Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (5 page)

The sound of Christoff snapping his fingers in front of his face brought him back to earth. “Nick! Hey, what is it?”

Nickolas shook his head and frowned.
I don’t know.
“She’s lacerated her feet. We should be able to track the blood.” Rising, Nickolas dusted the bloody dirt off his fingers and caught a worried frown from Christoff.

“Nick, seriously, how is she doing this? Even if Jeff
had
miscalculated, there is no way he was off by this much. He’s too experienced.”

“I don’t know, Chris. Let’s get her contained. Then we’ll worry about the how.” Setting off at a lope, Nickolas wished that he could follow his own advice.

Gasping for breath, Jessica pushed her way through sticker bushes and other undergrowth, heedless of the clinging tendrils that grabbed her clothing and tore her skin. She was barely keeping a lid on her panic. It felt like the whole world was reaching out and trying to slow her down. She ripped her clothes free and kept running, fear skittering up and down her spine.

She hit a path and made better time on it, sighing in relief. Her bare feet pounded rhythmically against the dirt.
Don’t look back. You know they haven’t given up.

A sudden, splitting pain ricocheted through her head. She slammed her hands to her temples and fell to the ground, biting off a scream.

Panting in agony, she felt like everything she had ever eaten in her whole life wanted to revisit her. A moan escaped and she opened her eyes.
I can’t see. What happened? Why can’t I see?
She rolled to her hands and knees then sat back on her heels and wiped at the blood running from her nose. As she calmed her breathing, Jessica started to notice the softer grey shadows where the moonlight reached through the tree canopy and touched the ground.
The moon is out. But I could see almost as well as if it were day before.
I knew Valkyrie vision was better but wow. So what happened? It just turned off? I guess I shouldn’t have been thankful for the path. Well, I’m not going to just sit here waiting for them to find me.

It still took her a moment to adjust to the change. At first the dark was stifling, but then Jessica cocked her head, noticing the riot of sound all around her. The forest creatures made a lot of noise shuffling around in the fallen leaves. Not to mention how loud the leaves themselves were, rustling and rattling as they danced from their branches to the ground. Way behind her, though as far as she was concerned not far enough, she could hear the Hunters tracking her.
First I can see in the dark, and now I can hear like a wolf. Well, this is peachy. I would really prefer being able to see right now. Actually, I would prefer to be home in my nice warm bed and not dealing with this right now.

She climbed unsteadily to her feet and turned, trying to pinpoint different sounds. A rushing came from her right, and she spun toward it.
Is that water? I must be closer than I thought.
She couldn’t see it, but she could hear it.

Tentatively she stepped out, feeling each step with her toes. When nothing happened, she moved with a bit more confidence, heading in the direction of the river. She thought she was stressed before, but using her hearing to navigate was hard work—and slow. Her tension built, and every step she gained down the path she could hear her Hunters gaining on her. She picked up the pace, moving into a jog. The rumble grew to the point that it drowned out most of the other sounds of the forest.
This is your last chance. What’ll it be, it or them?

She reached the bank of the river. The rushing filled her ears and the scent of the cold water made her pause. The moon glinted dully on the swirling current as it raced past. She couldn’t hear the sound of her pursuers over the roar, but she knew they were just moments behind her. Angry at this whole situation, she waffled for a moment. The thought of entering that freezing water was almost too much, but then she thought about what would happen when the Hunters caught up to her. Resolved, she searched for a slope down to the water’s edge, but the high bank crumbled under her feet and sent her tumbling into the river. She hit the frigid water and went under, the current carrying her downstream.

“Nickolas, come take a look at this. Something happened here.”

Nickolas looked down the trail at his brother and saw Christoff studying the woman’s tracks. He left his own search and joined him.

“See, Nick, it looks like she stumbled and fell, but when she got up again, her gait changed.”

Nickolas reached out and lightly touched the scuffmarks the fledgling had left when she fell. Blood from her feet was mixed in with the dirt, and he hissed at the unusual response he had. The contact with her blood shoved a slide show of pictures into his head. It moved too fast for him to catch, but a couple of things stuck with him. Quickly rubbing the dirt off of his fingers, he sat back, shaking his head.
Gods, she is strong.
He couldn’t help but admire her strength of will and her ability to keep going. He cleared his throat. “It looks like she got hit with a dazzle headache. She was running too well to have unchanged vision. There’s nothing for her to trip over in the path. She just stumbled and fell. My guess is she got dazzled, lost her sight, and probably had her hearing come in.” He looked ahead down the path then up at Christoff. “That would account for the gait change. Navigating by sound is slower and more difficult.”

Surprise plain on his face, Christoff moved down the path a little, examining a wider area. “Dazzle headaches? I didn’t even consider that. Those aren’t supposed to start for at least a week or so.”

Nickolas felt his expression freeze and he shrugged. “That’s the way it usually works, but not always. Personally, I’m amazed she could compensate for the sudden change and keep going, especially with the pain. She’s one determined fledge. When the senses change like that, it can be excruciating, remember? She’s going to make one magnificent Valkyrie.” He glanced up. “Might even give you some competition, Chris,” he teased. Rising, Nickolas continued to rub every speck of dirt off of his fingers then stretched his wings. “I don’t like this. We need to get her in custody soon.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard. We’re on a trail now, and with her sight dimmed, we should be able to catch up to her.”

They moved off at a brisk pace, and Nickolas laughed mirthlessly at his brother’s back. “Don’t count on it, Chris. Has she done anything you would expect? I have a bad feeling about this whole situation.”

They ran in silence for a few moments, the sounds of the forest surrounding them, giving them valuable information—the hush of the creatures a telling track in her trail. A steady rumble had grown to deafening proportion, and Nickolas quickened his pace more.

The trail came out at the edge of the river bank. The water swirled in a dark seething mass below him.

“Nick…” Christoff’s voice dropped. “It doesn’t look like she turned aside.”

His heart in his throat, Nickolas scanned the ground. The breadth was too wide for him to believe she could swim across. She had to have gone one way or the other.

It was only a matter of moments before they found the collapsed segment of bank.

“Nick,” Christoff whispered.

“I know, Chris,” Nickolas snapped. He crouched down as close as he dared to the crumbling edge. His mind warred with some other part of himself that he’d never been aware of before. It didn’t stand to reason that she could survive a fall into the river, in October, in the state that she was in, but Nickolas was sure that she wasn’t dead yet. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. “Christoff, take the opposite bank.”

“What’s the point, Nick?”

“Don’t question me, Second.”

The sound of Christoff’s wings beating the air reached Nickolas. He stared for a moment more into the water. Hoping that the dark, turbulent rush would offer up some answer to what was happening. Rising carefully, so he wouldn’t end up sliding down the bank as well, Nickolas spread his wings and launched out over the water.

He studied the river for the fledgling’s body, but the current was swift. It would have carried her away quickly. The moon set and he had trouble seeing. Both the water and the bank had taken on a one-dimensional, grey hue. Yet still he searched, too focused to give up.

The silhouette of his brother ghosted by, pulling his attention from the fruitless search. Christoff signaled a desire to land. Growling in frustration, Nickolas angled his wings and followed Chris to a rocky beach.

They touched down, and Nickolas snapped his wings shut.

“Nick, it’s too dark. With the moon setting, we’re going to have to wait until daylight to locate where her trail comes out.” Then more quietly, he added, “If it comes out.”

“It’ll come out, Chris.”

“Nickolas, look at the facts, man. It’s October, she’s barefoot and hardly dressed. Getting submerged, in perfect health, in the summer would be hard to overcome. But now? While her body is changing?”

Nickolas spun, sending rocks tumbling out from under his feet, and paced away. “No, you look at the facts. She
is
changing. And she’s managed to elude us.
Us
! What does that tell you? Don’t write her off. She’s tough. She’ll get out of the water. Watch.”

His brother pursed his lips and nodded his head uncertainly.

Nickolas understood his Second’s hesitation. She’d done some pretty unbelievable things so far. He rubbed his eyes with a finger and thumb. “You’re right. It’s too dark to search more tonight. We’ll have to wait till first light.” Frustrated, Nickolas pulled his phone out of his pocket, punching Flynn’s number.

“You’ve got her?”

Nickolas ground his teeth. He’d been butting heads with Flynn more and more recently. The grounded was becoming difficult. The constant vying for supremacy was getting old. “No. She went into the river. It’s too dark now; we’ll have to wait until daybreak. Do you have a fix on my location?”

“Yes. There’s a forest service road northeast of your position. We’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

“Got it.” Nickolas hung up then slipped his cell back into his pocket before spreading his wings and launching out over the river.

The water was freezing. Breaking the surface with a gasp, Jessica tried to shake the hair out of her eyes with limited success. The swift current swirled her around like a kitten that had been tossed in to drown.

What the hell was I thinking?

With her mind the clearest it had been in days, unfortunately, it was a little too late to make use of it. Jagged rocks rose up from nowhere and she bashed into them, blindly scrabbling to hold onto their slimy coating. The river ripped her away, spinning her farther downstream. Attempting to get her bearings, she made an effort to slow her passage by swimming diagonally across the rapids, but a log loomed up in front of her. Franticly she dove, but a submerged branch sliced into her thigh and another one ripped her calf. She surfaced, gasping in pain and coughing up river water.

I’ve got to get out. I hope I’ve managed to lose them.
She forced her leaden limbs to function and pushed her exhausted body toward the shore. For each stroke she made across, the current sent her quadruple that downstream. It wasn’t until she hit a more placid stretch of water that she made any progress. After what seemed an eternity, she reached the edge and dragged herself onto the muddy bank, coughing up half the river. She collapsed, gasping in pain and shivering with the cold.

I need to keep moving or I’ll freeze to death.
She took a deep breath and tried to gain her feet, but her numb body wouldn’t cooperate.
Come on, damn it. You can do it.

Trying again, she finally managed to rise. A whimper of pain choked out of her.
Now that she was out of the water, feeling quickly returned to her extremities, causing the gashes in her leg to burn and throb. It felt like someone held her leg in a vat of acid. She pushed aside the pain as best she could and looked around.
Ok, where am I? Looks like I came out on my side of the river. Yes! And I can see again. That’s good news at least.

She plucked at her sopping clothing, squeezing the water out.
I can’t go on like this; I’ve got to get dry or I’ll still freeze.
She reached around and scratched her back absently, shivers racing across her skin.
I’ve lost them, at least for the moment. But if I want to stay free, I need a few things. They’ll spend time searching the river for me, so with any luck no one will be at my house.
Thankful that her mind was her own, however briefly, Jessica climbed the hillside and trudged her way through the bushes, leaving the river behind. It wasn’t hard to find a trail where she could pick up her pace to a jog. Her mind wandered as she ran.
What does a normal recovery team consist of? I think May said that it’s four men. Not usually Hunters though…I think. If I’m right, I left at least two of them behind at the river, which leaves two unaccounted for. Hopefully they followed the Hunters.

Because of how the river bent, she wasn’t as far from her house as she had feared, and she started to recognize the area fairly quickly. She slowed down when she neared her home, approaching it as quietly as she could. Though she knew that if the Hunters were around, it wouldn’t matter how quiet she was. They’d hear her anyway. Skirting the boundary of her property, she watched the house for any sign of someone waiting. Finally, cold drove her in. She hadn’t seen any movement inside, or other signs of recovery people outside, in the several minutes that she spent observing. Holding her breath, she slipped up to the back door and peered through the window. She couldn’t believe her luck when she saw the building truly was deserted.

Dawn was just a couple hours away now; the hunt would pick up momentum then. With fingers shaking from the cold, she pulled the corner of the door mat up and grabbed her spare key.
Daylight will be on their side; they’ll have many more eyes working for them.

She kicked the door shut then stripped off her torn, sodden, muddy clothes, leaving them in a trail on her way to the bathroom. Once there, she fumbled with the knobs on the shower until she got the water going. Her body was so stiff she could barely climb into the tub. She moaned as the hot spray cascaded over her chilled and battered body, and she fought the overwhelming need to sleep. The tears she’d repressed during her escape started to leak out as she watched the filthy water swirl down the drain. She allowed herself a couple of minutes before telling herself to get a grip. Dredging up more energy, she washed her hair then ruthlessly scrubbed her newly acquired cuts, scrapes, and bruises. With those tended to, the discomfort along her shoulder blades asserted itself. She reached for the bath brush. Vigorous scouring gave temporary relief to the itching and burning on her back.

She stood there for a few minutes letting the water wash over her. It no longer ran muddy but a fading pink as her injuries washed clean.
So what now? I won’t have much of a head start. Maybe I
should
try to go to Marcus. Robin did.

But that option didn’t sit well with her. Slicking her wet hair back, she shut the water off.
No, I made my decision about that a long time ago. Well, first things first, get doctored up then grab a few things and leave.

She pushed the curtain aside and made her stiff body get out of the tub. She groaned as she reached for a towel to dry off with, but when she wrapped it around herself it didn’t rest flat across her back.

Craning her head to look in the mirror, she could just make out a couple of lumps that had risen to the surface of her back between her shoulder blades. She stared at them in amazed, almost horrified, fascination and realized that her wings had started to grow.

The blisters were not too big yet, about the size of a baby’s fist each.
Well, that certainly explains why my back itches.
She stared at this first definitive evidence of her transformation.
You’d think I would have noticed two huge zits growing on my back a little sooner. Granted, I guess I have been a bit busy.

She shook off the amazement and pulled her medical supplies out of the cabinet, sitting down to doctor her injuries while she thought about where to go.

I need money first. My options are kind of limited, since May took the car. The nearest ATM is at the mall.

She picked the last splinter out of her left foot and slathered numbing antibiotic ointment on them both, before wrapping them with a layer of gauze. Next, she examined the gashes on her calf and thigh and frowned. They both needed more attention than she could give them in the short time she had. So she settled for squeezing half the tube of ointment into them, then pulled each closed with butterfly bandages. She taped over the more severe one on her thigh, hoping to give it extra support. The last of the antibiotic went to whatever scratches seemed to need it the most before she tossed the tube and grabbed a handful of bandages on her way out of the room. Once in her bedroom, she started tossing things quickly out of her closet. She pulled on the first warm clothes she found and stuffed a few more changes into a backpack that sat on the floor.

Twisting her mass of chestnut curls in a fist, Jessica looked in the mirror.
I should cut this,
she thought reluctantly, but then she saw reflected from the window that it was getting lighter.
Dawn. Not much more time. I’ll leave it for now.
Securing the length into a ponytail, she finished her packing.

She threw in her hairbrush then dumped the first aid supplies on top. Sitting down on her bed, she squeezed her favorite shoes, a pair of red sneakers, on over her gauze-swathed feet then headed to the kitchen.

She looked longingly at the stove but moved past it to her pantry cupboards.
What I wouldn’t give for some bacon and eggs. Or maybe some prime rib, or a nice juicy ham. Where are you, May, when I really need one of your home-cooked meals?
Instead, she grabbed a couple bottles of water, some granola bars and trail mix, and tossed them into the knapsack. That’s all she had in the pantry that was instantly portable. Her sense of urgency screamed at her. Walking into the living room, she threw her wallet into the bag then looked around once more. Time to go.

She slung the bag over her shoulder and walked out the front door, then grabbing her bicycle from its customary spot on the porch, she headed off into the stream of morning traffic.

“Hey, boyos, wake up. It’s getting light enough to move,” Flynn spoke quietly.

Sitting up, Nickolas rubbed his eyes then put his shoes on. “I sure hope she made it,” he murmured.

“Don’t worry, Nick, she led us a good chase last night. She’s strong.”

Nickolas looked at his brother, absently accepting an energy bar from Jules before replying, “I hope so. She couldn’t have stayed in the water too long. Flynn, we’ll call as soon as we have any information.”

Outside the van the woods resounded with the dawn chorus of bird song. The mist from the river snaked through the trees, leaving a chill in the air. Nickolas stepped out and stretched, reaching above his head, then extended his wings to their full span, slowly flapping them as he woke up. Turning as Christoff walked up to him, he settled them with a snap. “You ready to go?”

“Yes, let’s get this over with.”

Nickolas could tell that Chris hadn’t actually believed his own encouragement. His brother didn’t really think Jessica still lived. But the more he focused his thoughts on her, the more Nickolas was sure she was still alive. His heart a little lighter, he spread his wings and took off into the brightening sky.

They flew low over the river, each scanning a side until they reached the point where she’d fallen in. Alighting on the precipice, Nickolas looked at the twenty foot drop.

Disturbed dirt marred the vegetation below them. Fortunately, there weren’t any large boulders on the water’s edge here. “All right, Chris, same as last night, you take the far bank.”

They took off. Sweeping his wings in powerful strokes, Nickolas followed the river down its course looking for any sign that she left the water. Strange certainty aside, he really wanted to see a muddy bank. He wasn’t thrilled at the thought of finding scraps of her clothing…or her body.

What was it about this recovery? Granted, she had pulled off the unexpected in getting away from them, but something about this situation pulled at him. He didn’t know this woman, yet he found himself really worried about her, and the depth of his emotional involvement surprised him.
It’s bloody freezing in there. If she managed to get out of the river, it had to be fairly quick or she would have succumbed to hypothermia. That’s still a worry anyway; her tracks are barefoot. And the glimpse I caught of her showed that she wasn’t dressed for outside. The only thing in our favor is that her metabolism will be running on high, so it should help keep her warm. But that’s a double-edged sword. It also means she’s going to need food—and soon.

Scuff marks at the water’s edge caught his attention. He dropped down and landed.
Well I’ll be damned. She made it out.
Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Nickolas quickly examined her trail. The tracks clearly showed where she’d pulled herself out of the river and onto the bank before continuing her flight into the woods. He drew his phone out of his pocket and texted his brother.

Christoff landed in a flurry of wing beats and crouched down to take a look at the ground himself. That didn’t surprise Nickolas, since his brother was the better tracker.

“Well, at least we know she made it out,” Chris said, looking up at him. “Now, if she hasn’t succumbed to hypothermia and blood loss, then we’ll be in luck.” He swiped a spot in the mud then held up his red-coated finger. “She’s still losing blood. This much can’t be from the lacerations on her feet.”

Frowning, Nickolas punched Flynn’s number on his phone. “Flynn, she made it out of the river and is, incredibly, still on the move. Get back on the main road and wait for my call.”

“Right, Nickolas.”

“Well at least it’s an easy trail, Nick. Look at all the debris she’s leaving behind.” Christoff waved his hand up the hill, showing the torn-up ground and broken branches she had left in her wake. “She’s definitely not trying to hide which direction she went in, is she?”

Something about his brother’s comment nagged at him. It circled through his head as he ran at Christoff’s heels. The direction of the morning sun as it slanted through the trees gave him the clue he needed. He stopped suddenly and looked around to get his bearings then back down the trail. “Damn. I don’t believe this.” He shook his head and smiled slightly. She certainly had her wits about her. Nickolas looked at his brother, waiting a few feet ahead of him. “No, Chris, she’s not wasting any time on hiding. Clever, very clever.”