PHOENIX (The Weaver Series Book 4) Read online

  Chapter Six: Something in my Eye

  Silver blinked a couple times and stared down at James. Her face melted into a flowing muscle spasm of horror. Kara’s finely arched brows drew inward and her chin wrinkled as her lips folded like the petals of a blooming flower. The red inside of her lip was exposed and glistening as my sister cried in great wracking heaves. She gasped for air as if she were starving and reached for me. I moved into the embrace with shocked zombie-like steps. My hand searched for and found the top of James’ head. A fingernail jabbed one of his knuckles before I curled my fingers around his.

  I whispered, “What happened, Silver?”

  She hiccupped and hitched twice before she could speak. “Do you remember when we got sucked into Lil when she mutated?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  She wiped her tears off Kara’s cheeks with the shaking hands. “It was like that but not like that. James couldn’t get Kara to answer and I got close to examine her essence. She wasn’t there, Cass. She just wasn’t there…”

  “And then?” I knew but I wanted to hear Silver say it.

  “I fought like hell but I got dragged into her. Now here I am. I’m trapped, Cass.” She started to cry again. “How am I going to live without you? Why? Why did she do this to us, to herself? Why?”

  James leapt into a standing position. His swollen eyes wandered in the direction of Ramon. The man was frozen, as if afraid to move. “Enough. We aren’t having this conversation right now. Cass can you check on Maggie and let her know what’s going on? We need to ensure Malcolm is stable.”

  I kept my arms around Kara’s body in an effort to comfort Silver and closed my mind to the physical. The wide expanse of twinkling lights and streaking Weavers traveling in the distance made me feel numb. Maggie’s orange hearth fire was close by hovering snug and tight against Malcolm’s cool blue moon.

  I sent in a tight beam, “How is he?”

  “Stable. Where is your sister? She should be here to tidy his wound up!”

  I felt myself expand as I realized Silver was no longer an add-on to my white light. Her essence was tethered in a regular attachment where Kara used to be. My best friend was well and truly gone. I could sense nothing of her. The once deep violet of Kara’s essence was fading to pale lavender as my twin’s bright white flooded it from the inside. Holy hell!

  Maggie finally noticed the difference. “Oh Lord! What happened, honey?”

  In a faint stream I sent, “Kara faded and Silver is trapped in her vacant body.”

  The undulating tongues of orange on Maggie’s surface halted their agitated dance and then swirled like sunspots. “I’ll be right there. Malcolm is stirring and I think he’ll be okay. All the major damage is healed but he’ll be a sore son of a bitch.”

  I let go of the Web and drifted into my body. My body—just me and no one else. Sorrow filled my bones at the knowledge. My soul was brittle. If I got a nudge from the wrong direction right now I might shatter. Determination surged from a place I didn’t know existed and I opened my eyes. James filled my vision. He narrowed his eyes at the contained emotion in my expression and gave a slight shake of his head. I bit the inside of my cheek and signaled I understood. We couldn’t appear weak right now. We’d been struck a blow, an awful one, but we had to gather ourselves together and move forward.

  Maggie coughed into her hand and Ramon raised his eyebrows at her. She ordered without preamble, “Corinne.”

  The shield around Malcolm peeled away a foot at a time but the blood stayed in place. Once the shield was gone, Corinne pooled the blood into a floating sphere about six inches across in diameter. Balled up and contained in rippling hovering mass, the amount of blood didn’t look so scary.

  Maggie had too much white around her brown eyes but she did her best to act like this wasn’t unexpected. From a door under the operating table she bent to withdraw a biohazard container with a lid. Maggie ripped off the square cover and the mobile blood surged into the opaque plastic seemingly on its own.

  I snuck a peak at Ramon and his age lined lips were pale around the edges. Maybe we were frightening. At this moment in time I’d definitely classify myself as terrified with a dollop of ‘oh shit’ on top.

  Malcolm twitched to life. One arm flopped onto his ribs and the other sought Maggie’s hand then stilled once he had a tight grip on it. His head, now thankfully in one solid piece, rocked side to side on the hard table as if he were having a bad dream. My aunt put a palm to his slick forehead and murmured shushing noises. Her fingers looked like curved sticks of chalk against the black of his skin.

  His eyes popped open, looking blurry and unfocused. “Hey, Momma, what’s got you sad?”

  Maggie rested her cheek against his and then surprised everyone by kissing him full on the mouth. She trailed a path of pecks all over his face, crying. She stopped the affection to practically yell, “Don’t you ever do that again, Malcolm Moore! Why did you take your shield down at all, dammit?”

  His free hand cupped the left side of her head, tangling in her frizzed out cap of orange-red curls. With a depreciating smile he answered, “It felt like I had something in my eye.”

  Maggie sputtered, “Something in your eye? Something in your eye! Ah!”

  Malcolm pulled her down and kissed her with abandon. Everyone looked at the ceiling, even Corinne and Ramon. I continued to watch them, not sure about how I felt. The door behind us burst open and this time it was Melody. Her face went from worry to confused back to worried again. It was dizzying to observe.

  The light in the room cast glowing warm highlights on Melody’s chin and slender neck. Her clavicles stood out every time she panted from her mad dash to the clinic. A pale green silk shell was untucked here and there around her belted waist and the herringbone slacks she wore were wrinkled where her thighs met. Melody was a beautiful towering woman, if a little harried and disheveled at the moment. She strode forward to the other side of the table and punched her brother in the bicep. “Get up so I can kill you!”

  Malcolm groaned as his stomach muscles clenched. “Holy shit, I feel like I’ve been steamrolled by a cheese grater! What happened to me?”

  James’ cell phone rang. He answered with a curt, “Lee.” He listened intently then said, “I’ll be right there with Moore.”

  Maggie protested, “He’s not going anywhere!”

  The slant of James’ eyes usually made him look mysterious and sexy; right now he only looked remote. “State Troopers are here to report his accident. They’re rather agitated since all they found was a sideswiped cruiser with blood and no sign of Malcolm. He needs to make an appearance and we need a story.”

  I shrugged. “Why give a false statement at all. Let’s just tell them the truth.”

  The silence was deafening. Silver stood straight by my side and draped Kara’s arm over my shoulder. She probably felt as vulnerable or worse. We weren’t meant to be separate.

  “Cass is right. There comes a time when Outsiders need to know what we are and what we can do. It would be better if we chose that time ourselves rather than having it chosen for us by calamity or happenstance.” Her voice sounded firm with conviction but I knew she was holding on by a thread.

  James, Corinne, Ramon and Melody said, “No!” in unison. They all smiled for two beats and then sobered.

  Melody took charge of the conversation. “Now is not the time, Kara, although I can appreciate the sentiment.” She looked down at her brother, mouth lopsided, teeth concealed. “Let’s not cross the Rubicon just yet, okay?”

  James looked at me and I could swear a light died in his eyes as he realized we were going to have to explain to everyone that Kara was gone and Silver was piloting her body. A vibration made my front pocket buzz, and I dug my own cell phone out. It wasn’t a number I recognized. I put it to my ear, “Hello?”

  A deep Spanish accent rumbled from the speaker. “Do you need my assistance?”

  I puckered my lips and clenched my jaw before I answered. “I
think we’ve got it, Chavarria.”

  “That’s not what it looks like to me.”

  I snorted so hard my sinuses hurt. “Kiss our ass.”

  His voice turned into a growl. “You’re not being very friendly.”

  “My heart bleeds for you.”

  I ended the call and rolled my eyes at James. He sighed and pointed a finger at Maggie. “Get him a wheelchair if it makes you feel better, but he’s coming with me.”

  Malcolm was already leaning on his elbows with small grunts of pain. His skull wasn’t marred by a blemish or a scar. He looked a little weak and ashy around the mouth but otherwise in fairly good shape for someone who’d just been in an accident. My eyes narrowed in thought—if it was an accident. Suppose this was another assassination attempt by the Warp Faction? I wanted to know more.

  Malcolm pushed at Melody and Maggie, knocking their offers of assistance to the side. “If I can’t make it on my own then I ain’t goin’, so let me stand up, y’all!” He managed to gain his feet.

  I always forgot how big he was until I got close. His head wasn’t as far from the nine foot ceiling as ours was. Silver sniffled and rubbed her eyes clear with the base of her palms. She ran a hand through Kara’s short wispy pixie cut and stilled when she didn’t feel our longer hairstyle. The same whiskey irises I saw in the mirror every day looked down and tears welled again, making her flutter Kara’s eyelashes. She whispered through Kara’s full lips, “This isn’t right. This isn’t right, Cass. Get me out.”

  I watched her swallow in a big gulp of air with Kara’s throat and Kara’s lungs with the knowledge she must be going crazy. The last thing I wished on her was to be trapped in a body we should be mourning and burying. I shuddered and Silver caught it. She misunderstood and withdrew her arm from my shoulders. My hip bumped her thigh. “We’ll sort it out. Have patience.”

  Kara’s body slumped in dejection.

  Jesus Ramon Ballesteros Soto chose that moment to put his two cents in. “I believe I have seen enough to report to the Council. You endanger all Weavers with your fast and loose leadership. In the less than twenty-four hours I have been with your clan I have witnessed several breaches of conduct—most in the last thirty minutes.”

  James scratched a sideburn. “Tell them what you will. We can’t stop you.”

  Ramon aimed serious, droopy eyes at me. “No, you can’t.”

  He reminded me of a sunbathing snake, seemingly lazy and content until his fangs sank into your leg. I gave a stiff nod of recognition and he gave it back with dignity—one opponent recognizing another. The door to the operating room stood open and when I turned to follow his exit I noticed the other three men waiting with their bedraggled baseball caps in their hands—all of them with hat hair. Ramon’s pockets hung loose off his backside and I realized his belt was the only thing holding up the faded denim.

  A laugh welled from my diaphragm into my throat and I couldn’t stop it. I became the center of attention, not all of it benign. The dream of the picnic that flooded and the panther paw going under the muddy debris-filled water flashed in my mind. It was a dream we’d had on our way to rescue Kara at from Shiva at Hazard’s. I could almost feel the red mark the Suburban’s window had left on our forehead. Now I thought I might finally have an inkling of the dream’s meaning.

  “Times are changing, gentlemen. You may change with them or go the way of every extinct life form before and after you. I am change, for good or ill. Happy trails, adios and ciao.”

  I put my arm around Kara’s waist and gave a beauty queen wave with a jaunty fake smile. Silver squeezed my ribs, and after a moist sniffle, raised her free hand to do the same.

  Maggie added, “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. Oh and Ramon…I wouldn’t contact me anymore unless it’s a patient emergency.”

  Manuel Reno glared daggers at all of us and John Doe followed suit. The senior Reno ignored us all as if we’d ceased to exist.

  James put a shoulder in Malcolm’s armpit. “C’mon big guy, let’s escort them out.”

  The larger man sucked air between his front teeth and grimaced. “Yeah, let’s.”

  As James passed he avoided looking at our side of the room. Silver cringed next to me. I made sure my voice carried into the hall all the way to James’ ears. “He knows it isn’t your fault, Silver. The situation is just terrible that’s all. None of us are in a good place, okay? You don’t need to feel guilty. You didn’t do this.”

  She mumbled an agreement as Melody perked up.

  “Feel guilty about what?”

  Maggie patted Melody’s arm. “Kara chose to fade while we were working on Malcolm. That’s Silver in Kara’s body. She’s stuck.”

  Melody’s eyes grew and one long-fingered hand flew to her neck. “Oh that stupid, stupid girl! Why would she do this? Poor James.”

  Corinne threw the shields back up. I could feel all the people under her umbrella and it felt good to know where they were. She flinched when Melody noticed her in the corner. They didn’t have the best relationship since the statuesque woman didn’t like Corinne dating her adopted son Kevin. A temporary thaw followed her mother’s death at Melody’s hands—literally at her hands because she pulled Cora’s head right off—but they’d settled back into their regular pattern of distrust and hostility after a month or so.

  Melody shifted on the other side of the operating table to face off with Corinne. “And why was Malcolm’s shield down? Are you trying to get my brother killed?”

  Maggie cut her best friend off. “Seriously, Melody? Get a freakin’ grip! Malcolm took his own shield down. She threatened Ramon with certain death if he interfered with our healing. She’s one of the reasons he’s alive so lay off!”

  The curly hair on Melody’s head was cut so short it reminded me of the raised black felt. Big gold hoops sashayed in her lobes against her dark skin and she turned wounded eyes at our aunt, making them swing double-time.

  “You’re taking her side?”

  “No, I’m keeping us together. If we fight amongst ourselves then we have nothing. Put this animosity aside. We have enough trouble, Melody. I’m giving you advice as a friend, your best friend.”

  Arms raised then slung down in exasperation and muttering to herself, the woman who’d looked like an Amazonian warrior of old when we first met her left the operating room in a fit of pique.

  Maggie aimed her words at a poker-faced Corinne. “She’ll come around, sweetie. Let’s go home. It’s been a long and truly terrible day.”

  Silver muttered beside me, “You got that right.”

  Chapter Seven: Fit Hitting Shans

  The smell of grease, cheese and pepperoni wafted through the vent from downstairs. Silver threw an arm over her the top half of Kara’s face so I could only see her mouth move. She was sprawled on top of the wrinkled comforter. My mind flashed, unwilling, to a particularly pleasurable moment with James and I stuffed it deep.

  “Cass, I can’t go down there!”

  I was busy trying to organize my thoughts about our next step with the Council and their obvious hostility to our enclave’s way of doing things. Mainly I just didn’t want to think about Kara and her selfish, self-centered last act on planet Earth. It couldn’t be avoided though. I jumped down from the dresser and turned to catch the mirror as it wobbled.

  “Silver, you can’t hide in here forever. What are you going to do when Mez comes home for starters?”

  She sat upright in a rush then grabbed her head, all flustered. “Mez! He’ll be back in less than forty-eight hours! How am I going to explain this to him?”

  Something else occurred to her, I could tell. It was probably the same question I was asking in my head. Why hadn’t Mez noticed something was wrong through the Bindao? Why wasn’t he here already? Just how was his loyalty divided? It wasn’t looking to be fifty-fifty at the moment. More like ninety-ten in Axsa’s favor.

  I put my fingers in my butt pockets after I nudged the shield out of the way. “May
be you should warn him so it’s not so much of a shock? I’ll go snag us a couple slices and drinks.”

  The expression Silver wore on Kara’s face telegraphed relief that I wasn’t going to force her to join everybody at the table. I wasn’t looking forward to facing off with James either. On one hand I cared about him and wanted to comfort him while he grieved. On the other hand no matter how many times I told my sister not to feel guilty, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling that way. Kara was responsible for her own choices, but she’d put us all in a shitty spot. I was angry, sad and confused. I missed my twin being where she was supposed to be inside. A gaping wound burned like a molten shard of alcohol coated glass in my heart.

  The thick synthetic fibers of the carpet muffled my footsteps as I made my way down the hall. A railed walkway led to the stairs. I stopped midway, in the secret watching spot that was just the right angle to avoid detection from anyone downstairs. I wanted to see who was in the kitchen before I committed to the descent.

  Open pizza boxes were scattered over the counter and a stack of napkins and pristine paper plates awaited the next hungry person. Reb ran squealing around the center island with Ray on her heels, their fine silky curls unmoving with the speed of their four year old energy. Corinne had every living soul in the house wrapped up tight. All except Melody who outright refused.

  The twins were racing for the last slice of ham and pineapple pizza. When Ray beat his sister he had mercy and agreed to split it with Reb so she’d stop pouting. I didn’t know if she would have done the same for her brother. He was an old man in a child’s body and I ached for him to be more carefree. Reb was the only one who knew how to bring out the child in him.

  A wash of cold, cold reality made the bottom drop out of my stomach. How were we going to tell them that Kara was gone? They’d just gotten the bounce back in their step after Gerome’s death. Absently my mind leaned toward the warmth and certain comfort of my twin only to find it missing. I dragged in a deep breath but it felt like hot lava oozing down my windpipe. Unshed tears burned at the corner of my eyes and I clutched my middle in pain.