Page 20

“Is it an animal?” Sike asked as he tilted his head to the side. “I’m guessing an animal.”

At sundown, we gathered around our makeshift camp for a second night out in the Leftovers. Sike was playing a drawing guessing game with Cam in the dirt while I rolled out the tarps for the tents. I spotted the outline Cam had drawn in the soil and recognized the shape immediately, stifling a snort.

“Time’s up,” Cam told him with a grin. “It was Uncle Nick’s beard.” It took me a moment to remember that Bryce’s first name was Nicholas, but when I did, I couldn’t hide my laugh again.

“Almost an animal, at this point,” Arlonne pointed out. Poor Bryce was on the other side of our fire circle with Chandry next to him, just to make sure he was okay. I shook my head at the game and gestured for Cam to help me with the tents for the night. He stood immediately, all business. The clouds above us looked angry, and I doubted rainfall in the Leftovers was going to be as kind as mortal rain. With our luck it might contain an acid or contact poison. Dorian and Cam had shared their experiences with the trees earlier, and their words were fresh in the back of my mind as we carefully pinned up the tarps in their tent positions. A sentient forest that created traps made my stomach twist with worry.

For the moment, we didn’t plan on leaving the vicinity of the gate. It was too dangerous. Sike’s scanners had a map of it now, but we had the civilians to worry about. We couldn’t take them to the Immortal Plane.

We were low on food, although Dorian thankfully had thought to grab the rations he’d found at the abandoned city, and we needed to figure out how to get more. I didn’t want to abandon the mission just to take the civilians back. We’d nearly killed ourselves getting out here successfully, and we had no plane to fly us out.

I mentally counted the rations we had. If we ate wisely, we had enough emergency food to stretch for a few more days. During that time, I wanted to continue our search of the area. There was no point in staying put if the trees just wanted to kill us. A surge of frustration tore through me. The airplane crash had happened so fast. One day, we were setting out on our first mission for the company, and the next—boom. I’d failed everyone in that moment. I should’ve kept a closer eye on Cam. We should’ve confronted the monster outside our plane. A million “should’ves” waged war in my mind.

Cam glanced at me, likely noticing how tightly I was glaring at the makeshift tent pole.

“I’m sorry about before,” he muttered. Nobody else was paying attention to us. My anger abated in the face of his apologetic look. His new friend, Finn, peeked his head out over Cam’s shoulder, as if to help guilt me. The rodent was sort of cute, in a weird Leftovers kind of way. “It won’t happen again.”

I exhaled slowly. “What’s done is done. I expect you to follow orders next time, but… I understand why you did it. I have a soft spot for wounded creatures, too.” Finn reached out a tentative paw and batted my shoulder. I smirked. “Just don’t feed him all your rations, okay? And I can’t stop the lecture from Bryce.” Actually, Cam might not get a lecture, if Bryce woke up and remembered why he passed out…

The activity with Cam distracted me for a few moments. We hadn”t found my parents or the survivor from the office, which compounded all my worries. I needed to talk to Dorian about the voices from the Immortal Plane, as well.

”If you can do a supply inventory next, that would be great,” I told Cam. He nodded and hopped to it. While I had a rough idea of what we had in terms of technology and equipment, I knew that we’d lost a lot of our tools when the plane went down. The plane”s presence was intended to help us transport survivors, but that wasn”t happening anymore. At least in my bag, I had an emergency beacon to summon backup… but it was backup that wasn”t on Callanish”s payroll. Our budget had been immediately slashed in half with the loss of the plane, at least until our insurance paid out. Now, I understood a bit better why the government had given us so much. Good thing Bryce had insisted we buy extensive insurance. Things happen that you don”t plan for.

I headed over to the fire to check the wood situation. Earlier, I had managed to grab a few more dry branches and break them up for kindling. I fed one to the flames, watching as the fire ate it up eagerly. Sike had left his scanner for me and suggested I check out the map. I picked it up halfheartedly, feeling doubly frustrated because Dorian was here, and I couldn”t even throw my arms around him for a proper hug. Lance, under his new cover story, was safe and sound, but Jennifer and her weird boyfriend were watching us like hawks.

I highly doubt they survived for three months out here. It seemed more like they had accidentally stumbled into the Leftovers after picking a bad spot to vacation.But I had no proof, and if their story turned out to be legitimate, they could sue the government and my company for damages. If they were trespassing, though, they would be in trouble with the Bureau. Jennifer seemed like the type to enjoy involving herself in legal disputes. The way she bossed around her partner also made me uncomfortable. I’d never treated Dorian that way, and I could do nothing but ignore him now.

There were downsides to being married to a vampire. Who would have thought?

Quit your complaining and let”s focus. I looked at the map of the surrounding area, noting a blank section where we hadn”t explored. Dorian and Cam had come from that direction, so now we knew that there was an immortal city over there. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jennifer playing around with their high-tech camera. It was odd to continue filming so religiously when we were all in danger, but it looked like she was finally storing it away. Dorian and the other vampires had conveniently excused themselves to gather more firewood and check the perimeter for any monsters.

Jennifer eventually grew tired and curled up next to Johnny. It wasn”t long before I heard their snoring fill the air. I stared up at the dark sky with a scowl, wanting to blame all my problems on the world around me. If only we didn”t have these two annoying—no, I needed to be gentle. Maybe they were scared, and that was why they were reacting this way. Well, Jennifer”s bizarre fascination with me was a bit unsettling.

The fire was thankfully working to keep the trees away. The dense treetops rustled as the birds nested in them for the night. They were no doubt picking at the corpse of the creature from earlier, which the vampires had dragged into the forest. Heat was the only weapon we had against the trees, thanks to Dorian and Cam’s observations. Arlonne had also mentioned that the trees were less active around this area, perhaps because it was close to the gate.

The flames snapped in front of me. A smoke plume rose. For a minute, if I just focused on the fire, I almost slipped into a sense of normalcy.

Bryce shifted in his sleep, and I made my way over to him. He was laying his head on a rolled-up bedroll. It was mine, which I’d chosen to sacrifice so he could have something gentle to rest on. We’d lost so many of our supplies in the crash. I was worried about him. I was so used to seeing Bryce in command. Every time he got injured, it was like watching a father figure go down. At least he looked peaceful in his rest.

I reached up to touch my necklace. Could Reshi actually manufacture a set of these for him and Arlonne? It stood to solve a lot of problems. Looking back, I remembered those terrifying moments with Dorian in the beginning stages of the curse. It was a highly unpleasant sensation, especially for soldiers. As a trained Bureau soldier, I was used to being in complete control… and the curse had taken that away. I knew exactly how Bryce felt.

A cough shook me from my thoughts. Bryce pulled himself up with bleary eyes and coughed again. I pressed a hand on his back as he cleared his throat. His canteen was beside him. I handed it over after undoing the lid, and he drank deeply from it.

”Everything is okay for the moment,” I told him softly. ”We found the others. You just, uh, had a bad spell.”

As soon as I spoke those words, Bryce averted his eyes in embarrassment. He scratched the back of his neck and looked around. ”Is Cam here?”

”He”s fine. Dorian and Sike are here, too. We have some newcomers… but I”ll explain,” I promised. Bryce, upon seeing that nobody else was conscious, buried his face in his hands.

”I almost let him die,” he muttered mournfully. ”He was so close to dying. If Dorian hadn”t saved him, he would be—”

”Dorian did save him,” I said firmly. ”Cam knows he didn”t follow orders. He’s already apologized.” Bryce”s feeling of guilt for letting Cam be exposed to such danger was one I could empathize with, but I couldn”t let him beat himself up like this just after waking. The imaginary failure was too horrible to contemplate, and there was nothing we could do to change the past.

”It”s okay. He knew he was signing up for danger when he came here.” I took my hand off Bryce”s back, hoping my words comforted him a little.

”Aye, you”re right,” Bryce muttered and dragged a hand down his face in a weary fashion. The curse always left a bit of a strange sensation after. ”I hate that the mission—our first mission—has gone this way. Not your fault, of course.”

A silence lapsed between us. It was difficult to figure out my new relationship with Bryce as co-leaders, but I grew brave in our quiet.

”When did it start?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

Bryce sighed heavily. ”I”ve been feeling heartburn lightly for months now. I thought it was actual heartburn at first, given my age, but then the third or fourth time, I realized it was always around Arlonne. She could sense my physical reaction to it.” I kept a close watch on Jennifer to make sure she was actually sleeping. Over the roaring fire, there was no way she could hear if we whispered like this. ”We came to a silent arrangement of sorts and naturally tried to keep our distance from one another. I guess we couldn’t help ourselves when we saw each other, though. She carried on like we had everything under control, which gave me some confidence. I think she”s just amazing. I”m sure nobody is surprised by that.”

The warm glow on his face made my heart tug in pain for him. ”I remember that happening to me,” I said softly, and I didn’t just mean the curse.

Bryce met my gaze. ”Lyra, I never knew what it felt like until I experienced it myself. When it was happening to you, I”ll be honest, I thought it was too crazy to believe. I couldn’t imagine the full extent of it, or that it might happen to me. I know that”s foolish, but the old man inside me wanted to dream.” His voice wavered for a moment. ”It”s bringing a new perspective on things for me.”

I smiled at him. ”I can try to give you the best advice I have, but Dorian and I have already discussed contacting Reshi to see if she could reverse engineer our necklaces.” I held back from adding that he’d once asked such a question from Reshi herself, but likely hadn’t had a chance to pursue it yet, with Callanish starting up.

Bryce gave a tired nod and took one more sip of water. ”We”ll get there when we have the time. I”m going to try to sleep a bit more.” His eyelids sagged. I left a ration next to him, just in case, and he drifted off. As I went over to the wood pile, my neck pricked with the sensation of being watched.

Dorian”s hand grabbed mine.

”I can see that our new responsibilities are finally asleep,” Dorian whispered. He was alone. ”Care to chat with Lance for a moment in the forest?”

I smirked as we snuck away from the camp. ”My husband might have a problem with that, Lance.”

He said nothing as he pulled me hard against him. Our lips met, and fireworks exploded in my mind. It was glorious. I ran my hands through his hair, desperate for his touch. It was so unfair to be deprived of this because of our guests. We kissed passionately, with no prying civilian eyes to watch us.

I broke away for a breath. ”I missed you. I was so worried.”

He cupped my face and smiled at me. ”I could never be apart from you for long; you know that.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead. ”How was Bryce?”

”Good, tired, a little embarrassed,” I said, not wanting to talk too much about what Bryce had confided in me. It was his story to tell, after all. I stared up into Dorian”s glacial eyes, visible even in the darkness. He was like a cat.

We had things we needed to talk about. The people he’d brought along were going to be an issue. I feared it would be out of our hands. If the Bureau found out that we had civilians and didn’t try to call in for a rescue, it could pose a problem for our company.

”I think we may have to call in backup tomorrow,” I said.

”Do you think it”s necessary?” Dorian asked gently.“I know you must be… disappointed by how things turned out.”

”Honestly, I wish it wasn”t,” I said, frustrated by our prospects.

He opened his mouth to reply, but it was cut off by the sound of a bloodcurdling, girlish scream. We looked at one another and immediately raced back to the campsite.

Jennifer was twirling around in circles, tears streaming down her face. ”The voices,” she babbled wildly. ”The voices. Oh, God, it said something was coming for us. It”s on its way.” Johnny was desperately trying to calm her down, but she gave a frightful wail into her hands.

Icy fear ran through me.What was coming for us?

Sike snatched up the scanner from where I’d left it. He sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes landed on the device. Oh no. The screen lit up with a glowing green light.

”What is it?” I asked, fearing that I already knew the answer.

”The monster is back,” Sike said grimly. ”It”s heading straight for us.”

Jennifer let out another sob. In the distance, a faint, familiar wail replied.