12
THINGS ARE GETTING SQUIRRELY
“WELCOME TO SALEM, you little shits.”
This close, the long black hair looked like it was glued to the man’s bald head with grease, and his breath almost pushed Darwin backward.
His first instinct was to run, but he couldn’t; there was no way he would leave Teresa behind. He turned the flight response into an attack one, and bent his knees, preparing to launch himself at the man.
“I wouldn’t.” The man waved his hand and his four companions stepped out from behind the trees.
Darwin knew they were too tired and hungry to face four of them. Teresa moved up behind him and he felt her hand slip into his. Her grip tightened and he almost winced, but he returned the squeeze, trying to give her the same strength she was giving him. He fought the urge to step back when the man moved closer.
“Well, you have a pretty one with you, don’t you?” The man reached for Teresa’s hair and she jerked back as Darwin raised his arm to block the touch.
“We’re just passing through,” Teresa said.
The man laughed, revealing half-rotten teeth. That explained the breath, anyway. “I’m sure you were.” He spoke to the four men without looking at them. “Tie ’em together. Make sure they can walk, though. We’ll take ’em back to camp with us.”
One of the men stepped forward, just to the left of Darwin. He was shorter than the greasy-haired man, with long skinny arms and a smirk on his face that made Darwin’s blood boil.
“You’re sure, Rob? What if they’re Threaders? We don’t want their kind at camp.”
Rob answered without taking his attention off of Darwin. “If they was Threaders, don’t you think they’d have used ’em by now? Nah, they are just a couple of bodies we can use.” At the last words he looked at Teresa.
“But back there you said—”
“I know what I said,” Rob interrupted with a bite in his voice. “Could be they have what you call latent abilities, like me. We can deal with that. Now shut yer trap and tie ’em up like I told you to.” He spoke the last words with a sharp edge, though he kept his voice at the same volume. There wasn’t any doubt that it was a command.
The short man stepped in front of Darwin and pulled two coils of wire from his back pocket, his grin getting wider. He uncoiled them into long strands. What looked like rust flaked off and settled to the ground.
“We use these to catch squirrels,” he said. “Sometimes when they fight, we find them with their legs or heads sliced clean off. It makes a hell of a mess with all that blood and stuff.” His grin disappeared and he grabbed Darwin and Teresa’s clasped hands, wrapping a length of wire around both their wrists, tying them together. “I wouldn’t recommend you try and pull this off, you wouldn’t want the same to happen to you.” He bent down to wrap another wire around their ankles, binding them together as though they were in a three-legged race.
Darwin felt the thin wire bite into his pants and he fought the urge to pull away.
As soon as they were tied Rob stopped looking at Darwin and addressed the other three men. “Me an’ Ben will lead. You three stay behind ’em and keep yer eyes sharp.” He turned without waiting for a response and led the way out of the trees and under the overpass.
Darwin and Teresa tried to hobble after him and nearly fell.
“I’ll count,” Teresa said. “On one, we move our tied together legs, on two the other one. Ready? One . . . two . . . one . . . two . . .”
At each step, the wire around their wrists tightened, eventually feeling like it cut into skin. Darwin was pretty sure he felt blood trickle down the back of his hand, but he didn’t want to look, too afraid of what he would see. Instead he used his spare hand to hold his and Teresa’s arms together, just above the wrist. It made walking a bit more difficult, but it kept their arms relatively in sync and the wire stopped biting in as much.
“One . . . two . . . one . . . two . . .” Teresa did her best to keep up the pattern.
He had no idea how she could sound so calm. His mind was racing, flitting between thoughts of escaping and increasingly bad scenarios of what the group would do with them. When Teresa missed a count and they stumbled, his thoughts bubbled over into words.
“You have to slow down. We can’t keep up,” he called out, unable to hide the edge of anger in his voice.
Rob paused and looked around. The smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes, but Darwin could tell he was enjoying their pain. “Too bad,” he said, and continued walking.
By the time they cleared the underpass, Darwin could smell water and the temperature had dropped a couple of degrees. Just ahead, concrete barriers placed to stop cars from driving off the road crossed their path. A few steps later, he could see the shimmer of the sun reflecting on the river below. Rob turned left in front of the barriers and followed the road before hopping over them at the first group of trees and jogging down a steep hill to what used to be a parking lot. The only thing that differentiated it from the small park beside it was its flatness and the occasional glimpse of gray through the tall grass.
Darwin and Teresa stopped at the barrier while Rob and Ben walked further into the parking lot. How the heck were they supposed to get over this? The barrier came above their knees even with the crumbled top, and the slope on the other side was severe enough that there was no way they would be able to keep their balance.
He felt a shove on his shoulder and stumbled, his feet hitting the wide bottom portion of the concrete barrier. By the time his knees hit the top, he could feel Teresa pulling against him, trying to keep them both upright. His body folded over the short wall. Instinct forced him to put his hands out in front of him, trying to stop his momentum. He jerked Teresa forward, the wire biting deep into his wrist, and they both fell, teetering over the top before toppling and rolling down the hill in a pile of arms and legs and trap wire.
They tumbled to a stop at the bottom on the hard asphalt of the parking lot. He felt like he had been run over by a steamroller. Every part of him hurt to the point he was sure something had broken. As he lay there, the world slowly coming back into focus, he heard a soft moan from beside him.
He forced his eyes wider, squinting at the bright blue sky above him, and turned to look at Teresa. She had twisted in the somersault down the short hill and lay on top of their arms, her head near his shoulder and face down on a rough piece of exposed cement. Her shirt had torn across her shoulder and back, and blood seeped into the tattered fabric. His pain faded into the background as concern for her took over.
He raised his head and nudged her with his free hand. She moaned again. “You okay?” He waited for a while before he nudged her harder. “Teresa, are you okay?”
She moaned in reply.
“Come on, answer me. Teresa!”
“Damn, that hurt.” Her voice was muffled by the concrete.
He lowered his head with a sigh and closed his eyes again. “Anything broken?” He felt her head shift by his shoulder.
“I don’t know.”
“Can you get off my arm? I can’t feel it.”
Teresa struggled to roll over and gasped in pain as the wire around their legs twisted and tightened before letting her leg rotate enough for her to lie on her back.
Blood rushed into Darwin’s arm, and with it a bright stab of pain. His wrist felt warm and wet. A wave of dizziness passed through him, and his stomach roiled.
The wire around their wrists had cut through the skin. He thought if he looked closely enough he might even be able to see bone. He couldn’t help but look, and his gut churned again. His brief inspection showed the wire embedded just above the back of his hand. Thank god they had been holding hands when the wire was wrapped around. If the insides of their wrists had been exposed . . . Darwin swallowed harshly, fighting the nausea that churned his stomach. He never did like the sight of blood. His or anyone else’s.
A boot prodded him roughly. “Get up.”
He opened his eyes again and glared at the man standing over him. The boot kicked him in the side and Darwin sucked in a sharp breath. It felt like someone had jabbed a knife in his ribs and twisted. Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes and fell onto the dry grass.
The boot moved again but stopped short when Rob’s voice cut through the air. “Watch what yer doin’. He ain’t no good to us if he can’t work. What happened?”
“They fell coming down the hill.”
Darwin gasped between the waves of pain. “Bullshit. You pushed us over the barrier.”
The boot pressed into his ribs and the knife twisted again. Darwin let out a small cry.
“Leave him be.” Teresa pushed up onto her elbow and stared at the man standing over them. Another boot came from behind her and pushed her shoulders back down to the ground.
“You’ll find it best if you keep yer mouth shut,” said Rob. “Until you’re told not to,” he said with a leer in his voice.
“Get ’em up and have Dale look at ’em.” Rob turned and headed back toward the small park across the lot. The men left behind muttered to themselves and bent down to help Darwin and Teresa up.
“Count of three then lift. One . . . two . . . three . . .” Two of them heaved and lifted Darwin and Teresa to their feet. Teresa twisted out of the overly familiar grasp of the man helping her, and almost fell again. She caught herself and leaned against Darwin for support as he moved between them. Pain seared through his ribs with every breath he took, but it wasn’t enough to push away the rage building inside of him. How dare they treat her that way.
Blood ran from the wire embedded in their wrists to drip from their knuckles on to the ground.
“Move.”
Still leaning against each other, they shuffled in the direction Rob had taken. Each step shot flares of fire through their wrists where the wire was tied.
Just ahead, under the yellow canopy of trees already losing their leaves, a few tents had been set up. In the center of them stood a tall, screened sunroom tent with a few picnic tables inside it. Darwin could hear Rob talking loudly about his two captives. He leaned in closer to Teresa.
“You okay?” he whispered.
“I think so. The wire’s bad. There’s nothing I can do until we get it out. It’s going to get ugly if it isn’t taken care of right away. The one on our legs is okay. I don’t think it cut through our pants.”
“Nothing broken?”
“No, thank god. I’m not good at healing broken bones yet. I . . . I didn’t think of looking at you, I was too worried about the wire. You okay?”
“My ribs are bad, where he kicked me. I think they might be busted.” Darwin felt Teresa get pushed forward and turned his head to look behind him.
“You two quit your yapping and keep moving,” the man said.
It was the same one who pushed them down the hill. “You get off pushing around people who can’t protect themselves?” Darwin snapped without thinking, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, as soon as the anger and resentment had an outlet, he felt better. The man’s attention had moved from Teresa to him, and as far as he was concerned, that was all good.
“I said quit talking and keep moving.” The man shoved Darwin forward, creating a fresh surge of pain across his ribs.
They hobbled across the parking lot and stepped up the curb to the grassy park, almost falling over again. A tall woman with thick, hot pink, plastic-framed glasses came rushing toward them, eyeing the tied-up pair with distaste. Her clothes were disheveled and dirty, and she looked old enough to be Darwin’s grandmother.
“I thought Rob was joking when he said he’d done this to you,” she said. “That man is an idiot. Untie them immediately and bring them to my tent.”
“Rob said to—”
She turned her gaze on the man who had spoken and her voice took on a steel edge. “I don’t care what Rob said. You will do as you are told, Jacob, or next time you come to see me, I’ll be pretty damn busy doing something else.”
The two stood and stared at each other for a few seconds before Jacob moved to untie the wire Ben had wrapped around them. He did their legs first, and as the wire came loose, Darwin could feel the rush of warmth flowing back into his foot with the increased blood flow.
When Jacob moved toward their arms, Darwin could feel Teresa tense up and pull away slightly. He moved his free hand to Teresa’s cheek and made her look at him.
“It’s better if it’s out, right?”
Teresa just nodded.
“Okay. Then let’s get it done.”
Jacob grabbed their arms and jerked them toward him. His hand hadn’t even touched the wire before the old woman stopped him.
“Never mind,” she said, “I’ll do it. You’re doing even more damage to them, being so rough.”
“They’re prisoners,” Jacob said. “What’s wrong with the way I’m treating them?”
“Prisoners? They must have attacked five grown men to put so much fear into you.”
“No. We just—”
“You just what? You just want to be a prick and act all superior?” She pointed a thumb over her shoulder. “Why don’t you guys join Rob and talk about all your manly exploits? Maybe you can tell everyone how good it feels to scare the bejesus out of strangers.”
“Rob told me to—”
“Yeah, we covered that already. Now I’m telling you. Does it look like these two are going anywhere soon? They’ll just as likely bleed out when the wire is removed. They’re not leaving.”
Jacob looked at the men with him and shrugged. They walked past the woman and moved toward the sunroom tent.
“Come on, follow me. The name’s Dale.”
“You’re a healer?” asked Teresa.
“Yup. And so are you.”
Darwin felt Teresa hesitate in her step.
“Don’t act so surprised, girl. We know our own kind. You’re far enough along in your training to understand that, would be my guess.” When Teresa didn’t answer, Dale stopped and turned to face them. “What’s your name, girl?”
“Teresa.”
“Well, Teresa, welcome to Salem. This is Rob’s crew. While we’re away from home, what Rob says happens. No questions asked.”
“Then why did Jacob listen to you?” asked Darwin.
“I’m a healer, boy. Without me, people get hurt and they don’t get better.” She looked at Teresa again. “Being a healer ain’t so bad. At least you won’t be put to work in the fields or kitchens.” She paused. “Or worse.” Dale turned and continued walking.
“What about Darwin?”
Dale continued as if she hadn’t heard. When they reached the circle of tents, she disappeared inside one while they stood and waited. Darwin thought of running, but how far would they get before the rest of Rob’s crew chased them down? There was no way that would end well.
“What the hell is going on ’ere?” Rob stormed up to them with Jacob in tow just as Dale emerged from the tent with an empty bowl and some towels. Jacob could barely contain the smirk on his face.
“Good. Just in time. Rob, get some hot water in here,” Dale said, holding the bowl out to him.
He looked at the bowl, a scowl on his face. “I said I wanted these two tied up. What gives you the right to tell ’em different?” he said, jerking his thumb in Jacob’s direction.
Dale stood calmly as Rob ranted, obviously waiting for him to finish. When he was done, she said, “These two aren’t going anywhere. Somewhere along the way here they got pretty busted up. And using trap wire isn’t tying them up, it’s torture, and it’s wrong.”
“I give the orders around here, woman.”
“Yes, you do. And I do the healing. These two aren’t going to be any use to us if that damned wire gets them infected. What if the guy’s got a broken rib? What if it doesn’t heal right? Do you think he’ll be any good in the fields?”
Rob hesitated for a second. “I want ’em tied up.”
“Fine. You can tie them up after I’m finished with them. And use something that doesn’t damage them. Nico won’t be happy if he’s got a couple more mouths to feed that can’t support themselves.”
At Nico’s name, Rob took a step back and glowered at Dale. “If they ain’t gonna support themselves, Nico ain’t gonna see ’em. Jacob,” he spoke without taking his gaze off of Dale, “you stay ’ere. Ben’ll bring some rope. I want ’em tied to the trees as soon as she’s done. Got that?” When Jacob didn’t answer right away, Rob turned and swung out his arm, backhanding Jacob across the face. “I said, you got that?”
Jacob stumbled backward, the quick look of hatred that crossed his face replaced with subservience. “Yes,” he said, rubbing the four finger-sized welts that covered his cheek.
Rob stared at Dale a bit longer before turning and walking back to the sunroom tent without saying another word.
“You shouldn’t rile him like that, Dale,” said Jacob. “One day he won’t care what you are, he’ll just take you out.”
“It’s not going to happen anytime soon.” She held out the empty bowl to him. “Now get me some hot water.”
“I am not leaving until Ben shows up. Rob will kill me if I leave them again.”
“Fine, watch them. I’ll get the water.” As Dale walked away, she stopped and turned back. “If I see any more damage to them, you’ll pay the price for it.” She started walking again without waiting for a response.
“How long have you apprenticed as a healer?” asked Dale, sitting across the weathered picnic table from them.
“Almost two years. My . . . my mom was teaching me.” She fell silent and watched as Dale put a clean towel in the steaming bowl of water.
“So you’ve covered the numbing of pain?”
“Yeah. I haven’t had a lot of practice or done it without supervision.”
“Well, you get to practice on your friend. I’m going to get the wire out, and it’s going to hurt. The blood is already starting to clot a bit, which means the wire might be a tad stuck. I’ll numb your arm after you do his. Let’s see what you can do.” Dale took the towel out of the water and wrung it out lightly. “Start now, before I place the towel on. Sometimes it’s easier when you can see what you are working on.”
Teresa sucked in her breath and stared at Darwin’s wrist. The sharp pain dulled to a light throb instantly and he looked down, involuntarily opening his Sight. Vaporous white Threads moved around his wrist and entered his skin.
“Good,” said Dale, “now spread out, further up the arm and hand. When the wire tugs, it’ll be pulling skin and meat from the general area of the wound.”
The pattern of the Threads changed, thinning out to cover more of his arm, and the light throb almost disappeared. He kept watching, intrigued by what he was Seeing, making sure not to touch any of the Threads.
“Good. Now hold it there while I do yours.”
Threads formed around Teresa’s wrist. To Darwin, they appeared as thin and insubstantial as the ones Teresa had used, but the pattern was different. These Threads sank into her skin at regular intervals, some of them moving and shifting once they had entered, but most holding still. Just like when Teresa did it, once the wire cut was completely covered, new Threads formed to cover a wider spot.
“Do you See how I did mine?”
Teresa nodded as sweat broke out on her forehead. Darwin saw the pattern of Threads tighten on his wrist, matching what Dale had done, and his arm went numb from his elbow down to his fingertips.
“Much better. Now hold it.” Dale reached for the towel. It still dripped water as she brought it closer. “Keep holding it while the towel blocks your direct view. Remember how the pattern feels and keep it there.”
Dale wrapped the towel around their wrists. Her Thread pattern on Teresa didn’t change, but the ones on his arm did. He sucked in a quick, sharp breath as the pressure of the towel cut through Teresa’s Threads. The pain disappeared almost as fast as it came.
“Sorry.”
He just nodded. More Threads formed around both of them, gently wrapping the warm towel. Darwin felt some pressure, but the pain didn’t come back.
“Good,” said Dale, “now keep holding it while you monitor the clotted blood over the wound. Can you feel it? Slightly hard but still flexible? The blood hasn’t had time to form into a scab yet. Watch how the top of it gets softened by the water, and then duplicate the process deeper in the cut. The water will come of its own accord, as long as you open the path.”
More white Threads moved into the towel and touched his arm, but he didn’t feel it as much as he Saw it. Teresa’s grip on the pain-killing Threads remained strong as the new Threads moved to soften the clotting blood. A duplicate effort was happening on Teresa’s wrist, but he could See it was more controlled, more precise, and Dale was working much faster.
“Have you reached the wire yet?” Dale asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You will. The Threads will push back, almost as if you knocked a stick against a steel post. If the push back is softer, gentler, then you’ve reached bone. You shouldn’t; the wire hasn’t cut into the bone; it’s just sitting on top of it.”
His stomach took a flip and his cheeks drained white. Dale noticed right away.
“Are you going to hold it together, boy?”
He straightened his back. “Darwin. The name is Darwin. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re looking at your wrist an awful lot. You’re not a healer. Can you See?”
From out the corner of his eye, he saw Jacob, who had been sitting on the grass with his back to a tree, lean forward, obviously listening more intently. He didn’t like to lie, but these people had taken them in as prisoners, and maybe some things were best kept a secret.
“No. Maybe I’m just kind of hoping so much.”
“Mmmm. At your age, you would already know. You should know that. No point in trying anymore.”
Darwin relaxed when Jacob leaned back against the tree and watched the Threads in and around his wrist again. He could See when Teresa hit the wire and pulled back a little.
“I’m there,” Teresa said.
“Okay, let’s take a look.” Dale looked at his wrist without losing control of her own Threads. “Good. Now work around the wire a bit, make sure it’s loose. Don’t push so hard that you soften the bone, though.”
The Threads wrapped around the wire and moved along it in both directions. He wasn’t sure if he saw or felt the wire release, and his stomach twitched again.
“Got it.”
Dale started unwrapping the towel, gently lifting the last bit from Teresa’s cut. Darwin stared at the blood-soaked towel and this time his stomach threatened to do a double somersault. There was a lot of blood, and he couldn’t tell what was his and what was Teresa’s.
Dale pulled a pair of wire cutters from her kit and placed the tip between their arms, the wire wedged in between its sharp edges. She squeezed and the wire snapped, springing apart, coming halfway out of Darwin’s cut. Blood started seeping out of the open wound right away.
“Can you slow the blood?” Dale asked.
Teresa nodded tersely and a frown cut through the sweat. The seeping slowed down and almost stopped.
The wire moved again. Dale had grabbed it between her fingertips and was gently pulling it from Teresa’s wrist. As it came out, the cut slid shut, leaving an angry red slit just above the back of Teresa’s hand. The white Threads moved in patterns too complex for him to follow.
As Dale pulled, the wire’s coiled tension pushed it back into his wrist, and he swallowed hard to control the sudden increase in his nausea. He still felt no pain. She held onto the separated end she pulled from Teresa’s arm and moved her left hand to the other end of the cut wire. As she pulled it out of him, the cut didn’t close itself like Teresa’s had.
“Start closing the wound, Teresa. The sooner it’s closed the better it will heal.”
“I can’t. There’s something . . . something different . . . wrong, but I can’t tell what it is.”
Dale grabbed the towel and wrapped it tightly around his wrist. As soon as she was done, she concentrated back on Teresa.
The Threads were still white, but they appeared much thinner than before. Dale pulled them through Teresa’s skin as though she was stitching a shirt, but deeper. It was like she was suturing the wound deep, by the bone, and working her way back up to the already closed skin. When she was done, all that was left on Teresa’s arm was a fine white line with tanned, dark skin puckered around the edges.
“So, what is the problem over here?” asked Dale, moving her attention to him.
“I don’t know. Something’s not right. It . . . it kind of feels like an infection, but I can’t See anything.”
“Pull out so I can take a look, then,” said Dale.
Searing pain crashed into his wrist like a wave smashing against a cliff face. He hadn’t realized how much work Teresa was doing until she pulled her Threads from him. He doubled over, laying his chest on his knees as he tried to draw in slow and steady breaths. The pain in his ribs doubled as he did, and he struggled to push himself upright. His arm went numb almost as fast as the pain had come, its sudden absence as disconcerting as its arrival.
“When you’re pulling out of an open wound like that, take your time. It is a simple matter of deadening some of the nerves in the cut as you’re doing it, just to make sure your patient doesn’t keel over, like this one almost did.”
Teresa put her arm around his waist and gave him a gentle squeeze. “Sorry, it won’t happen again.” She looked into his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll be better when it’s finished, though.” The fresh pain in his ribs had brought tears to his eyes. He wiped them away, deciding he didn’t need to See what they were doing anymore, and focused on the picnic table instead.
Teresa watched as Dale probed the slice with the Threads, but she didn’t move her arm from around him.
“There’s the problem.”
“What?”
Dale looked at Teresa. “Come on and take a look, just don’t do anything.”
Teresa nodded and bent over his arm. “I can tell something isn’t right, but I can’t See what.”
“Let me guide you.”
Teresa sucked in a breath and nodded, never taking her focus from the slice.
“Look here, and here,” said Dale.
“I don’t See anything, just blood.”
“Right but take a closer look.”
Teresa moved her arm from around Darwin’s waist and placed her hands on his arm, just above and below the cut. She bent lower, looking at something deep inside.
“It looks just like blood.”
“It is blood. It’s just not his blood,” said Dale.
Darwin blanched again. He could taste bile in the back of his throat.
“I . . . I think, maybe. This one feels . . . tastes wilder. It is not like the rest.”
“That’s because it’s squirrel’s blood from the damn trap wire.”
Darwin leaned over and spewed what was left of their hastily eaten breakfast onto the ground beside him. Neither woman looked at him. Jacob snickered from the tree.
“That took a while,” said Dale. “For a second, I thought you were going to make it all the way through.”
He spat some of the remaining chunks from his mouth and grimaced.
Teresa ignored them both. “So how do we get it out?”
“Same as with an infection. Just find the bad pieces and push them out of his body.” Dale stood and stretched her back. Darwin could hear the pops. “I’ll give you ten minutes while I look at the other damage you two have, starting with those ribs, then I’ll see how good a job you did.”
Darwin stared at the thin white line on the back of his wrist. Matching scars. Not exactly what he had in mind. A warm hand touched his shoulder before moving to his wrist.
“How are you doing?” Teresa’s voice was soft, and she traced the fine white line with her finger.
“Okay, I guess.” The truth was, he felt pretty stupid for throwing up.
After Dale and Teresa had fixed him up, Jacob had forced him to haul water from the river and wash the ground clean. All he had succeeded in doing was creating a puddle of mud with chunks of corn floating in it.
Dale had talked to Rob about Teresa, and he’d decided not to tie her up as long as Dale kept a close eye on her. He said she wasn’t going anywhere with her boyfriend tied up anyway. Instead of using the tree, they pulled the picnic table over the mud puddle and tied his legs around one of the inner supports. Then they looped the rope through the top slats and tied his hands down. He had to lower his head to the tabletop just to scratch his nose.
In the brief pieces of time they were left alone, he tried to convince Teresa to leave, to slip away while no one was watching and just run. Every time she refused, he felt the anger rise up in him like a tide and he had to bite it back down. She was a grown woman and could do what she wanted. But he hated that she would be one of Rob’s slaves, and he hated even more the feeling of relief he had when she stayed.
Dale sat at one end of the table, her face buried in a book, Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker. Darwin had the series on his bookshelf at home, the pages old and tattered. They were a gift from his mother, a series she had loved when she was younger. She had read them to him at bedtime when he was younger, and he’d read them at least every year since she had died.
Teresa put a cup of water in front of him and gave one to Dale before she sat beside him. “You’re sure?”
“I said yes,” he snarled. He hung his head, feeling guilty. “Look . . . I’m . . . I’m sorry. I’m not at my best today.” He glanced at her and saw concern written all over her face, almost calling her his angel. How long ago was it when he first thought of her as that? It felt like a year but couldn’t have been more than a few weeks. Could it?
“None of us are,” she said.
He shifted his position and looked in Teresa’s eyes. “I’m really sorry. If I wasn’t here—if I wasn’t somehow transported here, none of this would have happened. SafeHaven would still be whole. You would still be in San Diego learning and healing.”
“It is not your fault, Darwin.” Teresa moved her hand from his scar to his hand, wrapping her fingers under his palm. “None of this is. It wasn’t your choice to come over, and it was the Qabal that sent the Skends. It’s them, not you.”
He nodded, not quite believing her, but desperately wanting to. Dale stood suddenly, the book closed and forgotten on the table in front of her. She sat down across from them.
“What were you two just talking about?”
Teresa answered without turning to face her. “Nothing.”
“Nothing my ass. You are talking about the Qabal and Skends. What about them?”
This time Darwin turned to face her. “Nothing. We’re just talking.”
Dale looked over her shoulder at Jacob. He still sat under the tree, fast asleep in the dappled shade. The afternoon had turned warm. Darwin wasn’t sure if the temperature was normal for this time of year, but he was glad for it.
She leaned in closer to Darwin. “You had better tell me everything. And now. If you don’t, I’m going straight to Rob, and I guarantee he’ll get everything out of you, and you’ll be a patient of mine again.”
Darwin glanced over at Teresa and she gave an almost imperceptible nod. He sighed and turned to Dale. “Okay,” he said. “I’m not from around here.”
“Yeah, we kinda figured that out already. Neither is she.”
“No, I mean . . . I am not from here. I’m not from this universe. I have no idea how I got here, but the Qabal think I do. Now that I’m not under their control anymore, they’re trying to kill me. All I want to do is go home . . .” His voice trailed off.
At his last words, Teresa pulled her hand from his and placed it in her lap. He immediately missed the warmth, the contact.
“How are they trying to kill you?” Dale asked, apparently only caring about the Qabal and not where he’d come from.
“Well, they tried at their headquarters, but I managed to get away, with some help.”
Once the story started, Darwin found he couldn’t stop. All of it came out, from the brainwashing to Bill’s help and his death. His trek to SafeHaven, and everything that happened after it. He skirted around his Threading skill, though Dale had already probably guessed. By the time he was done both Teresa and Dale sat in stunned silence.
“Damn.” Dale paused, slowly shaking her head. “How did the Skends find you in San Diego?”
“I don’t know. Enton showed up to take me back to SafeHaven, and there they were.”
“If they’re following you, we’re in a lot of trouble. I need to talk to Rob.” Dale stood up.
“But you said—”
“I know what I said. This is too big. If the Skends are following you, we don’t have a chance. Shit.” Dale turned and stared at Jacob, still sleeping under the tree. She sighed and looked at Teresa. “There’s a knife in the top pouch of my backpack. It will cut through the rope pretty easy. Rob isn’t going to let you come with us, which means he would rather kill you. Run. It may give you a bit of a chance. And hurry up, I’m not giving you much time.” Dale jogged toward the sunroom tent, leaving them alone with a sleeping Jacob.
Teresa stood and sprinted over to the tent while he kept watch. Jacob didn’t even move when the tent zipper opened. She came back with a small knife and bent under the table, cutting his legs free. By the time she was standing again, Darwin was ready to leave. With his hands still tied, trailing the rope from his legs behind him, he pushed Teresa until they were behind Dale’s tent.
Just a few yards away the road rose into a bridge, the underside of it cast in a deep shadowy gloom. They ran into the darkness, bent over at the waist, until they emerged from the other side, pausing long enough to finish cutting the rope, picking up the pieces so Rob wouldn’t know what direction they took.