Astral Tide (The Otherborn Series) (7 page)

Tora was right behind her. “Just keep moving. That big one over there with the horns is eyeballing me.”

London dared a glance to her right where, sure enough, a massive bull pawed once, then twice, at the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and picked up the pace as much as she dared. They needed to get out of this pasture as quickly as possible.

Before long, they made it to a cross fence of barbed wire and London held one strand aloft carefully as Tora slipped through. When it was her turn, she got hung on a spike and tore her sweater, but untangled herself with Tora’s help. They lifted their containers over and turned toward the looming shadow of a two-story metal barn.

“See,” London whispered. “Just a barn.”

Tora eyed it suspiciously then let her gaze wander. As predicted, the twinkling windows of a farmhouse were only a stone’s throw away. “And a house. And a family. And who knows what else.”

“Tora, just keep your voice down and follow me. We’ll be out of here in no time.” London’s eyes had found the glinting edge of a large aluminum trough emerging beneath the fence line only a few feet away. She hadn’t seen it before because a group of lazy cows were positioned in her way. But from this side of the fence, she could see the moonlight reflecting off the still surface of what lay within—water.

They tip-toed over to the trough and London submerged her container, watching the air bubble up from inside as the water replaced it. A nearby cow shifted at the intrusion and mooed quietly. But even a quiet moo was fairly loud and London scowled.

“Shut up, you good for nothing—” she started to whisper when Tora tapped her on the back.

“Hurry,” Tora urged her.

London lifted her half-full carboy, it would have been too heavy to carry completely filled, and moved over for Tora, who immersed hers. Huddled over the trough, they watched the water spill in until they were certain they had enough to get well past the Ag District and look for a new source.

“Good, let’s go,” London said under her breath when they heard a small sneeze behind them. They both spun around, startled.

Before them stood two young children, a boy and a girl, in their shiny reprocessed pajamas and black rubber boots. They were holding hands and watching them with wide, curious eyes. London figured they couldn’t have been more than nine or ten. Their tow heads were equal in height, and their white lashes shone in the moonlight. They had to be twins.

Tora ran a hand through her chin-length hair. “We were just getting some water,” she said in a hushed tone, glancing back at the house. She looked at London with an expression that said
help?

“Yeah,” London whispered, following Tora’s lead. “It’s a secret. Can you guys keep a secret?”

The twins nodded silently.

“Good,” London said. “Because you can’t tell anyone you saw us, okay?”

“That’s right,” Tora added. “Only you guys can know we were here. That makes us your secret friends.”

“Look,” London said, remembering to check her pockets. She pulled out a few scrapped plastic buttons, two old pre-Crisis pennies, and a safety pin. Always good for quick trade, she tried to keep little things like that tucked away.

The little girl let go of her brother’s hand and stepped forward. She pointed to a pink button with two small holes in the center that rested in London’s palm. It was shaped like a flower.

“For you,” London told her and the girl snatched it up. The boy darted forward and scooped up the safety pin and the coins. He turned them over and over in his fingers.

“See,” London told them. “We’re good friends to have.”

The twins nodded. A door slammed in the distance and London and Tora both ducked down instinctively. The sound of several feet crunching gravel came from near the house.

“Kayla! Crow! You two out here?” a maternal voice called.

“We’re here, Momma,” the boy, Crow, yelled back while Kayla placed a finger over her lips to warn London and Tora to keep quiet. She gestured toward the barn and they followed her to the dark crack between its two main doors.

“Ya’ll come on in before you spook the cows! You know you ain’t supposed to be playing out here after dark. Not with the men around. They’ve got things to do and you’ll get in their way. Come on!” the twins’ mother called out.

London shot Tora a worried look and the Seer reflected it. That must be whose feet they could hear moving through the darkness.

Crow pocketed his gifts and turned to give them a quick nod before he started back toward the house where his mother was waiting. Kayla pushed one of the barn doors just enough for them to slip inside with their containers of water. She led them behind a wall of baled hay. “Stay here,” she whispered and darted back out to join her brother.

London waited a few minutes before she said to Tora, “There’s no way in hell I’m staying here. We need to go.”

“London,” Tora said, “we don’t know what’s out there. Just wait a minute. That woman was talking about some men hanging around like it wasn’t a normal thing.”

“I know,” London agreed. “All the more reason to get going.”

“Be patient,” Tora urged her. “Give it a few more minutes.”

London sighed. “Okay. I’m going to scout around for anything we can use in here.”

“I’m coming with you,” Tora said. “I don’t want to sit back here in the dark alone.”

“Fine. But be quiet. I don’t want whoever’s still out there to know we’re hiding in the barn.”

Together they crawled out from behind the wall of hay and followed the perimeter of the barn, past stalls both empty and occupied, peering in the dim light for anything that might be of use. Since burying her scrapped knife in Clark’s neck, London had no weapons on her. She didn’t want to go out into the dark unarmed where strange men could be lurking.

They reached the front of the barn with no luck. Two large doors like the ones they’d come in at the opposite end were drawn together but they sagged on their tracks and left a small crack where the night air poured through. Mosquitos buzzed about and London scratched absently at her neck where she could feel the lumps already forming.

A deep voice outside caught her attention. She gestured to Tora to stay silent and move closer.

“Those kids creep me out.”

“The twins?” asked another voice, also deep and masculine.

“Yeah. You think they have a license for both of them?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” said the other voice. “Those aren’t the kids we’re here for.”

Tora scooted right up behind London as they listened. Her breath made warm targets on the side of London’s face. London peered through the crack with one eye. She could just make out the profiles of two black-suited men, large guns hanging over their shoulders. Tycoon regiments.

“Yeah, but I thought twins were extinct,” said the first one again. “Or illegal or something.”

“Mack, get over it already. This isn’t the city. It’s Ag. All kinds of weird crap goes down in Ag. Too much fresh air.” The second guy was busy fidgeting with something small and shiny in one hand.

“You get a signal yet?” Mack asked his partner.

“No. It’s bound to come through any minute.”

“Still don’t get why we’re out here. I thought they took a bunch in outside Bayou City?”

Tora stiffened at this and tugged on London’s sleeve, but London ignored her. They were talking about Eric and the other dreamers.

“I already explained this,” the second one said, sounding frustrated. “The girl says they weren’t among them. She thinks they’re heading back this way.”

The girl
? That could only be one person in London’s mind: Avery. But how could she know they were crossing back west through the Ag District?

Mack sighed. “I know, I know—the
girl
. I’m so sick of her. What makes her so sure we’ll catch them? How does she know they’re even out there? For all we know, she could be making all this up.”

The second guy laughed. “There’s at least two of us at nearly every house in this district. If they’re here, we’ll catch ‘em. As for the girl, I don’t ask questions. She’s their pet project and I don’t want to get on their bad side.”

Mack lit up a cigarette. London hadn’t smelled city-issue smoke in months. She rubbed distractedly at an arm where she could feel her scars network beneath the fabric. So Avery was the Tycoon’s new pet?
Figures
. And she was now out of her cage, helping the Tycoons hunt the Otherborn and the other dreamers down.

“Well, if she’s their new pet, then he’s hers.” Mack smirked.

London’s chest tightened and she drew in her breath.
He?
There was a
he
? Was it possible? Could they mean Rye? But Rye would never be Avery’s pet. He hated Avery for betraying them. Even if he was still alive, he would never help the Tycoons. London was certain of that. They had to be talking about someone else. But who?

The other guy grinned, but before he could reply a blue light came from the device in his hand.

“What’d I tell ya? Any minute.” He pressed a button and a small screen flashed into life in the night air before them. On it, a man’s dour face hovered.

“You boys got anything?” the dour man asked from the screen.

“No sir,” Mack said, all serious now. He’d dropped his cigarette at his foot where he carefully ground it out with the heel of his boot.

“Keep alert. She’s certain they’re moving that way,” the dour man responded.

“Three of them, right? Two guys and a girl?” the first guy asked the man on the screen.

“No—hold on. I’ll let him tell you. Pay attention, I don’t want him to have to go over this again,” the man on the screen said with a frown. His face shifted to one side and then vanished before another face appeared.

Both the men went very rigid as their new contact addressed them from the screen. “There are four: two males and two females. The first male is a purebred Asian—Korean. He wears a distinguishing mark on one wrist. Three black bars. The second male is much larger with light hair. There is a blond, Caucasian female. An Outroader. And the last one, a taller female. Dark hair, dark eyes.”

London was so completely frozen, so transfixed by what she saw on the little screen, that she registered every detail about this new contact, even the slight hesitation he made before describing her, as though a tiny part of him hated to do it. She couldn’t blink, couldn’t turn away as he finished.

“That last one, she’s the most dangerous. It’s been confirmed that she killed an Outroader scout at the last encampment we raided. Don’t underestimate her,” he said.

“We won’t,” Mack assured him.

The screen flashed off and the first guy pocketed the device. “You heard him. I told you there were four. You’re such an idiot.”

Mack shrugged. “I coulda sworn she said three. Forget it. Let’s go inside and get the wife to put a fresh kettle on. The fugitives won’t be making an appearance in the next ten minutes and we won’t have to answer another signal until dawn at least.”

Both men shuffled off toward the farm house, but London couldn’t pull herself away from the crack at the door, from the spot, in midair, where only seconds ago a screen had blinked images of light and color in the vacant night and she’d heard herself described as
dangerous
.

But it wasn’t the description of her that had her reeling. It was the person who’d done the describing.

“London,” Tora whispered from beside her. “We need to go while they’re inside.”

London sat back, dazed and crestfallen, and stared at Tora.

“London,” Tora tried again. “Come on.”

But Tora’s voice echoed without meaning in her ears, because nothing could replace the sound of the voice coming from the screen. The voice that called her dangerous.
His
voice.

And nothing would ever erase the sight of him from her eyes as he calmly said:
That last one, she’s the most dangerous…Don’t underestimate her.

It was a face London knew all too well. A face that caused her weary heart to skip, then shatter.

London blinked at Tora and stammered. “It was…it was Rye.”

ZEN TOOK ONE look at London and the smile vanished from his face. The angles of his jaw and cheekbones seemed to harden. He knew something was wrong.

What could possibly have given it away? Maybe it was the swollen red rings around her bleary eyes. Or the constant sniffling. Or the way she avoided eye contact with everyone. Maybe it was the way Tora sat her container down gingerly then hovered about London like a worried mother hen. Maybe it was the look of absolute pity on Tora’s face.

London dropped her carboy at Zen’s feet, careful not to spill any. Probably it was the fact that she now wore the same pale, haunted expression he had only days ago.

Kim emerged from around the truck. “Sweet. What took you guys so long?”

Tora shot him a warning look.

“What’d I say?” He grabbed a carboy of water.

“Just don’t ask,” Tora told him.

“Don’t ask what?” Kim was a slow learner.

“Anything. Not yet,” Tora said.

Kim stared past Tora to London. He took in her huddled posture and tear-stained face. London could practically see the dots connecting in his mind. “London? What’s going on?”

Tora grabbed the carboy from him. “I told you not to ask.”

Zen grabbed both of London’s wrists in his large, warm hands. His eyes were full of concern. “Did someone hurt you?”

London snatched her arms away. “No,” she said, when what she wanted to say was,
yes, in the worst way possible.

Zen’s gray eyes probed softly, searching for some answer. It was visible that something had gone horribly wrong, but London wasn’t ready to say it. She wasn’t sure she could. She felt like telling them would somehow make it more real than it already was.

Tora was pouring fresh water hastily into the truck’s tank. “Come on. We have to get out of here. They’ve got regiments staying at every house in the district. We have to move on without stopping until Ag is well behind us.”

Zen and Kim both turned from studying London to eyeing Tora. London was relieved to have a break from their scrutiny.