The Rising
Page 50

I let go and motioned to the forest.
“Ah,” he said, grinning. “Be back, guys. Time to offer moral support, apparently.”
He followed me into the forest. When we were out of sight of the others, he set my clothing on a log, then crouched in front of me.
“Okay, you do your thing. I won’t look until you’re decent. But if anyone asks? I totally looked.”
I licked his face.
“Yow. That stings. Like being kissed with sandpaper.”
He smiled, then walked to the log and sat with his back to me. I lowered myself to the ground, and almost as soon as I did I passed out, as if my body had just been waiting for its cue.
When I woke, my arm felt better, as if it had only been temporarily twisted. I crept over, took my clothing, and dressed. Rafe stayed with his back turned until I sat down beside him.
“Fully dressed?” he said. “Damn.”
“Sorry. Next time I’ll leave my socks off.”
He laughed and got to his feet. Before we left, he pulled me into a kiss.
“Happy now?” he murmured.
I looked up at him. “Very happy.”
“Good. Now go do your healing mojo. Let’s make sure he’s okay.”
When Rafe and I stepped onto the path, there was a guy walking ahead of us. I saw the slim figure, the dark gray T-shirt, the chestnut brown hair, and I froze.
“Ash?”
He turned, and I raced down the path and threw my arms around his neck, hugging him as his armload of sticks jabbed me.
“I thought you’d left,” I whispered.
“Why would I?” he said, wriggling out of my embrace.
“Hey,” Rafe said. “You must be Maya’s brother. I’m—”
“I know who you are.” Ash turned to me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “The Nasts aren’t going to mistreat potential future employees.”
He didn’t ask how I got away. He knew he’d get the story eventually.
As we stood there in silence I rocked on my heels, resisting the urge to embrace him again. I could tell that would not be welcome. “I’m really glad to see you here. I was sure you’d leave.”
“Why?”
“Um, because I was taken captive. And you were nearly taken captive.”
He snorted. “I don’t spook that easy. And if they took you, I’m sure as hell not running away, not after you got yourself captured trying to protect me.” A glare. “Which was stupid.” He didn’t pause to let me reply. “You needed my help, so I stayed. That’s what I came here for, isn’t it? Getting you out of this mess you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“Gotten herself into?” Rafe said.
“Well, thank you.” I said to Ash. “For staying.” I turned to Rafe. “Although he says he knows who you are, I’m still going to annoy him by being all polite about it. Rafe, this is my brother, Ash. Ash, this is Rafe. My boyfriend.”
“Yeah, I figured that when I heard he was taking your clothes to you.”
“You were around earlier?” I said.
He shrugged. “Getting firewood. Didn’t want to interfere with you and Daniel.” A glower at Rafe. “I’m going to strongly suggest you don’t go with my sister next time she shifts. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
Rafe’s words were brittle, but Ash didn’t seem to notice. Or didn’t care. Just waved me back to the campsite.
THIRTY-FOUR
DANIEL WAS FINE. ASH and Corey had been keeping a careful watch on him, ready to grab a taxi to the nearest hospital if he started coughing up blood or feeling sharp pains. The blood I’d found was from a nasty scrape on his arm that had opened up when Corey cleaned it. That was his worst injury. The driver had hit his brakes before impact. He’d knocked Daniel flying, but that was it. Bruises and scrapes, already scabbed over. I still used my healing on him, though. I don’t know if it helped, but it made me feel better.
While I worked on Daniel, the guys lit a fire. It was getting cold and they’d decided it was safe enough as long as they kept it small. Once that was going, I explained what happened with us. That took a lot longer than Daniel’s story.
First I told them about Sam, Annie, and Kenjii and why they weren’t with us.
“And Nic?” Daniel said when I finished talking about the others. His face was drawn with worry. “Is she okay?”
I took a deep breath. “She’s . . . fine, and she’s not fine. I-I don’t know how to tell you this . . .”
“Then I will,” Hayley cut in. “Nicole—”
“No,” I said sharply, then softened my tone. “Please. Let me.”
Rafe stood. “Maya’s right. The rest of us can find something else to do. Hayley? Can you explain to Corey?”
Ash seemed unwilling to leave on Rafe’s command, but at a whisper from Corey, he followed them out of the clearing.
When they were gone, Daniel lowered his voice and said, “If Nic’s been hurt, you can tell me, Maya. I know you hoped there’d be something between us, but there isn’t.”
And thank God for that. If you had started dating her when I pushed you to it . . .
“We’re just friends,” he continued. “I’m going to be upset if she was hurt, but you didn’t need to send them away. Corey’s just as close to her as I am.”
“It’s—it’s not that. She’s . . . the experiments . . . Or I think it was the experiments, but I don’t know for sure. Maybe it’s just her. I . . .”
I saw his confusion, and I tried to think of a way to word it. When no ideas came, the words did, blurted.
“Nicole killed Serena.”
He didn’t react. He just kept staring at me, blankly, as if processing. Then he said, “Nicole . . . ?”
“Drowned Serena. She’s a xana, like we figured. She swam out under the water and pulled Serena down.”
I thought of Serena, under the water, fighting for her life while I searched for her. How long had she struggled? How long had she been under there and I could have saved her if only I’d found her, if only—
Daniel put his arms around me, pulling me against him as I shook and the tears started.
I pulled back. “I’m sure.”
“I didn’t ask if you were.”