Tainted Rescue

by Jenn Vakey

  At least she had someone to talk to about it, I guess.

  The question was, how much did she actually tell her? Just about Adler? Or about us? A question for another time.

  “Auggie said one of the Sentry is still here,” Joury said, oblivious to the quiet conversation they were having. “Is that safe?”

  “Leeya trusts him,” I responded, and that was honestly good enough for me. Her ability to tell when someone was lying was invaluable in situations like this. I was also confident that she wouldn’t take the chance of my sister being in danger unless she was certain it was safe. It was one of the reasons I had named her as Linley’s unofficial guard.

  Her belief seemed to be enough for everyone else too, because they all relaxed, no one arguing against it.

  “I can't believe they managed to get through like that,” Evanly said. “I didn't know what to think when Leeya told me to get the kids in. I thought something had gone wrong with the others.”

  “We're lucky they didn't do any damage while they were free in the community,” Auggie added. “The Sentry we’re holding doesn’t seem that bad, though. At least he didn’t look at me like he was waiting for the opportunity to rip my throat out when I took him food.”

  I smirked, my eyes still on Leeya. She was too lost in her thoughts to join in. “He managed to do some damage to my head before we captured him. Letting someone get the jump on me in the shower definitely isn't one of my prouder moments. I'm going to start feeling like a damsel in distress if Leeya keeps needing to save me.”

  That wasn't easy to admit, and even earned me a curious smirk from Auggie and a hidden one from Aarys that made me question more what she knew. I could put my pride aside for this though, because I wanted a reaction out of her. I almost needed one.

  Leeya still sat there staring at her plate, but my statement caused Joury to look up quickly. “She saved you in the shower?”

  “There was a shower curtain draped over him,” Leeya responded, as if Joury’s concern was solely about me being naked.

  I will say that was probably the most interesting way I'd ever woken up. Covered in only a thin piece of cloth with water pouring down over me, a soaking wet girl at my side. Had the situation been different, both with the threat and where things stood between us, things might have gone very differently.

  “Besides,” Leeya went on, pulling me from the images threatening to distract my mind. “We're tied on the saving front. That keeps you from achieving damsel status.”

  Though she didn't look up as she spoke, I couldn't help but smirk at the snark in her tone. It was the first of it that I'd heard since Adler. I was surprised by the sudden realization that I'd actually missed it.

  “How do you figure?” I asked.

  Leeya put her fork down, cocking her head to the side when she finally looked up to meet my eye. “For me,” she said, holding up her right hand to count them off on her fingers. “Twice with Adler, then the shower today.” Holding her three fingers up, she raised the left hand next. “Snox bite at the archway, ikati in the woods…”

  “I forgot about the ikati,” I interrupted, nodding. “Why does Adler count twice?”

  I already knew the answer, but I wanted to push her a little. To try to pull her out of whatever dark thoughts she was tangled up in. Besides, she didn't talk about what happened out there with anyone. She hadn't given away any details to anyone who didn't need to know. I doubted that anyone here knew more than that she triggered and killed him before he could kill me. Well, maybe Aarys did.

  Leeya raised an eyebrow, almost smirking at the question. Almost. Then she folded her arms in front of her on the table and leaned forward. “I turned myself into a human shield when he tried to shoot you, then I stopped him from strangling you. You get another one for stopping the bullets. Well, most of them. So we're tied.”

  I didn't miss the bite there when she mentioned me not stopping all of the bullets. Not in a way that said she was upset about it. Instead, almost like she was teasing me. Even as mad as I was with her at the time, I had tried to stop them all. I think it was the panic of realizing what she was doing that actually gave me the strength to get as many of them as I did. But I could still only still the ones I could see over her shoulder. The ones that would have surely killed her. Not the one that went low. The one that made her cry out in a way that still woke me up sometimes at night.

  “That's how you got shot?” Aarys chimed in.

  Okay, maybe she hadn't told her as much as I suspected after all, because she was clearly shocked by that revelation. The looks the others were giving her also confirmed my assumption she hadn’t discussed it with any of them.

  Leeya blinked a few times, like she had forgotten for a moment that everyone else was there. Then she shrugged and sank back inside a little. “I couldn't let him get shot. Besides, I needed a cool battle scar. Too bad my abilities had to trigger and healed it to the point that there's barely a scar at all.”

  “Yeah, you got lucky with that one,” Evanly stated. “In order to get succubus drains to heal you, you actually need to be focusing on the injury. You must have been thinking about the pain from the shot when you kicked his sorry ass.”

  Leeya nodded, but I could see the statement surprised her. She didn't know much about her abilities. I doubted she had stopped training long enough to ask anyone about it or to start her abilities classes.

  “What made you look for the Sentry in the bathroom in the first place?” Zaydan asked. “Don't tell me this guy was crying out for help.”

  Leeya shook her head, her gaze flicking to me. The secret hidden there in her violet eyes. She hadn't been looking for him. She was looking for me.

  “I saw him through the window on the door to the dorm,” she answered. Her eyes moved down to my lips for a moment before returning to her plate. When she did, her lower lip pulled up between her teeth.

  We hadn't talked about it. The kiss we'd shared in the shower. Nor the one in her bed last night. I knew she didn't know what to think, which was why she wasn't bringing it up. Why I knew she never would. Even I didn't know what they'd meant.

  Okay, well that was true for the first one. It was an impulsive move after she talked about making things easier for Linley. She hadn't said it to impress me, but because she really cared. It meant more to me than anything she could have said about us.

  The one in the shower was different. I kissed her because of the fear I saw all over her face, the relief flooding through her eyes when she realized that I was okay. It was hearing her say that, despite a threat to our entire community, the only thing she could think about was making sure I was safe. It was my acceptance that I might not be quite as mad as I thought I was. And maybe that I did believe what she said now about everything not being an act. That what she had told the Sentry at the archway might have been the truth. Because what I saw was real, raw emotions. Ones that couldn't be faked.

  * * *

  With the morning meeting disrupted by our surprise guests, another one was scheduled for after lunch. Leaving the dining hall to walk to the meeting hall, I fell into step beside Leeya.

  “So,” I said, tucking my hands into my pockets. She glanced up at me warily. “Aarys knows…”

  She sighed, hiding an uneasy smile.

  “Everything,” said Leeya, that nervousness actually growing. “Are you mad?”

  “No,” I answered, watching her relax when she heard I wasn't lying. “Does everything just mean Adler?”

  “No.”

  I nodded, the look Aarys gave me now completely making sense.

  “I was upset,” she said, trying to explain. “She asked what was going on between us, and I couldn't make myself lie.”

  “It's okay,” I said, cutting her off. “You should have someone you can talk to. I'm sure you've already figured out I talked to Linley. Nothing in depth, obviously. She's far too perceptive for me not to tell her anything, though.”

  She nodded, then her face twisted in cont
emplation.

  “What?” I asked.

  She thought for another moment, then shrugged. “What are the different variations of siren abilities?”

  Her question caught me off guard, not seeing where the leap in conversation had come from. But I answered anyway. “There's yours. Some people can pick up on thoughts.”

  “Feelings?” she asked.

  I narrowed my eyes and looked at her, still unsure what she was getting at.

  “You're right about her being perceptive, but some of the things she's said… I don't know. I was just wondering if it was more than just her clever little mind.”

  I nodded, thinking about it myself. “You think she's picking up emotions.” And as I said it, I could actually see what she was talking about. On more than one occasion, Linley had tried to tell me how I was feeling. Even when I wouldn't listen. Not that I was sure she was actually right.

  “It's something to consider,” she said, looking ahead as we walked. I found myself wondering just what Linley had told her to make her even think of this. It had to have been the truth, or at least close to it. I wished my sister wasn't just a child so I could ask her. Find out what really was going on in Leeya's head. Then maybe it would help me figure my own things out.

  “Oh, and while we're on the topic, you should also know that you are apparently not very good at hiding things from Auggie,” she added, giving me a sideways glance. “I know he's already hinted as much to you before, but he pretty much laid it all out to me this morning.”

  I stopped walking, looking to her for an explanation. She made it a few more steps before stopping herself and turning to face me.

  “Meaning what, exactly?”

  “Just what I said. He's quiet and pays attention,” explained Leeya. She shifted where she stood, obviously uncomfortable with this topic. I couldn't blame her there. Everything had been on me when it came to seeing where things stood. All she had been doing lately was waiting for me to let her know what that was. “He also knows about Linley. Without being asked, he said he wasn't going to tell anyone. Also that he doesn't think anyone else even suspects. He…” She looked away, almost like she didn't want to tell me the rest. A lot of worry built within me, wondering what could have possibly been said or done that she didn't want to talk about. Then my mind jumped back to this morning, the way his arm was so comfortably around her shoulders. The way she didn't appear to dislike it at all. Was there something developing between them? No, that didn't make sense. I couldn't actually see Leeya kissing me back if she was involved with someone else. But was he showing interest?

  “He what?” I asked, trying not to let my panic sound in my voice.

  “He commented on how much time Linley spends around me,” she said, practically chewing on the words. I had to bite down on the inside of my cheek not to smile. That's what she was worried about? That I would see them spending time together as too much of a risk to her cover and put an end to it? Knowing my sister, she wouldn't listen if I tried. Not that I even wanted to. Leeya made Linley happy. And vice versa. That was one of the main reasons I had come up with that story about them knowing each other in the city. A story Auggie probably hadn’t heard yet when he’d brought it up to her. The story was solid, so I didn’t have any concerns on that front. “It just added to what he had already suspected. About some of your actions, or reactions. When it comes to me.”

  Now that it was all out there, I had to actually stop to think about how I felt about it. I was okay with her telling Aarys. I understood her need. Especially with her growing up with a twin, who I had no doubt she shared everything with. Auggie knowing was a different matter, as he hadn't been told. He had just picked up on it. Even with the effort I had put into keeping it out of the camp. I liked my privacy. It wasn't that I had been ashamed of her or anything. I just wasn’t one to talk about things like that until they were established. While I had definitely been heading in that direction, we never made it that far.

  “Wait, what did you mean by him hinting about it to me?” I asked, remembering the rest of what she had said.

  Leeya closed her eyes, scrunching her nose as she muttered something under her breath. It gave me the distinct impression that she hadn't intended to say that part. Then she sighed, another one of those guilt driven decisions that left her almost unable to argue with me right now. I should have told her she didn't have too, not wanting to take advantage of the situation, but I was too curious.

  “In the woods on my birthday,” she said with a note of resignation. “He told you that you were happy. More than usual.”

  I narrowed my eyes, remembering that conversation for several reasons. In part, because I had spent that entire training session worrying about her after he said she was quiet and absent. More than that, because that's when I told him to ask her to go with him to a retrieval. One that took a bad turn and left me fearing she had been killed during the two hours it took us to find her. Standing on the path with her face and body covered in blood. It wasn't an image I thought I'd ever be able to forget.

  “He told you that?”

  She gave me a guilty shake of the head, which only confused me more. “I didn't want to see anyone, so I went up in the tree house. I heard the two of you talking.”

  I nodded numbly, trying to think back over everything she could have overheard. I didn't think I said anything that I really cared about her knowing at this point. And if Auggie had known for that long and hadn’t said anything, even to me, my other concerns lessened.

  So I nodded. “I guess I'll have to start checking the tree house before I have conversations around there in the future,” I said casually, then started walking again. She seemed to relax a little, but she didn't lose that uncomfortable edge. There wasn't anything I could really do about that now.

  Leeya took a seat on the back row when we walked in. Part of me considered sitting with her, but I still needed to figure out how I was actually feeling about this. Now wasn't the time for that.

  Orson gave me a look that said he wasn't very happy with me when he walked up to stand next to the table I was leaning against. I didn't know how to take it. It could be that he just wasn't happy I hadn't informed him of what Leeya had done. Or he might have learned more. I needed to talk to her to find out.

  “Okay,” Orson said, running his hand through his hair. “As everyone has heard by this point, we are currently holding one of the Sentry who came in this morning. From what we've been able to learn, he has a girl that is possibly being held with the Tainted in Eden.”

  “Leeya talked to him?” Stassa asked.

  I looked back to where she was sitting on the back row as she stood. “Everything he's said has been honest,” she declared confidently. “He said his fiancé failed her test last year. He's offered to help in any way he can if it means getting her back, and he has agreed without hesitation to stay in holding. From what I can tell, he actually believes now that Adler killed Phineas and Gryffin.”

  “With him being part of the division that comes after us, he might be able to provide us with more information than our Sentry in the city can,” I added.

  Stassa nodded, satisfied with Leeya’s answer. In her short time in Alkwin, Leeya had proven how protective of our people she was. Had the thing with Adler not happened, I doubt there would be anyone who didn't trust her judgement.

  “We can figure out what to do about the Sentry later,” Orson stated. “We need to get the plans in place so we are ready to move in the city as soon as we have a location.”

  “We're going to run into problems in two areas,” Jaron said. He was sitting with Noella in the front row. “Both involve Sentry. From what we've been told, more of them are carrying guns. That means, even with our abilities, we’ll be at a disadvantage.”

  Orson nodded. “And the second is making sure there is a big enough distraction in the city that the Sentry won't be free to move in to stop us.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment, although I could tell Orson
had more to say. But he just waited.

  “We could attack the palace,” one of Stassa’s men offered. “A fire or something that we can start and get out.”

  “No,” Leeya's voice rang through the room. I looked back and watched her stand again. “Going after them like that will only give them reason to come after us. The Eden government already tells the people that we are evil and dangerous. We would do better proving them wrong, not right.”

  I just stood there and watched her as she talked. She had all the reason in the world to want to hurt Eden, but she still spoke so strongly against it. Wanting to end this in peace, not violence. I had to respect that.

  “We can get back to the diversion,” Orson said, not giving any hint as to which side he agreed with on this one. Leeya seemed to notice, a frustrated clench of her jaw as she sat back down. “Now, Jaron is right about the weapons. We will be at a disadvantage. Thankfully, I’ve arranged to have a team sent out to Denver tomorrow to get some supplies that might help us.”

  Leeya's head shot back up at that. I could see the need there, the desire to go. I knew she wouldn't ask, though. Not after what had happened today. The conversation she'd had with Orson.

  “Rhydian, you'll be leading the team,” he said, looking over to me. I nodded. It wasn't a surprise. I had more experience in Denver than any of our other people. “I've already asked Zaydan and Joury to accompany you.”

  Leeya made a face, one that I couldn't really recognize. It looked like more than just her unhappiness about not being included, though.

  “Stassa, I'm assuming you will want a couple of your people to also go.”

  She nodded. “I have business out there that needs to be done anyway. This will save me a trip later.”

  “Good. We will wait to involve the Sentry until the team gets back,” Orson said, turning to address the room. “In the meantime, the rest of us will work on ideas for the distraction.”