“Nothing.”
“That’s good.”
“You said it’s not deep?”
“It looks more like you got side-swiped by something. Thank goodness it didn’t crush your skull.” She continued to lift the heavy, wet strands, and tied them up with the piece of cloth. After she finished tying it back, he tossed her a lopsided grin. “Thanks.”
“That should help you feel a little cooler.” She patted his wet armor. “Bet that weighs a ton.”
“It’s no worse than when I used to go on field maneuvers with my father.”
“Yes, but back then you had the use of two good legsanda canteen of water,” she admonished.
“Your argument is valid, madam.”
She hung her head and tried to breathe. The air felt heavy. The humidity was suffocating. “Matt? I’m sorry. Mattox?”
He chuckled. “Matt’s fine. Nearly everyone calls me Matt anyway, except for Mo—” His voice suddenly broke. She glanced up to find he’d turned his face away from her. “Mom is the only person to call us by our full first n-name.” His shoulders began to shake slightly. Placing a hand on his upper arm, she was about to ask him what was wrong, when he said in a voice that tore her heart, “I ca-can’tfeelher anymore. I have no-no sense of her anymore.”
“What does that mean? That’s she’s…dead?”
Mattox shook his head. “It has to,” he weakly replied, and buried his face in his hands.
Caralas wrapped her arms around him, or tied to. His muscular arms and chest and back were too wide for her to reach all the way around, and she ended up clutching the edges of his vest.
“Maybe she’s unconscious.” It was all she could think of to say. She’d heard so much about the Mutah’s ability to connect to their spouses and children on a level no Normal human could fathom or understand.
“What about your father? Can you feel him?” she asked softly.
He shook his head again. “I don’t have that kind of connec-connection with him. Just Mom.” He sniffed but kept his face buried in his palms. “Misty…Luc…we all have that connection with her.”
“Do you have a connection to your brother and sister?”
Mattox took a deep breath. “Somewhat, but it’s nowhere near as strong as the one we have with her.” He heaved another breath, letting it out in a long sigh. “I’m sorry. What were you going to ask me?”
She kept her arms around him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “I was going to ask you how you ended up out here.”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. You’re lucky you came out of this thing with just a badly sprained wrist.”
“I hope it’s just a sprained wrist, and not broken.”
His chuckle sounded watery. “Trust me. If it was broken, you wouldn’t be able to grip me like that with your hand.”
She started to remove her arms, when he stopped her. “No. Don’t let go of me, Caralas,” he murmured so softly, she barely heard him.
“Cara. Most people call me Cara. And I can thank that damn tent for saving my ass. When I couldn’t find Pops during that craziness when we were all trying to get inside the compound, I went looking for him. One of our guards told me he thought he’d seen him go back into our tent. Pops wasn’t there. I started to leave it when I felt it being lifted up, and I knew I’d been sucked inside the storm. So I grabbed one of the center poles and hung on for dear life.” She rubbed her cheek against the moist padding. “I don’t know how long I was suspended inside. I just remember being twirled around and around, and upside down, and then it dropped me. I landed between some trees. The tent acted like a sling. Kept me from plummeting to the ground, but it was suffocating. But since it was dark, I decided to stay put until daylight. Once the sun came up, I cut my way out of it. I fell, trying to climb down out of the tree. That’s how I hurt my wrist. I was meandering around, out here in the middle of nowhere, when I saw the sun flashing off the shield. I thought someone was trying to signal for help. That’s how I came across you.” She gave him a squeeze. “Answer me something?”
“What?”
“Back at the compound, before I was blown away, I thought I heard you calling out for me.”
“I did. I thought I heard you answer.”
“I did.”
“Now I know why I never heard you again when I kept yelling.” He turned slightly to look at her. His tears had left dirty smears on his cheeks and face. Letting go of his armor with her good hand, she reached up to wipe the wetness away, and stared into eyes that were a soft, pale pink. “You look a mess,” she teased.
“Have you taken a gander at yourself lately?” he teased back, and tapped the shield where it lay on the ground in front of them.
