by Mikayla Lane
She prayed it would be the one time where she wouldn’t have a problem, where everything would go smoothly and she could wake up to a new day, but nothing ever went well in that world. Whatever they were, they were a warring race, and their violence and hatred guaranteed they would end up there.
She spent more time in this world than any other, and it wore on her physically, mentally, and emotionally. It didn’t help that there was inevitably one who still believed that violence for the sake of violence was the answer.
Emily felt the sharp claw pierce her upper thigh, and she howled in anger and pain. Tonight, she was in no mood to try and help them. She quickly gathered her emotions around her and channeled it into the light as she screamed. And screamed.
“Get up!”
Emily awoke with a start and stared blankly into Koda’s face for a moment before she stood shakily, banging into the wall as she did.
“What the hell happened? Were you having a nightmare?” Koda asked, concern lacing his voice as his eyes stared down at her with fear for her.
Emily looked outside and sighed at the breaking dawn. She had no desire to try and go back to sleep and face what she’d left behind. Her only consolation was knowing that no one there would dare hurt her again for a while. After expelling so much power there, they were usually less inclined to be cruel to her.
She straightened and smiled weakly at Koda before wincing from the pain in her leg.
“What happened? How did you get hurt?” Koda asked as he kneeled down in front of her bleeding leg.
“I uh . . . probably caught it on a splinter on the floor,” she lied as she moved to the fire and put the kettle and the remaining water on to heat.
“You need to clean that,” Koda said, looking at the floor for any sign of a splinter large enough to make a gash like that on her leg.
“Yeah, yeah, I will. Hey, how far did you say you were from here?” she asked as she leaned down to pick up Joey.
Koda looked at her oddly, wondering why she’d lied to him and how she’d really gotten hurt.
“A few miles west. There’s no splinter on the floor. Or blood for that matter,” he pointed out, hoping she’d tell him what happened.
Emily stared at the people waiting outside of the cabin and a thought struck her. She formulated the plan in her mind quickly and turned to Koda to start setting it in motion.
“I need to take Joey outside to go potty, will you stay here?” she asked.
When he nodded his head she ran out of the front door and behind the cabin to the hole she’d dug in the ground. She peeled off Joey’s pajamas and helped her relieve herself before taking care of her own needs as quickly as she could.
She picked up a now partially dressed Joey and ran back inside. Emily couldn’t help but smile when she saw Koda had stayed.
“I need to get Joey some breakfast,” Emily told him as she turned to the fireplace.
She sighed when she saw her uneaten ramen noodles from the night before, knew they couldn’t afford to waste any food, and realized she was going to have to eat the now cold and mushy noodles for breakfast.
Emily shoveled a spoonful into her mouth and suppressed her gag reflex as she quickly chewed and swallowed the mushy mess. Since the water was almost heated and she needed the bowl and spoon for Joey’s oatmeal, she rushed through the rest of it and took several deep breaths to keep it down.
She made sure that Joey was occupied on the floor, then ran outside to clean the bowl and spoon before making a bowl of oatmeal for Joey. She dressed her sister warmly then tested the oatmeal.
She sat down in front of Joey on the floor and blew on a spoonful of oatmeal as she spared a glance at Koda.
“So, this brother, Grai . . . he’ll be looking for you, right?” she asked.
Koda looked at her oddly, wondering what she was thinking.
“As long as he draws breath, he’ll never stop until he finds me. Of all us brothers, Grai is the one with such honor that others strive to be like him. Do you have a radio or something?” he asked, figuring he could read between the lines of a news broadcast to find out what happened in the Folly.
Emily could hear the respect and regret in his voice when he spoke of his brother, and she couldn’t help but wonder what would cause the regret.
She finished feeding Joey breakfast and cleaned the bowl and spoon before heading to the cabinet and stuffing a few things into a worn backpack.
Emily put the backpack over her shoulders and smiled down at Joey before picking her up.
“Come on Joey,” she said as she kangaroo hopped to the door with her.
Emily turned back to Koda with a grin.
“Let’s go.”
Koda watched her disappear out of the door and he followed, telling himself he was just curious where she was going. He stopped on the porch and frowned at the half dozen new people standing in the front of the cabin. He looked around for Emily and was getting ready to call out when she came around the side of the cabin pulling a hard plastic sled with Joey sitting on it.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I need to get some hunting in. Normally, I go out a few miles so I figure we could head in the direction you said you crashed and I can get us some fresh meat in the process,” Emily said with a grin.
Koda shook his head, his fear for her and the child causing his heart to stutter in his chest.
“Are you crazy? You could both get killed out there!” he argued, wanting her nowhere near the crash site and any possible military that may have found it.
Emily looked at him with such disappointment in her eyes that Koda immediately felt terrible. He was getting ready to apologize when she turned her back on him and headed westward into the forest. He threw his hands up in the air before following her.
“You know, I’m not nearly as helpless as you seem to think,” Emily said a few minutes later, as if she’d known he followed her.
Koda sighed heavily and shook his head.
“You’re obviously not helpless. I didn’t mean it that way. I just . . . I just don’t want one of you to get hurt trying to help me. Can’t you just hunt closer to the cabin?” he asked, trying to stop her from looking for his body.
Koda was pretty damn sure that if he was this close to death then whatever she found wouldn’t be pretty. Besides possibly running into the military, he didn’t want her to see him at his worst physically and spiritually. It wasn’t that he was vain, he just didn’t want her to see him completely broken.
Emily stopped and turned to look at him, ignoring the spirits following them and hanging on every word between them.
“I’m heading west. If you want to keep us safe, then keep an eye out around us so nothing stalks us, and help me watch Joey,” she said, then turned back around and headed off, pulling Joey behind her.
Koda shook his head in frustration.
Is she daft? he wondered, trying to think of what she thought she was going to hunt while making that kind of noise with the sled. With no snow on the ground, the heavy plastic bottom scraped loudly across the smaller shrubs and foliage on the forest floor.
As if to prove his point, a dozen birds flew wildly from a tree in distance, fleeing the annoying sound of the oncoming sled and the woman making no effort to be quiet as she stomped through the undergrowth.
“I’d follow her if I were you, or you’ll never get out of here.”
Koda turned to see one of the male spirits walking past him to follow Emily, the others not far behind him. He waited until they had all gone by him before he sighed and took off after the bizarre entourage. If he wasn’t so close to death he’d think he lost his mind for even believing what he was seeing.
As far as gifts went, he didn’t think hers could even be classified as anything other than a curse. From what little he’d gathered, she never had any peace from them during her waking moments, and she appeared to have nightmares in her sleep. It was no life for anyone to have, not while trying to raise a ve
ry special little girl.
If he was stuck with her hunting for his body, then he’d find a way to make sure Grai could find her. Maybe Grai could take her somewhere that she could find some peace from her curse or even have one of the crafters make her something to help.
First he needed to make sure she really was a hybrid, although after seeing her gift, there wasn’t much doubt. He told himself it was for the safety of his people, but deep down he knew it was just an excuse to get to know her better.
“Why did you give her a boy’s name?” he asked as he moved past everyone else to walk behind the sled so he could watch Joey.
Emily’s laugh sent chills down his spine.
“I didn’t. My mom was determined that she was having a boy, and when Joey came out I didn’t get a chance to tell her it was a girl before she named her,” Emily explained before she got quiet for a moment. “She died before she ever knew . . . it just didn’t seem right to take away the one thing Mom was able to give her besides life. And Joey likes her name.”
Koda’s heart broke for both of the girls, but it only made him more curious about Emily and how she’d managed for so long all alone with her sister.
“I’ve noticed a trend lately of people naming their daughters with boy names. It just surprised me that even way out here and all alone, you’re still following the fashion trends. It must be coded in the female DNA. Did your mom have a gift like yours?” he asked with a teasing grin.
Emily genuinely laughed for the first time in way too long, and she turned to flash a smile at him.
“Yeah, that’s me, a real fashion diva! I bet they’re also copying my plaid, lumberjack style shirt and even wearing hiking boots,” Emily said with a mock gasp, “on the streets!”
Koda couldn’t help but chuckle and wonder if she knew just how right she was.
“Bear a little to the left,” he said and watched her move a few steps to her left without breaking her stride. “How long have you been out here?”
“We got here around a year ago. Mom’s old jeep finally died a final death when we hit town. I sold it for scrap, bought what I could, and hitchhiked out to the first hiking trail with Joey on my back,” Emily explained, huffing a little from pulling the sled over the unforgiving foliage.
Koda’s brow furrowed. It didn’t make sense.
“How’d you get all those pots and things out here without a vehicle? How do you buy the canned food I saw?” he asked.
Emily turned and threw him a smile.
“Mostly trading. There’s a bunch of decent people living out here to get away from society or because they’re homeless. It’s like that everywhere. Most people don’t realize that in a lot of large wooded areas, there is most likely a homeless person living in them. I’m pretty good at hunting,” she said nodding to the rifle slung over her shoulder. “So I’ll trade meat for other things. I do have money though, and once a month, I’ll hike to the nearest town and buy some things.”
“What about winter? Doesn’t this area get a lot of snow?” he asked, incredulous that she’d been there alone for so long.
“Yeah, we do. But I get around pretty good with the snow shoes, and I stock up on extra things each month when I go to town to make sure we have enough when game is scarce,” Emily admitted, trying to play down how miserable winter was when you lived off the grid.
Koda wasn’t fooled, and he was more determined than ever to make sure that Grai could find her and rescue her and Joey from this.
“Tell me about your mom. Did she have your gift as well?” he asked.
“Mom was awesome. She said it was Dad who gave me this . . . well this. He and my mom had split up to get supplies one day, and my dad and my brother never came back. We never saw them again. Mom said that she knew they were killed because nothing would have stopped my dad from coming back to me,” she said, pushing the painful memories aside and taking a deep breath.
“He never got to see Joey born?” he asked.
“Joey isn’t my dad’s daughter. My mom was raped. But she loved Joey and wanted to protect her from the family of the man who . . . hurt her.”
“Now you do,” Koda said, guessing he was right before she nodded her head.
He could also guess that her father was a hybrid or a Valendran, and her mother had to be one of the gifted women. Koda smiled, knowing it was enough of a reason to make sure that Grai could find her and Joey. Now all they had to do was find his body.
Chapter Four
Emily leaned against the tree and blew out an exhausted breath. When she’d set out that morning, she had the best intentions in finding Koda’s body and seeing if she could help him or get in contact with someone for him. She hadn’t counted on the sled being such a drain on her physically without any snow on the ground.
“You should head back before it gets dark,” Koda said, concern lacing his voice.
Even with the weather being cooler, he could easily see that she was overheated. Her face was flushed, and sweat poured off her forehead as quickly as she wiped it away.
Emily slid down the tree and sat on the ground, pulling her backpack off as she did. She rummaged around before pulling out a canteen of water and taking several healthy swallows before holding it out to Joey.
Koda watched in fascination as the small girl leaned her head down to the opening and used her mouth to tilt it back so she didn’t have to pick it up.
“She’s very clever,” he couldn’t help but say.
Emily snorted and smiled at him.
“She’s brilliant. It amazes me the things she figures out on her own. It’s never the things you expect a baby her age to know either. Those things seem to elude her, but the really smart stuff . . . she’s a genius,” Emily said with pride.
“My nephew, Tristan, is like that,” Koda said with a smile. “He never stops amazing me and everyone who knows him.”
Emily smiled as an image of a little Koda popped into her mind. The smile disappeared as reality rushed over her. Koda was right; they were probably going to be stuck out there overnight. She wasn’t nearly as afraid of the prospect as he seemed to be though.
Emily stood and leaned down to kiss the top of Joey’s head before she rechecked the gear she had secured to the sled.
“We need to keep going,” she said as she began pulling the sled behind her again.
Koda closed his eyes and shook his head. Although he still couldn’t seem to hear any of the birds or animals, he could clearly hear the loud scratching and dragging sounds as Emily pulled the heavy plastic sled over the undergrowth, and it was driving him crazy.
“Emily,” he called out as he caught up and walked beside her. “You have to stop and go back. This is pointless, and you’re only going to endanger yourself and Joey.”
Emily didn’t even break her stride.
“I don’t care if you think it’s pointless; it’s not. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time Joey and I slept under the stars, and I’ve already packed for it,” she argued as she turned to nod at the gear in the sled with Joey.
Koda was speechless for a moment, trying to figure out what could change her mind.
“It won’t work,” Emily said, interrupting his thoughts. “I won’t give up. So either help me or go back to the cabin and wait for me. But don’t waste my time arguing.”
Koda couldn’t help but smile at the determination in her voice. It was something he’d always admired in Grai, and he wasn’t surprised that she had it in spades. If there was one thing he felt she had to have in abundance in order to keep her sanity it was determination.
He turned to look at the obvious trail she’d created through the forest with the sled and shook his head.
At least that’ll take care of Grai finding her, he thought with a grin. All I have to do is make sure she gets to the pod and my body, and Grai will end up finding her.
With a sigh of resignation and a determination of his own to see Emily and Joey safely back to the cabin until Grai could find th
em, he headed back up to walk with her.
“Tell me about your gift,” he said, wanting to know more about the strong and beautiful woman.
Emily snorted and gave him a wry smile.
“Gift . . . curse. It’s a pretty fine line in my case. But you seem to be unusually calm about all this. Why don’t you tell me why?” she asked, wondering if he’d tell her the truth.
“Calm about what?” Koda said, suddenly feeling a little nervous.
Emily shot him a look that told him he wasn’t fooling her at all.
“OK,” he relented. “First, answer a few questions for me, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
Emily pondered it for a moment and didn’t think there’d be much harm in answering a few questions if it’d get her some answers about him.
“Shoot,” she said.
“Did your father ever talk to you about being different? Not just in your gift, but your DNA?” he asked bluntly.
Emily’s eyebrows drew together as she thought about the really odd question. Finally, she shook her head.
“No . . . I mean he used to tell me fairy tales about aliens and other worlds. But he never said I was one, and there’s not a speck of green on me,” she said with a teasing grin, figuring the question was a test or a joke.
“What about your mom? Did she ever say anything unusual about your dad . . . or herself?” Koda asked, unwilling to give up now that he had her talking.
Emily laughed and turned to see if he was jerking her chain and was a little unnerved to see how serious he appeared to be.
“No, she never said I was weird or some kind of alien. What are you getting at? Just because I can talk to the dead doesn’t mean I’m some kind of . . . freak,” Emily said, feeling more than a little self-conscious.
Koda shook his head and wished he’d gone about it differently; he could sense her hurt and hadn’t intended to make her feel bad.
“No, you’re not a freak. I know a lot of people who have abilities just as unique as yours. The . . . people I come from are . . . different, like you. They band together to protect and support one another. In fact, I probably know someone who can make you something that could help you with your gift,” Koda said, hoping she’d want to know more.
