The Cure

by Teyla Branton

  I caught a glimpse of a woman with tiny braids in her black hair, coming onto the plane to help move the prisoners. Tenika. What we’re looking for is very close. I stuck my imaginary hands into the sands, willing them to slow.

  Mari gave a little groan, and I pulled away, sending her a silent apology. In the sands, the plane disappeared and Mari was in the Pinz. There, I told her. That’s when you shifted.

  At that moment the SUV lurched to a stop. I looked through the windshield to see a young boy leading a cow in front of us across the narrow dirt road. Half a dozen poor huts rose along the road behind them, scattered at long, irregular distances. The cow stopped to nibble a patch of grass springing from the dirt. Justine swore under her breath, but she smiled sweetly at the boy and the ancient man who accompanied him.

  Maya, I thought, recognizing the earthiness of their thought signatures. We’d come suddenly upon this tiny village, and it was like walking into another world. No TV satellites, Internet, running water, bathrooms, or neighborhood store.

  “The plan should have been for them to meet us in Palenque,” Justine muttered.

  Edgel shook his head. “We all agreed it’d be too easy for the Renegades to find us at a hotel. Besides, you’re forgetting that the formula is unstable in the beginning. It’s not like we could move it if we were discovered. Better not to risk ruining it.”

  Justine put the SUV back into motion, and I returned my attention to Mari.

  “Where?” Mari formed the word with a breath.

  “Dimitri?” Was it too much to hope that she could find him? Probably, although he’d been with her for some time last night. Since I had no idea how shifters focused on people or locations, I couldn’t say what was or wasn’t possible. Still, the hotel might be easier, since it wouldn’t be moving about.

  “Hotel?” I mouthed. I hoped my desperation didn’t show in my face. “Find Keene.” If she told him what happened, he’d somehow contact the others. The most important thing to me was that she got away. Wherever she hid, I’d find her later. Or one of the Renegades would. I hoped.

  I wondered if she should try to take Benito with her, but Dimitri had said the ability relied somewhat on the laws of physics, and that might mean she couldn’t take anyone she couldn’t physically carry. Maybe. It was also possible that she could shift with an elephant. I didn’t dare risk finding out—if she managed to shift at all.

  Less than a minute later, we came to another stop outside a hut with a roof made of tin sheets, an upgrade from the thatch on the other huts we’d passed. Logs poked out from under the house at regular intervals, raising it off the ground a foot. Probably to keep out the rain.

  “Home, sweet home,” Justine trilled.

  Beside me there was a brief suction of air and for a moment I struggled to catch my breath. But just that fast the sensation ended.

  This time it was Benito’s turn to cry out. We all turned in his direction.

  The seat next to him was empty. Mari was gone.

  JUSTINE WAS OUT OF THE SUV and around to my door in an instant, yanking it open. “Where is she?” She reached up and grabbed me, pulling me close, her hands locking on my throat. “Where did she go?”

  I pushed her away, and she tripped backwards, scrambling for purchase on the ground. “What do you mean? You were right here, same as me. I don’t know where she is.”

  Justine regained her footing and whipped out her gun, pointing it at my face. “Start talking.” The hand holding the gun shook.

  Edgel slid into his customary place next to her, alert and ready. No chance of doing anything without him stepping in, even if I could dodge the bullet she was planning on putting into me just to alleviate her fury.

  “We didn’t do nothin’!” Benito shouted around me. “She just disappeared. What kind of people are you? What did you do with her?”

  I nearly laughed. Not a good thing to do when an angry woman was pointing a gun at your face, but Benito’s idea was a good one, even if he didn’t know it.

  “Yeah, where is she, Justine? What kind of trick are you trying to pull?” I even managed to sound outraged.

  Tom appeared beside Justine. His eyes ran over the inside of the SUV, stopping at the empty place where Mari had been. “Where is she?” The question was obviously meant for Justine.

  At the panic in his voice, Justine’s fury drained, starting at her face and moving down to her extremities. Her hands stopped shaking. “That’s what I’m trying to determine, dear.”

  “She just disappeared,” Benito insisted. “I swear. There was a pop.” His accent was back, so strong I could barely understand him.

  Justine’s gun held steady. “You know what this means, don’t you, Tom?” When he shook his head, she continued. “The girl is a shifter.”

  He looked at her blankly. “A what?”

  “A teleporter.” Her smile had returned, icy hard. “Get back to the hotel and find her. There’s a distance limit for shifters so she can’t be far. Take your black bag and make sure she doesn’t get away again. With that ability, she’s worth a hundred other Unbounded. There’s only one known to have survived, and he’s too old now to walk, much less shift more than a few feet.”

  The Emporium had a shifter? That was interesting news. He must be nearing the outside range of our longevity, if he couldn’t shift. That meant the ability was related to health and strength, and I was glad I hadn’t asked Mari to take Benito. She might not have made it past the bumper. As to where she ended up, I had no clue. Probably back at the hotel. If she didn’t make it out of there soon, Tom would find her.

  “What about the senator?” Tom asked.

  Justine waved his words away. “Fake an illness, or a death threat. Hint that you might have found one of the scientists and need to follow up. Whatever it takes. She’s more important than he is.”

  Tom nodded. “I’ll help you get into the house first. They’ll need to start the minute they arrive.”

  Her jaw tightened but she didn’t snap as I expected, only stepped away from the vehicle. At least she lowered her gun, which made my rapid heartbeat begin to slow.

  Tom motioned me from the SUV, and I slid out, jumping into the vegetation that had been cut short in a half-hearted attempt to stop the encroaching jungle. Years from now when these huts were gone, the jungle would still be here, slowly absorbing the signs of humanity. Unless a company bought out the village, cut down the trees, and ruined the earth. Dr. Hertenstein had seemed to think the Mexican government was more interested in kickbacks than protecting the environment.

  A pit formed in my gut at the thought of the doctor. He was dead. One more casualty in Justine’s quest for power. The woman ruined everything she touched.

  Tom and Edgel began unloading boxes from the back of the SUV. “You might as well make yourselves useful.” Tom shoved a large box into my hands, and I took it, wishing I could see what it held. Benito was likewise burdened, and together we hefted our cargo up the dirt path.

  Inside, the hut was empty except for several hammocks strung in an alcove—one on top of the other—a wood stove that stood lone sentinel on the other side of the alcove wall, and in front of this a mound of uneven logs were stacked in a neat pile. The alcove was the only relief in the otherwise oblong room. Tom lowered the plastic tables he carried, unfolding the squares to make rectangular tables.

  Justine threw Edgel a length of rope. “Secure them. Hands and feet both. We have work to do and can’t be distracted.”

  Edgel directed us to sit on the floor in the corner farthest from the door. The floor was wood, but rough and unvarnished, the grain filled with dirt that had probably been there a decade. Ignoring him, I strode to the alcove and sat on the lowest hammock.

  With a glance at Justine, who hadn’t noticed my rebellion, Edgel shoved Benito in my direction.

  “Find your own hammock,” I said when Benito tried to sit next to me. I was grateful he’d changed clothes, but that didn’t mean we needed to get chummy. He no
dded and pulled himself onto the hammock above me. The man’s expression was stunned and beaten, and I felt sorry for him. At least he was no longer talking about vampires.

  Edgel didn’t hesitate in securing me first. He knew I was the danger, though I couldn’t do anything until the odds were more even. At least he tied my hands in front instead of behind my back. It was a start. One way or the other, I was going to get Benito out of here.

  “I have a daughter, too,” Edgel said abruptly as he tied the last knot on my wrists. “A mortal. Her mother died in childbirth thirty-five years ago. I raised her. She’s married now. Has a little girl and boy. Eight and ten. She thinks I’m dead, but I check up on them. She doesn’t know anything about Unbounded.” He stole a furtive glance at Justine, who was setting up a gas camp stove. Something in his voice had changed. Something important. I placed my hand on his arm, pushed at his mind . . . and saw a woman’s face. Stately, her skin three shades lighter than her father’s but strongly resembling him in the eyes.

  He’d never told the Emporium about her or her children. Interesting.

  There was nothing more. No sand or flashes of other memories. He’d relaxed his control only for a brief moment, perhaps because he believed he was a safe distance from anyone with the sensing ability.

  Maybe if I delved deeper, I could change something in his mind. Perhaps convince him to loosen my knots or get himself lost in the forest. It couldn’t hurt to try, especially if he’d relaxed this much.

  Fingers closed over my tied hands and yanked them from Edgel. Tom. I glared at him as he pushed me back into the hammock. “Give us a moment,” he said to Edgel.

  Obviously Tom suspected I was trying to influence Edgel, though theoretically it was impossible for a sensing Unbounded to break through the mental shield of an experienced Unbounded. Tom couldn’t know that I’d been able to wiggle my way inside barriers when my target was distracted. But what worried me more was that Tom still hadn’t told Justine or Edgel about my true ability. Why wouldn’t he warn them, especially if he feared what I could do while touching Edgel?

  I reached for Tom’s hand, gripping it with both of mine, which were still firmly tied together. “Why?” I breathed out the word, faintly aware of Edgel retreating to the tables with Justine. I pushed hard at Tom’s mind as I spoke, but I couldn’t get through. No holes anywhere. Just impenetrable blackness. How could he be so strong in only two months? Especially when earlier I’d been able to sense and track him.

  “Why, what?” Tom’s warm smile chilled me. He’d fooled me once before with that same smile at the Emporium headquarters when Delia had messed with his mind.

  I shuddered at the thought. Yet earlier I’d also sensed something familiar about him. Was that something Delia’s mental signature? I’d never heard of such a thing or considered it possible. I’d have to ask Cort if there was any mention of it in his records. But the sinking feeling in my chest told me Delia had done something to Tom.

  I pulled away from him, feeling ill. “If you find Mari,” I said, leaning back in the hammock, “you’d be better off helping her escape.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t think so. I could use a peek into the Triad’s secret files, and with her ability, I may have that opportunity.”

  “Is that what you think? Then you don’t know Delia Vesey very well.”

  His face paled. “That old woman has nothing to do with me.”

  I sat up again and hissed, “Then why is her mark all over you? And why haven’t you told Justine about me?”

  “What are you talking about?” His brow puckered, his face close to mine. “Tell Justine what about you? Delia’s mark?”

  The world tilted. Either Tom had become an excellent liar or he really didn’t know. “What do you remember from that day at the Emporium?” I asked softly. “When the grenade went off.”

  His jaw jutted forward. “You mean how you shot me in the head?”

  “She was using you. Delia was. Don’t you remember?”

  “It’s kind of foggy, thanks to you. I’m told it’s normal to have a tiny bit of memory loss with that much damage.”

  He was wrong. We aren’t like ordinary humans. All our memories, everything that we are is held in each of the focus points. That is how we are still ourselves after regeneration from severe injury or even temporary death. Tom’s systems should have recovered completely.

  Unless Delia had prevented it. She hadn’t told the rest of the Triad about my ability two months ago, and from the reaction of the Emporium agents I’d encountered this week, she still hadn’t shared the information. Which meant she was coming for me . . . eventually. She’d offered me my heart’s desire and made the idea of being a god who ruled over mortals sound logical. She scared me more than any Unbounded I’d ever met.

  I glanced at Justine across the room, now examining a glass beaker. Did she know Tom might be a puppet for Delia, perhaps spying on everything she did? The woman hadn’t been in control of the Triad for over a thousand years for nothing. Obviously, there was a lot I could learn from her—though I might not survive the lesson.

  “Never mind,” I told Tom. “We can talk about it later.”

  He smiled, his voice going soft. “I’d like that. And don’t worry about Edgel. I’ll tell Justine to keep him away from you.”

  Away from me? Understanding dawned. He hadn’t been trying to keep Edgel safe from me, he’d been trying to keep me safe from Edgel. “Edgel?” I said with a smirk. “He has no interest in me. He’s so smitten with Justine’s pheromones that he can’t see straight.”

  Tom laughed as though we were on a date instead of in the roles of kidnapper and kidnappee. “Well, I’d better go find your friend before she scares someone.”

  He’d flipped so fast between anger, jealousy, and love that I suspected Delia had damaged huge parts of his mind. How long would it take to heal? Was it possible mental wounds didn’t heal? There simply wasn’t enough information or sensing Unbounded to determine, but whether or not the damage might be permanent was something I had to know before I did any more tramping around in my friends’ minds.

  One thing I did know was that when a child in any Unbounded line was conceived, the egg was genetically predisposed to choose the healthiest sperm. That didn’t guarantee that the gene would become active after the thirtieth birthday, or that the child would be born without flaws, but it did help create the best possible combination. Even the mortal offspring of Unbounded had a lot going for them physically and mentally. Tom hadn’t been unbalanced when we were together, so something had changed. Justine and her pheromones? Delia mucking about in Tom’s mind? No way to know.

  Across the room, Tom paused to talk to Justine, who was filling a beaker with some kind of amber fluid. Edgel lit the first of several camp stoves sitting on one of the tables.

  “Benito,” I said softly. “Your hands aren’t tied, are they?”

  “Not yet. I think they forgot.”

  Overlooked. But not for long. “When they’re distracted, come down here and untie me,” I said. “Wait until Tom leaves. Then I’m going to make a distraction, and I want you to get out of here. Run into the jungle. Whatever. Just get away and hide. Later, when they’re gone you can ask the villagers for help.”

  “What about you?” He shifted position nervously.

  Even with Tom gone, there was no way I could take out both Justine and Edgel, but if I could tap into Edgel’s talent, I might be able to distract them long enough to get Benito’s pending death off my conscience. I could also destroy as many of their supplies as possible. Even a delay of a few hours might close the window for any action at the senator’s celebration this afternoon.

  Seconds passed in torturous agony. Tom finally turned toward the door, and Benito slid down next to me where I sat sideways in the hammock. I pulled my knees toward my chest, my feet inside the edges of the hammock, my hands in my lap out of sight. Benito did the same. His fingers were surprisingly steady and the rope quickly dropped away
from my hands. I took a breath, my nerves tight and anxious to act.

  “She’s leaving, too,” Benito whispered.

  Better for me, but not so great for Benito to sneak out, since there was only one door and she’d be out there. “You’ll have to get out the door and run around the hut. Fast. Got it?”

  “Got it.” He hesitated. “What if they kill you?”

  “They won’t. Just go. Don’t make me sorry for bringing you along.”

  This time he didn’t reply.

  I waited until Edgel bent over the third camp stove. “Now!” I pushed Benito hard, jumping from the hammock myself, reaching around the alcove wall for one of the logs near the wood stove. I hurled it across the room at Edgel, reaching for another before the first hit its target.

  Dodging with a graceful move that ordinarily would have awed me, Edgel stepped to the side, deflecting the log with a metal container he swept up from the table. Before I could blink he leapt over the table and came at me, his fists up, an eager grin on his face. Oh, yeah, he was hoping to make up for last night.

  I kicked out and he took the hit without flinching, using the added momentum of the blow to whirl himself around to deliver a powerful strike. I managed to block with the second piece of log I’d pulled from the stack, but his foot caught me in the ribs throwing me back into the wall.

  Not going well. He had been ready for me, and I suspected he’d “overlooked” Benito’s hands on purpose to have this chance to prove himself. To me? To Justine? To himself? It didn’t matter. As long as he didn’t go for his gun, I wouldn’t complain.

  Desperately, I banged at his mental block, but unlike the previous night, I had no weapons to throw at him for a distraction. There was only one way to make sure Benito got free. Pushing off from the wall, I launched myself at Edgel, reaching at the same time for the syringe in my bra.

  True to his ability, Edgel had anticipated my move and was ready to meet me. But he hadn’t anticipated the needle. It sank into his eye as deep as it could go. I kept pushing until the syringe disappeared partway into his socket. His mouth opened to scream, and I jabbed my fist into his throat to cut off the sound. I followed with another punch at the syringe, my hand erupting in pain. Edgel’s good eye rolled upward as he collapsed to the floor.