Edge of Truth (9781310978142)

by Hanova, Natasha

  Blaze scooted closer, lowering her voice. “I’ve been thinking about the conversation we had last night about Topaz’s possible connection to the Overlord. I don’t think that Syn came from him.”

  A renewed light began to burn. Hope. “Go on.”

  “On the first night out here, Topaz complained about the Syn being outdated.”

  The Overlord had discontinued the outdated models, which meant Topaz’s didn’t come from Andrick. If Nevan were still alive, Rena would’ve fully enjoyed the relief that came with that realization. “We won’t have to stay in hiding.”

  Blaze lowered her voice. “It also means Topaz salvaged a Syn.”

  “No way he got a code for that. He must’ve tampered with the Syns’ programming to get it to function.” People like Trace and his parents could figure it out, given enough time to tinker with it. Rena cut a glaring look in Topaz’s direction. “Oh, he’s in trouble.”

  “Unless he has a permit.” Blaze ran her fingers along a blade of grass without plucking it.

  Rena scoffed. “Yeah, right. He has a permit to own a weapon-carrying Syn.”

  “If we make it home, we could report him for stealing me and…” She accidentally broke the grass, flushed, and tucked the blade into the soil. She paused, as if collecting her thoughts, then said, “And for extorting you.”

  “The charge would be worse for the stolen and reprogrammed Syn. The Overlord doesn’t tolerate people tampering with his toys, even discarded ones.”

  “But it’s smashed.”

  “Maybe we can use the scraps as proof against him.” They’d have to find a way to break through the stone that smashed the Syn. Rena almost chuckled. One touch, and she’d shatter it in front of Andrick himself, if it meant saving her friends.

  “But then, we’ll have to explain what we were doing out here, and they’ll find out about your relics and the water. It might get confiscated.”

  “Don’t care about those anymore. Too many people…” She covered her achy throat. “Too many people have been hurt.”

  “When we get home, all we have to do is turn Topaz over to the Synbots, and then our families will be safe.”

  She glanced at their captor again. “That’s if we give him a reason to keep us alive. You’re sly.” Using Nevan’s word for Blaze brought fresh tears to Rena’s eyes. She cleared her throat. “If it comes to it, do you think you can negotiate for our lives?”

  Blaze straightened her back, a shaky smile crossing her face. “I’ve never met a bargain that didn’t end in my favor. Well, besides this one.”

  “Think you can get them to give us some water? And maybe a little to nibble on, too.”

  “No problem.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Monday, June 26

  Afternoon

  Rena stuck to the shaded foothills as long as possible. Now, they approached the cave, but hiking to it would put them in direct sunlight during the height of the Burning. Blaze’s skin already glowed an angry red; Rena didn’t want to contribute any more to that suffering. To buy time, she led them in a wide circle, praying no one caught on.

  It worked, at first. Then Topaz grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him. “We passed this point over half an hour ago. Don’t toy with me.”

  An eerie emptiness filled his eyes as he pulled the detonation device from his pocket.

  “Don’t hurt Blaze. Please.” She attempted to level her voice. “Please. The cave is right down there.”

  “Well then, why are you wasting my time?” Topaz asked as he headed down the slope. “Let’s go.”

  “The Burning—”

  “It’s nearly passed,” he said as he pulled out a wide brim hat with neck protection. He handed one to Stone then looked at her expectantly.

  “Blaze can’t go down there. She needs to stay in the shade.”

  Topaz flipped the black box open. “That can be arranged.”

  Blaze froze.

  “No!” Rena shrieked. “Don’t kill her.”

  “Don’t test me.” His finger hovered over the green button, catapulting Rena’s thoughts from delay to survival.

  Nevan’s shoe tapped against her leg as she crossed her arms. “She lives or I don’t lead you to the cave.”

  “You already told me where it is. It can’t be that hard to find.”

  He’d called her bluff.

  Rena uncrossed her arms, forcing herself to make eye contact as she put her natural talent to use. She bent the truth.

  “The cave where I found the book was small. It only had twenty or so boxes inside. There are more caves out here.” The image of Nevan when he told her the history of the area flashed through her mind. A small whimper escaped before she pushed the memory away.

  Topaz hitched an eyebrow. “What do you know of the troves?”

  She straightened. “Their locations.”

  “You have the coordinates?” His eyes widened and a grin spread across his face. He stepped closer. “Let me see.”

  Her stomach roiled and she pressed her lips together to hold back the bile that rose. She tapped her temple. “They’re here.”

  “I could force you to talk.”

  Adjusting the duffle over his shoulder, Stone approached Topaz. At first, she thought he was going to say something, but he folded his hands in front of him. The ever-silent sentinel.

  “You’ve already taken Nevan,” her voice hitched. She cleared her throat. “If you do anything to harm Blaze, I’m liable to lose my memory.”

  “And why should I believe you, about the caves?”

  “Only one way to find out.”

  Topaz returned the device to his pocket and smoothed down the jacket. “Why are you still standing here?” His booming voice startled the birds and sent them flying from the trees.

  Blaze flinched then hurried toward Rena. The two held arms as they slowly picked their way halfway down the slope, stopping before the shade ended and the pelting sunshine began.

  Covered in various grasses growing between patches of rock and dirt, the hillside made it a gentle descent to the dried riverbed below. Rena gazed out at the destruction from the earthquake she’d triggered here. Portions of the earth were smashed together, forming low, rugged peaks. The smooth, flat faces of some of the larger boulders looked like someone had sliced them with a huge sword. A jagged fissure etched across the ground like a beacon toward her cave. How had Blaze missed it?

  “Did you even come to this side of Westrock?”

  “What, and give him no reason to keep me alive long enough for you to find me?”

  Rena hitched an eyebrow. “You knew? Where this was?” She pointed toward the cave, which wasn’t visible, thanks to Rena’s camouflage.

  She nodded.

  “And that I’d come find you?” Rena asked.

  Blaze looked at Rena. “Without a doubt.”

  Rena straightened her shoulders and turned her attention back to the task. “Wanna use your skirt for protection like last time?”

  Blaze shook her head.

  “The Burning is almost over. If we stall ten min—.”

  “I want this done.”

  “You sure? You’ll blister even more.”

  Blaze glanced over her shoulder toward the men. “I can’t. With Nevan, it was different.”

  Rena nodded. “Do we have to do this now?” she asked Topaz. “Can’t we wait?”

  “No.”

  She balled her fists. “I’m telling you this because I don’t want you do something that can’t be undone.”

  Topaz sidled up next to her. He and Stone both held sunbrellas. “I’m listening.”

  “Once we leave, we’re running as fast as we can to the shade. You have a problem with that?”

  He patted his chest. “As long as you remember who’s in control.”

  Her gaze dipped to his pocket then back to his eyes. “I know exactly who’s in control.” She nudged Blaze’s hand. “Ready?”

  Tugging at the necklac
e, she stole a peek at Topaz’s pocket and nodded.

  With the brown shoe tucked under her arm, Rena shifted to the right, casting a slender shade over her friend. They simultaneously exhaled and dashed out. The instant the sun touched Blaze, she let out a string of profanity that violated several Conduct Codes.

  Every time Rena bent her knees, it reopened the tiny wounds on her kneecaps. She forced herself to breathe through the pain. Gravel and stones shifted under her shoes, causing her to skid down the slope. The trees grew few and far between, making it easy to evade them. Thin trails of blood ran down her leg, causing her pants to stick to her shins.

  Rena glanced over. “Still with me?”

  “Keep. Going,” Blaze responded between pants.

  She had to give it to Blaze; she’d never seen her move this fast. She was almost as fast as Nevan. At the thought, Rena slipped and fell. The shoe flew out from under her arm. She scampered to pick it up before checking Topaz’s location. He struggled, obviously not used to long-distance running or slanted terrain. Despite the distance between them, the locket didn’t beep.

  Rena raced forward, Nevan’s shoe kicking the air beside her. She had no plans to slow down until they reached the cave in about half a mile. When she spotted her camouflage handiwork still in place, a slither of pride worked through her.

  “We’re close!” she yelled. “Veer left.” She dashed ahead and started ripping down the shrubs. Within seconds, they stood in the shade. Rena’s face felt tight and hot from sun exposure, but she didn’t burn as easily as Blaze with her fair skin and red hair. Weeping blisters covered most of Blaze’s skin and lips, even her hair looked fried.

  Rena shook her head. Her eyes glowed with the heat of vengeance. “I promise, he won’t get away with hurting you.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Rena forced her attention to the cave. For some reason, it didn’t have the same magical atmosphere as before. The dust had settled, leaving a thick layer on all of the steel boxes. Blaze lingered at the entrance with her arms held away from her body. Seeing her burned and blistered skin made Rena cringe.

  Blaze’s line of vision crawled across the pebble-choked floor to the box beside Rena’s foot. “We should’ve never taken that stuff to Market.”

  Guilt stabbed at Rena. She stared at her best friend until Blaze looked up and locked eyes with her. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Blaze looked away.

  “By all rights, we have claim to this cave and everything in it. We had every right to sell whatever we wanted.” The skin covering her cheeks grew taut as they flushed with heat. “If anybody’s done something wrong, it’s that psycho out there.” She jabbed her finger toward Topaz who neared the cave.

  “Hopefully, this’ll all be over soon.” Blaze made a move to hug herself again, winced, then held her arms by her side once more.

  Curiosity drew her closer. She checked Topaz’s position again before she whispered, “We never talked about what happened? Is there anything I need to know?”

  “No.” Blaze shifted her hands from her side to her waist as she broke eye contact and moved away.

  “I don’t believe you.” She rubbed her tingling hands down the side of her pants.

  “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

  A sudden headache made Rena sway. She massaged her temples with her eyes closed and opened them in time to see Blaze flinch. Topaz and Stone had reached the cave.

  “You might want to stay closer now.” Topaz took the black box out of his pocket, and flipped it open. From this angle, Rena saw a two-inch wide digital screen with numbers on the inside above a heart-shaped indention. He punched a few numbers, which she assumed reactivated the tiny bomb inside the locket. The box beeped three quick times and Blaze’s choker beeped once.

  Blaze shrieked, wide-eyed and pale-faced as her fingers curled around the choker and tugged. She focused on Topaz. “I obeyed you!”

  Topaz chuckled, as he tucked the box in his pocket. “Relax, Red. You’ve done well.”

  Blaze dropped her hands from the choker, and angled away from Topaz. Her cheeks flared red and the heat from it crept down her neck. The flex of her jaw muscles told Rena her best friend was struggling to hold in a retort.

  Rena’s ears burned and her palms itched.

  Followed by Stone, Topaz strolled deeper into the cave. His jaw went slack as he gawked at the dozens of boxes on the ground and the hundreds still lodged in cubbyholes. If he figured out her lie, he gave no indication. “Oh, this is absolutely spectacular.”

  He slowly pivoted full circle, his fingers raking through the air as if counting. He stopped, and a smile she once thought beautiful crossed his face. There was something else in it now. Fascination. Possessiveness. Conquest. Dreams of power and greed shone in his eyes.

  Rena’s hands curled into fists.

  When Topaz flashed that smile toward Blaze, her friend inched away. The hem of her skirt broke the shade barrier. Her sunburned heels stopped centimeters away from sunlight. Even though the Burning had passed, it angered Rena that Blaze, sunburned as she was, moved toward the sun to get away from this man.

  The tension coiling in Rena’s calves made her movements awkward when she shifted to block Topaz’s view of Blaze.

  He dismissed her with a smirk and studied the relics instead. “I can hardly wait to see what’s inside these.”

  When he snapped his fingers, Stone responded like a well-trained dog. As he walked toward Topaz, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out an extravagant lock picker. Topaz snatched it before falling to his knees in front of the nearest box.

  Rena gasped at the sight of such a pristine man kneeling in dirt and chalked it up to greed. He reminded her of a kid who hovered over his toys, refusing to share. As if to support her suspicions, he instructed Stone to gather more containers and bring them closer. He crossed to the nearest boxes, which clanked against each other as he stacked them.

  Meanwhile, Topaz inserted the metal tip of the lock picker into a keyhole and twisted. Leaning close, he tilted his head listening to the tell tale sound of internal locks clicking into place. His gaze went to the far wall, but she had a feeling he wasn’t looking at anything in particular. Stone dropped three boxes beside him, and while Topaz chastised him for all the racket, Rena inched closer to Blaze.

  “We need to leave,” she whispered.

  Blaze’s blistered lips made it difficult to whisper. “Can’t.”

  Stone set the next pile down gentler and stalked deeper into the cave for more.

  Pressure from a mounting headache made Rena stagger. She needed to hold out a little longer. Hopefully, they could get outside before she lost control. But how could she coax a burn victim into the sun?

  A quake was coming, and no one else knew it. Could she let Topaz die, trapped inside with his looted relics? It wasn’t as simple as it sounded. It was murder in the name of self-defense, but the end result was the same. The responsibility of ending a life, or in this case two, would weigh on her shoulders. Could she use her gift as a weapon? She’d have to live with the knowledge forever.

  Rena studied the locket on Blaze and shivered. A silver cylinder covered the clasp. Metallic links twined with the satin-like cord of the choker. Five beeps and it would all be over. From what Rena’d seen, pushing that button wouldn’t be a problem for Topaz. He didn’t care about her. He didn’t even flinch when his bodyguard fell into the crater with… She blocked the image before it fully formed.

  Sweat beaded on her upper lip. With Stone still in the back, she inched outside the cave so quietly Topaz didn’t notice. She seeped tension into the ground with every step. Now that the Burning had passed, the sunrays didn’t hurt. Blaze crept by degrees toward the sunlight, but stopped when her hands began trembling. Rena pleaded with her eyes, putting into them everything she wanted to say. I’m sorry this happened. Please don’t be afraid. Come outside, I’ll keep you safe.

  The bottom of her feet tingled. Yet
she remained. An image of Blaze lying inside the cave, trapped under a boulder, flashed through her mind. There was no way of knowing how far she could get before the locket detonated.

  A twisting pain deep in her stomach brought her to her knees. A patch of grass cushioned her wounded kneecaps. The ground gave a low rumble. She put her hands on her thighs for support as she doubled over to vomit. Topaz threw her a disgusted look. Stone seemed confused about what to do. Blaze, not so much. She flung her skirt up over her shoulders and dashed outside before crouching next to Rena. She set her gaze on Topaz who had managed to pop the lock and unlatched the hooks. Enraptured by the contents, he sat in a sort of daze.

  It repulsed Rena. The irony that she had fallen under that same spell was not lost on her. The ache in her calves and feet blossomed into full-blown agony and she groaned. Blaze gasped and scooted closer.

  “You might not want to touch me right now,” Rena whispered. She focused on Topaz inside, yet sensed her friend put a couple of feet between them. “This cave is coming down.”

  The building power spilled down Rena’s spine and spread through her body. She shoved it into the earth under the cave. Seconds later, she felt the echo of a minor ground shiver. The sound rumbled through the cave like an angry beast. Topaz jumped to his feet, clutching his treasures. His gaze roved over the piles, while the more sensible Stone attempted to leave the deathtrap.

  Topaz stepped in his way. “Grab as much as you can hold.”

  The other man paused, but a swift slap to the back of the head encouraged him to follow his boss’s orders.

  Rena recalled the image of Topaz striking Blaze. A strong shudder hit. Loose rocks fell from the mound at the back, unblocking the narrow passageway. Both men turned, transfixed by the shimmer of light pouring through the ceiling. As if mesmerized, Topaz staggered away from safety and toward the heart of the treasure. “This is what I’ve been searching for!”

  Rena pictured Nevan lying at the bottom of the crater. The ache in her heart doubled, tripled, quadrupled. A lightning rod of grief-charged energy surged from her into the ground. The third seismic quake hit hardest, bringing down the cavern on the men. A flurry of particles shot out from the opening atop the hillside, like a dust volcano.