Jetta tried to turn away, but her sister pushed her to the ground and held her down.
“I can’t feel him. Can you?” Jaeia asked.
Jetta struggled to get up, but her twin held her down with remarkable strength.
“Does that matter?” Jetta said, trying to get an elbow lock on her, but her sister evaded her attempts. “I would have thought that wouldn’t be enough. He’s our brother—doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Jaeia let go and sat back, pain spreading across her face, but at the moment Jetta didn’t care.
“How could you even think that?” Jaeia whispered. Her breath caught, and she looked away. “I love him just as much as I love you. It kills me to think that something may have happened to him, but we can’t just rush off, Jetta. There are still holes in my memories, and I know there are still holes in yours. We don’t know what kind of danger lies beyond the horizon. I want to look for him, but my gut tells me that we need to remember everything first.”
“This is not the time to wait—it’s the time to act,” Jetta replied angrily.
Jetta vaulted over the ridge and onto the narrow trail below, tuning out her twin’s protests as she climbed down the mountain base. If Jaeia won’t help me, I’ll do it alone. She might not be able to feel Jahx, but once she got a ship and left Tralora she’d somehow find her way back to the Dominion and figure out where they had taken him.
Excruciating pain hammered her legs each time she leapt from rock to rock. She had pushed her body through tougher times, and there was no room for self-pity. I will find my brother.
Jaeia screamed. By the time Jetta managed to interpret Jaeia’s scattered mental impressions, a high-pitched shriek erupted from the forest ahead of her. Wood groaned and split beneath heavy footfalls. The leaves shook violently, and bits of foliage flew away in the wind.
Jetta stepped back when she saw the huge shadow-toppling mammoth timberwood trees in its path.
“Oe Vead,” Jetta cursed in Fiorahian.
Moonlight revealed the colossal monster charging toward her, a deformed, agitating mass of wildly proliferating organs and appendages that she couldn’t have imagined in her worst nightmares. Misshapen eyes bulged from bloody sockets. Clumps of hair decorated grainy, discolored skin hanging like drapes in some places and stretched taut in others.
The disease, she thought as the sight of a gaping mouth full of razored teeth soldered her in place.
Run! Jaeia yelled in the back of her mind.
Jetta commanded her body to run, but nothing happened; she couldn’t even breathe. Points of light dotted her vision, and she swayed on her feet.
“Stupid launnie—run!”
A rough hand grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her backward. The tattooed man stepped in front of her and withdrew a firearm. He fired a few rounds into the beast, knocking it back.
“Come on!”
Senka took her hand, helping her to scramble up the trail as fast as she could. Still dazed and numb, Jetta fell twice, dislodging rocks that narrowly missed hitting Senka.
The tattooed man bellowed. Jetta looked back in horror. Smoke from the blast rounds rose from the creature’s crisping flesh, but the creature did not notice or care as it continued to advance.
“His clip is empty!” Jetta said, tugging on Senka’s sleeve.
“Chak,” Senka said. Putting her hands to her mouth, she shouted down the mountain: “Hold on, Rawyll! Dinjin and Crissn are coming!”
They’re not going to get here in time, Jetta thought as the two other men stumbled down the mountain, bag full of weapons in tow.
Jetta looked back down to the tattooed man. Gods, what am I doing? I’m running away. Again. I’m leaving someone behind. The faces of her aunt, uncle and brother flashed before her eyes.
Fear and angered warred within. No, she thought, hands balling into fists, trying to convince herself that the tattooed man meant nothing to her.
(I will not run anymore.)
She had to go back.
“Hey, no!” Senka cried as Jetta leapt off the trail and scrambled down through the brush to the forest floor.
“Jetta!” Jaeia screamed as Jetta came to a standstill before the abomination. The creature slowed and dropped down onto all five of its appendages, readying its attack.
A sense of calm spread through her, much like the calm she’d felt all those times she faced Yahmen, allowing her to absorb his taunts and blows without flinching.
“Get back up that mountain!” Rawyll growled, backing away as he unsheathed a bladed weapon from his belt.
The creature let loose a deafening roar and reared up on its hind legs. Ribs cracked apart, and its chest blossomed like a flower, revealing rows of hollow teeth and a mucus-lined gullet. It lashed out at Jetta with a fleshy tentacle, but she threw herself to the left, narrowly avoiding its attack.
“Take this!” Rawyll shouted, tossing something silver toward her across the forest floor. The weapon, with its three blades and large handle, was like nothing she had seen or used before, but felt light for its size.
When the creature lashed out at Jetta again, she swiped at it with all her might. She missed, teetering backward, barely managing to stay on her feet.
“Mind your balance!” Rawyll shouted, sinking his blade into one of the creature’s arms. It shrieked and retracted.
Seeing that it directed its attention on Rawyll, Jetta tried again, this time managing to connect. The center blade on her weapon sliced through one of the creature’s smaller tentacles, cutting it cleanly off. As it whipped back its stump, the creature doused them in black fluid.
Jetta took a step back. The severed tentacle writhed and wiggled on the ground, then lay still. She was about to turn away when little red feelers erupted from the felled tentacle, searching for something to grab onto. As the creature pulled itself up on nearby branches, Jetta realized with a mixture of disgust and horror that the thing couldn’t be stopped unless it was completely destroyed.
“Get up the mountain, now!” Rawyll screamed, taking off toward the trail.
She knew she should follow his order, but something inside wouldn’t let her leave. At first she thought it was curiosity, but as the feeling grew in intensity, she realized it was more than that. I want to kill it.
Oh Gods no, Jetta—come back—please!
Jetta pushed her sister’s thoughts aside with a burgeoning smile.
As the other Exiles screamed at her to run back up the trail, the creature lashed out again. Jetta ducked, avoiding the first tentacle, but the second and third slapped down around her neck and leg, yanking her to the ground and dragging her toward its maw.
Jetta! Jaeia screamed across their bond. Please, Gods—you have to fight!
Mucus and saliva flung across her face as it pulled her leg over its lips. The edge of its teeth shredded into her pants as she bucked and thrashed, lacerating her skin.
It’s going to eat me! Jetta panicked, clawing at the tentacle tightening around her neck. The monster’s putrescent breath steamed on her face as it pulled her deeper into its gullet, teeth cutting into her legs and hips.
(No.)
A dark voice, assailing her from within, called forth. (There is no one to hold you back. Kill it.)
There is no one to stop me, Jetta repeated. No siblings to intervene, no conscience to cripple her fight. This was life or death battle against a festering monster.
(Use your greatest power.)
Without bonds, Jetta ground her teeth together, digging down into the darkest places within herself, bringing to the forefront of her mind her all the hatred she had ever known—for Yahmen, Rogman, the Core—for all those that had harmed her and her siblings—and hurled it at the monster. The creature paused, breathing halting and frothy, but resumed its attack.
In the back of her mind, she heard Jaeia cry out as it swallowed both of her feet. The walls of its throat contracted and relaxed, trying to pull her further down the digestive canal.
&
nbsp; Razored teeth came closing down.
I’m not dying like this, Jetta though, concentrating harder. She channeled all her negative energy, undamming every emotion she had ever buried away, invoking her darkest fantasies.
She saw herself on top of Yahmen, striking him repeatedly in the face until it was nothing but ribbons of blood and flesh. After pulverizing his face, she took his fat neck in her hands, wringing it until he turned blue and his feet kicked helplessly against the ground.
She imagined each Core officer, teacher, and soldier—even the cadets—lined up against a wall, where she systemically exterminated them with the same precision and indifference that they had used to deconstruct her and her siblings. She ended the mass extermination with Rogman, taking the time to broil every last nerve fiber before she tired of his pathetic pleading for the mercy he had never shown her.
The child laborers were there, too, the ones that had beaten them for their food, for being human, for being smaller—for existing. In her mind she landed blow after blow on their smug faces until they were bloody pulp, leaving enough breath in them for the ship rats to finish the job she had started.
Jetta opened her eyes. Razored teeth froze millimeters from her face. The creature gagged and spat, a wet tongue pushing her from its mouth. She landed hard on the ground, slathered in saliva and blood, but undigested.
Die, she shrieked across the psionic planes.
The creature’s body trembled and curled in on itself. Reveling in her newfound power, she poured every part of herself into reviving the terrible imaginings she once restrained, feeling the power surge through her body like an overcharged circuit. Electrified, she wanted more.
She felt his soft eyes squish and erupt around her thumbs as she dug her fingers into his face, screaming at the top of her lungs. Yahmen pleaded for her to stop as she kicked him in the stomach, lashing him with the same belt he had used so many times on her and her siblings.
(You’re nothing! Don’t you understand? You’re nothing!) she cried over and over again until his body disintegrated into the bloodied floorboards.
(Jetta—get back!)
The voice penetrated through her illusion this time, jarring her concentration. She looked up to the ridge to see Rawyll taking aim at the creature with a modified firearm the others had brought him. Jaeia stood with them, motioning and screaming for her to run to safety.
Jetta did not want to stop, but Jaeia called to her again, this time using her second voice.
Jetta—GET BACK.
Jetta found her desire waning as Jaeia’s manipulation eroded her bloodlust. She could still feel the phantom outline of Yahmen’s skull in her hands, but it faded like a dying fire with every breath she took. Dazed and unsatisfied, Jetta ascended the mountain trail, chased by the wheezes and agonies of monster writhing on the ground.
Once Jetta reached the first ridge, the tattooed man fired what appeared to be a badly damaged double-barreled hand cannon. The discharge seemed louder than it should have been, and Jetta covered her ears and dropped to her knees. When the quaking ground settled, she looked up to see the smoldering remains of the creature embedded into a crater in the forest floor.
Hands shook her shoulder. Jetta turned around to find Rawyll, Senka, and Jaeia standing over and yelling at her, but she couldn’t hear them above the ringing noise in her ears. She could, however, hear the barrage of reprimands sent by her twin telepathically.
How could you do that?—you should never use your powers like that—what if you had been injured?—never, never again—streamed into her head. It sounded not just angry, but rattled—almost shattered—something she never would have expected from Jaeia.
Jetta wasn’t sure why this was so different. She had done plenty of things that weren’t exactly safe—fighting with larger child laborers, stealing from the miners’ food supply, even attempting to snatch a gun off one of their guards outside their old apartment. Using their talents was a means to survive, so why not use it aggressively, especially when everybody already knew what they were?
The tattooed man grabbed Jetta by the arm and tried to yank her to her feet, but Senka pulled him off her. The two adults shouted at each other until Rawyll, scowling down his ridged nose at Senka and palming his fist, stalked back to the main entrance. Senka shot Jetta a look of disappointment before motioning for the two of them to follow her.
By the time they reached the main cavern to reconvene, the ringing in her ears had dissipated to a dull buzz.
“Sit,” Rawyll commanded, pointing to two of the seats around the fire pit. Jaeia sat immediately, but Jetta refused.
“What kind of stunt was that?” Rawyll yelled, throwing down his weapons belt and ripping off his furskin, which had been torn to shreds during the fight. Jetta hid her astonishment as Rawyll revealed a muscular, athletic body covered in battle scars and intricately woven tattoos. Whoever Rawyll was, he had clearly been an important person where he came from.
Senka and the others didn’t move to intervene as Rawyll chewed her out, and the Grand Oblin, still in the form of a middle-aged woman, paced behind the group. “You are not allowed leave the cave system, let alone mess with the bioshield,” Rawyll shouted. “We have risked our lives to take you in, and you just throw it all away for what? There is only death outside!”
“You could have gotten us all killed,” Senka added sternly.
Jaeia’s voice bulldozed its way back into Jetta’s head. You can’t run off like that ever again. I need you here, with me. If we’re going to get through this, we have to work together.
With her sister’s anger and fear rattling in the back of her skull, Jetta found her confidence floundering. She had been so sure that she could get to the Narki city, find a ship and escape—and then when the monster came along, she was sure that she could defeat it using her talents.
Gods...that thing almost ate me, she thought, looking down at her pants, torn and wet with blood and mucus. What would have happened to my sister?
—what about Jahx?
Jetta tried to sound assertive. “I need to get a ship—we need to get out of here. My brother’s life depends on that.”
The Grand Oblin pushed through the center of the group. “Now is not the time to act hastily. We can help you if you will let us, but we will have to come up with a plan.”
Why are they always so eager to keep us here? Jetta thought, eyes narrowing. “I don’t trust you—any of you,” she growled.
Mind yourself, Jetta, her sister bade. They’re not our enemies.
Disregarding her sister’s caution, Jetta eyed what looked like a utensil for cleaning furskin next to her. It was short, but sharp. “So why should I stay?”
“We could put her in the hold, Grand, keep her there a while ‘til she settles. We can’t risk her going on another adventure and leaving us vulnerable,” Rawyll said through gritted teeth. Dinjin lowered his head to hide his smirk.
“No—that won’t be necessary,” Jaeia said, wrapping her hand around Jetta’s arm and pulling her against her side. Don’t even budge.
Surprised at the ferocity behind her sister’s words, Jetta complied.
“Just give us a night alone to cool off,” Jaeia said, words coming across soft and even. “Is it okay if we meet in the morning? We’re very sorry—about all of this.”
Simmering, Jetta couldn’t believe her sister’s hypocrisy. She’s using her second voice again! How can she reprimand me for defending myself when she’s using it for control?
“That’s fine,” the Grand Oblin said, holding her hand up to keep Rawyll from further antagonism. “See you in the morning.”
The Exiles talked heatedly amongst themselves as Jetta and Jaeia returned to their cavern. The doubt and frustration that lingered in their thoughts echoed in Jetta’s head even after she could no longer hear their words.
“Jetta,” Jaeia said, her voice barely above a whisper. “You can never do that again. Don’t leave me.”
Jetta dragged h
er knuckles across the rocks, in need of the pain. “What, and stay here and be their prisoners?”
Without waiting for her sister’s reply, Jetta hurried ahead, ducking into their cavern. She jumped up onto a rock shelf and tightened the band that held back her hair, refusing to look at her sister.
“They don’t treat us as prisoners,” her sister said, leaning back against the cave wall. “They’re protecting us. And they’re not sure of us yet. You can’t judge them for that. We’re not sure of them either.”
Jetta glared at her sister.
“I don’t want to believe that everyone is out to get us,” Jaeia said. “I can’t live like that. I don’t want to.”
“That’s ignorant, Jaeia,” Jetta said. It crossed her mind to call her weak, afraid, but she bit her tongue, holding back words she knew would tear her sister apart. Jetta looked at her scraped knuckles. “Everyone tries to use us.”
“Well, what about Uncle Galm and Aunt Lohien? They weren’t like that.”
Jetta looked away and said nothing. Even hearing their uncle and aunt’s names made her stomach ache.
“Jetta, what’s wrong?” Jaeia asked, her eyebrows knitting together as she pushed herself up from her perch against the cave wall.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Jetta bit her lip and tried to rein in her emotions. She couldn’t allow herself to think about Galm or Lohien.
“Jetta,” Jaeia whispered, putting a hand on her foot and looking up at her. “You’ve only ever wanted what was best for us. There’s nothing wrong with that. Galm and Lohien—they wouldn’t have made it anyway. We had to leave them behind. Let it go.”
Jetta flicked her foot away and concentrated on the rhythm of her breathing. She had to think about how they would get out of here, not wallow in past deeds.
If only we could have gone with Captain Reht and the dog-soldiers, Jetta thought. We’d have gone back to Fiorah with an armed crew and killed Yahmen, saved our parents. And Jahx, Gods—he wouldn’t be missing—
“None of this is your fault,” Jaeia said.
Jetta hid her face behind a stalactite as her stomach churned. This is all my fault.
Triorion Omnibus Page 18
