Sunscorched

by Jen Crane

  “Kade!” Nori whacked him with his own flashlight as he laughed and climbed through the narrow entrance.

  Nori shoved her light through the hole at Kade, and backed in the same way he had. She shimmied through the narrow entrance feet-first, her boots finding purchase on a rocky but flat surface, and then she slid the top half of her body through, too.

  Whatever retort was on her lips was lost as she took in the eerie and exotic beauty.

  The cavern was huge, and extended farther than she could see. The rock of its domed ceiling was marbled with millions of years of variegated layers, a deep clay color swirling within grays and graphite. There were no stalactites, as if the underground lake had washed them away over time and left a nearly-smooth finish.

  Most of the lake was calm, as still as a cloudless sky. But in a far corner, an underwater current disturbed the water ever so slightly—one of the springs feeding the lake.

  “Can’t see much, even with these lights.” The beam of Kade’s spotlight bounced from the cavern ceiling to the serene water, shadows and highlights putting on a show for Nori’s singular gift.

  “Magical,” she breathed, and her chest deflated on a deep exhale.

  They stood like that, Nori contemplating the unspeakable beauty she’d never known could exist, and Kade lost in thought as deep as the lake’s silent depths.

  “Can you… Does anyone ever swim in it?” Nori asked after a while.

  A wicked gleam crossed the hard lines of Kade’s handsome features, and he pulled the black shirt over his head. He kicked off hiking boots and jeans, leaving him only in shorts as he dove into the watery blackness.

  “Wait for me!” She laughed, shedding her own boots before jumping in, too.

  Nori laid her head back in the warm, mineral-rich water, her body buoyant. As she floated, she marveled at the masterpiece created without brush or chisel and felt at peace for the first time in weeks. The moment had to end, but she tucked that thought away. No sense stressing about stress. The only sounds were Kade’s small splashes, comforting reminders that she wasn’t alone in the eerily beautiful space. They were in no hurry to get back, so she closed her eyes and lost herself to the serenity.

  When Kade’s intermittent splashes stopped, and a bite-like pinch struck her ankle, Nori screamed and bolted upright. Her shrieks echoed around the cavernous space and back toward her, as if a banshee had joined them in the cave.

  Kade’s face was alight with laughter even before he broke the water’s surface.

  “Idiot.” She splashed him and tried to scowl, but couldn’t keep the frown in place. “Seriously, though. Are there any fish, any animals in here?”

  “I’ve never seen them, but I heard there are sightless white fish.”

  “Sightless? Like, blind?”

  “Mm. And some without eyes entirely. They didn’t need eyes in the darkness, I guess, and adapted.”

  Nori’s chest tightened as she peered down into the water in search of the little cavefish. They were survivors, making do with what they had.

  “Besides this big pool,” Kade said as he swam up beside her, “the lake supposedly goes back for miles and miles into crevices we can’t see.”

  “I wonder what’s above it,” Nori mused. “What we’re directly underneath.”

  “Somewhere beneath the Ozar—” Kade’s eyes narrowed and his mouth gathered in an injured scowl. A flash of betrayal puckered his face before he smoothed it back into a practiced mask. “You’re stupid if you’re still thinking to escape, Nori. I mean it. It’s lucky you ended up with Hank. Better the devil you know than the one you don’t.”

  She made a noncommittal grunt. “What if I don’t want to keep company with a devil at all? I can take care of myself. I’m smart and fast. I’m a survivor, just like those fish.”

  “Yeah, well, those fish stay out of trouble—well out of sight, and in groups. You know what kind of fish goes it alone?” When Nori didn’t answer, he said, “One that’s caught. One that’s dinner.”

  She looked away.

  “We need to get back. Hank’s probably perforated his ulcer by now.”

  At the edge of the lake where they’d first entered, Kade’s big body towered over Nori’s as he held out a hand to help her up. She took it, his warning still fresh on her mind. Despite the peaceful respite, she was far more hopeless leaving the underground lake than she had been coming in.

  “We can work on your training some of the day tomorrow,” Kade said as he walked Nori to her room. “My fight is Saturday and I need to rest.”

  She nodded and pushed open the creaky door.

  “Kade,” she called when he turned to walk away. “Thanks for today. For getting me out of here.”

  He caught her gaze, but didn’t linger. “Thanks for getting me out of my head.”

  20

  Weak

  Weight training, Nori discovered, was something she could really get into. Though she’d only been working to build her muscles for a few days, she already felt stronger. She walked taller, certainly. The endorphins coursing through her body after workouts lifted her spirits, and her outlook. She’d probably keep up the routines even after she found her way out of her current hellhole.

  After the morning workout, her never-ending list of chores still had to be done. It was an ever-present weight on her shoulders, but Hank was right: she had food to eat and a place to sleep. Nothing in life came free.

  Before coming to Trogtown, to the Pit, she’d been sheltered by her parents. Pampered, even. This was her first job. She set to work with determination and, maybe, a bit of pride.

  The Pit had cleared out for dinner by the time she finished, and though the small dining hall bustled with activity, she spotted Kade alone at a corner table. As she passed, Bron stuck out an arm. His gaze lit on her face, which was flushed from the stifling laundry room, and her hair, wild from a day of exercise and physical labor. Disapproval colored his ruddy features but then he seemed to decide her current appearance didn’t matter that much.

  “Oh, like I care what you think.” She snorted and threw his outstretched arm back at him.

  “What?” he called as she left him for Kade. “What’d I do?”

  “Trouble in paradise?” Kade hid his lips, trying not to smile.

  “Ugh. This town needs more women.”

  “Don’t look at me,” he teased. “I’m doing my part to alleviate that problem.” His eyes were bright and playful for only a moment and then they flickered with pain.

  Nori changed the subject before he allowed grief to take him under again. “Schedule says you’re fighting Renegade tomorrow, which got me thinking. Is Kade even your real name?”

  He barked a laugh then wagged his eyebrows.

  “I knew it! What is it?”

  Kade scrutinized Nori’s face, his internal battle of letting her—or anyone else—get to know him better playing across his bold features.

  “Kade’s my last name. It’s Keagan. Keagan Kade.”

  Nori tried the name on for size, rolling it around in her mouth. “Keagan. Keagan.” She shrugged. “Fits.”

  “Not a fighter’s name, though.”

  “No,” she agreed. “All right, Keagan Kade. Tell me about Renegade.”

  Kade tilted his head from side to side as he worked to phrase his thoughts. “I haven’t fought him before. He’s coming all the way from Canyon City.”

  Nori didn’t reveal her geographical ignorance this time, only nodding her interest.

  “Hank’s seen him. Says he’s vicious. And big. The fight’s expected to draw crowds from all over. Big matches like this bring out the gamblers, the thieves, and lowlifes of all sorts.”

  He leaned into Nori, suddenly serious, his sleek brows drawn in concern. “I can’t imagine how you’ve made it this long, as delicate as you are, but you have got to be extra careful this weekend.”

  Nori stiffened and snarled, “I am not delicate.”

  “You are.” His words were empha
tic. “Frighteningly so.” His face softened a bit at her injured look and he quickly said, “I know you’re strong,” he pointed to his own heart, “in here. But it’s like you were raised under a flower petal or something. Sheltered. How is it you came to Hank, anyway? Who sold you to him, and where’d they find you?”

  Nori shook her head, her nostrils flaring as she tried to control herself. She was working to be tougher. She was. It was why she’d thrown herself into self-defense and getting stronger. Did he mean she needed to be harder, more cruel? Probably. But she didn’t ever want to be that. That wasn’t who Norman Chisholm had raised her to be. Not who she wanted to be. The world was hard enough.

  “You’re one to talk,” she said, still stinging from his blunt assessment. “You want everyone to think you’re this badass fighter, hard and emotionless. But I heard you crying in the shower. And locking yourself in your room all day isn’t anywhere near tough.”

  Kade’s head jerked back like she’d slapped him. He opened his mouth and closed it, twice, his jaws flexing under the effort to restrain himself. “I lost someone I loved before you came,” he ground out. “Loved. Someone who professed to love me, too, but took his own life rather than live out his days here.” He shook his head and shot Nori a look of disgust so pure her heart shriveled in her chest. “Low blow, Nori,” he said. “I take it back. You’re not delicate at all. You’re just weak.”

  She didn’t look up when he left the table, didn’t cast a glance in his direction as he slammed his plate down in the kitchen. She stared into her lap, wishing she could take back what she’d said. Maybe he was dead on. Maybe she was weak.

  21

  Fight Day Prep

  After a fitful night’s sleep, Nori sought out Kade as soon as she woke. He was already up, dressing for the big day, when he answered the door. He let her in without a word, his back straight and shoulders tense. Before he turned from her, though, she caught sight of his wild gaze.

  “You nervous?” she asked.

  He shrugged, focusing too hard on combing his dark hair. His face was reflected in the mirror, and when he finally raised his tortured eyes to hers, she melted.

  “I’m so sorry, Kade. I don’t know why I said that. You’ve been so good to me, and I… I’m a huge jerk.”

  He shrugged again, but some of the tension eased from his shoulders. “S’ok.”

  Nori released a ragged breath. “I really am sorry.”

  He gave her a little smile in the mirror. “I know,” he nodded. “We’re good.”

  “Okay,” was what Nori said, but she wanted to thank him—for being a friendly face in a world of strangers, for acts of kindness even in his darkest days and, most of all, for forgiving her mean-spirited attack. “I’ll see you out there, champ,” she said and backed toward the door.

  “Hey now,” he pointed a finger at her. “Don’t jinx it.”

  Fight day, Nori discovered, was a whole other world. A furiously fast, over-populated, bustling, and busy world. From the moment she left Kade’s room, she was pushed in every direction, arms stacked full of towels, and gauze, and tape, and extra chairs. There would be five fights, with Kade’s bout against Renegade the main and final event.

  “Nori.” Hank’s gravelly voice was hoarse from a morning of wrangling guests, of settling disputes, and of last-minute instruction to his corral of fighters.

  Unfolding the last metal chair in the sea of rows outside the arena, she looked up. “You need me?”

  “Run to Dave’s and get a case of water. Princess Renegade won’t drink from our water stores.” Hank snorted his disapproval.

  “Dave’s is…”

  “The general store. You were there Wednesday—below Doc Moore’s office. Just tell ’em to charge it.”

  Trogtown bustled with excitement. Vendors were set up along the dim streets, trading and selling supplies like an underground flea market. Alleys that had been deserted before were now teeming with life. Grungy, bearded, mostly-male life. A perfect day to run away, a small voice said in the back of her mind.

  “Back again?” asked the man she supposed was Dave. He was the only one working, despite the long line at the register.

  “Hank sent me for a case of water.”

  “Cases are in the back.” He motioned toward a door behind the counter. “Go on ahead.”

  Nori slowly shook her head. Didn’t these people know she was thinking about stealing their precious supplies and running for her life? She must really look as delicate and naïve as Kade had said. With another shake of her head, she entered the back room.

  Dave’s storage room was stacked to the ceiling with water and fuel—and ammunition. Behind it was a locked gun safe. He’d taken that precaution, at least. There were crates and crates of Vitabars, which Nori had never heard of before going underground, but had since learned were a staple food source.

  “You find it?” Dave called, stirring Nori from her impure thoughts.

  Hefting a case of the bottled water, she thanked him on her way out, only the slightest bit of guilt sliding across her shoulders for the pocketknife she’d swiped.

  Nori rounded the corner as she left the store, and the multi-purpose tool and knife weighed heavily in her pocket. She shouldn’t have done it. Hank—and Dave, for that matter—had trusted her. And what had she done? Behaved like a common thief; no better than the ones slithering through Trogtown hours before they gambled away their stolen loot.

  But she was different. Her freedom had been stolen by those pricks on bikes. They’d sold her to someone. Sold her for labor. No, she would not feel guilty about the knife. It was still heavy and hard against her skin, but it was also a comfort. A reminder that she may’ve been stuck, but she wasn’t stranded.

  When she was jerked into the doorway of a dark building, with no one to witness her abduction, no one to hear the heavy thud of the case of water dropping to the ground as she scratched at her attacker’s arms, the knife was more than just a comfort.

  A man’s hand covered Nori’s chin and mouth, thrusting her back against a hard chest as she was dragged from the street. She twisted her body wildly and pulled at the man’s hands, but he kept a tight hold. Stomping her attacker’s feet did nothing to deter him as she met the hard resistance of reinforced boots.

  He was saying something, but she couldn’t hear it over the roaring in her ears. Didn’t want to hear it, anyway. With all the strength she could find, Nori raised her arm and jammed an elbow into the set of ribs behind her. Her attacker grunted, and the grip on her shoulders loosened. It was her only shot. She twisted to escape, but before she could flee, he threw an arm around her stomach and pulled her back toward him.

  Continuing to struggle so he wouldn’t notice her intentions, Nori dipped one hand into the pocket of her jeans, inching out the knife. When at last she flicked open the blade, she raised her arm to her side as best she could. There wasn’t a lot of leverage with her upper arms pinned to her sides. She readied to plunge the steel into her attacker’s thigh, and her thoughts honed to this one shot at freedom.

  As she cleared her mind and prepared to strike and run, the man’s low, urgent words finally sank in.

  “Stop, Nori,” he said. “It’s me. Stop.”

  Nori paused the fight for her life, her body as motionless as a snake just before the strike. The attacker’s grip on her mouth loosened enough that she could mumble, “Cooper?”

  “Yes. For God’s sake, would you stop the kicking and biting?” He let go of her then, and she spun on him, eyes bright with fury.

  “I thought someone was trying to kill me. Why would you do that, you idiot? You scared me to death.”

  “I didn’t want us to be seen together. Wallace is in town, too, and I thought you’d probably prefer he forgot about you.” Cooper twisted his mouth. “But if you want me to go look him up…”

  “You wanted to talk to me, so you abducted me?” She snorted and dusted her jeans. “Super inconspicuous.”

  “I tried
to get your attention before you went into the store. And after. You never even looked my way.” Cooper eyed the blade she was clutching so tightly her knuckles were white. “Where the hell did you get a knife, anyway?”

  Nori released her grip, eyeing the prized possession she’d nearly sunk into Cooper’s thigh.

  He snatched it before she could move.

  “Give. It. Back.” Nori’s growl was a promise of death.

  Cooper whipped his dark head up at her lethal tone. He studied her for several long moments before giving a slow nod of approval, his mouth sliding into a smirk. “I see you took my advice to get tougher.”

  He extended a fist and opened his hand, the knife resting in his palm. It was back in Nori’s pocket before he took a breath.

  “What are you doing here?” she snapped, the frantic pace of her heart finally beginning to slow.

  “I thought you might want news on the sunscorch.”

  Nori’s breath snagged in her throat and her eyes found his, pleading for answers.

  “Well?” She stepped closer to him. “What have you heard? Are my parents okay?”

  Cooper shook his head, his eyes softening at her panic. “It hasn’t happened. Not yet.”

  Nori’s eyes closed, and she released the breath she’d been holding since hearing that ominous, awful word. Sunscorch.

  22

  The Big Fight

  “La-dies and gen-tle-men.” The three words of Hank’s welcome rang out over five full seconds.

  Nori searched the crowd and, sure enough, several women had come out of the woodwork to watch the fights.

  “Tonight’s final bout is a title match for the current heavyweight champion,” Hank said. “The Killer from Canyon City, a rebel you don’t want to reckon with, Rennnnn-egade.”

  The fighter’s name, which Hank had called like revving a motorcycle engine, produced cheers and whistles across the Pit. Hundreds of people she’d never seen stood from their folding chairs, fists in the air. Some held dark-colored beer that sloshed over the sides of their cups onto the floor. Nori growled low in her throat—she’d be the one cleaning it up later.