Deviants (22 page)

“Footprints,” he says. “We’ve been following them since the meeting point. They look fresh, so if we hurry, we’ll catch up with them before day breaks.”

My heart swells and my eyes open wide. I lean over the supposed footprints. “How do you know it’s them?”

“I just do.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

^B
EFORE THE SUN
rises, the sky turns pink. The second sunrise of my life and it’s even more miraculous out here in the open. We’ve been walking for over fifteen hours, but every time Burn asks if I need to rest, I quicken my pace. My side aches and the bruises have grown darker, but I refuse to even look at the small caches of dust I’ve seen stuck between rocks. So close to finding Drake, we can’t afford to stop, and I’m terrified of dust madness.

The trail of footprints disappeared miles back, but we’ve been walking over rocks and through forests and can’t even spot our own footprints behind us most of the time.

“Why isn’t there more dust around here?” I ask Burn.

“Not much for the dust to stick to. It all blew away.”

I nod. He’s right that not much sticks to these rocks, and I marvel at the determination of each grouping of trees we
pass, finding something to cling onto in this beautiful but rugged world.

We cross through a narrow band of trees and then the rock surface ahead seems to round off and drop into nothing. Getting closer to the edge, I see it plunges about a hundred feet, and beyond that—it looks like water.

The sunrise strikes the water, painting its deep blue surface with a coating of shimmering pink. My jaw drops.

“It’s a lake.” Burn sits on the edge of the rock and stretches his legs. “Water used to come up to there.” He shows me a line on the rocks about twenty feet down, where the surface changes color.

“What happened?”

He turns toward me. “Earth got hot after the dust. Changes in the upper atmosphere. Plus with the quakes, cracks opened up and a lot of lakes went dry.”

“Can we drink it?” I shake my water bladder—it’s down to its final drops.

“Sure,” he says. “But we’ll lose a lot of time getting down to it. The Settlement is another full day of walking, if we’re fast.”

“Do you really think Drake is already there?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“No?” My throat tightens and my heart rate increases. “What happened to him?”

“I think they’re somewhere around this lake.” He leans out, shields his eyes with his hand, and looks to each side. “Problem is, I don’t know which way around they took.”

About half of the lake is ringed by trees, but the far side
is barren rock which must drop off, because beyond it I can’t see a thing.

Finding them seems impossible, then my heart lifts. I have an idea. No matter which direction my father took around this nearly circular lake, assuming he’s following its edges—and why wouldn’t he?—he and Drake can see down to the water as easily as we can. If I head down there, into the open, Drake will spot me.

Walking out to the edge where Burn’s sitting, I look down. It’s not quite as steep as I first thought. The rock’s not entirely smooth. There are places to put my feet.

I can do this. I know I can. Without even mentioning my plan, for fear he’ll stop me, I sit and slide down the top of the steep edge, keeping my center of gravity back and using the heels of my shoes to slow me.

“What the hell are you doing?” Burn grabs for me but misses.

“I’m going down near the water!” I shout back. “Out in the open, so Drake can spot me.”

“If there are Shredders around, they’ll spot you, too.”

That thought gives me chills, but Burn doesn’t sound convinced. My plan’s worth the risk. If Drake’s being carried by my father around the perimeter of this lake, he’ll see me.

I’ve descended about twenty feet when Burn catches up. He glances over as he passes. One side of his mouth quirks up in what could only be called a grin. “Good plan. Low risk of Shredders here, anyway. Not enough dust.”

It takes a moment to process this as praise. My heart flies as we continue to scramble and slide down the rocks. When
it becomes flat enough to stand, he reaches for my hand to help me up but I ignore him. I can walk over rocks.

Reaching a particularly big gap I regret not accepting help, but gather my strength and leap, landing safely on the other side. I jump down from the last big rock to what, if I’m to believe Burn, was once the pebbled bottom of this lake.

I race forward then spin. Shielding my eyes when I turn to the sun, I scan the row of trees and rocks high above us.

“Might as well get water, now that we’re down here.” Burn trudges forward across the pebbles, pulling water bladders out of coat pockets.

I proceed slower, searching above us for signs of Drake. When I turn back toward Burn I gasp. The water containers all filled, he’s removing his clothes.

“What are you doing?” I raise my fingers to my lips, realizing I pretty much shouted.

He turns back. “Washing. Got a problem with that?”

I step forward slowly, marveling as each layer of clothing comes off his broad body until he’s down to his bloodstained shirt. He pulls that off, too, and all I can do is stare as the sunlight glances off the planes and ridges of his back, his shoulders, his arms. He reaches back to test the nearly healed wound on his shoulder, then drops his shirt into the water. Crouching at the edge, his back muscles flex as he kneads the shirt, then lifts it and rings it out.

He unclips the elastic cord that holds up his oversized pants. They drop to his ankles. He doesn’t have anything on underneath, and I suppose it would be hard to find
underwear that would both stay up when he’s normal size and not tear to shreds when he gets angry.

He kicks off his boots, steps out of his pants and crouches to rinse his clothes. My breathing grows fast and shallow, completely out of control, and I want to look away, but I can’t. I’ve seen drawings of the male body nude, but never imagined the strength and power and beauty. It’s the beauty that shocks me. The hard curve of his buttocks, the slope of his back, the ripping of his muscles as he kneads his clothes under the water. I’m mesmerized, studying the lines of back muscles, how they connect, how they flex under his smooth skin.

Finished, he twists in his crouch to toss his wet clothes back onto the pebbles. His eyes meet mine and his lip quirks. I look down, embarrassed, cheeks hot. Hearing splashing, I raise my eyes as he runs, water spraying up around him. When the lake gets deeper, he slows. Just as it reaches his upper thighs he dives, disappearing under the surface.

I almost scream. What if he’s swallowed up by the water and I’m all alone?

But he breaks out, arms first, and leaps into the air with a whoop. He spins and streams of water fly from his hair and body. His smile transforms him into an entirely different person. I can’t help but smile, too. How funny to learn that Burn can transform in two completely opposite directions.

“Come in.” He traces his arms along the surface of the water and it sprays toward me.

I’ve never seen anything like this. Never imagined it.

Not only have I never seen so much water in one place, it
never occurred to me that one could enter such a pool. Stepping up to the edge, I bend and touch the surface. My fingers send ripples radiating outward. I look up and Burn is on his back in the water, his chest and head above the surface, and he’s kicking and moving his arms. While I’m scared, I’m also excited and can’t strip my clothes off fast enough.

Leaving on my T-shirt and underwear—they need washing anyway—I remove my shoes and tentatively stick one foot into the water. The underwater surface is pebbled, not as slippery as I expected, and I slowly move forward, taking each step with care until the water licks the tops of my knees. I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything quite so marvelous.

“Come on!” Burn shouts. “It’s easier if you get in quickly. Run.”

He rises up from the water, its surface licking just below his waist, and his chest glistens like it’s been glazed. Raising his arms above his head, he gestures for me to move forward, so I drop my fears and run. The water slows my progress, nearly tripping me, but I laugh, assuming I look like a small child running for the first time as the water splashes up the sides of my body.

“Dive,” Burn says and puts his hands up over his head to demonstrate.

“No way.” The water laps my underwear with glorious coolness.

Burn lunges over, picks me up, and I scream as he tosses me into deeper water.

I splash and flail, at first fearing I’ll drown, but I quickly realize I can put my feet down. When I open my eyes, he’s
grinning, and then he flops back into the water. It looks so fun, so I do the same and stare up into the bright blue sky as the water rushes over my body. Sinking, I put my feet back down, but Burn is beside me in an instant.

“Lie back. I’ll show you how to float.”

I bend my knees until I’m in the water almost to my chin, then tip my head back and let my legs rise from the lake bottom. I twitch as Burn’s hand sweeps under my shoulders, but he’s smiling—such a rare sight—so I force myself to relax and his other arm brushes under my bottom and legs, barely touching, but amplifying my confidence. I’m safe.

The water laps and slides over me and I’ve never imagined feeling this fresh, this clean, this happy. All thoughts of danger and dust fade, diluted by the water dipping into my ears.

“Stay still. Don’t worry.” Burn’s voice is deep and soothing and slightly muffled by water. “I’ll keep you safe.”

At those words, I flash back to Cal’s assurances.

I snap out of my water-induced euphoria. Bending at the waist, I start to sink and I flap my arms to keep from drowning.

“Hey.” Burn steadies me until my feet are down again, but I back away from him.

“What happened?” He looks genuinely concerned and maybe hurt, and then he looks away. He pushes off and propels himself backwards through the water, leaving a V-shaped wave in the water behind him.

I stand, stupefied, embarrassed at how I reacted. He was just being nice, just trying to teach me something new, and I
snapped, acted like he was trying to kill me. “I’m sorry,” I call after him. “It’s hard for me to trust anyone.”

“No kidding.”

I sink down and let the water wash up to my chin, then tip my head back and remove the string holding my hair. As I rub my fingers over my head, my hair fans out, the water waking nerves on my scalp I didn’t know were there. Our lives in Haven were so dependent on water, but I had no idea it could be so miraculous.

The sun warms my skin when I rise, and the water snaps it with cold when I duck back under. Stretching out, I let the water slide over me and discover it’s easier to float if I move my arms, like Burn does. The real sky is so beautiful and I wonder if Management knows what it’s like outside Haven, outside that wall.

My hatred for Haven grows as Burn’s theories about Management’s motives start to cement. The original Management team might have saved a lot of people by building Haven’s dome, but we’re no longer employees, we’re slaves kept ignorant and scared.

I close my eyes, curl into a ball, and let myself sink under the surface, then burst out of the water.

When I open my eyes, Burn’s right in front of me, staring down with fire in his eyes. My first instinct is fear—is he angry?—but then I recognize his look. It’s the same look Cal had before he kissed me, but different. Burn’s look is darker, deeper, more ferocious, and I see his monster within the heat of his gaze.

Turning away, I dip down into the water again. When I
come up, my hair’s across my face. I stay crouched, the water almost up to my chin. It’s about waist height on Burn. He steps forward, brushing the hair from my face, then cupping my jaw, and he softly guides me up from the water until I’m standing, our bodies an arm’s-length apart.

The heat from his eyes lights a fire the water can’t cool. Heat and water swirl between us, pulling us closer together. I long to yield to the moment, to let him draw me into his arms, to feel—but fear invades.

Fear of trusting, fear of his monster, fear of feeling too much at his touch.

My eyes tingle. I look away quickly.

How can I be around Burn—around any boy who makes me feel strong emotions—without causing him pain? Besides, after Cal’s betrayal, I don’t want to trust a boy ever again.

“Look at me.” Burn’s voice is husky. His hand traces along my jaw, his thumb brushing over my face, lighting fires along my cheek. “You can control your gift. I trust you.”

Tentatively raising my glance to meet his, I nearly fall back, slammed by the intensity in his expression. His hands draw me up until I’m standing, so close that if I leaned, I’d be pressed against him. He bends toward me and the muscles below his ribs flex and ripple. His lips are cracked and dry but it’s sexy, rugged, and when I see how intent his gaze is, something deep inside me clenches, hard. With so much swirling inside me, I don’t dare continue looking him in the eyes. I focus instead on his lips that draw close.

We’re startled by a sharp whistle.

I bend my knees, dropping down to my shoulders in the
water, fear washing out everything else I’d been feeling. Burn raises his fingers to his lips, makes a similar whistling noise, and it’s answered by another from above.

He turns to me, smiling. “We’ve found them.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

^L
UNGS BURNING,
I scramble over the rocks. I’ve found my brother.

“Careful,” Burn says from below. “No sense getting yourself killed.”

He reaches up to grab one of my feet, and I stop for a moment, leaning against the rocky cliff, panting and shading my eyes. I can no longer see Drake or my father from this angle, and I’ve realized a flaw in my let’s-go-down-to-the-water plan. While it wasn’t that hard to slide down the steep edge of the lake, getting up and out is another matter.

Can Burn jump the remaining distance? I’ll bet Angry Burn could, and wonder what it would take to make him change.