United (The Guardians Book 2) (15 page)

“'Cause I'm so damn awesome?”

He gave her a small smile. “I need you because you and Sacha are soulmates. If anyone in the world can help me find a link to him, it's you.”

He'd mentioned that to her before, the whole soulmate thing, but she'd brushed it off and refused to think about it, too scared of what it had meant. Even now it was still terrifying, but with that fear also came a sense of
rightness
. It was something she'd allow herself to think on later, when she had Sacha back. Because dammit, she was getting him back.

“Before we do this,” he continued. “I need to remind you again that my powers are unstable. I've learned a great deal of control over the years, but I'll admit I've been finding it harder here on the island than I've been letting on. When we join energies there's no telling what could happen.”

“It's okay, I trust you.”

His face lit up at her words. “Well, here goes. We're going to try blending our energy together again like we've done before. Together we should be powerful enough to find him. You didn't happen to bring anything of his, did you?”

She shook her head. “All I've got left is his leather jacket. I didn't want to risk bringing it only to lose it. If I don't get him back. . .it's all I have.”

“We'll get him back,” he vowed. It was hard to believe anything else but his word could be true when he looked at her with such intensity. “Now close your eyes.”

Doing as he said, she felt his smooth hands take a hold of hers. In her mind, she concentrated on her energy, so many brilliant colors all coming together to form a perfect pearly white. It layered her skin like a comforting blanket.

As an Outcast, Cadby was able to form a physical manifestation of his energy, and she knew if she opened her eyes she'd see it. It was so different to her own – a mass of powerful colors whizzing around him like a vortex.

She imagined her energy blending with his, allowing hers to be whipped into his hurricane. She powered Cadby, made him stronger.

And then. . .nothing.

She opened an eye to peer at him, only to see him glancing around in annoyance. “I can't concentrate,” he grumbled. “My powers are too strong. I'm getting too many reads off the others without meaning to and it's keeping me from focusing”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“No, I just. . . Oh crap.”

Suddenly thoughts began pouring into Gable's head, so many that it was like being in a crowded room full of people all yelling at the top of their lungs.

Was this what Cadby had dealt with his whole life? It was awful.

She caught snippets here and there – Zay wondering how on earth he was going to protect Queenie, and also trying to figure out how he'd never noticed what a smoking body she had before he'd seen her in their uniform.

Hue dwelling on a blond guy. Young, maybe in his late teens. He was. . . Oh, he was Hue's brother. He was dead.

Nicky thinking about Gable. No, not Gable. Nicky was thinking about Gabrielle. Back when she'd been young and blonde and they'd been so in love.

Cadby slipped his hands from Gable's with a sigh. “Sorry about that. I seem to be projecting.”

“Don't worry about it, Queenie did the same thing last night. Do you really hear that all the time?”

“I'm usually able to block it out. Damn this island.” He shook his head and glared at the others, still packing up. “Can you all stop
thinking
so loudly, just for a minute? Please!”

Everyone paused, turning to stare at him with open mouths. Cadby
never
got mad. He was always
that
guy, the one that took everything in his stride with a big smile on his face, no matter how big or small the circumstance. So if someone as friendly as Cadby was telling them to shut the hell up, they were going to listen and obey.

“Sorry, man,” Hue apologized. “Is there anything we can do to make this easier?”

Cadby shook his head, his shoulders stooping in remorse. “No, I'm the one who's sorry. I think I just need some space if I'm gonna make this work.”

“We can't split up,” Zay pointed out. “Too dangerous. We need eyes and ears on each other at all times.”

“I know. Okay, Gable and I will just have to move as far away as we can while still being in visual contact, and I need the rest of you guys to try and clear your minds for a little while. Try reciting song lyrics or number patterns in your heads.”

Gable followed Cadby further away through the trees. When he was satisfied with the distance, they sat once more, repeating their earlier actions. This time when they touched hands, unwanted thoughts and images filled her mind immediately, hitting her like a static shock.

She realized then, as she caught an unguarded look into Cadby's mind, that he was powerful.
Way
more than he ever let on. There was so much power inside him that it made Gable's head ache just to witness it. He was even more powerful than Terelle, though the idea of ruling the Outcasts at Yarmac & Bogely's didn't appeal to him in the slightest. He didn't care about power, he just wanted to live, be happy, be free.

And then there was an image. A woman. Cadby's mother. She was weak, timid, fearful. A human. Afraid of her own son, even when he'd been such a young boy, just five or six. Afraid of the way he'd known so many things he shouldn't.

The pictures faded away only to form something new. A small boy, no older than ten, his bright blond hair making him look like a little angel. It was Cadby, of course. He was crying. Sent away by his mother to live with the father she'd ran from in fear years before just because she couldn't understand her son. His father was a powerful psychic with a terrifying thirst for power. He'd wanted Cadby to help him do terrible things to sate his cravings. But by the age of twelve, when Cadby had already surpassed him in power, his hatred formed and grew, all aimed at his son.

Cadby at fourteen, having finally escaped his father's wrath, discovering Yarmac & Bogely's for the first time. Being free to be himself for the first time. Feeling happiness for the first time.

And then a picture of Gable's own face. How Cadby saw her through his eyes. She was. . .beautiful. The most beautiful girl he'd ever known. He longed for her, ached for her, and he hated himself for those feelings because she would never be his. She belonged to another, his best friend, and every time he wished she was his he was only betraying Sacha in the worst way. But that kiss he'd given her the day before, it hadn't been playful, not for him. . .

With a gasp of horror, Cadby yanked his hands away from Gable's and stared at her with wide eyes. His unstable powers had caused him to push a little of himself into her and neither of them had been prepared for that.

Gable's heart cracked a little at the look of shame on his face. “Cadby, I-”

“Please don't,” he begged, his voice coming out harsh as he averted his gaze. “Please don't ever talk about that again. I know it's not what you. . . I know I'm not. . . Please, never mention it again.”

She nodded, though something inside her was aching. She'd never known about his past because he'd never liked to talk about it, and now she knew why. He wasn't the kind of person who wanted others to feel sorry for him.

And the feelings he had for her. . . She'd had no idea. She'd never meant to hurt him. Out of all of the people in the whole would, she would
never
want to hurt Cadby.

Yet they both knew she could never return his feelings. Though she loved him, it wasn't the right kind of love. It never would be.

Taking a deep, resolved breath, he held out his hands for her once more. “Again.”

“Are you su-”

“Again! We can't fail at this. We must put everything else aside.”

He was right. They both needed to forget what he'd accidentally shared and move forward. Dwelling on it would only hurt.

Besides, they had a job to do.

Sliding her hands back into his for a third time, Gable let their energies merge. What had happened seemed to have given Cadby some kind of focus, because this time there were no other voices, no other distractions.

“Okay, we're on the right track,” he mumbled with closed eyes. She wasn't sure if he was talking to her or just out loud, but she suspected he wasn't looking for a reply. “Sacha is here. . .somewhere.” Gable's heart leaped at his words, but she tried to keep focus. She wished she could see what Cadby was seeing, travel whatever journey he was traveling in his mind. “Dammit, I know he's here, I just can't pinpoint. . . Come on, brother! Where are you?”

“What's happening?” Gable couldn't stop herself from asking.

“I know he's here. I can sense his energy, but it's like. . .a wisp of smoke. I can't hold onto it. Something is blocking me.” He muttered a curse. “A leech. I should have known.”

“You can sense leeches? I thought the whole point of them was that powers didn't work on them.”

“Most psychics wouldn't be able to.” He
quirked
a smile. “But then, I
am
ridiculously awesome. . .”

Once again, Gable got a renewed sense of just how powerful Cadby really was.

“So what do we do?”

“We keep trying. That's all we can do for now. Perhaps the leech will drop their guard.”

“Is that likely?”

“Nope.”

Despite his prediction, they kept trying for another two hours. Unlike Nicky, Cadby didn't tire out after using his powers for a prolonged period of time.

But still, he got nothing. Sacha seemed to be just out of his reach.

Gable heaved a sigh and stared up at the tree tops. The golden morning sun was shimmering from leaf to leaf. Around them, small creatures scuttled through the foliage and flitted through trees, but so far none of them had approached. They were strange little things, similar to the wildlife in the human realm but freakishly different at the same time. Like the deep purple snake like creatures with spindly legs that Queenie warned them were very poisonous. Or the large beetles the size of Gable's feet. There had been that one instance she'd really freaked out when a big, black and white tiger like animal had approached her, but when it had opened its mouth to yawn, it had flashed a set of very non lethal looking human teeth her way. It had been just wrong. Wrong on so many levels.

“Maybe we should give this up,” she said. “We're wasting daylight when we should be covering as much ground as we can.”

“No, we'll get there. You heard what Zay said – we need a direction. It's not like we have a map to follow.”

“But we could be walking right now. I feel like we should be walking. I need to move.”

Cadby grunted. “Gable. . .”

“We're sure to stumble across
something
if we keep going, right? A guard we can beat some answers out of, maybe. I mean, how big can one island be?”

“Seriously, Gable. . .”

“Then again,” she mused. “I guess America is like one
huge
island. Is it? So-”
 

“GABLE!”

She flinched. “What?”

“I've got him!”

“Wait, what?”
“I've got him, Gable!” he replied excitedly, squeezing her hands. “I've got Sacha. The barrier blocking him has dropped. The leech is. . .
gone
or something. I've got him but. . .oh crap, I'm really unstable.”
 

Gable knew exactly what he meant. He was projecting again, and she could feel second hand power suddenly rushing through her veins, taking her over, consuming her. She felt like she was
flying through the sky. No, she was
hurtling
, and she couldn't stop.
 

She needed it to stop. If Cadby would just let go of her hands she knew she'd feel safe and grounded again, but he was holding on tight.

“Cadby, stop it,” she pleaded, though she knew it wasn't really his fault. It was the island making him feel this way. “It's too much, too intense. Please stop.”

“I can't,” he said, though his voice sounded so far away.

Gable kept hurtling.

And then everything went black.

+++

Gable awoke face down in the scratchy leaves. Spitting dirt out of her mouth, she pushed herself up to ask Cadby what the hell that had been about, but he wasn't there. Confusion rolled through her in waves as she glanced around, ignoring the twigs digging into her hands and knees. In fact, she welcomed the sharp pain – it brought focus to her fuzzy mind.

“Cadby?” she called out, sitting back on her haunches. “Nicky? Zay?”

But she was alone in the rainforest. Even the small creatures had vanished, taking the noises of their scurrying and twitterings with them.

Her team was gone, as were their belongings. No signs of their camp remained, not even the charred ashes of the fire. It was like they'd never been there at all.

She was all alone.

Had she somehow moved herself? Sleepwalked, perhaps? Or had they simply left her there, unconscious?

No, they wouldn't do that, that she knew for certain. Even Zay, still so unsure of her, would never leave her to fend for herself on this island.

So where in the hell were they?

Clambering ungracefully to her feet, she touched her hip, feeling the reassuring outline of her dagger. She'd foolishly left her gun in her missing pack, but she knew her way around a dagger well. It would do. It would have to. Whatever was happening sure as hell wasn't normal, and her perception of normal was already way off.

Panic arose within her. She took a deep breath in and counted to five, and then blew it back out again. It was a technique Pablo had once taught her to keep her from freaking out.

The cracking of a snapped twig somewhere behind her had her spinning around and reaching for her weapon.

Air whooshed out of her lungs and all other thoughts, all other people, vanished from her mind, from her existence. Because
Sacha
was standing there, not twenty feet away, where he couldn't possibly have been standing just seconds before.

It was Sacha.
Her
Sacha.

He was so thin and pale and gaunt, and the dark rings under his eyes stood out like a beacon against his still ridiculously handsome face, but she didn't care about any of that because he was there!