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WHEN SILUK RETURNED, SHE TOLD HIM where to deliver the storage container and hover cart to return to the women. He complied without argument. When he returned a second time, he had a new hover cart with him.
“Where did you get that?” she asked.
He didn’t answer. He just scooped her off the ground and set her onto the cart. He pushed it down the road as he ran alongside it. She tried to talk to him, but he couldn’t hear while they were moving so fast. Or he was purposefully ignoring her. She was pretty sure it was the latter.
Without nothing else to do, she thought about Naki and Basara. If they could make those guns work, then Abe and Keiko could blow up the glass dome. They could stop Santini. This would work. It had to.
While she thought, her ring buzzed, and she quickly answered an anonymous phone call. Her heart burst with excitement when she answered. Abe’s face appeared, and he looked as relieved to see her as she did to see him.
“I forgot to tell you yesterday,” he said. “You won’t be able to call me even once we make it into the city because I had to take off my ring.”
“What?” Imara said, her mouth gaping open. “You did what?”
Abe held up his hands to show that both his hands were empty of rings.
Her eyes widened as she let out a gasp. Nobody took off their rings. Nobody. Not ever.
No wonder his power signal had disappeared. “But,” she said, “what about everything you have saved to your ring? What about your personal records? Your DNA? Don’t you have financial records and pictures that aren’t saved to the cloud? All of that gets deleted if you take off your ring.”
“Yep,” Abe said nonchalantly. She couldn’t believe she was actually hearing these words.
“I sent the most important financial records to my dad. And he also has my DNA and identity records. I lost some pictures and a few other things, but at least I’m not dead.” He laughed. “Actually, Keiko thinks the hardest part of all this will be convincing the Egyptian Council that we’re not actually dead. My dad’s DNA records should help.”
Imara shook her head in disbelief. Then she took in a sharp breath as she ducked to avoid a small branch from a bush they passed. When she looked back at Abe, he had one eyebrow raised.
“Where are you?” he asked.
Before she could answer, a more pressing question came to her mind. “Do you know how to heal electrocution? If my legs can’t move, does that mean it’s permanent?”
The color seemed to drain from his face as his eyes narrowed into tiny slits.
She shrugged. No need to give him something else to stress about. “A bullet grazed my temperature-controlled underclothes, and they shorted out.”
“And you can’t walk?” Abe asked. His voice was steady with a reassuring tone, but the glints of periwinkle worry coming off his skin told her a different story.
She tried to smile. “I’m guessing that’s bad, since you have about a thousand glints of worry coming off you right now.”
He gulped and didn’t bother answering. “Can you wiggle your toes?”
She nodded and an olive-green sheet of relief billowed off him. “Okay,” he said. “I don’t have any experience with electrocution. Start by treating any burns and get lots of rest. I’ll do some research and be ready to fix you up when we get there tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” she said.
“Why was someone shooting at you?” Again, his voice sounded calm and collected, but those glints of worry multiplied around him. At least he wasn’t scolding her like he had in Egypt. He knew if they wanted to beat Santini, they had to fight. He wasn’t asking her not to fight, he was just desperately hoping she wouldn’t get hurt too much in the process.
She explained about Naki’s guns and their plan to get the council members out of the glass dome. When she finished, he explained he was calling on a black-market ring and how it was going to help them get past the forcefield.
“Keiko thinks the forcefield might be related to the tags. I’ll let her explain,” Abe said. Imara nodded all through the explanation. At the end, Abe said, “Please take it easy until I get there tomorrow. Your body needs to rest. We have to go now,” he added with a frown.
Imara nodded and tried not to think about how much her heart hurt about having to say goodbye. She tried and failed to smile.
He looked at her in the eyes and her heart leapt in her chest. He said, “I know you’re doing what you have to do. I know you want to keep people from dying and I promise I’m supportive of that. But please, promise me you’ll try to be safe. Please.”
“I promise,” she said. “And I can’t wait to see to see you.”
Keiko leaned into the screen. “We love you Imara, but we have to go now.”
Before Imara could say anything, Keiko was gone. Imara tapped off her ring immediately, afraid that keeping it on would somehow aid Santini in tracking the black-market ring they had used to make the call.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the apartment. Once there, Siluk carried her inside and set her on the couch. A sudden déjà vu hit her from after Siluk found her at Takara’s mansion. It hadn’t meant anything to her at the time, but now she wondered if Siluk brought her to the safehouse without waiting for the others just so he could be alone with her.
“What did Abe say?” Siluk asked as soon as she had adjusted herself on the couch.
“They had to take off their rings.”
“No,” Siluk said letting out a laugh.
“That was the only way for them to get past the forcefield.”
Siluk’s face remained blank for several seconds. But then, a smoky, turquoise blue swirl of hope twirled off his skin. “Did Darius take off his too?”
She thought back and finally shrugged. “I don’t know. Abe and Keiko did for sure. They have a black-market ring with no identity programmed into it. That’s how they’ve been able to call us through the forcefield.”
Siluk nodded, his mind seemed to be working at twice its normal speed. He took this information much differently than she expected. He almost seemed excited by it.
“Abe said I should treat any burns from the electrocution, and then try to get some rest.”
Siluk nodded and left the room without a word. He seemed extremely determined about something, which made her even more worried.
He returned with a tub of burn ointment and some scissors. A milky scent surrounded him with a familiar musky undertone. It reminded her of Abe, but without the spicy cinnamon that was so uniquely him. Even without the cinnamon, she found herself sniffing the air more than she should have.
After Siluk cut off her shirt sleeve, he slathered the ointment over her whole arm. She had a feeling there were more burns under the rest of her shirt, but she wasn’t about to tell Siluk about them. She’d have Naki apply ointment to them once she got back from Basara’s apartment.
Without warning, Siluk took Imara’s hand and looked into her eyes. The scent overtook her, giving her the strong desire to lean into Siluk so she could breathe in the delicious smell. If it hadn’t smelled so much like Abe, she probably would have.
Instead, she tugged her hand away. That didn’t stop Siluk from staring her down. For several seconds, he just stared, and it made her stomach squirm.
Finally, he said, “We need to run away.”
She blinked at him. It didn’t make any sense. Run? Away? The concepts were so foreign, it took her a moment to internalize them. Even when they settled, she still didn’t understand. Did he mean run away with the council members? That wasn’t a bad idea.
They had to get the council members out to blow up the glass dome. But maybe they should help them hide in another city until the vote had been canceled or at least postponed.
She began to nod and Siluk beamed.
“Yes,” she said. “After we get the council members out, we’ll run away with them and hide until everything with the vote gets figured out. We can make a refuge and—”
“No,” Siluk said. No trace of the beaming remained on his face now. “That’s not what I meant.”
She stared at him. What did he mean then?
He took her hand again and didn’t let go when she tried to pull away. “Just you and me. We need to leave Nairobi. I thought about letting Naki come with us, but she’s too invested in the vote now. I think Basara will look after her anyway. That dude is more obsessed with her than anyone I’ve ever seen.”
He kept talking like his words made any sense, but they didn’t. The longer he talked, the more frustrated Imara got. She sat up in the couch and yanked her hand out of his grip. “What are you talking about? We can’t run away. We have to stop Santini. We actually have a chance now.”
Siluk let out a huff as he glared. “We have no chance at all. If we do this stupid idea Naki has, we’re all going to die—and guess what? I’m not letting you die, no matter how hard you try.”
Imara gritted her teeth, seeing now what he was really trying to say. “You don’t get to decide what I do.”
“Maybe I should,” Siluk said with blood red flames of anger shooting out of his skin again. “You’re a little crazy sometimes. Maybe you need someone who can talk you down when your ideas go too far.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Where is this coming from?”
Siluk laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because some psychotic woman wants you dead for the second time in a month. Maybe you’re willing to sacrifice yourself, but I’m not willing to sacrifice you, so this is done now. If you don’t agree to come with me, then I’ll force you to do it.”
“You’ll force me?” she said through her teeth. “I hope you know you would lose. Abe taught me how to fight, and I happen to be a natural.”
Siluk rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I would definitely try to fight you. That’s a great idea. I’ll just punch you in the face to knock you out and then you’ll be even more hurt.” He rolled his eyes again. “Obviously I have a different idea. Why would I fight you when I can use my smells to...” He let out a mischievous chuckle. “Persuade you.”
Her mouth dropped while she stared at him. He was actually serious. She wanted to think this was some kind of sick joke, but it wasn’t. He wanted her to run away. He actually planned to force her if she wouldn’t do it.
She clenched her jaw tight, looking Siluk square in the eyes so he would know she was serious. “That won’t work, especially if I know it’s coming. You said your smells aren’t always effective anyway.”
“It will work,” Siluk said, and unfortunately his skin glowed to indicate his words were true. Or at least he believed they were. “I know it will work because I’m not trying to convince you of something you don’t want to do. I’m convincing you of something you’ve wanted all along but were too afraid to admit to yourself. Once I give you the chance to escape all this craziness and also to be with me, you won’t be able to refuse. Your true feelings will take over.”
He whipped his head to the side. “Besides, I’ve never used illegal levels of smells and pheromones before, and I’ve gotten you to do plenty of stuff. Just think how much more effective it will be once I throw the laws out the window.”
The milk and musk dancing into her nose suddenly seemed sinister.
“Then I’ll plug my nose,” she said while trying to keep her shoulders from shivering. She glared at him, seriously wondering if this was a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. A sick bile came up her throat. What did he mean I’ve gotten you to do plenty of stuff? Had he been manipulating her through the years without her realizing it?
She always felt like he was there at personal times, asking questions like they were the best of friends. Even when she hated everybody, he always acted like they were close. Had he always thought something more would happen someday? Had he been so completely unaware of how much he hurt her? Was he still unaware?
She gulped and felt the bile drop back down. “I’m not going with you. I’m staying here, and I’m going to stop Santini.”
He flashed his teeth at her. “Why? Why are you so concerned with saving the world all the sudden?” He kicked at the floor with a glare. “You used to be perfect. You still wanted to rescue people and be a good person, but you didn’t feel like it was your responsibility to save the entire world. You didn’t even want to fight the taggers back then.”
He rolled his eyes back, letting his head dip back as he did. “Then Abe came along and convinced you people are good or whatever stupid crap he said. And now it’s suddenly your responsibility to save the world?” He looked her straight in the eye. “I want the old Imara back.”
She clenched her jaw tighter and tighter, trying to find some semblance of calm. Before she could grasp any, something else took over. Gritting her teeth together, she spat, “I hated you back then. That’s who you want back?”
He reached for her hand and didn’t stop when she flinched. “You would have come around eventually. I was just about to break through your defenses before Abe came and ruined everything.”
She ripped her hand out of his grip. “Maybe instead of breaking through my defenses, you should have recognized I wasn’t interested. I never was. Whatever you think we have, we don’t. We never did.”
He grabbed her hand again and reached into the pocket that held his sprays. “Yes, we did. I know we did.”
With every bit of strength she could muster, she ripped her hand away from him and plugged her nose. She jabbed her finger toward the apartment door and said, “Get out. I don’t feel that way about you. And you know I’m in love with Abe. I want to stop this vote because if we don’t, Santini will take over the world. You know what I feel for you?”
Siluk stared back with a blank expression.
“I feel like you should have been my friend, but you were so concerned with what you wanted, you never stopped to think about what I wanted.”
His jaw flexed, but he didn’t speak.
She pinched her nose tighter and glared at him. “I swear I will keep plugging my nose until the end of time if I have to. I want you out of this apartment. Don’t you ever come back.”
He turned away and kicked the coffee table over. “I’m just worried about you. I don’t want you to die. Is it wrong to care about someone?”
“It is when you do it like this,” she said.
He didn’t have a response to that. He stared for another minute, but when she sat there plugging her nose even harder than before, he finally left. Once he was gone, a panic started to flow through her. Naki had the drug, but she expected to add Siluk’s pheromones to the formula. Would it still work without his help? How could everything fall so completely apart when they were so close to the end?
