I left Ronnie and Tatum to tend to the girl and turned around to find Damien watching me keenly. Jeremy was strapping the new arm cuff prototype onto him while sneaking glances at thecave.
“She’s got family to go to when she wakes up,” I toldJeremy.
He may have been mute, autistic, shy, or whatever his thing was, but he was intelligent and I could see he cared. The smallest of nods told me he’d comprehended what I’dsaid.
Jeremy leaned over and whispered something in Damien’s ear that caused him to pale a little. “I know, buddy. I miss themtoo.”
I couldn’t take the heaviness of the moment. Since we’d arrived, everything was so… dark. It was affecting me more than normal. “I’m going to walk the perimeter,” I said, then started to inspect what was behind this little cave rockcropping.
I just couldn’t sit still watching the young orphan, Lucy, sad mute, Jeremy, and pale devastated, Damien, one second longer. The edges of depression ebbed into me, and I tried with all my might to ward itoff.
I hadn’t realized Maxine had dropped in until I saw her step next to me. She must’ve been over with Brisk behind the pods at theperimeter.
“Hey,” she said as we walked, scanning thearea.
“Hey,” I replied curtly. I wanted to bealone.
“Youokay?”
I shrugged. “Just a hard night, and it hasn’t evenbegun.”
She nodded. If anyone knew how I felt, it was Maxine. That girl had more mental diagnoses and pills than I could remember; yet she still found a way to push through and show up every day. She was the strongest among us. I never told her that, but I envied herresilience.
“Every night is hard for me, but I keep going.” Sheshrugged.
“Why?” I asked her honestly. We didn’t talk about the dark stuff much, because it was too easy to get lost init.
She gave a small smile. “You guys. Life. Rain. Ice Cream. Babies. First kisses. Coffee. Revenge. Stuff likethat.”
Whoa.I stopped and turned to her. “Jesus, Maxine. You should become a shrink, you know that? You just listed off like half a dozen things I take for granted, and didn’t even think to be happyabout.”
“Dr. Maxine Cross at yourservice.”
“Just maybe don’t mention the revenge part to your patients. Your crazy showed when you didthat.”
A peel of laughter escaped her and I smiled, swinging an arm around my dear friend. “Okay, don’t tell Ronnie this, but you’re kind of my favorite,” Iconfessed.
Maxine gave me a beauty queen smile and winked. “You’re my favorite too, Kitty.” I squeezed her neck in my hold and she laughed. “Okay, okay, Commander Kit Steele. Badassextraordinaire.”
I released my chokehold and stepped away from her. “That’s more likeit.”
A low whining noise sounded behind me and I spun, crouching low as Maxine dropped in beside me. We snuck through the foliage toward the noise, and when the pods cleared and I had a visual of the source, my mouth droppedopen.
OhGod.
“Round up the others and let’s move out,” I whispered toMaxine.
This place was no longer safe. We’d have to spend the night on the move. Those were the worst nights; when you woke, you never feltrested.
She obeyed without a word and then I was running, heading toward the beautiful Galadrias that were dying, spilling all of their rainbow-colored blood onto the alienearth.
Chapter Eight
Iskiddedon my knees into the puddle of glowing greenish purple blood. This Galadria was still alive, barely. Her breathing was causing a sputtering of fluid to come out of her nostrils. I scanned the others and could see that they were most certainly dead. I didn’t see Dawn with them, thank God. I remembered then how Damien had shot them out of the sky the other night, and it killed me. Knowing Dawn had felt that pain, that she was feeling this pain now. Among them was a sentry, beheaded and completely limp, scorch marks around his body as if he’d been burnedalive.
Ileanedin with my face close to the purple creature, and stroked the fuzzy skin around her eyes.‘Whathappened?’
I knew by speaking to one Galadria, I was speaking to all of them. To Dawn. They all knew me as shedid.
