Destiny Series Boxed Set

by Bronwyn Leroux

  As Jaden and Iri watched them leave, he asked, “So, Han does love Taz?”

  “Now what sort of friend would I be if I betrayed a trust?” Iri said with an impish grin.

  Chuckling, Jaden led her indoors, relieved she seemed to have regained some of her levity. “Time we found that device Zareh mentioned.”

  But search as they did, they came up empty.

  “He said it would be here, right?” Jaden asked.

  “He did.” Iri frowned. “I see now why you get upset with him. It would’ve been helpful if he’d told us where in your home it would be waiting.”

  Jaden grinned. “I’m glad you’re coming around to my side of things. You see what he does? He gives you information, and you think you understand only to find you have no clue when it’s time for action.”

  “I say we call it quits. Perhaps he told Taz where we can find it. We’ll have to wait until we see them again.”

  “I agree. Let’s find some food!”

  With a chuckle, Iri followed him to the kitchen.

  Chapter Eleven

  Kayla felt like they had abandoned her. She hadn’t had contact with anyone in days, not even Tarise. Not that she minded not hearing or smelling the Gaptor entering and leaving her room, delivering her food and water while she slept.

  Two thoughts struck her. First, her head had stopped pounding. Second, she was sleeping all the time. Worry resurfaced at the second thought.

  An infection in her leg would explain all the sleeping and the continued mental fuzziness. It would also explain the pain that still flared whenever she tried to put weight on her leg, enough to make her want to pass out.

  But while the pain hadn’t receded one iota, it also wasn’t spreading. Shouldn’t she feel the effects in other areas if her leg was infected? She would have a fever. But she didn’t.

  Kayla was still working through the problem when someone spoke. “Enough time on your own?”

  Again, she hadn’t heard Tarise enter. “How long have you been sitting there?”

  A bitter laugh. “So you worked it out, did you?”

  “Tarise, what did they do to you?”

  “Nothing I care to repeat. But I can tell you I haven’t seen Jaden or any of the others while they’ve been carting me around.”

  No tone. A flat statement. Except for the last three words, tinged with . . . regret? Anger? Resignation?

  Tarise sighed. “Are you still not speaking to me?”

  Kayla realized she hadn’t responded. “Thank you for telling me the others aren’t here. I guess it’s just the two of us then. When did you get here?”

  “About the same time as you.”

  Vague. “Not before?”

  “Why would I get here before you?”

  “Because you left Jaden’s house before I did. Meaning they would’ve taken your ‘pod out first. Ergo, you could’ve arrived here before me.”

  Tarise snorted. “You didn’t leave that long after me. Why would they bring us here separately?”

  To mask her sharp intake of breath, Kayla pretended to clear her throat. Does Tarise know she slipped up? Should I press her on the point? Or pretend I didn’t notice and continue this charade even though Tarise is potentially playing me? Either of her own accord or because she’s being coerced?

  Kayla went with playing dumb. “I suppose it makes sense they brought us here together. Probably why you haven’t seen Jaden and the others. I expect they stayed at the house long after we left, and none of them were stupid enough to leave on their own.”

  Silence. It only fed Kayla’s suspicions.

  “How’s the food?”

  The radical change in topic was a clear sign Tarise didn’t intend further discussing either her abduction or their friends, which only added to the picture Kayla was painting. While their last conversation had aroused Kayla’s suspicions, today’s discussion was doing nothing except confirm them. Considering that, she should answer the question. No use letting Tarise guess Kayla didn’t trust her. “Palatable.”

  “At least it’s better than the water. You’d think they’d give us something else to drink now and then.”

  There it was. That weird tone again. And Kayla finally understood. The water! Tarise is trying to warn me about the water. Kayla’s mind raced. The EMPs couldn’t affect her because her ring countered the numbing effects. Therefore, her captors had to find another way to incapacitate her so she couldn’t escape. What better way than drugging the water?

  Testing her conclusion, Kayla said, “Yeah, you’d think they’d vary our beverage options as much as our food.”

  “I’m glad you agree.”

  That flat tone again. It must mean she’s telling the truth, Kayla decided. But why would Tarise help if she’s playing me? The only feasible answer was that Kayla still didn’t have the whole picture. She would have to work on that. “How about staying for dinner?”

  Tarise laughed, the sound mirthless. “Inviting me on a date?”

  Kayla wasn’t sure how to react. One minute Tarise was warning her; the next she was displaying her contempt. Maybe that’s part of the show? To stop those who are monitoring our interactions from guessing Tarise is trying to help me?

  Kayla’s headache worsened. The mental gymnastics weren’t helping. “No, I guess we’ll never be friends. Why don’t you disappear down whatever hole you crawled out of?”

  Kayla’s tone was cooler than she’d meant it to be. But if Tarise was playing a part, Kayla could do no less. She had to make those listening dismiss any notions of collusion.

  “Ah, there’s the Kayla we all know and love. That’s my cue to go. Enjoy your meal.”

  Slight emphasis on the word meal. Tarise was definitely telling her not to drink the water. It also confirmed that Tarise wasn’t holding her less-than-polite comment against her. “Bye then,” Kayla replied, but the click indicated Tarise had left. It didn’t matter. As long as whoever was listening had heard Kayla supposedly didn’t care, that was the important thing.

  Minutes later, there was the familiar scrape of claws on the floor. Kayla quickly sucked in air and held her breath. She didn’t want to smell the Gaptor. The stench always made her feel sick. Dumping the food tray, the beast lumbered out again.

  Kayla released her held breath. Still, with her next intake of air, the creature’s lingering stink made her wish she had held on a little longer. She waited until the nausea passed and for some time after that before she reached for the tray.

  If she wasn’t already sure someone was listening to her conversations, she knew now. Instead of water, the plastic mug held juice. Probably still laced with whatever they’d been using to drug her.

  But she needed fluids. For a moment, Kayla regretted her comment about the water. It provided better hydration than juice. Deciding she would leave the juice until after she’d eaten, she finished what was on the tray. Only when she reached for the juice did she figure it out.

  They had been listening. This time, they had drugged the food. Her eyes were already drooping. Maybe if she could get in a few mouthfuls of juice, she might dilute the . . .

  Kayla had never seen such a strange sight. She blinked, trying to make sense of it. A tree shimmered with iridescent drops. They plopped off every branch, steaming and hissing where they hit the ground, as though a huge temperature differential caused the reaction.

  Bending down, Kayla touched the ground. It was neither hot nor cold. It must be the water. She took a step toward the tree, thirsty beyond reason. Then she saw the pits forming where the water hit. Not a temperature difference, and it wasn’t water—it was some kind of acid, burning into the ground.

  Kayla gaped as the pits became pockets. Then holes. All the while, the tree continued spitting its poisonous beads. The holes became craters. Without warning, the earth beneath her gave way. Kayla was falling. She screamed, trying to latch onto something, anything, to break her fall.

  Her hand hit something. A root. She grabbed at it. But the r
oot felt wrong. Then it writhed and moved under her hand. She shrieked, the fangs of a snake suddenly in her face. Kayla let go. The snake couldn’t save her and getting bitten wasn’t on her to-do list.

  Abruptly, Kayla hit something, and her leg felt like it had snapped in two. The wail of pain sounded wrong.

  She woke, her throat hoarse from screaming. Sobbing, Kayla clutched at her leg. That part had been real. Had she been thrashing about in her bed, aggravating the injury?

  “Why the commotion?”

  Tarise’s voice was cold, uncaring. It took Kayla more than a moment to compose herself. “Sorry, bad dream.”

  Barely a beat passed before Tarise said, “It must’ve been something you ate. Go back to sleep.”

  And there it was. The slight emphasis on the word ate, confirming what Kayla realized right before she passed out. They had drugged the food. Except they hadn’t designed the drug and the food to work together, causing the nightmare instead of a deep, dreamless sleep.

  “Maybe I’ll stick to water from now on.” Kayla hoped Tarise understood.

  “Do what you must.” Tarise’s reply was blasé. “I’ll do what I can to convince them not to give you that meal again as it obviously doesn’t agree with you.” That almost sounded compassionate until Tarise added, “I can’t have you interrupting my beauty sleep.”

  She delivered the last sentence with spite. Both a warning and . . . what? Irritation? Either way, another slip. For someone who was a genius, Tarise wasn’t acting like it.

  Her leg shot out another burst of agony. Kayla groaned and gingerly touched her leg. “Is there any way you could get them to come and look at my leg? It’s killing me. I think it’s infected.”

  Silence. Then a hand touched her forehead. Kayla got such a fright she jerked back. How had Tarise become so good at sneaking around? The voice whispering in her ear was even worse. A slithering hiss of sound and air as the words rushed past her ear, almost too soft to hear.

  “It’s an implant in your leg meant to keep you from moving.”

  Then Tarise leaned back, her voice loud and infused with boredom. “You don’t have a fever. There’s no infection. You’ll live. I’m going back to bed. Try not to wake me again.”

  A moment later the door clicked, and Kayla was alone again. Her brain buzzed. So much information in such a short time. She almost couldn’t focus on a single thing. Forcing herself to calm down, she began mentally checking off the list in no particular order. First, Tarise had been walking! She hadn’t been in a wheelchair. So either the wheelchair had been a ploy, or Tarise’s injuries had healed enough to allow her to walk again. Second, Tarise had needed an excuse to get close to her to pass along that gem about the implant. That was third—and holy cow! What a third!

  Kayla would never have dreamed she had an implant in her leg. All this time, she thought she had broken it. She analyzed her condition clinically, like she should’ve done earlier considering her medical training. Yes, it all makes perfect sense. I should’ve seen this before.

  Itching to test how far she could move her leg before the implant spiked her with pain, she resisted. If someone was listening to their conversations, who was to say they weren’t watching as well? If they noticed Kayla testing her leg, it would broadcast Tarise had provided the information and be the end of any chance of escape.

  Although that raised the fourth point, something she had wondered countless times before. Why was Tarise helping her? Tarise hated her for “taking Jaden away.” Kayla had seen her rage on that rooftop before she left. There was no way someone got over that level of jealousy or resentment in mere days.

  It meant only one thing: Tarise needed Kayla as much as Kayla needed her. Without the other, neither would escape. That was why Tarise had warned her about the drugged water. And drugged food. She couldn’t have Kayla semi-lucid when they made a run for it.

  And that brought Kayla to her final point: She could, most definitely, not trust Tarise. It wasn’t only the sudden feigned friendship. The so-called “help” Tarise was giving with her warnings. It was also the inconsistencies in her narrative. How had Tarise known the time lapse between the Gaptors taking her and then taking Kayla? How could Tarise “convince them” not to drug the food again? Then there was the sudden absence of the wheelchair. Possibly because Kayla’s screams had made Tarise too rushed to remember the wheelchair?

  Kayla froze as a horrifying possibility occurred to her. Was Tarise in charge here? Had Tarise somehow orchestrated all of this? As farfetched as that sounded, Kayla couldn’t ignore the option. Tarise was playing her own game. And if Kayla didn’t figure out what it was, she was in for a world of trouble.

  Chapter Twelve

  Waking the next morning after a night spent tossing and turning, Jaden was more than irritable. They had no clue to Kayla’s location. They still had to find Zareh’s device. Then they had to destroy the Gaptor nests and locate and liberate a potential communication unit, all without alerting their enemy! What about his original mission? Wasn’t that more important?

  Grunting as he rolled out of bed, Jaden stumbled to the bathroom. Feeling better after a piping hot shower blasted him, he bounded down the stairs. Reaching the kitchen, he found his mother standing there, a mug of coffee in her hand while she stared into space.

  “Mom?”

  Clara blinked. “Morning.” A smile crossed her face. “Want some breakfast?”

  “If you’re offering . . . “

  Clara’s smile only widened as she turned and began taking things out of the refrigerator.

  “What were you thinking about?”

  “Hmm?” Clara gazed at him absently. Then, as if his words had registered, she said, “I’m glad to be home again.”

  Should I say it?

  “And before you go giving me your puppy dog eyes,” Clara said with an eye roll, “I’m fine. I think the little ‘interlude’ we had with the usurper put a few things into perspective. No, I don’t think I’ll ever stop being terrified you and Kayla and the others have to deal with all this. That said, I have to believe if Zareh chose you, it’s because he believes you can do it. For him to have faith in someone is a powerful thing.”

  Jaden just sat there. He didn’t know what to say. How had Zareh of all people been able to assuage his mother’s concerns? He supposed seeing the little rascal pull people across worlds might have been a factor. Should he have been grateful to Zareh for this? Perhaps.

  “Well, there’s not much more I can say after a speech like that. Except to promise I’ll be as careful as possible.”

  His mother put down the eggs and hugged him. “I know you will. And I believe you can do this.”

  Jaden suddenly found it hard to swallow past the lump in his throat. Clearing it, he said, “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. But he can’t do it on an empty stomach. How about I cut some grapefruit to get the party started?”

  By the time breakfast was ready, his father, Atu, and Iri had joined them. Iri was a surprise addition, having opted to stay over rather than going back to the Melmiques the previous evening. It was a lively breakfast, and as Jaden sat back, replete after his meal, he soaked it all in. All too soon, his father was leaving for work, taking his mother with as she had mentioned running some errands.

  With the kitchen suddenly empty, Jaden felt like half of him was missing until Iri covered his hand with her own.

  “We’re still here. And now that your parents have left, perhaps we can discuss what’s next?”

  Jaden smiled. “Thanks. And as for your suggestion, I can’t say what we do next. We’re supposed to find the device and destroy the Gaptor nests, but I am thinking we need the gliders for both.”

  “In that case, shall we go to the roof and see if they’re there?”

  Jaden stood. “As soon as we’ve cleaned the kitchen.”

  They had just finished wiping down the counters when Jaden heard the door to the roof opening. How could his mother be home already? He was near
ing the stairs when a voice called down.

  “Jaden? It’s Vicken.”

  Surprised, Jaden met him as he reached the last step. “Hello. What are you doing here?”

  “Viho brought me on Taz’s orders.” Vicken nodded to Iri and Atu.

  Jaden had to think for a moment. Then he remembered Viho was Vicken’s glider. “Why?”

  “She said Zareh told her my talents would be helpful for whatever you have to do next.”

  There was no doubt about that. Was that the only thing Zareh had told Taz? “I presume the gliders are all up there?”

  “They are. They said to hurry.”

  Jaden snorted. “Of course she did.”

  Vicken grinned. “Yeah, it’s only ever her that gives the orders.”

  Chuckling, Jaden turned to Iri and Atu. “Let’s grab our packs and go meet the lady before she loses it.”

  Minutes later they had their suits on, were toting their packs and heading up the stairs.

  Vicken muttered something.

  “What was that?” Jaden asked.

  “Viho was a little sparse on intel when he fetched me. And Taz had no time to chat when I arrived, just shooed me inside for you three. Can you enlighten me? I’m feeling a little like the errand boy today.”

  Jaden laughed. “How do you feel about scouting Gaptor nests, then destroying them, while hoping to find a mysterious communication device that we must somehow acquire without leaving a trace we took it?”

  “Bring it on!”

  Jaden was still grinning when they exited onto the roof. “Wow! You didn’t tell me everyone was here.” It was quite the gathering. Not only were Han, Taz, and Aren there with Viho, but Pallaton and several members of the Legion floated nearby “Are we expecting trouble?”

  “Zareh thought it prudent to travel in numbers,” Taz replied.

  “Uh-huh,” was all Jaden said as he again wondered what else Taz knew but wasn’t telling them. “We’re ready to go except for one thing. Did Zareh tell you where we can find the device?” Jaden did a double take. Taz was smirking.