Arise (Cruel and Beautiful World Book 3)

by L. Stoddard Hancock

  “Well, never again,” said Deryn, smiling at him as she continued stitching Danny’s leg.

  Danny began to stir as she worked. Chelsea was about to leap off her bed, hurt ankle be damned, but stopped when Harper held out her hand and shook her head.

  Danny’s eyes slowly opened. His head was turned to the side, and the first thing he saw was Xander Ruby staring at him.

  Danny blinked. Registering Xander’s face, he gasped and popped up straight, but dizziness followed and he went right back down.

  “Oh my god, I’m going to die.”

  “No, you’re not,” said Harper, entering his field of vision. “You need to relax, Danny. We’re still stitching you up.”

  “Oh no. Harper, they took you too?”

  “No one took us. We took him,” she said, pointing at Xander. “He was the only one close enough with your blood type.”

  Danny’s eyes drifted to the needle poking out of Xander’s arm. He followed the blood-filled tube until he reached his own arm.

  “Oh god, you’re giving me Guardian blood?” He crinkled his nose is disgust.

  “You’re welcome,” said Xander, closing his eyes again in hopes of forgetting about the needle. “Does everyone in the Resistance know my damn face?”

  “Yes. We show photos of our top enemies in base meetings,” answered Laramie.

  Xander smirked. “I’m flattered.”

  There was a sudden knock on the door that made them all jump.

  “It’s Evangeline,” she called from the other side.

  There was a collective release of breath and Laramie opened the door. Evangeline hurried in with Everett. He was already holding her coat and she was in the process of rolling up her sleeves. They paused when they saw Xander sitting there with blood flowing out of him.

  “You’re giving him Guardian blood?” spat Everett.

  “I’m not having this debate again. Evangeline, get over here,” instructed Harper, preparing to remove the needle from Xander’s arm. “Laramie, grab me a fresh needle. Everett, help Xander move out of the way so we can get Evangeline ready.”

  Everett groaned but obeyed.

  Xander draped an arm around him and had barely stepped off the bed when the door burst open again. Several Resistance members stepped inside but none looked injured. Word must have gotten out about Danny.

  “Oh, for god’s sake. Does no one relock fucking doors?” shouted Harper, stopping her prepping of Evangeline. “If you’re not a patient get out!”

  But it was too late. Everyone was either looking at Deryn or Xander, who stood frozen with Everett.

  Deryn’s frightened eyes stared back at them, her sewing hand quivering.

  Well, this was a problem.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” shouted one of the men up front, taking out his gun and aiming it at Xander.

  Everett acted fast, shoving Xander down behind the bed he had just vacated and drawing his own gun.

  “Put that down!” shouted Evangeline as Harper inserted the needle into her arm. “Xander Ruby is a defected Guardian and here as a prisoner until we can make a decision -”

  “I’ll make a decision right now,” said another man, shoving his way inside and raising his gun. “Execute him.”

  “That is not one of the options,” insisted Evangeline, attempting to reach for her weapon.

  Harper stopped her. “You need to relax.” She turned to the others. “Get out of my medical ward.”

  No one moved. Several more people shoved their way inside, two drawing their weapons but the others just staring. They couldn’t see Xander behind the bed, but Everett with his gun aimed and Deryn still frozen was enough to keep their attention.

  “Deryn, keep going,” urged Harper.

  Danny looked at her and blinked in surprise. “Deryn Leon is stitching up my leg. Xander Ruby gave me blood. What a strange world I’ve woken up in.”

  “Just the normal world,” said Harper.

  “Everett, why the hell are you standing guard over that piece of shit?” demanded the first man who’d come in.

  Everett shrugged. “Orders. You’ve heard yours. Now follow them and get out.”

  “Harper doesn’t give me orders!”

  Everett sneered. “Fine. I’m your superior and I give you orders. Get out.”

  “Deryn.”

  Deryn jumped as someone touched her arm. Her breathing was heavy as she looked at Laramie, who also had his gun out and aimed at the onlookers.

  “Finish stitching him. We’ve got this covered.”

  She nodded but didn’t move, her mind drifting to the last time so many people were staring at her like this, with so much hatred burning inside of them.

  Thunder echoed in her memories and she instinctively reached up to cover her ears.

  That damn thunder was so -

  “Deryn!”

  Deryn looked down. Xander had moved so he was behind Danny’s bed instead of Evangeline’s. Everett had moved with him, still standing protectively. Not because he felt any sort of loyalty to Xander, but because it was his job and he’d been given an order. Keep Xander Ruby alive.

  “Get out of your damn head and do what you need to. If your mind starts to drift then look at me, alright?”

  Deryn nodded.

  She returned to her stitching, ignoring the growing and anxious crowd. They wanted an explanation but now was not the time.

  “If anyone else is injured out there, you better damn well get them through!” shouted Harper, her anger radiating as she treated some nasty looking burns on Danny’s neck and face. He was still fading in and out, unsure if his surroundings were real or fantasy. While he was still quite pale, a small amount of color had returned to his cheeks.

  The crowd’s restlessness continued to grow.

  “I’m trying to concentrate!” Deryn tossed a roll of gauze at them.

  It was caught by someone new shoving through the crowd. Relief flooded her veins when she saw it was Dakota. But then she saw what he held, aside from the gauze.

  “You are not shackling him!”

  “We’re moving him so they’ll clear the damn medical ward and they need to know he won’t attack,” Dakota explained, tossing the gauze aside.

  “Yes, one against thirty. I like those odds,” said Xander from where he sat huddled behind the bed.

  “Stop with the sass!” she snapped, her panic rising again.

  “More people were injured and they’ll be here soon. We need this dealt with.” Dakota went to Xander and put the shackles around his wrists. There was more shouting as Nita and Adrian shoved the crowd aside.

  “Laramie, Everett, help them,” ordered Dakota.

  Deryn’s breathing was erratic as Dakota pulled Xander to his feet. She met his golden eyes and rapidly shook her head.

  “Deryn, I’ll be fine,” Xander reassured her, though he didn’t exactly look convinced.

  She continued to shake her head and looked at Dakota desperately. “You’re not -”

  “Don’t worry, we’re not putting him in a prison cell. You’ll be reunited shortly.” His voice was so cold, but she didn’t have time to worry about that. Not yet.

  Deryn wrapped her arms around Xander’s neck and hugged him tightly. “Be safe. Rest until I get there.”

  He nodded, trying hard to hide his fear. But she knew. She always knew.

  She let him go and Dakota dragged him away. His limp was still strong, so Nita grabbed his other side, the two of them sandwiching him between them while Adrian, Everett and Laramie created a shield around them.

  Deryn’s heart raced as Xander’s blond head disappeared into the crowd, the majority of the people following after him with angry shouts.

  “Deryn!”

  Her head snapped back to Harper.

  “We have more people coming in soon and I don’t know how injured they are. Finish your job because I’m sure I’ll have another one for you soon.”

  Deryn nodded, her mind less foggy withou
t so many eyes on her. Some people still lingered, curious about the reappearance of Deryn Leon at the same time they apparently took in a Guardian.

  Hera stormed forward, shoved everyone out and slammed the door in their faces. “What can I do?” she asked once that was done.

  “Wrap Chelsea’s ankle.”

  “Ch-Chelsea,” mumbled Danny, once again returning to consciousness.

  “Yes, she’s fine,” said Harper, lifting him a bit so she could bandage his neck. Cress stepped forward to help her. “He has a bit of a fever. Get a cooling tonic out of the left cabinet.”

  Cress nodded and hurried to the cabinets.

  It wasn’t long before two more people with bad but not life-threatening injuries were carried into the ward. They had been attacked by a S.U.R.G.E.’s laser before successfully taking it down. Deryn had finished her stitching by then. She tended to them while Harper continued to check Danny, always seeming to find another burn.

  The girl Deryn was helping stared at her while she worked but didn’t say anything. Word had obviously spread and she’d probably been told not to question her.

  Once everyone was stable, Deryn took a seat in the farthest corner from everyone. She stared at the floor and worried about Xander, waiting anxiously for someone to come and bring her to him.

  CHAPTER 15

  The door opened and Deryn’s heart thumped. It thumped again when she saw Talon, beckoning her with his finger. She grabbed her rucksack and hurried over to him.

  Talon put an arm around her shoulders and guided her from the room.

  “Well, that certainly was a disaster,” he said as they walked along the wooden pathways.

  She nodded but did not speak.

  “Is Danny going to be okay?”

  She nodded again. “He’s stable, just resting. He’s going to be in there for a while.”

  “There are worse things than bed rest.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  Talon frowned. His arm around her tightened as they continued to walk through Blackbird. The place he had named for her. But as Deryn pressed into his side, he knew she wasn’t looking around and enjoying it. This place was terrifying to her. He hated that. It was always meant to be his little sister’s haven, not her hell.

  “I watched you.”

  “Hmm?” he asked.

  “Through the window. I watched you giving everyone orders. You were really incredible.” Deryn’s smile was thin, but it was there.

  “Yeah, well, when you’re pretty much forced into a role, you don’t really have much choice but to embrace it.”

  “Not everyone is meant to be a leader, Talon. You are,” she said firmly.

  “Maybe.”

  Before long, they reached a door. There were a few others around but this one felt special somehow, and it wasn’t just the blackbird carved into the wood.

  Adrian and Nita stood outside of it.

  “Where is everyone?” asked Deryn, only then realizing that they hadn’t passed one person on their way there.

  “In the mess hall. We’re holding a base meeting about our two new arrivals,” said Nita.

  Before Deryn could ask any more questions, someone sprinted around the corner. Piz Triggs burst into tears when he saw her. He ran forward and threw his arms around her.

  Piz was her father’s best friend. He and his late wife Kara had always been like a second set of parents to her. With no daughters of his own, Piz had always given special treatment to the scrappy little girl next door.

  Piz sobbed as he hugged her. Deryn happily returned the gesture.

  “Talon Hayden Leon, how dare you not find me the moment she got here!”

  “We were trying to come up with a plan first. That obviously didn’t work in our favor,” said Talon, crossing his arms. “We need to get the meeting started. You can catch up later.”

  Piz nodded but made no attempt to let her go.

  When he finally managed it, he cupped both of her cheeks in his large, calloused hands and studied her closely.

  “You’re as beautiful as your mom. Unfortunately, you got your dad’s lousy eyes.”

  She laughed.

  Piz laughed with her. He gave her one last hug before finally pulling away.

  Talon reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. He handed it to Deryn.

  “That’s the only key, so don’t lose it.”

  “Why? What is this place?” she asked, looking at the door with the blackbird carved into the wood.

  “It’s your room. I had it made for you when we built this place.”

  Deryn blinked. “Mine?”

  “Yes. And that’s mine.” He pointed to the door across the hall. “And that’s ...” He gulped and moved his finger to a lone door at the end of the hallway. “That’s Dad’s.”

  Deryn’s eyes lingered on her father’s door for a moment, thinking of the dying man on the other side. She looked away before she could think too much about it and went to her door. She inserted the key and turned it until the lock clicked. She opened it slowly.

  Xander was sitting on the bed. He looked anxious and certainly wasn’t resting.

  Deryn looked around the room. The bed was a wooden four poster with a sheer canopy dangling over it. The quilt was deep blue with gold dots sprinkled across it like stars. The wooden bed frame and the two nightstands had birds carved into them, similar to the one on her door. Her record player was on a small table, several records lined up underneath it. While it wasn’t much, the room definitely had more character than Xander’s apartment. And it was hers.

  “This is really mine?” she asked Talon.

  “Yes. I always knew you’d come home someday.”

  Deryn smiled at him. “I did too.”

  “We need to get to that meeting,” he said, taking Nita’s hand. “Get some rest and keep your door locked.”

  Deryn nodded, feeling a little sad when Talon shut the door. After locking it, she faced Xander.

  “Any reason you’re not resting like I asked?”

  “Until five minutes ago there was a mob out there ready to lynch me. Forgive me for not wanting to sleep through that.”

  Deryn frowned. “I’m sorry.”

  Xander sighed and held out his arms. She threw down her rucksack, kicked off her shoes and joined him on the bed, happily entering his embrace.

  “Don’t apologize. I made the choice to announce my blood type.”

  “It’s my fault you’re here,” she said. “It’s not too late to just run off on our own.”

  “Your place is here.”

  Her frown deepened. “I know.”

  “And my place is with you.”

  She held him tighter. “I know that, too.”

  The two of them leaned back on the bed. They lay there in silence, their bodies entangled. After several minutes of just holding each other, Xander kissed the top of Deryn’s head. She lifted her face and kissed him properly, wanting nothing more than to be even closer to him than she already was.

  The kiss deepened. Deryn knew it wasn’t the time or place but, god, she wanted him. It had been weeks since they’d done anything and after almost losing him -

  Xander pulled back. “Deryn, wait. Stop.”

  She opened her eyes. When she looked at him, he quickly looked away.

  “I can’t do this right now.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Can’t what?”

  His gaze drifted between them. Deryn followed it and found that her hands were already undoing his pants. She removed them and swiveled out of his grip, sitting upright.

  “Deryn.” Xander tried to pull her back down but she wouldn’t budge, facing away from him so he couldn’t see the tears spilling from her eyes. “Deryn, please.”

  She shook her head. “He’s broken us, hasn’t he?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Yes, he has. You’re looking at me differently and that’s why ...” She sobbed loudly, sucking in a breath. “That’s why I couldn’t tell you. I kne
w this would happen.”

  Xander moved so he was sitting beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her head against his chest.

  “I’m so sorry, Xander. I’m so, so sorry,” she cried.

  Xander sighed against her ear. “That young, innocent girl I watched. Over and over. She didn’t black it out. She saw everything.”

  Deryn cried harder. “Yes, she saw everything. She felt everything.”

  Her hair grew wet as he pressed his face deep into her mahogany-brown tangles. She smelled of pine and dirt, all remnants of her floral soap gone, along with everything else they’d left in Utopia.

  Xander moved her hair aside and softly brushed his lips against her cheek.

  “Please don’t let this change anything between us,” she said desperately.

  Xander continued holding her as he tried hard not to return to that dark place.

  “My feelings for you haven’t changed,” he said after a while. “They never could. I love you. So much. But my father ...” He paused and took a breath. “I am a piece of him and he hurt you. Someone I am a piece of hurt you in an unforgiveable way because he was trying to protect me. Everything you went through happened because of me and it’s not fair. I don’t deserve you, Deryn. I don’t deserve you or your love and I never will after what he’s done and I can’t ... I can’t erase what I’ve seen. It’s there every time I close my eyes.”

  Deryn faced him. She stared into those exhausted, bloodshot eyes, haloed by two dark circles. It was the look of someone who had barely slept in days. She wiped his tears with her thumbs. He gazed at her as she did this, always mesmerized by the sea-green eyes that made his heart melt. She was there. With him. He actually had her back and he was ruining it.

  “What do you see when you look at me?” she asked.

  “The love of my life,” he admitted. “And someone who I’d really love to fuck right now.”

  Deryn spit on him a little when she tried to hold back a laugh.

  “You certainly have an odd way of seducing me,” said Xander, wiping off her saliva from his face. “But, as much as I would love to ravish you, I can’t.”

  Her hint of laughter faded.

  “I just need time. To not see everything so vividly.”

  Deryn nodded. “We could never have sex again and I’d still love you. From now until the day I take my last breath. Maybe longer. I’ve never really thought much about all of that afterlife stuff.”