Triple Infinity (30 page)

They could both hear the screaming coming from inside the car.

Aiden slid his knees through the gravel, getting them under his body. He heaved hard three times, and with a groan, pulled at the car, getting to his feet. Straining, he shuffled his feet backward, steel scraping as it tore along the rocky edge. The wheels were still rolling forward, fighting him with every inch gained.

The car back to horizontal,
Skye ran around behind him to the driver’s side. She pulled at the door. It was locked. She pounded on the window, but Shiv was in full-on freak-out.

“Shiv, get it out of gear!” she yelled through the window.

Screams were the only reply.

Aiden was losing grip, but his voice was calm. “Get her out of there, Skye.”

Skye turned, searching the ground. She grabbed the first sizable rock she could find, and turned back to the car, smashing it through the driver window. Shiv recoiled from the blast, scampering over to the passenger side of the car. Her feet wedged onto the center console, pushing her back hard against the opposite door.

“Shiv, get out of the car!” Skye demanded as she leaned in through the window, reaching for the gear shift.

“What the hell is he, Skye?” Shiv screamed back. Horror shook her body. “What is that?” She pointed back at Aiden.

Skye took her
own yell down a notch as her fingers fumbled with the gear shift. “You don’t understand, Shiv. Just get out of the car, and I’ll explain.”

“Like hell
, you can explain.” Shiv turned and pushed open the door, and then flopped out of the car, tripping and hitting the ground like a rock.

Skye hit neutral with the shifter, and pulled herself
back out of the car window. The wheels stopped spinning, and she saw Aiden go down onto his backside, arms above his head.

She flew back to him, skidding on her knees, her face above his. His eyes were closed.

“Aiden.” Fear exploded as her hands went about his face.

He opened his eyes. “I’m fine. Just exhausted. I don’t full-on lift cars every
day, you know.”

She couldn’t hide a smile as leaned down to kiss him in relief. “Thank god I married Hercules.”

“Yea, and now you have some explaining to do.”

Skye got to her feet and jumped over Aiden, looking for Shiv on the other side of the car. She was gone.

“She took off running up that hill.” Aiden pointed. “Grab a walkie from the jeep. Do you need a flashlight or is the moon enough?”

“Moon is fine.” Skye shouted over her shoulder. She was already half-way to the woods.

~~~

Damn, she was fast,
Skye muttered to herself as she plucked her way through the pines and leafless twigs of underbrush. She could still hear Shiv up ahead, but hadn’t caught up enough to see her. There was no trail, not that the fact slowed Shiv in the slightest.

It wasn’t until they hit a sheer
, rocky outcropping that blocked pathway straight up the mountain, that Skye finally caught sight of Shiv. She moved in and out of moon shadows along the base of the rock face, eyes looking upward, searching for a viable ascent.

It was worth yelling now.

“Shiv, just stop. It’s just me. No one else but me. Stop.”

Shiv looked over her shoulder at Skye, but kept moving.

“Shiv. I will follow until you pass out, so you may as well stop. I swear it’s just me here.”

Shiv slowed her steps, allowing Skye to quickly catch up with her.

“You can come with me, Skye, but I am not stopping. I’m getting as far away as possible from that monster back there.”

Skye reached out and grabbed Shiv’s arm
, spinning her around, face-to-face. “That ‘monster’ just saved your life.”

Shiv jerked her arm away. “Great. Give him my thanks. That doesn’t mean he’s not a monster, and I am getting the hell off this mountain. I knew something was really wrong with this place.
I never should have –”

The fireball that flew through the air and exploded in a tree directly above them
, cut Shiv off. Both sisters froze, mouths agape as shreds of sparks shot from the point of impact and floated down toward them.

Flames instantly
blasted alive, jumping from one tree to the next, fanning themselves up and down the trunks.

“Holy hell. We have to get out of here.” Skye whispered. Without looking, she reached down and grabbed Shiv’s hand
, pulling her back in the direction they had just come up from. Her eyes were trained on the trees, watching them spark and alight one after another.

They were in
a full-speed run along the base of the rocky outcropping, when the wind picked up behind them, sending the flames into a parallel race which threatened to cut off their path back down the mountain side.

Skye saw the flames advancing, and jerked Shiv into the woods, cutting right in front of the advancing fire.  They flew through the forest, feet wrestling
with the underbrush, but still stayed ahead of the flames that tailed them, no matter what direction they headed.

Through the blood pounding in her ears, Skye heard the barking first, then Aiden bell
owing her name. They were a distance away, but she could hear them, and she headed for the sound, dragging Shiv behind.

At the crest of a slope they pulled up. Aiden and Rafe were far, but she could see their movement in the trees
under the moonlight. They were barreling up through the forest toward Skye and Shiv.

“Aiden!” Skye yelled down the mountain side.

“What? No. Not him!” Shiv ripped her hand from Skye’s grip. She took off along the top line of the crest.

“Shiv!” Skye’s eyes went
desperate as she screamed. She looked down the hill at Aiden, then at Shiv’s retreating back. Shiv was headed in a straight line that would intersect the fire.

At that instant, another fireball appeared in the night sky, trailing for a glorious moment like a comet caught too close to earth. It shattered into the ground below Skye. Right between her and Aiden.

Skye covered her eyes at the explosion, sparks and flames reaching up at her, the force sending her backward. She didn’t know what to think of the first fireball, but now that there were two — this was some sort of attack, she was sure of it. Real panic tightened her chest, but she took a swallow of the smoke-thick air and tried to ignore the pressure in her chest.

The initial explosion calmed,
and Skye searched the slope, looking for a way down to Aiden. She would get Shiv and drag her down there by her hair. But the hill was already a wall of flame. Skye looked over her shoulder. She was now sandwiched between the flames — both fires creeping closer and closer to her. And she had lost sight of Shiv.

Just as she took her first step to run after Shiv,
the walkie she had strapped to the back of her jeans beeped.

She turned it on. “Aiden?”

“Skye — thank god.”

“Aiden, what the hell is happening? Where are these coming from?”

“It’s an attack, and Skye you need to get out of there. You need to run to your right as fast as you can. It’ll take you to the river before the fire cuts you off.”

“
I can’t — Shiv’s the other direction.” Skye was already on the move, following Shiv into the thickening cloud of smoke.

“The fire is already closing in that direction
— you need to go right now, Skye.”

“I can still get to her. Is smoke going to kill me, Aiden?”

“No — but you can’t stay in there Skye — you know about the fire, about becoming a Malefic.”

Skye stumbled, then caught herself on a tree. “We don’t know that it didn’t happen when Evan had me.”

“Skye, you can’t take the chance — you have to get out of there.”

“You know I can’t leave her, Aiden.” The smoke was getting thicker and thicker in front of Skye. She yelled for Shiv.

“Shit — it’s closing in on you.” Aiden was yelling now. “You burnt to a crisp is not okay, Skye — there’s only so much Charlotte can heal. You have to go now. I’m trying rain, but it’s not working — the winds are taking it.” There was a long pause. “I can’t get to you, Skye. I can’t get to you through the fire, but I can at the river. You need to get to the water. Please don’t choose this. You need to save yourself.”

Skye tripped and almost fell, but kept moving. She didn’t answer him.

“Skye?”

Skye stopped and closed her eyes against the soo
t flying in the air. She pushed the button on the radio. “Aiden, I know I told you I would always choose you, but if I don’t go after Shiv...if I abandon her again.” Her voice caught and she shook her head to herself. “I can’t do it. I love you more than life, but I won’t be able to live with myself if I abandon her again. I promise you I will try to get us both there.”

“Skye –” Aiden’s yell was heart-crushing.

Lump in throat, Skye bore down, ignoring his voice as she turned off the volume and attached the radio to the back of her jeans.

Without hesitation, Skye flew, searching, and
within moments, tripped over Shiv before she saw her. Shiv was on the ground, weak coughs shaking her body. Skye knelt by her head. Shiv’s eyes were closed.

“Shiv
— wake up.” Skye slapped her face. “Shiv!”

Shiv’s eyes numbly opened with a racking cough.
“Skye –” she sputtered as her fingers reached up to Skye’s arm, “you didn’t leave.” Her voice was barely audible over the cracking of burning wood around them. “You...you need to go.”

“No. Not leaving you Shiv.” Her hands were still on Shiv’s face. “I’m getting you to your feet, and we’re getting out of here.”

“No, Skye — I can’t. I can’t walk anymore...I can’t run. You need to get out.”

“No. We a
re both getting out of here.” She grabbed the walkie from her back and clicked on the talk button. “Aiden, I don’t know if I’m in range — if you hear this, we’re headed back to the river along the ridge.”

A weak crackle
over the speaker was the only response.

Shiv managed the weakest squeeze on Skye’s arm. “Go. You can make it out.”

Skye grabbed Shiv’s shoulders. “No more. We are getting out of here. You remember when we were little and I got you out of the car in the river? Same thing. I’m not leaving you. So just shut up and save your strength.”

The heat
closed in, more intense than ever. As quickly as she could, Skye slid her arms under Shiv’s shoulders and hoisted her half to her feet. The smoke was already so thick, Skye spun in a circle, momentarily disorientated. She turned, hoping she was heading back in the direction she came.

The thick wall of smoke lessened, so she assumed she was
tracking in the right direction, mostly dragging Shiv. Shiv’s movements and body were getting limper and limper. The coughing had ceased.

Skye could feel the thickness in her
own lungs. So much ash and smoke had been sucked into her body, it weighed her down like lead. But she kept moving, hoping. She knew she was traveling along the top of the ridge again, when her foot repeatedly slipped down the hillside, missing solid ground. She could see nothing around her, except for the orange glow of the fire, which lit the suffocating smoke blanketing her.

Skye didn’t even realize
when she hit the ground, and it surprised her when she tasted the dirt in her mouth. Her feet were still moving, arm still wrapped around Shiv. But she was flat on her stomach. Every pore was suffocated with the weight of the smoke.

Skye
closed her eyes, concentrating on the moment Shiv’s car hit the rock wall, which had sent it flying over the precipice. Time had to move back.

Skye opened her eyes. She was still on the forest floor.

She closed her eyes, trying again.

No time shift.

And Shiv was not moving. Skye pushed up on her arm, but the extreme effort only rolled her over onto her back.

The orange smoke spread in a thick blanket above her
. The scalding heat, now, not even noticeable to her numb skin.

She stared up at the orange-
grey haze, eyes burning from the smoke, as bright embers went flitting and flying, then flaming out above her. Little fireflies in a haze of hell.

~~~

Charlotte looked at the tracker. “This has got to be it. The beacon stopped moving here. It’s right below us.”

“If she still has it on her.”

“Aiden said there were faint words after he lost contact. And it was moving until a few minutes ago. She wouldn’t have left it behind, she knows that.”

“Shit, we can’t see anything down there.” Triaten pulled his head back into the
helicopter; the flames reflected enough light upward, that they didn’t need flashlights.

Triaten and Charlotte
had started down the mountain the instant the time shift happened, knowing something was wrong. Rafe had jumped into the back of the truck. When they got to the spot where Shiv’s car had almost gone over, they figured out pretty quickly what had happened.