Indestructible (Indestructible Trilogy Book 1) (23 page)

“What
is
that place?”

“Haven’t we got more important things to worry about?”

True, but curiosity’s grabbed me, all the same.

“What is it?”

“It was used for experiments,” he says, already moving away from the cliff.

Despite myself, I move closer to it, curious.

“There’s nothing there,” says Cas.

“Who lived there?” I ask, peering through the cracked glass.

“If I answer, will you leave it alone? We don’t have much time.”

He’s right, of course. We can’t afford to stand around. I nod, turning my back on the house and instead in the direction of the path ahead. I can see the ocean swirling around the stepping stones ahead of the fields of heather.

“That house used to be home to the children of Pyros, or people who were deemed to have the potential,” says Cas, as we cross the field. “It was like an orphanage of sorts. It’s where Nolan grew up, actually.”

Nolan. Hot anger rushes over me at the image of him standing over Elle.

Cas flashes me a look, as though expecting a reaction out of me.

“Is that where he learned to be a two-faced dick?” I venture.

He blinks; whatever he expected me to say, that obviously wasn’t it.

“People will do things when they’re desperate,” he says. “What would you have done in his place?”

The answer’s obvious. “I’d die before I hurt someone else.”

“You say that, but how can you know for sure? Think what it’s like to be in pain, real pain, so deep it swallows you up, reduces you to nothing. Wouldn’t you say or do anything to get out of that situation?”

“Does it matter?” My voice cracks. I don’t need him making me doubt myself now, not when everyone’s depending on us already.

“It matters,” he says, quietly, as though speaking more to himself than to me. “Bear in mind that if we get to Jared’s place, you might well have to make that choice.”

His words strike me at the core. We walk the rest of the way to the stepping stones in silence.

Now, of course, I have to endure the humiliation of him watching me struggle. He goes first, leaping across with a strange, careless grace. I push the thought away, wondering where the hell it came from. I need every ounce of concentration I have.

But my feet don’t slip this time. In fact, I don’t lose my balance at all. Maybe it’s because I have enough to be scared of without worrying about falling in the sea—either way, I catch up with Cas easily. Once on the other side, I glance back at the hills. Nothing looks out of place—no clue that everyone back there could die at the whim of a lunatic.

Cas’s looking at me again. Did he expect me to freeze up in terror at the thought of crossing the water? Does it matter? I force myself to meet his eyes.

“Where now?”

“We go to the divide and follow it inland.” He recites it as though it’s what Murray’s told him, but I know he’s been there before. He was…
created there.
I can’t even imagine what that must have been like.

But his expression’s closed, and I know if I press him, he’ll take off on me. I just nod, looking out to sea.

We follow the coastline, spurred on by the invisible presence of a ticking clock. I don’t think I’ve ever walked so fast. Before the sun’s reached the middle of the sky, indicating midday, the divide is within view.

The newest Burned Spot waits for us, the place where the old lab used to be. My hands curl into fists. Maybe that power’s exactly what I need right now.

Cas turns away from the coast before we reach the Burned Spot, leading the way through a field of dead grass. A dilapidated cottage lies ahead. I already know it’ll be empty. No one would live this close to the divide. Apart from Jared, apparently.

The jagged line looks sinister even from a distance, and I can’t keep from glancing in that direction every few minutes.

Finally, I ask the question that’s been bugging me for hours.

“Is it really a good idea, walking this close to the divide?”

“No,” Cas says bluntly. “But it’s no less safe than anywhere else within a mile of here. We can’t afford to deviate too much. Besides, most of the fiends roaming around were already here.”

“What about that one we found last time?”

“It was obviously sent there by Jared. One of his altered ones.”

“So how do we know which ones work for him or not?”

Cas gives me such a disparaging look, you’d think I’d suggested we take air transport.

“What?” I demand, determined not to be intimidated.

“Well,” says Cas, “the ones that try to kill us probably don’t work for him.”

Oh, right.

“Unless,” he adds, “he really intended to lure us away and then kill us.”

“Real optimistic,” I mutter.

“You have a better suggestion, I’d be glad to hear it. He intends to welcome us with open arms, perhaps? Like Murray did for you?”

I blink. “No, that’s not what I expect. What’s the problem?”

“You’re too naïve.”

“Naïve? Me? Just because I don’t automatically assume everyone’s an enemy?”

I’d pushed that instinct down, every day spent at the base making me feel more relaxed, more assured that I’d found something I thought I’d never have again.

And now Jared’s destroyed that. Does Cas have to keep reminding me?

“I’d say that’s a naïve position to take, yes.”

“Okay, I just don’t get you.” I fold my arms. “What’s the problem? And don’t say it’s because we’re going to die. I don’t intend to spend my last days on Earth arguing with a complete asshat.”

Cas’s been an asshat since birth.
Nolan’s words replay in my head, unexpectedly, and a blaze of anger surges through me. Why did he have to be the one to turn out to be a traitor? If he hadn’t, I might have someone friendly to talk to, not the guy now staring at me like I’ve just started speaking in tongues.

“Tough shit,” he says. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Did you just…” read my thoughts?

“You aren’t very good at hiding your emotions,” he says.

“You aren’t very good at expressing them,” I counter. God, I want to punch him. I know it wouldn’t even hurt him, which is probably why I want to do it so much.

“I told you that you need to learn self-control.”

“I thought that was about being Transcendent.”

“It’s the same thing. Your powers are linked to your emotions. You get angry, everything around you goes up in flames.”

I pull my arms tight to myself. “Like you’d know anything about it.”

Something flashes in his eyes. Anger. I hit a nerve.

“I know more about it than you,” he says, softly. His tone makes the back of my neck prickle. Now the heat’s coming from
him,
in waves. Even though logic screams at me that I’m more than a match for him, the sense of warning intensifies. It’s like staring into the eyes of a lion seconds from pouncing.

I look away, curiosity evaporating. Exhaustion drags at my limbs, reminding me that I’ve not slept, and we’ve walked for miles without stopping. Normal people couldn’t handle this. What’s the limit for Pyros? I want to ask, but I refuse to admit weakness in front of Cas.

The divide continues alongside us, a jagged line on the horizon. Burned Spots mark the area around it, and I know that the further inland we go, the higher the chance of running into the fiends.

It’s eerily silent, the sound of our cloaks whispering on the ground the only noise around for miles. I almost jump out my skin when a flock of birds passes overhead, at first thinking it’s a group of those winged fiends, flying at a distance.

Occasionally, we pass a ruined farmhouse but that’s the closest to human habitation we find. I wouldn’t even recognise my own birthplace now. Towns stricken by energy blasts become nothing more than decomposing skeletons.

And we’re approaching one now. The absence of a reinforced fence indicates that it was abandoned before the energy blasts started to strike. Houses lie derelict, and there are even a few cars sitting on the overgrown road or still in driveways. I haven’t seen a moving car in what feels like forever. They stopped working when the power cut out, presumably a consequence of the first energy blasts. Besides, they’d draw unwelcome attention. One night at the camp, we’d chosen a spot by a country lane to settle down for the night, and I’d been awoken by a strange rumbling sound. Thinking it was an energy blast, I’d instantly jumped to my feet, only for Randy to shush me. Through a gap in the bushes, I’d watched, open-mouthed, as a car—an actual, working car—crawled past, bringing an achingly familiar smell of smoke and petrol. Ridiculous how that made me think of home.

I remember glimpsing the man driving the car through the window, envying him for having some means of escape. But that noise would draw the fiends like a magnet. We couldn’t stick around to find out where he was going, or if he ever managed to get there.

Now, the cars have become part of nature, vines snaking through the shattered windows. I can guess what happened. These two cars collided when their owners were making an escape. One door hangs off its hinges.

Cas stops. “Want to look?”

I start in surprise. It’s the first words either of us has spoken in hours, and certainly not what I expected. I’d resigned myself to a long, long day of walking ahead. Except it isn’t day anymore. The sun’s slipping out of sight, and before long, the stars will come out, twinkling in the ravaged sky.

“Why? We have everything we need.”

“I just thought you…” He shakes his head. “Never mind. I just thought you might want to stop for a bit. I forget you’re a Pyro.”

“Thanks,” I say, then bite the inside of my cheek to prevent myself saying anything more cutting. He was only being thoughtful, weird as it might seem, and starting another argument isn’t what I intended.

“I recognise this place,” he murmurs. “It’s stupid. I never lived in a town, but it feels familiar.”

“I don’t know,” I say. “I have no idea where we are. I might even have come here before, we moved around a lot.”

But we never came this close to the divide. I don’t know how Randy kept track of the direction, but he never led us astray.

Cas’s eyes roam over the town—the sad-looking houses, the broken glass surrounding the wrecked cars—then he turns back to me. “You good to go? We can stop when the sun goes down, but I know we can cover more ground than this. If we want to make it within a week…”

“Got it,” I say. I’m tired, but not to the point where it distracts me. And I haven’t eaten or drank anything all day, either. Do Transcendents need to eat? Can we just… survive? Endure? Keep going even after dead?

Come to think of it, what do the fiends live on? I know they don’t
eat
people, but I’ve never seen them scavenging, either.

More questions. I push them away, concentrating on the moment. Without warning, the world spins.

“Crap.” I press my hand to my head.

“Are you okay?”

“Just a little dizzy.”

“You should eat something. Did you even look in that backpack?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Now you’re being all parental on me?”

But I shift the rucksack onto one shoulder and unzip it. Most of the weight’s from the water bottles stacked inside—the only food items I can find are slightly squashed energy bars. I retrieve one and bite into it. I glance at Cas and raise my eyebrows as he tosses a wrapper aside.

“No one teach you not to litter?”

“It’s a bit late to save the environment now,” he says.

Ha. Once again, he’s confused the heck out of me. I stuff the rest of the energy bar into my mouth to avoid having to say something back.

Silence follows us along the road, but it’s not a hostile silence this time. I wouldn’t call it companionable, either, but at least we aren’t snapping at each other. I don’t have much energy left for that.

And it’s getting dark. The pale shape of the moon hangs overhead, and the setting sun brings a chill that reminds me of the creatures that could be lurking out of sight. Maybe inside the divide…

A faint screeching sound, like someone dragging a heavy object along a wooden floor. I stop dead, hand going to my weapon.

Cas holds out an arm before I can move forward.

“That way,” he murmurs. “If we get off the path
now,
we can avoid it.”

“And if we can’t?” My heart pounds. It sounds like only one of them, but the word
trap
screams in my ears. What if Jared sent it? What if it’s one of his?

I can take it,
I think, and as I rest my hand on the hilt of the dagger, a comforting heat wraps around me and confidence pushes away the fear.

“Then we fight. But I don’t think drawing attention’s our best bet right now. Especially so close to the divide.”

There I was thinking Cas would throw himself into danger no matter what. Not that I’m one to talk, considering the giddy feeling the thought of fighting another fiend gives me.
Stop that
. What good is being Transcendent if it just makes me rush into reckless decisions that could get me killed? Though I suppose it’s the fact that I
can’t
die. Not easily.