Another text arrived.
You have maybe 5 hours before they breach the grove. The dimensional energy there will mask your signatures temporarily, but Rosenthal’s bringing equipment specifically designed to detect and disrupt clean dimensional sites. Plan accordingly. -RM
Five hours. Far less time than they’d thought.
Ben looked at Sidney sleeping in his arms, at the dying phoenix, and at the unicorn standing guard, silent and watchful. Five hours to rest, prepare, and somehow help Sidney survive an anchoring process that had permanently damaged her great-great-grandmother.
He pulled Sidney closer, careful not to wake her, and stared up at the woven branches overhead. The stars wheeled slowly across the gaps in the canopy, marking time they didn’t have.
His phone vibrated one more time.
Whatever you’re planning, do it fast. Rosenthal isn’t taking prisoners this time. -RM
Ben deleted the messages and turned off his phone to conserve the battery. Then he lay there in the dark, holding the woman he loved while she slept, and tried to figure out how to save her from a choice she’d already made.
Dawn was maybe four hours away.
He had no idea if that would be enough time.
Chapter Seven
By eight in the morning, I’d been awake for an hour, and I’d been watching Ben sleep for most of that time. Weak gray light made its way past the ancient grove’s canopy and fell in shifting patterns across his face, but I kept my attention on the steady rise and fall of his chest, memorizing the peaceful expression he wore…an expression I knew wouldn’t last once he awoke to the reality we faced.
I should have gotten us moving before dawn.
To be honest, I should have done a lot of things differently.
The phoenix dozed near the remains of our small fire, its plumage a sickening orange rather than the pure gold it should have been. Even in sleep, corruption radiated from it in waves. Those strange abilities of mine hadn’t been completely depleted the day before, although part of me wished they had. If they were gone, then maybe I could have tried to ignore how dire the phoenix’s situation really was.
A dull ache throbbed somewhere behind my temples, and I doubted it would get much better as the day progressed. The nosebleeds had finally stopped sometime during the night, but the tremor in my hands remained. Best guess, I had enough energy for minor sensing work. Anything more would push me into dangerous territory.
Unfortunately, the question wasn’t whether I could use my powers. The real question was whether I’d have any choice.
Rebecca Morse had sent us a message around two in the morning.
DAPI mobilizing. Major operation. Estimate arrival at your location 0800-0900. Rosenthal personally supervising. Equipment unknown but assume enhanced protocols.
Now it was closing in on eight, and we should have been long gone. To where, I had no idea, since it seemed we could be tracked wherever we went. I was pretty sure Rebecca would have said it didn’t matter, that we needed to be like Dory if we wanted to avoid capture.
Just keep swimming.
Ben’s eyes opened, and he seemed immediately alert despite the abbreviated sleep he’d gotten the night before. It still kind of amazed me how fast he could focus even without caffeine. Sure, he liked his cup of morning coffee as much as anyone else, but he could function just fine without it.
“How bad is it?” He’d taken one look at my face and read everything I wasn’t saying from my expression, but that didn’t stop him from sitting up and reaching for his equipment bag.
No point in sugarcoating things, not in the gray cold of that foggy morning. “Rebecca says they’ll be here within the hour. Sounds like Rosenthal’s coming herself.”
Ben paused in the act of pulling out his electromagnetic field detector and met my eyes. We hadn’t been together all that long, but it still seemed as if he could read in my face everything I wasn’t saying.
“How’s your energy?”
“Low.” I didn’t bother to elaborate. He’d seen me collapse yesterday, had watched me bleed and shake. He knew exactly how drained I was without me having to spell it out. “I can sense nearby electronics, maybe jam a device or two if I have to. That’s it.”
“Then we’ll run.” He started packing with efficient movements, no wasted motion. “There’s a cave system I found when I was studying Google maps of the area. We can be three miles away before they even reach the grove.”
The phoenix stirred as he spoke and lifted its head. Through the connection we’d formed during my failed cleansing attempt, I felt its exhaustion, its resignation. It couldn’t fly anymore, could barely walk. The corruption had continued to spread, tendrils of shadow fire eating away at its essence minute by minute.
“It can’t move on its own.” I couldn’t keep the defeat out of my voice. “We’d have to carry it.”
