Storm Season (8 page)

The desperation in Tobias’s voice tore at Jasper’s heart, and he squeezed the shoulder he was touching. “We’ll figure something out.” He didn’t know what, or how, or even if they could, but he had to reassure Tobias if he wanted any more information.

Okay.
Tobias looked down, bit his lip, and picked at the hem of his shirt with his free hand.

Jasper reached across him and stilled it. “Now slow down and try again. Where was your sister out from? Why do you think these people took her?”

Tobias took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
She was out from home, taking part in a ritual to appease the forest spirits, and something went wrong. She and Aaron—the other person doing the ritual—didn’t come back and we couldn’t find them. I felt something, though, just before they disappeared. The whole town did. I felt something just like it before I came here, too, and a little of it today. I think the men who came for me were the same people who took Samantha.
His fear was evident in his tone.

“Felt? What do you mean felt?” Darius asked, the earlier hostility gone from his voice.

I, um, I’ll show you.

The sensation Jasper felt as Tobias was talking changed slightly, in a way he couldn’t identify, and then the world changed with it.

T
HE
air was cool, but not yet so cold as to be worrying, and Tobias smiled as he walked down the street, waving and sending greetings to his friends as he passed. He wanted to get to the general store early; Sam could be back as early as that afternoon, and he wanted to have her favorite foods ready to cook for dinner when she arrived. She’d been excited to be the one chosen to go into the forest this year to ask the forest spirits for protection from the storms and for a bountiful harvest. She’d been determined to do well, and even, she’d confided to Tobias alone, secretly hoping to be one of the rare, lucky women who were blessed with a babe from the nights spent in the forest.

The past two days and nights had been filled with pleasurable thoughts sent from both Samantha and Aaron, the young man chosen to go to the forest. The whole town was happy, confident they would survive another wet season unscathed. Everyone Tobias passed knew his sister was one of the two pleasing the spirits this year, and the greetings he received were especially enthusiastic.

He was filling a basket with fresh fruit when the feelings of pleasure changed to terror and pain so intense Tobias fell to his knees, which sent apples and berries rolling over the store’s floor.
Samantha!
Searching for his sister, he stretched his mind out, and hoped the bond they shared would let him reach farther than normal.
Samantha!

Around him, his neighbors were on the floor as well, clutching at their foreheads and sending waves of distress throughout the store, but Tobias had thoughts only for his sister and her distress. He stretched his mind farther, desperately seeking something he could do and needing to somehow help, but he couldn’t reach her, only the fear and pain she was sending. He focused on it, stretching his senses to find the source, and encountered something so dark he instinctively recoiled, drawing his mind back as quickly as he could.

The darkness followed, overwhelming his senses, delving into the deepest corners of his mind. He understood Samantha’s terror, and clung to his worry about her as he strove to push the darkness away. It pushed back, harder, more powerful, and Tobias’s limbs shook. His heart thumped rapidly in his chest as he struggled to drive it off, struggled to break free, struggled to make his mind his own again. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t see.

The darkness pushed harder and deeper, causing physical pain that left Tobias curled up on the floor, gasping for breath and whimpering with the little power he had left to send. He couldn’t hold out much longer, couldn’t fight any more, and then it was gone. Wondering what he’d just felt, he tried to catch his breath.

“S
LEET
, rain, and hail.” Carla looked as though she was going to be ill, her hand clutching her stomach, her face pale. Jasper had to agree, and was certain he didn’t look much better.

“
That
was what you felt?” All the hostility was gone from Darius’s voice.

When Sam disappeared… and… before I left the mountains. Today, it wasn’t as close. It wasn’t as powerful, I guess.

“Still….” Jasper shook his head. Even a less-powerful version of what he’d just experienced through Tobias’s memory could be enough to incapacitate someone. He should have done more to keep the men away from his house, away from Tobias.

I got away.
It was difficult to tell who Tobias was reminding.

“How? The way Jasper told the story, I thought we’d have to charge in swinging sticks or something and rescue you.” Darius’s grin faded into a serious expression. “The last thing we expected was to see you at the top of that hill.”

I’m glad you did. I don’t think I would have made it back all by myself.

Jasper didn’t like the direction his brain went with that comment. “What if’s” were pointless, but he kept thinking them all the same. What if Kyree hadn’t barked? What if they’d turned back the first time Darius had mentioned it? What if they’d taken the time to really clean up the mess before they’d started searching? What if Darius and Carla hadn’t had supplies from town to deliver that day? They were dangerous thoughts and he couldn’t stop thinking them.

“How did you get as far as you did?” Jasper asked, trying to focus on the facts. Kyree had barked. They hadn’t turned back right away. They hadn’t thoroughly cleaned the mess left by the break in. Darius and Carla had come out with deliveries. They had found Tobias.

Um,
Tobias hesitated, his gaze flickering from one person to the other, until Jasper realized what he wanted.

He squeezed Tobias’s hand reassuringly. “Go on and show us.”

T
OBIAS
was colder than he’d been in a long time, and he hurt everywhere. He would have bruises later―one on his arm where a particularly large hailstone had hit him, one encircling his wrist where he’d been grabbed and dragged, and countless small ones from branches, rocks, and rain. He’d woken halfway through the night, tied up in the back of a make-shift shelter that did little to keep the elements out, and had panicked, which only gained him a whack to the side of the head and a rough threat to drug him again if he wouldn’t cooperate.

Sunrise meant being forced to walk on bleeding feet over rough ground, his left wrist continuously gripped by one of the men in a hold that left no hope of escape. The pain and the residual effects of the drugs they’d given him the night before left him stumbling, earning jerks on his arm and curses when he fell. They didn’t stop all day, not even to eat, but kept moving along an erratic route that made no sense to Tobias. They twisted and turned seemingly without thought, often going against the lay of the land, following a path only his captors could discern.

In the afternoon they were joined by a third man, also dressed in an emerald coat and covered in swirling tattoos. Several times Tobias stopped suddenly, yanking hard as he attempted to free his arm from the hand gripping it, but the grip on his wrist proved impossible to break and he ended up being dragged on his knees.

They didn’t stop until Tobias could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. He was again bound―his hands tied behind him and his feet bound together―and thrust to the ground near the base of a tree as packs were unloaded and the makeshift shelter went up once more. Gruff words were exchanged, too low for Tobias to hear, but his two original captors drew weapons and stalked out of the camp, leaving Tobias alone with the newcomer who squatted in front of the shelter and arranged sticks to build a fire.

Barely able to believe his luck, Tobias steeled himself, and hoped the men didn’t know too much about his abilities. He hadn’t been able to do this when there were multiple people to worry about, but with only the newcomer present, Tobias was able to cautiously reach out toward his mind. He slipped in without resistance, carefully crafted a thought he hoped would seem natural, and planted the suggestion. As he withdrew, he held his breath, hoping he’d been successful. Nothing happened for a minute, and another, and another. Then, just as Tobias was about to give up hope, the man moved from the pile of kindling and, without saying a word, untied Tobias’s bonds.

Tobias didn’t waste any time. As soon as he was free, he dashed away, heedless of the danger presented by the man standing over him and the other two men in the woods around the camp. He ran, as fast as he could on frozen, bleeding feet, in the direction he thought they’d come from. Branches whipped his torso as he ran past, stumbling over tree roots and loose rocks. He was desperate to get as far away as he could before the man realized what he’d done, before the others returned to find him missing.

The small hill was almost his undoing. The direction felt right, but the leaves that coated the slope slid under his feet. He heard familiar voices and doubled his efforts. He fell twice as he scrambled up the hill, and crested it just in time to see the people he’d been hoping to find turning away.

J
ASPER
rolled over and stretched without opening his eyes, not entirely convinced he wanted to be awake. The smells wafting through the vents were tempting, but his limbs were heavy with exhaustion and his muscles ached. His stomach grumbled, asking to be filled, but the bed was soft and comfortable.

Something about the situation nagged at the back of Jasper’s mind, a little worry that kept him from relaxing completely. He was snug in bed, the body next to him was warm, the food smelled delicious, and…

He opened his eyes and blinked in the light as he looked around. There were no blankets on the floor―no dog either―but Tobias was still sleeping, lying flat on his back in the bed, his face turned toward the wall. Darius and Carla must have taken it upon themselves to fix breakfast.

Jasper stretched again and winced as the effects of the previous day made themselves known. There was a gash on his right foot that throbbed when he flexed his toes, and bruises and scrapes too numerous to count. His shoulders were still tight, though thankfully his headache had vanished while he slept.

Gingerly, he stood, braced for additional pain as he moved, but none came, and he breathed a sigh of relief, the knowledge he could move freely making him feel marginally better. At least he wouldn’t have to take extra care every time he moved, though he would when he walked, a fact that became clear as he shifted his weight onto his damaged foot.

As he put on a shirt, Jasper considered waking Tobias, but stopped before he touched the sleeping man’s shoulder. Tobias looked terrible. The feet that stuck out from under the blanket were covered with multiple lacerations, and red marks on his ankles disappeared up under the cover. His torso was dotted with smaller, shallower cuts, and deep purple bruises had appeared around his wrists and right elbow. Small oval-shaped bruises dotted his torso, likely from exposure to the storms. His face was drawn, worried even in sleep, and a thin line of dried blood crossed his forehead above his left eye.

Tobias slept the deep sleep of the ill or injured, and looked as though he wouldn’t wake for several more hours. It was best to just leave him be.

After tugging the blanket to better cover Tobias, Jasper slipped out of the safe room, quietly shutting the door behind him, and headed down to see what Darius and Carla had managed to salvage from the wreck of his kitchen. Food, company, and distraction made up the perfect recipe to keep his mind off the man he’d left sleeping in his bed.

T
WO
hours later, the debris was completely swept up, the cabinets fixed, and the door almost reattached. All that remained was to go into town and obtain replacement dishes, and that could wait until they’d taken care of Tobias’s injuries. Jasper, Darius, and Carla were sitting at the table, debating if they should wake him when Kyree’s ears perked up and Jasper heard the tell-tale groan of the ninth stair, the one he’d been intending to fix while trapped inside this wet season. “Tobias?” he called out, though there was little question as to who was on the steps. “We’re back in the kitchen.”

The tread on the stairs was easier to hear when it started again, a slow gait Jasper was certain had to reflect the agony Tobias’s feet must be in. It was amazing Tobias was walking at all, as cut up as they were, and Jasper didn’t expect to see him in the kitchen for several minutes.

He most definitely did not expect to hear the squeak of the front door being opened.

“Is he…?”

Jasper didn’t wait to hear if Darius finished the question. He dropped the screws he’d been holding on the table as he hurried by. The front door was swinging shut as he crossed the front room.