Wisteria (Wisteria Series) (35 page)

“Bach.” His name left her lips. In seconds, she was in his arms and he held her tight.

He knew he had to get her out of there, but he needed to savor the moment with her—finally.

“Where were you? They told me you were dead,” she whispered, while breathing into his neck. She wrapped her arms around himand buried her head to his chest.

Leaning down, he found her soft lips and kissed her.

“Get away from him, Wisteria!” Her mother entered while armed with an assault rifle. “You just could not stay away, Bach?”

“Mum, you knew all along that Red Phoenix were real. You knew about Bach and you lied to me! You knew he wasn’t dead and you still lied. You stole our memories!”

“You may not have agreed with what we did, but it was for the right reasons!” she defended.

“What were your reasons?” Bach demanded. “What gave you the right to play with our lives? I did nothing to you.”

“How can I believe anything you say?” Wisteria asked her mother.

“My life doesn’t revolve around you believing me or not. And we don’t have time for this,” her mother announced.

“Red Phoenix is out there looking for Wisteria and me. We can’t stay here. I’m a teacher and she’s a student; it won’t take them very long to check the school,” Cheung warned.

At the news, her mother slowly lowered her rifle and she looked very pale.

“You have seen them?” Bach asked.

“The same ones who broke into the penthouse,” Wisteria explained. “I thought they were looking for you, but they’re not.” She recounted what she’d heard at the Fletchers.

“Come with me,” Bach urged. “Felip has found a place for you to hide on the island, until we find them.”

* * * * *

Bach took them to an unused house a half a mile from the school. During Bach’s mapping of the island, he noted most of the unoccupied houses. This house was rundown, but the bunker was solid, according to Felip.

They weren’t spotted while passing through a labyrinth of side roads, trails, and gardens. The house was in the same condition as Bach’s old apartment when he lived on the island.

“Welcome.” Felip ushered them into the bunker he’d secured while Bach tracked down Wisteria.

Bach had wanted to just take her back to Jarthan, but Felip had suggested they wait until they knew what condition she was in. They’d reasoned that she might’ve been injured and unable to travel or be renewed.

Now that he was truly aware they had gone through Mosroc, he couldn’t renew her against her consent. This made him glad. No Famila could renew her against her will either. They would have to convince her to yield. If anyone in the Family tried, they would lose their mind.

“You,” Mrs. Kuti said bitterly when she saw Felip. “Another one?”

“I do not expect you to thank me for helping to save your life, Lara,” his steward said. “Just do not try to kill Bach.”

Bach watched as Lara passed Felip without a word.

“That means throw out the strangle weed you have.” Felip grabbed Mrs. Kuti’s wrist. “Please let us have it.”

“Felip, stop it,” Wisteria called out to him.

“You’ve got to be joking,” Mrs. Kuti replied.

Felip smiled at Wisteria and let go of her mother.

“Leave her with it,” Bach told him. “It will help her trust me.” Mrs. Kuti needed the poison to feel strong and secure around him. She didn’t trust him or Felip, and Bach didn’t trust her, but they both trusted Wisteria and that was enough.

“Are you okay?” Wisteria asked Bach as they settled in the bunker.

She was in danger, but she still was asking after him.

He took her aside. “We are going to get these Fletcher people,” Bach said to her in a low voice. “We will have to find your brother first.”

“I should go with you.” She frowned.

“No, since they are looking for you. It might be better if I go. With any luck, they will not be expecting me.”

She rested her hand on his arm. “Is that what you should do? They hurt you before.”

“But I was not with him then,” Felip interjected.

“So you’re going with him?” she asked, somewhat comforted.

“And you really think we’re going to be safe down here?” Cheung asked.

“Honestly?” Mrs. Kuti cocked her weapon. “I don’t know. But Bach’s right. You and Wisteria need to keep a low profile. And your brother is locked down tight by Coles. He’s not getting mixed up in this.”

“I don’t see the benefit of you going either,” Wisteria argued. “My mother’s notified the army. Coles will look for the Fletchers and since David’s safe, you should stay.”

“Then Bach and I can help them,” Felip suggested. “We are pretty good at hunting animals.”

Bach wasn’t sure he agreed with his friend and he could see Felip’s remark made the humans very uncomfortable at the very least.

“Coles will most likely shoot both of them when he sees them,” Mrs. Kuti replied. “He still believes Bach is infected.”

Bach could see from Wisteria’s expression that this was yet another lie between her and her mother.

“Then we are going to have to work extra hard to convince him,” Felip answered. “We need to go now, Bach.”

The guys headed to the door.

“Be safe,” Wisteria called out Bach.

He wanted to hold her again, but something about her mother unnerved him, and Bach didn’t know what it might be.

“What are you waiting for? Go, so we can lock up,” Lara snapped at them, pushing him out of the door.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The sun was setting by the time Bach and Felip left the rest of the group. Hearing the low- pitched siren going off in the distance, they made their way to Wisteria’s home.

He and Felip waited on the roof of a taller house across the street for any sign of movement. He’d turned on the lights of her home, hoping it would cause one of the Red Phoenix people to check it out.

“We should start with the address Wisteria gave us. We can always come back and check her home later,” Felip suggested as he joined him on the rooftop.

Bach shook his head. “You stay here and I will check this address she gave me.”

“Or you could just renew her and then we could leave. We would be home for sandwine this evening.”

“She would not like that. As a human, the idea of a renewal makes her afraid.”

“Human? You call them human now? That is very curious; you no longer see her as Terran.”

The word hurt Wisteria too greatly for him to continue to use it in front of her. He didn’t realize he had stopped using it at all.

“Being this close to Terrans must be trying for you. You have changed so much,” Felip commented.

“I have not changed.”

“If you had only renewed her the first time you saw her, we would not be here. If you renewed her you could mold her into the form you desire and she will be that for you. I must tell you, I am a little jealous.”

“Why?” Bach kept his focus on the street below. Even on the moonless night, Bach could see clearly what was happening on the empty street.

“Because once you have renewed her you will be done with the Great Walk. Lluc will forgive you for running away and you will have your Thayn. Then, you will re-enter our society as a Sen-Son.”

“I will not renew her, Felip. I cannot do that to her. I will not do that to her.”

“So the Mosroc has taken hold. I used to think that the Mosroc was just a story. Husbands and wives go their whole lives without ever receiving it and yet you experienced it as a child with the first Terran you meet.”

“You could tell?”

“It was obvious from the moment you brought her to the Hunter Tower.”

Slowly, Bach raised his head and turned to his friend. He couldn’t believe he’d not seen the truth before this. Without a word, Bach walked to the end of the roof, toward the back garden.

“Where are you going?” The steward appeared in front of Bach as he was about to jump. “You will not have the vantage point if you are on the ground. How is that going to help you capture the Red Phoenix agents?”

“They are not coming because you would not bring me to where you know Red Phoenix will be.”

“What are you talking about? We need to stop these people—”

“No, you want me to fail!”

“You sound paranoid.”

“No, but I should have been more paranoid. There is a Thayn on this island: Nate Weiss, and you renewed him.”

“It is impossible. I am not of the Ino caste and do not have the ability to renew Terrans.”

“You could have summoned Red Phoenix to the Hunter Tower. You could have renewed Piper and convinced her to go through the threshold with the obsidian crystal. D’cara, Enric ias too lazy to learn how on his own. That was why Piper was so afraid of you. You might have given the Terrans the obsidian crystal we found here. I do not know.”

“Listen to yourself, Bach. This is why we call Terrans a virus. You have begun to develop these wild stories.” Felip stared at him gravely. “Bach, you have no right to question my honor,” Felip seethed.

Bach didn’t answer.

“How can I clear my name? I cannot raise Piper from the dead or force a Thayn to betray their master.”

“I do know this. You knew Wisteria and I went through Mosroc bonded. Yet you have continuously pressured me in to renewing her. Knowing it could turn me insanely mad. You were not happy when Enric pulsed Lluc so that I could come here. My question is—why would my friend do all this?”

Felip’s stare became even more intense. “Friend? We have the same grandfather but because my father is a small part Terran you cannot call me your cousin. I will never be a Sen-Son, even though my father was born first and should have been Sen.”

“I apologize,
cousin
.” Felip was right. Bach had never called Felip his cousin, and calling him cousin now didn’t even seem natural to Bach.

“When I finish the Great Walk with you, I will remain in the Haro caste, but Enric—the lazy fool that he is—he will rise to Ino caste, the highest caste. You would have starved to death if I had not taken care of both of you. What do I get? The honor of being your servant!”

“And this is how you raise this? By playing these games? Felip, you…” Bach grew angry. “You are trying to keep me here?”

“You are getting smarter,” Felip replied and with that, he struck Bach across the face.

Bach plunged to the ground before he knew what was happening. “Ah,” he let out.

Felip leapt down from the roof and smashed into Bach. The earth around them trembled.

“Felip, stop this,” Bach yelled.

“Then stay down!” He kicked Bach in his chest and stomped on it.

Catching Felip’s left foot, he tossed his cousin across the garden.

Felip sailed across the air and crashed through a wooden fence, disappearing on the other side.

Bach sprang up as fast as he could, but Felip charged into him. The two boys collided into the stone wall of the house, cracking the bricks.

“Felip, stop this!” Bach pushed him away.

The steward staggered back for a few seconds, then bolted toward Bach. Before he could hit Bach, the Sen-Son struck him with a succession of rapid blows across his body, causing Felip to stumble back.

“We can petition the Sen together about this. We can take it to the Elders if we have to,” Bach pleaded. His body and heart were aching by this new revelation of betrayal.

Felip showed no sign of slowing down. “I do not need your charity!”

* * * * *

How long had they been down there? Had something happened to Bach and Felip
? Wisteria tried to force her mind not to wander. Sitting at the table in the bunker, she drummed her fingers on the surface to occupy her mind. There was not much to do, but wait and hope.

Cheung sat on the floor, leaning against the wall while staring at the ceiling. Occasionally he sighed or moaned in despair, but he didn’t speak.

Her mother, on the other hand, was the picture of calm. She sat on the mattress, making notes.

“You’re not going to talk to me about what’s going on?” Wisteria asked her.

“No.” She continued scribbling. “And if you insist, I’ll tell you an interesting story and you will be terrified, but it won’t be true.”

“What are you writing?” Wisteria asked her mother.

“I’m planning the meals for the rest of the week,” she replied. “We’ve got to make the rations last.”

“Now?” Cheung inquired. “This isn’t the best time.”

“If we don’t make it out this list won’t matter, but if we do? Then it’s one less thing to deal with,” her mother replied casually as she wrote.

She wanted to understand how her mother did it. Did she lie so much that she was able to lie to herself?
Perhaps her mother could also be crazy?

“It’s a mind game, Wisteria.” The woman seemed to read Wisteria’s thoughts. Rising from the mattress, she strolled over to her and perched on the table. She gave Wisteria a piece of paper. “Being down here helpless isn’t easy for me. To trust one of the
Family
? Makes me want pull out my own hair. Having to rely on them not just for my safety, but yours too? It’s insane for me to even fathom.”