The man was quiet.
“He’s not pointing it at you now,” she noted.
Having finished cutting out the second rectangle, he stepped back and kicked hard, knocking the chunk of wall away and letting in the bright sun. He leaned forward and looked down the three stories to the ground. He pulled his head back in, grabbed a surprised Cord and tossed him out into the light.
He turned to the two in the corner, bowed and said sincerely, “I am sorry for threatening you and hurting you, Pierch. It was a despicable thing to do.” To her, he said, “I am in your debt, lady.”
“It was my honor,” she said, to the surprise of the man next to her. “You may settle your debt to me now with two promises. One, you must keep us safe from him, and two, you must serve and nourish your okin.”
“I will,” he swore, bowing low.
He turned his back on them and, sliding between the studs, jumped.
Chapter 37
Mercy took one last look around the house and then turned away from it.
Time to go, she thought without one ounce of remorse. She’d been itching to go since she had arrived. Everything she cared about was in front of her.
She got into the van and shut the door behind her. Inside, a very unhappy Smoke was being comforted by her still heavily pregnant aunt Lena. Mercy reached out her hands and took one of the twins from her dad and started buckling him into his child seat.
“You can do what you like, but I can’t abandon my brother.”
“I know,” he said, “and don’t talk of separating us. It is not an option. But I just can’t see how this could possibly work. None of this is safe for you or our child. You are due any day, love.”
“Really? Any day now? Oh, I’d forgot,” she said, sarcastically rolling her eyes and arching her back to make her belly even bigger. Then she said to the only man who could tolerate her particular brand of humor for any length of time, “I am not worried about that right now…”
“Yes you are,” he said, reading her heartbeat and knowing her as well as anyone.
She grit her teeth, “I am...we are doing what we think is right for our family.”
“You are disrupting and endangering the family,” he argued. “You endanger our children, Lena.” His voice held on to his own fears tightly.
She drew in a deep breath, as if she were going to yell, and then hesitated and let it out with a huff. Her own fear showed its face in the blush that spread over her cheeks, the wetting of her eyes and the tight grip she held her lips with. She shook her head shortly and leaned her face into his shoulder. With her eyes closed, she couldn’t see the pain that her unhappiness gave him.
Ian spoke for the first time from the driver’s seat, “Smoke. It is decided. We are going. You are going. We will make it work.”
“How? How will we live?” He was happy to direct his frustration away from his wife.
“We have enough money for a long while, thanks to Scythe.”
“I’m not going to thank him when I see him,” Smoke threatened, his eyes dark.
Mercy didn’t like that at all. “Oh, yeah? What exactly do you think you are going to do?”
Smoke blinked at the tone that nearly perfectly matched his wife’s. “I am going to speak with him about throwing what little peace we were able to find out the window.”
“That peace was ending anyway,” Ian said calmly, giving Mercy a mental swat for escalating the argument with Smoke.
Well, I didn’t like what he said. They used to be friends…
Do you have to make inflammatory comments every time you don’t like something?
Yes.
He sighed heavily.
She knew he was right, so she tried to sit quietly and focus on playing with the toddler next to her.
Her thoughts returned like homing pigeons to the place where they had been roosting for days, the place where they were flying to now, except it wasn’t really a place, it was a person.
“Nothing is more valuable to us than you,” Mercy had said, but he hadn’t believed it. For a moment, each of them had their beliefs tested.
But then her father had said, “I don’t respond well to blackmail,” and that was the end of it.
They weren’t responsible for the world, he had explained to her later. It was enough work to keep their own family safe and strong, and Scythe was definitely part of the family.
He had also said, “Mercy, peace based on suffering, even the suffering of one person, isn’t peace at all, it’s a perversion.”
Listening to him, she had realized what a great and wise man her father was. She felt so proud of him, proud to be his daughter.
The only thing she couldn’t stand about the whole situation was their insane plan. It was too dangerous, and Scythe was the one who had to take all the risks...again. She hadn’t been able to accept it, even when she was shown all the plans and even when he let her see, repeatedly, how confident he was that he could execute it. Even now, she carried the fear for him with her all the time. She didn’t even know if he had been able to escape like he had planned, since there had been no news of it. So she had no choice but to believe in his promise. His promise and her vision of their future together were the only things keeping her sane. She didn’t let herself think of the alternative. She didn’t let herself wonder if it had all been for nothing.
The van was quiet for the time it took to get to the school. The parking lot was dark that late at night and empty, save for a large dairy truck.
When they stopped, everyone got out and put the last of the things they intended to take with them into the truck. Since there were so many of them working, it didn’t take long.
In the truck, boxes were stacked up along the walls, filled with everything from food to personal belongings to electronic equipment to items easily sold in the bordertowns. Inside, Faith was sitting with Will on her lap. Mercy brought her cousin in his seat over to her.
“Where do you want him?”
“Right here is fine, and there for Loyal.”
“Everyone in,” Ian said. They quickly found a spot on the floor and Smoke and Ian started loading the genuine dairy supplies into the back end of the truck, covering each of them from view.
A border patrol car rolled into the parking lot, causing those inside to hunch behind the boxes until Ian said, “It’s okay. It’s Harmony.”
Their longtime friend stepped out of the car. She was wearing her uniform and looked tired. “I have your paperwork. Show it at the gate and you should be fine. There shouldn’t be an inspection. Just keep the kids quiet. The ID’s are there, too. They should be good for a while. It was easier to do than I thought with the directions you gave me.” She hesitated nervously. “Ian, were you serious about there being a danger to anyone with power?”
Ian nodded, “Of course, or we wouldn’t be doing all this. The thing we don’t know is when. Why?”
“You think it could be immediately?”
“We don’t think so. It might be a few more months, but we aren’t taking any chances. We’re going to find a place to settle in before things get hot and setting up gets more difficult. There is a chance, though, that it could be very soon. Why?”
“I...I’m worried, about my daughter.”
“Miriam?”
“Yes. How do you think they will find out who has power and who doesn’t?”
“We don’t know, but some people can just sense it in others.”
“But...that would mean a Human...helping them,” she said, outraged.
“Yes, there are Humans who are doing that now, Harmony. You know that.”
“I...guess I didn’t make the connection.” She looked back at her car for a moment.
Ian checked the time, saying, “Harmony, we are kind of on a schedule…”
“I want you...would you take us with you?” she asked suddenly.
“Take...why?
“I am powered, Ian,” she admitted, as if it were some kind of disease, “and I think Miriam mig
ht be, too.” Her eyes were pulled back to the car for a second time when a small voice floated out of it.
Ian was shocked, “You have a gift?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding.
“I never...you never even hinted…”
“No, I’m good at hiding it, and...I was afraid...it’s complicated. But I’m worried now, for Miriam and for myself.”
“Of course you can come, but you won’t have time to get…”
“I’ve already brought it all. We don’t have much.” She went to the car and opened the trunk for him. “Can you make room for this?”
He was already picking them up, and Smoke quickly joined him. “You go ahead and put Miriam in. We’ve got to move the cars ourselves, since you won’t be around to do it now.”
“I’m sorry,” she said anxiously.
“No, no, it’s okay. Let’s just get moving, though.”
Within the hour, they had ditched the cars and Ian had taken charge of driving to one of the city’s commercial gates. They got in a long line of vehicles, mostly large trucks. After what seemed like a million years, they reached the front of the line.
Mercy heard her father’s voice through the small window that stood between the cab and the back of the truck. “Here you go,”
They held their breath in the seconds that followed.
“All right, head on out then. See you Tuesday.”
“Ah, no, I’m due back Wednesday,” Ian corrected, having memorized the permits.
“Good, then. You’re off.”
As easy as that, they left their homes and lives in favor of something less, and more.
When their speed picked up, a sign that they were on the highway outside of the city, Mercy began to smile.
Chapter 38
Anora helped Scythe out of the back of the truck. He was a mess of hay and feathers. “It was all I could find.”
“So, they don’t sell mattresses in the Capital?”
She didn’t reply, but instead started to pull a few pieces of hay off him. Then her eyes widened and, in the time it took him to raise his hand to stop her, she had trained a gun on the man rising up behind Scythe.
“It’s okay,” Scythe assured her as Cord crawled clumsily on his bound hands to the edge of the truck and dropped down next to them.
“The second bump,” she muttered, making a connection. She demanded, “What happened? I thought you were going to kill him.”
Cord’s eyes widened and he looked at Scythe, who was nodding, “That was the plan.”
“And now?”
Scythe shrugged, “New plan.”
“You...planned to kill me all along?” Cord frowned.
“Oh, yeah.” Scythe resumed picking the mess off his black shirt and pants. “I may still have to, since your word is worth less than a Human’s...or someone in my family might not be as forgiving as I am. We’ll see.” To Anora he said, “Even loosely stacked cardboard…”
She slowly put away her gun, frowning skeptically at Cord. “The first one I found was a garbage truck.”
He guessed that feathers weren’t so bad. “Did you get everything?”
“Yes, it’s here.”
He nodded and bowed to her. “Thanks, Anora, for everything. You have risked yourself again for me and my family.”
She smiled, “It was my honor. Now, let’s get going.” She turned and started walking back to the driver’s side of the truck.
He didn’t move. “What?”
“Well, you can’t very easily drive around the city right now. Besides, I believe I said, “I’m with the halfblood, whose blood runs strong.”
“Anora, that was five years ago…”
“Such is the value of my oath, Scythe. Let’s go.”
“Wait, I don’t want you to walk away from your life for an oath…”
“Why else would I make one? So, until you show me that I have misjudged, our lives run together.”
He shook his head, “Today I freed a guilty criminal, assaulted innocent people, made myself an outlaw. That is not a person you should run with, Anora.”
“Let’s debate later.” She sat down and closed the door. When he got in on the other side, after ushering Cord in front of him, she handed him a wide brimmed hat and some cosmetic paste for his skin. He began applying it while she drove. “I almost didn’t get your message, the one from Ian.”
“That would have made things more difficult.” He thought about what he would have done if the truck hadn’t been parked below him when he looked down from the hole he had made in the wall of the police station. There had been a drain running down the building some seven feet over...
She nodded, “I thought they were leaving you. I was...upset.”
“I am sorry that I couldn’t get a message to you earlier. I couldn’t figure out how to do it securely.” After checking the coverage of the makeup on his face and neck in the mirror, he put the jar into the zippered bag and stored it in the glove compartment.
She nodded, “There is no cause for an apology. It is just that, when he touched my mind, everything went so fast, all of your instructions in words and pictures...It was very unnerving. Unnatural.”
Scythe shrugged, “We were born like this, so how is that unnatural?”
“I don’t know, but I didn’t like it. It’s scary.”
“My power is scary.”
“Yes, but I know you. Now, if there were some Human I didn’t know with a power like yours, that would scare me.” She kept her eyes on the road, but even without looking, she hit her mark.
“Someone like me,” Cord interrupted.
“Exactly,” she said sharply.
“So, you’re afraid of me,” he prodded, his resentment turning into arrogance.
“I’m surprised that you are alive, is what I am.”
“Actually, so am I.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Scythe said.
Scythe knew that Anora’s reaction was why the Scere had hidden the fact that Humans were developing powers from the Kin for so long. They would not react well when the news came out. Fear. Fear was the most dangerous thing the Humans could face, because fear made people do the most horrifying things.
“He is a cesspool,” she insisted. “You should have killed him. I might do it myself, just for Summer’s sake. And Mercy’s.”
“You threatening me, bitch?”
Before she could retort, Scythe said, “One more word, Cord, and you will ride in the back of the truck.”
It was easy to see that Cord wanted to argue, especially after he saw Anora’s smug expression. Instead, he grit his teeth and sat quietly.
Then Scythe said, “He’s mine, Anora.” He left the rest unsaid, but the message was clear and she nodded. Scythe took the opportunity to ask, “About ten more minutes?”
“Yes, then we are off to meet your lady.”
“She’s not my lady, Anora.”
They both looked at him like he was talking nonsense. Cord quickly looked forward again at Scythe’s stare.
“I didn’t hear you call her ‘han-na’ once while you were here,” she said with a grin, undisturbed by his glare. “Always, her name.”
He didn’t answer because he didn’t have a good reason himself. Somewhere along the line, he had stopped calling Mercy by the name that he had so enjoyed using a short time before. It had started to feel wrong, and he didn’t really want to think about why.
Anora didn’t have any such reservations. “Why fight it? It is already done,” she announced. She glanced at his face, “What? She’s good for you, aside from the fact that being associated with her seems to threaten your life on a weekly basis.”
Cord stifled a laugh with a cough.
“We are not discussing this.”
She smiled, “It is going to be a long drive, and we have plenty of time.” She tilted her head thoughtfully, “I think I will take it upon myself to act as matchmaker.”
“No…”
“Yes, afte
r all, you don’t have anyone else and I know you well.”
“No, Anora. She is just a girl.”
“Girls grow up.”
He didn’t respond, beyond giving her a frown which she studiously ignored.
“Who is the necklace for?” she asked.
“What?”
“I can see it beneath your shirt. You don’t wear jewelry.”
Damned Red Guard.
He had wanted Mercy to take it with her, but she had been too stubborn.
“No,” she had said, “you have to take it.”
“Mercy, this is a woman’s necklace.” It lay on his outstretched palm.
“You said you would meet up with us. You promised.”
“I will.”
“You can give it to me then.” She crossed her arms, tucking her hands away from it and turning her head sharply.
He sighed, “If something happens, I want you to have it, Mercy.”
“If something happens,” her heart jumped a beat, “one, I will never forgive you, and two, I won’t give a damn about the necklace.” Then she added, poking him in the chest forcefully, “And three, there will be no ‘something’ happening, because you made a promise.”
Halfblood Journey Page 54
