Crux (The Aurora Lockette Series) (7 page)

“
I can’t.”

“
I know, but you will have to soon,” she said as she walked away. “Good luck.” She and Konstantin moved to one of the bedrooms, tired feet dragging on the ground.

Fire raged in my chest, burning every piece of sanity I had left. I needed her to be okay.

The other twin Flyer approached me. “We’ll find her, I promise.” She rested her hand very briefly on my shoulder, then left. The expression of pity on her face was burned into my mind as we all headed out into the night.

AURORA

It was dark outside again. I could tell through
the lack of light in the cracks between the boards in my window. Mr. X was not in my room; the occasional creek of floorboards from the kitchen alerted me to his presence in the house.

I put my ear against the wall I shared with Keith.
“Keith?” I tapped on the wall very softly, hoping that Mr. X would stay in the kitchen. “Are you there?”

“
I’m here,” he finally responded, his voice sounding weak and thin.

“
Are you okay? What did they do to you?” I pressed my ear against the wall, waiting for his response.

“
They killed him. Killed him right in front of me, they…”

Worry shot through my chest.
“Who did they kill?”

“
My handler.” His voice was raspy, and he sounded terrible.

“
Keith, I’m so sorry.” I pushed my hands on the wall, waiting for the right words to come to me. “We have to be strong, Keith. Together. Are you hurt?” I wished I could reach through the wall and grab him. The seconds ticked off, and I wondered if he was still there.

“
I was stabbed. During the struggle.”

I rested my forehead on the cool wall.
“Oh, no. Are you okay?”

“
I don’t think so, Aurora. No. I tried to clean it in the shower, but it still looks bad.” I heard him grunt and shift, thumping against the wall.

“
What are you doing? Stay still.”

“
I just sat up. Can you hear me better?” he asked.

“
Yes.”

“
Why do you think they took us? Why haven’t they killed us?” he asked.

“
The humanoid one told me that they wanted us for something. He talked about someone named Asag wanting us.” I shifted my weight to relieve some of the pressure on my neck from the awkward angle. “He said something about needing a new body.”

“
Asag. The demon. In the rock,” he said weakly through the wall. I heard scraping. It sounded like he’d slid back down to a laying position.

“
What?”

“
Rock demons. Weren’t you an anthropology major?”

I tilted my head up, my mind roaming back to my college years before I started law school and met Gavyn
. I was an undergrad only a few years ago, but somehow it seemed so far away. “Yes, I was, but—”

A loud thump cut me
off. “What was that?” I mashed my face into the wall. “You okay? You’re not, are you?”

“
I’m so hot, Aurora. I think I’m on fire. Are you on fire? Is he there with you? I think they put him in there with the fire.”

His voice rambled on incoherently and my fear grew to a high pitched, full-on panic. I knocked on the wall, not caring anymore if Mr. X could hear me.
“Oh my God, Keith. Are you okay? What’s happening in there?”

He was silent, but I heard heavy, strained breathing.
“Keith!” I shrieked. I leapt to my feet and pulled on my locked door to no avail. “Mr. X!” I yelled. “Please!” I banged on the door, pounding and pounding until my fists bled.

“
What?” He thundered into the room, face red and eyes bulging. The door flew open so fast I was knocked backwards.

I stayed on the floor, but scooted on my butt until I was flush with the bed. I pointed to the wall I shared with Keith.
“He’s very sick. He needs medical attention.”

“
Not my problem.” He put his hand on the door to leave.

“
No!” I tackled him, weakly grabbing his leg. “He’s going to die if you don’t do something. You’re not supposed to let him die. I know you’re not. He’ll get mad at you.”

I clung to his leg. He looked down at me with so much anger in his face
I knew I was seconds away from a beating. Something flittered across his eyes, compassion, maybe even fear.

I let go of his leg, then backed away slowly.
“Please. I’ll do anything,” I whimpered.

He smiled, moving closer as his eyes raked up and down
my body. “Anything?”

I swallowed the sick bile rising in my throat.
“Yes.”

He crouched down so his eyes were level with mine.
“I will collect. Soon. When you’re not so banged up. I like a clean palette.” I met his eyes but said nothing. I would not feed his sickness by whimpering or crying. I knew what he wanted.

He stood, cracking his knuckles.
“I suggest you go and take care of him.” He opened the door, but stood in the frame so I had to squeeze past him. “Go on.”

I stood slowly, much more slowly than my injuries dictated. He couldn’t know how strong I was. The only way I
would be able to get him was to take him by surprise. “It won’t be enough. He needs a doctor.”

I squeezed past him.
It made me want to vomit as his body was temporarily pushed into mine. “I’ll do what I can, but I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain. I want you nice and compliant.”

I nodded, staring at my shoes. He stepped into the hallway behind me, unbolted the door to Keith’s room, and then stepped back so I could enter.

I ran in. Keith was wedged between the floor and the air mattress. His face was scary-pale, and he was covered in sweat.

“
Oh, my God.” I kneeled beside him, pushing the mattress away. He rolled onto the floor on his back and stared at me with glassy eyes. “Do you recognize me?” He nodded slightly. I touched his skin. It was hot, way hotter than any fever I’ve ever had.

“
He’s burning up. Help me!” I yelled to Mr. X.

Mr. X was still standing in the doorway to Keith’s room. He looked genuinely confused.

I stood up, leaving Keith alone on the floor. “Do something!”

He looked behind him then pulled his cell out of his pocket. He glanced at the screen and put it back in.
“What?” he finally asked. “I don’t know what to do.”

“
Call 911 for starters!”

“
I can’t.” He crouched beside Keith and briefly touched his hand to Keith’s arm. “He’s really hot.”

“
Help me move him to the bed.” I got behind Keith and gently cradled his head and shoulders. To my surprise, Mr. X scooped him up without further complaint, moved him carefully sideways through the door, and deposited him on my bed.

I stripped the blanket off the bed, then removed Keith’s soiled socks and shoes. Next, I pulled off his pants. Mr. X actually helped me his remove dirty, blood-soaked shirt.

The wound was in his right ribcage. Puss spilled out of a deep gash and the smell hit my nose. Mr. X clapped his hands over his face and backed a few feet away from the bed.

The rest of Keith’s skin was sickly pale and slick with sweat. Each breath he took was raspy and strained.
“Oh, God,” I whispered. “You monster!” I wanted to crush Mr. X’s face in for doing this to him, but there wasn’t time for my anger.

I ran to the first-aid kit I’d left in the bathroom, rummaging around until I found fever reducers. I crushed the tablets into powder and mixed them with a small amount of water.
“Get me some ice and water!” I barked. Mr. X left. “And some towels!” I called to his receding back.

I gave Keith maximum doses of both ibuprofen and acetaminophen, helping him take the crushed pills with a metal spoon. He swallowed them fine, but then his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

“No, Keith! Stay with me.”

I was losing him.

Mr. X came back with a bowl of ice and water and a stack of towels. I dumped the ice into the water and start dunking the towels in. “Cool him off,” I ordered Mr. X. He complied, pulling out the cool wet towels and putting them on Keith’s forehead and torso. I turned my attention to the wound.

I found an antibiotic cream and poured it over the wound. Keith screamed and arched his back, but I kept going. I used sterile gauze to clean up the puss on the outside and inside of the wound. I squeezed ointment into the gash, trying to ignore his agonizing whimpering. When I’d finally done the best I could, I placed some loose gauze over the wound, deciding to
clean it and apply more antibiotic on it in an hour.

I didn’t know if it was enough. I didn’t even know if it was right
thing to do, but it was something. I grabbed the soaking towels and gently wet the crown of his head, his arms, and his legs. He was starting to cool; he was still hotter than Hades, but cooler than he was moments ago.

His raspy breathing slowed from a labored pant to even breaths. His facial muscles relaxed, and he slept.

I sat on the bed next to him and watched his chest rise and fall until I was convinced that he was going to stay alive, for now.

Mr. X had retreated to the kitchen. I walked out of confines of my room, arms full of dirty towels and bloody bandages.
“I need fresh ones. He needs antibiotics or he’s going to die,” I said. “He needs a doctor.”

Mr. X took the towels from my hand. I turned away. He rested a hand on my shoulder. I froze.

“I can’t do much. My hands are tied.” He dropped his hand, and I fake-limped away from him. At least he wasn’t trying to collect what he wanted right then.

I crawled into bed next
to Keith, but kept space between us so I wouldn’t make him even warmer with my body heat. I closed my eyes and prayed that he would still be alive when I woke up. I thought about my college days and all my anthropology classes, my mind searching for the rock demon and Asag reference. I remembered my ancient cultures class, the paper I wrote on Mesopotamia. As I was drifting off to sleep, I was jolted awake when my mind found what it was looking for.

I remembered.

GAVYN

The SUV crawled to a stop at a brightly-lit gas station. We were still half a mile from the dirt road where Carmen and I had felt Aurora’s presence.

“
Let’s get out here,” Dennis said, throwing the gear in park. He slid out the door, and I followed him.

We moved from the parking lot into the foliage, putting some distance in so we couldn’t be seen from the road or highway.

We hiked quietly into our position near the head of the road. I knew the twins were zooming around above us, scouting the road and all the buildings. I stared up at the night sky, but saw nothing but a blanket of beautiful stars. She was under these same stars, which gave me a small amount of comfort.

We positioned ourselves beneath some bushes around the road. They were scratchy but thick, giving us good cover. I sat on the ground and tried not to think about the scorpions and snakes that were running around this desert.

On cue, a small dark shape moved purposely towards me: a little white scorpion. Dennis put a hand on my arm to prevent my knee-jerk reaction of jumping up, then flicked it away with the barrel of his gun. He smiled, his teeth barely visible in the moonlight. “Bet you don’t have this type of fun in London.”

“
No,” I admitted. “But I didn’t have Aurora in London.” Her name sent my stress levels sky high again. I pushed my head into my hands and took deep breaths. I had to stay calm for her.

He said nothing, which I appreciated. I didn’t want to be comforted. I wanted to be strong, for her.

I gathered myself with deep even breaths, like she taught me. When I looked up, Dennis’s head was up and alert, scanning the roadway. He occasionally pulled out binoculars to survey the desert.

“
Any activity?” I asked.

“
Nope. Can’t even see ours, which means they’re doing a good job. My handler is about thirty feet that way.” He pointed at a clump of bushes on the other side of the road.

“
Shite. I had no idea he was this close.”

“
He’s very good at what he does,” Dennis said.

I sat up to peek over the bushes with him, staring down the road. The loose gravel was white in the moonlight, stretching out into the
desert. Just knowing she was somewhere nearby made me crazy. I needed to go down the road, find her, and carry her home.

“
Movement, ten o’clock,” Dennis said, his voice so faint I barely heard it.

I ducked deep into the bushes. Two unmarked, large, black
SUVs turned onto the dirt road from the highway. No headlights, windows blacked out, no license plates. Even in the bigger-the-better SUV-loving America, they stood out. I wondered how they could have possibly escaped the attention of law enforcement. They stopped at the head of the road, and the door opened.