She stepped back, out of his reach, shrugging her shoulders as though he’d threatened her. Maybe on some level, he had. “An instinct. Animal reaction. It meant nothing.”
“It meant everything. Our instincts are God-given, Tenessa. They can become twisted, but they’re grounded in something good; something true. In this case, your instinct to defend yourself; your sense that what they tried to do was wrong.”
He took a step toward her. She didn’t step back. “Help us get to Colin,” he said. “Turn your back on people who would force things on you that you don’t want; who would try to lord themselves over you.”
“How is that any different from what the Separatist is doing?”
The question surprised him. “Excuse me?”
“The Separatist tracks the Instigator. The Separatist wants to control him.”
Karl sighed. “Actually, we want to kill him.”
Her eyes grew wide. She must think him a hypocrite. He couldn’t blame her. “Ask me why, Tenessa. Not once have you asked why we’re tracking Colin. Ask me why.”
“What difference does it make? The Separatist is no better than what he preaches against.”
“Yes I am, because I don’t seek power. I seek justice. Colin is trying to kill a dear friend of ours. We sent her away to protect her, and she can’t come back until he is no longer a threat. Do you know how many he’s killed, Tenessa? How many he’s brutalized? Do you honestly think this is the first time he’s done it? This must be done for the greater good of our team.”
“As the Union does what is for the greater good of ours.”
Anger and bile rose in his throat. “Perhaps. The difference is, we don’t enjoy it.” He spat out the word and her eyes widened. He breathed deeply and moderated his tone. “It simply must be done. And the world will be a brighter place when he’s gone. Believe me.”
Her eyes darkened and she shook her head. “We won’t help you kill him.”
Karl sighed, disappointed. He’d been sure he was getting through to her. “Fine. Come back up by us, anyway. We all need to eat, and Marcus and I need to figure out what to do next.”
When she didn’t move, he stepped forward to take her arm. Her eyes widened in alarm. She wound her arm back and launched the rock at him. With a cry, Karl ducked and barely missed being hit in the chest by the mini torpedo. When he gazed up at Tenessa, her look was accusing, as though he’d betrayed her.
Sighing, Karl retrieved the rock and gave it back to her. She frowned at him. He took a few steps back and held his arms out to his sides. “Sorry,” he said. “I said you could hit me if you felt threatened. Ducking was a reflex. Throw it again. I won’t duck this time. I promise.”
Her frown deepened, and she glanced from him to the rock and back again distrustfully, as though he’d tricked her.
“It’s all right,” he said. “Go ahead.”
She did, but this time she threw it softly, underhanded, as she would a horseshoe. It hit him lightly in the chest and bounced off. Trying not to sigh, Karl dropped his hands. “Do you feel better now?”
She frowned at him like he was nuts. “No.”
Karl sighed, picked up the rock, and handed it back to her. This time she didn’t throw it. Rather she stepped forward and hit him on the chest. When he didn’t respond, she hit him again on the shoulder, then the stomach. She was too small to do much harm. Karl puffed out his chest and belly to brace against the blows.
While she pummeled him, he twisted his neck to glare up at Marcus, still watching from the ridge. Despite the distance, he could see Marcus’s smirk. Then Marcus’s eyes and mouth got wider. He pointed frantically at something behind Karl.
Karl turned in time to see Tenessa’s rock, her fingers curled around it, coming straight for him. The thud came directly between his eyebrows. With a gasp, Karl stumbled backward, turned and bent double, both hands clapped over his forehead. When he glared up the slope, Marcus had clasped a hand over his eyes. His laughter was audible.
Karl straightened and turned to find Tenessa’s rock headed for him again. This time he caught her wrist. “Enough!” he roared. “You got me! Let go of it. Now.”
She held onto the rock so tightly, her arm shook for another ten seconds before letting go. Of course, her version of letting go was to flick it off her fingers so it glanced off his neck before bouncing to the ground.
Taking a deep, calming breath, Karl let go of her wrist. He jerked a thumb back toward Marcus. Tenessa, looking smug, raised her chin a few centimeters and practically pranced up the ridge. After picking up Tenessa’s rock, and firmly pushing away thoughts of winding up a throw aimed at her calves so she’d trip, Karl followed at a safe distance.
When they reached Marcus, he was trying to keep a straight face while pulling food stuffs out of his pack. Karl threw Tenessa’s rock at him.
“Ouch.” Marcus rubbed the outside of his arm, looking anything but apologetic.
Meanwhile, Karl wiped what he thought was sweat off his forehead and found a tiny stream of blood. “Laugh it up, Healer,” he showed Marcus the blood. “Next time, you get to have the heart-to-heart with Lady Macbeth.”
“I told you to talk to her, not to let her victimize you.”
Karl picked up the rock and threw it again, but Marcus ducked in time. Chuckling, he put a hand on Karl’s arm and Healed the small injury.
They ate in silence for a time.
Finally Marcus spoke. “I don’t know if we should risk approaching Colin again—even once we get Maggie—without knowing what happened; how he knew we were there.”
“Maybe we’re giving him too much credit,” Karl offered. “Neither of us is good at Concealments. You were focused on tracking him. I had a friend to worry about,” he threw an accusing glance Tenessa’s way, which she returned in kind. “Maybe your Concealment slipped without you realizing it. The instant he felt us behind him, we were caught.”
“I suppose that might be it,” Marcus admitted. “Still, I wish there was some way to know for certain.”
Tenessa glanced furtively between the two of them before locking her gaze on her lap. Karl wondered what mutinous thoughts ran through her brain.
“Let’s run through everything that happened yesterday while we eat,” Marcus said. “Maybe if we hash it out verbally we’ll be able to come up with something.”
For the next hour, they went over everything detail by detail, starting with when they’d realized Colin was chasing a group of individuals early in the morning, and ending with Traveling to their current location in time. By unspoken consent, they hurried vaguely over the part where the invisible energy hit Marcus and he fell off the log. Tenessa’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as they spoke. She must know they were hiding things from her. Other than that, they spared no detail or thought or sensation, but by the end they still had no answers.
Tenessa kept her eyes on the ground for most of the conversation. When they got to the part where they actually interacted with Colin, she rose, turned her back on them, and walked a few feet away. Karl made no objection. He wondered if this was difficult for her to listen to.
Marcus got up and paced in frustration. “You could be right about it being our fault, Karl. I just...don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think I slipped. It’s possible,” he added quickly. “Between Colin and...the other thing we discussed last night, I was preoccupied, but I don’t think either of us messed up. I don’t know why. It just doesn’t...ring true to me.”
Karl smiled to himself. Ring true. An expression Maggie used a lot. “So what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. If it was just us, we simply need to be more careful. But what if it wasn’t? What if he has a device or an ability that allows him to know when we approach? We won’t be able to get anywhere near him.”
“I think we have to assume he does,” Karl said. “We need to figure out what he has and how to deal with it. Whether he has it or not, at least we’ll
be prepared. So, what would allow him to know when we’re close?”
“It’s a sonic shield.”
Karl froze. Tenessa’s voice was muffled because she faced away from them, but there was no mistaking what she’d said. Karl shifted his eyes to the side without moving his head. Marcus did the same thing and they exchanged glances.
“Sonic...shield?” Marcus asked. “Does it...protect him from sound?”
She turned to face them, crossing her arms over her chest. “No. Sound bounces off it, allowing him to pinpoint the location of the source, similar to the way wild bats find their way through dark caves. You were Concealed, so he couldn’t sense your minds, but he could probably hear you talking all day. He hears everything for miles.”
Karl straightened from his squat. “I thought you weren’t willing to help us.”
“We won’t help you kill him,” she answered. “We will help you find him.”
“Why?” Karl asked warily. She sounded too confident for his comfort.
“Two reasons. One, we don’t believe the Separatist.” That was directed at Karl, who rolled his eyes. “We don’t believe the Union condones brutality by its Recruiters.”
“Recruiters?” Marcus arched an eyebrow. “That’s what you think Arachnimen and Trepids are?”
Karl sighed. Someday Tenessa would find out how wrong she was, to her horror and heartbreak.
“The Instigator is an isolated case,” she went on. “The second reason we will help Strange Eyes find him is to rejoin the Union. We must find someone who can re-attach us. Once we are again Unified, we will make sure the Instigator answers for his savage exploits.”
Marcus’s eyes slid sideways to Karl. “The Instigator?”
“It’s what she calls Colin.”
“Why?”
“She doesn’t feel the need to share.”
Marcus took a deep breath. “What can you tell me about this shield, Tenessa? Does it have a weakness?”
Tenessa looked him dead in the eye, not glaring at Marcus for the first time Karl had seen. “Yes,” she said.
Karl watched Marcus watch Tenessa. He could see the indecision in his best friend’s eyes. “How long will it take, Tenessa? How long for us to get to him?”
“Whenever the Separatists are ready, so are we. We can point straight to him. It shouldn’t take long.”
Marcus nodded, slowly at first, then more quickly. The indecision solidified into determination. “If you’ll help me kill Colin, I’ll make sure you get back into the Union. You have my word.”
She shook her head. “We won’t help you kill him. We’ll only help you find him, so long as you promise to take us close to him.”
“Tenessa,” Marcus’s eyes didn’t leave her, “once we get here, you won’t have a vote. We’re dosing you with a neurological sedative, so you won’t be able to stop us.”
She stared at Marcus for a long time. “The Instigator can defend himself. Just get us close to him. He will defeat Strange Eyes and the Separatist and re-attach us to the Union.”
Marcus nodded. “Okay. It’s a deal.”
“Marcus.” When Marcus met his gaze, Karl jerked his head to the side and walked several feet away. Marcus followed. “This isn’t a good idea. How can we trust anything she says?”
“She gave us her reasons.”
“Oh come on. Don’t play stupid, here. If she thought this would play out how we want it to, she wouldn’t do it. She’s only telling us what she wants us to know. She thinks she can stop us.”
“She thinks Colin can stop us,” Marcus corrected. “You and I both know we can best him.”
“You’re the one who thinks she’s part of the higher echelons of the collective,” Karl said. Something about this didn’t feel right. “If that’s true, she has more tricks up her sleeve than she’s letting on. She’s smart enough to tell us enough to keep us hopeful, but not enough to keep from getting ourselves killed.”
Marcus sighed. He had to know Karl was right. “But she is willing to help us.”
Karl’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”
“What’s the matter, Karl? You’re usually all for the insane, suicidal, hopeless missions.”
Karl pursed his lips. “Touché. But I don’t like where this is going. I will care very much if she betrays us to Colin or the collectives.”
Marcus’s eyes widened when Karl spat out Colin’s name. His gaze shifted between Karl and Tenessa several times.
“What?” Karl asked.
“You care about her.”
Karl’s face grew hot and not for the first time in his life he was glad his dark cheeks didn’t show a blush. He decided to change the subject.
“This isn’t like you Marcus. You’re supposed to be the cautious one. I get to be the gleefully reckless one. Besides, I thought we were going to get Maggie.”
Marcus ran a hand through his hair, probably to cover the smile turning up the corners of his mouth. “I hear you, Karl, I do, but what happened yesterday threw me. Colin’s always ten steps ahead of us and I’m sick of it. I only care about protecting Maggie. I still want to go get her—sooner rather than later.” He sighed. “If we can take one more day to make this world Colin-free before bringing her back, that would be worth it.”
“You can’t protect her if you die.”
“Of course we’ll have to be careful,” Marcus ignored that last comment. “We’ll treat everything Tenessa says like it’s double-edged; if we can possibly do something in a different way than she advises, we will.”
“But—”
“Do you have a better idea, Karl? Do you have any other ideas?”
Karl wracked his brain for something. He truly did. Finally he sighed, shoulders slumping.
“Okay, then,” Marcus said, sounding entirely too reasonable. “Here we have a woman from the collective who’s willing to give us information. She has an agenda—she told us so—but she’s still willing to reveal things to us. I’m going to exploit that as best I can and try to get rid of Colin in the process. She’s a collectivist, which means she’s narrow-minded. Even if she’s being diabolical, I think we can out-smart her.”
Karl nodded. He didn’t like it, but what could he do? Marcus was obviously set on this course. “All right, then. Bring it on.”
Marcus walked back to Tenessa. “Tell me about this shield.”
Chapter 18: Forcing Memories
MAGGIE TURNED ONTO her side. It was no use. The lumpy ground dug into her rib cage no matter what position she lay in. It didn’t help that it was still ridiculously light outside, and she’d never been able to sleep on command. She wondered where Jonah was.
David and Jonah had gone down into the valley to look for food and gauge the situation this time.
“You’re the one who should rest, David,” she’d objected.
“I shouldn’t have taken you before, Maggie. It seemed like the thing to do at the time, but it’s too dangerous, not knowing what we’re up against. You’re the key to the prophecy. You must be protected.”
They’d all sat around Kristee, Maggie and Jonah on one side, David and Lila on the other. The thicket that hid them before still stood, though Maggie noted it had grown much denser in the intervening years—however many they’d jumped.
They stared at one another stupidly for several minutes, too exhausted to plan.
“Actually,” Lila said, “if we’re going by fatigue, Jonah and I should go. We didn’t get hit with that neurological torture device twice.”
“Shouldn’t you stay with Kristee?” Jonah asked. “You’re our only Healer.”
“I’m not a Healer, Jonah. I can mend bone, but Kristee doesn’t have any more broken bones. I can’t do anything except let her sleep it off. She needs food. She won’t recuperate unless her body has fuel to draw from.”
“Actually I don’t think either of you ladies should go,” David said quietly.
Maggie narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m trying hard not to think of you a
s a sexist right now, David.”
“If the collectives haven’t arisen yet, there’s a good chance we’re in the time period directly before that.”
Maggie frowned, not sure what he was getting at.
“The one where the world was made up of roving gangs, terrorizing the population?”
Understanding came into Jonah’s face. “Yeah, really not taking you into a rape pit, Maggie,” he said, and Maggie rolled her eyes. It was no use after that. Neither David nor Jonah would hear of Maggie or Lila going into the valley. Truth be told, Maggie was exhausted and didn’t relish the thought of another hike.
She agreed with only mild resentment.
As soon as they left with promises—Maggie noted Jonah’s smugness—that they’d try to be back before dawn, Lila insisted Maggie lie down and get some sleep. Maggie was too tired to argue, but the hard, lumpy ground combined with a snarling stomach made sleep hard to find.
She’d seen the blue and white ribbons when they Traveled again. She decided it must be a by-product of Kristee’s Traveling abilities, as opposed to Karl’s. While turning the possibilities over in her head, the world grew hazy.
A flash of purple light. A rock formation. Brown boots walking across a room at eye level. Two large hands covering hers. A hand with an ugly black burn on the back. A woman standing in front of a broken lighthouse. Blood on her hands. A whisper of a voice. The one called B cornering her in a glass room. Karl washed up on some jagged rocks, bleeding from the neck. Joan holding a baby. Clay on his knees, mouth open in a silent scream. Lila curled up in a ball, crying. Doc burning parchment by candlelight. Gasping, clawing for breath...
Maggie’s dream grew remarkably vivid. It felt...solid, somehow. She dreamed she’d gone down the mountain with Jonah. They hiked through the murky light until the backs of their legs screamed for rest. She felt so tired, she thought she might collapse. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other.
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