Gus had never been a real sister, but that sounded about right.
“A clue then.”
A small one.Nothing too big that it would make Kira ask questions as to who had intervened.The last thing Gus wanted was for her sister to come looking for her later.Just a little something to draw attention exactly where Gus needed it to go.
Her gaze landed on the Tsavitee hibernating in the corner.
Slowly, she smirked.“I think I have an idea.”
Gus hurried down the stairs, moving as fast as she dared in the dimly lit space.She wanted to put as much distance as she could between herself and the impending chaos above.
Hopefully, Kira got her message.There was not much more she could do.
Gus slowed when she reached the next level, sensing her seeds now moving perpendicular to her current position rather than continuing on a downward trajectory.
It would have been nice, but objects imbued with herkididn’t come with handy directions like “get off the stairs here” or “turn right there”.All she had to go off was a faint tug in her chest, leading her in a general direction.
Right now, that tug was saying this was her stop.
She made sure no one was standing guard on the other side before stepping out of the stairwell and letting the wall reform behind her.
Gus crept forward, alert for possible attack.She didn’t know what these humans and Tuann had up their sleeves.If they were smart, they would have seeded all the levels with traps, but she doubted this group possessed that kind of intelligence.Otherwise, they never would have purposely drawn Kira’s attention.
The new deck she found herself on looked exactly like the last one.Same hexagonal interlinked cells.Each one almost identical to the last.The only variation existed in size.Every once in a while, Gus traveled through cells meant for something more.The details of which she tried not to think too hard about.
A quarter hour into her trek, Gus stopped as the seeds reversed course and started moving faster.Much faster than earlier.
Gus fled back the way she’d come in search of a place to hide.Arriving in a large hexagonal cell that had exits branching off it in multiple directions, she looped to her right before slowing to listen.If she timed it right, she could slip up behind the Tuann and his companion once they passed to resume her stalking.
Unfortunately, fate intervened and the Tuann turned down the same branch Gus had sought shelter in.
Once again, Gus fled like a fox who’d been flushed out by a hunting hound.She blundered forward, doing her best to disguise the sound of her running footsteps.
No shouts of discovery came from behind her, so there was that.
Gus ran blindly, instinct guiding her until she entered a cell identical to all the ones that had come before.Except this one had a man, naked from the waist up, dangling by his wrists from the ceiling.
“Caius,” Gus whispered, taking in the bruised and battered body of Roake’s commander with a sense of horror.“What did they do to you?”
Stupid question.They’d tortured him.
She’d expected as much given the state he’d come to her in, but seeing it in person was different.Honestly, it was a little surprising he’d been left alive rather than just weakened through injury and pain.He must still serve some purpose for their plans.
Crossing the floor quickly, Gus reached up to unhook his wrists.
For her sake, it would be better to leave him hanging and flee before the Tuann arrived, but she already knew she wasn’t going to do that.Gus was no saint, but she didn’t have it in her to leave him to die.That’s exactly what his fate would be if he was still here when the Tuann behind her arrived.
Someone planned to “deal” with Caius.In Gus’s experience, that usually only meant one thing.
Death.
Gus stretched, her fingers exploring the edge of the metal cuffs as she checked on Caius’s state.She nearly jumped out of her skin when she found his eyes open and aimed squarely in her direction.
“Stop staring at me like you’re planning to kill me,” Gus instructed, projecting a bravado she didn’t feel.
Caius was like most injured animals.Dangerous to everyone around him, including himself.The pure hostility and violence radiating from him made alarm skitter up and down Gus’s spine.The sense that she was one second away from possible death making her even grumpier than usual.
Caius blinked, the bulk of his rage disappearing.“You came.I didn’t think you would.”
