Triple Infinity (16 page)

“No, it was muffled. But loud. Go talk to her. This is your chance, even if it is to save Triaten’s hide from you.”

Skye
shot Triaten a look meant to fry. “I’m not done with you.”

“I know.” Triaten sighed.

Skye stepped past Aiden and walked back to the kitchen. Shiv stood at the back door, pulling on a dark wool pea coat.

“Take a walk with me?” She
pointed at the door.

Skye paused, still livid. Her fingers played with the zipper on her coat. She hadn’t even ta
ken it off, she had been so quick to drag Triaten out of the kitchen. She watched Shiv pull her long dark hair out from under the back of her coat. It was the same distinct motion Shiv had used her whole life, and Skye couldn’t help but see her as the awkward fourteen-year-old girl from years ago. Skye resisted the urge to grab Shiv’s arm, drag her to the jeep, and drive her as far away from this mountain as possible.

That Triaten would play this game with her. Skye’s body began to shake
again. She had to squash her anger before she let it slip with Shiv.

Shiv opened the back door and looked over her shoulder. “Coming?”

Skye zipped her coat and followed her.

Outside, Rafe caught sight of the sisters and bounded up from barn, tongue hanging loose as he tore across the browning grass. He
barreled into Skye, sending her flying onto her backside. He stood over her, tongue mopping every exposed inch of skin. It had been months since he had seen his mistress. A happier dog didn’t exist. And Skye’s anger vanished.

“Triaten said he was your dog. But
jeez, I had no idea. He really loves you.”

Laughing, Skye looked past the furr
y ear she was scratching, up at Shiv. Jealousy painfully lined Shiv’s pinched smile.

Skye got to her feet, her hand still
deep in the fur on Rafe’s head. “Rafe is the best. He kept you good company, didn’t he?”

Shiv nodded.

Skye pointed to an opening in the woods behind the barn. “Shall we walk?”

Into the woods, Rafe out in front, they crunched on fallen leaves for five minutes
before Skye broke the silence.

“Do you remember the stories I used to tell you about our parents and how they named us?”

“Vaguely. Remind me.” Shiv produced, her voice wooden.

“Well, they used to tell me that one day I dropped from the sky, and that’s how they named me. But yours I never understood
when they told it. They used to talk about how when you were a baby you had really sharp fingernails, little blades, they used to call them. So they named you Shiv. I never really got it until I went to juvie and learned that a shiv was a make-shift blade.”

“Really?
I do not remember that one at all. They truly named me after a cobbled together knife?”

“I guess, yes.
I have found no other definition.”

“You mean they didn’t just like the name
Shivanoe and shorten it? That’s what I always assumed.”

Skye laughed at her incredulous look. “Swear to god. That’s the story they used to tell us.”

A smile cracked Shiv’s face. “How bizarre.”

“I know. And when I found out what a shiv actually was, I wanted to get a hold of you right away.” Skye
scanned the treetops. “But they wouldn’t let me. So I have been sitting on that fascinating tidbit of information for years.” 

They walked in silence for another ten minutes before pulling up as the trail
opened to the bank of the river. Skye walked to the edge of the water, staring at the flow. Rafe stayed by her side, lapping up a drink.

“I’ve never seen you that close to moving water before.” Shiv said to Skye’s back. She had stopped at the edge of the woods, arms crossed.

Skye turned around to her. “The fear isn’t completely gone — I’m not going to dive in or anything. But I do have a certain level of peace with water now.”

“How did you do it? Reach the peace, I mean?”

“I’m different now.”

“Different how?”

Skye sighed. She couldn’t actually tell Shiv she was a Panthenite, and that she couldn’t really die from drowning anymore. That much was proven when Evan had her in the cave. Phobias ease up considerably once the core of the fear goes away. But Skye couldn’t tell Shiv that. “You know when I was knocked out and I had amnesia? It was like a reset button for me. For my whole life. I woke up and I had no history, no clue who I was or how I acted. So I got to be a completely new person. A better person, I hope.”

“And what happened when your memory came back?”

“I was horrified at the person I was. How I hurt you. How I failed you. But I was already on a new path, so I didn’t have to wallow in the past.”

“And you fell in love? I suppose that helped.”

“Yes.”

Skye could see Shiv hedge on her next question.
Then it came out in a blurt.

“So when you got your memory back, why didn’t you find me?”

“Honestly, Shiv, I wanted nothing more.” Skye stepped toward her. “But it was clear from your reaction to Triaten and Charlotte, that you wanted nothing to do with me. If I had thought there was the slightest chance you would have opened your door...would have said hello. I would have taken anything — the smallest bone from you. But I didn’t want to cause you more pain. So I didn’t come.”

“Were you ever going to come?”

“Probably, but I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I always just believed that in the future, you’d see me again. Be my sister again. Forgive me. At least I hoped.”

Shiv turned sideways, looking upriver instead
of at Skye. 

Skye stepped in front of her vision. “Shiv, the other day at the house. You said I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. What happened? Why did you need me?”

Shiv shrugged, avoiding Skye’s eyes. “I don’t have time to dwell, nor do I want to, but I’ve been in a bad place. Basically, my life disintegrated on me, and you’re all I could think of that I had left.”

“What happened?”

Shiv shook her head in sad hope. “I wish I had your reset button. But I don’t. The short answer is that I was having an affair with a married man. I got pregnant. He beat me almost to death. I lost the baby. And then...”

Skye’s stomach clenched in
horror. Horror that ballooned into rage. “What? Who the hell is this guy? I am going to find him and –”

Shiv’s hand flew up.
“Skye, stop. I don’t think about him anymore. I don’t have time for that. And you shouldn’t waste any emotion on him either.”

Skye’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean you don’t have time for that?”

Hesitating, Shiv looked up at the blue sky, tears welling. She took a deep breath and looked at Skye. “I’m going to tell you this quickly, and only once, because I haven’t told anyone, but I have to at least tell you. When I was in the hospital, they found it.”

Skye’s heart stopped. “Found what?” The question crawled out. 

“The cancer.” The words were a whisper.

“Cancer?”

Shiv closed her eyes, letting the words come out. “I didn’t even know I had anything. And it had spread quickly. I have about seven months.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“But you’re fine,” Skye reasoned. “You’re healthy. You look healthy.”

“I know. I’m not in any pain right now. They say that’s to come.”

“No.”

“Yes. Skye, please don’t make this harder. I’ve only just recently convinced myself this was true. I don’t want to have to convince you, too.”

“No, we fight it Shiv. We can do something. Money is not an issue.”

“Skye, we can’t. It’s too widespread and inoperable. I’ve had four second opinions.”

Skye stepped
forward and fiercely grabbed Shiv’s shoulders. “No, Shiv. We fight. You can’t give up.”

Shiv just shook her head. “Skye, please. This is really hard. There is nothing to fight. It’s already won, and I’m just
trying to come to terms with what will be the end. I’m just trying to enjoy life before the pain comes.”

“God, no.” Skye begged as her hands loosened the
ir grasp, moving instead to wrap her arms around Shiv, gripping with every ounce. Tears were free-falling. “No. I can’t accept this. I will find something. Some way to heal this.”

“Skye, there isn’t anything you can do.” Shiv said over Skye’s shoulder. “I really just need you to be there for me. Be there when things get really bad.”

Skye swallowed a sob, not wanting her next words to come out, because they sounded like defeat. But Shiv needed to hear it. “You don’t need to ask. Anything you need. I will make it happen. I promise you that.”

Shiv’s arms finally
came up, enclosing Skye and squeezing her hard. Leaning on her.

Moments ticked by
. Clouds passed. Birds cawed. Water ran down the river. The world turned, even though it had just stopped for Skye.

Shiv pulled back from the embrace to look at Skye
, but she kept her hands around her. “So here is what I need from you right now. No one knows about it. Especially not Triaten. And I need you to back off of him.”

“But –”

“No buts. Triaten helps me forget what’s going on. How my body is failing me. I am alive when I’m with him. I’m not wallowing in self-pity, or terrified about what is to come. While I still feel healthy, I need to live like I am. And Triaten helps me do it.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want him to use you.”

A sarcastic chuckle flew out of Shiv. “Well now, you don’t have to worry about that. There’s not enough time for me to get hurt. Really, I’m using him more than he is using me.”

“And what if you fall in love?”

“So what? It isn’t going to change anything. The outcome will be the same — whatever we have is going to end soon enough anyway.”

Skye looked hard at her sister. She wasn’t
going to accept this diagnosis, but Shiv didn’t want to hear that, so she wasn’t going to tell her. “Are you planning on telling Triaten?”

“That’s the other thing I need from you. You have to promise me that you won’t tell him. Won’t tell anyone.”

After a long pause, Skye relented. “I won’t.”

“And you’ll leave Triaten alone?”

Giving up on that front, Skye sighed. “Fine.”

At that moment, Rafe ambled over and stuck his head under Shiv’s hand for a pet. She smiled down at the dog. “And I may have to steal Rafe from you from time to time.”

“Gladly,” Skye smiled as she rubbed Rafe’s neck behind Shiv’s hand. The dog gloried in the double attention. “Anything you need is yours.”

“Thank you.” Shiv grabbed
Skye’s hand.

Skye bit her lip
, trying to hold back the tears that were re-surfacing. She hadn’t held Shiv’s hand since they were little. But their hands still entwined the same as always, as though she was ten, and Shiv was her little, little sister again. Skye’s throat swelled.

“All these years. All these years I’ve missed with you. And now...”

Shiv squeezed her hand. “I know.”

“I am so sorry, Shiv. I am so sorry I left you.”

“I know.” Shiv reached up and wiped a tear from Skye’s cheek. “I know. I forgive you, if you can forgive me for holding you away. For not seeing you.”

“There is nothing for me to forgive, Shiv. I set it all in motion. And as heartbroken as I am right now, I’m still just so happy you’re here.”

“Let’s head back,” Shiv said with a smile and she pointed in the direction of the ranch. “I think you’ll get a kick out of what I’m making in the library. I didn’t know it when I started it, but it’s pretty clear now what it is.”

“In the library?” Skye
hid a shudder. Mary almost killed her in there, and then Charlotte had put Mary out of her misery on that floor. “What in the world are you doing in there?” she asked, perplexed.

“A
mosaic.”

No one was more surprised by the reversal of Skye’s anger than Triaten.

Triaten and Aiden were at the
smaller barn, just walking out of the new structure that held an expanded arsenal for Panthenites, when the sisters had emerged from the woods, hand-in-hand.

As they made it closer, Triaten could see both had red-rimmed eyes. Shiv looked at peace. Skye looked an odd mix of happy and worried.

As the women walked across the clearing, Triaten braced himself for the upcoming tongue lashing Skye was going to unleash on him. But it never came.

Instead the two stopped by the barn to report they were going inside. Skye gave Aiden a kiss on the cheek and Triaten a smile, then they walked up to the main house, Rafe trotting happily behind. 

Over the next two days, Triaten noted that every moment Skye could steal with her sister, she did. Aiden also reported that Skye had stubbornly suspended training with little explanation, much to his ire, especially after her poor showing in Mustique. It was the moment in time that Aiden needed to push her more than ever, and she was refusing to be pushed.

Most important
to Triaten, though, Skye allowed him a wide berth after the sisters’ walk in the woods. Even smiling, with a wave, when Triaten and Shiv went off together somewhere.

Shiv threw herself into her work on the
mosaic, and Skye would sit in the library for hours with her as she worked on the art. Skye would mix cement or chip pieces of the smalti tile into size to keep busy, but mainly, she would just sit and talk for hours on end with Shiv.

And then the phone rang
.

Shiv and Skye had spent the morning in the library
, only stopping when Aiden and Triaten came in from the barn for lunch.

The four were
sitting at the kitchen table, slapping together sandwiches while listening to Stewart rant about the lack of good peaches, so brutally soon after a stellar crop of Colorado peaches.

The
ring of the phone interrupted the chef, and Triaten got up to answer it. It took him a moment to decipher through the thick accent that English was being spoken to him. A woman’s voice, high-pitched and frantic, spoke as quickly as her jumbled English would allow.

“Who is this? Can you slow down?” Triaten asked.

“It’s Simbali. I at the camp. They come. This is number Doctor C say — this number. She say call quick. They kill everyone. Doctor C went out at them. They come now. They –”

The line went dead.

Seeing Triaten’s face, Aiden was already on his feet.

Triaten turned to the wall. Slowly,
his head down, he placed the phone back in its set.

“What is it?” Aiden asked.

Face white, Triaten looked over at Aiden. “Charlotte.”

Without a breath, b
oth strode to the door and out, not looking back at the confused eyes of Stewart, Skye, and Shiv.

Aiden’s hand grasped
the jeep’s handle before Skye had even made it a third of the way to them, running at top speed. “Aiden — stop. What’s going on?”

Aiden paused and looked over at Triaten, halfw
ay into the driver’s side. Skye screeched to a stop in front of the jeep, hands catching herself on the hood.

She looked
through the windshield. “Triaten, what’s going on?”

He stuck his head out the window.
“It was a call from the refugee camp. Charlotte’s in trouble.” He started up the engine.

Skye looked over at Aiden.

He shook his head. “You’re staying here, Skye.”

“What? No. I’m comin
g with.” She ran around the vehicle to Aiden.

He looked down at her, face unmoved. “No. We don’t know what’s going on. And you’re not ready.”

“But what if you need me to throw back time?” She ducked her head in through the open door at Triaten. “If you don’t know what’s going on Triaten, you need me there. I can do this.”

Aiden grabbed her shoulders, pulling her attention back to him. “Skye. You are staying here. It’s too risky and I’m not putting you in danger again.”

Skye grabbed his wrists with fierceness in her eyes. “Aiden, this is Charlotte. You don’t have to worry about me. I can do this. I can. I will hold nothing back. Nothing.”

Aiden assessed her. He remained unmoved until he saw the raw determination in her eyes. Reluctantly, he relented, releasing her shoulders and nodding her into the jeep.

Skye jumped into the back seat, not giving Aiden another second to rethink the decision. Aiden got in the front, slamming his door closed.

Triaten shoved a satellite phone into Aiden’s hand and threw the jeep into gear. “You contact the airfield. The plane needs to be ready by the time we get there.”

“How are the supplies at the airfield? Do we need to stop at my place?”

“We’re good. We’re well-stocked there right now. Firepower and steel. Just tell them we don’t know what we’re walking into, so we need it all.”

“How long is the flight?” Skye asked.

“To Tanzania?” Triaten answered. “Twelve hours, give or take. Then another half-hour by helicopter to the camp.”

Dust flew, kicking up from the speeding wheels
as they raced along the front fence of the ranch. Through the cloud of debris, none of the three noticed Shiv walking around the side of the ranch, looking for them.

~~~

The plane ride, all excruciating twelve hours of it, captured the multitude of personalities on board.

Aiden sat, slept,
and did an occasional set of push-ups.

Triaten sat on take-off, and that was it. The moment they gained altitude, he unbuckled and stood. He paced up and down the expanse of the cabin, from the cockpit, through the seating area, past a thin wall and the bed right after it, to the back of the plane. He would spin on his heel, and
complete the loop in reverse. A methodical pace with his head down, his concentration belying the thick uneasiness he struggled to keep at bay.

Skye alternated between sitting
and standing, biting her nails as her leg jerked with a nervous tick. Occasionally she would join Triaten in a pace. Her track was shorter, back and forth in the seating area, a skittish rabbit stuck in a cage.

What Skye had gotten out of the mostly mute
Triaten and Aiden was minimal. This was the refugee camp Charlotte had helped a Doctor Saima Mohamed start near the Tanzania border years ago, on the doctor’s family land. Charlotte had met Thomas, also a doctor, there. She married him, and the two worked there for years before Mary killed Thomas. Since those early years, the population of the camp had swelled to more than ten-thousand.

An hour be
fore they landed, the plane’s phone rang. It was a quick conversation, and Triaten’s face grew increasingly grave as he listened. He ended the conversation with a, “We’re on it,” and hung up.

Aiden didn’t get up from the couch, but he did put his hand on Skye’s jumping kne
e, steadying it. Her knee strained against his palm, but it did slow from the frantic pace it had maintained for hours.

Aiden gave Triaten a
quizzical look.

“Horace.” He said, and sat heavily on the swivel chair opposite Aiden and Skye. He rubbed his jaw, the usually clean-shaven face giving way to
dark stubble.

“And?” Aiden asked when Triaten didn’t continue.

Triaten leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped. “And the attack on Doctor Saima’s camp wasn’t the only one. Not by far.”

“There were more?”

“Refugee camps, villages — all across Africa. A coordinated attack on hundreds of peaceful areas. And they’re still getting more reports in.”

“Malefics?”
Aiden asked.

Triaten nodded.

“But why?” Skye’s face was ashen.

Triaten shrugged. “
Upheaval of an entire continent and all the natural resources it supplies to the world. Oil, gas, minerals.”

Skye shook her head.
“But what does that gain the Malefics?”

“The worl
d is tied to the teat of Africa, Skye.” Triaten paused and looked down, rubbing his weary eyes with the heels of his palms. He looked back up at Skye. “Take an already unstable continent. Create complete mayhem. Lots of opportunity for power arises.”

“And they want power?” She tur
ned to Aiden. “But you said Malefics rarely worked together.”

“They haven’t.
They don’t.” Concern broke Aiden’s usual calm facade. “A few here and there. But nothing like this. This is new.”

“That’s not all,
” Triaten said.

Aiden and Skye looked across to
him.

“
It was only a matter of time. The elders think this is the first strike in this flame moon cycle.”

“Shit.” Aiden swore under his breath. He looked down at Skye, but didn’t say anything.

Triaten studied her as well.

Skye’s
eyes shifted back and forth from the two. “What? Can we stop it?”

Triaten looked at Aiden and nodded.

Aiden’s hand tightened on her knee. “We can’t, Skye. But you can.”

Understanding slowly played out on Skye’s face.
She exhaled nervousness and leaned back against the couch. Her hand went to Aiden’s arm, playing with the short dark hairs lining the muscles on his forearm. “You need me to shift time back?”

“Yes,” Triaten answered, “but we need to concentrate on getting to Charlotte first.
We can’t chance her safety. And if something has happened to her, and you go back to the wrong moment in time…” His voice trailed, not willing to speak the possibility of Charlotte’s death.

And so
, in the early morning African darkness, Triaten, Aiden, and Skye ran from the plane to a waiting helicopter, swords and guns strapped to every appendage.

Within twenty minutes, they landed a half mile from the compound and ma
de their way to the far northern edge of the camp. The early rays of first light filtered across the mostly barren earth. The camp was eerily quiet from a distance, even at the early hour. And the dense sound of silence only thickened as they approached the tall, barbed wire fence that denoted the border of the camp. The air curdled with a muck of stench Skye couldn’t place.

As Aiden
easily lifted up the fence, Triaten and Skye slid under, and Aiden followed. The dead silence was quickly being replaced by a buzz as the morning light grew stronger. A constant buzz that grew louder and louder with each step they took into the camp.

Having encountered no one, the three approached the clo
sest line of tin shacks. When they came around to the front of the shacks, Skye realized what the buzz was that filled her ears. In front of them, as far as the eye could see, bodies were strewn. The buzz was deafening. The sound of a cloud of flies feasting on rotting corpses.

Sky
e processed the sight, but she didn’t believe what she saw until her eyes managed to focus on the body closest to her.

Face down, the gaping ho
le in the woman’s back was obvious, the threads of her thin dress mangled into the skin, disappearing into the gory black-red hole just below her right shoulder blade. But it was the foot that froze Skye and seared her soul. Jutting out from under the woman’s belly was a leg. A tiny, motionless leg, its limp foot buried in the dirt. A foot that couldn’t belong to anyone over the age of three.

All breathing stopped,
and Skye looked out at the aisle between the rows of shacks again, now seeing each individual body all at once. Women, children, babies. Piles of them. Piles rotting. Meat for the insects.

Skye
staggered backward, hitting the metal shack behind her, hard. A jagged edge of the tin wall dug into her back, drawing blood, but she didn’t feel it. Her feet kept pushing at the ground, grinding her back into the sharp metal, her body instinctively trying to remove herself from the smell, the scene, the horror.

Having moved through the
masses of bodies without pause, Triaten and Aiden had almost disappeared down the path to the perpendicular row of housing, when Aiden realized Skye was not following them. He whistled, and Triaten stopped. Aiden pointed back at Skye, and then motioned Triaten to keep moving. Triaten nodded and vanished in the labyrinth of random shanties.

Aiden went
to Skye swiftly, planting himself in front of her and grabbing her shoulders, pulling her forward off the slicing tin. “Get a hold of yourself, Skye.”

Her eyes
stayed fixated on the grisly sight and her feet continued to push at the ground. Aiden shook her.

“Skye,” his voice was a harsh whisper, “get yourself back here right now. Center.”

At his words, Skye blinked and bile immediately rose into her throat. The stench of the rotting flesh baking in the sun had intensified, and she twisted her body over Aiden’s arm and vomited.