by T. A. Brock
“You know that won’t kill me.”
He glared. “Why are you here?”
Siam steadied her voice. “I need a favor.”
“No.”
“Please, you’re the only one I can trust with this.” Before he could answer, she maneuvered the pack off her shoulders. “Look.” She held it where he could see the damning evidence. The gut wrenching evidence. It took her breath away as she followed his eyes down to the squirming bundle of blankets. Her throat closed up and she had to pant to get enough air.
“I can’t believe this,” he ground out. “You bring this to me? Me? You want me to get rid of it? You can’t be serious, Si.”
She flinched at the familiarity of her nickname on his lips. “No, I don’t want you to…get rid of it. I want you to keep it. Keep it safe.”
He shook his head. “Why would I help you?”
“A carrier could mean a cure.”
“But you don’t want that,” he spat. “You don’t want to be cured.”
She shook her head. It saddened her, but he was right. A cure for a normal zombie would mean they’d get to live out their life, aging and dying like any other human. A cure for her—and every other Oracle—meant instant death. They had lived too long. If life years could be money, they’d owe the bank a million times over.
But Price didn’t know that. All he knew was that she’d chosen to be a zombie over their love.
He’d been waiting for this, though. If this evidence was a carrier, it could take out the entire zombie population.
He finally lowered the gun but he stared so hard at her, it felt like his eyes could peel her skin back. “You’re asking me to take care of this…thing…that could heal you, when you don’t even want to be healed. I want to know why.”
Healed. That was the word he’d always used. Like she was a sickness.
Siam bit the inside of her cheek until she could taste mud. This is how she would tell him. It had to be done. If she didn’t, he wouldn’t take the evidence.
“This won’t heal me,” she said evenly. “This will kill me.”
The anger and resentment leeched off his face like a picture losing color. “Kill you? But…you said the only possible cure would be a carrier.”
She nodded. “For a zombie. I am not simply a zombie.”
He had a moment of realization, and then he breathed, “You’re an Oracle.”
Siam said nothing while a fleet of emotions twisted his features. He stepped closer, so close she could feel his heat. Squeezing her eyes closed, she savored the nearness. How she’d missed this.
“Si,” he whispered. The way his voice broke made tears prick her eyes, and she hated that she still had any left for him.
When she opened her eyes, he’d lifted his hand to softly stroke her cheek. The touch was nearly unbearable.
“Please, Price, will you take this?”
“Will you stay?” His forehead came to rest on hers, the front of his hair forming the smallest curtain to their snow-covered surroundings.
“I can’t,” she whispered. “Don’t you know that if I could, I would? They’ll already be searching for me.” To stay with him…it was all she wanted and all that could never be. Countless times, her feet had taken her here, so close. But always, she followed the law. She hoped this time he would hear the truth of it in her voice, and not hate her.
He pulled back, then took the bundle into his arms. She breathed a sigh of relief, but before it was over, his mouth crashed into hers, searching, hoping, asking for promises she couldn’t keep. Siam moaned, determined to relish this final kiss with Price.
When he broke away, she said, “I have to go, they’re coming.”
His coal gray eyes seared hers. “This—” he gestured between the two of them “—is not over.”
It was. It had to be, and there was nothing she could do about it because the Oracle in her could feel it as strongly as any other revelation. She wouldn’t see Doc Price again.
Siam bent and rubbed her hands on a sooty log that had been thrown out of Price’s fire pit. With one last look, she scurried down the mountain, zigzagging to throw off whoever was on her trail.
Hours passed, and she was almost back to the Oracles’ hidden little neck of the woods when someone struck so fast, she didn’t have time to react. Siam rolled to the ground and when she was able to see through the snow that had stuck to her face, she realized someone was on top of her. Long, thin fingers with their pointy nails, were digging into the sides of her throat as she glared up into pale, angry eyes. Strings of white hair hung past Siam’s face and touched the snow-covered ground.
“What have you done?” Hannah snarled.
Siam wasn’t fearful. She knew Hannah could only suspect, and she planned to lie her ass off now that Price was in the mix.
“I did what had to be done,” she growled and threw her sister off. “What you should have done.” She got to her feet before Hannah could attack again.
Hannah looked like a wild animal, her countenance so taken by her rage that even the whites of her eyes had turned yellow. “Tell me you didn’t, Si. Tell me you didn’t let that poison into our world. Tell me you didn’t put us all at risk!”
“Calm down, Hannah. You’re unhinged.”
By now, Siam was surrounded by Oracles. Furious Oracles. And damn it, Reapers too. They’d been hunting her—or rather, the evidence. Or both?
Hannah stalked her, and Siam only just realized she had a short sword in her hand. “What. Did. You. Do. With the evidence?”
Siam put both hands in the air. Time to calm the party down. “I disposed of it, okay? I took it far from here and burned it. I did what you should have done in the beginning. Now, chill the heck out.”
Hannah’s gray-brown vein streaked eyes narrowed. “You don’t smell like a fire.”
Siam smirked, cool as the day she rose. “Try again, sister.” Hannah’s nose went up with a deep intake of breath, and Siam knew she was smelling the soot of Price’s fire. Fingers-crossed that she couldn’t smell Price.
Hannah seemed to calm, but she’d need water to recover her features. “You burned the evidence?”
Siam nodded.
“Swear it. On your life, on your death, and on your sight.”
A smile crept up until it was the biggest thing on Siam’s face. Feeling freer than she had in a very, very long time, she brought a hand to her pounding heart and said, “I so swear it.”
Chapter 5
THE WORLD SPUN, flipped, and twisted, but Raina felt it more than saw it. All she’d seen for an infinite amount of time was black. The flashes had stopped after…after…
She couldn’t bear to think of the last time she’d seen Grams. The expression of peace on her too-still face had been at odds with the emptiness of her spirit. The last time Raina had laid eyes on her sweet Grams, she was nothing more than a shell of a body in a fancy wooden box. Even now, she felt like she was losing her all over again. Not physically, but losing the memory of her. Losing everything she should be able to keep until her time on earth was over. Grams always said the memories they made would last forever. Was she wrong? Raina had placed such value on those memories, hoarding them away, keeping them for such a time as this, but now…
What color were Grams’ eyes again? Blue, Raina thought.
She tumbled over and over foggy, meaningless memories draped in darkness until she couldn’t even remember a name. Who was she searching for again?
Why was she so sad?
Why was everything black, black, black?
She tumbled and tumbled, her brain giving up for some time. She blanked out everything to match the nothing she could see.
Then she was running.
The nothing blurred into myriad shades of green as the thick woods rushed by. Iraina pumped her arms, laughter bursting forth, only to be echoed by his, as he chased her. Leiv laughing. Was there a better noise than that? She didn’t know of one. It was her favorite when it was soft in her ear
, a private joke between the two of them.
That was the best, but that didn’t mean she was letting him catch her.
She pushed ahead. She’d beat him to the falls. Had to or she would lose. They had a game. Whoever was last to the falls had to share a secret. So far, he’d always won. She grinned. Not this time.
The roar of the whitewater could be heard above her gasping for oxygen. It was close. Just a few…more…feet—
Her canvas shoes left the ground as she was swooped up from behind. She squealed and Leiv twirled with her, their momentum slowing to a stop. “Not fair!” she exclaimed through a heavy breath. “I would’ve won.”
He slowly set her back on her feet, but kept her off balance so their bodies stayed pressed together. Leiv’s chest heaved as he nuzzled her neck and ran the tip of his nose up her cheek. “I can’t let you do that,” he said.
“Hmm.”
“What kind of man would I be if I let my girl walk all the way to the falls? I should definitely carry you the rest of the way.”
His girl. It made her stomach flop and flutter. Until Leiv, she’d never been anyone’s girl. She loved the title.
Pressing closer, she said, “I wasn’t walking. I was running. Very fast, actually.”
He grinned, sliding his hand up her back. “But if I don’t win, how will I learn all your secrets?”
“You could ask. And besides, if I lose all the time how will I learn any of yours?”
Growing serious, he brushed his lips to hers softly. “You already know my biggest secret.”
True. Iraina knew Leiv was different. Not completely human. And it didn’t matter one iota. He was the kindest man she knew, and she loved him.
Eight hard months had passed since she lost…who was it? Someone important. Someone she couldn’t remember now. Eight months, and Leiv had been there for her through every struggle. He was strong—his character, his heart, his mind. Everything she’d needed, he’d been. She could only hope she was enough for him.
Dropping a kiss to her forehead, he urged her toward the water. “Come on. I have something to show you.”
When they reached the grassy part of the bank just across from the falls, Iraina’s eyes went wide and she let out a gasp. “Leiv, it’s beautiful!”
It was picture perfect. A red checkered blanket was spread on the ground, a wicker basket resting in the center. Red rose petals dotted the blanket and the surrounding grass. Leiv bent to pick up two stemmed glasses.
“You like it?”
She beamed. “It’s swell, Leiv. When did you do all this?”
“Earlier.”
Iraina kicked off her shoes and sat on the blanket. The plush grass underneath made it a soft seat. Leiv sat near, pulling her to rest in between his legs. Reaching around her, he opened the basket and pulled out their lunch. There was an assortment of cheese, green grapes, and a sandwich that looked homemade, not store-bought. He plucked a plump grape from the bunch and pushed it between her lips. The skin popped when she bit down. Crunchy. Just the way she liked them.
“Mmmm.”
He looked mesmerized by her mouth, as he fed her several more. Then he kissed her, running his tongue around her lips. “Grapes,” he murmured.
What a perfect place in time, here, with him. The possibility that it could get better seemed unreal.
Leiv poured water in his glass and something sparkly in hers, and that’s when she noticed something. There wasn’t anything in their lunch he could eat. She scanned the basket again. Nope, nothing.
She turned her head to meet his gaze. “You didn’t bring anything for you?”
Something clouded his eyes, but then it was gone. “Nah.”
“But why?”
He hesitated, his eyes downcast. “I wanted this to be…enjoyable.”
Iraina sat up, turning to face him. “Wait, so, you didn’t bring food for you because you thought it would make me uncomfortable?”
Leiv downed his water and got to his knees before answering. “Think about it. How romantic would this picnic be if I was stuffing raw meat in my face?”
Iraina snapped her mouth shut. He had a point, but…
Something about him hiding parts of himself didn’t sit right with her. If they were going to make this work, she needed to know all of him. The good and the so-called bad.
“No, don’t look like that,” he said, brushing his thumb against her frowning lips. She looked up and saw a hint of panic in his eyes.
“It’s just, I don’t think it’s right that you hide that part of you,” she tried to explain.
“I don’t mind. It’s fine.”
This made her frown even more. Leiv’s face fell, and his mouth opened and closed, looking for words. “I-I mean…”
“You don’t have to hide things from me. I’m not going to run away.”
He let out a hard breath, took her hand, and brought it to his cheek. His eyes squeezed closed and when they opened, he said, “You have no idea what my life was like before you, and I don’t want to go back to that. Ever. So, I’m careful. I don’t want you to see anything you don’t like. I just…wanted today to be perfect so you’d say yes.”
“But Leiv, that’s not how it works. And…say yes?”
He grinned, but his face still held trepidation. “Then tell me how it works.”
“Okay, it goes like this: You show me your beautiful parts, and I like them. Then you show me your ugly parts, and if I like those too, bam, we’ve got a deal. That is, of course, if you like all my parts.”
“Sounds risky.”
“Oh, it is. Definitely. But that’s the best thing about it. When someone accepts all of you, you know you’ve got the right one.”
He smoothed his thumb over her palm, lost in thought. Finally, he said, “I like all your parts.”
“You do?”
He nodded, staring hard at her hand. “I really do.”
Iraina felt warm all over, but her heart melted in the best way.
“Remember when you made me cinnamon rolls?”
She remembered. They’d turned out perfect. Of course they had, she’d been taught by…someone. Someone’s recipe, not hers. But Leiv wouldn’t try them. Not even a nibble. She’d been crushed, and then annoyed. Because, seriously. Those cinnamon rolls had the power to change lives, and there he was snubbing his just-enough-crooked-to-be-handsome nose at them.
“You said, ‘Leiv Patch, if you aren’t man enough to try my cinnamon rolls, then our future looks bleak.’”
Iraina cringed, her face turning hot. She’d said that alright. “I didn’t mean it,” she mumbled.
He laughed. “Yeah, but I wasn’t taking that chance.”
“I didn’t know about your…dietary restrictions.”
His gentle hand under her chin brought her face up, and his eyes twinkled with a grin. “I was sick as a dog for the next two days. You thought I had the flu. I seriously thought I might die. Again. All because of a cinnamon roll.”
“Moral of the story is, if you hadn’t been hiding things from me, that wouldn’t have happened. So there.”
“You’re right.”
He reached into the basket, pulled out a plastic wrapped object, and handed it to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, but she could tell by the glorious scent that wafted up from the bundle.
She laughed as she unwrapped it, her only thought on tasting the gooey baked goodness. But as she removed the final piece of plastic, her laughter stopped. Her heart stopped. Everything just stopped.
Tucked into the center of the cinnamon roll was something that had no business being in a baked good: a diamond. A really big diamond.
Time stood still as she stared at it, contemplating, searching for an explanation as to why a diamond was invading her cinnamon roll. Trying to come to grips with what this meant. Probably no more than a couple seconds ticked by, but to her, it seemed like hours, days.
She shook her head to clear it and looked to Leiv for an expl
anation. But what she saw in his eyes worried her, and the diamond was forgotten.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. His face was drawn tight, his mouth pinched as if he was in pain. Pain. Water. He needed water. “Is it a water cramp?”
He shook his head.
“Okay, then what? What is it?” She raised a hand to his cheek to try to soothe whatever ailed him.
“I-I need to tell you something.”
Iraina’s stomach knotted and sank. Whatever this was, it wasn’t good. “What is it? Tell me.”
Leiv didn’t answer. Instead, he rose up to one knee and took the cinnamon roll from where it had fallen in her lap. He pulled the diamond from the center, wrapped his hand around hers, and took a breath that seemed like it would never end.
When she saw that the diamond was attached to a ring, everything started to make more sense. But, no. This couldn’t be what it looked like.
“I’ve been given this second life,” Leiv began, his voice trembling. “I know nothing about my first one but this one, I want it to mean something. And the only way that’s going to happen is if I share it with you.” He paused, seeming to gather himself. “You make everything new, like morning. You make being deathly ill because I ate the wrong thing completely and totally worth it. You make all the lonely days before you seem like just a blip on the map, not even worth remembering. I want you for the rest of forever. What do you say? Can I be yours and will you be mine? Will you marry me?”
There was no air, no oxygen. There was nothing going into her lungs. Nothing, nothing…
“Leiv,” she breathed. Okay, now there was air.
He squeezed her hand, waiting for an answer but then stuttered out more words. “Don’t…don’t answer yet. I mean, think about it if you want. There’s no hurry or anything. I don’t want to rush you. Do you think…I mean, what do you think? Or, do you need a minute—”
“Yes.”
“—Take all the time you need. Because, you know, it’s a big decision and I want you to be sure. Maybe I shouldn’t have done this yet. It’s just—”
“Yes, Leiv.”
