Defy (9 page)

Considering this, she finally took a good
look down at herself. And whimpered.

Her clothes were filthy and in tatters. Most
of the seams had been broken, leaving her tank top dangling open
along both of her sides. Only one of the shoulder straps was still
secured. The adorable lime green skirt she now remembered putting
on over her purple combat pants had torn around the waist. It slid
all the way to the ground even as she noticed. If she hadn’t
grabbed her pants at the waist, they would have fallen, too.

A sudden thought occurred to her. She whipped
her hand to her lower back and issued a huge sigh of relief. Her
blessed nunchucks were still in their harness.

More comfortable now that she knew she wasn’t
completely defenseless, she took a closer look at the
blood-spattered hole near the center of the tank top over her
chest. When she lifted the shirt away from her skin, she realized
her bra was torn and useless. She also saw a pink spot of what
appeared to be freshly healed skin among the numerous scratches she
had caused herself while getting out of the cave.

She had been stabbed!

Struggling to recall what had happened, she
had a flash of remembered terror, as well as the memory of blood
surging into her mouth. That alarming thought made her run her
tongue over her teeth and actually note the foul feeling and taste
in her mouth. Then she lifted her shirt from her body and brought
it closer to her nose. The stench made her eyes water.

She was nasty.

Okay
, she thought.
Steps to saving
myself in order of importance: walk away from this cave, bathe and
clean my clothes, find food, figure out where the hell I am.
Check
.

Drawing on her stores of resolve, she pushed
away from the cave entrance and took step one.

“Tate!”

Tiege surged up in his bed, blinking to clear
his vision as his heart thundered in his chest. He’d somehow
connected with his sister—he knew it. But that connection closed
for some reason. He had to figure out how to reestablish it.

Knowing he'd need his parents' help, he
scrambled out of bed. He hurried out the door and ran up the stairs
to their bedroom, taking the stairs two at a time. As he entered
the hall at the top of the stairs, he saw his father stepping out
of his room and easing the door closed. He looked exhausted. Tiege
understood that his mother must be sleeping, and struggled not to
shout his announcement.

Instead, he said in a loud whisper,
“Dad—Tate’s alive!”

His father moved away from the door, a mix of
emotions flashing in his dark blue eyes as he approached.
“Tiege…what’s going on?”

“I saw her!” Tiege said urgently, reaching up
to grasp his father’s arms when he stopped in front of him. “She
called out to me. She needs my help!”

Wearing an expression of deep concern, his
father asked, “You saw Tate? In your mind?”

“Yes—just now. A few minutes ago.”

“Okay. And where was she?”

That gave Tiege pause, though the sense of
urgency didn’t ease. “I—I don’t know. It was dark. She was in a
dark place. She’s in pain.”

His father sighed, the weariness seeming to
come from his bones. “Tiege, the elders thought this might happen.
You’re finally reacting to the trauma of losing your sister.”

Tiege shook his head, tightening his grip.
“No, Dad—you have to believe me. It was—”

“I know it felt real,” his father
interrupted, “but what you had was just a nightmare. You dreamed of
your sister in pain and in a dark place. In short, you dreamed of
her death.”

“No. I have to tell Mom. She’ll believe
me.”

Now, his father’s face hardened. “You will
not discuss this with your mother. As it is, she just suffered a
significant emotional setback. She cried herself to sleep. Believe
me when I say that you raving about a vision of your sister in pain
and in the dark and in need of help will be more than she can
handle.”

Tiege considered that. “Well, then, I’ll go
to Uncle Gabriel and Uncle James. We can—”

“You will not mention this to them and put
them in the position of denying you like I am. I’m not letting you
leave the area of protection, Tiege. By all that’s holy, how could
you think to ask that of us when we just lost your sister for that
very reason?”

Tiege dropped his hold, taking a step back.
His father didn’t believe him.

“Please, Tiege.” His father’s tone conveyed
his conflict, as did the look in his eyes. “I’m so glad that you’ve
come back to us. For a while there—” He stopped, then cleared his
throat. “I love you. I’m sorry that you’re in such pain. If there’s
anything—”

“You can help me find Tate,” Tiege insisted.
“Fine, I won’t tell Mom or anyone else. But if you really want to
help me, you’ll get me to Tate.”

His father’s jaw clenched. “You’re putting me
in a terrible position here, Tiege. You’re asking me to believe
what you saw. But your cousin witnessed Tate’s death. It occurred
just as your mother and I foresaw it.”

The words pulled the breath from Tiege’s
lungs.
They had known?

“I know what you’re thinking. But there are
many things we foresee that never come to pass. We don’t share the
visions for that very reason.”

One part of Tiege’s mind understood that. The
other part was with his twin in a dark place, terrified and
suffering.

He found himself nodding even as his mind
whirled. Because he feared the words that left his mouth would do
more damage than good, he swallowed them. Out of the corner of his
eye, he registered that it was still dark. That would only aid his
budding plans.

“Okay, Dad,” he said at last, hoping his tone
was as calm as he intended. “I understand.”

His father held his gaze for a long,
considering moment.

“I’m sorry it’s been so hard for you and
Mom,” he added, hoping to use the right words to deflect from his
still racing pulse and intense desire to leave. “I’ll talk to her
when she wakes up. I won’t mention the, um, dream.”

That did the trick. His father looked
relieved. Tiege ignored the twinge of guilt that look caused.
Tate’s desperate thoughts still echoed in his mind.

“Don’t apologize, son. We know how difficult
this is for you. We’ll get through it together.”

No, Dad
, Tiege thought with a heavy
heart.
We won’t
.

Sophia had to sneak out of the house to go to
Quincy’s cottage. With all of the visitors in the area still
lingering after Tate’s funeral, this was no easy feat. In the end,
she climbed out a window, grateful for the cover of night.

Pulling her cloak more tightly around her,
she rushed through the forest toward the cottage, praying that she
wasn’t too late.

Not too long after she’d had her breakdown in
the lab, she had witnessed Quincy speaking with
archigos
Ini-herit. The topic of their conversation centered on Quincy’s
leaving the homeland and handing the care of the expectant mothers
over to commander Raphael. The two males noticed her before they
got into too much detail, but Sophia knew that she had managed to
prompt Quincy’s decision with her harsh and uncalled-for words.

She wasn’t sure why she was so desperate to
speak with him before he finalized his decision to leave. He had
already disliked her before. She had merely given him one more
reason to have his low opinion of her.

But he always provided the care for her
mother and her aunts during their pregnancies, and now he intended
to leave before the next children arrived. And the fault for that
lay squarely on her shoulders.

Pausing for a moment to catch her breath as
she neared her destination, she watched as the cottage door opened
and Quincy emerged. He was empty-handed, but then, he had a paired
Lekwuesti and could afford to travel light. She figured he hadn’t
just stepped out for a casual stroll as he started in the direction
of the cliffs. She knew he was going to head for the water and the
enchanted platforms located there that would transport him to
Central.

Once again picking up her pace, she hurried
after him. She didn’t want to call out to him in case her voice
carried far enough for someone else to hear her and alert her
parents.

Just as he was about to step completely out
of the cover of the trees edging the property line leading to the
cliffs, she let out a shrill whistle. It was a sound he had taught
her as a child, and it caught his attention. He turned with a look
of surprise as she approached.

“Sophia, what are you doing here?” he asked
as she stopped about a foot from him.

“Please don’t leave,” she blurted.

His mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Trying to clarify herself, she said, “I’m
sorry, Quincy. I said those awful things to you because, well, it
was easier for me to blame you than to point the finger of blame
where it truly belongs. At myself.”

He frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“It’s true,” she said, and found that saying
the words helped loosen the debilitating band of dark guilt that
had shadowed her since Tate’s death. Taking a deep breath, she
said, “I was a coward. I didn’t have enough faith to fly. And if it
weren’t for those two things, I could have flown after Tate the
moment I saw the kragen.” She fought back unwanted tears. That
emotion would have to wait. She had to say this to someone. It
might as well be to the male she had wounded. “I could have saved
her.”

He shook his head, but she had already
convinced herself. She didn’t need to convince him, too. She just
needed him to know why she had been so terrible to him.

“And if I hadn’t shoved you off that cliff
because I was so frustrated over my lack of ability, you might have
had more time to fly after her, too,” she continued, reaching up to
rub her aching throat in another effort to stave off her emotion.
“So, anyway, I’m very sorry for being so unfair to you. Please
don’t leave. My mom and my aunts need you here.”

He started to respond, but her attention was
suddenly turned. A sound near the cliffs had her stepping up next
to Quincy and peering through the trees. She spotted Ini-herit
standing with Clara Kate near the cliff’s edge. The elder caught
C.K. and lifted her back to her feet after a near-fall. Her cousin
had always been an extraordinary klutz.

“Sophia—”

“Shh,” she said, waving a hand at Quincy as
she watched C.K. interact with the elder.

She didn’t know what had taken place between
the two of them while on the human plane, but she privately hoped
that her cousin managed to teach Ini-herit a thing or two about
emotions since he had gone through so much effort to try and
relearn them. Hearing that the transition hadn’t worked made her
heart ache for both of them.

Then her cousin’s gaze moved to something
along the cliffs. Sophia’s interest piqued when she saw C.K. place
a hand over Ini-herit’s lips in an obvious bid to gain his silence
about something. After a moment, the elder nodded. The two of them
turned and headed to the edge of the cliff.

“Oh, crap,” she said. “They’re going to fly.”
She turned to Quincy, who stared at her with an odd expression on
his face. She didn’t have time to reason out what it was. “C.K. and
archigos
Ini-herit are up to something. I think they spotted
something on the cliffs. Will you fly me over there so we can see
what’s going on?”

“Are you out of your mind?” he asked.
“Whatever it is
archigos
Ini-herit is up to, he didn’t
invite us along.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Well, I hope you
decide to stay. And I’m sorry. Again.”

Then she turned and hurried out of the woods
toward the cliff. She still couldn’t extend her wings, and she
didn’t want to transform into a bird or other animal and end up
without clothing. But she could most definitely climb.

Even as she reached the cliff’s edge, Quincy
took hold of her arm. She opened her mouth to protest, but he
picked her up and gave her a quelling look.

“For the record, you
are
out of your
mind,” he said. And leapt off the cliff.

With at least an hour still to go before
sunrise, Zachariah stopped traveling and set up camp. He told
himself it was because he’d found the perfect uninhabited spot to
sleep once the sun rose, but the fact was he was just
tired
.

The last time he felt this way was just after
he’d been scored by Nyx’s tail spike while he battled the effects
of her toxin. The feeling perplexed him.

As he settled on the hard ground, he thought
again of the bloated, discolored being Nyx had dragged—probably
mostly on the ground, since she only flew if absolutely
necessary—back from her hunt as a gift to him. He reflected on his
efforts to reverse the effects of the toxin. An annoying, throbbing
pain still resonated in his hand, though the skin had largely
healed.

As he removed the bandage from his wound, he
guessed what happened. He must have gotten some toxin in his open
wound from the Estilorian’s mouth. Thus, he was feeling some
effects from it. Yes, that had to be it.

“Blasted beast,” he grumbled. But when she
turned in a series of circles and then settled beside him, nudging
his hand onto her side as her tail curled around him, he gave her a
rub. “Damned if I know why I put up with you.”

Sadly, he figured she probably thought the
same thing about him.

As he leaned against her soft underbelly, he
once again thought about the group he reluctantly tracked. They
weren’t exactly trying to hide their trail. He had to wonder why,
when the Waresti were surely on the lookout for Luvania’s attacker.
Archigos
Uriel would have all available members of his class
on the mainland conducting searches, knowing that other Estilorians
could also be at risk.