Tiny dots appeared in the sky above the horizon, rushing toward them in one writhing dark cloud. A bell near the middle of the base began to ring in frantic peals.
Faces paled and one of the nurses began to rock back and forth with hands clasped in front of her.
“What do we do, sir?” one of the medics asked, looking at Dr. Emmett, his voice rising in pitch. “The shelters aren’t completed yet.”
“Not another one.” The nurse held a hand to her mouth as the bell continued to toll across the base. “We just finished patching up those wounded from the last atta—”
“Enough!” Dr. Emmett brought his hand down. “Focus. We have patients depending on us. We need to duck and cover. Find something solid like a table to crouch under. Assist patients to these areas if they can move, shield the rest with extra cots and blankets—anything you can find. Go, now!”
The crowd dispersed. Some of the nurses stumbled back toward the tents. One went from crying to hysterics. Dr. Emmett continued to shout out orders over the bedlam. The buzzing grew as the dark cloud of machines drew closer.
Kat stood rooted on the spot, mesmerized. She remembered the tiny dragonfly-contraptions buzzing around, dropping the metallic balls they held. Wind-up automatons, like the ones her mother used to invent. How could such beautiful little things be used for such devastation?
“Miss Bloodmayne! Move!”
Dr. Emmett’s voice broke through her thoughts. Kat blinked and took in a deep breath. Move. Find shelter. Wait. No. Help others first. She turned and stumbled back toward the tent she had exited minutes ago. The cook she had bandaged was gone. The rest of the tent was empty. But there was a table that people could use.
Kat ran back out. “Here! She shouted, spotting a couple of people outside. “There’s a table in here!” Two nurses headed her direction with a bandaged soldier between them. Kat held back the flaps. Another medic came by with a patient. She glanced inside. Between all five people, there was no room for her.
At the edge of camp, the bombing began.
Kat watched, a cold sweat spreading across her body, as reality pierced her numbness. The metallic globes fell like rain across the first row of tents, followed by explosions and fire and people dying. The metal-dragonflies drew closer.
Could she stop them? Her stomach twisted violently inside her as she watched the first wave approach. She hadn’t accessed that power since she had lowered the Lancelot. But doing so had left a numb hole the size of a fist inside her. What would it do to her this time?
Dr. Emmett emerged from another tent. He spotted her and started running. “Miss Bloodmayne, what are you doing?”
Kat glanced at him, her mind frozen.
“Find shelter, now!”
The bombs reached them. Dr. Emmett shoved her away just as the ground exploded in front of her. Kat flew backward. She hit the dirt and the air left her lungs. She stared up at the sky, barely visible through the cloud of dust and smoke. More dark metal globes fell, but she no longer heard the explosions, only felt them in the vibration of the earth and air.
Within moments the bombing had moved on, but Kat could only look up. She couldn’t think, couldn’t move. It was as if she were stuck in that moment when the bombs fell around her.
The dust began to disperse.
Kat, move.
Something stirred inside her.
Move now!
Kat sat up. Her blood began to whoosh and her fingers tingled. A flame flickered across her palm. She gasped and crushed her hand into a fist. The monster was awakening inside her, spurred by the shock paralyzing her body.
No, no!
She scrambled to her feet and her hearing returned in a wave that almost flattened her again. Horns blared across the base, adding to the desperate warning of the bell, punctuated by yells and the occasional scream. Smoke billowed up from the eastern side of camp in great dark funnels. Kat pressed shaking hands to her temples. The surrounding noise echoed inside her head. She plugged her ears with her fingers and closed her eyes. An image of Ms. Stuart appeared inside her mind.
“Calm down, Kathryn. Remember to breathe.”
Right. Breathe.
Ms. Stuart morphed into Stephen.
“Focus, Kat. You’re strong. You can do this.”
I can do this.
But the blood still whooshed through her veins and her senses started to spread out. She could feel the matter around her, the broken tent poles and disturbed ground, the dust in the air, the tissue and skin damage of those closest to her. One was severely wounded, and she could feel his life force pulling away from his body.
Kat fell to her knees. “God, help me!” she cried. “If you are real, please help me.” She looked up between her fingers. “Don’t let me lose control!”
Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and God will give you light.
What? Why was she thinking of that scrap of paper now?
“Mi-Miss Bloomayne.” Her name came out in a gargled voice.
She dropped her hands and looked back. Dr. Emmett lay on the ground a couple feet away, face up, his hands bloody and pressing against his abdomen. His face was pale and glistened with sweat.
Kat crawled on her knees toward the doctor.
“I’ve been hit.”
She sat in the dirt, her gaze bouncing between his face and his wound. “How bad?”
He grimaced. “Bad.” His eyes fluttered then rolled up into his head. His hand fell away from the wound. Blood spread across his white lab coat.
She stared at the stain as it covered him—the same color as the comforter in Captain Grim’s cabin. Then she shook herself, faintly sickened, not by the wound, but by her own lack of emotions. How could she look at him and feel nothing?
Coming to her knees, she brushed the thought aside. There would be more wounded here on the base, and they were all going to need Dr. Emmett.
No, I can’t do this. I should walk away now. She stood and turned. No one would expect me to save him. He’s too far gone, and the risk to myself is too great.
Kat clenched her hand and held it to her chest. Even now, she could not feel the area below her blouse, the place where her soul was dying. If she accessed that power again, the numbness would grow and more of her would die.
She closed her eyes, her throat tight. Her whole body began to shake. No. She swallowed. I have to save him. It’s the right thing to do. I could never live with myself if I didn’t try.
With that, Kat spun back around and dropped to her knees. No one had appeared yet. It was just Dr. Emmett and her.
She held her hands over his body and bit her lip. It would take precise control of the matter in and around him. She pictured the human body from one of her textbooks—
Are you sure?
She pulled back. What if she couldn’t stop her power and she went on to destroy the base?
The blood had spread. He had only minutes.
She pressed her lips together. She had to do it.
Kat closed her eyes and let her guard down. Sensation flooded back into her being. She gasped as she connected with the matter around her.
Focus.
She took a deep breath and directed her attention in front of her. She could feel every part of Dr. Emmett. Every blood vessel, every nerve. She found the ruptured area and began to close it, starting with the organs and lining, working her way outward. Every part knit back together while she gathered the excess blood inside and moved it outward before closing the skin.
A laugh gurgled up her throat. How fragile the human body was! If she could close a hole, she could create a hole as well—
Kat clenched her teeth against the thought as she brought the last of his skin together.
The blood whooshed through her temples like a pounding train, each surge expanding her senses. Like a web, every particle connected to her. With a thought, she could do anything she wanted.
Abandoning Dr. Emmett, Kat rose to her feet. Why would she want to get rid of this?
Her whole body pulsed with the power. With a twist of her wrist, she reached out toward the remaining buzzing bombers at the edge of the camp and crushed them like flies between her fingers. Down from the sky they fell, tearing into the tents below.
She laughed. She should have done that in the first place. Why waste her time healing when it was so much easier to destroy? And why stop there?
No, stop! The part of her that was still her cried out in panic. Kat took a step back and blinked. Her whole body felt like it was on fire, especially the area around her hand. Tent number four caught fire to her right.
The other Kat wanted to dance with glee. Yes, yes! Let it all burn! She flicked her fingers at the next tent. Tiny flames spread across the canvas
Stop, child. Turn back.
Both Kats paused, taken aback. This voice rose up from deep inside her mind, and it was neither of her. A voice completely different from the other, darker Kat and different from her own. A voice of light and compassion, of gentle, irresistible power.
Kat drew strength from it. Yes, I need to stop this.
Her thoughts felt heavy, as if she were physically trying to pull out from beneath something viscous and stifling. She strained against the thought-fog, clenching her hands as she did so. Her vision narrowed until all she could see were stars flashing across her eyes. Her head began to throb. She could no longer hear, no longer see. The strange voice forgotten, her entire being fought against the power inside of her, forcing it back to that deep place.
Nausea filled her belly. Something trickled down from her nostril. Just as the darkness closed in, she felt the click inside. The power was locked away once again. But it was the last time she could fight it. It had grown too strong. Her time was near. Either she found a cure . . .
Or she would become the monster.
Chapter
22
“I don’t understand. What’s wrong with you?” a man murmured as he bent to examine Kat, who lay on one of the cots in the back of a spare tent. The sun had set hours ago and the smell of smoke still hung in the air from the bombardment that morning. Only now had Stephen been permitted to see Kat.
“What do you mean?” Stephen asked as the tent flap fell closed behind him.
The man straightened and looked back. He wore a pair of dark trousers and a white shirt, his sleeves rolled up as if for work, though the cut and quality of clothing marked him as more than a workman. His mustache and beard were neatly groomed and held a sprinkling of gray. His dark eyes came to rest on Stephen.
Stephen stopped a couple feet away. “Who are you?” It was clear the man was not one of the medics. “And what are you doing here?”
The man extended his hand, glanced at it, then retracted it. “Forgive me. I have not had a chance to wash.” He headed for the side table where a bowl and pitcher sat. “Nurse, soap please.”
“Yes, doctor.” A woman stepped away from the side of the tent, walked past Stephen, and headed out.
Doctor? Stephen narrowed his eyes. “I don’t recall seeing you around the base.”
“And you are not dressed in uniform, so I assume you are not part of the military.” There was a trace of fear in the man’s eyes, one Stephen was all too familiar with when hunting a bounty.
“The nurse referred to you as doctor. Doctor who?”
The man held his hands away from his body. There was a splotch of blood along his right side. “Dr. Latimer. I arrived with a convoy from the front lines an hour ago, apparently just in time to help out.”
Stephen did a double take. Dr. Latimer? The Dr. Latimer?
“And who might you be?”
Before Stephen could answer, the nurse returned with a bar of soap.
Dr. Latimer took the bar with a nod and turned his back to Stephen. “I have found that cleanliness leads to better health. And you have yet to answer my question.”
“Stephen Grey, from World City.”
At the mention of his name, Dr. Latimer stiffened. Stephen narrowed his eyes. If he didn’t know any better, he would think the doctor was a man on the run.
“And why are you here, Mr. Grey?” Dr. Latimer dried his hands on a nearby cloth and dumped it on the table before turning around.
“The woman you were checking is my client. She is under my protection.”
Dr. Latimer glanced over at Kat, then at Stephen. One eyebrow crept up. “I see. What purpose brought you and the lady to a military base in Austrium, if I might ask?”
Stephen crossed his arms. “You. The lady hired me to find you.”
“The lady, you say?” Dr. Latimer folded his hands in front of him. “That is not the answer I was expecting.”
Stephen wondered what answer the doctor had been expecting. Was he running from something? It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was the man Kat had been searching for. “We found out weeks ago you were here in Austrium, assisting with the war effort. We traveled all the way here and have been waiting for you. She needs your help. You might be the only one who can cure her.”
“And what exactly ails the young lady?”
Stephen glanced at the nurse. “It’s a personal matter that I will only speak to you about.”
Dr. Latimer studied him for a moment before turning toward the nurse. “Nurse Eves, please step out for a bit and give us some privacy. I will find you if I need you.”
“Yes, Dr. Latimer.” The nurse turned and left via the side entrance.
When they had the tent to themselves, Dr. Latimer sat down on the empty cot nearest to Kat. “Forgive me. It’s been a long day and I haven’t had a chance to rest or eat. The lady there was to be my last patient before dinner.”
Stephen lowered himself onto an adjacent cot and placed his elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry I’m keeping you from your meal, but this is important. Very important.”
Dr. Latimer sighed and massaged his right temple. “I assumed as much. It’s not every day I have the renowned Stephen Grey looking for me. Yes, I’ve heard of you. Although I will admit I thought you would be here for a different reason.”
Well, that confirmed his suspicions. Dr. Latimer was wanted for something. He would inquire about that later, though.
“First, who is the lady?”
Stephen let out his breath. “Miss Kathryn Bloodmayne.”
At the name Bloodmayne, Dr. Latimer’s face darkened and his lip curled. “I see. I thought she looked familiar. Almost exactly like her mother. So why is Miss Bloodmayne looking for me? And does her father know?”
Now that the time had come, Stephen felt at a loss for words. How did he explain the strange power that Kat possessed when he hardly understood it himself?
Stephen sat up and rapped his fingers against his thigh. “Miss Bloodmayne came to me a month ago with a strange request: to find you. Shortly after, I discovered my aunt—her housekeeper—had been murdered and Miss Bloodmayne was running from her killers. I helped her leave town, but eventually I learned a bounty had been placed on Miss Bloodmayne.”
“By whom?”
“The city council. And her father.”
“By her father? By Alexander Bloodmayne?”
“Yes.”
“Odd,” Dr. Latimer said under his breath. “Do they believe she murdered the housekeeper?”
“I’m not sure. The bounty was for something else—I’ll get to that. What I do know is the Tower wants Miss Bloodmayne, and not for justice. She is . . . different.”
Dr. Latimer’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
Stephen’s heart thudded inside his chest. He had never shared Kat’s ability with anyone but Robert. However, the man before him was their one hopeful chance at finding a cure for Kat. If Dr. Latimer didn’t believe him— “She can do things—control things—with her mind.”
A queer change came over Dr. Latimer. He stood and began pacing alongside the cot, tapping his lips with two fingers. “It can’t be. It’s not possible. Did he really?” The doctor turned and started in the other direction. “But
why involve his daughter?” Then he laughed sadly. “But then why not? Oh, Alexander, what have you done?”
Stephen stood as well and held out a hand to stop Dr. Latimer. “Wait. Do you know what is wrong with Kat?”
The doctor met his gaze. “I will need to know more. I will need to hear from Miss Bloodmayne about her own experiences.” His shoulders sagged and he rubbed his forehead. “But if I am correct, then . . .”
“Then what?”
Dr. Latimer shook his head. “No. I will not decide until I know everything. First starting with what caused her to be in this condition now.”
What did the doctor mean? Stephen’s gut tightened as he walked over to Kat’s side. There was talk around the base that some invisible force had crushed the remaining flying apparatuses near the end of the bombing. The moment he’d heard, he’d feared Kat had used her power again, but couldn’t confirm it until now.
He let out a small gasp when he saw Kat’s face. Tiny bruises marred her skin and there was a trickle of blood below her right nostril. “I don’t know,” he said, his voice tight. “Was she hit?” Blazes! Did her power do that to her?
“No, no. It appears some of her veins ruptured from tension, like she was concentrating on something so much it strained her veins. The nosebleed, however, could indicate something more. The fact is none of this could have happened from blunt force, at least not from what I can tell. There is no evidence of a strike.”
“Kat,” Stephen murmured. He brushed his fingers along her cheek. “What happened to you?”
“This woman means something to you. As more than a client.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes. And she doesn’t deserve what’s happening to her.”
Dr. Latimer let out a sigh. “I have found that it is good people who are inflicted with troubles, and those who deserve it remain unscathed. It seems Miss Bloodmayne is like her mother, Helen, in more than just looks.”
Stephen looked over. “You knew her mother?”
“Yes. I knew both Bloodmaynes. Brilliant scientists. Helen was one of the premier inventors of automatons. Alexander excelled in everything else. However, I never knew their daughter.”
Awakened Page 13
