads. Blacktop was chunked, and the horses tried to avoid most of the larger potholes. It was treacherous in the daytime, unheard of by night. But clearing a new path would take even longer.

Their wagon was in the middle of the caravan, and when she stretched to look, Bethany couldn’t see the front or the end of the line. After a few hours, Lem came out, and Bethany went back to nap. She would probably be needed when they stopped for the night. The roll of the wagon wheels soon put her to sleep. She had fitful dreams of her brother in bear form, fighting. The cold, sick fear that had traveled with her when she left her last tribe haunted her. Maybe he wasn’t even in California. Maybe she’d never see him again.