Gathering Storm (32 page)

The second he loosened his
hold, she turned in his arms and gave him a kiss so sweet and slow
and deep that it exceeded what he’d been dreaming about. It almost
made him forget about the pain of the scorching she gave
him.

“That’s more like it,” he breathed.

She put enough room in between them so that
she could press her hand over the imprint her burn had left. Then
she simply wished it away. When she lifted her hand, it was gone.
He had to look twice and rub his hand over where it had been before
he could fully accept what he’d seen.

“You can heal?”

“No. Well, not
generically. It’s because I burned you. I can sort of take it
back.”

“Oh.” He passed his hand over the healed
skin again. “Thank you.”

“Welcome home,” she said softly with both
love and warmth in her eyes.

“I’m lost, Litha. What just happened?”

“How did you get
here?”

“Rosie. And, by the way.
Wow”

“Yeah.” Litha laughed
softly. “Wow.”

“She brought me home. I
told her I needed some time alone with you before I teach her how
to ride a bike.”

“She didn’t tell you anything about our
house guest?”

Storm’s sharp black eyes
narrowed and slammed into focus with laser intensity as suspicions
started to take form. He lowered his chin and rumbled, “What house
guest?”

The hungry way her eyes
moved over his face made him feel every bit of how much she’d
missed him and ached to find him. She gave her bottom lip a
suggestive lick and said, “If you come back to bed, I’ll tell you
the whole story. I need to feel you close.”

His face softened, but his
voice still sounded gruff. “Close, huh? I can go along with that.
There’s plenty of time for talking later. Now that I’m back home,
I’m not going anywhere again.” She watched his eyes darken as he
reached for her nightshirt. “Let’s get you out of
this.”

Rosie was eager to tell
Glen and Elora the good news and maybe spend the night with Glen,
but first, she decided to stop at the flower market. She wanted the
house to look and smell like a celebration. So she took her time
picking out flowers and scheduling them for delivery the next
morning. She then went to the bakery and spent an hour looking
through the book of cakes. When she realized that she was morphing
into a raging perfectionist, she chose one and arranged to pick it
up the next morning.

She asked if she could use the restroom so
that she could disappear from there without a fuss.

Glen had never been so
conflicted or agitated in his life. He was stuck guarding a locked
door in research, hearing sounds of explosions and gunfire every
now and then over Spaz and his funky shit playlist. Other than
bizarre intercom announcements, he didn’t know what was going on
and couldn’t leave to go find out because of what was behind him in
that locked room. Namely the smartest man on the planet – probably
- the younger trainees, and, most importantly, an elfling that
meant the world to Ram and Elora. And Ram and Elora meant the world
to Glen. He wouldn’t want to try to survive witnessing their
suffering if anything ever happened to that baby.

So there he was. He and
Bo, standing with their backs against the entrance to Fire Testing,
weapons at hand. Glen had convinced the younger boys to get inside
by explaining that they would be the last line of defense for
Elora’s baby and the civilians. Thank the gods for one less
worry.

Thinking about Glen, Rosie
expected to come out of the passes in his quarters. Instead she was
deposited on Sublevel 2 outside a closed door with an armed guard,
weapons drawn. What was even more confusing was that one of those
guards was a very anxious-looking Glen. The other was his soft
spoken easygoing, intellectual assistant.

“Glen. What…?”

He rushed forward. “Rosie.
Not a good time.”

“Not a good time for what?
I came to tell you we found my dad. He’s… he’s home.”

“Wow, baby, that’s great,
probably the best thing I’ve ever heard.” Glen’s words were rushed.
“Now go get him and bring him here as fast as you can.”

The floor underneath their
feet shook from the shock of another detonation and she thought she
heard occasional gunshots over the weird music, which stopped.
Thank the gods.

“Give it up for new kids on
the block, Kris and Wakey, hangin’ tough, at pick up sticks. That’s
five,
six
, pick
up sticks. Mother will be proud. And, on that note, Spazmodoc, The
Voice of the Fray, leaves the eighties behind to bring you a
gooooooolden oldie. This is Three Dogs at Night for you,
Mother.”

Rosie just stood
there
in freeze frame staring at
Glen.

“
Glen. What is
going on?”

“
Rosie, go get
Storm. Now.”

Her head jerked
in the direction of distant shouts and more shooting. She looked
back at Glen. When her brows came together and her mouth set with
determination, she looked so much like Storm.

“No. What are
you…? No. He just got home. I shouldn’t be bringing him here. I
should be taking
you
away.”

She started
toward Glen and he threw a hand up to stop her. “Stop! Elora Rose!
You’re not thinking clearly. I can’t leave here. This is my
job.”

“
But
you…”

“We need your
dad, baby. I wouldn’t ask if we didn’t. If something happens to
your auntie or Helm, or any of us, and you didn’t give him a chance
to help, he’ll never get over it. Please. Go get him.”

“He just got
home,” she whispered. Glen couldn’t hear what she said, but he
could read her beautiful bow mouth. At the moment she looked like
the little girl he remembered. Only he’d never seen her look lost
or uncertain.

“I know he just
got home, but this is part of home for him.
Rosie, please. You’ve got to understand. Your dad’s
a Black Swan knight. No. He’s
THE
Black Swan knight. Lots
of people here need him. That includes me. And your auntie. Please.
Let him do what he does.”

Glen saw Rosie’s
face transform. He didn’t know what she was up to, but it was
something. “I’ll get him. But I’ll be back, too.”

“Rosie. Wait…”
She hesitated
. “Helm is in this
room behind me. Will you please take him to Litha where he’ll be
safe?”

She rushed
forward and gave Glen a breathless kiss while a wide-eyed Barrock
looked on. She pulled back and looked at Barrock. “Take off your
shirt.”

Glen couldn’t have been more
astonished. “What?”

“You heard me. I
need his shirt. It’s a button up and I need a way to secure Helm to
me.”

“Oh.” Glen nodded
at Bo, who
handed over his gun
long enough to take off his shirt and give it to Rosie.

She grabbed it. And was gone.

Elora let out a breath
she’d been partially holding once she knew that Kris and Wakey were
okay. She looked at her watch. An hour and a half until the gas
wore off and, if she was understanding Spaz’s cipher, there were
six Ralengclan left.

She didn’t know the song
the little shit was playing, but she didn’t like it any more than
she liked all the other stupid mother references.

Mama told me not to come. Mama
told me not to come. That ain't the way to have fun, son.

Rosie arrived at the
vineyard, after having promised her dad to give them some alone
time. She walked out of a pass into the hallway outside her own
room and heard the low tones of quiet talk in the kitchen. When she
was just outside the kitchen door she got a glimpse of them. Her
dad was shirtless, wearing a pair of sweat pants. Her mother was in
her Japanese silk robe, sitting on his lap and snuggled into his
chest looking safe and happy with strong arms around her. She was
also clutching a black velvet box.

Rosie knew there was no time to delay, but
the idea of interrupting that scene was breaking her heart.

“Did I ever tell you about
the first time I saw you?” Litha asked.

“No.” He kissed the hair
swept back from her temple.

“I was standing on the
mezzanine overlooking the grand foyer when you arrived with the
entourage.”

He chuckled. “The entourage?”

“You know what I mean.
Ram, Elora, Kay, Aelsong, Everybody was out of their offices
whispering that the great B Team from Jefferson Unit was in the
house. You were looking all around like you were sizing up the
place, or maybe marking the escape routes. I don’t know. Anyway,
your eyes drifted right over me like I was invisible. But you
weren’t invisible to me. I took one look and said, ‘I can’t live
without that.’”

Storm’s voice was gentle, filled with love
and warmth. “You never told me that.”

Rosie flicked at
a tear that tried to escape unnoticed
. She was thinking about how to let them know she was there
when Helm settled the matter by blowing a nice noisy
raspberry.

“Don’t want to
startle you.” She stepped forward into the kitchen and looked right
at Storm. “I know I promised to give you time, but
it’s an emergency. Glen made me come.
Jefferson Unit is, um, under attack.”

Storm set Litha
on her feet and was already moving toward the bedroom to get
dressed. Litha moved forward to help get Helm out of Bo’s shirt.
Rosie had put it on herself, held Helm next to her body, and gotten
Monq to button them in.

It was a really
good thought on Glen’s part. The vineyard was an ideal place to
bring the baby. It had diapers his size and food appropriate for
his development level on hand.

“Who would be
attacking Jefferson
?” Storm
demanded.

“Some men
are
after auntie.”

As
Litha took Helm and set him on a cocked
hip, she looked at Storm, shook her head, and muttered, “Of
course.”

As soon as Storm was dressed he
started firing other questions at Rosie.

“
Why didn’t Glen
call me?”

“
I don’t
know.”

“Okay. Just take
me to Glen. Drop me off and get out.”

“I’m
staying.
”

“No you’re not!
You can’t be there, Rosie. I know your heart’s in the right place,
but if I’m worried about you, I’ll get myself killed.” She
hesitated. “Promise me.”

“Promise.”

He wrapped duct
tape around Rosie’s waist, looped it over his
wrist
. He looked at Litha as he
took a death grip on the end just above where he tore the tape off.
“I
will
be back.”

She
nodded, trying not to have him see that
she was too choked with emotion to do anything else. Helm had
leaned out and was studying her face with a little frown. When she
saw it, she gave him a reassuring little smile, kissed his chubby
cheeks and asked him how he felt about strained peas.

CHAPTER
24

A couple of
minutes later
Storm and Rosie
were standing in front of the door to Fire Testing. They had just
arrived when a rumbling vibration shook the whole building and
threatened their footing. The weird music that was blaring through
the intercom was just ending.

Storm looked at Glen. “What the
f…?”

He was cut off
by an announcement from Spaz. “E.T.s controlling central ladder.
Repeat E.T.s controlling central ladder. And the Spazmodoc is
bumpin’ the time machine from Early Proterozoic as The Voice of the
Fray brings you Scary Kids Scaring Kids and “Losing My
Religion”.

When the
intercom base restarted its own brand of rumble, Storm’s brows
pulled almost together. He looked at Glen like it was his fault and
spoke as quietly as he could and still be heard over the
screamo.

“Briefest
possible version of the brief. First, why are you standing in this
hall?
”

“Monq and
some civvies are inside. And some of
the younger kids. Looks like the same guys back to finish the job
on Elora. We think she’s pinned down in Operations. Possibly with
two of the trainees.”

He turned to
Rosie. “Can you take me to Operations?” She nodded. “Stay behind
me. The second I’m there, you’re gone. Agreed?” She
nodded.

Elora looked at her watch. Less
than an hour until the gas wore off. Six of them to go. Six male
versions of her with her enhanced abilities would be enough to raze
all of Fort Dixon to the ground. She knew she couldn’t let it go
any further. She was what they came for and she was pretty sure
that, if they killed or captured her, they’d be satisfied and
leave.

She couldn’t walk
but she could probably crawl. All she had to do was get out the
door into the
Hub. She’d be in
the open, helpless, easy pickings. She was moving to drop down when
she heard a rustle behind her. She turned her head to see Storm
sliding in next to where she sat.

The last thing she needed
right then was a fake version of Storm to take care of. When she
opened her mouth to tell him so, she looked him in the face and
something in his eyes made her freeze.