Elei's Chronicles (Books 1-3) (73 page)

But his world had shrunk to the small room, to the blood dripping from the corner of Kalaes’ mouth.

“Elei.” Fingers tugging at the nepheline lid, trying to pry it loose. “It’s finished. It’s done.”

Only it wasn’t. Not yet. Not until something more happened, something to prove him wrong or right, with Kalaes’ life as the prize or the stone to hang around his neck.

But he let Hera take it, let her cover Kalaes with a hoodie, press the wet compress back to Kalaes’ brow. He knelt, feeling blank and empty, wrung out like a rag.

If Kalaes died... If he died...
Elei’s vision blurred. Too exhausted, too tired of everything, hanging onto a bright thread of hope in the dark, and it kept loosening under his fingers.

Hera’s hand fell on his shoulder and he didn’t even flinch. Rex was quiet in his head, calm, purring.
You infected another
, Elei thought distantly, a flare of anger in his chest.
Are you satisfied?

“Get up,” Hera said. “I’ll send Alendra to watch him. We’re the ones with the most experience in driving.”

“Damn you.” He pushed off her hand. “Let me be. I can’t...”

“Yes, you can.” She pulled him up as he struggled against her hold. “You cannot just lie here and mope. We have work to do.”

“Screw you.” He still struggled, his body aching and vibrating with tension, his movements clumsy. “What do you know about what I can or can’t do? What do I care about where we’re going? He’s all I have.”

“Elei.” Just his name, her voice warm, and her arms around him, enfolding him. His chin fell on her shoulder, and he was too stunned to move when she whispered against his hair, “Kalaes is not your only family.”

The words jingled like dil coins, soft and yet deafening. He sagged, burying his face in the fabric of her suit, his fists against the small of her back. Her scent triggered explosions of color inside his lids, but he didn’t open his eyes, didn’t look, only breathed, in and out.
We choose what to believe
.

He could’ve stood there forever, hiding in Hera’s arms. Gods, he hadn’t realized he craved comfort until it was offered to him. But someone cleared their throat behind him, and Hera released him, took a step back.

Feeling cold where her arms had been, he turned to see Sacmis at the door, a hand gripping the doorframe so hard Elei thought he heard it creak.

“Am I interrupting?” she asked in frosty tones.

Elei blinked, looked to Hera for any clues and saw her lip curl.

“Perhaps,” she said, her voice even and a little dangerous. “What is it?”

Sacmis tipped her head back and her eyes narrowed. “Apologies. I just thought you might want to know,” she said, clipped and tight, all emotion gone from her face, replaced with a heavy stillness. “We have company.”

Chapter Nineteen

‘C
ompany’
turned out to be three watercars in an inverted V formation, pursuing, hemming them in. Alendra drove, so Elei took the co-driver’s seat.

“How is it looking?” His voice sounded rough in his own ears.

She huffed. “They’ve been sniffing our trail and getting closer. I’ve tried to lose them, but they won’t leave us alone.”

Elei checked the thrusters, the balance, the depth, and the ballast. There was a trick with the motors he could try, to give them a burst of extra speed. Would it work with watercars?

“Let me have a go.” After all, that was why he’d left Kalaes’ side: to make sure they all survived this trip into the nether hells. He clenched the gauze in his palm, the bright pain honing his focus. The echoing emptiness in his head was filling with sharp-edged purpose.

“Are you sure?” She got up when he nodded. “How’s Kal?”

He cast a glance at the open door. “Could you look after him for a while, please, Ale?”

“You’ve never called me that before,” she whispered, her golden eyes huge, and smiled. She walked out of the cockpit, leaving him to stare at the controls.

That’s right
. Kalaes had called her that, and Hera, but not him. He’d never dared.
She smiled
.

He took the pilot’s seat and checked the position of their pursuers. The three watercars were closing in. He sought the gear system, moved it to manual and hoped the engine, especially the reactor, would survive the strain.

Here we go
. He downshifted to the lowest gear. The motors groaned and the cockpit shuddered. He pushed the accelerator to the max.

The aircar shook so hard he was afraid it might come apart. The window panes vibrated so fast his teeth rattled. Then they shot forward, leaving their pursuers behind.

He breathed out and kept up the speed. When the three watercars had dwindled in the blue, he changed back to higher gear, giving the engine a breather.

Hera sank in the co-pilot’s seat, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Did you manage to shake off our tail?”

“For now. Where exactly are we heading?” He checked the compass. “Setting course east to Dakru.”

“No, wait.” She spread the map on the panel. “Let us go south first.”

“Toward Torq Island? Why?”

“There’s an area with pillars in the sea.” Her gaze grew thoughtful. “Strange, black granite formations, at least at the surface. Let’s see how deep they go and what else is below. If nothing else, we may be able to lose our tail for good.”

“Doesn’t the map say what’s there?”

“Sentinels,” Hera said. “They must be guarding something.”

“Remember our first patrol, with that pillar in the sea?” Sacmis said and Elei almost jumped out of his skin. He hadn’t heard her enter.

“You almost died that day,” Hera bit out the words. “How could I forget? You scared me to death.”

Elei checked the thrusters. Swerved whenever their pursuers tried to corner them against the rocks, zigzagged, breaking up clouds of phosphorescent fish.

Hera gave him the coordinates, and he fed them into the system. Whatever it was the pillars guarded could go screw itself for all he cared. Bringing Kalaes to safety was all that mattered.

Then a speaker came to life, sputtering and vibrating under Elei’s hand, jerking him backward in his seat.

“Come in, Ray 9823,” said a cool female voice. “Sacmis, are you listening?”

A sharp inhale, and Sacmis stepped forward to stand between their chairs, the blood draining from her face.

“What the hells?” Hera muttered.

“Sacmis,” said the voice through the speaker, “remember the plan. Nine awaits your report. Good luck, soldier.”

Elei jerked on the steering level, correcting their course; they’d been heading west instead of south. He turned to look at Sacmis. She stood frozen, sweat trickling down her face and throat in silvery lines.

Hera turned the radio off. “You’ve been reporting to Nine?” 

“I did not—” Sacmis pressed a hand to her middle. Pain flashed in her gray eyes, and her nostrils flared. “I have not. I’d never betray you. I know this looks bad, but... It’s a trick to incriminate me and find out where we’re heading. How about some confidence in me?”

Hera groaned softly. “Can this get any more complicated?”

“You searched her for bugs,” Elei pointed out. “She was clean.”

“That was many days ago,” Hera muttered.

“Then search me again,” Sacmis said, a stubborn set to her mouth. “Now.” She sighed. “Or trust me and have more distrust for those who are trying to kill us.”

“Why have they not tried to sink us?” Hera asked, “only following us, talking to you. To
you
, Sacmis.”

“They want to sow discord.” She took a step back. “They hope we’ll lead them to the resistance, to Mantis.”

“I should not trust you at all,” Hera said, voice like ice as she checked the map. “You appear out of nowhere with some vague explanation about defecting, dire warnings about the Undercurrent, and secrets. By all rights, I should tie you up and gag you, or eject you into the sea.”

Elei tore his gaze from the path cut by the headlights and gave Hera a sharp glance. Did she mean it? Would she do it?

Well, she was Gultur.

Sacmis stood, head bowed, a vein ticking in her jaw. “So what are you waiting for,
hatha
?” Resigned, and yet angry. Soft and yet sharp. Disappointed.

He shouldn’t be feeling for her; for all he knew, she was just good at acting. But she’d been good to Kalaes.

Dammit, one of the other watercars came in from their left, trying to push them into the wall. Maybe they hadn’t shot them yet, but they didn’t seem to have any qualms about squashing them like bugs. He veered right, then pressed forward. They had to go faster. Where were the boosters?

“Sacmis,” Hera whispered, “I need you away from the cockpit. Go back with the others.”

Sacmis huffed, then turned around and left the cockpit.

“Do you trust her, Elei?” Hera asked softly when the door closed.

“Sacmis?” He turned to her. “Maybe. Do you?”

Hera sighed, a small, distressed sound. “You cannot tell with someone you care about,” she said, “can you?”

It was the closest Hera had ever come to admitting to her feelings. Elei shook his head. What good did it do and what did it matter if he trusted Sacmis or not? He should be the one at Kalaes’ side. He had to end this race and return to the cabin.

Elei jabbed at one of the ballast buttons, and the vehicle lurched, slamming him back into the seat.

“What did you do? We’re going up.” Brow furrowing, Hera leaned over, then pressed a button, stabilizing and straightening them. “A warning would be nice.”

But they’d managed to gain some distance and buy themselves some time. Elei sat back, breathing hard, a wisp of satisfaction curling around the burning rage. “Well, I bet it surprised them, too.”

Hera stared at him, then her mouth twitched up. “Fine. Full speed now.”

Acceleration lever pushed to full throttle, they hurtled through schools of fish. They sailed through the dark water like a bullet, the watercars following, pulsing blips on the radar screen. They were fast approaching Torq and the pillar formation Hera had mentioned and all Elei could think about was whether Kalaes was still alive.

“There,” Hera said with awe, and Elei looked up from the radar to see what looked like an agaric grove in the sea. In the depths of sea, for all the gods’ sakes, where the fish glowed and the jellyfish were big as boats. Huge, black pillars, some round and some square, with lights flickering on their surface.

“Hells.” He stared. “This is amazing.”

Their pursuers were closing in. He swerved and dipped, trying to shake them off, at least long enough to slip into the maze of pillars. He could see why Hera had thought it a good choice.

They reached the first, an enormous trunk jutting up from murky depths, smooth and shimmering, marred in places with stains and growths.

“What are they protecting?” he heard Hera whisper as he piloted the vehicle around the pillar and between two others, checking they were still being followed.

“Right now, us.” He grinned, a grimace that made his cheeks hurt.

He threw the watercar to the left, barely avoiding a head-on collision with a circular pillar that broke the symmetry, constructed too close to another. A symbol caught his eye as they sped past — a circle containing something like a hand.

“Did you see that?” He careened between two square pillars, glimpsing one of the watercars hot on their heels. “That symbol.”

“Make sure we do not touch the pillars, they can produce electric shocks.” Hera shifted to a lower speed. “That’s what got Sacmis almost killed. What symbol?”

Another round pillar was coming up, and he could make out the red circle branded on its surface. “That one.”

They zipped by so fast it was a blur, but Hera muttered something that sounded an awful lot like a curse.

“It’s a warning sign,” she said. “Danger.” She was silent while they cruised near a pillar. “The Gultur symbol for high tension is almost the same.”  She put her hand on top of his, on the steering lever, and jerked them away from the pillar. “Careful, you’re coming too close.”

“I know, Hera. Let go.”

She did, her eyes wide. He kept an eye on the watercar following them, wondering where the other two were, and approached the pillar once more. If they touched its surface, they’d be fried.

Well, risks paid off.
Sometimes
.

The other two watercars appeared from the other side. Damn. He accelerated and took a sharp turn right, heading for the pillar.

“The others probably do not know about the electricity,” Hera said.

“Exactly.” He drove straight for it, seeing the three others converge behind them. He kept their course, letting the pursuing vehicles get so close they breathed down their back.

“This is suicide.”

He didn’t look at her, not to see how Rex was distorting her face. “Let me do this or we won’t make it out of here alive and it won’t matter that I infected Kalaes with Rex or that you can’t make up your mind if you want to kill Sacmis or love her. We need to get rid of them right now.”

“Okay,” she finally said.

He gripped the lever tight and focused on the speed, the resistance of the water, the direction the others were taking —closer and closer to the pillar.

“Hera, be ready.” He led them to the point of no return. The pillar loomed over them, widening, towering — and then he spun ninety degrees. “Thrusters on the right, turn off those on the left.” He pushed the lever to the side with all his strength. “Now!”

The thrusters on the right kicked in, giving them the boost to turn without tumbling head over heels. He straightened the lever and the watercar shot out, weaving between square black pillars like a moth among tall grasses.

Behind them, an explosion lit up the water for a single breath-taking moment. A ripple hit them, then another. The watercar began to spin.

Hera adjusted the thrusters and they slowed, lazily twirling one more time before drifting what seemed like inches from the next pillar. She let out a breath. “I think we lost them for good this time.”

He grunted; tried not to think about the fact he’d killed them.

“New coordinates.”

Elei entered the numbers, hands shaking. “Set.”

He maneuvered the watercar through the pillar grove, to its end where the open sea began once more, and headed east toward Dakru. The deep blue stretched ahead.

She turned to him, smiling. “That was clever. But do not let it go to your head.”

He wished he could celebrate, but there was Kalaes, back in the cabin, hovering between life and death.

“Hey.” Sacmis stood at the cockpit door, looking worried. “Elei, come in here. You need to see this.”