She had already been pushed past her limits. Her soaked hair stuck to her forehead and neck, and her skin had paled to a sickly pallor under a sheen of sweat. The green tank top was darkened entirely from moisture. Her red-rimmed eyes met mine, she bit her lip, silently asking me to forgive her for her weakness.
The leaves overhead rustled louder this time.
“No, we cannot stop. I will not lose you.” Before Emma could respond, I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder and broke into a run. Hampered by the obstacles of the forest, I was still too slow.
A growl emanated from the trees above, reminding me of a gravel grinder I once heard in the city. Instinctively, I dropped Emma and pulled my sword just as a creature crashed through the limbs above. Landing in front of us, was a jungle cat as large as a bear, with long powerful legs and cat ears covered in thick, dirty gray fur. Leaves rained down on its feral head. Its jaw unhinged with voracious hunger, allowing us a preview of a hundred needle-thin teeth, dripping with bloody saliva. It stank of freshly killed meat.
Emma yelped and backed away, only to hit a ficus tree. If we tried to get away, we’d have to have to get around the tree trunk which was almost fifty feet wide. The beast had cornered us. It rose onto its hind legs, the only thing between it and Emma was me, and I had already calculated the odds weren’t in our favor in such close quarters.
The crack of a gun went off. The beast jerked with a roar. Frothy saliva flung every which way from its mouth, some smacking against my cheek. Another crack, then another, and another. The creature brayed in pain, turning to the nearest tree and climbed up and away, large splatters of blood plopping into the floor of dead leaves.
As it retreated, it opened my view to the gunman, or rather, gunwoman. Regina stood in the open door of a modified car, a rifle propped against her hip. It was a small, round car, with rusted, eggshell-blue paint. There were no windows and long mechanical legs protruded from underneath the cab, like that of a spider. Phillip sat in the driver’s seat. They were both in their usual garb of black cat suits.
“Need a lift?” Regina asked, with a small knowing smile.
Phillip leaned over the passenger seat to catch my eye. “We have an outpost not far from here. It’s hidden and protected against any casting.”
I wiped the stinking goo off my cheek. That meant my Masters wouldn’t be able to use a spell to find us. If we were walking into a trap, we could deal with that later, but right now we had to get away from the Luxis before last light. Before I could think too much, I turned around and grabbed Emma’s hand and rushed us forward into their vehicle.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Emma sat quietly. Her face was still white and her hand lay limp in mine. I wished she were still wearing her thick pink glasses. I wanted a glimpse of the girl with a secret smile as she read. But the glasses, and her ease had long been left behind. We’d have to muddle on without either.
As if sensing her shock, Regina turned around as Phillip easily navigated the vehicle through the dense jungle. “The Luxis have their own designer monsters trolling the jungle.”
Emma stuttered around her words then cleared her throat to speak more clearly. “You mean the Luxis made thatthing?”
Phillip threw over his shoulder, “It keeps out unwanted visitors.”
Regina and Phillip shared a secret smile, as if no place could truly keep them out.
It was then I remembered the last time I saw them, I had dead bolted them in a basement. I wondered if the family of the house came home and received a shock, finding a couple of strangers holed up in their basement, or if the agents of Veritas had found a different means of escape.
I looked out the window as we crawled through the jungle. Another stab of betrayal cut through me at Phillip’s explanation. I didn’t know the creatures had been designed. I had thought them indigenous to the area.
“They also used the creatures to hunt my brothers and me during the trials.” I said out loud. “If we lived, we were proclaimed Chevalier. If we died, supposedly we were sent back to hell. I was aware the creatures in these jungles are both abnormally intelligent and blood thirsty. Knowing this now, I suppose you could say their presence also ensures the right people stay in.”
Emma’s hand tightened around mine finally. When I looked up, her gaze was full of such compassion, it hurt me in a whole new way. Pity. I was something to be pitied. I swallowed and tried to give her a reassuring look. Now that I’d left the fold, they couldn’t hurt me anymore.
That’s what I told myself.
Last light came just as we arrived at the tree house. I felt certain between the sigils painted all over the inside walls and the height of our position, over fifty feet up into the air, that we would not be found. The agents had also climbed the car up into the limbs of a nearby tree, leaving it under a cover of many branches.
Regina sat on a stool near the small stone fireplace which cast dancing light onto the whole interior of the shack. They assured me they cast a concealment spell to hide any evidence of smoke. I was still doubtful. Phillip laughed, a deep, rich sound that sounded strangely familiar to me. I wasn’t sure if that was because I knew it from a lifetime ago, or if it resembled my own. I had only experienced maybe two or so belly laughs like that in my lifetime.
The only time I could recall was when Master Ylang slipped on a plantain peel in the courtyard. Master Violetta had been walking by and I was outside training. At first, Master Violetta’s laugh emerged as a sharp snort, and then another. Soon, she couldn’t help but throw her head back, her hands emerging from her robes to brace herself against her knees and laugh at Master Ylang as he slowly got up, rubbing his backside. A similar snort emerged from my own nose, and it took me several moments to realize Violetta was imbuing me with humor. It was contagious. Master Ylang glared at her for a moment before he began to laugh, too. Soon the three of us were laughing so hard, Master Ylang had to lean against a small flowering tree to keep himself upright. When Master Violetta wiped away some moisture from her eyes, we all managed to cease our laughter. I remembered it feeling wonderful, and it empowered the remainder of my practice though we never spoke of the incident again.
A sharp feeling of loss cut deeply through me as the memory our laughter was violently interrupted by the rush of knowledge that they had been lying to me. Even though they raised me, made me strong, I was nothing more than a tool to them. An obedient dog, told my only choice was to serve them. I pushed down the dark confusing feelings of loss inside myself, hoping to never taste their bitterness again.
When Phillip’s laughter died down, he said, “If you think you aren’t keen on being caught by the Luxis, imagine the many brave souls of Veritas who came to this outpost so near their enemy. No one has been caught here yet.”
“You mean brave spies?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow.
He shrugged with an easy smile then disappeared to do a sweep of the perimeter.
We had been offered clean water to drink and wash with. Emma passed out on the straw cot in the corner. The stress had taken its toll on her. I gently removed the now-empty tea mug dangling from her hand and set it on the crudely carved table in the middle of the tree house.
Meanwhile, Regina sat on the stool, sharpening her knife, doing so with an absentminded precision, indicating it was a task she did often. She kept her eyes on me though I did not start conversation. Fifteen minutes later, Phillip ducked back in through the doorway.
