PHOENIX (The Weaver Series Book 4) Read online

  Outright panic shrieked in Silver’s mind. I blocked her access to our body before she could leap off the bed and grab Kara’s shoulders. My hand was steady as I patted the sheets next to us. Our lanky friend shuffled flat footed across the thick carpet in sock feet. Her black yoga pants looked like they needed to be washed. They had that saggy look knit cotton gets when it gives up.

  Kara’s index finger poked our shield over the bridge of our nose and an electric zap of static electricity sent a wave of blue light over our bodies. I watched it disappear past our clenched knees rather than crossing our eyes to look at Kara’s pale digit. She withdrew the contact and plopped on the bed. My heels braced against the frame to keep us from sliding onto the floor.

  I commanded, “Take your shield down.” In a lead by example move I melted ours away in a slow waxy crawl until it was back with Corinne. She wouldn’t like it but I doubted she’d stir herself for a while if her book was good enough.

  Kara wouldn’t look at me, at us.

  Silver edged cautiously into control. “You said you’d only cry to us, Mighty Mouth. You said you didn’t want to be the weak one anymore. Right now I see you giving up without a fight.” The word fade was pinging around our head but neither one of us was going to say it out loud. Did James know? If not, why hadn’t he noticed?

  Kara’s oddly colored slanted eyes drooped like the petal on a dying flower—with just enough vitality to give you an idea of a former glory. She shifted forward suddenly and draped her upper body against ours. With the shields gone I could smell her sour skin and see the condition of her short hair, slick at the root and permeated with her personal musk. Living on Axsa for five years had made our nose more sensitive. Now I wished we could hold our breath indefinitely and talk at the same time.

  I rubbed a palm in a useless circle in the middle of her bony back. “Um, you stink. How long has it been since you took a bath?”

  Hot breath hit our neck as Kara nuzzled her face behind our ear, exhaling, ragged and long. Words muffled, she said, “Since Melody.”

  Silver grabbed a fist full of Kara’s t-shirt and yanked. The girl was almost dead weight but she managed to pry us apart. My sister face-palmed our friend none too gently when she tried to go in for a hug again. “She cut your hair three freakin’ weeks ago! This ain’t medieval times, woman. We live in an age of running water. Get up!”

  In answer she flopped backward. Now it was my turn to get mad. I stood, hands on hips. “Oh, uh-uh, now yuck is on our sheets!” Kara’s position on the bed was perfect for a fireman’s carry so I tucked our right shoulder into her middle and with an extra push of strength, rose with our ungainly burden. It was surprising how light she seemed. She didn’t even struggle. Her long legs and arms dangled free, limp as a ragdoll’s.

  Since Kara wasn’t fighting yet I marched straight for our shared bathroom down the hall. As we came even with her bedroom, Corinne’s door opened and the petite ice queen carefully placed a leather bookmark in the pages of the thick expensively bound volume. I noticed the gold embossed title was upside down but when she tilted the book to snap it closed the words inside were right side up. I looked at the cover again and it read The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide with four tongue wagging smiley faces in each corner of the border.

  Arctic blue irises locked on Kara’s swaying limbs. “Need help?”

  Silver wanted to turn Corinne down flat but I thought better. “Yeah, we do.”

  Kara pushed with both hands, hooking her thumbs in the back pockets of our jeans and almost pantsing us. “She is not seeing me naked.”

  Cool and collected, Corinne turned to put down her book and followed us to the communal bathroom. Under her breath she murmured, “Don’t panic, I’ll get the towels.”

  Silver gave a mental snort. “I wish I wasn’t too worried to laugh at that.”

  Kara kicked and dug elbows into our shoulders but she wasn’t going anywhere unless we let her. One of her flailing feet slammed open the white double doors and I strode past the open vanity section with six sinks, three on each side, past the two unoccupied toilets in their dark closets and into the octagonal bathing area. Corinne zipped past to open the largest shower stall and we unceremoniously dumped Kara to her feet.

  She staggered back a step and glared with all her might at us. I nodded to my blonde enforcer and she reached in to crank the ‘hot’ knob full throttle. The water that blasted from the wide metal head was cold at first and Kara shrieked in outrage, throwing her arms over head then grabbing the short hair at the back of her neck. Her elbows looked sharp and I could feel the bruises forming on our shoulders from her tantrum.

  Spray bounced off her raised arm and caught us in the face. I slammed the frosted glass shower door closed to yell over the water and slowly ballooning steam. “If you ‘port out I’ll bring you back. Wash. Use the loofah. We can always buy another one. On the bright side, nobody saw you naked. I think Silver and I should get brownie points for that.”

  A petulant, “I hate you right now!” was her answer. She grumbled and grouched but I saw a blurred version of her pale arm reach for the soap bar on the built in shelf. I’d rather have her pissed off and alive than quiet and dead. The cold knob squeaked as she adjusted the temperature to a more comfortable level.

  Corinne gave us serious eyes, and voice pitched low she said, “You can’t save everyone.”

  Silver ground out, “Who asked you? Go get a towel and shut up.”

  She pulled the ribbed cuffs of her bulky thigh length sweater down to cover the tops of her alabaster hands and spoke to the tile. “I know you don’t want to hear it but it’s true whether you believe it or not, sort of like science.”

  My twin would have torn into Corinne again but I held her in check. “I know you’re trying to help in your own way but neither of us wanna hear it right now. Can you please go get a towel like Silver asked?”

  Two marbled eyes flicked up and she tilted her head at an angle to keep her fine hair out of the way. Her expression only promised a temporary reprieve on the topic of Kara. Silver sent the thought of examining Kara’s Web essence and then she was gone. My head felt like a half empty snarl of emotions.

  Unexpectedly a hot sluice of water caught the side of our hair and I jumped as it trickled into our left ear. “What the hell!” I looked up to see soggy black yoga pants plastered over the top of the dull nickel finish of the shower stall frame. Wadded wet socks came next.

  Kara threw her t-shirt over after that and I dodged the spray this time. The splat as it hit the glossy floor tiles made me think of kush and suddenly I was craving the spiked fruit with a vengeance. Maybe Kal could smuggle us some but I doubted it.

  Corinne came back with two fluffy white towels from the linen closet, daintily side stepping the slick puddle from Kara’s passive aggressive strike. I grabbed one and used a corner to dry out the inside of our ear. The used towel got thrown over the wet spot as a precaution and then I turned to Corinne. “Do you think the shield could have played a part in making her feel less connected to the physical world?” It was starting to get hot so I plucked our shirtfront to get some air flow. I could feel sweat collecting in the oddest places.

  Thin, painstakingly plucked eyebrows went in opposite directions as Corinne gave her best Spock impersonation. “It’s possible. What would you suggest?”

  I blurted, “Buddy system.”

  She unfolded the remaining towel and walked around me to drape it over the shower door, far away from the discarded clothes and running water. Her hands went to her hips and I noticed she wasn’t perspiring at all. I could sense her shield in place as it flexed and bowed outward to include me. The air got easier to breath and the thick moist heat went away as Corinne covered our body head to toe.

  Face hard, almost frozen, she said, “It is my job to protect our core. James looks at the big picture and I manage the small. Not to mention I’ve taken over my mother’s job of minding the enclave’s budget. Gerome left me set with that la
wyer on retainer but I still have work to do. Are you suggesting I add babysitting a mental case to my list?”

  Kara yelled, “I heard all of that, ice bitch. Nobody asked you anyway.”

  Corinne set her lips in a prim line and bit the inside of her cheek before saying, “As a matter of fact Cass did indeed just ask me to stay with you. While we are both in the house the majority of the day I would prefer to be in separate rooms because I can’t stand you. You’re a sloth with garbage can tendencies and no direction. Life has given you opportunity after opportunity and you continue to piss them away with apathy. Living is hard. Get over it.”

  When I opened my mouth to defend my friend, Corinne held up an index finger and cocked her head to listen. Kara’s voice was angry and hollow but I could hear something in it that hadn’t been there before. “Who voted you my judge? I’ve been through shit you can’t imagine and it’s all trapped in my head, running a replay every time I dare to sleep. Eat shit Corinne, eat shit!” The loofah hit the frosted glass with a thud.

  I threw our head back to shout at the textured ceiling, “Maybe if you actually talked to somebody instead of holding all that poisonous crap inside, you could get on with your dang life, Kara! Silver told you she’d even take the memories away! Do something besides feel sorry for yourself.”

  An inarticulate screech filled with frustrated self-loathing was my answer.

  I added, “Don’t stop washing or I’ll come in there and do it for you.” Her blurred outline bent at the waist and I strained my ears as she began to wash herself again.

  Corinne coughed for attention. Her cheeks looked tight and shiny like they’d been injected with Botox, and faint bags swelled under her lower lashes. Maybe Kara wasn’t the only one having a hard time. Corinne’s mother Cora had been crazy and power obsessed, true, but she’d still had to see her head violently ripped from her neck just months ago in our final showdown at the compound. I knew Corinne had the bloody pearls she’d taken from her mother’s corpse stashed somewhere. Life had been so busy Silver and I hadn’t taken the time to notice all the fraying personalities surrounding us. Perhaps that was why James had missed Kara’s distress too.

  She shook her head again and let the angled bob settle around her jaw before she spoke. “Considering how much we dislike each other and how small and fragile this enclave is right now, I accept the task of keeping you sane, Kara. I have had some practice. I didn’t succeed with my mother but maybe if nothing else I can keep you from hurting others with your selfish self-centered ways. Have you taken any thought about what it would do to the people you love if you fade?”

  That last word felt like a sucker punch to the throat. I wheezed. Silver chose that moment to chime back in. Her mind was still tenuously connected to the Web. I hated it when she split her attention like that; it made her seem indistinct in our head.

  “Kara looks solid and purple but her sparklers are gone again, just like after we drove out Shiva. What’s the plan and why are you gasping for air, Cass?”

  From inside the shower, came a pitiful sob. Silver turned eyes that might as well have been hot coals on Corinne. “What did you say to her? Never mind, get out.”

  Corinne used our shield against us, pinning our shoulders to the wavering safety glass and lifting us off the floor by inches. “I’ll be in my room when you need me, Cass. Rein Silver in or I’ll bring some pain you won’t forget even if she heals it.”

  With a jolt our heels slammed to the tile. I sent a pulse of power outward into the shield and pushed Corinne back. She happened to be standing on the forgotten towel so she slid a lot easier than I anticipated. Invisible arms latched onto our wrists and yanked up then out. I fought with effort to keep our limbs in place, being sure to betray none of it in my expression.

  Silver threw herself into the fray and our shield wrestling match swung in our favor. “She’s strong. Make nice with her for me. We don’t have time for this.”

  Exasperated I gave one last shove at our frenemy and barked, “Enough, Corinne! Truce. Please stay. We need you.”

  All emotion was gone from Corinne’s face. The only thing that gave her away was the pink flush on her round cheeks. She stepped off the towel in our direction as if to advertise her lack of fear. Her lips barely moved as she whispered, “Truce.”

  I sloughed off our shield like dead snake skin, wrapped fingers around the cold metal handle and opened the shower door. Kara was slumped directly under the spray with her forehead resting against the glistening grouted squares. Her shoulders were shaking. The ribs on her side stood out too much as I counted them with our eyes. She was naked down to her skin colored granny panties.

  Silver added, “We need to strip too unless you wanna trash our boots, genius.”

  I made short work of baring our utilitarian white sports bra and cotton bikini underwear. When I turned us inside the steamy box of woe, Corinne was folding our mound of clothes into a neat pile and I closed the stall off with a click.

  My twin jumped in the driver’s seat. “Kara?”

  I watched as our fingers grazed her protruding spine ridge. No reaction. Silver tugged the loosely held loofah out of her left hand, found the soap and began to clean her unresisting body. The heat would exhaust itself eventually and standing in running ice water did not appeal to either of us. Somewhere between washing her back and kneeling in the warmth to scrub her feet Kara stopped sobbing.

  Silver smacked her calf. “Lift your leg so I can wash the sole of your foot.”

  With words so thick with tamped down emotions they were almost unintelligible, Kara said, “Can’t. I’m ticklish. I’ll kick you in the face.”

  I felt our mouth widen in a tentative grin as Silver said, “Well you could at least help us up then.”

  Instead, Kara came down to us. She cupped our jaw in her palms and searched our eyes for a long time. The smile faded, forgotten. A strand of our dark brown hair was plastered to our eyebrow and sliding inexorably into our eyelashes. She picked it up and tucked it behind our ear then leaned closer. Wet lips collided with ours as her arms pulled our chests together.

  It was Kara who ended the chaste impassioned kiss. She gave a lopsided, sad smile. “I love you, Dynamite. All of you, as you are. Have you read your note from Gerome?”

  The well of confused, conflicting emotions clamoring for attention warred with recognizing her rapid shift in conversation. Silver touched a finger to our still buzzing lips. “Huh?”

  I recovered first. “Not yet. We’re a little leery. I’m guessing you read yours?”

  Water collected in fat tensioned drops in her upper lashes, making her blink rapidly to clear her vision. “I did. It said, ‘Choose well and be at peace’.”

  Silver barged into control. “So choose to live!”

  Kara leaned on our shoulder to stand and then pulled us up with her. She struggled to get her bedraggled underwear over her hip bone and Silver smacked her hands away to rip the side in half and toss them to her ankles with a splat. My twin averted our eyes from her dark curling pubic hair to reach for the soap again.

  Kara’s laugh was throaty and dark. “So you’re gonna wash me there too, huh? Don’t martyr yourself, give me the dang bar.”

  Silver slapped the slick white square into her open palm but held on while our eyes took in the contrast of our hands. Our hand was slight and sprinkled with freckles on the back while Kara’s was larger and gracefully slender. Silver’s voice was even deeper than normal. “I’d do more than clean you there if it would convince you your life was worth pursuing.”

  Her snort made Silver snap our attention upward. The green fringe around her pinpricked pupil was bright, almost neon with intensity. Wrinkles formed on the bridge of her nose and I realized she was laughing. “Oh, James and Mez would just love that wouldn’t they? You’re not attracted to me like that, Silver. Cass isn’t either. I don’t doubt you love me, but not that way. There’s a different reason you’re drawn to me, Silver. Think about it for a second.�
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  I knew immediately what Kara meant and when I mentally objected my twin caught the thread.

  Before Silver could yell at Kara in denial, Corinne interrupted, sounding embarrassed. “Should I be in here for this conversation? Would y’all like some privacy?” Her vague silhouette got smaller as it backed away.

  Kara finished soaping her privates and bumped us with her naked butt as she turned to rinse herself off. Silver was still in control of our body so we just stood there, frozen. Kara looked over her shoulder, saw the stunned, vacant expression on our face and yelled over the water, “Don’t take off, Corinne. This conversation is over for now. I’m getting out.”

  A pale arm reached out to grab the towel we’d draped over the stall and she patted her body mostly dry. The water was so hard in Lubbock it was difficult to keep one’s skin hydrated. I didn’t think she really cared but maybe it was a habit that was hard to break.

  Kara threw the white terry cloth in our face, not even bothering to dry off her short hair. “Don’t fret about it, Silver. I think Cass already knew somewhere in the back of her mind, whether she’ll admit it or not. First you rescued me from the Web and then you stopped a terminal illness from overtaking my body. I’ve had more years than I was ever meant to. If the Web hadn’t killed me I would have died from the cancer you got rid of with your DNA patch.”

  The colder air of the bathroom seeped into the shower as Kara opened the door and stepped over the raised lip. Before she could get away, Silver lunged back to life. “I don’t want to ride in your body when you’re dead, Mighty Mouth. We aren’t the Soul Eater! You’re a human being not a damn sock puppet.”

  She slammed the door closed in our face.

  Chapter Three: In the Flesh

  By the time we turned off the water and stepped out of the shower Kara was already gone and Corinne was standing quietly with a fresh towel extended like a bathroom attendant at a fancy spa.