Judgement (Kat Dubois Chronicles Book 5)

by Lindsey Fairleigh

  Once the tons of ready-to-use food and supplies they’d brought with them had run out, they would be able to grow, cultivate, and create anything they needed. As a result of their long lives, Nejerets tended to be the most knowledgeable and skilled people around; if anybody could make living underground work, it was them.

  But that didn’t mean Lex was looking forward to spending the rest of her conceivably very long life in a self-contained underground oasis. The prospect was daunting—though it was far preferable to the unknown that awaited them in Aaru. From what little Dom had shared about the land of the dead, it sounded closer to hell than paradise.

  Lex had to get her head wrapped around the fact that the world she knew and loved was gone. Whatever happened over the next weeks and months—and even over the next years—life would never return to the way it had been before. She needed to stop romanticizing “out there”; it wasn’t her world anymore. The Netjers had assured that.

  At the sound of a throat clearing behind them, both Lex and Heru craned their necks to see who had intruded on their moment. Aset stood in the doorway, a sleepy four-year-old clinging to her like a snuggly koala bear. The boy, Bobby, was nearly half her size, making the sight of her holding him almost comical.

  Heru released Lex and turned to face his twin sister. “What is it?” he asked Aset.

  Aset had been on watch with the Oasis’s one and only Dom mirror. Nik had another—the mirror compact—and Garth’s family had the last of the three mirrors still remaining in this universe. It was their sole means of communication from within their At-concealed hideaways. Garth’s family had been more than willing to take up the responsibility of being their communication hub in the outside world, sorting through all of the tips being called in regarding the whereabouts of Kat’s body. If Aset was here now, it had to be something about Kat. It just had to be.

  Lex’s hopes soared, and her heart was suddenly hammering in her chest.

  Aset readjusted her hold on Bobby, shifting the little boy higher on her hip. “It’s Kat—” Her eyes shone with unshed tears and what appeared to be a bevy of emotions. “We found her.”

  Lex brought her hand up to her mouth, barely able to hold in a relieved sob. “Oh thank God!”

  “Where?” Heru asked, already striding toward his sister.

  “The Cascades,” Aset said. “Near Snoqualmie Pass.” She shifted Bobby so the majority of his weight was on her other hip. “Nik and Mei are already on their way to retrieve her, but—” She hesitated, a shadow of dread darkening her amber gaze.

  Aset cleared her throat. “Kat, she—her body is in rough shape. The woman who found her said she looks like she’s been drained of all of her blood and that there are deep cuts in her wrists.”

  Heru stopped in front of his sister. “Tell me there’s a way to bring her back from that.”

  “Maybe,” Aset said. “But we’re going to need a lot of blood donors, maybe organ donors, too, depending on the damage.” Again, she hesitated for a moment. “And . . . we’ll need some specialized equipment—things we didn’t bring with us. Neffe’s making a list right now.”

  As she spoke, Lex moved closer, a sinking suspicion turning her insides into a wretched tangle. “You want Heru to go out there and get the things on Neffe’s list, don’t you?”

  “More of a need than a want,” Aset said, looking at Lex. “But yes. Mei has her hands full with transporting Nik and retrieving Kat, so . . .”

  “Very well,” Heru said. “If it must be done, then it must be done.”

  “Good.” Aset nodded once. “I’ll go with you. You’ll never find what we need on your own.”

  Lex stepped closer and placed her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “I’ll come, too. I can shield you both while you gather what we need.” When Heru looked at her, she was a little surprised to find pride shining in his golden eyes. She’d expected a fight.

  “Neffe should be up with the list momentarily,” Aset said, brushing past Heru and Lex as she stepped into the room, heading straight for the bed. “Let me just get Bobby settled in here and I’ll be ready to go.”

  Lex watched Aset tuck the little boy into the bed beside Reni, her hand automatically seeking out Heru’s. When her fingers intertwined with his, she turned her head to look at him. There was no need for words. Their soul bond connected them in ways that allowed a far deeper form of communication.

  Lex tightened her grip on Heru’s hand, and he lowered his chin in a single nod. They had a job to do, and they would do it.

  Kat’s body had to be retrieved and revived so Nik could drag her ba out of Aaru when the time came—and drag Isfet out right along with her. The fate of the universe depended on everyone playing their parts and making that happen.

  Well, the fate of the universe had depended on Lex and Heru once before. They hadn’t failed it then, and they sure as hell wouldn’t fail it now.

  “This is everything we might need,” Neffe said, bounding through the doorway and into the bedroom. She thrust a piece of paper out to Aset. “Let me know if you have any questions,” she said, then turned to her father. “Aset knows the UW hospital best, so start with that one. If they don’t have everything, or if it’s damaged, try one of the other hospitals on the list.”

  Aset skimmed the list and shook her head. “Looks good,” she said as she folded up the list. She tucked it into the front pocket of her slacks before striding over to Heru and Lex, holding her hand out to her brother. “Shall we?”

  Lex took a deep breath, preparing for the vertigo she knew would follow the series of jumps through space it would take to first get to the edge of the Oasis and then, once they were through the tunnel and out in the desert, back to Seattle.

  Not a second later, her world was engulfed in an explosion of brilliant colors, and she was off to do the thing she’d sworn to herself she would never do again. She would risk her life to help save the world. One more time.

  30

  Nik

  Nik stood by the antiquated vault door, shoulder leaning against the wall and arms crossed over his chest. They needed to be gone—minutes ago. The cold and snow would help to preserve Kat’s body for a little while, but they didn’t have time to burn. And yet Mei continued to study the topographical map of Snoqualmie Pass, hands planted on the table on either side of the map, almost like she was searching for some miniature version of Kat permanently inked in among the elevation lines.

  Nik continued to stare at the back of his daughter’s head for what felt like a solid minute before his patience waned to a spider thread. “Mei . . .”

  Mei raised one hand from the table and made a sharp gesture—hold on—her eyes remaining glued to the map. “Based on what they told us, there are a few spots where she might be. I want to make sure I’m not overlooking anything,” she said without turning. “Better to jump straight to her than slog through the snow for gods know how long. Remember, Father, if the Netjers find us out there, this will all be for naught.”

  She was right, of course. Nik knew that, but the adrenaline coursing through his body insisted that he be doing something, and waiting didn’t count. He needed to be holding Kat in his arms. He needed to feel her . . . to know that she had really returned to this universe. To know that he would be able to see her again—to hear her voice and feel the rightness that came with being in her presence.

  It certainly didn’t help that the bonding withdrawals were making him irritable and edgy. He’d gone four days without seeing his bond-mate in the flesh, and it had been well over two days since their little spiritual liaison via Re’s body. Nik’s head throbbed painfully, and a bone-deep ache was settling into all of his joints. In another couple days, the withdrawals would weaken him enough that he would begin to lose consciousness sporadically. In a week, he would be dead. That was the thing Kat was racing against from inside Aaru; she had to find Isfet and convince her to help without completely taking over Kat’s soul before he was too weak to pull her soul out of Aaru and stuf
f it back into her body.

  Normally, Mei would be able to sense the life signature of her target—Kat, in this case—and teleport straight to her. Not this time. Not when there was no life left in Kat’s body. No hint of her soul.

  Once Mei jumped Nik to the mountains, closer to Kat’s body, he would be able to sense the At and anti-At inked into her skin, allowing them to find her that way, but teleporting straight to her was plan A . . . and plans B and C, if she wasn’t at the first location. They needed to minimize their own exposure to the Netjers, giving the deadly, powerful hunters as brief of a window as possible to detect them.

  According to the couple who’d contacted the Sealths to report finding Kat’s body, she was in a valley between three specific mountain peaks. Based on the details they’d given and the estimated coordinates, Mei had narrowed Kat’s location down to three spots, all within two miles of each other.

  Also according to the couple who’d found her, Kat’s body was in bad shape. Dom had passed on word from Neffe that Heru was venturing out to pick up whatever she and Aset would need to treat Kat, but this would be some serious miracle-worker shit.

  Nik could feel his muscles tensing as his mind drifted to the very real possibility that Aset and Neffe wouldn’t be able to bring Kat back to life. He clenched his teeth, jutting out his jaw. He refused to entertain such dismal thoughts. She would come back to life. Back to him. She had to.

  “Alright,” Mei said, straightening as she folded up the map. “I’m ready.”

  “Me too,” Mari said, emerging from the storeroom beyond the kitchen holding a half-open backpack. She zipped up the main compartment and hoisted one strap over her shoulder, then twisted her arm behind her back to snag the other strap. She’d been gathering everything she would need to start a field transfusion as soon as they found her, including several pints of Nik’s blood, donated first thing that morning. The older the donor, the more powerful the blood. Nik was the best source here, but once Kat made it to the Oasis, there were dozens of ancient Nejerets even older than Nik who were ready and willing to donate their blood, too.

  Nik pushed off the wall and turned to spin the vault door’s handle. He felt the locking mechanism deep within the heavy iron and steel door unlatch, then pushed the door open. They needed to be outside of the bunker’s protective anti-At shell for Mei to be able to teleport them anywhere.

  Nik stepped through the door and out into the dark, musty hallway beyond, the light from the bunker spilling out to reveal worn brick and a scuffed and cracked marble floor—both belonging to the long-gone bank that had first built the vault-turned-bunker.

  Mari followed, close on Nik’s heels, and Mei was right behind her, tucking the folded map into an interior coat pocket.

  “Deep breaths,” Mei said as she reached one hand toward Mari, the other toward Nik. She gripped their nearest arms, face tensing, and then the world was engulfed in flames of every color imaginable.

  There was a flash of darkness, and for an eternal moment, Nik felt like he was drowning. There was no air to breathe. No light by which to see. No sounds, save the thud-thump of his straining heart.

  And then the brilliant rainbow luminescence returned, a shock to his eyes. Frigid air whipped all around him, picking up and twisting the long leather coat around his legs. The brilliant light faded, revealing a pristine alpine scene.

  “Wrong spot,” Mei said a fraction of a second before jerking them right back out of reality.

  This jump was much shorter, a mere hop compared to the leap they’d just made, and Nik barely caught the flicker of darkness before he was back in the mountains. The two back-to-back jumps had left him dizzy and disoriented. His head spun, his brain trying to make sense of the input from his eyes.

  Two people, a man and a woman from the looks of them, stood a short way down the slope in a clearing between the pines. To Nik’s mind, they moved in and out of focus.

  Nik squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. He could only see the couple’s backs, but they seemed to be looking down into a hole in the snow.

  The woman glanced over her shoulder, her mouth falling open in surprise. She touched the man’s arm, then pointed up the slope, toward Nik and the others.

  Mei was the first to head down toward the couple, the deep, powdery snow slowing her hurried strides.

  “Hey!” Mari said, smacking Nik’s arm.

  Nik shook his head, trying to clear the confusion from his teleportation-muddled mind.

  “Pull it together, tough guy.” Mari took hold of his arm and dragged him forward a couple steps. “Kat needs us.”

  Kat. Nik’s thoughts untangled with that single word, snapping into extreme focus. Kat—she was down there, in that hole.

  In two strides, Mari was no longer pulling him forward; he was dragging her down the mountain. Nik heard her curse under her breath—something about slowing down—but he couldn’t. He needed to get to Kat as fast as possible.

  Nik shook off Mari’s hold on his arm and bounded down the slope, his longer legs making it easier for him to lope through the deep snow. He skidded to a stop a yard or two from the couple. Mei was already there, on her hands and knees, easing herself into the hole.

  Nik barely caught a glimpse of Kat’s pale, porcelain face before both she and Mei disappeared in a puff of rainbow fire. The two reappeared a few feet from the hole not a second later, Mei straddling Kat’s body.

  “We didn’t want to move her,” the human woman said, taking slow steps around the now-empty hole. All that remained of Kat in there were crimson stains of blood. “We thought the snow would preserve her, and—”

  “You did the right thing,” Mari said, finally catching up. She dropped to her knees as her mom moved to the other side of Kat’s body.

  Nik felt numb as he made his way around the trio. He stumbled the last few steps, collapsing onto his knees near Kat’s head. Her raven hair fanned out over the snow in stark contrast, but her skin almost matched the snow for whiteness. Her lips were tinted blue, her lashes dark half-moons above her washed-out cheeks.

  Slowly, Nik reached for her, his hand shaking. It was one thing to know she was dead, but another to see her lifeless body with his own eyes. He couldn’t sense her soul, and a deep sense of hollowness took root inside him.

  “Don’t,” Mari said, the single word a whipcrack as she caught his wrist before his fingers could make contact with Kat’s too-pale cheek. “We can’t risk you pulling her back yet. Her body can’t support her. Who knows what would happen to her then.”

  Nik froze. He closed his eyes, slowly curling his fingers into a fist. Every cell in his body was screaming for him to take Kat into his arms. To bring her soul back to her body. To bring her to him.

  He opened his eyes, forcing himself to face the harsh reality. Mari was right. That outcome might be as disastrous as if the Netjers had been the ones to find her first.

  “Give her time,” Mari said, voice softening. “Trust her. Let us do our work while she does hers in Aaru, and when the time is right, we’ll get her back. Alright?” Mari wove her head from side to side until she snagged Nik’s focus. “Alright?” she repeated, more forcefully this time.

  Nik nodded and retracted his hand, and Mari returned to setting up the field transfusion.

  Mari connected the tube from one of the blood bags to the IV needle she’d already stuck into Kat’s arm, then held the blood bag out to Nik. “Hold this,” she said. “I need to get something pumping through her.”

  He accepted the bag, and after a few seconds, his hands no longer shook. He had a purpose now. A focus.

  Mari rose up over Kat and placed her hands on Kat’s chest. She started compressions, and ever so slowly, the bag of blood emptied.

  “Once we see fresh blood coming out of her wounds, that’s our signal to go,” Mari said, not letting up on the steady compressions.

  Mei gasped suddenly, pulling Nik’s attention to her. Her eyes were rounded by shock, and her hand was covering
her mouth. “Someone just teleported in,” she said, eyes meeting Nik’s.

  “Heru?” Nik asked, a spike of adrenaline making his heart hammer in his chest. He scanned the woods beyond Mei, then turned partway to look in the other direction behind himself.

  “No,” Mei said, voice barely audible. The color drained from her face, and she looked like she was going to be sick. “Not Heru.”

  “Shit,” Nik hissed, thrusting the bag of blood at Mei. “Hold this.”

  Heru was the only Nejeret besides Mei who could teleport. Which meant that whoever this new arrival was, it wasn’t a Nejeret. And it certainly wasn’t a human. It was a Netjer, and the bastard was hiding. They had the ability to turn invisible. The only clue Nik had to the Netjer’s location was the fact that it had to have teleported in fairly close for Mei to have sensed its arrival.

  Nik thrust his now-empty hands straight over his head. Energy surged through his sheut, and a solid sheet of At and anti-At spread out from his hands, shielding Nik, Mei, Mari, Kat’s body, and the two humans under a small, black-streaked dome. He channeled a raging river of the otherworldly energy, making the dome as thick as possible.

  But he couldn’t reinforce the shield quickly enough. Even as he added layer after layer to the interior, he could feel the Netjer stripping the At and anti-At away from the outside. He couldn’t keep up. The Netjer was too powerful. In a matter of seconds, the demon would be through, and then it would all be over.

  Suddenly, Nik felt more anti-At reinforcing his dome. It had to be Mari.

  A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed his suspicions.

  Mari had handed her job over to her mom and the humans, and she’d joined Nik in defending their small rescue party. Together, the two seemed to be holding the Netjer off. They weren’t making headway, but at least they weren’t losing ground anymore, either.

  But Nik knew that the second either of them stopped, the Netjer would tear through the shield and rip them all apart.