PHOENIX (The Weaver Series Book 4) Read online

  James tilted his head so far back the capillaries around his Adam’s apple were deprived of blood and the blanched skin looked like a visiting miniature ghost. His laugh shook the room, or at least seemed to. When his chin came level he had tears in the corners of his eyes and he smeared them away with the cuffs of his sleeves. “My life is never going to be boring…ever.”

  I slid into control and smiled so hard the corners of our mouth burned. “You betcha!”

  The snap of the hair band at the base of our neck let me know he was finished. He’d made short work of our hair and I discovered I didn’t mind him fussing over us either. Maybe he’d practiced on Kara when they were younger. The thought of Kara was sobering. I diverted myself intentionally. James’ skills far surpassed Ela’s in the not-causing-pain-department and I wondered idly if he could braid. I pictured him patiently sitting behind us on our bed, leisurely weaving locks in and out as his fingers grazed our scalp. Something low in our stomach tightened and my twin shoved me into the moment with a jab of impatience.

  Silver jammed our feet into our boots and we were out the door with James on our heels. The hall was deserted. For a reason I couldn’t pin down I changed course in an abrupt about face, running right into white cotton and a row of slick translucent buttons. James didn’t even ask why, just steadied us by the shoulders and silently followed us to Kara’s room. When I raised our hand to knock, Corinne’s door opened across the way, making me jump.

  Her voice came out cutting. “She’s with me. Apparently the walls are thin.”

  Blood rushed in a torrent up our neck and embarrassment flooded Silver and I both. I completely forgot her room shared a wall with ours. Good gravy, what sorts of racket had she heard? Ugh!

  James recovered first. His tone was a poor imitation of cool and collected. “I see. We have to relieve Maggie of the visitors. We’ll be back as soon as possible and then maybe we can talk over dinner? Whose turn is it to cook tonight?”

  Corinne’s eyes dulled with bored irritation. “The sooner the better, Lee. She’s invading my space like the blob.”

  Kara’s disembodied voice emerged from somewhere beyond the partially open door. “Nah, the blob can’t stand the cold and you’re an ice queen if I ever met one.”

  Pale blue eyes rolled. “Get your butts back fast before I smother her with a pillow. Oh, and it’s my turn to cook so I’ll call something in for Kevin to bring home from the front gate—Thai or pizza?” Her lips pursed in irritation. “Shield up while you’re gone.”

  Well at least she wasn’t going to try her hand at domesticity again. The last attempt had landed us all in the driveway with black smoke pouring out the front door. I could still remember the smell of burning plastic, fish and orange slices. Silver wrinkled our nose at the memory.

  James and Silver answered at the same time. “Pizza!”

  Thai food sounded better but I was outvoted. Damn.

  Corinne closed the door without a goodbye. She was so hard to read. To think we’d gone from mortal enemies to uneasy allies in less than a year. The one constant in life was change—for better or worse.

  James took the lead in the hall then stopped. “Bend?”

  I paused. “Yeah. Silver can check with Maggie about where.”

  Silver groused, “Oh I can, huh?”

  I argued back out loud, “Technically I’m the older sibling so you should follow my orders without all this smarty pants back talk. Quit wasting time we don’t have or Maggie’ll be pissed.” James’ eyebrows arched and his upper lip curled in silent amusement.

  Silver took over our mouth. “What are you smiling about, Romeo? This is a sister thing, no boyfriends allowed.” She left before he could answer.

  He frowned in consternation. I kissed his unhappiness away. James rested his forehead on mine, murmuring a mantra under his breath, “I do love you. I do love you.”

  I was worried he was serious for a second until his eyes sparked with contained humor. I hissed, “Ass.”

  Whatever he would have said was lost as Silver roared into our head. “Something’s happened to Malcolm!”

  James took in our fear and alarm, instantly on alert. “What?”

  I pulled our energy field in place and quested for his physical signature on its expanse. Malcolm was still shielded but only partially. It felt like a three dimensional sensory phantom behind our eyes as I pictured his body and tried to figure out what was vulnerable as I closed the gap. When he was engulfed I realized it was his head that had been unprotected and my fists clenched. What the heck had he been doing that he would leave one of the most important parts of his person vulnerable? James was looking expectant and worried.

  Silver belted, “Corinne! Kara! Emergency!”

  They bolted through the door and into the hall. Corinne was all business. “I felt you manipulate the shield on Malcolm. This is why my concentration shouldn’t be scattered. What happened? He told me this morning he was patrolling on US 62 between here and Brownfield.”

  My thoughts were moving at warp ten thousand but I had time to be impressed that she could make Malcolm check in at all. “We’re gonna ‘port to the clinic. Link up, Kara, we need the juice. Corinne, grab an arm and hang on.”

  Our shields melted away in caramel tide as Corinne withdrew them. The invisible caress used to be disconcerting but it was becoming a fact of life. Kara looked pale and determined. Her hand on ours was shaking and cold. I hoped she wasn’t in shock or something. Black, dime-sized pupils with only a thin ring of iris regarded me with fear.

  Kara mumbled a breathless, “I hope he’s okay.”

  James took her hand and squeezed then grabbed mine. We shared a look. At least she’d used the word ‘hope’ in a sentence, even if it wasn’t about herself. The jolt of racing, singing power was exhilarating and frightening. Silver threw the image of the operating room at me and the energy began to loop in an elliptical orbital path, faster and faster still. When we were at an optimal peak I willed us to the clinic.

  Chapter Five: Switch

  As soon as the sterile square confines of the white walled operating room solidified I heard Maggie’s frantic voice. When Silver turned our head, Maggie was so close we almost bumped noses. Her breath was hot and humid with worry as she barked, “Pull Malcolm here now! Can you bring him directly to the table, Cass?”

  Kara and James stayed linked and our hands were beginning to get slick with sweat. Corinne let go of Kara’s bicep and I could feel her flexible barrier enclose our joined bodies as she backed up into a corner to make sure she was out of the way.

  Silver latched onto Malcolm’s Web essence and we exerted the special magnetism that would suck his mind, body and soul to us. We concentrated on the outline of his body and tried to arrange him carefully in a supine position on the metal operating table. This was a first for us. We’d pulled Reb and Ray through the Web but they’d been conscious and temporarily invisible from their first light bend. I lifted our eyelids when Maggie sucked in a terrified breath.

  Malcolm’s shaved formerly blue-black skull was covered in a perfect, even cap of blood that was trapped between the shield and his head. My aunt’s face went still and white. I worried she might faint for a second, and then she pulled herself together.

  Voice deadly sharp, Maggie asked Corinne, “Compression? It would be like two craniums one outside the other, with the blood trapped it could cause more damage.”

  Corinne nodded. “It would but I put extra pressure in one spot to stem the bleeding. I’ll mark it for you. The excess I can’t curtail will drift and equalize as I drain the air.”

  A knob of the malleable force field rose, thin as a pencil, to mark the danger zone. It was beyond creepy. Malcolm looked so helpless. It was terror inducing to see someone so big and strong so wounded. He could die. I wasn’t ready for that. Sure enough I could see a slow migration of blood in a controlled oozing path down his neck. When the redness hit his collar it didn’t absorb, it floated like a thin crimson mer
cury river. What the hell? Silver narrowed our eyes at Corinne. She dipped her chin in recognition of the gift she’d somehow acquired from her mother—scarier and scarier.

  Silver nudged me gently out of the way to order, “Maggie, you’re in the Web with me. Corinne you hold the pressure and guard the room. Cass you’re the information relay and the Lees are our human batteries.”

  James snorted and Kara just stared blankly at Malcolm’s arm where it dangled off the table. His feet and ankles jutted off the end as well. There wasn’t anything big enough to hold this man. We had to get him back up and running. No more deaths. No more losing people we loved to violence for a bit. The universe needed to cut us a damn break.

  Raised voices came from the hall and the door slammed open, hitting the wall and bouncing into David’s side with force as he blocked Ramon from entering the room.

  David turned his head to glance at Maggie over his shoulder, arms spread to keep the other man from coming any closer to Malcolm. “I told him you didn’t need help, Mags.”

  Jesus Ramon Ballesteros Soto looked like he was about to knock David’s block off. “I am a physician!” He dark eyes took in our unconscious patient and the way we were all arranged in the room.

  James squeezed our hand and Silver darted a glance at him. He wanted us to take charge. Silver turned us back to Ramon, who now wore an angry confused expression.

  My twin’s version of our voice was even deeper than normal. “David, let him in and keep the others out.” She narrowed our eyes as the nurse shot one last look at Malcolm then closed the door. I felt our top lip thin as she pulled it back from our teeth. “Go stand by the blonde in the corner and don’t move or talk. If you break the rules Corinne will remove you.”

  Ramon threw his shoulders back. “This man needs a hospital!”

  I didn’t respond right away and neither did Silver—we stared him down.

  Maggie sucked in a sob and her words were filled with panicked entreaty. “Do as they ask—please?”

  The older man exhaled in disgust and joined Corinne with bad grace. Bright light glinted off the black streaks in his mostly steel gray hair. A ridge went all the way around his head from the band of his missing hat. I didn’t want him here. He wasn’t anything but a hindrance. My concentration veered to saving Malcolm and I shut out everything else.

  Silver shrugged our shoulders and thought, “I’m off for a damage assessment. Tell Maggie she needs to join me.”

  My aunt walked to the table and her hand hovered over one of Malcolm’s wrists. I felt the malleable field shrink away from her touch as our personal body guard extraordinaire adjusted it without a twitch in her impassive expression. Maggie gasped when her skin encountered his.

  I broke the tension. “Mags, Silver’s waiting.”

  Pale fingers clasped around Malcolm’s veined and muscled forearm, Maggie closed her eyes to join my twin.

  Kara’s voice startled everyone. “Do you think he’ll make it?” She sounded like a frightened child.

  I angled our head to catch her unfocused gaze. She blinked twice then came back to the now. The skin under her eyes was gray with a hint of purple and with her bloodless lips, she looked like a wraith. With her current mental state I hated that she had to be involved in all this. “I can’t answer that question yet, but Silver will know in a second. It’s probably not wise to bother her once she begins. I don’t want to break her concentration at a crucial moment.”

  The rushing power we’d been studiously ignoring pulsed as my twin drew a massive shot of energy. It replaced itself in a butterfly-in-stomach, vertigo inducing wash. James opened his jaw wide to equalize the pressure in his ears and Kara swayed, looking inebriated. I pulled her teetering body toward me and she shuffled closer to rest her cheek on the top of our head with a contented sigh.

  Bright green eyes flashed worry at me, and I pressed our lips together in response. There wasn’t anything James and I could do. We were trapped in our positions by need, and Kara would just have to hold herself together until Malcolm was out of the woods. Another intimate tug, like a feathery flaming rope, ran through our core as Silver drew on us again.

  Ramon groused in a sarcasm saturated tone, “So I’m not allowed to ask any questions?”

  Corinne replied, “No sir, you may not. If you distract any of us our Malcolm could die. If he dies as a result of your interference I will pull you apart one limb at a time.” She delivered the threat emotionlessly and her sky-blue iris stayed fixed around her pupils like a ring of liquid nitrogen.

  I mouthed ‘our Malcolm’ at James and he frowned as he directed a warning at Corinne. “Be polite, Harris. No killing visiting clan—it’s against the Rules of Commerce.”

  She laughed and the sound was chilling. “I’m no diplomat, Lee. I protect what’s mine.” She angled sideways to face the older man standing stiff and angry by her side. “Are we clear, sir?”

  Ramon made a mask of his features that resembled every clichéd, stoic portrait of an Indian Chief throughout history. His wrinkled brown hands gave him away as he fisted them by his jean covered thighs. “Oh I understand you, my dear. I will not forget your words.”

  James dropped his chin to his chest in defeat. I felt sorry for him a little bit. He kept trying to calm the waters as the people he cared for splashed around him with abandon. Corinne’s remark to Kara in the bathroom zinged to the forefront; ‘life is hard, get over it’, and I smiled, amused that I agreed with her so completely.

  Silver interrupted. “It looks like blunt force trauma to the left side of his head. The impact pattern could be from his skull slamming into the driver’s side window of his cruiser. He’s well and truly out, so we haven’t been able to communicate but I think that’s for the best while we patch him up. There’s some spinal damage, whiplash at the most, that’s about all. He’ll be fine. I already stopped the bleeding so Corinne can release the pressure point for now. I’m not going to check back in until we’re done. Keep the juice coming, I’m gonna need it, Sister.”

  She was gone again before I could reply, and I repeated what she said to the room at large. Ramon’s dark eyes were hooded in contemplation and then he closed them to tattle on us in the Web. I bit the middle of our upper lip through the protective veneer and wished for just a moment I could feel the pain of my clenched teeth. The thought brought me back to myself and I zeroed in on Malcolm again. The bleeding stopped and Corinne’s nifty trick of manipulating the escaped blood was making his head look like a morbid lava lamp.

  Kara sagged against my side, her body dead weight. I staggered, then caught my balance. James moved closer to help but none of us broke the circuit. My head was being pushed down by her shoulder and I couldn’t see her face. I snapped at James’ feet, “Check on her in the Web!”

  I heard Corinne swear in colorful terms I hadn’t known she knew. Silver must have felt my alarm because she prodded me, “What now? I’m still working on Malcolm!”

  I shored up our knees with power until I felt like a concrete pillar under an overpass. Geez, Kara was heavy. “Kara’s passed out and James is in the Web trying to figure out what’s up. If Malcolm’s stable go check on her.”

  My twin flared frustration and mental exhaustion but obeyed.

  Silver tried to tamp down the dread and concentrate. Malcolm was in good enough shape to leave but she still wanted him in top form before she chewed him a new asshole. The timing couldn’t be worse for Kara to have a mental breakdown.

  The brilliant green of James hummed with frantic energy. His mental shouts were grating. “Stop yelling! Let me check on her.”

  His words were so garbled and weak I almost preferred the yelling. “Help her, Silver, please?”

  Kara’s essence felt clean and dull. There was nothing to communicate with. Emptiness answered. With false hope, Silver drew close to the violet orb as it rapidly lost its vital color. The attachment to her brother was thinning to nothing. Something snatched at Silver. It wouldn’t let go. Before
panic could truly set in she tried to reach out to Cass and met resistance. Spinning stars that blurred in multi-colored puke-inducing funnels accompanied James’ alarmed shriek and then stillness ensnared her.

  The room was quiet. Maggie breathed evenly with her eyes closed and her hand on Malcolm’s forearm. Corinne watched me with wide unblinking eyes. Ramon leaned casually against the wall with his fingers tucked in his front pockets and his wrists bent. Steady black on dark brown eyes with scattered red veins in the corners regarded me. Our face remained emotionless and he looked away first. His gaze snapped upward at James.

  An anguished sob erupted. “Kara!”

  The power circuit cut off. James dropped my hand to wrap his sister in a bear hug. Her arms dangled loosely and her legs sagged. Cold seeped in. I felt as Corinne lowered the shield and it crept like a phantom amoeba back to its master. Something inside me was missing. I’d never felt so alone in my life. Even the time when Silver had hidden her existence from me as a prisoner of the Warp Faction I had still heard an inner voice. Right now, all I could sense was disquiet and dread—no Silver.

  Kara’s mouth gasped for air and James buried his face in her neck. “Oh thank God!”

  With a look of extreme disorientation her eyelids fluttered open. She frowned at the top of James’ now crooked part then turned to regard me. As I watched the green in her iris faded to be swallowed by a light brown that matched my own.

  Silver’s husky, confused voice confirmed my worst fears. “Why am I looking at us, Cass? How come I can’t feel you?”

  James held Kara’s shoulders and pushed her occupied body at arm’s length. “Silver?”

  My sister nodded Kara’s chin once, twice in slow motion.

  His lips trembled and he slapped a hand over his mouth before he crouched on the floor. One hand went to the back of his head and his knuckles turned white as he keened in grief.