by Kelli Kimble
Tikka moved to pick up the rock. “Come on, Nimisila.” She said to Red, “We’ll pick it up, and you can pull your arm out, okay?”
Red didn’t answer. His eyes seemed like they were losing focus.
“Quick,” I said. “He’s going to pass out.”
We each wrapped our arms around the rock and lifted, but it didn’t move. I grunted with fake effort and mentally lifted at the same time, allowing Tikka to bear some of the weight, too, so she wouldn’t realize I hadn’t physically lifted it.
“Pull out your arm,” Tikka growled.
Red didn’t move. I mentally flicked his hand out of the way, and we let the rock drop back down. But he wasn’t out of the woods. The rock had been stemming some of the blood flow with pressure. Without that pressure, blood was pouring out of his hand.
“He’s bleeding everywhere,” Tikka said.
I bent to study his hand. His thumb and a portion of his palm were crushed beyond recognition; exposed bits of bone were ground into splinters. I grabbed his forearm and squeezed, hoping to slow the flow.
“We need to put pressure on it,” Tikka said.
“We need to stay calm,” I said, putting my free hand on her shoulder. “Are you wearing a belt? Take it off.”
Tikka pulled off her belt and handed it to me. I looped it around his arm and tied it tight. “He’ll lose his whole arm if you do that,” she said.
“Better that than die, don’t you think?”
“I guess,” she said. “But it doesn’t even seem to be working.”
I closed my eyes. There was no way Red was going to survive this — not without exposing myself. An image of Red bounding towards me rushed into my mind’s eye. “Dammit,” I said softly.
When I opened my eyes, Red was even paler than before.
“We’ve got to do something,” Tikka said. She was starting to shake, and tears were pouring down her cheeks, unchecked. “He’s going to die.”
I knew what I had to do. I released the belt and imagined my hand was searing-hot. Red-hot.
Then, I touched his hand.
Red’s eyes shot open, and he screamed as a tendril of smoke wisped up from his hand. I concentrated on making a smooth, even motion with my fingers over the injury. The air smelled like burnt hair and roasted meat. I pulled my hand away and gagged. The contents of my stomach spilled over the edge of one rock, then onto another. Seals sunning themselves looked up at me with vacant eyes. One of them barked, but they didn’t move.
“What did you do?!” Tikka yelled from behind me.
I didn’t look back. Red’s screams drifted to a more subdued moan. “I stopped the bleeding,” I said. “Saved his arm, too. If it doesn’t get infected.”
“But, how?” She put a hand on my shoulder and whirled me around to face her. “You just . . . you burned him. With your hand.” She yanked her hand away from me and wiped it on the side of her pantleg.
I shrugged. “He’s gonna be okay.”
“You burned off his thumb! His hand is all gross!”
I let out a deep sigh and mentally pushed her away from me by the shoulders. Not hard, just firmly enough to get her to step back.
Her eyes widened, and she brought her hands up to touch where I’d pushed her. There was nothing for her to feel, and she dropped her hands. Her face screwed up in confusion. “I don’t get it,” she said.
“I can do things. With my mind.” I said.
Her confusion deepened. “What kinds of things?”
I’m telepathic, I said inside her head.
She started, then shook her head, as if she could shake me out of it. “Don’t do that.”
“I can move things with my mind. That sort of thing.”
“But you didn’t just move something. You burned him. With your hand.” She grabbed my wrist and turned my hand towards her. “You don’t even have a mark on you.”
“It doesn’t work that way.” I flexed my hand and imagined a flame burning in my palm. It flickered to life, and I extinguished it by clenching my hand closed. She jerked her hand away. “My mind controls it,” I explained. “So, if I don’t want it to hurt me, then it won’t.”
She stared at me.
“It’s a secret,” I explained. “So, please don’t tell anyone.”
“How are we gonna hide that you burned Red’s hand off?”
“It was just his thumb, and it probably saved his life. He lost a lot of blood.”
“That’s not the point. We can’t hide that this happened.”
My shoulders sagged. She was right. I couldn’t hide what I’d done to Red’s hand. Silver wouldn’t be happy about it. He’d probably make me leave. But I had put aside my fear of being sent away to help Red, and that was something. I wasn’t so terrible after all, was I? Would a monster help someone that was gravely injured?
“We’ve got to get him back. He needs to rest,” I said.
She went over to Red and poked his shoulder. “Hey,” she said. “Can you get up? We should go home.”
Red whimpered and curled into a fetal position on his side, cradling his damaged hand. I imagined him rising in to the air, and he did. “Holy crap,” he said. “Am I dead?”
Tikka stumbled away from him, and I moved forward, keeping him out in front of me, the same way I’d done with Gayle. He didn’t weigh as much as she had, and we had a much shorter distance to cover, but I could already feel the reminder of my loss weighing down my soul.
“Can you lead the way, Tikka?” I asked. “I don’t want to get turned around. You have a doctor, right? Someone who’ll take care of him?”
“Yeah,” she said in a clipped tone. She moved ahead of me, giving me and Red’s floating form a wide berth.
Nothing more was said. I walked towards what I was sure would be my final destruction with a heavy heart.
Chapter 16
Right before we came to the settlement, Red perked up and started talking. “We don’t have a doctor,” he said. “We have someone who does doctoring, but he’s only the doctor because he isn’t squeamish, and he’s done some studying. I guess when he was a kid, he got all this knowledge pumped into him. The people from the mountain grew up in tanks. Did you know that? All of ‘em did, except their grandmother. She’s not alive anymore, though. She died when I was little. Got bit by a rodent, and then it got infected.”
“You’re babbling,” Tikka said. She pointed at a hut. “It’s that one. Take him there.” Then, she turned and stalked away, not bothering to help me get Red into the doctor’s hut.
I kept Red moving, pushing him through the open area of the settlement. People were milling around, and at first, nobody noticed Red wasn’t moving of his own volition. But, eventually, someone did, and they nudged the person next to them, and that person gasped, and someone followed their gaze, and then everyone in sight was staring at him.
I wasn’t sure if people made the connection that I was the one moving him, but I didn’t hang around to find out. I mentally opened the doctor’s door without knocking, pushed Red inside, and followed him in, shutting the door firmly behind me. I settled him onto a pallet by the fire.
“Hello?” I called. “Is anyone here?”
The doctor emerged from the other room. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you knock,” he said. He glanced from me to Red, then back to me. “What’s going on?”
I remembered meeting him with Tabby the other day, but I couldn’t recall his name. “Um, hi,” I said. “I’m Nimisila. I brought him. He, uh, hurt his hand.”
“Yes, hello, Nimisila. I remember you. Well, let’s see what we’ve got here,” He knelt beside Red. Red tentatively held out his arm. The doctor studied Red’s hand, turning his arm this way and that. Without a word, he released it and left the room. He came back a moment later with a jar of something. He used his first two fingers to scoop a helping from the jar, and he smeared it over what was left of Red’s palm. “I’m not going to ask how this happened,” he said to Red. “But I can guess maybe you’ve be
en up to something you ought to talk to your parents about.” He produced a bandage from his pocket, and he wrapped it around the burn.
“Yes, sir,” Red said.
“He lost a lot of blood,” I said. “Before the wound was cauterized.”
The doctor glanced back at me over his shoulder. “Then, you’ll need to eat something hearty tonight. You’ll need plenty of fluids. Lots of water. Come back tomorrow, and I’ll change the bandage.”
“Thank you, sir,” Red said.
The doctor stood back and put his hands on his hips. “Well?”
“Well what, sir?” asked Red.
“Get moving. Go on home and get some rest.”
Red glanced over at me. I went over to help him to a standing position. The doctor arched an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
Red teetered on his feet but managed to take shuffling steps towards the door. I propped myself under his armpit to help him along. I opened the door to find a mass of confusion outside. Everyone except Tikka and the doctor seemed to be milling around out there. Red stiffened beside me, but he didn’t back away. He moved through the door first, shielding me.
“There he is,” someone in the crowd said. They pushed forward, making it impossible for us to get any farther than right outside the door.
Silver cleared through the crowd, turning people aside, until he was at the front. “What’s going on here?” he asked.
“Um, nothing, sir,” Red said. He was holding his bandaged hand against his chest.
Silver’s eyes drifted to it. “What happened there?”
“A rock fell on it,” I said. “Pulverized his thumb, and he was bleeding really bad. I sealed the wound with a burn.”
Silver turned towards me, but his eyes didn’t leave Red’s face. “I was asking him,” he said.
“That’s the truth,” Red said.
“I bet.” His eyes turned to me. “Seems like there must be more to the story than that.” He motioned to the crowd around us. “A burnt thumb generally doesn’t require this kind of curiosity.”
“Red came floating through here to the doctor’s hut, like he was on a cloud,” someone nearby said.
Silver’s eyebrows raised. “Floating?”
“Yeah,” someone else said. “He was in the air. His feet weren’t touching the ground.”
A murmur of agreement swept through the crowd.
“One of you want to explain what they’re talking about?” Silver asked.
I let my gaze settle on the ground. It didn’t matter; Silver seemed to be addressing Red, even though he’d included me in his question.
Red didn’t say anything, and a long moment stretched out. Someone in the crowd coughed, and I heard a dog barking.
Without warning, Silver’s hand darted out and grabbed Red by the scruff of the neck. He pulled Red in close, so they were nose-to-nose, and he thrust the pointer finger of his free hand into Red’s face. “Are you trying to get this girl in trouble? Huh? Like you did with Tikka?”
“I didn’t get Tikka in trouble,” he said. He kept his eyes averted to the ground.
“But you tried.”
“No, sir. That’s just what you choose to believe.”
Silver pinched Red’s neck harder. He lowered his free hand and slowly formed it into a clenched fist. “I’m going to ask again what’s going on, and you’re going to answer.”
Red turned his head so that he was looking at my feet. “You won’t get an answer from me,” he said. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Are you calling these people liars?” Silver shook with pent-up anger.
“No.”
“Then, there’s something to worry about when a kid floats around without touching the ground.” He pushed Red away. He stumbled back and fell on his butt. Silver turned on me. “If he won’t tell me what happened, then you’d better.” His mouth was turned up in a snarl. He took a step towards me.
But Red popped up from the ground and moved to stand between us. “You don’t need to bully her,” he said.
“You stay out of this.” He pushed Red away again and lunged towards me. But I imagined the wind pushing him away, and he stumbled backwards. He didn’t notice. He advanced again.
This time, I raised a hand and held him back. “I didn’t want it to be this way,” I said.
Silver was even angrier than before. “How are you doing that?” he demanded. But he wasn’t talking to me; he was talking to Red. For some reason, it made me angrier that he attributed it to Red.
“It isn’t him.” I shot a sudden puff of air that hit him square in the chest.
He took a step back. “You?”
Tabby emerged from the crowd. She went to Silver and put a hand on his arm. “Let’s not be hasty,” she said.
Silver blinked, looking from me to her, then back again. “You knew about this? That she’s a freak?”
“She’s a girl, Silver. A girl who just wants to be normal.”
“She’s anything but normal,” he said. He took a step towards me, but I wouldn’t let him get any closer. “See? Normal girls can’t create air bubbles.”
Tabby pushed around Silver to stand in front of me. “What happened?”
Red jumped up again and held out his injured hand. “She saved me. She kept me from bleeding to death.”
“Wait a minute,” Tabby said as she crossed her arms. “You’re telling me you’re angry because she saved another person?” She turned and looked at Silver.
“I – I guess,” he said.
“How about you just grow up, then, huh? Did she hurt anybody? No. She did something that kept one of our own alive.” Tabby’s voice began to rise. “Did she do it even though she knew it would mean we’d question whether or not she was normal? When what she wants most in the world is to be normal?” She was leaning towards Silver, jabbing a finger in his chest, while her face grew red with anger.
Silver stood, gaping at her.
Tabby rounded on the crowd. “And all of you. Standing here, staring at her, like she did something horrible. What’s the matter with you? Have you forgotten what it was like to be outsiders? Did any of you like being stared at in the city?”
The back of the crowd began to loosen, and people slowly peeled away, their heads downcast.
In the end, all that was left were Red, his parents, Tabby, and Silver. Red’s mother came to me and enveloped me in a hug. “Thank you so much for saving my boy,” she said. She pulled back and put a hand on my shoulders as she looked over my face and hair. “He was right about you being pretty.”
“Aw, Mom,” Red said. His face flamed scarlet.
His father nudged his mother aside. “I’d like to thank the girl, too,” he said. He shook my hand and clasped his free hand over our joined ones. “You’re a special girl; I can tell — and not just because you can do special things. You’re special in here.” He released my hand and tapped a finger over his heart. He gave me a reassuring smile and turned to Silver. “I assume you understand, Silver, that it is not my desire for you to ‘get rid of’ this girl. She is a hero and ought to be treated as such. You hear what I’m getting at?”
Silver dragged a hand over the back of his neck. “Now, I only said that when I was angry,” he said. “She’s just a child. I wouldn’t hurt her.”
“She’s not just any child,” Tabby said. “She’s ours. We’re going to take care of her, as if she were our own flesh and blood. As far as I’m concerned, she is our own flesh and blood — and if you won’t abide by that, I think maybe you need to find another hut to stay in.”
Tears pooled in my eyes, and I quickly dashed them away with a swipe of my hand.
Silver sighed. He looked at me. “You promise you aren’t dangerous? You won’t hurt anyone with your . . .” He gestured in the air with his hands. “. . . hocus pocus?”
“I promise,” I said. “I’ve only ever used my abilities to defend myself, and I can use them to defend all of you, too. The best I can.”
&n
bsp; He glanced at Tabby. She nodded. A genuine smile crossed Silver’s face, the first one I’d seen since I arrived. “That’s all we could ever ask of anyone,” he said, pulling me into his arms. “Whether they’re normal or not. Welcome home.”
Reclamation
Book Nine of the Repatriate Protocol Series
Kelli Kimble
Chapter 1
I rubbed my hands together to try and generate some warmth. The unseasonably cool temperatures made me wish for warmer clothing, but things of that nature were in short supply. Even at night, the air rarely dipped under 60 degrees.
Below me, the lone deer we were hunting moved closer to the trap. I signaled to Tikka, and she began making noise in the underbrush. Alerted, the deer started to step away from the danger. It stepped right into the loop of the trap. There was a sharp twanging sound, and the deer’s leg was caught. It struggled and tried to get away, but it was too late. Tikka ended it quickly, and I jumped down from the tree.
“You think it will be enough?” Tikka asked.
“I hope so,” I said. We tied the deer’s legs to a long pole, and we each hoisted an end onto our shoulders. We headed back home. In the past two months, the frost had killed all our crops. Our reserves were dwindling, and game was getting scarcer, as vegetation was becoming increasingly difficult to come by. Thankfully, fish were still abundant, but there was no telling what would happen if the weather didn’t turn soon.
I studied Tikka’s back as we walked. She was strong and nimble but refused to partner up with anyone in the settlement. She said she didn’t like anything there was on offer, but I suspected it was more complicated than that. A few times, I’d thought maybe Red had broken her heart, but he assured me time and again she’d never displayed any interest in him beyond being someone she could easily boss around. I’d never had the guts to ask Tikka about it myself.
A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth when I thought about Red. He was busy, building a hut for the two of us. Tabby was thrilled when he asked me to be his partner. Silver, not so much. He harbored a strange bias towards Red he refused to explain. Several times, I’d gotten the feeling he thought Red had seduced Tikka. Why he cared was beyond me.
