Edge of Truth (9781310978142)

by Hanova, Natasha

  “First you cut it like this.” Using Topaz’s knife, Nevan made a thin slice along the width of the plant, exposing a slimy gel-like substance inside. He lifted Blaze’s arm with two fingers against her wrist. “Then, you gently rub the gel on her skin, like this.”

  Blaze scrunched up her nose as she shifted away. “That feels like snot.”

  “I promise, it’ll help you feel better.”

  Nose still scrunched, she held her arm out for Nevan, again. He gave her a sideways grin and said, “I think Rena can handle it from here.”

  He handed her the knife they bought at the Underground, and tucked the newly acquired one inside the backpack.

  “Thank you, for this.” She lifted their knife. “And for helping me take care of Blaze.”

  “Standing right here with ears that work.”

  Nevan tipped his hat and strolled to a greenery-filled crevice of the hillside cliff a few yards away. He plucked small berries from the shrubs and stashed them in one of the outside backpack pockets.

  Sweat darkened his green shirt by two shades and painted a T across his broad shoulders down to his narrow waist. A smile spread across Rena’s face as she continued stealing glances at him while she slathered the pulp on Blaze’s shoulder.

  “Anything you want to tell me?” Blaze asked in a hushed tone.

  “Here.” She handed her a water bottle, yet kept her eyes on Nevan’s rippling muscles.

  “I didn’t ask for water, Rena.” Regardless, she took a sip. “How? Why is he here?”

  She tossed aside the empty aloe leaves, tucked the knife in the side pocket of her cargos, and leaned against the rock. “Long story short—”

  “I don’t want just the beans and grease. I want the whole burrito with all the saucy details.”

  “I’ll tell you about it later.” She pulled her gaze away from Nevan and looked at her friend. “Wanna talk about what happened to you?”

  She shook her head. “I’d like to know how you made the transition from spying on Nevan to joining forces on a rescue mission.”

  Rena’s gaze strayed to him again.

  “Look at you; you can’t stop gawking at him. He’s an Aggie, you know?”

  “Who better to be trapped in the wilderness with? Show me a Dustie who knows how to fix sunburn without going to Market.” She kept her eyes on him as she spoke, hoping it’d ease the discomfort from her next question. “Speaking of which, how did Topaz manage to take you? You’re always so aware of what’s going on around you.”

  “Apparently not aware enough.”

  “Where was Torley?”

  “He was supposed to meet us at the Celebration. He probably thinks I bailed on him.” Blaze crossed her arms, winced, then let them hang by her side as she leaned against a boulder. She nodded toward Nevan. “You know what they say about Aggies.”

  “They aren’t always right and he’s been a perfect gentleman.” Surely, Blaze could see how he was different. “True-quality, that’s what Nevan is.”

  “But he’s so quiet and—,” Blaze started to say.

  “He kissed me.”

  “He kissed you!” The words came out too loud, and Blaze raised her hand in front of her mouth.

  Rena flung an ‘I can’t believe you just did that’ glare at her. Blaze shrugged an apology right as Nevan turned around with a knowing smile, dimple and all. He shouldered the backpack, and strolled toward them.

  She glanced over her shoulder with a sharp inhale. All she could think about was the spicy-sweet taste of his soft, full lips. Her breath caught in her throat at the thought of his warm embrace and the touch of his hands gliding around her waist. The shivers that ran down her spine intensified with every footfall. A slight ground ripple squashed her elation and forced her to tamp down control over her emotions. She’d promised herself to never again test her powers in unchartered land, especially around people she loved. She waited to see if the tremor grew strong enough to trigger a quake.

  “You ladies about ready to get going? I’ll need to wash the bugs off the berries before we can eat them.”

  She faced Nevan, embarrassment warming her cheeks. “I was…I, uh…”

  Without waiting for an explanation, he winked and headed down the narrow deer trail. “Watch where you step,” he called over his shoulder as he stepped over a pile of dark pebbles.

  Rena glared at Blaze and whispered. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  “And I can’t believe Nevan gave you your first kiss.”

  “It was well worth the wait.”

  With Nevan in the lead and Blaze in the middle, Rena picked her way through hip-high grass and vines, which seemed determined to trip her. Unlike in Ugly, the plants here were mostly shades of green, the trees were all covered in hard bark, and none of them gave off an odor. She imagined Ugly would thrive in a place like this with no boundaries.

  They soon reached the small stream that cascaded down the mountain. Nevan grabbed the hem of his shirt and started to peel it off. Rena’s attention riveted to the slow reveal of his narrow waist and toned back. The hollow between his broad shoulders begged for a touch, and her hands ached to caress the trail along his spine from his neck to lower back. The way his shorts hung teased her with glimpses of his bare, upper hips ... Sweet Mother.

  A subtle tremble rolled through the ground. Rena snapped her mouth shut and forced herself to look someplace safe, like Nevan’s hands. He piled the berries inside his shirt and carefully held the material so the water only washed away tiny bugs.

  Blaze knelt on the bank. “Maybe I was wrong about the too skinny thing,” she whispered between handfuls of water.

  “You think?” Rena said, then re-hydrated as well.

  Blaze dabbed water on her face. “This feels so good on my sunburn.”

  Rena let the liquid run between her fingers. “It’s as cold as the water in my cave.”

  “There’s water in your cave?” Nevan asked as he broke three large leaves off a nearby plant.

  Her gaze slid down his torso from his thick biceps to his well-defined abs. Words caught in her throat, she nodded her answer then splashed her face. Another small tremble rumbled through the earth. She ripped her eyes away from him and thought about the steps for connecting an oscamot valve to a plenchet. She inhaled. Line up brackets with the proper break lines. She exhaled. Match the black fitting to the black friliger, white fitting to white friliger, gray fitting to gray friliger. Check the pressure proportions and adjust if necessary. Ugh, her job was so boring some days.

  The ground settled.

  “Your family’s lucky to have the potential to claim an untapped resource like that. The things some people will do for fresh water.” He shook his head as he divided the berries among the three leaves. After rinsing his shirt, he pulled it back on, and motioned for them to join him. “This was the only thing I found that’s safe to eat. I’ll keep looking.”

  “What are they?” Rena examined one of the dark blue orbs.

  “Stickleberries.”

  Blaze grimaced at her pile. “Are you sure these are safe?”

  “He’s an Aggie, it’s his job to know this stuff,” Rena said before he could answer. She sucked in a sharp breath. Did I call him an “Aggie” right to his face? Why am I such a bodink? Farmer, Grower, Sharecropper, any one of those would’ve been better. She let out her breath and her words at the same time. “I didn’t mean to call you an Aggie. But that’s what you are. I mean what you do. SME, I did it again, I’m gonna…” She stuffed a handful of sweet, yet tart berries in her mouth.

  “It’s aw’right. I’m not offended by that label like some people. I come from a long line of proud Aggies.” He leaned to the side, stretched out his legs, and propped himself up on one elbow. He looked perfectly natural and comfortable laying in the grass, as if it didn’t violate at least four Conservation Codes. Though, out here, those didn’t matter.

  Rena shifted to lie on her stomach, and with her elbows bent, rested her chin on
her hands. Vibrations from the stream trilled along her chest, stomach, and thighs.

  Blaze popped a berry in her mouth. “Do we have any kind of plan for getting home?”

  “I know one thing, we’re not going anywhere tonight,” Nevan said.

  “What happened to,” Rena lowered her voice to mimic his, “‘I don’t wanna end up spendin’ da night in da badlands.’”

  “I don’t sound like that,” he said through a grin as he nudged her foot with his own. “Besides, that was before I found out about the Synbot.”

  Blaze shifted. “What does the Syn have to do with anything?”

  “They detect heat signatures.” Rena sat. “Nevan and me almost got busted in the orchard domes, but we hid on top of a building that disguised our heat signature.”

  “Right now, these rocks are putting off too much heat for that guy’s Syn to find us. Come nightfall, the boulders will lose heat and make it easy for it to track us.”

  “Doesn’t it have a limited scanning range? This place is massive.”

  “Think of it this way.” He sat up, using a twig to draw a map. “If we got up high enough on this mountain, we’d still be able to find the Nest at night.”

  “Yeah, because it’s lit up.”

  “Exactly. We might not be able to see any people, but as long as there was light, we’d see it. Our heat signatures are like lights to the Synbots. If that guy directs his to search broad width, it won’t have to be close to see us. It only has to scan in the right direction.”

  Rena picked up her empty leaf-plate, anxiously twirling it by the stem. “How can we hide from them out here? There aren’t any heat-disguising buildings.”

  “You know how Chai collects rocks?” Nevan asked.

  She nodded. “How does that relate?”

  “She found a sparkling one once. It was her prized possession. She showed it to our granddad, expecting to impress him. He collects rocks, too. Only instead of gushing over it, he yelled at her, confiscated the stone, and made her tell him where she found it. Our parents freaked out when he told her what Chai brought into the house.”

  “It was just a rock, right?”

  He shook his head. “It’s an illegal mineral, but only the older generations know about it since even mentioning the name is cause for punishment.”

  “A rock?” Blaze looked as confused as Rena felt.

  “Lumonium,” Nevan whispered. “It deflects heat signatures.”

  Blaze set her leaf-plate to the side. “Be kind of hard to make a cloak using rocks.”

  “People used to grind it into a powder, mix it with mud, oil, or something like that, and smear it over themselves. Combine that with a bit of camouflage and they became invisible to the Syns.”

  “And this helps us how?”

  “The Overlord eliminated traces of it in Hollowcrest, but here in the wilderness, there are caves full of it. It’s one of the reasons he doesn’t want people coming out here.”

  Rena stood, her gaze roving over the mountainside. “What does it look like?”

  “Light gray on the outside with specks of clear rock that look like glass,” Nevan said as he stood and helped Blaze to her feet, as well. He shouldered the backpack and after a quick glance at their ‘picnic’ area, he led them up the slope in search of the forbidden mineral.

  Retreating higher up in the mountains sounded like a good plan, provided Rena didn’t lose control and trigger another earthquake. The pressure of having her friend’s safety in her hands weighed on her. Where would they be safest? A lumonium cave offered camouflage, though one wrong move on her part and falling rocks would crush them all. Then again, if they fled the sanctuary of the foothills for Hollowcrest, the Syn would definitely find them.

  She massaged her shoulders. Would she be able to suppress her emotions long enough to keep her friends safe, especially if Nevan kept flirting?

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Sunday, June 25

  Early Evening

  The first lumonium cave they discovered was too shallow and too short to fit all of them inside. The next one was so surrounded by shrubbery they almost missed it. Thanks to Nevan’s keen eyes, they didn’t. The entrance was almost as tall as him. The sun set behind them as they huddled together, with Rena sandwiched in the middle. They shuffled a few yards into the dark chasm. A few steps more revealed that the cave curved around to the left, like the letter ‘J’. The ceiling angled up, forming a peak where a splash of sunlight seeped in. It’d provide the ventilation they’d need for a fire.

  “I think we found our shelter,” Nevan said.

  “Finally. I’m exhausted.”

  “Me too. We should probably make torches.” Rena gazed out at the surrounding trees and noticed a fallen one.

  “You ladies work on that. I’ll see if I can find us some more food before it gets too dark.”

  Once they were outside again, Rena continued to hold on to his arm, yet kept a close watch on Blaze who searched for branches thick enough to use for torches.

  “Need me to shave some bark for you before I go?”

  She shook her head and patted her pocket. “I still have our knife. Don’t go too far.”

  “I won’t. “

  He made her feel safe and she didn’t want him to go. She couldn’t bear the thought of him accidentally tripping over some rocks and knocking himself unconscious or some wild animal mauling him. After all, they were in the wilderness. Unlike Hollowcrest, this place was dangerous. Great, now she was starting to think like Blaze. She shook her head. Nevan was grown. He could handle himself.

  “You still owe me a race back across those rocks,” she said.

  “Well, then, we better make sure you get your rest.” He stroked her chin before stepping away to empty the contents of the backpack inside the cave entrance. He set the matches and rope on top of the stack. “I’ll be back before dark. Stay near the cave.” He slung the empty backpack over his shoulder and headed into the woods.

  Rena waited until she couldn’t see him anymore, yet could faintly detect his footfalls, before she walked to a fallen tree and started shaving bark. Meanwhile, Blaze gathered small branches and twigs from the ground and stacked them inside the cave threshold.

  “I’m shocked to see how many different kinds of plants grow over here.” Rena collected the shavings, piled them on the ground next to Blaze, and handed her the knife.

  “I know. Did you see those yellow flowers? I thought those only grew in the domes.”

  “I don’t get it. Our whole lives, they drill it into our heads that the badlands are desolate and uninhabitable, but looking around, I think, with the right know-how and tools, people could live on this side of the mountains.”

  Blaze snorted as she cut a length of rope and used it to bind the bark shavings to one of the thick sticks. “Ever hear of Conservation Laws 1 through 17, not to mention 37 to 52?”

  “Those laws are outdated,” Rena said, though she remembered less than half. She strolled toward the horizon. Stretched out before them, countless trees and other types of plant life grew down the mountain slope. The stream they’d discovered earlier cut a wide, snake-like path through the valley below. Breathtaking, even in twilight.

  “I don’t think trees are on the verge of extinction anymore. See?” She took a careful step forward. “This area is hundreds of times bigger than all of Hollowcrest. There’s plenty of land for—”

  “Don’t, Rena.”

  “Don’t what?” She turned and looked at her friend.

  Blaze popped the lip balm cap and massaged the wax into the kindling. “You get these wild ideas in your head about things.”

  She shifted her weight to one leg. “Like getting out of the rat-hole we live in?”

  “Why can’t you be happy with things the way they are?” Blaze sat on her haunches. “We have food, we have shelter, we have protection, we have—”

  “To live by the rules the Overlord imposes on us. You know what Nevan told me?” She sat down
and rolled the remaining rope. “He says the Nesties take people and do experiments on them.”

  “That’s not true.” Blaze returned her attention to the kindling.

  “They took his best friend and almost got Nevan, too.”

  Blaze didn’t respond or make eye contact.

  “I think it’s time for some things to change.”

  “I was there with you in the beginning, ready for a change.” Blaze added a few more sticks to the second torch. “Until I got kidnapped and...”

  Rena paused, waiting for Blaze to finish, but she didn’t. “I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen to you.”

  “I know.” She met Rena’s eyes. “But it did. People who keep a low profile, obey the law, and don’t rebel live long lives.”

  “Yeah, but not happy ones.”

  “Better than this, though.”

  Blaze struck the match and lit the torch.

  Without saying a word, Rena gathered the firewood and followed Blaze into the cave, which turned out to be more of a ‘G’ than a ‘J’. The light glinted off the rocks like stars.

  Working by torchlight, Blaze quickly arranged the firewood and set fire to it using the torch. “Even if we make it out of Westrock without getting caught, we can’t exactly go home. I don’t want to lead Topaz to my family. There’s no telling what he might do.”

  Rena sunk to her knees. “My focus has been on rescuing you. I never thought about what could happen if we didn’t cooperate with Topaz.”

  “I have,” Blaze said. She eased down next to her.

  “What about the Synbots? They’re supposed to protect us, aren’t they?”

  Blaze leaned back, a sad look in her eyes. “Are you willing to chance it?”

  Rena’s shoulders slumped. “Are we going to have to stay in hiding the rest of our lives?”

  “No.”

  She straightened a little. “Talk to me.”

  “When Topaz and his men first took me and the other redheads, they moved us to an abandoned building by the old factory. That’s where I saw Topaz talking on a Vid-Cel.”