Dreamweaver, page 20
“How do we do that?” Anessa flipped her ponytail off her shoulder. “We’re completely outnumbered and even if Kenji could Spin us some weapons, we won’t be able to get close enough to use any of them before being blown to smithereens.”
The throbbing in my hand momentarily drove the thoughts from my mind, buzzing around like maddened bees with nowhere to land. Nothing to sting. I looked to Kenji, who swayed where he sat, only upright because Venny was holding on to him while Dane worked on his ankle. He had nearly reached his limit and asking him to Spin might shove him over the edge.
I looked to the crane as silence fell from the rooftop, at Aro grabbing hold of the hook.
“We don’t need to get close to them,” I said. An idea had formed but it was certainly a risk. Not like we had much of a choice, though. “We will have to use what we already have, with one exception: Kenji. We’re going to need something really heavy to throw.”
He lifted his chin to look at me, paler than ever. “Like what?”
“Uh.” My mind raced. “Can you Spin us some… kettlebells? Maybe fifty pounds each? Quickly, please?”
“Sure,” he complied. He tapped Dane on the forehead. “I need your essence, bro. Stop healing and give it over.”
“This is nuts,” Cay sighed, scrubbing wearily at the dried blood across his cheek. “Completely crazy.”
“Got any other ideas?” I lifted the first weight Kenji made with my good hand, trying not to topple over, and glanced back. “No really, do you? Because this is a shit plan but it’s all I’ve got.”
“The crane is already weakened from the solarbombs,” Cay conceded. “Plus, we have Aro to help. This might be our best shot. No pun intended.”
“Let’s take it then,” Dayja said, smiling reassuringly at him. He pinched his lips together and blushed furiously in response.
I rolled my eyes heavenward. “Deities above, grant me the patience to deal with this nitwit tonight.”
“Stay with Kenji,” Dane told Dayja, watching Kenji worriedly as he slumped forward, breathing hard. At his feet lay a pile of kettlebells, as ordered. “If he feels lightheaded, help him lay down immediately.”
“Got it.”
Aro had nearly reached us by this point, shouting down to us from where he held on to the cable, “Brace yourselves, kids! They’re looking for a fight and they’re heading our way!”
“Get down here, we need your help,” Dane called up. “You need to hold the hook as an anchor for Norie to get down. Follow after us when she’s safe.” He hefted up a weight in either hand, like picking up a pillow from the floor, and hurried to the edge of the park. Cay was close behind, shadowed by Venny, while I labored to bring over the solitary weight I carried.
I faltered for a moment in alarm when I saw Norie leaning out of the operator’s cabin, slinging the dust cover over the cable like a harness. On the other end, Aro dug his heels into the grass, having wrapped the cable around his hips, the hook snagged into place to hold it there. His hands were braced on the wire.
And from the far side of the park, where the road wrapped around the library, headlights bounced across the ground as armored solarcars raced straight for us.
“Now!” I bellowed.
Norie jumped from the cabin, latching onto the sheet like a prickly bur stuck inside fur. She shouted a stream of Spanish that I couldn’t catch as she zipped down the wire, her hair a curly banner behind her. Smoke drifted from the fabric as it slid, and I pleaded for it to hold.
Where he stood, Aro yelped as he was yanked forward. Bending his knees, he leaned back, almost parallel to the lawn, his face ruddy with effort.
And Dane was spinning, a kettlebell in his hands, grunting as he let the thing fly. It banged into the crinkled siding of the mast, deepening the angle that it leaned.
Norie screamed as the wire jolted, spinning her clean around in a circle before righting. Aro unlatched the hook the second that she let go of the dust cover, which had ignited, flames licking at the cable. She rolled across the grass, winded, but alright. The cable snapped back from where Aro had anchored it.
Straight for the three men currently attacking the foundation of the crane which groaned, creaking and grinding as it started to sink. The bolts on the west side of its foundation ripped from their places and the entire structure shuddered threateningly.
Pitching myself forward, I only thought to knock it off course somehow, but the hook at its end snagged into my uniform’s jacket near my armpit, biting deep. Crushing pain stole all the sound from my voice as I screamed silently, dragged along, dashed through the air as fast as a leaf caught in a windstorm. Pulled right along.
The tower crane broke with a resounding snap, falling forward, towards the power bank that Kenji had coveted.
Yards from where I had been, I plowed into pavement as the cable loosed, and I rolled like a kicked ball.
The mast struck the power bank, and the resulting eruption sent a shockwave through the night as a plume of fire ballooned towards the stars. People’s screams were drowned out as the library’s walls cracked. Scaffolding folded in on itself like a collapsing house of cards.
It all exploded into chaos.
Chapter Seventeen
I rolled to my back, grimacing as every movement I made caused my shoulder to shriek at me. The hook bit into the meat of my upper arm, next to my scapula.
Wheels tearing across grass rolled my head around. The heavy vehicles were nearly on top of me, the one in the front blinding me with its high beams. I had to move. It was going to run right over me. Squish me like a melon. Move, you idiot, move!
A second armored solarcar barreled into the forerunner. Brakes squealed and glass splintered. Both vehicles spun, crumpled like accordions, the vehicle that had come out of nowhere flipping over to its side. The resulting mashup behind the totaled pair was a thing of beauty. Tires spun out as the drivers swerved, some crashing into trees, others hitting their comrades. And it was all outlined by the fire that scoured through the building materials before the library. Figures darted around that fire like a swarm of ants.
“Enea? Enea?!”
Someone was climbing out of the sideways vehicle. I recognized him and his homemade crocheted solarband cover and I blinked, wondering if I was hallucinating.
“Enea! Answer me! Enea!”
Treau wobbled a little as he stood, shaking his head like his ears rang. He looked directly at me, watching me for a moment. Then he nodded once and turned away, vanishing from view among the confusion.
“I’m here.” My words rasped hideously, and I coughed to try again. “Over here. I—”
Then Dane was there, hovering above me, laboring for breath. His eyes were huge. I could see the reflection of the fire in them. The terror.
“Holy deities above,” he said, his voice cracking right down the middle. “I thought you were dead.”
“It was Treau. Treau was here—”
“Enea!” Dayja sobbed, skidding to a stop. “What happened?” She cried harder as she spotted the hook in my arm. “Help her, Dane. Please, Dane, please!”
Dane’s expression was lost, a little wild. “I’m out of essence. Kenji used it. I need more—” He froze when I tapped my wrist against his clavicle, pressing the essence beads there into his skin.
“Not like you to lose your head,” I mumbled, almost sighing. I closed my eyes. I was ridiculously tired.
“Hold still,” he said, sounding more like himself. He tore at my uniform, baring my shoulder. “It has to come out. I’m sorry.”
He hadn’t even finished speaking before he pulled hard on the hook, extracting it inch by inch. An awful squelching sound filled my ears, and I could feel a new gush of warm blood slither down my arm and splash my ribs. I bit my lip to keep from screaming. I would bite a hole if I had to.
The lovely glow of his Spinning made me open my eyes so I could watch him work. He threaded essence into the wound, weaving it expertly, and I sighed with relief as the pain eased, like a jaw full of sharp teeth being pried open, forced to relinquish its grip.
“It’s not finished, but I’m all out,” he announced soon after. Taking hold of my wrist, he smeared blood across my beads as he held them up, like he could somehow wring more essence from them if he kept trying.
“Can she be moved now?” Cay asked from further back where I couldn’t see him. “We need to go. Venny’s wrangled the bikes over and we’re just barely keeping Aro back from going in and, as he claims, single-handedly beating each and every bastard over there to a pulp. Those soldiers won’t be distracted by containing that fire for much longer.”
“I can move,” I said irritably, hating how I was being talked over. I fought to keep my expression calm as I slowly sat up; I hadn’t realized until I could see it around me that I was lying in a puddle of my own blood. No wonder Dayja had freaked out. Everything tilted sideways and my chin hit my chest as I slumped, feeling boneless.
“Let me, En,” Dane said. He slipped an arm beneath my blood-soaked shoulders and my knees, lifting as gently as he could. My head lolled back against his chest like I’d become a ragdoll.
How embarrassing.
“What a stupid idea. Never should have suggested it.”
Dane’s strides carried us at a rapid pace across the park. Tree branches slashed through the night sky as he went, the leaves whispering to each other as a breeze stirred them. “Your idea worked just fine. It’s your whole throwing-yourself-into-harm’s-way-without-thinking that nearly got you killed.” I could no longer see his expression in the dark, but his voice held something new in it as he continued, “Please stop doing this to me.”
Swallowing, my throat scratchy with thirst, I was unsure of how to answer him. How to give him what he asked for. What was he even asking for?
“A light,” I begged as the shadows thickened.
“Here,” Dayja said softly, turning her solarband’s flashlight on. “I don’t have long on my battery, though.”
“They’re waiting just over there,” Cay directed, jogging to take the lead.
Venny waved us down from the edge of a shield of trees. Next to him, five motorcycles leaned on their kickstands. Kenji looked exhausted; his ankle was wrapped in a makeshift splint. Aro sat in a state of despondency with Anessa and Norie planting their feet directly before him, as if they expected him to spring up at any second. He caught sight of me and did just that.
"It's okay. Stop crying, I'm okay," I said before he could say anything. "Thanks for your help back there. You saved all our hides."
"Nearly got you killed," he said through his tears. "Shouldn't have let that cable go."
I snorted sharply. "And have it drag you along instead? I jumped without thinking. It was my own fault."
Anessa stomped her foot. "As touching as this whole exchange is, can we get a move on? Flow's troops are going to be on us any minute and if you haven’t noticed, Kenji won’t be able to arm us."
“We’re out of essence, anyway,” Venny muttered.
Dayja nibbled on her thumbnail anxiously. "But where are we going to go? They're just going to find us."
"Not necessarily," Aro reassured her. "We'll head for Split Canyon and lose them in there. Plenty of miles to get lost in. Everyone pair up and let's hit the nonexistent road."
As the others followed Aro's words, Dane stepped up to him, shifting me over to his hold. I felt like a package until Dane said, "Take care of her."
Aro nodded solemnly. "You know I will."
Then we were moving, mounting the bikes and starting their rumbling engines, exhaust clouding out in a small imitation of vaporbikes. Aro sat me before him, acting as support to my inability to hold myself up. He gave one clipped warning about the low fuel levels in the tanks before revving off, me in tow. The night vision in my visor allowed me to see the others fall into line behind us when I craned my neck to look.
It all whirled into a sickening blur, and I turned my back on the fire raging behind, concentrated on staying awake, and watched the path ahead.
Hours passed and the morning had rolled out in all its pink and yellow glory when we found shelter. Birdsong warbled and a waterfall close by drowned out the noise of our bikes as we climbed. From this vantage point up the crevices of the canyon, Venny kept an eye on the cluster of solarcars winding their way through the mountain roots below us, hunting us, while the rest of us set up camp.
Well, actually, I kept Kenji company while the others worked.
He offered me a crooked smile after giving me a once-over. "Not our best performance last night, huh?"
The unexpected inference made me laugh even though it hurt to do so. I made no comment as Norie summoned my laugh away, storing it for use later. It felt nice to be able to contribute something to the group.
By the time that I was able to crawl into the tent that Dayja, Norie, Anessa and I would share, I felt like I’d been scraped hollow. I didn’t care that I was jostled and bumped as the others collapsed, completely wiped out too. I looked to my broken finger, almost too tired to feel it hurting. Almost.
When I woke up later, pushing my way out of the tent, the sun was minutes away from sinking behind the jagged crown of the mountains. A long column of shade intermixed with beams of light descended into the canyon’s mouth. Dane had clearly healed Kenji’s ankle, since he was walking just fine, the splint gone. He joined the circle of others sharing a cold meal; there would be no fires lit so that we wouldn’t be spotted. No solarlights.
I tried not to let panic grow at the thought.
“Hey.”
Dane approached me, looking to my hand to my shoulder. “Come take a seat. I have essence to heal you with now.”
“Did you get any sleep?” I wondered, taking in the bruise-like circles he carried under his eyes.
He ignored my question, gesturing for me to follow. “Come on.”
Dayja smiled at me as I settled next to her, accepting the mug that she held my way. “Just water, I’m afraid.” I drained the entire thing and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Dayja chuckled and held up the cannister to refill my cup. As Dane inspected my right hand, pain shot through my arm, and some water splashed out over my wrist as the cup wobbled.
His silence unnerved me.
“What?” I asked, turning my head to look at him. His brow was furrowed as he carefully manipulated the digit and I breathed out hard to stop from crying out. “What is it?” I pressed when he didn’t respond.
He slowly shook his head. “I shouldn’t have let you keep on before healing it. It’s too damaged. It’s too damaged, En. See this? This mottling here? Your finger has been without circulation for too long. This isn’t something I can heal.”
“What are you saying?”
He lifted his head. “If I leave this, attached to you like this, it’s going to cause blood poisoning. I’m so sorry, En. I have to remove your finger.”
I let his words wash over me, trying to let them sink in. Licking my lips, feeling the chapped skin there, I said, “This is just payback for all the times I’ve flipped you off, isn’t it?”
He didn’t smile at my joke.
My own tight smile fell flat. “Do what you have to do. And stop thinking that.”
“Thinking what?”
“That you’re sorry. That you think it’s your fault. Because it’s not, okay? I would be dead if it weren’t for you, multiple times over, so I think I can take all the blame for losing a stupid birdie finger and move on.” Without giving him a chance to respond, I looked to Kenji. “Think you can make a saw for us?”
Kenji swore to himself, running a hand through his hair. He moved to his jacket strewn across a boulder, aiming for the beads sewn down its sleeves.
“What else do you need?”
Dane lifted himself to his feet without a word, going to get his medical kit.
Dayja’s touch was cold as she brushed her fingertips on my arm. “Are you certain about this? Maybe he could try healing it, see what happens.”
“Dr. Minnow says he’s the best at what he does. Besides that, I trust Dane. He wouldn’t do this if he didn’t have to. Do me a favor and go somewhere else for a bit.”
“No way. I’m staying with you.”
“It’s a finger, Dayja. I’ll survive.”
“I’m staying.”
“I’m not,” Anessa said, clutching her stomach. “Just the thought of it…” She gagged and fled for our shared tent.
Aro wrapped an arm around my shoulders carefully, grimacing at the bandage there. “You’ll be fine. Just… remember to keep quiet, okay? Venny, Norie, and Cay are down scouting with Poppy Muffin’s help. There are troops spread out through the canyon, and one outpost isn’t far from here.”
Dane returned, dropping his bag down at my side. “I’d feel better about this if we were in an OR.”
“No luxuries like that for outlaws on the run.”
As he set to disinfecting his hands with iodine, he instructed Dayja on meticulously prepping his improvised surgical field. Once he had snapped sterile gloves into place, he talked Dayja through bathing my entire hand in iodine three times over, repeating the same steps with the saw that Kenji handed over. After that, I laid my hand down on a sterile drape resting over a boulder and sat cross-legged next to it, the cold stone biting into my ribs. I rested my head against the rock, unwilling to watch any of what came next.
"Oupa," Dane called for Aro. Instruments clinked as he used something to clamp my finger and I hissed. "Hold her down. Don't touch the drape."
"I'll stay still," I objected.
"No, you won't," Dane promised me. "I have no numbing agents with me. Oupa?"
"Be brave now, baby girl. Focus on something. Try to distract yourself by memorizing it." Aro set his large hands across my arm, locking it down.
Dayja molded herself to my side, wrapping me in an embrace as she set her brow to my shoulder.
The first slice of the scalpel set my finger on fire, deepening the constant aching into something stronger. The next cut through muscle made me grunt, jerking reflexively. But Aro held me down; I wasn't budging a centimeter.
The throbbing in my hand momentarily drove the thoughts from my mind, buzzing around like maddened bees with nowhere to land. Nothing to sting. I looked to Kenji, who swayed where he sat, only upright because Venny was holding on to him while Dane worked on his ankle. He had nearly reached his limit and asking him to Spin might shove him over the edge.
I looked to the crane as silence fell from the rooftop, at Aro grabbing hold of the hook.
“We don’t need to get close to them,” I said. An idea had formed but it was certainly a risk. Not like we had much of a choice, though. “We will have to use what we already have, with one exception: Kenji. We’re going to need something really heavy to throw.”
He lifted his chin to look at me, paler than ever. “Like what?”
“Uh.” My mind raced. “Can you Spin us some… kettlebells? Maybe fifty pounds each? Quickly, please?”
“Sure,” he complied. He tapped Dane on the forehead. “I need your essence, bro. Stop healing and give it over.”
“This is nuts,” Cay sighed, scrubbing wearily at the dried blood across his cheek. “Completely crazy.”
“Got any other ideas?” I lifted the first weight Kenji made with my good hand, trying not to topple over, and glanced back. “No really, do you? Because this is a shit plan but it’s all I’ve got.”
“The crane is already weakened from the solarbombs,” Cay conceded. “Plus, we have Aro to help. This might be our best shot. No pun intended.”
“Let’s take it then,” Dayja said, smiling reassuringly at him. He pinched his lips together and blushed furiously in response.
I rolled my eyes heavenward. “Deities above, grant me the patience to deal with this nitwit tonight.”
“Stay with Kenji,” Dane told Dayja, watching Kenji worriedly as he slumped forward, breathing hard. At his feet lay a pile of kettlebells, as ordered. “If he feels lightheaded, help him lay down immediately.”
“Got it.”
Aro had nearly reached us by this point, shouting down to us from where he held on to the cable, “Brace yourselves, kids! They’re looking for a fight and they’re heading our way!”
“Get down here, we need your help,” Dane called up. “You need to hold the hook as an anchor for Norie to get down. Follow after us when she’s safe.” He hefted up a weight in either hand, like picking up a pillow from the floor, and hurried to the edge of the park. Cay was close behind, shadowed by Venny, while I labored to bring over the solitary weight I carried.
I faltered for a moment in alarm when I saw Norie leaning out of the operator’s cabin, slinging the dust cover over the cable like a harness. On the other end, Aro dug his heels into the grass, having wrapped the cable around his hips, the hook snagged into place to hold it there. His hands were braced on the wire.
And from the far side of the park, where the road wrapped around the library, headlights bounced across the ground as armored solarcars raced straight for us.
“Now!” I bellowed.
Norie jumped from the cabin, latching onto the sheet like a prickly bur stuck inside fur. She shouted a stream of Spanish that I couldn’t catch as she zipped down the wire, her hair a curly banner behind her. Smoke drifted from the fabric as it slid, and I pleaded for it to hold.
Where he stood, Aro yelped as he was yanked forward. Bending his knees, he leaned back, almost parallel to the lawn, his face ruddy with effort.
And Dane was spinning, a kettlebell in his hands, grunting as he let the thing fly. It banged into the crinkled siding of the mast, deepening the angle that it leaned.
Norie screamed as the wire jolted, spinning her clean around in a circle before righting. Aro unlatched the hook the second that she let go of the dust cover, which had ignited, flames licking at the cable. She rolled across the grass, winded, but alright. The cable snapped back from where Aro had anchored it.
Straight for the three men currently attacking the foundation of the crane which groaned, creaking and grinding as it started to sink. The bolts on the west side of its foundation ripped from their places and the entire structure shuddered threateningly.
Pitching myself forward, I only thought to knock it off course somehow, but the hook at its end snagged into my uniform’s jacket near my armpit, biting deep. Crushing pain stole all the sound from my voice as I screamed silently, dragged along, dashed through the air as fast as a leaf caught in a windstorm. Pulled right along.
The tower crane broke with a resounding snap, falling forward, towards the power bank that Kenji had coveted.
Yards from where I had been, I plowed into pavement as the cable loosed, and I rolled like a kicked ball.
The mast struck the power bank, and the resulting eruption sent a shockwave through the night as a plume of fire ballooned towards the stars. People’s screams were drowned out as the library’s walls cracked. Scaffolding folded in on itself like a collapsing house of cards.
It all exploded into chaos.
Chapter Seventeen
I rolled to my back, grimacing as every movement I made caused my shoulder to shriek at me. The hook bit into the meat of my upper arm, next to my scapula.
Wheels tearing across grass rolled my head around. The heavy vehicles were nearly on top of me, the one in the front blinding me with its high beams. I had to move. It was going to run right over me. Squish me like a melon. Move, you idiot, move!
A second armored solarcar barreled into the forerunner. Brakes squealed and glass splintered. Both vehicles spun, crumpled like accordions, the vehicle that had come out of nowhere flipping over to its side. The resulting mashup behind the totaled pair was a thing of beauty. Tires spun out as the drivers swerved, some crashing into trees, others hitting their comrades. And it was all outlined by the fire that scoured through the building materials before the library. Figures darted around that fire like a swarm of ants.
“Enea? Enea?!”
Someone was climbing out of the sideways vehicle. I recognized him and his homemade crocheted solarband cover and I blinked, wondering if I was hallucinating.
“Enea! Answer me! Enea!”
Treau wobbled a little as he stood, shaking his head like his ears rang. He looked directly at me, watching me for a moment. Then he nodded once and turned away, vanishing from view among the confusion.
“I’m here.” My words rasped hideously, and I coughed to try again. “Over here. I—”
Then Dane was there, hovering above me, laboring for breath. His eyes were huge. I could see the reflection of the fire in them. The terror.
“Holy deities above,” he said, his voice cracking right down the middle. “I thought you were dead.”
“It was Treau. Treau was here—”
“Enea!” Dayja sobbed, skidding to a stop. “What happened?” She cried harder as she spotted the hook in my arm. “Help her, Dane. Please, Dane, please!”
Dane’s expression was lost, a little wild. “I’m out of essence. Kenji used it. I need more—” He froze when I tapped my wrist against his clavicle, pressing the essence beads there into his skin.
“Not like you to lose your head,” I mumbled, almost sighing. I closed my eyes. I was ridiculously tired.
“Hold still,” he said, sounding more like himself. He tore at my uniform, baring my shoulder. “It has to come out. I’m sorry.”
He hadn’t even finished speaking before he pulled hard on the hook, extracting it inch by inch. An awful squelching sound filled my ears, and I could feel a new gush of warm blood slither down my arm and splash my ribs. I bit my lip to keep from screaming. I would bite a hole if I had to.
The lovely glow of his Spinning made me open my eyes so I could watch him work. He threaded essence into the wound, weaving it expertly, and I sighed with relief as the pain eased, like a jaw full of sharp teeth being pried open, forced to relinquish its grip.
“It’s not finished, but I’m all out,” he announced soon after. Taking hold of my wrist, he smeared blood across my beads as he held them up, like he could somehow wring more essence from them if he kept trying.
“Can she be moved now?” Cay asked from further back where I couldn’t see him. “We need to go. Venny’s wrangled the bikes over and we’re just barely keeping Aro back from going in and, as he claims, single-handedly beating each and every bastard over there to a pulp. Those soldiers won’t be distracted by containing that fire for much longer.”
“I can move,” I said irritably, hating how I was being talked over. I fought to keep my expression calm as I slowly sat up; I hadn’t realized until I could see it around me that I was lying in a puddle of my own blood. No wonder Dayja had freaked out. Everything tilted sideways and my chin hit my chest as I slumped, feeling boneless.
“Let me, En,” Dane said. He slipped an arm beneath my blood-soaked shoulders and my knees, lifting as gently as he could. My head lolled back against his chest like I’d become a ragdoll.
How embarrassing.
“What a stupid idea. Never should have suggested it.”
Dane’s strides carried us at a rapid pace across the park. Tree branches slashed through the night sky as he went, the leaves whispering to each other as a breeze stirred them. “Your idea worked just fine. It’s your whole throwing-yourself-into-harm’s-way-without-thinking that nearly got you killed.” I could no longer see his expression in the dark, but his voice held something new in it as he continued, “Please stop doing this to me.”
Swallowing, my throat scratchy with thirst, I was unsure of how to answer him. How to give him what he asked for. What was he even asking for?
“A light,” I begged as the shadows thickened.
“Here,” Dayja said softly, turning her solarband’s flashlight on. “I don’t have long on my battery, though.”
“They’re waiting just over there,” Cay directed, jogging to take the lead.
Venny waved us down from the edge of a shield of trees. Next to him, five motorcycles leaned on their kickstands. Kenji looked exhausted; his ankle was wrapped in a makeshift splint. Aro sat in a state of despondency with Anessa and Norie planting their feet directly before him, as if they expected him to spring up at any second. He caught sight of me and did just that.
"It's okay. Stop crying, I'm okay," I said before he could say anything. "Thanks for your help back there. You saved all our hides."
"Nearly got you killed," he said through his tears. "Shouldn't have let that cable go."
I snorted sharply. "And have it drag you along instead? I jumped without thinking. It was my own fault."
Anessa stomped her foot. "As touching as this whole exchange is, can we get a move on? Flow's troops are going to be on us any minute and if you haven’t noticed, Kenji won’t be able to arm us."
“We’re out of essence, anyway,” Venny muttered.
Dayja nibbled on her thumbnail anxiously. "But where are we going to go? They're just going to find us."
"Not necessarily," Aro reassured her. "We'll head for Split Canyon and lose them in there. Plenty of miles to get lost in. Everyone pair up and let's hit the nonexistent road."
As the others followed Aro's words, Dane stepped up to him, shifting me over to his hold. I felt like a package until Dane said, "Take care of her."
Aro nodded solemnly. "You know I will."
Then we were moving, mounting the bikes and starting their rumbling engines, exhaust clouding out in a small imitation of vaporbikes. Aro sat me before him, acting as support to my inability to hold myself up. He gave one clipped warning about the low fuel levels in the tanks before revving off, me in tow. The night vision in my visor allowed me to see the others fall into line behind us when I craned my neck to look.
It all whirled into a sickening blur, and I turned my back on the fire raging behind, concentrated on staying awake, and watched the path ahead.
Hours passed and the morning had rolled out in all its pink and yellow glory when we found shelter. Birdsong warbled and a waterfall close by drowned out the noise of our bikes as we climbed. From this vantage point up the crevices of the canyon, Venny kept an eye on the cluster of solarcars winding their way through the mountain roots below us, hunting us, while the rest of us set up camp.
Well, actually, I kept Kenji company while the others worked.
He offered me a crooked smile after giving me a once-over. "Not our best performance last night, huh?"
The unexpected inference made me laugh even though it hurt to do so. I made no comment as Norie summoned my laugh away, storing it for use later. It felt nice to be able to contribute something to the group.
By the time that I was able to crawl into the tent that Dayja, Norie, Anessa and I would share, I felt like I’d been scraped hollow. I didn’t care that I was jostled and bumped as the others collapsed, completely wiped out too. I looked to my broken finger, almost too tired to feel it hurting. Almost.
When I woke up later, pushing my way out of the tent, the sun was minutes away from sinking behind the jagged crown of the mountains. A long column of shade intermixed with beams of light descended into the canyon’s mouth. Dane had clearly healed Kenji’s ankle, since he was walking just fine, the splint gone. He joined the circle of others sharing a cold meal; there would be no fires lit so that we wouldn’t be spotted. No solarlights.
I tried not to let panic grow at the thought.
“Hey.”
Dane approached me, looking to my hand to my shoulder. “Come take a seat. I have essence to heal you with now.”
“Did you get any sleep?” I wondered, taking in the bruise-like circles he carried under his eyes.
He ignored my question, gesturing for me to follow. “Come on.”
Dayja smiled at me as I settled next to her, accepting the mug that she held my way. “Just water, I’m afraid.” I drained the entire thing and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Dayja chuckled and held up the cannister to refill my cup. As Dane inspected my right hand, pain shot through my arm, and some water splashed out over my wrist as the cup wobbled.
His silence unnerved me.
“What?” I asked, turning my head to look at him. His brow was furrowed as he carefully manipulated the digit and I breathed out hard to stop from crying out. “What is it?” I pressed when he didn’t respond.
He slowly shook his head. “I shouldn’t have let you keep on before healing it. It’s too damaged. It’s too damaged, En. See this? This mottling here? Your finger has been without circulation for too long. This isn’t something I can heal.”
“What are you saying?”
He lifted his head. “If I leave this, attached to you like this, it’s going to cause blood poisoning. I’m so sorry, En. I have to remove your finger.”
I let his words wash over me, trying to let them sink in. Licking my lips, feeling the chapped skin there, I said, “This is just payback for all the times I’ve flipped you off, isn’t it?”
He didn’t smile at my joke.
My own tight smile fell flat. “Do what you have to do. And stop thinking that.”
“Thinking what?”
“That you’re sorry. That you think it’s your fault. Because it’s not, okay? I would be dead if it weren’t for you, multiple times over, so I think I can take all the blame for losing a stupid birdie finger and move on.” Without giving him a chance to respond, I looked to Kenji. “Think you can make a saw for us?”
Kenji swore to himself, running a hand through his hair. He moved to his jacket strewn across a boulder, aiming for the beads sewn down its sleeves.
“What else do you need?”
Dane lifted himself to his feet without a word, going to get his medical kit.
Dayja’s touch was cold as she brushed her fingertips on my arm. “Are you certain about this? Maybe he could try healing it, see what happens.”
“Dr. Minnow says he’s the best at what he does. Besides that, I trust Dane. He wouldn’t do this if he didn’t have to. Do me a favor and go somewhere else for a bit.”
“No way. I’m staying with you.”
“It’s a finger, Dayja. I’ll survive.”
“I’m staying.”
“I’m not,” Anessa said, clutching her stomach. “Just the thought of it…” She gagged and fled for our shared tent.
Aro wrapped an arm around my shoulders carefully, grimacing at the bandage there. “You’ll be fine. Just… remember to keep quiet, okay? Venny, Norie, and Cay are down scouting with Poppy Muffin’s help. There are troops spread out through the canyon, and one outpost isn’t far from here.”
Dane returned, dropping his bag down at my side. “I’d feel better about this if we were in an OR.”
“No luxuries like that for outlaws on the run.”
As he set to disinfecting his hands with iodine, he instructed Dayja on meticulously prepping his improvised surgical field. Once he had snapped sterile gloves into place, he talked Dayja through bathing my entire hand in iodine three times over, repeating the same steps with the saw that Kenji handed over. After that, I laid my hand down on a sterile drape resting over a boulder and sat cross-legged next to it, the cold stone biting into my ribs. I rested my head against the rock, unwilling to watch any of what came next.
"Oupa," Dane called for Aro. Instruments clinked as he used something to clamp my finger and I hissed. "Hold her down. Don't touch the drape."
"I'll stay still," I objected.
"No, you won't," Dane promised me. "I have no numbing agents with me. Oupa?"
"Be brave now, baby girl. Focus on something. Try to distract yourself by memorizing it." Aro set his large hands across my arm, locking it down.
Dayja molded herself to my side, wrapping me in an embrace as she set her brow to my shoulder.
The first slice of the scalpel set my finger on fire, deepening the constant aching into something stronger. The next cut through muscle made me grunt, jerking reflexively. But Aro held me down; I wasn't budging a centimeter.
