11

Selah’s heart pounded against her ribs. A rabbit screamed as the owl claimed its prey. Now that every nerve stood on edge, Selah got a burst of adrenaline, and it might carry her through this operation without her hands shaking.

She set her sights on the tree and concentrated on stepping lightly. As she approached, Bodhi raised his head. At least she wouldn’t startle him.

Selah crept up behind the tree and pressed her back into the bark. The boys were still asleep. They normally slept like the dead, and she hoped tonight was no exception. Lowering herself to the ground, she reached to unlock the shackle holding Bodhi to the tree.

He looked around the tree at her and smiled. The muscles in his shoulders flexed as his hands closed into tight fists and turned outward. The center link in the shackles stretched as he pulled, until the shackles separated and the chains fell away.

Selah gasped, furrowing her brow. Why was she trying to save him when he could do it himself? She tossed the key to the dirt.

Bodhi quietly pulled apart the loops holding his ankles and gathered the open ends in his hand. He laid the shackles gently on the ground. Selah motioned him to follow. They tiptoed away and disappeared into the trees.

She led him back to Amaryllis. Happy to see the child where she’d left her, Selah beamed. Not too bad for her first plan. She’d feared she’d get Bodhi’s part of the action completed only to find Amaryllis dead or dragged off by marauders.

He looked down at the girl and knelt. “She’s hurt.”

“A python attacked her this afternoon,” Selah said. She waited for him to chastise her like her parents would for letting Dane get injured. Apparently he didn’t care.

“Can she travel?” he asked. He stood and looked around the woods.

She bristled with annoyance. He could have at least asked about the girl’s condition. “Yes, but she can’t travel fast. We need to get away from here before the boys call in Mountain security to help find you. And another thing! If you could break the chains, why didn’t you get away before I had to spend all that time trying to get you free?” she asked, hands on her hips.

“I was letting them carry me north since I don’t know the landscape,” Bodhi said. “Why’d you want to free me anyway? You wanted me as a prisoner too. But I’m having impressions of you and they don’t seem to make sense.”

Selah raised a hand. “We’ll have time for that later. We need to move.” She had wanted to claim her rightful catch, but now, since she could never go back to prove her prowess to Father—well, her stepfather—the catching part had lost its appeal. Rather than needing this man to appease her stepfather, she needed him to find her real father.

“I’ll go away. You’ll be safe.”

“No!” Selah panicked. “No, I won’t. I need your help.”

He stared at her. “Is this a trick? I noticed you don’t have any means of confining me.”

“Trust me. Please. This is no trick. We have to be far away by the time the boys wake up. Then I’ll have time to explain this very long story.” Selah scrambled to snatch up the few items laid out around Amaryllis. She stuffed them in the backpack, handed it to Bodhi, and helped Amaryllis struggle to her feet.

The girl’s legs wobbled like those of the new colts Selah used to watch at home. She put an arm under Amaryllis to give her support.

Bodhi looked at the backpack in his hand and shoved it back at Selah.

Selah huffed as she struggled to hold the bag and the girl. “Well, I at least thought you would help since I set you free.”

Bodhi glared at her, reached down, and scooped Amaryllis up in his arms. Both girls gasped.

Bodhi tipped his head. “Where can’t they follow?”

Selah thought a minute then pursed her lips. “It’s not the direction I wanted to go, but we’ll be safe until Amaryllis heals.”

Bodhi carried the child with no effort, even for the fast pace Selah wanted to travel. She seemed rather agile, and he liked watching her movements. But he didn’t like her leading him back to the south. Why should he trust her? He decided to play along since she didn’t seem strong enough to present a threat. Although it could probably get him in more trouble. Her seeming innocence had gotten him in this trouble in the first place.

He’d heard Selah telling her brothers he was her catch. He bristled. He was an Elite and an immortal, but he wasn’t anyone’s catch.

He’d shaken off the lethargy of the voyage but still operated at a loss. Normally, when he threw open thoughts, it brought a flurry of responses or walls where thoughts were blocked. But there were zero responses, and the two times he’d felt any mental kickback had been first from Selah’s father and second from Selah herself. But neither of them were Landers. Very strange place indeed. He tired of trying to make contact with others.

Bodhi figured the more interaction with these Mundanes, the more information he’d glean on what kind of world non-immortals could throw and receive thoughts in. It might be advantageous to stay with this girl for a while.

He looked to the sky. “Why are we going south? I need to go north.”

Selah walked along the edge of the woods. “Amaryllis is hurt. She needs time to heal before I can force her into a long trek. Your needs are not important right now, and neither are mine.”

He glanced down at the child in his arms. She was seriously injured—he could feel her broken aura seeping into his arms. He wondered if a banflux would work here. He stopped.

Selah was walking a few yards away but turned and hurried back. “What are you doing? We need to keep moving. My brothers could come anytime.”

“Your brothers were interested in bio-coin for the animals in crates. They will continue north.”

“Animals? What animals? Their main business was turning you in for the bounty.”

“Rabbits. Vicious ones at that.” Bodhi had never seen animals so deadly. Some of the rabbits had fangs an inch long.

Selah squinted in the sunlight. “You’re lying. Neither of them would have anything to do with rabbits. They won’t even come near them when I’m cooking them.”

“No reason to lie,” Bodhi said. He hadn’t heard any other details and he didn’t care if she believed him or not. This relationship would be short-lived. He’d probably run across a half dozen others like her on his quest to find answers.

“Let’s move, mister,” Selah said. “We still have a ways to go, and we’re burning daylight.”

Her way of talking amused him. She sounded bossy, but he could feel her frightened thoughts. He’d never noticed centorums to be such a contradiction. But then he’d never had the ability to read their thoughts either.

“I need to concentrate,” he said. He pressed his arms tightly to his sides.

Selah stared at him, hands on hips. “I said we—”

Bodhi’s arms began to shimmer like a heat illusion. He watched as the shimmer slid down his arms and engulfed the child sleeping in his arms. Yes, this could work.

“What are you doing to her?” Selah charged him. As she touched the shimmer, it threw her back. She stumbled but regained her footing and stared, wide-eyed. “Bodhi, answer me. Please don’t hurt her. She’s only a child.”

No answer. Her hand went to her mouth and she started sobbing. “Bodhi, let her go!” she screamed.

Broken bones. Bruised organs. A small internal laceration from constriction. None life-threatening. Bodhi expended the energy to knit the healings. The glow faded. He pulled in a long breath of air.

“She’ll heal faster now,” he said. He wasn’t turning into one of those do-gooders like at home. He just did this to advance his own cause. He figured the sooner he could get them moving in the direction he wanted to go, the better off he’d be.

Selah pulled back and waved her hand in a circle. “What was that? We need to talk about . . . whatever that was . . .”

“She needs time to absorb sullage.” Bodhi looked at the child. Her breathing had leveled from short, halting pulls of air. She slept quietly in his arms.

“I’ve never heard of you people doing all this strange stuff.” Selah paced, running her hand over the top of her head.

“Stop calling us ‘you people.’ It sounds rude. Besides, it was just low-level healing. Among us there are different sets of abilities.”

Selah rolled her eyes. “Oh, is that all. What other abilities—” Her head perked up. “I hear a wagon coming.”

Bodhi glanced at her sharply. “I heard it, but how did you?”

“That’s another one of those conversations for later.” She led them down the slope and onto the road.

“Why are we on the road? Could it be your brothers?” Bodhi asked. He looked up the road to the north. The wagon would be here in a minute.

Selah stopped. “You said my brothers were continuing north. Have you changed your mind about that bit of information?”

Bodhi lowered his head. “I’m not used to people questioning me. I thought we were traveling near the forest edge to use it for cover. Now you hear a wagon and you’re on the road. I’m trying to understand.”

“The wagon sounds heavy and the horses’ gait is too long to be my brothers’. And it’s going in our direction. We could use the ride. I’m tired of walking.”

Bodhi watched her. After a couple hours of walking with her, he’d grown accustomed to her voice. The tone was pleasant, even when she was angry. And her posturing, all fire and ice, made her desirable. But he needed to back off those feelings. This could be a test. Did he want to toe the mark to get home, or act on his feelings?

He and Selah turned toward the sound. A pair of draft horses trotted around the bend, pulling a wagon with two large wine casks strapped in the back.

Cleon flopped onto his back, yawned, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as the sun pushed over the horizon. He rolled to face the tree.

Bolting upright, he searched to his left and right. He just knew somehow this was going to be his fault. “Raza! Where’s the Lander?”

Raza mumbled something indistinguishable and pulled his covering over his head.

“Get up!” Cleon gave Raza a kick in the leg and scrambled to his feet.

Raza jerked awake, flailing to escape his blanket. He scrambled to the tree and searched the underbrush. Curses filled the air.

“I told you to check him one last time before we went to sleep. This is your fault.” Raza glared at Cleon.

Cleon yawned again, stretching his limbs to wake up. Good. He felt sorry for the guy. He had been heroic in saving their sister, and they’d rewarded him by capturing him. “I did check him again when you fell asleep. He couldn’t have gotten away. Did he just pull himself and the chain around behind the tree?”

Raza held up the two ends of the shackles. “Does this look like there’s anyone on the other end?”

“No, I guess not. What happened?”

“I don’t—” Raza spewed out another curse and bent to the ground. His face turned crimson. He lifted his head and screamed, “Selah, I’m going to kill you!”

Cleon’s eyes widened. He stared at his brother. “Why are you blaming Selah?”

“Because of this.” Raza held up a key to the shackles. “This key should be in the barn at home.” He pulled the other key from his pocket. “Here’s our key.”

Cleon shuffled to Raza and lifted the shackles. “They weren’t unlocked. The link is broken.” He glanced at the ankle pair lying on the ground and pointed. “So are those.”

Raza bared his teeth. “I don’t care what deception they’ve made up. This is still the other key from the barn. Selah was here!”

Cleon grimaced. “Maybe she’s madder than we thought about us taking her catch. I told you we should’ve let her come along.”

“She’s a girl, not a hunter, and I don’t care if she did turn eighteen two days ago.”

Cleon slapped his forehead. “I forgot to say anything to her. She’s going to be awful mad by the time we get home.”

“She didn’t go home.” Raza paced. Cleon could tell his teeth were grinding because his ears were twitching.

Cleon stood and stretched once again. “So you really think she stole the Lander to claim him as a prisoner herself?”

Raza ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what she did. But that would be her smart choice.”

“Am I missing something? What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” Raza dropped the shackles back to the ground and kicked them.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m sick of everything about Selah. At least I’ll get the bio-coin.”

“Did something hit you on the head while you were asleep? What does bio-coin have to do with Selah?”

“I know Father let me take this assignment for extra bio-coin to keep me quiet.” Raza motioned to the crates in the wagon. “He knew he was wrong. I’m the oldest. I’m his first son. It should be about me, not about her.”

“What about her?” Cleon swiped up the blankets and loaded his belongings into the wagon.

“It’s always about Selah. That’s why we were following her the days before her Birth Remembrance. Father wanted to know everything she did.”

Cleon averted his eyes. “Do you know why?”

Raza dragged the shackles to the wagon.

“Raza? You didn’t answer me.” Cleon wondered why Raza didn’t know. Strange. After all, he was the firstborn.

“No more talking. Get the stuff in the wagon so we can leave. I want to beat her to the Mountain. She doesn’t have a wagon, so we should be able to catch up. I want the Lander back.”

“What if she doesn’t go to the Mountain?”

“Well, we’re still going to the Mountain. I need to deliver those rabbits.”

“I saw empty crates the last three times you came back from the Mountain with Father. What are you up to? We don’t eat—”

“It’s none of your business. Father let me make the deal and I’m getting good money, so I’m not giving it up.”

Cleon raised both hands. “I wasn’t asking you to give anything up. You’re so secretive about stuff. I just thought—”

“You just thought you’d horn in on my bio-coin. Well, that’s not going to happen. Find your own income.”

Raza threw the shackles into the back of the wagon. They skittered across the plank floor and came to rest against the tarp-covered crates. A low growl filtered out from the covering.

Cleon opened the bin of vegetable matter. “Here, you feed those things. I’m not going near them. Helping carry them was close enough.”

Raza curled his lip at his brother and snatched a couple handfuls of field lettuce and wild carrots. “You act like a child. They’re just feral rabbits, not wolves.”

He flipped back the tarp. The black, white, brown, and rust-red rabbits pressed themselves to the back of the cages. Raza opened each of the staggered crate tops and dropped in a clump of food.

Rabbits charged forward, baring razor-sharp teeth. The growling intensified as they tore into the vegetables.

Cleon watched with disgust. “Why would anyone pay for these diseased mutations?”