Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (43 page)

“Well, thank you for your kindness. We
hope to see you again soon.” Six nodded at her and then looked at his little
sister. “C’mon, Kaylee.”

He took her hand in his—the same hand he’d
used when he gave back the bread nugget, Mei-Li couldn’t help but notice—and
pulled her away from the stalls. Then, when they were out of sight of the
bakery, he produced the microbe light and ran it over both their hands.

“There—that should take care of anything
that was on the bread.”

“There was
nothing
on it, Jax! She
just took it out of the hot oven. Heat kills microbes, doesn’t it?”

“You’re probably right.” He nodded. “But
as Mere always says, better to be safe now than sorry later.”

Kaylee sighed. “I guess. But she was such
a nice lady! She was even from Mere’s home planet—she wouldn’t have given us
anything to hurt us.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t but we gave our
promise to Mere and Pere to be careful,” Six said firmly. “We’ll come back
soon, I promise.”

“Allll riiiight.” Kaylee gave another long
suffering sigh. Six put away the microbe light and ruffled her hair.

“C’mon. Still lots to see.” He took her
hand in his and they began to walk.

As she watched the little exchange,
another twinge of unease ran through Mei-Li. She couldn’t help thinking that if
she still had emotions, alarm bells would be going off inside her head like
crazy. Something had happened just now—something irrevocable. She didn’t know
what but she sensed it somehow. Just as she sensed that the measures Six had
taken were too little, too late. However, he and his little sister seemed
oblivious. They just kept walking through the station, talking about the
various things they saw and pointing out food they wanted to try. Or rather,
Kaylee pointed it out to Six—she seemed to never stop talking.

Which was probably why, a half-hour later,
her abrupt silence came as such a surprise. Six looked down at her.

“Kaylee, I asked if you wanted to ask Mere
and Pere to check out the
mirna
juice booth. Didn’t you hear me?”

Kaylee just looked at him and shook her
head.

“No you don’t want
mirna
juice or
no you didn’t hear me?” He took a closer look at her and an anxious look came
over his face. “Kaylee? Are you all right? You’re awfully quiet all of a
sudden.”

His little sister just shook her head
again but Mei-Li thought she was looking extremely pale. Somewhere deep inside
her, the social worker who dealt with kids began to whisper that all was not
well. Kaylee looked like a child who was about three seconds away from being
violently ill.
Not good,
whispered that little voice that seemed to
belong to another part of her life—a part she had all but forgotten.
Oh,
this is so not good…

“C’mon, Kaylee,” Six murmured. Pulling his
little sister gently by the hand, he led her into a smaller, less crowded
corridor that forked off from the main walkway. Then he leaned down and took
her by the shoulders. “Okay, now what’s going on?”

Kaylee looked up at him, her face pale.

“I don’t feel so good, Jax,” she
whispered. Then she leaned over and threw up.

“Kaylee! Oh my Goddess!” The young Six
sounded panicked and Mei-Li could see why. His little sister had just puked what
looked like half a gallon of blood all over the floor and both their boots.

“Jax…” she moaned. “I don’t feel good.
What’s wrong with me, Jax?”

“I don’t know but we’re going to find
out.” Heedless of the mess, Six scooped her up and practically ran with her,
shoving his way through the crowded corridors. Though he was big for his age,
he was still only a young teenager who hadn’t nearly gotten his full growth
yet. But though his sister must have been a heavy burden, he didn’t let go of
her until they got back to the berth where their ship was docked. There he had
to set her back on her feet because he was gasping for breath. Kaylee promptly
puked again and then collapsed. Somehow Six managed to pick her up once more.

“Oh my Goddess, Kaylee,” he said in a low,
trembling voice. “Goddess, please just hold on. Mere and Pere will be here
soon, I swear they will!”

“Hurts, Jax…” Blood was bubbling from her
mouth and nostrils and her face was gray with pain. “Hurts so bad—like I’m on
fire inside. Please…”

Oh God, that poor
little girl!
whispered the voice
in Mei-Li’s brain. It was still faint but it was somehow getting louder and
harder to ignore.
And poor Six—he’s still just a boy, he shouldn’t have to
deal with this!

Just then Mere and Pere appeared, coming
around a corner their arms laden with packages. When she saw Six holding
Kaylee, Mere dropped everything on the floor and rushed over to them. Pere
stopped to pick it all up but when he straightened to his full height and got a
better look at what was going on, his face grew pale and he hurried over.

“What is it? What happened?” he demanded.

“I don’t know—
I don’t know.”
It was
clear the younger Six was fighting to keep his composure. “She was fine. I
didn’t let her touch anything. Well, she did touch a piece of
hi-ni
bread
but I used the microbe light on her hands right afterwards! I don’t
understand.”

“I don’t either but we have to find out
fast,” Mere said. She cradled Kaylee to her chest, heedless of the blood
smearing all over her clothes. “Oh, my
baby
… Is there a medic listed on
this station?”

“No. And even if there was, there’s
nothing anybody here could do for us that would help,” Pere said grimly. “But
we’re only a solar day’s journey from the medical barges of Zeaga 4. They say
the Tollegs there can cure anything—we need to get her there.”

“A
day?
But
look
at her.”
There were tears shining in Mere’s kind gray eyes. “I don’t know if she can…can
make it…I…oh, Kaylee.” She began to weep, her tears falling on her daughter’s
bloodstained face.

“There’s no choice—we have to try. Come
on!” Pere led the way into the family spaceship and was already shooting away
from the space station almost before they had time to sit down and strap in.

Mei-Li found herself going along for the
ride, drifting like an unseen ghost that could only observe and couldn’t do
anything to help.

She frowned. Help? Why would she want to
help?

Because this is what
you do,
whispered the little voice in her brain
that was growing ever stronger.
You help people—especially kids in trouble.
And right now this whole family is in trouble!

For some reason it made her stomach ache
to know that but she didn’t know why—only that the sensations she was
experiencing were getting stronger and more and more uncomfortable until she
wished she could just stop watching this scene.

But she couldn’t stop—she was stuck here.
And so she had to watch as first Mere and then Pere got sick within an hour of
each other. Whatever the pathogen they had somehow picked up at
Ligex
Station
was, it was incredibly fast acting. Soon Pere and Mere were both leaking blood
from their eyes and ears and noses and mouths and then Pere got too dizzy to
steer the ship. He put it on some kind of autopilot course and sank low in the
captain’s chair, unable to move.

In the living area of the ship, Kaylee was
almost motionless, lying on a child sized
sousa
and making small, hurt
sounds that somehow made Mei-Li’s heart feel tight in her chest. Her mother lay
beside her on the floor, her head resting beside Kaylee’s, keeping a watchful
eye on her child though it was clear she was horribly sick as well.

The only one who didn’t get sick was Six.

Mei-Li could see him growing more and more
upset and more and more frantic as the hours ticked past. But somehow he kept
his composure and though he tended to both his parents and his sister, he
didn’t get so much as a cough or a runny nose. In fact, the only change Mei-Li
could see in him was in his left eye—it had somehow grown a scarlet ring around
the outer iris. A scarlet ring as red as his family’s life blood that was
slowly leaking away.

The scene seemed to go on and on—Mei-Li
wasn’t sure but she thought they were experiencing it in real time. Yipper’s
voice came back to her as he had spoken to Six,
You will have to relive the
memories and you will feel the emotions associated with them three times as
intensely…

Poor Six!
whispered the voice inside her head.
How can he stand
this? Going through this again and feeling it three times as strongly? How
could
anyone
stand it? Just look—his whole family is dying all around
him!

Her heart got tighter and tighter but
though she wished to look away, she couldn’t. She had to watch and see as the
awful memories unfolded, had to see Six relive them as though they were
happening for the first time.

When they were just an hour or so from the
med barge, Pere died. But before he did, he took Six’s hand in his and told him
he was the male of the ship now—the leader of the family.

“Your Mere and Kaylee are counting on you
now,” he whispered through blood-smeared lips. “You’re going to get them to the
med barge in time, son—I know you can. I’ve called ahead and the Tollegs are
waiting.”

“But, Pere…” Six said wildly. “You
can’t—”.

“Shhh—just listen.” His father coughed,
spraying bloody flecks on Six’s cheek that the boy didn’t bother to wipe away.
“You’re a good pilot…you can…can make the docking yourself. Have…have faith in
you, Jax.”

And then his eyes drifted closed and his
broad chest stopped heaving.

“Pere? Pere, no! No,
please!”
Six’s
eyes were wide and wild with shock as he shook his father’s shoulder and got no
response. “No, you can’t be gone—you
can’t
!”

Six shook him again and the heavy body
slid out of the pilot’s chair and lay on the ground in a boneless heap. Pere’s
eyes stared sightlessly up at the shadowy ceiling, their deep green depths
already glazing over.

Mei-Li felt as though there was a lump in
her throat she couldn’t swallow no matter how hard she tried as she watched Six
beg his father to wake up—to not be dead—not to leave him. It was a brutal,
bloody death and it was all happening so horribly
fast—
how could Six
possibly continue?

But continue he did. Somehow he lifted his
head and wiped the bloody specks and tears off his cheeks. He closed his
father’s eyes and went to the main living cabin to check on his mother and
sister.

What he found was even worse. His mother
was close to death too—Mei-Li could see it in her gray face and the trickles of
blood that ran from the corners of her eyes and seeped from her nose.

“Mamere?” Six whispered hoarsely, bending
over her. “Mere, please, I need you…”

Her eyes fluttered slowly open and she
reached for him, clutching blindly at his hand.

“Jax? Is…your father all…all right?”

Six nodded firmly. “He’s fine. Just…sick
is all.” His voice was a croak but his mother didn’t seem to notice.

“Sick…yes, sick.” She nodded wearily. “You
have to take care of your sister now, Jax. Pere and I aren’t going to make it.
Take care of her—get her to the medical barge. Save her…” She squeezed his hand
tightly. “You have to save her.”

Six swallowed hard, his eyes bright with
unshed tears.

“I’ll save us all—you’ll see if you’ll
just hold on. We’re almost there. Please, Mamere! Please don’t die…don’t go.”

“Can’t…help it. Love you…Jax.” Her eyes
fluttered shut. “Take care of…your sister.”

Then her breathing stopped. She too, was
gone.

For a moment the young Six buried his face
in his hands and Mei-Li saw his shoulders jerk spasmodically. A twinge of
sympathy tugged at her. A feeling of sorrow for the horror this boy who had
grown into the man she cared for was going through.

For some reason she wanted to go to him,
to take him in her arms and stroke his hair…to comfort him and soothe him…to
ease the horrible ache she could feel growing in his heart…

Mei-Li shook her head. Where had those
thoughts come from? Why would she wish to comfort Six?

Of course you want to comfort him—look at
what he’s going through?
The voice inside her
was almost a shout now.
Look, just look at him! When he woke up today his
life was normal and happy and sane. Now, nothing makes sense anymore. He just
lost both his parents in the space of ten minutes and his little sister is
next. Of course you want to help him—of course you
feel
for him!

I feel for him…I do…I am beginning to feel
again…
And it wasn’t just
her
emotions she
was feeling. Mei-Li could feel other, darker sensations slipping through the
crack that was widening inside her. Despair…desperation…horror…desolation and a
fear so great it threatened to swallow her whole.
That’s Six—this is how
he’s feeling right now, right at this minute,
she realized.
Oh God, how
horrible…