Cadence

by Wilson, Dianne J. ;

  He pushed past Roland on legs of jelly, hoping the others would follow.

  ~*~

  Shasta pushed himself out of the chair and sauntered across the room to the window. Even with his back to her, Evazee felt invaded. His presence had a way of undoing common sense, of infiltrating all her defences. He was in her head, and every second spent in this room melted more of her resistance.

  Evazee crawled back in behind the desk, her mind raced. It was only a few steps to the door. Maybe she could make a run for it before he saw her. Moving a hand, a knee at a time, she moved around the far side of the desk, the side closest to the door. She tucked her toes under, a runner getting ready for the gun. She had to get out of there. She eased herself forward enough to see that Shasta still had his back to her. One quick inhale and she launched herself upright and towards the opening.

  With a flick of his finger, the door slammed shut. He turned just enough for her to see his grey eyes glowing in the semi-gloom. “Don’t rush off. We’ve got a lot to talk about, you and me. Come here.” He stood up straight.

  Evazee’s breath caught. There was no reason to listen, or obey. She resisted.

  Her foot slid forward.

  ~*~

  Kai half-walked, half-ran to keep up with Bree. She’d overtaken him and was stalking down the passage. Her hands were shaking.

  “How are you?”

  Bree grimaced. “Not sure, to be honest.”

  “Come on guys, keep up.” Zap and Ruaan were falling behind. Bree set a mean pace.

  “I suppose I was hoping for more. That was just awkward.” Bree sniffed and a wiped her face.

  “He’s got some choices to make. That’s for sure.”

  “Kai, wait!” It was Roland, the black-haired doctor who’d walked in on their meeting with Dr S. Kai’s father.

  Kai’s steps faltered, and he halted and came to a slow stop. He ran a hand through his hair but didn’t turn around.

  The doctor slowed as he got closer, he reached for Kai before letting his hands drop. “I’m sorry—”

  Red flooded Kai’s cheeks. “For what?”

  “For how things turned out, I suppose. For many things.”

  His apology left Kai cold. “Just make it right.”

  An alarm went off deep inside the building.

  Roland paled. “You need to get out of here. Move, now.”

  Kai waved them through the doorway. “Let’s go.”

  All the unspoken things between him and his dad would have to stay unsaid for a while longer. Things were going downhill fast.

  ~*~

  Shasta said nothing, but he studied Evazee with his head tilted to one side and a look in his eye that made moths swim in her belly. His eyes locked on hers and his wordless voice filled her mind, drowning out doubts and fears. It was a deep hum of white-noise that blocked out reasoning, and Evazee faced it helplessly.

  Logical thoughts were compressed and squeezed into the tiniest back corner of her mind, and all she could think was how obeying Shasta was what she’d been created for. Evazee had longed for a life of significance, and he was holding it out to her in his pale hand. She stood so close now, every breath filled her with the scent of the man. That’s how close she was to all her dreams coming true.

  Maybe a few steps closer wouldn’t hurt.

  He reached out and touched the amulet hanging around her neck. It slipped into his hand with the ease of familiarity. He traced the feathery pattern on the front, and Evazee felt his fingers on her soul. He gave a sudden tug and the amulet slipped off her neck. He slipped it into his shirt pocket right next to his heart.

  Evazee’s heartbeat shifted. The rhythm slowed and deepened as if his heart had replaced hers.

  He cupped her cheek in his palm and a slow smile spread across his face.

  “I think you’re ready. We’ve got some work to do.”

  26

  The Naviband led them to a loading dock—a broad space with room for goods that currently stood clear. The outside wall was lined with huge truck-sized garage doors that could roll up to open, but were closed and kept locked.

  Dizziness washed through Kai, and the serum burned through his veins. The room, once a clinical, clean space, suddenly writhed around them like demons captured in stone. The once-smooth floor spread away from them, chipped and pock marked—half-buried under countless sleeping darKounds. Kai thought he might throw up.

  He shot a glance at Bree. There was nothing in her expression that showed she could see what he was seeing. Somehow, he doubted he’d get her across if she could.

  Kai tiptoed between the black lumps, leading his troupe to the opening. Kai cringed each time someone’s knee creaked, and he shot up a hand to halt them as he watched a ripple of consciousness sweep over the darKounds. For endless moments, he stopped breathing.

  Kai waited until all their heads were down, their closed eyes invisible slits against their blue-black skin before moving on. Crossing the room took an eternity. The floor levelled out beyond the doorway and Kai stopped to wait for his friends.

  Bree got out first. Zap made it through next, and together they watched Ruaan crossing the floor. The relief on his face was almost comical.

  Together, they ran to the desert buggy that had brought them in from the gate.

  No sooner had they cleared the gateway and an external alarm went off, an ear-splitting metallic scream that bounced up and down the deserted passages.

  Ruaan swung around, his eyes stretched wide and glowing in the gloom. “They’re coming. It’s too late.”

  Seconds later, they were surrounded. Kai saw an opening in the crush of guards and took his chance. He put his foot flat on the accelerator and prayed that the guards would have enough sense to move.

  Beyond the gate stretched the desert and freedom.

  ~*~

  Evazee stood in Torn’s office. Shasta was so close that if she breathed in too deeply, her back would brush against his chest. It was like paddling on the edge of a black hole. Any moment she could slip into oblivion. It wouldn’t be too much longer until she lost a grip on real life and got sucked into his reality. His fingertips traced circles in the nape of her neck, and he hummed an unfamiliar tune.

  “Well, what do you know. I come back for my things, and I find you too. It doesn’t get better than this.” He breathed heat down her neck. “Somewhere in this stuffy building, is a stash of important things. You will help me find them.”

  “I don’t know what you’re looking for.”

  “Hmm, I can fix that.” He cupped the base of her skull in one hand, and clamped the other over her forehead. Images filled her mind. Images of faces. Her friends. A deep rebellion burned in her belly.

  Her fingers traced the bottle in her fingers. Thinking through sludge. Options. Try to drink it? Or throw it in his face like holy water at a vampire? His thoughts threaded through hers like weeds. Choking them, dragging them down.

  His mouth moved next to her ear. “I can read your mind, love.” His hand slipped down her arm, fingers closed around hers, his skin as cold as marble. With a quick snap of his fingers, he crushed her hand, shattering the bottle. The glass sliced through her skin. Blood and water flowed. Broken glass dropped from Evazee’s bleeding hand. The water was wasted. Gone. At least she had one more bottle. Pain sliced through Evazee, and she fought back tears.

  Shasta’s fingers entwined her hair at the base of her neck, gentle at first; then he grabbed hold with a yank that made her eyes water.

  “Let’s go find my things.” He yanked her out of the office and down the passage.

  It was all Evazee could do to keep her feet underneath herself. If she could send thoughts she would. Run, friends. Run.

  ~*~

  They shot along the passage fast enough that the tunnel walls blurred. Bree was squashed into the seat next to Kai. “What’s the plan?”

  “We need to recruit.” Kai stared dead ahead without looking her in the eye.

  “From where
?”

  “We start wherever this rattletrap takes us.”

  Bree’s nose wrinkled, “That doesn’t sound like a plan.”

  Kai squinted at the GPS built into the dashboard. “There’s a junction coming up ahead. We’re taking the left track. The switch is on your side of the dashboard.” Kai glanced at her face as she searched for it. Her nose was the most perfect thing.

  “Got it.”

  “And switch...now.”

  She flicked it hard and the shuttle jerked left, into a tunnel lower and closer than what they’d been in.

  Bree settled back and pulled her knees up to her chest, pensive and sad.

  “Did you see anything in that last room we came through?”

  Bree peered at him from under heavy lids. “It was an empty room. What are you talking about? What did you see?”

  Nothing would make him tell her. “I was just wondering. I thought maybe with your gifting you’d see something different.”

  “What about your gifting? Shouldn’t you be fixing things?”

  That whole thing hasn’t been working for a while now. Maybe I’m burnt out. I don’t know. “I’m trying.”

  Bree caught his eye and grinned. “Well now, that’s an understatement.” She laughed and for a moment the gloom they’d been living under lifted.

  “That is such an old joke. Couldn’t you at least try to come up with something new?”

  Before Bree could answer, their transport ground to a halt. The cover drew back and a soft glow washed over them.

  With what Kai knew now, it curdled his insides. He hoisted himself over the edge of the shuttle, and his feet landed on gritty sand. The transport had brought them to a quiet section of Stone City, but for the first time, they were seeing it in the natural not the spiritual.

  “What is this place?” Zap scratched his head.

  Ruaan stared at it, his eyes glowing faintly. “It’s a city within a city. A commune of sorts, and this tunnel brought us right into the middle of it.”

  Bree frowned hard. “It’s so familiar but so foreign. The buildings look so cold. They look dirty even though they’re not.”

  “Things look different without light.” Kai felt much like the buildings looked.

  Ruaan sighed. “At least the food here is good. Didn’t care much for the fashion, though.”

  Zap snorted. “Oh, I dunno. I thought you looked rather fetching in your seamless dress. Dashing in a way.”

  “I’ll dash your face with my fists.” Ruaan puffed up, shifting his weight from side to side. It was the first time Kai had seen him anywhere close to grumpy since he’d put his amulet on.

  “Shut it, you two. We have company.” Kai put himself between his friends and the group approaching.

  They were dressed in tired, dirty versions of Kai’s jeans and T-shirt with no sign of Stone Cities’ strange garb amongst them. Thick dust caked their skin, collecting in the wrinkles and creases.

  The man in front stepped forward flexing his fists, muscles rippling through the fabric of his T-shirt. His head was shaved and tattooed. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  Bree pushed past Kai. “They’re with me, Roach. Can we talk?”

  Zap elbowed Ruaan, and his lips were a stiff line as he repressed a giggle. “Roach,” he whispered. “Seriously, like cockroach?”

  Ruaan shuffled sideways as if he could disassociate himself from Zap and his misplaced humour.

  The man named Roach stared Zap down with his pale grey eyes all flinty as Bree spoke to him too softly for Kai to hear what was being said.

  Zap coughed and swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck.

  Bree finished her speech with a shrug, Roach checked out the rest of them and nodded once. “Follow me.”

  Kai had never been this close to an actual garbage dump. The stench was enough to make his eyes water. He blinked and choked down a cough. The fishy-ness of it all took him by surprise. He didn’t have enough time to investigate to find exactly what could smell that strongly as Roach led them between two high mounds. Kai kept his gaze on the ground at his feet.

  Zap still chuckled as he walked.

  Kai wondered if he wasn’t seeing any green because of the serum in his blood, or more strangely, because nothing here was deeply broken. How was it possible that a beautifully designed, glowing city could be green to its core, but this garbage dump made from everything that was discarded was fine. It wasn’t logical.

  They walked for at least two minutes through unending piles of rubbish. They came to a halt at a particularly large pile and Roach whistled, low and hollow.

  Kai blinked and rubbed his eyes.

  The garbage was rolling to the side. It took Kai a few moments to realize that this particular pile of rubbish was fake, nothing more than a front for whatever lay beyond it, which turned out to be more garbage.

  By the third sliding door, Kai was losing patience. But it drew back and they walked out of chaos into order. They walked on a neat road of pressed sand, compressed and polished to just short of shiny. Grassy fields stretched away on both sides of the road, clipped short to a rolling lawn, dotted with tidy wooden structures. After breathing garbage-dump air, this felt like it was washing his lungs out.

  Zap slipped next to Kai as they walked. “The light feels different here, don’t you think?”

  “I was just thinking that. The buildings aren’t glowing. There’s no sun, but I can’t see where the light is coming from. It’s a bit like that other place we were at. The one made from glowing stones. That was beautiful yet rotten inside. So weird.”

  “It’s all around us.” Ruaan’s eyes glowed faint grey. “It’s the moisture in the air that’s carrying the light.”

  “I see it now.” Kai blinked in wonder. The air around him sparkled in rainbow colours as each droplet glowed as if lit by inner light.

  Their rough host paid no attention to any of the wonder that had Kai’s head spinning. He walked them over to a wooden structure set into the side of a bank of land tall enough to be called a small mountain. A house built into the mountain—surely the insides would be dark and close.

  Roach stood to the side and waved them through the doorway. There was a strange elegance to how he moved that seemed at odds with his rough appearance.

  The entrance hall was as gloomy as Kai was expecting. The only decor was a map pinned up on one wall, unlike anything Kai had seen before. No place names, just co-ordinates. A few of the places were lit up in different colours.

  Ruaan got stuck staring at it, but Roach led them through a partition into a lounge area.

  Kai gasped. One length of the room was glass, overlooking a vast body of water similar to what they’d seen at the Resonance Pools, yet distinctly different. The water sparkled and shimmered, sending up the fine mist that lit the atmosphere. The glow from the water lit the room brighter than sunshine on a summer’s day.

  Bree hung back, rocking back and forth on her feet and frowning at the water. Roach grinned at her, and it changed his face. Ignoring the rest of them, he placed a hand gently on her back and led her forward. At their approach, the glass panes clicked and drew back.

  The fresh air washed over Kai. After the biting stench of the slums, the freshness was so sweet, it made him a little tearful.

  Roach spoke softly to Bree in words Kai couldn’t hear. He took her right out on the deck and sat her on the edge, hovering close in a protective way that made Kai want to shove him. He went closer to see what was happening.

  Zap and Ruaan stood transfixed, staring at the water with their mouths open.

  Roach scooped up the water and let it run through his fingers. It tumbled from his hands as if it were alive.

  The reflections played across Bree’s face, softening the hardness that Kai had grown used to seeing. She was so beautiful, and it made his heart ache.

  Roach spoke softly. “Wash your hands, and I’ll get us something to eat while we chat.”

  Bree reached down, hesitated at the su
rface and plunged her hands in. She rubbed the dirt off her damaged hand with the good one and stopped. She sat still for a full minute not moving. When she drew her hands out of the water, her damaged hand was whole again.

  ~*~

  The door hissed open and a short messenger fast-walked to Roach. Two guys waited at the door, they had the look of rugby players with bunches of muscles tucked under their skin in each arm.

  One pulled Roach over to the side and whispered in an urgent voice, casting furtive glances towards Kai.

  Roach nodded. All the softness that was on his face while speaking to Bree was gone, and he pointed at Kai. “You have to leave. Now.”

  Bree left the water and moved closer to Kai, who wasn’t saying anything. “Why do we have to leave?”

  “Not all of you. You’re welcome to stay. Just him.” He flicked his head at Kai, and the two strong guys were on him in seconds. They grabbed him, and Ruaan and Zap flew at them.

  “Wait! Ruaan, no. I’ll go.”

  Zap inserted himself between Kai and Roach. “If one goes, we all go. But before we do, there is something you need to know. If you’re against what’s happening, the take-over, then we’re on your side. I don’t know what you’ve got against Kai, but you’re wrong. We’re doing everything in our power to shut this operation down. If that’s what you stand for, then I urge you to hear us out. You’re making a big mistake.” The vein in Zap’s temple pulsed and red flooded his cheeks.

  Roach considered him in silence for a moment. “As I said. You all can stay, but he goes. Now.”

  Kai went with the two without putting up a fight.

  “Kai! Say something.” Bree turned to Zap. “What’s in his head? Why isn’t he saying anything?”

  Zap’s face was a mask of confusion. “Beats me. His brain has become foggy to me. I can’t read his thoughts anymore.”

  Ruaan shook his head. “I’m going. You lot coming?” It came out as a question, but the underlying tone gave no room for arguing. The others scuttled to the door.

  Bree was already out when she turned around and ran back to Roach. Standing on tiptoes, she whispered in his ear. He frowned at her, but she patted him on the arm and he nodded.