I crossed my arms and puffed out my chest. “Depends. You looking to travel to the Second or the Fourth? If it’s the former, you’ll have better chances in the subway system or Central Park.” I jutted my chin toward the beach behind her.
“The Fourth is what I seek. I have a delivery for Countess Ambrose.” Her words formed a statement, but the slight lilt at the end of her sentence made it sound like a question. “I’ll pay you a fine price for voyage there.”
I pursed my lips. The excursion would take days. Had the woman come sooner, I could’ve taken her. What if Em showed up while I was away? I’d already risked that once. I wouldn’t leave again if I could help it. Not until she was by my side.
The woman held up the vial then, the glass black as a starless night at sea.
“What’s that?”
“Just a token of my gratitude. Want a sip?” She dangled it in the air.
The motion sent an invisible dagger through my chest. The woman’s gesture reminded me of a sick game Tiernan used to play. One in which I was forced to perfect my knife fighting until he was satisfied, which he never really was. If I won a duel, he’d give me a drink of water. If he won . . . let’s just say I went thirsty more often than not.
“What is it?” The words tasted bitter on my tongue. I loathe nothing more than having to repeat myself.
“Taste and see. If you find it’s worth a journey to the Fourth, excellent. If not, I’ll be on my way and never bother you again.”
I lifted an eyebrow. Her very presence sent shivers down my spine. Her words were practiced and precise, almost as if she had rehearsed this conversation, but also somehow familiar. Her voice stirred an unwelcome ache I couldn’t place. “You’re going to pay me with no promise of a return? And you want me to drink a foreign substance?” Good one, lady.
“That is correct.”
“You’re insane.”
“Aye.”
The one-word answer stopped me. Aye? Where had this woman come from, and why? And how was I supposed to respond? The hour was well past one in the morning. My crew was asleep. My insomnia problem since separating from Em had me exhausted and a touch desperate. I didn’t have time for games. I just wanted the sleep I lacked. The rest that would come from one person and one person alone.
“Listen.” She grabbed my right hand and pressed the vial into my palm, folding my fingers over the cool glass as she did so. Her skin was pale and cold as ice. “Drink and imagine the person you care for more than anyone or anything. And then . . . see what happens. You will end up where you are needed most.”
My heart swelled at her strange words, at the way they drew me in and embedded an odd sense of . . . what? Trust? Yeah, I thought of Em. Could the substance in the bottle take me to her?
The thought was crazy, idiotic, rash. But I had never been one to think and then act. I went off intuition and instinct, qualities I had always prided myself on. It was on intuition I kept one eye open the night Gage and a reluctant Stormy tried to kidnap Em from Wichgreen Village. I sensed danger before her head ever hit the pillow. And when we battled Jasyn Crowe? I knew David’s hesitation would endanger us all. So I acted and did what needed to be done.
Before I could overthink it, I opened my fist, uncorked the vial, and drank. I pictured Em. Even if the next time I saw her was the last, it’d be worth it.
The liquid was flavorless, odorless. And then it wasn’t.
That’s when I knew what death must taste like.
“Daydreaming again, Rhyen? And you expect us to view you as our fearless leader? Pathetic.”
Song’s voice jerks me from the recent memory. Does she realize how unattractive her attitude makes her? Good luck with this one, David. She’s a real gem.
I study the Shadowalker, looking for any sign the Ever is still in there. My personal experience suggests so, though my better judgment would have him thrown in a pit to rot for his current alter ego.
If Josh could shove me he would. Too bad his hands are tied behind his back.
“Song, relieve Preacher and take over rounds.” Give her something to do. Maybe that’ll shut her up. “Ensure everyone is accounted for.”
“I don’t answer to—”
“Wren.” One word from the Commander is all it takes. “Do as he says.”
She doesn’t bite back, but her perma-scowl could draw blood. Man, this chick is something else.
Once she’s out of earshot, Makai comes closer. Evan is strapped to his chest with a long piece of cloth torn from a sheet. The Commander holds him in place with one hand beneath his rear and the other behind the baby’s head. “Have you considered my request?”
I exhale heavily through my nose. “I have. I’m not sure it’s possible. He’s so far gone—”
“He’s your brother, Ky. Your twin brother.” The arrows in the quiver on his back rattle, ticking off each step, counting every crunch of desert beneath our boots. “You two are connected in a way he and I will never be. You know his anguish. I beg of you to try.”
The vulnerability in the Commander’s eyes is something I’ve witnessed in few men. I don’t know him well, but I have a way of seeing people, of knowing who they are at their very core, with little information whatsoever. Most men place pride above all else. But here is something different, which causes my throat to tighten and my eyes to burn. Something my adoptive father knew nothing of.
Makai cares for Joshua like a brother, perhaps even a son. What would it have been like to know my father? My mother even? I cannot regret being raised by the mother I knew, but how different would things be if I had known such affection from a male figure?
I nod. “I will do my best.”
Archer claps my shoulder. “That is all I ask.”
He returns to his wife’s side as we venture on. Wren continues her rounds as our caravan spreads and compresses, slows and quickens.
I lengthen my strides, catching up to the Shadowalker. When we’re side by side I eye him. I wait for the right moment and whisper . . .
“Do not fall asleep.”
ASIDE
Joshua
I can’t continue much longer. Hour by hour, I slip away. Not that time is tangible here, of course. I am only able to keep track of it when I catch a sound from the outside, during the rare occasions when Josh lowers the wall he has constructed around me.
I envision myself shaking my head as I sense my mind wandering, falling subject to the Void. I long to sleep and be done with this madness, to allow Josh to take over on a permanent basis. Makai is perfectly capable of handling things from his end. He and the Guardians have the situation under control.
“I know you’re in there.”
Awareness surges through my center. Just as when Makai spoke, another voice pierces through.
Kyaphus?
“Keep your eyes on the light, however trivial. It’s the only way. Trust me.” His voice lowers. “I know.”
A series of rapid blinks awakens me further. The smallest pinprick of light grows visible in the distance. Have my eyes been closed this entire time? How did I fail to recognize this?