Laura Jo Phillips (8 page)

She glanced up at Lio where he stood facing the wall in another corner of the bedroom, and thought about the information she had finally been able to get out of him.  He had not known the exact coordinates for the slave compound, but had provided directions on how to reach it by ground-car.  He had also revealed that Darleen’s polymer skin could be easily and safely removed by use of a tool he kept in his desk drawer.  Unfortunately, she had no way of getting back to his office to retrieve it, and the way the Katres were now behaving toward her, she didn’t think they would agree to have it brought to them. 

Every time she thought about the Katres something in her chest hurt.  She couldn’t figure out why they disliked her so much.  Perhaps it was because of Darleen and Lio, and her insistence on keeping them close to her.  If that was the case, she thought, then she had no use for them.  She had her reasons, and had they bothered to ask her, she would not have lied to them in spite of her decision to keep the knowledge of Lio’s Controller hidden.  But they had not asked.

Darleen opened the bathroom door a crack, peeked out to be sure that Summer was alone, then opened it wider and stepped into the bedroom.  She now wore a plain black shirt and a pair of black cotton pants that tied at the waist.  The clothes had been brought to them by an older woman who told Summer that they belonged to Saige Lobo. 

Summer herself wore nearly the same outfit, except hers was gray.  She didn’t care what color or style the clothing was.  It was the first time she had felt clothed in a year and she loved it.

“Feel better after your shower?” Summer asked as Darleen crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yes, I do,” Darleen said.  “You?”

“Much,” Summer replied.  “Are you ready to eat?”

“There is food?” Darleen asked, her voice barely above a whisper.  Summer easily read the hope and the hunger on the woman’s face. 

“Yes, I was waiting for you so we could eat together,” Summer replied as she got up and went to the dresser near the door to pick up a large tray covered with a white cloth.  She carried the tray back to the table next to the chair she had been sitting on and set it down.

“Come on,” she said to Darleen, waving her to the other chair before removing the cloth with a flourish.

There was hot soup, sandwiches, and a pitcher of juice, along with some fruit and small iced cakes.  It was the first time either woman had seen real food since their captivity.  While it was true that Summer’s Keepers had fed her, what she had eaten day after day was a watery gruel-like mixture.  It had no substance, no texture and no taste, but was clearly full of vitamins and nutrients or she would not be so healthy.  She had no idea what Lio had fed Darleen but whatever it was, it had not been nearly enough.  Both women had a difficult time restraining themselves from grabbing at the food and gulping it down.  As it was, Summer was glad that Darleen was the only one who was there to witness her eating this first meal.

As much as they wanted to devour every morsel on the tray, neither of them could do it.  They were too full to eat another bite in no time at all, a result of having too little food for too long.  When they were finished, Summer prepared a plate for Lio consisting of a sandwich and a bowl of the soup.  She carried it over to him, and, using her mind only, ordered the Controller to make him sit on the floor.  She placed the dishes on the floor in front of him, then ordered him to eat the food and not to spill any of it.  When she was certain he was following her silent instructions, she returned to her seat at the table.

Darleen was glaring balefully at Lio’s back, and Summer didn’t blame her, but she could not treat Lio as Lio had treated Darleen.  What Lio had done to Darleen was both inhuman and inhumane.  He might not deserve to be treated better than he had treated Darleen, but Summer could not, would not, lower herself that far for any reason.

“Lio said that there is a deionization tool in his desk at the office that will cause the silver coating on you to simply fall off,” Summer said.  She had Darleen’s instant attention, as she had hoped.

“Is there a way to do it without the tool?” she asked. 

Good question, Summer thought.  She silently sent the question to the Controller in Lio’s brain. 

“I believe that there is another way to effect deionization without the tool,” Lio said.  “But I do not know what it is.”

“We will just have to find a doctor to ask, or a scientist,” Summer said. 

“Yes, I suppose so,” Darleen replied softly. 

“He also told me how to get to the slave compound from Badia, via ground-car,” Summer said.  “Unfortunately he does not know the coordinates, we are no longer in Badia, and we don’t have a ground-car.”

“The Katres promised to help,” Darleen pointed out, her voice very low as though she were almost afraid to speak.  Summer realized that Darleen had been very subdued ever since they had entered the house.

“What is it Darleen?” she asked quietly. 

Darleen dropped her eyes to her lap.  “I don’t want to tell you this, but you are going to hear it soon anyway, and I think it would be better if I told you myself.”

“Okay,” Summer said, keeping her voice gentle as she watched the other woman carefully.  She was so thin, and so weak in spite of the hot food.  Summer did not want her to over stress herself.

“I did a very bad thing, Summer,” Darleen said.  “I hurt three women simply because I was angry at one of them, and one of those three women was Saige Lobo.”  Darleen shook her head slightly.  “Yet, here I sit in her home, wearing her clothes and eating her food.”

Summer wasn’t sure what to say.  She didn’t know what Darleen had done in the past, or what kind of person she had been.  She only knew
this
Darleen, and she had only known her for a couple of hours.  A couple of hours in which Darleen had helped her to disable Lio, injected him with the Controller, and agreed to follow her lead without question in a mission to release their fellow captives, even though she knew nothing about Summer at all.  Summer would return that loyalty.  They had not known each other very long, but in the short time since they’d met, they had formed a strong bond.  In all of this world, Darleen was the closest thing she had to a friend, and the only person she felt was truly on her side. 

She opened her mouth to say so when a knock on the bedroom door interrupted her.  She reached over and patted Darleen on the hand gently, then got up to answer the door.

“If you are ready, the Lobos will see you now Miss Whitney,” said the woman who had delivered their food and clothing.

“Thank you,” Summer replied.  “Give us one moment please.”

“Certainly,” the woman replied.  Summer closed the door and turned to face Darleen. 

“Ready?” she asked. 

Darleen stood up and crossed the room to the bed, picked up the black cloak and wrapped it around herself.  She pulled the hood up and forward so that her face was hidden in its depths. 

“I’m ready,” she said when she was fully concealed. 

Summer sent a silent command to Lio’s Controller.  Lio put down his spoon, stood up, turned and walked toward Summer.  Summer took a deep breath, pushed her hair back behind her, and reached for the doorknob.

After leading the trio through the large house, the woman stopped at a set of carved wooden doors and opened one before standing aside.  Summer took a moment to ask herself how Father would handle himself in this situation, squared her shoulders, and stepped into a large room that contained a long, gleaming wood table lined with many chairs.  It was obviously a meeting room, though the chairs seemed overly large to her.  A familiar woman with short brown hair and light green eyes rose from her seat near the far end of the table and hurried forward to great Summer, a smile on her face.

“I am so glad you have been found,” she said, wrapping Summer in a quick hug.  “Come in and sit,” she said, urging Summer toward a chair at the end of the table.  Summer started to sit down when she noticed that all eyes in the room were directed at something behind her.  She turned around to see Darleen standing there, still covered in her cloak, Lio at her side.

Summer turned back to face the people sitting at the table and looked at each face one by one.  Maxim Katre was all but glaring at her, Lonim’s face held no expression at all, and Ran looked uncomfortable.  The other men she did not know, but they looked suspicious, as did Saige.  Summer bristled angrily. 

“Why do I feel as though we are on trial here?” she demanded.  “We have done nothing wrong, unless you believe that being held captive and enslaved for the past year is a crime.  If that is the case, state your punishment and send us on our way.  We have more important things to do than appease a bunch of people we do not even know.”

Faron rose from his seat at the opposite end of the table.  “Of course you are not on trial, Miss Whitney,” he said.  “If you will please be seated, we will explain the reason for our feelings.”

Summer didn’t want to sit, but she didn’t see that she had much choice.  She could walk out easily enough, that was true, unless they decided to physically stop her, and she didn’t think they would.  But she needed to free those other women, and she would need the help of powerful men like these to do it.

She blew out a breath in frustration and sat in the chair. 

“Miss Flowers, you may be seated also,” Faron said.  Summer looked over her shoulder to see Darleen’s hooded head shake. 

“She prefers to stand right now if you don’t mind,” Summer said coolly.

Faron sat down in his chair once more, and Saige returned to her seat at the far end of the table as well.  

“The most important issue here is your captivity, and what you can tell us about those who held you, and where you were held,” Faron began.  “But, before we get to that, we apparently must first explore the more volatile issue of Miss Flowers.”

Summer noticed the quick glare Saige sent Faron and wondered at it.  Personally, she agreed with Faron about the importance of the first issue, but clearly the two of them were outnumbered. 

“I do not know what she did,” Summer admitted, “so I’m afraid I am not equipped to discuss it.”

“How long have you known Miss Flowers?” Faron asked.

Summer shrugged.  “Since this morning,” she replied.

Maxim’s brows rose in surprise, but the wave of resentment and anger she felt from him did not lessen.

“Then it makes sense that you do not know her past,” Faron said reasonably.  “She assisted in the kidnapping of three women, one of whom was killed.”

Summer heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her, as did every other person in the room apparently, as all eyes went to Darleen. 

“First, a diversion was created whereby a fuel tanker was sabotaged to crash into the Dracon Prince’s home.  Aboard that tanker were two male-sets, one of whom were the younger brothers to the Katres.”

Ah, Summer thought.  That explained some of their anger.

“They were able to divert the tanker away from the Princes’ home, but it did crash and destroy our house.  As it was empty at the time, no one was hurt.  However, it was an unpleasant situation, and only because of the strength of the Princes’ magic were the male-sets on board the tanker able to eject and escape an otherwise certain death.”

Summer clenched her fists together beneath the table.  This was already far worse than anything she had imagined, and they hadn’t even gotten to Darleen yet.

“During the diversion, Miss Flowers, who had pretended a friendship with the Princess for many months, used her familiarity with the ranch, and the ranch hands’ familiarity with her, to approach the house and lure the women outside the protected area by shooting the Princess’s dog.  The Princess was nearly due to deliver her triplets at that time.  When the women exited the garden, they were each shot with a tranquilizer and tossed into the trunk of Miss Flower’s ground-car by the two men she had with her.”

Summer wanted to turn and look at Darleen, to see if what this man was saying was true, but she didn’t.  She did not move at all.  Somehow, she already knew that Faron Lobo would not lie.

“Miss Flowers then drove off the property, which, due to the size of the ranch, took about an hour.  A short distance from the ranch she pulled over and had the men remove the women from the trunk and drop them on the ground nearby.  She then taunted the women, whom she believed to be still paralyzed from the drug they were given, gave her men some final instructions, then got into her car and left them with the two men.

“The women who were abducted were Princess Lariah, and Saige.  There was a third woman taken as well, only because she happened to be having lunch with Saige and the Princess at the time.  Her name was Riata, an Alverian Empath and Healer who was very important to the Jasani people.  She was also the most pure and gentle being I have ever had the privilege to know.  However, Miss Flowers let her men know, more than once, that she did not care in the least what they did to the Alverian, but that the other two were wanted unharmed.  Regarding Riata, the men apparently took her at her word, as they carelessly dropped her on a stone outcropping which broke her back and killed her.  They did not, however, follow her instructions regarding Saige and Lariah, because no sooner did Miss Flowers leave than they attempted to assault Saige.  Luckily, Saige is an expert in
tiketa
, and Riata had Healed her from the drug before they were removed from the trunk.  She killed one of the men, and disabled the other.  Then Miss Flowers’ employer, a Xanti, arrived and shot Saige with an energy weapon, nearly killing her.  His intent was to take both women off-planet, and had our Princes not arrived at that moment, they, and the six daughters they have since borne, would be lost to us now.”