Chapter 16–1

Carter

I knew when I was defeated. Admitting that fact and throwing in the towel was harder.

But then…I’d do anything for Emmalee Sky. And I mean…anything.

A SNAP SECOND LATER

I pulled my hands away from Em. Her angry words shot daggers straight through my heart.

“I’m leaving, I’m leaving,” I said twice, and then a third time. “I’m leaving, right now.”

Em relaxed only slightly as I backed away from her. She wet her lips. Her breathing was still coming hard and fast, but I noticed that her fingers had stopped shaking. She ran her thumb along the roll of tape searching for the end.

I wanted to reach out and help, but the kid tugged on the back of my jacket. I had forgotten that the girl was still next to me.

I took a deep breath and edged my way to the open door. I dangled my legs over the side of the truck. The girl curled up again against my side.

Dirk and Angie stood over Char. Angie’s gun was pointed directly at Char’s head. No one offered the big man a hand up when he finally rolled into a sitting position. The newcomer shook his head. He fingered his jaw and he widened his mouth.

By the time Char got to his feet Calvin and Verena had also exited the truck. Verena set the fyre egg lantern down near the opening. She opened the metal door and took out the now broken egg. I watched her face contort with regret as she gently put the dead Sapphyre Wings onto the ground and then pocketed the shell. She put another egg in. This time the glow was slightly brighter.

Stevron came to stand beside Angie. She waved the pointed gun at Char. “He’s the Tracker.”

My eyes widened with shock. We were in serous trouble.

My father had made my brothers and I, at a very early age, aware of what it meant to be the Tracker and of his capabilities. Of his uncanny sense to be literally a tracking device. Able to track anything, anywhere at any time. Even the Larcore and Prayers weren’t exempt. But what truly had my gut twisting in dread was the fact that the man before me could track Sapphyre Wings. People like Stevron and myself.

“What are you after?” I saw Angie mouth.

Char turned his head from her and stared directly at me. The icy glare he sent me had sheer terror ripping through my chest.

Me. He was after me.

Char didn’t reply to Angie’s inquiry but instead reached into his pocket and extracted a tiny jar.

My gut clenched. The jar of healing salve. So that’s where the jar had disappeared too.

Angie stepped froward. “You bastard!”

She understood the implications as well as I did. Jonas had swiped the jar earlier without either of us knowing and that my DNA was all over the tiny container both inside and out.

Calvin caught my eye by raising his hand to scratch at his receding hairline. “Fascinating.”

Char gave the elderly man a casual shrug.

Angie glared at Calvin. “Never mind, that,” she said and her lips contorted into a snarl. She probed Char’s shoulder with the gun. “What’s so important about Carter?”

Char shrugged again.

I sucked in a breath. Angie’s eyes flared and I was sure she was going to pull the trigger. “Answer me!”

Instead, Char posed a question of his own. “Why were you all sneaking off?” He still hadn’t taken his eyes from me.

Dirk took a step forward drawing my attention. “Quit playing around,” I saw Dirk’s lips move. “You didn’t track him for no reason.”

Char looked to Dirk and then surprisingly back again to me. “Talk and fear is rampant. Since the rumours have surfaced, people are starting to ask questions. They’re looking for answers. Unfortunately Jonah wasn’t too subtle, in his interest in the deaf kid, when he was grilling her.” He gestured a thumb toward Angie. “I supsect that’s why you all fled.”

Everyone’s eyes now turned to me. There was a mixture of fear and confusion in all their expressions. I felt like one of the tiny creatures that Calvin caught and studied carefully under his high-powered microscope. I tried not to squirm.

I looked at Angie. She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. She gave me what appeared to be a guilty shrug. “Jonah Barks asked if Carter had healing blood.”

My stomach clenched. I hadn’t known that. I’d been too busy concentrating on stitching people up to take notice of what Angie and the newcomer had been talking about.

I looked into the truck. Em’s head was cocked to the side. She was paying attention to our voices. Fear was stamped on her face. I hoped the fear was for me. I knew better. I turned my attention back to Angie.

“And he thought Carter couldn’t speak as well as not being able to hear.”

My eyes went to Char.

“You can speak, can’t you kid?” Char asked me.

I opened my mouth. My eyes darted back to Em. She had turned her head. “Yeah,” I said without looking at the stranger. “I can speak.”

Dirk came to stand next to the truck’s open door. I turned my head to face him. “You never answered me. What’s so important about Carter?”

Char made a face at Dirk, then cocked his head to me. He then glanced at the girl nestled at my side. “Why’d you insist on bringing her?”

I watched Stevron stiffen. I saw the flare of some primal fury ignite in the tall man’s eyes. I felt the same apprehensive tightening of my gut as I had earlier. I suddenly knew why. This girl was connected to Stevron. They had the same silvery swirl in their eyes. Was she his daughter? Even if she wasn’t, she was certainly of our people.

“She’s my cousin,” I found myself suddenly blurting out.

Stevron’s eyes flickered to me. None of the other members of our team questioned my lie. For all they knew, the kid could be my cousin.

Char’s eyes flickered to me, then his eyes settled beyond my shoulder.

I turned my head and saw that he was staring at Em. I didn’t like the way he was studying her. I spoke further just to distract him. “I recognized my cousin earlier and I asked Stevron to bring her with us.”

Char turned his attention back to me. I felt a moment of relief. My words seemed to have succeeded in taking Char’s interest away form Em.

“She deaf too?”

I nodded to the older man but he just looked back at me skeptically.

Verena shifted her weight. She took a step forward. “You mentioned rumours. What have you heard?”

Char shrugged. “Probably the same as you.”

Angie lifted the corner of her lip and probed Char with the end of her gun. “Why don’t you enlighten us.”

Char gave Angie a scowl. He glanced at the sky and rolled his shoulders. “We’ve heard that, ‘a blind, deaf and dumb, who can see into the future, hear the fyre egg song and talk to the Far Beyond. Who is both young and old, and old and young. One who will use healing blood and rise up-”

“Rise up?” Dirk interjected.

“And destroy our world,” Char continued.

I took a deep breath and glanced back to Em. She was still kneeling beside Jam. I could tell she was scared.

I looked to Angie and noticed that the gun she had pointed at Char had begun to shake. I watched her swallow and press her lips together. Stevron took a step closer to her.

“I don’t buy it,” Verena shook her head. “The rumours don’t make sense. They can’t be true. No one person can be all that.”

“Who says it has to be one person?” Char counteredand looked around. “You’ve got a blind girl, a deaf boy, two others that look like they are ageing faster than the rest of you, and then there’s him.” He gestured toward Stevron. “You haven’t made it a secret that he carries the healing blood. Who knows what other bits and pieces of the rumour you have hiding amongst your crew.”

I tried to swallow. Char was right. I fit more of the rumour than anyone knew. Aside from being deaf, I had weird glimpses of the future, and then there was Jake and Jake was from the Far Beyond.

I felt the child reach for my hand.

And now there was the kid. She hadn’t talked. Did that mean she was truly mute?

©Legend of the Sapphyre Wings by Janet Merritt