Broken Skies (18 page)

Lir’s receding back wavers in my vision, joining the tree trunks in a dizzying dance. Closing my eyes doesn’t help. Colors blaze behind them, pulsing with the pain in my leg. The waist band of my jeans grows tighter, pressing into my flesh. My leg is swelling worse and I need to get the pants off while I can. My hands shake as I use the knife to cut the pant leg the rest of the way. Chills wrack my body and my limbs jerk against the ground. There’s no way I can hold the knife steady enough to cut them the rest of the way. I clench my teeth to keep my yells in. No point in alerting anyone who may be around that I’m here. That I’m injured. That I’m helpless.

Fear follows the chills, seeping into my bones slowly. Is it real fear or the start of delirium? Helpless. Helpless. The word chokes me and leaves me gasping for breath. My racing heart beats a steady cadence of terror and pain.

Minutes… or hours?… later, a tall form separates from the trees and approaches me. The sunset behind it shines on reddish hair and my heart jumps. “Jace?”

No. The colors change again and it’s just green with golden sunlight pouring around it. Lir. When he gets closer, the gold in his hair shines and for a moment I just watch the sunbeams coming from him. Then my heart beats again and another searing pain travels up my leg.

The pain coils in my stomach and I lean over and vomit into the bushes until my stomach can’t push anything else out. My back continues to heave and Lir leans toward me. At first, I flinch away, not sure I want the golden light to touch me, but it’s okay. His hand rubs my back until I’m shaking with the exertion of dry heaving and collapsing back to the ground.

“Jax,” he says. “There’s a cabin ahead. Can you make it?”

I nod, not trusting my mouth to form the right words. He helps me to my feet. If my body wasn’t a constant throbbing pain right now, all the wavy colors would be pretty.

“Where’d Jace go?”

“Huh?”

He is playing dumb, but I know I saw Jace. “Where’d you hide him?”

“You aren’t making any sense,” says Lir.

I stop walking, swaying on my feet a little. “He was here.”

“No,” he says. “He wasn’t. Remember…uh, they took him.” He pulls my arm over his shoulder. “Come on.”

Just like that the cold heat of fear is back, turning my stomach to mush and speeding up my heart. “They… aliens…. You, you’re an alien… you took him!”

“No I didn’t.”

I pound on his chest with my fist. “Give him back!” The tears come now, the wet soldiers of fear and pain. Heat radiates up my leg and I stumble forward. Lir catches me and presses me against his chest. I continue to beat ineffectually at him with my fists.

“It’s not much further, come on.” My arm follows him, but the rest of me stills. My wobbly feet won’t hold me. The ground is shifting and I can’t find a place to walk.

Lir is too far away. He’s leaving me behind. Alone. “No! Don’t leave me here alone,” I yell. “I don’t want to be alone.”

He’s in front of me again. Pulling my chin up to look at him. Green seas float on his face and I lose myself in them, drifting away from my throbbing body. Can I lie down now? Good idea. But I can’t. Lir scoops up my legs and cradles my body in front of him and then he’s moving through the forest and the trees are blurring around me.

Seconds later I’m in a bed, the musty sheets cool against my skin. No, that’s not right. They’re hot. I kick them off. My skin is too tight and it’s going to pop. I’m alone and I have no pants. No, not alone… Screaming. Is that me? Shaking. That is me. Crying. That’s me too.

Strong hands grab my wrists and pull me back against a rock hard chest with my arms crossed. I’m bucking and kicking, but nothing breaks his hold. A quiet breeze carries into the room, against my neck, against my ear.

“Jax…please…” Not wind. Words. Lir. Safety. I still and a peaceful blackness takes over my vision.

FIFTEEN

Sound returns. Brightly bouncing in my head. Jumping on my achy joints.

Snippets of sentences wander my brain. Not from my mouth. That doesn’t work.

Shaking again. So. Damn. Hot. Not flames in my veins now. Just a glowing ember that flares with each movement, each brush of something against my stretched tight skin. Somebody should put me out already.

“Does she know?” No. I don’t. Who said that?

“…about her?” Same strange voice.

“…be okay?” A familiar timbre made of green gold light.

Cool, cold, wet against my face, my forehead. Gentle strokes down my cheek.

“So sorry.” Green words again.

A lick of flame, smaller but growing, shoots up my leg and out my mouth in a scream.

* * * * * * *

Next is sight, but it’s not right. Oh goodness, now I’m rhyming.

Things are too fuzzy, too vague. Solid shapes move and moving shapes stay still. Blinking doesn’t help, so just close my eyes again.

Ah, that’s better. Closed eyes work better than open ones.

The familiar barrage of metal and buildings resolves into one simple room. White walls. White floor. White. White. White…and red.

Red hair, tousled, too long and limp. Jace. Thin and pale, but there. Or here? Then he’s gone again.

Open eyes and all I see is soft and safety green. Warm lips press against my forehead, followed by the cold wet over my face, down my arms. Relief until the fire flares up again.

* * * * * * *

Floating. Shooting. Sobbing. Cool cloth on my forehead, my arms, my legs. Concerned green eyes hovering over me. Water trickles down my throat, driven there by the force of his words.

“You have to drink.” So I do.

Shivers rack my body, but I’m quickly wrapped in warmth and held tightly there. When my eyes open, the emerald eyes are inches from me and I smile. It will be okay. Is that me or him?

Someone else breaks into my head and I’m treated to a wonderful slide slow of bright colors and shiny ships. My warmth pulls away, but not far.

“You have to fight this.” So I do.

“You have to come back to me.” So I do.

* * * * * * *

Sand scrapes the roof of my mouth. No, that’s my tongue. My eyes open into slits and I immediately shut them against the searing brightness. A breath and then another. Heartbeats without pain. My mind’s turning back on. I’m still floating for a while, drifting right on the edge of full consciousness.

I wake up in a strange bed and almost wish I hadn’t. Every part of my body aches, even my fingernails and eyeballs. I shift with a groan and sit up. The effort nearly makes me pass out. Once the stars have cleared from my sight, I look around the room. Where the hell am I?

The memories come back in waves, starting with the rattle and ending with Lir’s plaintive begging in my ear. How long have I been out? Light shines in the room even through the closed curtains, so it’s not nighttime. It’s a low light. Afternoon? Early evening? I’ve been out of it at least overnight, but somehow I think it’s been longer.

I’m alone in the room and a small prick of concern pokes at me. Where is he? There’s no way I can get up, but I’m dying for a drink.

“Lir?” My voice is hoarse, scraping past my dry throat and coming out as barely a whisper. I clear my throat and call for him again.

The door flies open and I jolt. “Jax?” A variety of emotions cross Lir’s face, settling on relief. “You’re alright?”

“Is that what this is called?” My voice cracks and Lir hands me a cup. “Thanks.” I guzzle the water and then push my back against the headboard. “Where are we?”

“Some cabin in the woods.”

“How long?” My fingers clench around the glass. Every minute I’ve been out is another minute that they’ve had with Jace.

“Two days,” he says. He runs one hand over his face, exhaustion showing clearly on his pale skin, and slumps down on the bed beside me. “I thought you were going to die.”

“For a while I did too,” I say. He cracks a weak smile. “Have you gotten any rest?” Every bone in my body screams that I should set out immediately back on my path to rescue my brother, but I’m still weak and Lir is clearly exhausted.

“Not really,” he says.

“Lay down,” I say. “We’ll set out tomorrow.”

If Lir knows how much that costs me, he doesn’t mention it. He simply lies down on the bed and closes his eyes.

Another night of sleep helps. When I wake again, I feel much more like myself though there’s still a lingering ache in my joints and the side of my left leg throbs. Lir has pulled me back against him in his sleep, cradling me against his chest.

“Morning,” Lir mumbles into my neck. “Feel better now?”

“Much,” I say. I turn until I’m facing him, our faces only inches away from each other. “You?”

“Yes.” His gaze moves from my eyes to my lips and my face heats. Mental alarms ring in my head. This is not a position I should be in. I pull backwards and he slowly lets me go.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I look around the room while my face cools. Lir’s hand finds my lower back and I want to lean back into him, but we’ve wasted enough time and we have to get going.

“Thank you for letting me rest,” he says softly.

I don’t turn around. “Why wouldn’t I have let you rest?”

“Because you want to get to your brother,” he says. “And I’m holding you up right now.”

“Holding me up? You saved my life… or at least made the whole thing a little less unpleasant. I may be a lot of things and I might not always make the best choices but I try very hard to not be selfish.”

“You’re the opposite of selfish. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone more loyal and selfless. You’re amazing.” His voice grows serious. “I know you don’t want to talk about what happened to you and I’m not going to pry, but I know it must have taken a lot for you to set out on this quest to rescue your brother. I admire that.”

What do I even say to that? I’m glad you like me? I settle for a shrug and say, “Thanks.”

I move to my feet for the first time since I was bitten and nearly fall when my muscles don’t want to support me. I hold steady through the weakness and walk across the room. Goosebumps rise on my bare legs when they’re brushed by a breeze. I’m wearing only an over sized t-shirt, not mine, and underwear, mine. “Where are my pants?” I ask.

Pants are a must. I haven’t had time to be embarrassed by my nearly undressed state, but the feeling is certainly settling in, heating my cheeks— again— and making me uncomfortable.

“I don’t know,” says Lir from behind me.

I turn toward him. “You don’t know? How can you not know? Wasn’t I wearing them when we got here?”

“You cut one leg all the way up. They were pretty much useless.” He shrugs. “Your whole body was swelling. We had to take them off you.”

“We?”

“Peter and I. This is his cabin. He—”

A small gray-haired man enters the room, cutting Lir off. “Oh, she’s awake. How wonderful!” Blue jeans, black shirt, white collar. A priest? “Are you hungry dear? Lunch is just about ready. Do you feel up to coming out here to eat? I could bring it in to you.”

“Uhh…” My mind is still catching up with the world and his— Peter’s?— exuberance is just a little too much for me to process.

“Goodness, where are my manners? It’s nice to finally meet you, Jax, well more officially at least. I’m Father Peter.” He thrusts his hand out and I shake it weakly. “You can call me Peter, really the whole Father bit is… not quite the way of it anymore, yes? But I wore this collar for over a decade before the Collapse and I just can’t bring myself to part with it. So Lir here has told me that you’re from Bridgelake. Well, not both of you, obviously…” He waves his hands at Lir. “…he’s not from around here. What is it like in Bridgelake? I’ve thought for a long time about joining a settlement and just haven’t gotten around to it. So much to do around here… Oh my there I go again chattering your ear off. What can I get you to eat dear?”

Behind him, Lir’s shoulders shake with silent laughter.

“Can I get some pants first?”

Peter turns a bright shade of red. “Oh yes, of course, of course. We can’t have you wandering around half dressed.” He points at my legs. “They’ll have to be short though, off the wound on your ankle. Nasty thing that. Thought we were going to lose you there for a bit. Sorry about cutting into you, it won’t heal pretty, but you’re still alive and that’s what matters, yes? We were quite worried. Your young man there wouldn’t leave your side for hardly anything. Getting him to eat was as difficult as getting you to do it. Of course, he was conscious so that’s not really true… Anyway, pants! I’ll go find you some.”

After Peter leaves, I slowly make my way back to the bed and sit down next to Lir. “Wow.” I shake my head. “Peter is very…enthusiastic. Must have been an interesting few days for you, huh?”

His grin lights his eyes and he raises a single eyebrow. “You have no idea.”

SIXTEEN

Peter convinces me to come out to the table for lunch and with Lir’s help I’m able to hobble out there and sit with my leg propped up on a chair. With the constant stream of chatter flowing around me, I stuff myself until there’s no more room. It feels good to be full, almost good enough that I can forget everything else.