Liza stuttered. “I don’t know. Do you? It feels so magical, being out of body.”
Kerris rubbed his chest. It felt like he’d lost his sister long ago, and all he had left was this magical being who ruined his life, destroyed his relationships, and kept him tied to a dead city. “Whose mind were you in?” he asked.
Liza bit her tongue, her cheeks getting red. “Saskia.”
“Trying to get close to Tray?”
“No!” she cried. “No, she was just the first one to see me. In the bell tower. And I was trying to fix… I was… She wasn’t using her body, and I just wanted to see.”
“You took control of her body?” Kerris exclaimed.
“Not for very long. I wanted to undo what I did to her memory. Then she was the only way I could stop Hawk and Sky from leaving us. And we still lost Sky because of that stupid drone,” she said, her brow furrowing. Then she groaned and dropped to her knees, clasping her head. Even through his mental shields, Kerris could hear screaming.
“Liza!”
“It’s Amanda,” she whimpered, digging her fingernails into her scalp, as though she could claw out the invading thoughts.
“Is she summoning you?” Kerris asked.
“No. It’s one of her schizophrenic fits. A real one. It’s not my fault,” Liza panted, her eyes filling with tears. “We need to learn how to make better shields. Like the one Hawk put around you today. They offered to let us go with them, and if we learn how to protect each other like that, maybe we can.”
Kerris nodded. He had no idea what Hawk had done for him that afternoon, but he knew it felt right. He’d felt protected. It made him miss his parents.
The ladder in the ward room led to the Obs Deck, and Danny stood guard for a few minutes, listening to Amanda rant in Moonspeak. She was hearing voices, seeing things, and had lost that meta-awareness that helped her manage. Danny didn’t know how long the episode would last, but she seemed calmer on the Obs Deck where she was able to see outside and watch the rain fall. They needed to get home to Quin, because medical intervention was the only thing that could really bring the hallucinations under control.
Hawk climbed the stairs, looking haggard. His bleached hair showed long, black roots, and he tugged the ends, his head cocked to one side. He was shirtless, and Danny was surprised that he didn’t look as gaunt and sinewy as he had when he was lying in coma two days ago.
“Why don’t you go to her?” Hawk asked, his voice shaking.
“Amanda? I can’t help her now,” Danny said, catching Hawk around the shoulder and redirecting him toward the galley. It was risky enough letting Amanda up here, and he didn’t need Hawk having another heat stroke. Although worried for her, there was no way they could risk putting a liquid-fueled air cooling unit in the Obs Deck with her. She’d smash it.
“Don’t you love her?” Hawk asked.
“Very much.”
“Then help her! Calm her. Do something,” Hawk begged. He said more in Rocanese, and Danny picked out the words for ‘mother’ and ‘asylum.’ He’d never met Hawk’s mother, but knew the woman had been sick since Hawk was a teenager. Hawk had left her behind to travel with Oriana, and it was a sacrifice that was so easy for Danny to forget in the short term, because Danny was heading toward home, while Hawk was getting further away.
“Hawk, I can’t help her. She’s sick,” Danny said.
There was a loud bang, and then silence from the Obs Deck. Danny and Hawk both stopped, but Danny decided to keep Hawk moving away from her. The unit in the galley was on full blast, and Danny felt relief in his body. Tray stood in front of the unit, fanning his shirt and letting the breeze cool his skin. At the cooking station behind him was a tall stockpot.
“I thought you were going hunting,” Danny said, going over to the stove and peeking through the clear lid. It was too steamy to tell what was inside, but it smelled like he was boiling marrow out of the bird bones.
“Saskia’s charging weapons,” Tray explained. “Comms are spotty and half our Virps are out of charge, so we’ll have no map if we get lost. No way to call for help. I figured I’d start a soup. It’ll make the last of the food go farther.”
“You didn’t put all the potatoes in there, did you?” Danny asked.
“Hawk has to deal. His choices are starve or drink bone broth. Unless Liza and Kerris have more food,” Tray said, snapping at Hawk and pointing to the dining table. Seeing his journal on the table, Hawk snatched up the book, looking suspiciously at Tray. Hawk hadn’t written anything since Sky disappeared, but bringing it out was a good move on Tray’s part, because it was the only thing they had that had anything written in both Rocanese and Trade.
“I’m taking the carrots, and we have half a protein block to get down the plateau, but once we’re there, we’ll be living off tree bark and leaves,” Tray said, lifting the lid on the pot and stirring the stew.
“There have to be edible plants close by,” Danny said. “Kerris said they’ve lived here a few months. They wouldn’t keep coming back if they couldn’t gather food in sufficient quantities and store it here.”
“I don’t know. If Clover were destroyed, I’d probably go back, no matter how inconvenient,” Tray shrugged. “I hate to leave you with two invalids.”
“Do you want to stay, and I’ll go,” Danny teased.
“No, that’s an even worse idea,” Tray laughed. He filled a cup of water and set it on the table next to Hawk. Hawk looked at Tray, then hung his head and accepted that he had to drink the water. Danny had no idea how he’d keep Hawk hydrated without Tray here. Those two had a special bond. Possibly related to Hawk’s fear that Tray could make his head explode.
“Liza might be more interested in sharing food with you than with me,” Danny commented. “Did you see the way she gazed at you?”
“Did you see the snapped necks on these birds,” Tray said, pointing to the stockpot. “I wouldn’t dare lead on Kerris’ baby sister.”
Danny chuckled. He wanted to disappear into his quarters for half an hour and rest while Tray had everything under control, but he knew it would be unbearably hot. He had to get downstairs, seal up, and pray Hawk would eat the bird soup without his life being threatened.
“Ready,” Saskia announced, coming up the stairs, a stunner in each hand. She stopped at the door, surprised to find the galley full. “Or as ready as I can be. I should be able to stun a flock of birds with a single spread, and then we just have to collect and kill before they recover or get pilfered by scavengers.”
“Sounds like a fun game,” Tray said, turning the heat on the soup down to a simmer. “The potatoes need another ten minutes to soften, but this should taste really good tomorrow once the broth develops. Don’t let Amanda spill it.”
Danny nodded, biting his lip, anxiety and depression rising. “If you’re not back in two days, we’re coming after you.”
“Spend those two days convincing Kerris and Liza to help us,” Tray nodded.
“We’ll mark our path as we go,” Saskia said.
Danny couldn’t make eye contact. His depression kept telling him he’d never see his brother again. “Good luck,” he said, bracing himself against the counter so that he wouldn’t fall.
“You too,” Tray said, picking up an empty pack that Danny hoped would be weighted with food when his brother returned.
“Avec?” Hawk asked.
“No, you stay here,” Tray told him. “Shut down those drones, and get your glider in the air as soon as the rain clears. Take care of my big brother.”
Hawk twiddled the pen in his hand.
“And drink your water,” Tray added.
Hawk took a sip and looked to Tray for approval. Danny didn’t know how he was going to manage without his brother’s help.
23
Day 43
My dear Myung,
Forgive the slowness of my writing. It is difficult to form words, but I know I must try. Sometimes when Danny speaks, the words begin to make sense again
. But then they trigger the memories of violence in breeding. A part of me is glad you were not born in Rocan, groomed to be a breeder. Although it seems every Dome and tribe is marred by some malicious custom. Where we find birds, they are killed for food.
I met a man in Boone yesterday. I hugged him, even though he smelled of blood. I felt a presence about him like I haven’t felt since I was in Rocan. All of the ghosts I’ve been seeing in windows these past weeks seemed to coalesce into this one form. Two, actually. He has a sister.
Hawk dropped his pen when he heard Amanda scream. Anywhere on the ship it was cool enough to sit comfortably, he could hear her screams. He wondered if Liza had spoken into Amanda’s mind the way she’d spoken into his. It must have driven her mad. Closing his journal, he tucked it under the pillow of his bed in the passenger lounge and headed down the hall to his glider, but when he saw his glider, it didn’t feel safe anymore. It reminded him of home, breeding slavery, and all that he’d escaped.
“Sky,” he whispered, tapping his Virp. The battery had only half power left. “Sky, come back. Please, get me out of here!”
He missed Sky, but he knew it was right for her to leave. And he wished the rest of them could get out of here. Stepping out the back door, he felt a chilling shock of rain against his skin. His first instinct was to chase Tray down the side of the plateau, but then he saw a tall droid waiting at the gate, looking as though it had a message for him, and he couldn’t help but walk toward it.
“Kerris?” Hawk said, holding his Virp out so it would translate. “Can you take me to Kerris?”
“There you are!” Nalia exclaimed, skipping through the forest, throwing her arms around Kerris.
Kerris bristled and scurried away from her. “Nalia, I told you I can’t. I won’t—
“You’re in a mood,” she commented, snaking her arms around his neck, nuzzling his cheek. The tenderness was out of place after the fight they’d had. Before he married her, he said clearly that he did not want children, and she’d agreed. Then last night, she’d held her sister’s baby, and asked him for one.
“I get that way when I feel lied to and betrayed,” he snarled, pushing her back. The tree leaves rustled in response to his anger. He knew it wasn’t the wind, but he’d come out here to hide the obvious link between his agitation and the shaking environment.
“Kerris, don’t stress yourself. Your face is red,” she fussed, running her fingers through his tangled, shoulder-length hair. He’d never let his hair get that long before, but he loved the way she played with it. He’d lied to her and told her he got light-headed and sometimes passed out when stressed. She was good about keeping him calm.
“Baby—”
“Don’t try to seduce me,” Kerris groused. “After what you said, I find it hard to trust your intentions.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice light and sympathetic.
“You know damn well—”
“Calmly,” she said, running her finger down his arm, then brushing her thumb lightly over his tattoo, igniting a fire of lust. “What are you talking about?”
“We agreed no children,” he said. “We agreed!”
“I know. And?” she prompted.
“Last night—what you said—”
“Oh, darling, I was distracted by my new little nephew,” she laughed. “I’m sure I was uttering nonsense.”
“Nonsense that included me,” Kerris growled. “Taunting me. Yelling at me. Demanding I give you a child.”
“Oh, darling,” she chuckled, kissing his shoulders.
“We need to talk about this,” Kerris insisted. “If your feelings have changed—”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she whispered, her kisses getting more fervent, her hands starting to wander. “We have an agreement. If my feelings change, it would be my issue.”
“Ours!” Kerris corrected, grabbing her wrist, flashing the unity tattoo. “It involves us both.”
Ignoring his rough treatment, Nalia kissed the tattoo, then moved his arms around her neck, pressing her body close. “Nothing to talk about, my love,” she whispered.
Kerris shuddered. Something was wrong. She wasn’t listening, and she always listened to his fears when she soothed him.
Liza, what did you do? Kerris demanded, shutting out Nalia and speaking telepathically to his sister.
What are you angry about now? she grumbled. Do you know how close you are to starting a wind storm?
You messed with Nalia’s memory didn’t you?
In his head, he heard his sister’s longsuffering sigh. I had to. Kerris, she was so sure she could bring you around on having kids.
And I would have liked the chance to discuss it with her! Kerris retorted.
Why? Liza cried. So she could stir you into a tizzy and reveal us both? Kerris, you can’t have kids. We have a hard enough time hiding our powers as mature adults.
Liza—
Were you planning to tell her about us? Liza challenged. Tell her what her potential offspring could become?
No. Never, he lied. Of course he’d considered it. He’d imagined the conversation a thousand times. You shouldn’t have interfered.
Don’t talk to me while you’re kissing her. It makes my lips feel weird, Liza said.
The tree branches moved, letting him know that Liza hadn’t just shut him out of her mind, she’d stopped shielding his emotions as well.
Kerris shouldered a bag of citrus fruits and starchy vegetables and headed for the bell tower. His fight with Liza had agitated him, and the memories it stirred reminded him that she won by cheating. Although, she did seem to have a point that he couldn’t argue. Hawk’s ability to control the effects of Kerris’ emotions was far stronger than Liza’s. The quake he’d triggered should have been much worse. He wanted to see Hawk again, if for no other reason than to experience his emotions without bringing his home to further ruin.
He saw Hawk enter the city, following a droid, looking lost and lonely. The Xentu droids recognized and responded to him and Liza, but it didn’t make the city less lonely.
“Kerris?” Hawk said, picking up the droid and hurrying over. He looked like a child with a toy, carrying the four-foot tall, pole-thin droid. He asked something in Trade that Kerris didn’t understand.
“Why are you carrying it?” Kerris laughed. “Put that down and come with me.”
Taking Hawk’s hand, he led the man up the spiral ramp to the top of the bell tower. The physical connection came easily with Hawk, although he didn’t feel the same warmth of spirit connection he’d felt earlier. Hawk held onto him with both hands, his chin bumping Kerris’ shoulder when they stopped. The rain and heat had left a humid, mildew stench in the air.
“I thought you might be hungry,” Kerris said, opening his bag and showing Hawk the food.
Hawk used the device on his glove to shine a light into the bag. “Trade, please?”
Kerris didn’t speak Trade, but he knew the hand device could also translate Lanvarian, since he’d seen Hawk and Amanda use it to converse. Reaching for Hawk’s device, he studied the markings, getting wistful because growing up, everyone in Boone wore devices like this. He tried a few commands.
Hawk snickered and made a comment that the device then translated. “Don’t press too many buttons. That’s how I break it,” he warned.
Kerris smiled and squeezed Hawk’s fingers, not wanting to let go. He felt safe with Hawk—a genuine sense of security he hadn’t felt in ages.
“Where is she?” Hawk asked, taking one of the fruits from the bag and sniffing it. He moved his hand over the surface, as though testing the aura of the fruit.
“Where is my sister? I don’t know. Off somewhere. She disappears a lot,” Kerris sighed. “She didn’t conjure this food, though. I gathered it a few weeks ago. I brought it for you.”
He still couldn’t process the fact that Liza had pulled physical food from Tray’s memory. She’d seemed surprised, but when he thought of her col
lection of trinkets, he realized it had been happening for years. They’d been run out of so many tribes, forced to leave with only the clothes on their backs, and yet Liza had all those keepsakes. She ‘found’ them in her pockets.
Hawk’s lips puckered when he bit into the citrus, but he ate hungrily, spitting the seeds into his hand, then letting them drop to the ground.
“I’m glad you came alone. I didn’t want to expose you in front of your people. I don’t know if they know about you. Huh. For all I know, they created you. Or they captured you, and they came here to add us to the collection. That’s not it, is it? They didn’t come here looking for us? Is Amanda some kind of hybrid sniffing dog?”
Hawk chewed thoughtfully for a moment, holding his Virp to his ear as he listened to the translation. “I don’t understand,” he frowned.
“Of course you don’t,” Kerris grumbled, rolling to his feet and pacing the balcony. The city below was dead still. The bots and droids had cleaned, circulated, and completed their chores, then powered down, waiting for the next mud puddle alert or footprint tracked through the loading docks.
“Were you following any of the conversation yesterday?” Kerris asked, coming back to Hawk and kneeling so they were face to face. “About the weapon that destroyed the city? Did you understand any of that?”
Hawk listened to the translation, then shook his head and spoke into his device. “Liza is a ghost,” Hawk said. “I saw her turn to smoke.”
“You’ve seen more than me. To me, she’s just gone,” Kerris said, reaching for a piece of fruit and rolling it toward him. He didn’t even realize he’d reached with his spirit hand until Hawk swatted at the air and Kerris felt the physical blow.
“Ow!” Kerris cried.
Hawk jumped to his feet, dropping the half-eaten fruit in his hand.
“How did you do that?” Kerris asked, looking at his hand, feeling a bruise on the skin. “No one’s ever done that.”
Hybrid: A Space Opera Adventure Series (The New Dawn Book 4) Page 21
