Chapter Twenty-Seven

 

Pandora stared at the crushed brass clicker in her hand. Whatever she did next would end the pretense that she'd been operating under. When word of the Blue Daggers demise reached her mother, there'd be no doubt that she'd been involved. Coincidences were one thing, but she'd just been seen in the Terreno. Once the loss of the Eclipse had been confirmed, Pandora would no longer be welcome.

The internal debate was interrupted as Pandora heard the whisper of steel leaving a sheath. Animosity radiated from Camina.

"What's that?"

"A leash," said Pandora, tossing it to the Razor member.

Camina caught the brass clicker, gave it a once-over. "Doesn't look like a leash."

"Neither does family, but that's what it is sometimes."

"Hey, chatterboxes, shut up before you give us away," whispered Kuma.

When Camina looked to her clanmate, Pandora stepped up close and grabbed the woman's knife arm.

"If you're going to do it, do it now before the Blue Daggers get here. That way your friends can escape. But if you're not gonna do it, then let's focus on our mutual fucking enemies."

The crinkles at the corner of Camina's eyes smoothed away. She checked back to Kuma only to receive a shrug.

"Fine," said Camina, pulling her arm away. "Let's do this. But I swear—"

"Just don't," said Pandora and joined Kuma at his side, placing her back to Camina. "What's the plan?"

"Still good with your sapphire?" he asked, a grin teasing his lips.

"Almost got you."

"We don't know what stones they got, but I figure with surprise and your sapphire, we should be able to create a fair amount of confusion. Once they know we're there, we'll need you to keep them off our backs while we take them down one at a time."

"And if they have a sapphire of their own?"

"Kill them first."

"Any stones beyond amber?" she asked the other two.

Twin headshakes left Pandora disappointed. Camina produced a pair of throwing blades from an inner pocket and twirled them on her palms.

"Stones only get you so far."

They fell to silence when Kuma gave the sign. The wait before the fight was the worst part. It was the time when her mind tried to remind her that she might not walk away from the scrap. The odds were against them, and it was well known that the alliance clans had been discovering new and unusual stones like the black diamond. A wrinkle in the fight could be disastrous.

The sound of laughter preceded the glow of headlamps weaving across the rocks. Pandora smiled at their overconfidence. Between their numbers and location deep into alliance territory, they thought themselves untouchable.

Pandora peeked around the corner, looking for the best target for her sapphire. None of them seemed particularly unusual, except for the tall waku in front who was busy telling them a story about his latest sexual conquest. Three of the Blue Daggers held automatic weapons, which suggested—but did not guarantee—that they were soldados.

Kuma held up three fingers and pulled them down, signaling the countdown to the scrap. When his hand was a fist, he surged into the lead.

With a healthy Push, Pandora launched herself thirty feet through the air, using small Pulls to aid her leap. The first few seconds of the fight would be the riskiest part. She was arcing downward when she heard a cry of alarm. Pandora wasted no time, hitting them with a heavy Push that due to her still airborne self, resulted in a hard tumble into the rocks.

Gunfire echoed. Lights flashed with muzzle fire. Pandora flipped back onto her feet, aided by opal. A Blue Dagger brought the barrel of his weapon towards her, only to fall to his knees, a thrown blade in his throat.

She Pushed a soldado, knocking him backwards before he could bring his automatic around. Keeping her blades at the ready in case someone rushed her, she flung Pushes and Pulls to keep them off-balance as her companions engaged.

The glare of a headlamp blinded her as a Blue Dagger rushed her position. She managed to block his blades, then kicked out, hitting him in the midsection. The follow-up was lost amid the sounds of chittering wings. Before she knew it, thousands of tiny insects surrounded her. Cave crickets. A frantic Push did nothing to clear the clinging insects from her face and arms. Normally they quickly fled discovery, but the nest had attached themselves to her as if they though she was a carcass to be devoured. Tiny, sharp legs brought back the horrors of training. She couldn't breathe without feeling wings and jagged feet entering her mouth. Somewhere in the depths of her mind, she realized she was screaming as thousands of cave crickets turned her into a living cocoon.

Pandora Pushed.

Fear fueled the act. She heard the crunch of bones and cries of pain. Pandora scraped the clinging insects from her flesh, smashing and crushing them in her desire to remove their feet from her skin. Deep in her mind, she knew she probably shouldn’t be alive. The insects had blocked her eyesight, making her vulnerable to enemy blades.

The remaining insects, as if they'd collectively decided to stop tormenting her, flew away. Tiny wings sounded like a thousand sharp whispers receding, until she could see the remaining carnage.

Pandora witnessed Camina leaning down and cutting the throat of a Blue Dagger who'd been grievously injured. A mercy given the heaving of his breath and the fear in his eyes.

She didn't see Kuma. Only bodies strewn about the rocks. Pandora spun around, looking for him, emotion rising up in her chest like floodwater until she was choking on it. Then she spotted him climbing over a pile of rocks, wiping his bloody blades on a piece of cloth. He gave her a little wave.

"I think my arm's broken," said Tick, who was sitting next to two dead Blue Daggers, his arm hanging limply at his side.

Camina approached him. "Not broken. Dislocated. Let me fix that."

She yanked his arm back into the socket. Tick screamed momentarily then clamped his lips shut.

"What the fuck happened with those insects?" she asked them.

"Beats me," said Kuma.

"It was one of their waku," said Tick as he searched the bodies of the fallen. "I saw him lift his arms and then the insects rose from the rocks like a locust swarm. I didn't think anything about it until they covered you like a blanket."

Pandora shivered.

"But how?"

He grinned as he lifted the uniform of the dead Blue Dagger lying sprawled across the rocks with gashes in his chest. Tick ripped the stone from his left nipple, removed the dangling flesh, and held it up.

"I think this is it." He peered at it closely. "Whoa. I haven't seen this one before. I think it's new. It's what controlled the insects."

"I bet that's what happened when they took Botan," said Kuma. "First a tunnel rat, and then a group of tumblers attacked us. Didn't make any sense until now."

Tick held up the stone. "If we can show your father this stone, maybe he'll believe you that it wasn't Drops behind it."

Camina glared at Tick.

"It won't work unless we can show him, and it could take weeks to find someone to attune to it. The war will already be started by then," said Kuma.

"Not if you use Eclipse. Won't take a lot. Half a draught," said Pandora. "You could be attuned in minutes."

Tick's eyes lit up like a firework display. "Kuma? Can I?"

"Yeah, but let's collect the other stones and weapons, move to a different tunnel in case someone comes this way."

It took a few minutes to gather the stones—mostly ambers, one opal, and the new yet unnamed stone. They retreated a few hundred meters to a safer location. Pandora brought the cannister of Eclipse, which brought a lot of scrutiny from Camina, but the Razor member didn't say a word.

The electric blue liquid had a faint glow in the dim light of the nearby fungi. She removed the stopper and handed it over to Tick. He threw it back, drinking half the vial, giving a little whoop of joy when he was finished.

"There's one other thing I can do to help make sure you attune," said Pandora. "Are you okay with that?"

"Sure, anything to make this happen."

"Then I'm very sorry about this."

Pandora grabbed his recently injured arm and punched him right in the shoulder, dislocating it again. His scream was followed by a cold blade against her throat.

Camina whispered in her ear. "Dare so much as a gentle Push and I'll cut your throat."

"Camina, stop!"

Kuma held his hands out. No one moved except Tick, who lay on the ground moaning.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill her. Look what she did to Tick. We can take all the Eclipse for ourselves."

"We need her."

"Why?" asked Camina.

"So she can convince the Drops that it wasn't us. She didn't have to tell us about the Eclipse."

"Why are you defending her, Little Bear?"

He glanced her direction. If there had been any doubt in Pandora's mind that he had feelings for her, it was silenced by the ache in his brown eyes.

The tension grew until Tick started laughing. The laughter was intermixed with cries of pain as he climbed to his feet, wiping his eyes with his good hand, shoulder hanging limply at his side.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" asked Camina.

He rocked on his heels with his dislocated shoulder held close. "Oh, it hurts, but it feels so good."

"Kuma, will you check on him? I think that new stone is driving him mad."

"No, I'm fine," said Tick, grimacing. "Except for the shoulder. Could you put it back for me?"

Kuma yanked it back into the socket, producing a yelp.

"Much better," said Tick, rotating his shoulder tentatively.

"Are you going to explain the crazy?" demanded Camina.

He cocked a grin in their direction as he held his arms out as if he were the ringmaster in a big tent circus. Pandora didn't understand until she heard the skittering of feet and a half dozen eyes reflected out of the darkness.

"You're attuned."

"See, Camina? She was only helping."

Camina growled under her breath. "Fine. But can you make those creepy fuckers go away? I hate rats."

The tunnel rats, a few of them as big as a small dog, faded into the darkness.

"Thanks, Pan," said Kuma.

She caught the way Camina wrinkled her nose at the shortened version of her name.

"Only trying to help." She glanced over her shoulder. "But now that we've taken care of the Blue Daggers, I should head to the Pajot. The sooner we can stop this nonsense between our clans, the better."

"Agreed.

Pandora reached into the open cannister, taking out a handful of the vials and tucking them into her inner pocket. The hardened glass would protect them as long as she didn't fall on a rock.

"I only took a third. Don’t really have room for any more. You can have the rest."

Camina stared at her suspiciously. Pandora gave a little wave and moved towards a tunnel.

"I should get moving. It was good working with you."

"Wait!" said Kuma, hurrying after. "I need to talk to you."

He checked over his shoulder. Camina gave him a shrug. Pandora followed him into the next cavern.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?"

"For almost killing you."

She chuckled. "I almost did the same to you and I wouldn't have offered yield."

He nodded. "I know. You didn't have that choice. Which was why it was good that I won."

"A dirty trick, leaping through that wall." She put her hand on his chest. "What is it that you wanted to say?"

She cocked a smile, tilting her head.

"Just that. I'm sorry. After this is over, after we show our clans that we're being manipulated into a war, I thought...maybe we could see each other again?"

Pandora nodded towards the cavern. "You know they're listening."

"I think they've figured it out already." He bit his lower lip. "I think about that night in the Onyx all the time."

"Me too."

"Pan..."

"I have to go. We both do. Otherwise there won't be any reason to make promises to each other."

He started to speak again, but she Pulled him to her, smashing her lips against his. The kiss went right through her, filling her with warmth and desire. When they finally pulled apart, she winked.

"See ya around."