Storm Season (32 page)

They were still kissing, their hands roaming and their tongues dancing, when the door opened again with a rush of sound. Darius stepped through, followed by two people Jasper didn’t recognized. He knew from Darius’s explanation earlier who they were, but they looked different enough in the light with proper clothes and no blindfolds that Jasper wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t been warned.

Tobias broke the kiss when the door whooshed shut, but as he rolled over, he stayed in the circle of Jasper’s arms, lacing their fingers together as he settled in with his back to Jasper’s chest. Jasper squeezed Tobias’s hand and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck before lifting his head. He could smell the soup from across the room, and his stomach grumbled loudly as he inhaled, taking in the tantalizing scent.

“Hungry?” Darius asked wryly as he held out the soup. Jasper was loath to let go of Tobias, but the soup smelled so wonderful and he was so hungry that he didn’t really have any other choice.

“Yes,” he said, squeezing Tobias’s hand once more before gently untangling himself. “Sorry,” he whispered, sitting up and scooting back so he could again lean against the wall behind the bed. It rattled with the movement of the train, making his hands shake as he curled them around the cup, lifted it to his lips, and took a tentative sip.

The hot liquid slid down his throat, warming him from the inside as it started to fill him up. He immediately took another sip, this one bigger, and hurriedly swallowed it as it started to get too hot for his tongue. He was halfway through the cup before it was cool enough for him to really taste it, but the chicken and rice filled him up quickly, and by the time it was cool he was full enough that he could sip slowly and savor the taste. It was wonderful, just a little spicy, with the rich warm flavors of the herbs and vegetables mixing well with the milder ones of the chicken and the rice. Jasper held one sip in his mouth for a moment, relishing the flavor, and when he swallowed, he nodded at Darius. “It’s good.”

Darius snorted. “I’d hope so, the way you were gulping it down. Are you going to want more? I heated up a whole pot.”

“Maybe?” Jasper shrugged as he took another sip. “I’ll let you know when I’m done.” He didn’t want to eat too much too quickly, not after the days he’d spent sleeping, and he had other things on his mind as well. “You going to introduce me while I eat?”

“Thought I’d let Tobias handle that,” Darius said, smirking as Tobias shot up, blinking wildly. He looked frantically between Darius and Jasper, his gaze pleading, but Darius crossed his arms and gave Tobias a level look. “They’re your friends.”

The look Tobias shot Darius was comical, but he picked up the notebook and pen anyway, scribbling a sentence before showing it to Jasper.
This is Samantha and Aaron.

It was short and terse, but Jasper smiled anyway, nodding at the two people standing silently off to the side. “Nice to meet you,” he said, taking pity on Tobias and finishing the introductions himself. “I’m Jasper.”

The woman stepped forward, holding out her hand, and Jasper took it without thinking.
It was cool and small in his grip, delicate in a way he wasn’t used to.
Nice to meet you,
she said, her voice sounding completely unlike Tobias’s. Jasper wasn’t sure why he’d thought they would sound the same—she wasn’t Tobias after all, and people’s speaking voices sounded different—but it surprised him, and his eyes widened a little as he blinked up at her.

Tobias, who was watching them carefully, narrowed his gaze and bumped his shoulder against his sister’s arm.
Be nice!
he wrote, underlining the words several times as he showed the pad to Samantha.

“She is,” Jasper assured Tobias, smiling slightly when Tobias narrowed his gaze and glared at Jasper. “Honest. I was just surprised at what she sounded like, that’s all.”

Samantha’s eyes twinkled as her chuckle echoed in Jasper’s skull.
Surprised? Why?

“I thought you’d sound alike.” Jasper shrugged self-depreciatingly. “Stupid, I know.”

Not stupid, just….
Samantha trailed off, clearly searching for a word, and looked toward Tobias for help. She didn’t say anything Jasper could hear and Tobias didn’t write, but they were clearly communicating in some way.

As Jasper watched them, he started to notice the similarities in their appearance. They had the same deep brown eyes and dark curly hair, though Samantha’s fell halfway down her back while Tobias’s stopped mid-ear. Their noses and mouths were similar too, though Samantha’s face was round whereas Tobias’s was oval, and her cheekbones weren’t nearly as prominent as his. Their mannerisms were similar too, both of them tilting their heads to the side as they looked at each other, unconsciously mimicking the other’s pose, and Samantha’s free hand picked at the hem of her shirt the way Jasper had seen Tobias pick at his clothes several times on their trip. She was nervous, though the palm pressed against Jasper’s was still cool and dry, and he had to admit that if he hadn’t known Tobias, he wouldn’t have picked up on it at all.

Uninformed
, Samantha said, startling Jasper out of his contemplations.

He blinked, trying to focus again on the conversation they were having, and failed to remember what she had last said. “What?”

Not stupid,
Samantha repeated, her lips quirking up in amusement the same way Tobias’s did,
just uninformed. You’ve only met Tobias. You couldn’t know that we’d all sound different.

“I should have,” he said after he swallowed the last of the soup. “It makes sense.”

“What makes sense?” Darius asked, stepping forward to take the cup from Jasper when he held it out. “You’re having an entire conversation that I can’t hear,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he stepped back. Aaron touched his arm briefly, a small smile playing on his face, and Darius’s scowl deepened. “That doesn’t make it better.”

“Doesn’t make what better?”

“See? It’s not very pleasant, is it?”

Samantha rolled her eyes and looked at Aaron, who grabbed Darius’s arm again, hauling him forward until he was close enough for Samantha to grab him with her free hand.
Better?
she asked, and Darius nodded as Aaron stepped up against the bed and put his hand on Jasper’s shoulder, completing the circle. Only Tobias was left out, sitting in the center and only touching Jasper. It felt wrong to have him like that, deliberately excluded, but since he couldn’t talk, there was no reason for him to touch Darius. Jasper could only assume that he could still hear Samantha and Aaron without any pain.

It’s nice to meet you, Jasper,
Aaron said, smiling slightly.
Thank you for coming to find us.

“You’re welcome.” Jasper managed a strained smile as he tried to shrug off the discomfort of being thanked. He’d come because he couldn’t let Tobias face the journey alone, not because he had any desire to save either Samantha or Aaron. Even Tobias had been focused solely on Samantha, and it was awkward to have thanks coming from the one person they’d barely thought about rescuing.

Yes,
Samantha echoed,
thank you. And thank you for helping my brother. He needs it.

Tobias rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue, answering Jasper’s question about his ability to hear Samantha and Aaron.
Yeah,
he wrote,
I’m the one who needs help.

It was clearly the start of a typical sibling argument, but Jasper wasn’t in the mood. He was tired and sore, and he wanted answers before he made everyone leave him alone to sleep some more, and this was the perfect opening. “Right now you do,” he said softly, regretting that he had to call attention to the fact that Tobias currently couldn’t talk. “Unless you already know why you can’t talk.”

It was that creature,
Aaron said, scowling at the memory. His furrowed brow coupled with his dark coloring and stocky build made him look a little scary, and Jasper was glad he was on their side. He was still clearly weakened from his ordeal, but he had a heavier build than Samantha and Tobias, and even after being held captive for almost year, he still had some meat on his bones. It was no wonder he’d been able to struggle when Samantha hadn’t.

“Do you know what it was?” Jasper asked, looking between Aaron and Tobias. “Or what it is?”

We call them tree guardians,
Samantha interjected.
They live in all the forests, though most of the ones we’ve encountered before have been uninterested in humans. They live in the trees, and talk to each other the way that we do. Some people say they can talk to the trees too, but that’s just a rumor.

“What about the ones that are interested in humans?” Darius asked. “What do they do?”

Watch,
Aaron said softly.
They can gather psychic energy from people, animals, maybe even the plants, and use it to help the forest. They’ll heal a tree with it, or a sick animal, and they make sure that the forest stays healthy.

“So then what was this one doing?” Jasper asked, shuddering as he recalled the way the creature had grabbed Tobias’s head and made him scream. “That’s not how they gather this energy, is it?”

No.
Samantha let out a shaky breath.
They just watch. All living creatures give off psychic energy, and they can gather it in just by watching. Certain activities give off more and every year, a couple goes out from our town and, uh, lets them watch.

It took Jasper a moment to fully grasp what she was saying. “While you have sex?”

Samantha nodded.
It’s an agreement that we have with them. They get to watch one couple a year, one week a year, and they stay out of town and let us hunt and gather in the forest. It’s a good arrangement,
she added, a little more vehemently than necessary.

That’s what Samantha and I were doing when we were taken,
Aaron added, flushing slightly.
We were thrilled to be chosen—it’s an honor—and then those men came and surprised us, and next thing we knew we were trapped. The tree guardians tried to save us, but the Storm Quellers killed one of them, and then the rest left us alone.

“Why would they kill one of them?” Darius mused. “They worshiped the one near Shaleton. If these are the same creatures, wouldn’t that be like killing their god?”

“Who knows,” Jasper replied with a shrug. “I don’t think any of them were sane—this tree guardian included. We may never understand.”

I don’t want to
, Tobias wrote, scowling as he showed the paper to Jasper.
I just want to forget it ever happened.

Jasper felt the same way, though he didn’t think he’d be able to for a long time. “So what did this tree guardian do to Tobias?” It seemed like Aaron and Samantha and even Tobias were all remarkably unconcerned with Tobias’s inability to talk. There had to be a reason behind it.

I think it just gathered his psychic energy, only it didn’t wait for him to give it off, it pulled it out of him,
Samantha said with a sigh
. That’s why it rejected me and Aaron, we didn’t have enough left. It wasn’t worth the effort.

“But Tobias was still relatively strong because they hadn’t had him long.” Darius didn’t make it a question.

Right.
Aaron smiled wryly as everyone’s gaze swiveled to him.
They didn’t feed us much, or let us out, or put us anywhere we had any chance of getting away. They wanted us alive for the sacrifice, but they didn’t want us to fight back.
He snorted, the sound mostly lost in the clacking of train wheels beneath them.
I think they’d hoped to sacrifice us last year, but they have this weird idea about the first full moon, and they didn’t get us to Shaleton in time.

“Thank the sun,” Darius muttered, and Jasper silently agreed with him. He didn’t want to imagine how Tobias would have reacted if they hadn’t found Samantha.

“So what now?” he asked, still unsure why the three of them were so unconcerned about what the tree guardian had done to Tobias. “What do we need to do now?”

We wait,
Tobias wrote, scribbling out the word before either Aaron or Samantha could answer.

That wasn’t the answer Jasper wanted to hear. “But—”

We wait,
Samantha repeated, squeezing Jasper’s hand gently.
When the tree guardians take the psychic energy we give off naturally, it drains us a little. Not much, just enough to leave us a little tired, but it builds back up quickly. We think that this one just took a lot from Tobias, so it’s affecting his psychic abilities too. He’s just drained, and when he gets his strength back, he’ll be fine. It’s just going to take a while.

“Are you sure?”

No.
Samantha shook her head sadly.
But it’s our best guess.

Jasper nodded, reading into it what she wasn’t saying. They didn’t have anything else to try, either, so waiting and hoping was their only option. “Then we wait,” he said, forcing a smile he didn’t feel to his lips. “As long as it takes.”

E
IGHT
days later, when they finally pulled the train into Brightam’s Ford, Tobias still couldn’t talk, and Jasper pulled Samantha aside as they disembarked. “We’ve waited,” he said in a low voice, hoping that the others wouldn’t overhear. “And nothing’s happened.”

I know.
Samantha pushed her hair back and sighed.
I thought he’d have improved some by now, at least.
She was obviously as upset about it as Jasper was.

“So what do we do now?” he asked in a low voice, looking around to be sure Tobias wasn’t near. He hated feeling like he was going behind Tobias’s back, but when Jasper had tried to talk to him about it this morning, he’d pulled away, refusing to touch the notepad and pen Jasper had held out to him and never once meeting Jasper’s gaze. “There has to be something.”

There might be.
Samantha glanced around too, then turned so she was looking Jasper directly in the eyes.
There was one other thing Aaron and I talked about, but I don’t know if it’ll work.