I didn’t wait for a response. I climbed out of the hole, scrabbling up over the uncertain pile of wreckage. I tore my pants as my leg skidded down. Distant pain flared in my knees. I clambered to the top and found where Jamie lay, about fifteen feet from Leo. If anything, the rubble seemed deeper here. I didn’t let myself think about it. Urgency clawed at me.
I’d been expecting the tunnel collapse, so I shouldn’t have startled when it finally crashed down. It gave with a tremendous grinding noise that sounded like thunder. I jumped and staggered, bending to catch myself with my hands as the ground beneath me shook and settled. Dust billowed, and I pulled my shirt up over my mouth. It was sticky with sweat and filth, but it kept me from coughing.
Grating and swearing from behind me made me turn.
“Riley?”
Leo. I closed my eyes in relief so deep it made my head spin. Instantly, they flashed open. Dear God. If Leo was out, then the ground settling hadn’t just been from the force of the tunnel’s collapse. The cocoons had collapsed.
“Help me! Jamie’s under here!”
I started to dig, but Leo’s magic was faster. Threads of metal spun out and under the rocks, then lifted them up, throwing them off and me with them. I fell backward, but a curl of flat steel looped around me before I could hit. It straightened and set me on my feet.
I lunged forward, up over the lip of the hole holding Jamie. Unlike Leo, he’d not built a cage around himself. Maybe he’d been knocked unconscious. He sprawled on his side, his legs spread like he had been running. Bits of rock chips and wood splinters sprinkled across him. I knew he was alive. His trace told me. Even so, I stared at his chest, needing to see him breathe.
“Riley, help me find the others,” Leo said behind me.
I remained rooted.
“Riley!”
I jolted and slowly eased around. The ground felt floaty and weirdly soft.
“Help me find Taylor and Mom.”
Leo held out his hand, and I took it. Tension and worry carved haggard lines into his face. He stepped closer and put his arms around me. I leaned into him, whimpering a little. It took me a second to drop into trace vision and focus. I’d have thought I’d pegged out on all possible fear and horror. I was wrong.
“Oh no,” I rasped as my throat knotted. “Mel’s hurt.”
That was an understatement. Mel wasn’t just hurt. Her trace was more gray than not. She was mortally wounded. She and Taylor lay near one another. Dalton and Arnow were there, too. A few feet away, closer to Jamie, I found trace I didn’t recognize. It was a thin blue with red clumps like warts. Price’s mom.
I pointed locations out to Leo, who pushed his metal framework under the rocks and lifted the weight of them off, then one by one, mounded the covering wreckage upward. The rubble rolled off, with the sound echoing off the walls. Leo and I staggered over to the lip of the hole. He held my hand to help balance me. Taylor lay facedown. Dalton sprawled over her. They’d lucked out, with an overturned desk giving them shelter from the worst of the crushing rubble. Mel had not fared so well. She lay twisted, facedown, hips awkwardly turned sideways. Nothing looked wrong except for a puddle of blood that spread from beneath her head.
“Mom!” Leo leaped down beside her, reaching to pull her into his arms.
I wanted to warn him not to, that her back could be broken, that she probably had internal injuries. But it was too late. Even before he touched her, her trace went entirely gray.
I went still. A soft whimper escaped me. Grief flooded me. Grief and no little guilt. I’d failed her. I shouldn’t have let her come. Shouldn’t have asked so much. Inside I clenched tight so I wouldn’t shatter. What would I do without her?
“Mom? Mom? C’mon. Talk to me. Wake up.” Leo’s voice stretched thin and high as he held Mel against his chest, rubbing her back and cupping her cheek. Her head fell back. “No!”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away. This had been me less than an hour ago. Price had brought me back. But not Mel. Her body was broken. She wasn’t coming back.
I couldn’t even begin to figure out how to deal with all that. I steeled myself and made myself go past him to Taylor and Dalton. Both had begun to move. I tried to help, but I had no strength to offer. I was made of tangled yarn.
“What happened?” Taylor said, sitting up as Dalton pushed himself off her.
He helped Taylor up. She swayed, and he put a steadying arm around her waist. She pulled away. Her attention turned to Leo, who sat on a pile of stone, cradling Mel against his chest, his head bowed.
Taylor went white beneath the grime. “Leo? Mom? Mom? Mom!” She scrabbled to climb out of the hole. Dalton helped shove her up. She fell to her knees beside Leo, snatching one of Mel’s dangling hands. “Mom? God, no! Please, no!” She broke into harsh sobs.
Unable to watch, I returned to the hole where Jamie lay.
He hadn’t moved, though now I saw his chest rise and fall. I couldn’t do anything to help him. If I tried to crawl down, I’d end up standing on him.
I stood there and stared down at him, feeling beyond lost. The brilliance of his trace told me he wasn’t seriously injured. Not life threatening anyhow. Blood clotted above his left ear. That worried me. Head injuries weren’t so easy to heal, even with the help of a dreamer. The brain tissue could be fixed, but the mental damage was harder to mend. Impossible, a noxious little voice whispered in my head, the same one that had noted Price’s likely escape route. Impossible to fix. I bit my lips until I tasted copper, refusing to consider the possibility.
I remained where I was until a moan caught my attention. I tipped my head, listening, and when it happened again, I knew. I remembered. Anger swept through me, righteous and cleansing. It strengthened me.
I hobbled to one of the last two holes we hadn’t bothered to check yet. I looked down inside. Price’s mom was sitting up, her hands pressed to her forehead.
“Now you see,” she rasped “He’s evil. The child of Satan.”
If I could have, I would have spit on her, then buried her again, this time for good. Unfortunately, I couldn’t muster any saliva, and Leo had made sure the debris wouldn’t refill any of the holes. My jaw locked so tight that I almost couldn’t speak. Finally the words pushed out.
“If that’s true, then you are Satan.”
She gave a bark of harsh laughter. “God has given me the wisdom to see the truth of my son’s evil and I have begged his forgiveness for birthing such a monster. But it is not enough to have penance for my sins. I must stamp out the demon taint that I allowed to enter this earth. I am not alone. I will call down an army of God’s purest soldiers, and I will see that abomination scorched to ash and you as well, for you are Jezebel returned to this realm to turn the righteous against God.” She lifted her arm to point accusingly me at me.
Yeah, and maybe God works in mysterious ways, and he made Price just the way he wanted him to be. I didn’t bother to say it. As much as I wanted to, you just can’t argue with stupidity. Instead, I curled my lip and turned my back, just in time to see Arnow crawling up over the top of her prison.
Like the rest of us, she looked the worse for wear. Her hair hung in a tangle around her shoulders, and she carried her heels in her hand. In the other, she held a folding knife. She’d shredded her coat and wrapped each foot in the fabric to make makeshift shoes. She got over the lip and stood up, pocketing the knife. Her gaze flicked over the scene, lingering on the tableau of Mel, Leo, and Taylor, then moving on to stop at me. She picked her way over to stand next to me.
“If you want, I’ll help you kill her,” she offered, jerking her chin at Price’s mother. “She could use it, and given that I’m not a big fan of your boyfriend, that says something.”
“Price went to a lot of trouble to protect her,” I said, more than a little tempted. It’s not like he’d miss he
r, but then again, just because I hated my dad didn’t mean I wanted him gone. If only because I still had questions and he was the only one with answers. No doubt Price felt the same way.
“Suit yourself.” She made an attempt to dust herself off and then gave up. She glanced at Taylor and Leo, who were clutching each other with Mel in between. “Sucks. Sorry.” Arnow actually sounded like she meant it.
“Thanks.”
We stood there for a moment before she started fidgeting. “What happened?”
“Price razed everything from the ground level up. I managed to get out to help him get under control and we came back in for you.”
She nodded, her gaze running over me, taking in the way my arms wrapped my ribs to help brace them, and the way I listed to one side. She looked away, scanning the space we were in. “How did you get in? Where is he? How do we get out?”
If there’s one true thing to be said about Super Special Agent Sandra Arnow, she’s practical. And efficient.
“Price made a hole in the rock. He’s on the other side of that berm. Hopefully Leo and Jamie”—my voice cracked—“hopefully Leo and Jamie can make a door out.” Hopefully Price wasn’t bleeding to death.
She nodded again. “Where is he? Jamie?”
I nudged my chin toward the hole where he lay. She went to look. Then she turned around and crossed over to where Leo and Taylor mourned Mel. She walked like a cat, picking her way with ridiculous grace and ease, almost like walking on a cloud, despite her nearly bare feet. She shouldered past Dalton.
“Not to make light of your grief, but your brother is injured and we need to get the fuck out of here. If we don’t kick on the afterburners, we’ll all end up in jail. Personally, I’d rather not. So could you two get your heads back in the game before the next shoe falls?”
And the Arnow I knew and despised was back. Tactless and rude. And also, at least for now, right.
Taylor twisted around so fast I thought for sure she was going to punch the FBI agent. She restrained herself, scrubbing her hands over her cheeks and leaving behind muddy swirls. She stood and shoved Arnow out of the way and headed toward me. “Jamie?”
I pointed. “He’s unconscious. It would be best if Leo could lift him out.”
I heard footsteps over the scrape and rattle of cement. Leo came to stand on the other side of Taylor. He still held Mel close against his chest. Tear tracks runneled through the dirt of his chiseled face. He’d always had that faintly hungry look, his cheeks high, his eyes set deep, his jaw sharp as cut crystal. Covered in grime and torn by grief, he looked like a survivor from a disaster film. His eyes glittered with emotion. He stared down, his brow furrowing, his cheeks sucking in.
Odd rustling and clicking sounded from the hole. I crept closer to watch. Leo let out a little chuff sound and I could hear his teeth gritting as he clenched his jaw tight with effort. Slowly Jamie rose up on a bed of what looked like chicken wire. Copper wires reached out and caught on the sides of the hole, walking him over on millipede legs.
Taylor crouched and touched his neck. “His pulse is strong and steady.”
“He took a hard hit to the head,” I said.
She reached into a pocket and pulled out a little flashlight and flicked it on. She pushed open one of his eyes and examined it, then the other.
“His pupils aren’t blown. That’s a good sign.”
I had no idea whether she had any idea what she was talking about. Chances were she’d had some medical training overseas. Or maybe she was studying to be a doctor on the side. Fuck if I knew, a fact that bothered me a lot. Another thing about her I’d overlooked. Another damned thing to feel guilty about. Like I didn’t have enough.
A shadow flashed in the corner of my eye, and something thudded against my breastbone. I looked down. It was a necklace. A silver chain sported a green-and-pink crystal point. Fluorite, maybe. Or watermelon tourmaline. I wasn’t a stone expert, but I’d hung out with my jeweler brothers enough to pick stuff up. Long, deft fingers picked it up from my chest and shoved it down the neck of my shirt. Instantly the healing worms started wriggling through me, followed by a wave of heat and nausea.
Dalton slung two more over Leo’s and Taylor’s heads, then crouched and did the same to Jamie. He glared at Taylor as he straightened. If looks could kill, she’d have chopped him to pieces. She started to pull it off her head.
“Use it,” he said.
“I don’t need it.”
“You need it enough and we have it.”
“What if one isn’t enough for Jamie?” She yanked it off her head.
Now it was Dalton’s turn to look murderous.
At that point, I doubled over, doing my best not to throw up, if for no other reason than it would hurt like hell. The sensation of wriggling magic dug deep into me, and since I could do nothing else, I let it. Quite wise of me, I thought, and then suppressed the hysterical giggle that bubbled up inside. I was losing it. Going off the rails of the crazy train.
Vaguely, I heard movement and people talking around me. None of it seemed to make a whole lot of sense, but then my brain was entirely distracted by the things happening in my body. My ribs and the muscles around them moved into place and sort of clicked together, which went beyond repulsive right into gruesome. Healing heat cascaded over me in sheets of fire. I panted and gripped my knees tightly as my body shook. Dizziness overwhelmed me, and I swayed sideways, losing my balance. Before I could fall, hands caught me, holding me against a solid male chest. I stayed there, mostly because I couldn’t move.
Even without seeing his face, I figured it had to be Dalton. Leo already had his hands full. Dalton lifted me like I weighed no more than a wad of paper. I felt like one, too. His heart beat strong beneath my ear, and he smelled of sweat, dirt, and something herbal, like rosemary or sage. One arm held me around the waist, while he pressed the palm of the other against my back. I continued to twitch and shiver through the healing. My teeth chattered. I jumped like an electrified frog when he spoke, his deep voice rumbling through his chest.
“We don’t have time for that. Leave her. She would not want you to risk yourselves to take out her body.”
It took about ten seconds for me to process his words. In the meantime, Leo was swearing at Dalton and telling him where he could stick his head in graphic detail.
The healing worms started to inch out of me, like maggoty witch fingers withdrawing from my flesh. I pulled out of Dalton’s impersonal hold. He kept his hands on my shoulders to steady me.
“Thanks,” I said, and that’s when I noticed it no longer hurt to breathe and the fire wrapping my chest had gone out. I met his silver gaze. “Thanks,” I repeated, trying to sound more like I meant it.
From the way his mouth tightened, I hadn’t succeeded all that well. “Don’t mention it.”
I decided to take his curt advice and turned away. My heart leaped. Jamie was sitting up, with Taylor steadying him. Leo still clutched Mel’s limp body, and Arnow was fiddling with the fabric swathing her feet, binding it tighter.
“Is he okay?” I asked Taylor.
“He is fine,” the brother in question replied with a rasp.
“It’s hard to say,” Taylor said, ignoring him. “He’s always had mashed potatoes for brains. I can’t tell if it’s any worse now or not.”
“I take offense to that,” Jamie said. “Why don’t you two be useful and help me up?”
“Why don’t you be useful and start cleaning my toilets for me?” Taylor retorted, but got to her feet and reached out a hand for him. I did the same, and we hauled him upright.
His gaze flicked to where Leo held Mel’s body. The expression bled away from his face, leaving it utterly cold and scary angry. “We should go,” he said in a clipped voice. “Give me a minute to make a stretcher to carry Mel.”
&n
bsp; “It’s foolish. It’ll just slow us down,” Dalton said, and I realized that they’d been arguing over this while I’d been off in healing land.
“I hate to say it, but he’s right,” Taylor said.
“I’m not leaving her behind,” Leo declared, and where Jamie was icy, Leo burned like an inferno.
Both wanted blood for Mel’s death. Blood and revenge. I looked away, making a strangled sound. If not for me, none of them would be here. If not for Price, Mel would be alive.
“What’s wrong?” Taylor asked, looking at me. I’d managed to capture everybody’s attention.
“Price got shot,” I said, because that was also true and my guilt wasn’t worth talking about at the moment. “Maybe in the femoral. He’s on the other side of this wall.”
“Jesus Christ,” Jamie muttered, and metal bits whipped over the ground toward him like clanking tumbleweeds. Others shot up out of the rubble like bullets. The rest of us stood back out of the way, and in under a minute, he’d created a stretcher.
As Leo laid Mel down on it, Arnow nudged my arm.
“What do you want to do about Mommy Dearest?”
“Leave her,” I said.
“You’re sure? Leaving enemies behind to stab your back isn’t particularly smart.”
As much as I’d come to hate the woman, as much as I wanted for her to be dead and Mel alive, I couldn’t kill her. Neither could I let anyone else do it for me. Whatever else she was, she was Price’s mother, and he’d wanted her protected. “Let’s go.”
Jamie and Leo stood with a hand on each other’s shoulder as they opened up a new tunnel through the rubble wall. Both were exhausted, but thanks to Dalton’s heal-alls, they weren’t fighting pain and physical damage. All the same, they were both drenched in sweat by the time they were done, and Jamie shook like an aspen leaf in the wind.
Whisper of Shadows (The Diamond City Magic Novels) Page 24
