Ryoko began laughing. “That shut them up real fast.”
“Good. Now get moving,” I ordered.
“Okay, okay, okay. You don’t have to be so pushy. It’s not like us being delayed is going to harm anything. We can’t successfully search for either Arnia or Jay without further instruction from you or Aurora, and the more energy we spend aimlessly searching, the less energy we have to help when we’re finally needed.”
“You need to stop using your brain when you’re supposed to so you don’t sound smart at random.”
“Bitch…” she muttered before cutting the line.
I chuckled and continued on.
“Laz.”
I groaned. “What, Seda?”
“You need to move faster. Raikidan is getting really impatient and his thoughts are vexing me.”
I grunted. “Well, do me a favor and tell him to shut up, because, unlike him, I can’t fly, so I’m going as fast as I can.”
I swatted at Raikidan as he swooped at me. Obviously, he didn’t like my response. “Go to hell, Raikidan! I’m going as fast as I can.”
I was about to lose it. His impatience was downright irritating. I was at a disadvantage here and he didn’t care. I sighed with relief when the wall changed to the curved roof and then yelped when a pair of strong hands grabbed the back of my jacket and hauled me up farther onto the domed roof.
I yanked myself away and glared at Raikidan. “I can do it myself!”
Raikidan pulled away. “Okay, okay. You don’t need to bite my head off. I’m just trying to help.”
“And I’m still mad at you, so don’t touch me!” I snapped as I walked up the rest of the incline.
“Why are you mad? I just wanted you to move faster since I figured this was an urgent mission,” he defended.
I whirled on him. “I’d like to see you try scaling a wall with nothing more than your hands and feet! Oh, wait, you can’t. And I can’t fly, so I’m forced to struggle my way up while you take the easy route and have time to think that I’m too slow.”
Raikidan flinched. “Sorry. If you had asked, I’d have flown you up here somehow.”
I snorted and turned away. “I’d rather chew off my own arm than ask that.”
“Don’t you think that was a little harsh?” Seda asked.
“No.”
She sighed but didn’t say anything. I didn’t pay it any mind. She wouldn’t understand. She enjoyed flying when she could. I, on the other hand, did not enjoy the concept one bit.
Steadying myself as I crouched down, I scanned the city. Searching up here was a long shot, but hopefully we’d manage to pick something odd up.
“So how are we going to do this?” Raikidan asked as he crouched next to me.
It was obvious my annoyance with him had affected him little. “The fastest way to locate Jay would be to Heat-Sense. As long as he’s moving outside, we should be able to spot him at this height.”
“What about Arnia?”
“If she’s hiding, it’d be inside a building. I doubt we’re going to find her this way, unless, of course, you’re able to Heat-Sense through walls.”
Raikidan snorted. “I have limits too, you know.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, I willed the heat in my chest to fill my eyes. My sight distorted and I scanned the city. There were hundreds of people still walking about this late, making my job harder, but I had expected as much.
Raikidan pointed in the direction of Quadrant Three. “I see two of the groups over there.”
I pointed toward the direction of Quadrant Two. “The other two are over there. They’re spread out well. I just hope one of them is close enough to intercept.”
“We have to find this guy first,” Raikidan reminded me.
“I know that,” I muttered.
I continued to scan the city. Movement caught my eye and I leaned forward. A single person streaked through the back alleys of Sector Eight. Soon after, a mob followed suit. Sliding closer to the edge of the roof, I looked harder. I wanted to be sure it wasn’t a gang chasing a poor civilian.
“That looks to be him.” As I continued to move, I switched my communicator to Aurora’s signal so she could figure out the coordinates.
“Oh, good!” Aurora exclaimed. “I thought I’d have to wait for you to answer my call in. I was able to get a rough idea of where Arnia is. The signal was cut before I could pinpoint her exactly.”
“It’ll be good enough,” I replied. “It’s better than what we have now, and if we can manage it, we can spread ourselves thin to cover more ground.”
“All right, she’s somewhere in Quadrant Two. At one point it looked to be on the border of Sectors Four and Five, but I couldn’t get a second reading to confirm it. It looks like our team is in the same area, so I’ll let them know,” she informed me.
“Sounds good. Raikidan and I will join them. Before you do, though, I need you to figure out the coordinates of this video clip I’m shooting. It’s Jay, and I believe he’s in Sector Eight. The other teams will need to get there ASAP to help him.”
I could hear Aurora typing on her keyboard. “I’m receiving the feed now. I’ll hand it over to Raynn’s team and hope they won’t mess it up.”
“I was hoping you’d be able to get another team to help us,” I muttered.
“Sorry, they were the only ones available. If it weren’t for the Council, I wouldn’t have been able to get half of them, and as you can see, even with a Council order, Nioush chose not to help. As much of an ass as he is, he would have been a powerful asset.”
“As much as I hate to agree with you, you’re right. I’m glad Seda isn’t like him.”
Aurora laughed. “I think we’d be down one psychic if she were.”
I chuckled and cut the connection. I slid to the edge and Raikidan grasped the back of my vest. I turned my head and glared at him. “Let go.”
“I don’t want you to fall,” he objected.
I grunted and slipped out of his grip to move closer to the edge. “I don’t need your help. I can take care of myself.”
“But—”
He didn’t get a chance to continue. Once I reached the ledge, I jumped.
“Eira!” Raikidan shouted.
Gravity pulled me down like a lead weight. The wind whipped around me and deadened my hearing. Twisting my body, I faced the wall and looked for a place to push off from. Finding the right nook, I grabbed hold and then pushed off with my feet. Using my momentum to my advantage, I converted the vertical movement to a horizontal one. I twisted my body again as I came close to the building I was aiming for.
Positioning myself correctly, I rolled on the roof and pushed myself to a standing position. I looked back up at Raikidan as I came to a stop and I gave him a smug snort before continuing on, hiding my limp as best as I could. I hadn’t landed as well as I had planned, thanks to the guns on my back, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I could take care of myself. I’d done it all my life. I wasn’t about to stop now.
Large wings flapped above me as I ran. Looking up, I spotted Raikidan following at a distance. As long as he didn’t complain to Seda about my supposed slowness, I’d be fine.
“I’ll take my gun back.” I looked at Raikidan in surprise. I hadn’t expected him to shift, let alone attempt to run beside me.
“What, tired of flying, or am I still too slow for you?” I sneered.
Raikidan sighed. “Just give me my gun. I’ll be out of your hair after.”
Pulling the gun off my back, I tossed it at him—my pace picking up instantly. The extra weight had been slowing me down greatly and I had no idea.
“Let me take your gun. It’ll let you move faster.”
�
�It’ll slow you down more.”
He shrugged. “I don’t care. If I have to use up all my energy to keep up with you, I will.”
I snorted. “I’ll carry it myself.”
“You don’t have to do everything alone!”
“I don’t need anyone’s help,” I muttered. “I can take care of myself like I have in the past.”
Raikidan stopped running. “Are you saying I should have left you to die? I should have turned a blind eye to your condition?”
“It would have made my life a whole lot simpler if you had…” I murmured quietly as I slowed down my pace. “…and yours too…”
Raikidan grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to stop. “I’m not okay with that answer. I’m not okay with you not allowing me to help.”
I pushed him away. “Why do you even care? I’m a human, not a dragon. I mean nothing to you.”
“That’s not—”
“I mean nothing to everyone… I came back to help the others, that’s all. There’s no help for me…”
“I want to help.”
“It’s too late!” I barked. “Where were you when I needed help twenty years ago? Where were you when I needed help ten years ago? Where were you?”
He didn’t answer.
“That’s right. You weren’t there for me, just like everyone else. I had to do it all on my own! I had no one to rely on then, and I need no one to rely on now. When this is over, I’m out of everyone’s hair and on my own like before. You might as well accept that.”
I ran off before he could say anything. Hopefully, he’d get the hint this time. He was better off not making a connection and I was better off alone. That’s how it was meant to be.
Holding on to the wall, I peered into the large window of a warehouse, only to sigh when I found nothing. There wasn’t even a heartbeat reading from the communicator. Ryoko looked up at me hopefully, and I shook my head. She looked down at the ground sadly.
We had been searching for over an hour now and we still hadn’t found a trace of Arnia. Raynn’s group had lost Jaybird, putting them back to square one, except, this time, they weren’t going to get help from Raikidan or me.
Ryoko greeted Rylan and Raikidan as they walked around the corner of the warehouse. “No luck for you two either?”
Rylan shook his head. “No. I’m starting to think she’s moved from this area.”
Raikidan glanced at me briefly before pressing on to another warehouse. “We’ll keep looking until there’s nowhere else to look.”
Not sparing Raikidan more than a second’s glance, I moved in the opposite direction. We hadn’t spoken since I had yelled at him. When we had met up with the others and split off into groups of two, he had chosen to work with Rylan. Every time we met up, we’d barely looked at each other.
“You don’t need him.”
“Are you and Raikidan fighting again?” Ryoko asked as she caught up with me. I climbed a metal ladder instead of answering, and she sighed. “That’s what I thought. What is it over this time?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Ryoko groaned. “Laz, why can’t you get along with one person? Just one, that’s all I ask from you.”
“Because I can’t.”
She sighed. “Can’t you try?”
I looked down at her. “I’m not compatible with people. Now drop it, Ryoko.” As I turned, I stopped short and exhaled. “Don’t do that, Raikidan.”
Raikidan kept moving, but as I watched him, I realized he was hyper-focused on something, and not just ignoring me. He hadn’t even noticed me this time.
“What’s with him?” Ryoko asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
Rylan came around the corner of the building and looked up at us. “He caught a scent and ran off. Keep up with him. We don’t need three missing people.”
I nodded and followed Raikidan. He was so focused on following whatever scent had crossed his nose, he didn’t even notice me once. I placed my hands on his arm and peered around him when he stopped. He jumped and looked at me. “How long have you been there?”
A small giggle escaped my lips. “I’ve been following you this whole time.”
“Oh…” He looked away and pointed to the wall of the warehouse. “The scent leads to that wall, but I don’t understand why. That woman can’t walk through walls, can she?”
I shook my head and took a closer look at the wall. “No, but she is a metal elementalist, making her a great asset for barricades.” Pressing on the wall, I looked for a weak point. The metal creaked and eventually a corner popped out. “Bingo.”
Grabbing onto the exposed corner, I bent the metal away until a small hole was exposed. Tossing the sheet metal aside, I peered into the hole. The tunnel was dark, but I could make out a small dip where the tunnel curved down.
Raikidan knelt down and sniffed. “She definitely went this way, but there’s no way we’re going to be able to follow. There are no doors or windows to this building, and that tunnel is tiny.”
I snorted and sat down. “You’re such a pessimist.”
Placing my gun down on the grated floor, I grabbed onto the top part of the hole and slid myself down the tunnel.
“Eira, no!” Raikidan hissed.
But it was too late. I didn’t care where this led me, nor did I care for what lay ahead. I’d deal with it when it came. I stumbled when my feet hit the floor, but didn’t let that stop me. Looking around cautiously, I ventured deeper into the dark warehouse, although it wasn’t completely dark, thanks to a few holes in the roof that let in the light from the moon.
I jumped and spun around with surprise when a masculine hand touched my shoulder. Raikidan held up his hands defensively. “Easy, it’s me.”
I sighed and lowered my guard. “Don’t do that!”
“I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t jump into strange holes without thinking.”
I crossed my arms. “I was thinking of finding Arnia. She’s definitely in here, and we need to get her somewhere safe before it’s too late. There may not be soldiers in this area right now, but there will be. She obviously locked this building up to keep them out, so that means they’ll come back looking for her.” I motioned for him to follow. “C’mon, we need to look around for her instead of argue.”
“Her scent is heavy here,” he said. “Follow me and we’ll find her.”
“Your sense of smell is really good.”
“Can’t you smell her here?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t been around her too recently to be able to catch it. If I concentrated long enough, I might be able to pick it up, but it would be faint to me.”
“Your sense of smell sucks,” he teased.
I pushed him. “Shut up and get a move on.”
He muttered something in his tongue and pushed me back before beginning his search. I followed close behind. The two of us stopped next to a large metal crate when we heard boots clomping on the floor, and quiet masculine voices echoed through the building. Keeping still in the shadows, we waited until two soldiers came into a patch of moonlight.
“This is pointless,” one complained. “We’ve searched this whole place and she’s not here. We should bust open a wall and get out of here.”
“No,” the other objected. “She’s here. Otherwise those rebels outside wouldn’t be here still.”
Raikidan and I looked at each other but continued to stay where we were.
The first soldier sighed. “I can’t wait to get my hands on this woman’s throat.”
“Don’t say that,” the other soldier said. “You know our orders. Neither she nor the other is to be killed. Zarda wants to kill them himself.”
The first soldier kicked a crate. “He gets all the fun. Knowing him, he’s just going to screw it
up again like that time that commander got away.”
The second soldier chuckled. “You mean that freak show that would kill hundreds in cold blood?”
The first soldier nodded. “Yeah, that one.”
My arms reached up and held myself out of reflex. I knew who they were talking about.
The second soldier grunted. “Emotionless, bloodthirsty monster she was. Hopefully, whoever is dealing with her now is having fun. Creations like her shouldn’t exist. They’re uncontrollable.”
The first soldier nodded in agreement. “Now there are copies of her that are even worse. That’s exactly what we need. More monsters roaming about.”
“Make them regret their words.”
The two chuckled and my heart ached. Even in my absence, I was remembered as a monster. Would I ever escape who I was, or was I always going to be a monster?
“Kill them.”
Raikidan took one of the daggers on my arms and I attempted to stop him, but without words, I wasn’t able to do much. I didn’t want to risk moving from my spot, and if I made a sound, they’d see us both. All I could do was watch as Raikidan stalked up to them soundlessly. The second soldier ended up walking a little ways ahead of his companion due to his larger stride, giving Raikidan the opportunity to take them out individually.
Raikidan reached up and covered the man’s mouth. He thrust the dagger into the soldier’s back and then snapped his neck. Laying him on the ground quietly, Raikidan advanced toward the last soldier.
The soldier turned to speak to his companion and stopped moving at the sight of Raikidan and his dead counterpart. The soldier drew his pistol. “Who the hell—”
Raikidan seized him by the throat and lifted him off the ground before he could finish. The soldier dropped his pistol as Raikidan tightened his grip.
“You’d best take back what you said about her,” Raikidan threatened.
The man snickered. “So you… know the freak, do you? Why don’t you make me take back my words?”
Raikidan pulled the soldier’s face close to his own. “You’re in no position to be challenging me, you worthless peon.”
Pieces Page 19
