Alterant (16 page)

Breaking off a banana, he held this one toward her in offering, but not close enough for the fruit or his hand to pass through the barrier.

She’d passed through once, so she should be able to put her hand back through.

Evalle reached over and took the banana. “Thanks.”

He grabbed her forearm.

Every muscle in her body tensed, ready to fight.

She stayed very still, watching the fingers of his free hand slide down to curl around her wrist snug as a handcuff. He turned her arm toward him and gently lifted a leaf-shaped bug off her skin, placing the critter safely on the ground.

Then he released her arm.

She expelled a breath she’d caught in her throat and started peeling the banana.
Act calm, as if nothing has changed.
“You were going to tell me what else you were besides Belador.”

“No, I wasn’t. I’m not sharing anything I know about our origin as long as I’m stuck in here.”

Who could fault him for holding back? In his place, she’d have done the same, which meant she had to offer him something he might be willing to trade for.

A chance to fight for his freedom.

Evalle weighed everything and believed Brina could hold her own if what Evalle suggested came to pass. “I got the Tribunal to agree to let the three missing Alterants plead their cases.”

His eyes flicked with surprise, but he only said, “If you find them.”

She sighed and moved on. “You said you were unfairly caged. I won’t make promises I can’t keep, like saying I can get you out of here, but if you’ll help me I will promise to ask the Tribunal to let you plead
your
case directly to them, too.”

First, she’d have to get Brina to ask Macha to allow Tristan to be released, but one step at a time.

He polished off another banana, asking, “Why would you try to convince Brina to do that?”

“I took an oath of honor, and I consider that an honorable choice. If Brina had good reason for having you sent away—which I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt about as well—then she’ll have no problem explaining her actions. I’m going to let truth play out.” And hope like the devil Brina did have a sound reason for locking Tristan away.

“But you said you couldn’t ask Brina about the location of the Alterants.”

“If we can hand Brina the origin of Alterants, I think she’ll talk to Macha about giving the Alterants who have their beast under control a chance to join VIPER, and maybe the Beladors.”

“I don’t know.” Tristan scratched his shoulder.

“VIPER and the Beladors need us right now. Alterants are shifting all of a sudden everywhere.”

Tristan cracked a smile. “No kidding?”

“Not funny. People are dying.”

He rubbed a hand over his chin, losing his smile. “Let’s say I consider what you’re suggesting. What did the Tribunal offer in return if you brought in the three missing Alterants?”

He wasn’t going to like her answer, but then neither did she. “My freedom.”

“Guess you didn’t come with a conscience, huh?”

Guilt hammered at her soul every time she considered taking those three back with her, because she didn’t trust the Tribunal. But she believed in Brina, who had promised that those Alterants would get a fair hearing while being held under Macha’s protection in the meantime.

“Of course I have a conscience. Did you not hear me when I told you I got a deal for each of them to prove their innocence? If those three can stand in a Tribunal meeting and truthfully say they did not murder anyone, then I believe the Tribunal will release them to work with VIPER, like I’m doing. I have Brina’s word that they’ll be safe until they meet with the Tribunal.”

“I can’t hand Brina that kind of trust.”

She understood, but Tristan needed to know all the possible pitfalls if the Alterants he shielded remained on the loose. “If I don’t return with those three, the Tribunal is going to turn VIPER loose to hunt down and kill
all
Alterants on sight. No chance to plead their cases. No chance for real freedom.”

Tristan grew still at the news of all Alterants being hunted.

“You may not like being here, but if they’re out in the world on their own, they’re vulnerable.”

“And you think they’ll be safe walking into VIPER?” he asked with no small amount of sarcasm.

“I’ll be perfectly honest, Tristan. If any of the Alterants have killed an innocent human, they have to pay the price, but if they killed in self-defense, that’s a different story. With so many Alterants shifting everywhere in the past twenty-four hours, me, you and those three may be the only ones who have a chance to survive.” And if this worked out, Evalle wouldn’t be dragged in every time an Alterant committed a crime.

“What do the Alterants that are changing look like?”

She lifted her shoulders. “I guess like us. I haven’t seen any of them . . . which reminds me. Why were your eyes black earlier when you were, uh, shifted?”

“Think it has to do with being in here. I thought black eyes were normal as a beast, because I’d always seen my eyes that way in water reflections, but they stayed green constantly once I left here the last time. Now they’re back to black when I shift in here.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t helpful.

Tristan nodded to himself and stared off into the jungle as if he pondered what she’d told him. “Gods and goddesses are sneaks,” he said under his breath. He glanced at her. “You sure if you return the three Alterants they’ll let
you
walk away?”

His question surprised her, especially since he’d asked in a civil tone lacking ridicule.

She answered carefully. “That’s what the Tribunal
told me, but I’m not walking away unless those three do, too. Convincing them to come in with me would beat them having to live with targets on their backs. And as soon as I return with them I’ll lobby for you to plead your case.”

She swatted a fat mosquito drawing enough blood off her midriff to feed four normal-sized mosquitoes back home. That was saying something, because Georgia grew hefty insects.

“I don’t know. What
exactly
did the Tribunal say?”

“Let me think,” she grumbled. She hadn’t taken dictation, for crying out loud. “The Tribunal said, ‘Let the one who returns the three escaped Alterants to VIPER be cleared of prior transgressions.’”

Tristan listened, interest growing visibly in his face until he finally said in a lighter tone, “Sounds like you’re right. I know where the others are. Help me get out of here and I’ll show you.”

Help him escape so she’d have to recapture
four
Alterants? Was he crazy? Well, maybe. Who wouldn’t be after living out here alone all this time, but still . . . she hadn’t lost
her
mind. “I can’t do that, Tristan.”

“Okay.” He stood up with what was left of the bananas and dropped the bunch where he’d been sitting. “That should hold you for a while.” He pointed past her. “North is that way.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am. The last time I trusted someone’s offer of freedom, it backfired.”

“That was the Kujoo, not me.”

“Why should I believe someone who sent me back?” He strolled away, pausing in stride to pick up her dagger.

“Tristan!” Evalle pounded the ground, then jumped to her feet and stepped tentatively inside his area. “Tristan. Come back and talk to me.”

Blond hair disappeared into a wide swath of green.

She slammed her fist into the palm of her hand. If she lost him now, could she find him again?

Not a chance.

Evalle raced after him, shoving branches out of her way, and picked up his tracks. Energy inside his prison bogged her down once more, as if she swam against a current. When she’d followed him a hundred yards deep into the middle of nowhere, his tracks disappeared. Pausing to look up, she heard a rattle of noise off to her right, caught a glimpse of blond hair and took off again.

After a couple of hours of trying to catch Tristan every time she’d chase a glimpse of him moving through the jungle, she finally lost him for good. She ended up wandering back into the original clearing where they’d talked.

The bananas he’d left had been hung on a broken branch since she’d last seen them. As a peace offering?

Maybe that meant he
would
come back.

In the meantime, she was still hungry and reached for the only food in sight.

Monkeys chattered and shook the trees overhead, drawing her gaze up and up. The noise increased, but they didn’t seem upset. They were just making a racket.

When soft footsteps raced toward her, she realized too late why the monkeys were raising a ruckus.

Evalle yanked her arm down and turned to meet her opponent, but not fast enough to get out of the way.

Tristan raced forward, grabbed her against him and leaped airborne for fifteen feet, propelled like a human missile. He yelled a curse. They hit the ground as one big thud in a tangle of arms and legs.

Her chin bounced down, up and back down again.

She saw stars, lots of them.

Breathing hard and still dazed, she pushed up and squinted to clear her vision in order to figure out what had happened. Then it registered how she’d ended up sprawled on the ground.

She turned back around and looked down. Not the ground.

Her hands pressed against a wall of chest muscles.

Tristan lay beneath her, unconscious after taking the brunt of their landing.

She could live with that.

Wait a minute.

She glanced around again.
No, please, no.

But there stood the tree that had been half in and half out of the spellbound walls.

Based on the proximity of that tree, Tristan’s prone body had crashed on the wrong side of the invisible enclosure.

Another Alterant had escaped.

TWELVE

E
valle scrambled up from where she’d landed astride Tristan. This capped a crappy day so far.

He hadn’t roused yet from hitting the ground so hard.

Good. She needed a minute to think. Blood and adrenaline pulsed through her veins with enough force to send a rocket into space.

That would have come in handy if she’d been able to strap Tristan to the rocket. She had to get him back inside the spellbound cage even if doing that a second time twisted her gut. The Tribunal would not show mercy on him if they found out he’d escaped.

Using her kinetics to carry him back inside might kill both of them the minute her power crossed the barrier. And what if he came to in the middle of her moving him?

Having him wake up on this side would be worse.

Holding her hands out toward him, she drew on her kinetic ability and lifted his body. Tristan’s entire length hung limp in the air. When she had him a few feet from the barrier to his prison, she tried to throw him back inside the cage with a hard shove.

He smacked the wall of invisible energy and bounced backwards, landing on the ground.

Oops . . . my bad.
She cringed at the painful sound that slid from his throat.

Tristan’s chest moved when he drew a breath. He groaned on his exhale, but he was still out cold.

Served him right for pulling that stupid stunt. Had he thought he could go airborne like an out-of-water porpoise and land on hard ground without having the air knocked out of him?

Of course, slamming him against the equivalent of a steel wall hadn’t helped either. Or the fact that he’d taken the brunt of the fall with her on top when he’d jumped out.

Had he landed that way intentionally?

Maybe, maybe not, but he no longer needed her now that he’d escaped.

But she needed him.

She tensed, ready for battle the minute he opened his eyes.

How had he gotten out of the spellbound enclosure?
Worry about the mechanics of his jailbreak once he’s back on the other side.

She had three gifts from the Tribunal and no clue what they were other than she could not ask for a gift unless it was being used specifically to fulfill her agreement to return the
other
escaped Alterants.

Technically, putting Tristan back inside his cage would not meet the criteria, since he would refuse to help the minute he was in captivity again.

Would have been nice if the Tribunal had given her an operation manual for her so-called gifts . . . one with a troubleshooting section.

Tristan groaned louder and rubbed his head. One eye
slid open and peered over at her, then he pushed up on his elbow.

She kept very still, watching for any aggressive move. “How’d you get out of there?”

He smiled. “You broke me out.”

“No, I didn’t.” She hoped.

“Oh, yes, you did. Remember when I held your arm to take off that bug?”

“Yes,” she answered warily.

“I shoved my foot past the barrier while I was touching you and I broke through to my ankle, then it stopped me. I figured if I could do that while holding your wrist I should be able to push my entire body through if I was holding all of you.” He rubbed his head. “Wasn’t quite as simple as I thought. Damned near killed myself finding out.”

She was a dead Alterant the minute the Tribunal found out about this.