The Silver Sphere (23 page)

Shelby lay tranquilly. After a brief hush, a face materialized
through the shadows. The woman bore a striking resemblance to her, and Shelby perceived
this to be her link, Bianca. No sounds were uttered when Shelby tried calling to
her. Bianca's features became clearer, and she wore the crunched expression of pain.

Bianca attempted to speak, but the words came out slurred. Then
a clear sentence emerged:
"Go to the Canaveral Caves. You will find...."
Her voice trailed off and she drifted away.

Shelby slipped back into consciousness, and found herself staring
down at the moving ground. Someone had slung her over his shoulder.

She stirred. "Hold on now. What's going on?"

They stopped abruptly. Max was carrying her.

"You blacked out and a horde of Nightlanders attacked us.
We fought a few moments, and then Sculptor had us run east. We... lost Mr. Dempsey.
Sculptor may be behind us, but I haven't seen or heard him. The rest of the Kin
are right ahead of us."

"We lost Mr. Dempsey? Oh, no, we have to go back. We cannot
leave him." She jerked back.

He shifted. "Shelby...." He looked as though he had
something to say, but couldn't quite spit out the words. "We have to keep going."

"But... Mr. Dempsey. Sculptor. We can't just leave them
behind."

"Sculptor might be nearby for all we know. It's too dangerous
to search for him right now."

Shelby looked at the ground as tears welled in her eyes. Max
wasn't telling her everything, she knew, but she drew in a deep breath and collected
herself. Mr. Dempsey would be behind them, right? After all, they had made it this
far, hadn't they?

She peered behind and hoped Mr. Dempsey and Sculptor were nearby.
Sculptor would protect Mr. Dempsey. She decided they couldn't afford to backtrack.

She looked up at Max. "You're making a habit of saving me.
I hope I can return the favor." She smiled weakly. "I received a contact
from my link. I have some information."

"Tell us later. We need to keep moving. The woods aren't
safe yet. Run ahead, and I'll bring up the rear."

She sped forward and within a few moments, outlines of her fellow
Kin appeared. Stuart ran next in line and stopped several times to glance back.
The resolute concern of a professional soldier adorned his features. She wondered
how much her own countenance had changed.

Shelby tried to keep an eye out for Nightlanders as she ran,
but the thick, foggy air kept her from detecting anything beyond the lush, green
trees around her. A few birds squawked, but other than that, the forest grew hushed.
Her booted feet crunched against a blanket of pine needles and pinecones. After
several minutes of running, they stopped at a small clearing and knelt down for
a short respite, wheezing and catching their breath as quietly as possible.

She stared back in the direction from which they'd come. The
only sound was their controlled panting. "When was the last time anyone saw
Mr. Dempsey?"

Everyone remained silent for a long minute.

Finally, Stuart shook his head. "We started to run and you
fell to your knees. A second later, a score of Nightlanders came through the bushes.
We fought a few seconds. Max picked you up and Sculptor sent us packing. He had
his hand-cannon to bring up our rear, with Mr. Dempsey ahead of him." He paused,
refusing to meet her eyes. "I... checked and Max was doing okay with you, but...
Mr. Dempsey...."

Shelby's heart stopped. Her knees trembled and grew weak. She
scanned each of the Kin's faces. None of them would look at her.

Voice shaking, she whispered, "What happened?"

Max emerged from the shrubbery. Dark bags hung under his eyes.
He was exhausted, same as the rest of them.

He finally spoke, breaking the stretch of quiet. "Shelby,
I'm sorry. There was nothing w-we...." He shifted uneasily from one foot to
the other. "Mr. Dempsey... a Nightlander cut him down. I saw him jump out in
front of one on horseback to slow him down after you fell unconscious. I grabbed
you and didn't have time to help him."

At first, Shelby thought she'd heard him wrong.
I... I must
have. There's no way. Absolutely no way....
She couldn't bring herself to ask
Max to repeat what he'd said. Without warning, her knees buckled and she collapsed.
Emily and Riley ran to her side. Wet tears dripped down her chin.

"Mr. Dempsey... he's dead?" The words rang thick and
hollow in her mouth.

"I'm so sorry, Shelby," whispered Riley as she wrapped
a comforting arm around her shoulders. Even then, Shelby didn't sense her touch.

Emily crouched beside her, silent as ever. The other girl's long,
auburn hair hid her eyes from sight.

Shelby tried to reason with what Max had said, what they were
all saying. She held her skull and trembled.

She raised her glare and scowled at Max, her voice guttural and
angry. "
You....
You let him die! You could've saved him—you
all
should've done something! But you just let him
die
!"

"Shelby, please," Max tried to reason, looking hurt.
"Please don't say that. You were unconscious—it was either save you or him.
He
told
me to take you and run... his dying words, Shel—"

"
No!
" She jumped to her feet and curled her
hands into fists. Nearby, a rock skidded across the ground, smashing into a boulder.
"
No!
It's not true!" Anger vanished, replaced by an empty fear.
A nagging pain wrenched at her heart. "Please, Max, tell me it's not true."

He shook his head slowly.

She'd hurt him; she grasped it in the way he turned from her.

"We should rest," he said. "All of us."

Before Shelby mustered an apology, Max stalked away. The other
Kin were mute for a time.

Riley stood at last and said, "He was a brave man, Shelby.
I... I don't know what we could have done. He...."

Shelby pushed Riley's arms from her. "Leave me alone."
Without another word, she stormed over to the boulder, crouched, and closed her
eyes, letting the tears fall.

He's dead.
That was the only thing repeating in her mind.
He's gone, dead, dead, dead. All because he followed me through the portal. Why?

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of a reason.
Max had left him. They all had.
I... did.... And for what? So I could live? It
should've been me, not him. He never did anything wrong. He never hurt anyone.

It sank in, slow but sure. Yes, Mr. Dempsey was gone, the hole
he left behind, bottomless. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make the pain
go away. He'd died saving her; he was gone, but she was here.

Malefic killed him.
Malefic and his Nightlanders murdered
Mr. Dempsey.

Emily sat next to her, placing a hand on her back.

"I'm going to miss him too, Shelby. I'm so lucky I got to
know him a little while we traveled."

Shelby glanced at the other girl.

"He cared. He really cared about all of us."

"He did, and look what it got him. It's my fault he was
even here."

"No. He liked it here. He kept saying it was the sort of
adventure you could only read about in books."

Shelby nodded and wiped at her tears. "I know, but all he
did was look after me. And help me. Comfort me. What did I do for him, or myself?"

"He helped me too—all of us. He listened to me." Tears
welled in Emily's eyes.

"Listened to what?"

Emily shook her head.

"Please, I can be your friend, too," Shelby said.

"This is so hard—all of this."

"I know. I'm here."

Emily embraced her, and Shelby held her a few seconds.

"I just realized I haven't hugged anyone in so long,"
said Shelby.

"I know. Since home."

She reached across and brushed the tears from Emily's eyes.

"Shelby, I was kidnapped."

"Well, we all kinda followed the messages and—"

"I mean back home. A few days before the... portal."

"Oh my God. Emily—"

"The worst part is the guy who rescued me... he... died
saving me. Right in my arms."

"Oh, Emily." She wrapped her arms around Emily again.

"It's okay. I'm working on it. Mr. Dempsey didn't treat
me like I was weird. Like he sensed something—a lot of things."

"Yeah, I think he did."

"What do you think he would say right now?"

Shelby sighed. "Probably to trust each other. Pick each
other up and focus on the problem."

"Malefic."

Resolved, they stood. Shelby's leather gauntlets squeaked as
she clutched her hands into fists. Returning to the Kin, with Emily behind her,
she said, "Where do we go from here?"

The others seemed depressed. They'd been munching and drinking,
but quietly, as though they didn't have the heart to nourish themselves.

Shelby's guts roiled. The mere smell
of food made her nauseous.
Mr. Dempsey will never eat again.

Thrusting the thought aside, she turned to Max. He and the others
looked to her.

"You said you had contact with your link?" inquired
Max, his voice hollow.

She'd hurt him by yelling. Shelby sucked in a deep breath. When
they headed out, she'd apologize, but right now, she wanted to decipher their next
move.

She nodded. "She said we needed to go to the Canaveral Caves,
and that we would find something there. I couldn't make out what."

Stuart pulled off his backpack and produced a map. They circled
him and studied the topography. "We're somewhere around here. This is the clearing
where the reconnoiter, Marty, warned us about the Nightlander army." He pointed
down at the diagram. "The Canaveral Caves are only a couple miles north."

"Okay," Riley said, her forehead scrunched. "If
you guys agree, I think we should camp out for a half-hour, and if nobody comes
for us, we make for the caves. We can only hope Sculptor is working his way through
the woods, looking for us. He might have been captured, and we can provide little
help. I believe we have to move forward soon."

Though the Canaveral Caves could be dangerous, Shelby figured
they had a better chance of success if they went where an Assembly member directed
them. She hoped her understanding of the communication was right.

They all agreed with Riley's plan. One by one, they sat down,
swilled water, and broke out some chud and hard biscuits. Even Shelby ate, though
sparingly. Max cleaned his sword, the long strokes of his whetstone echoing around
the clearing. Riley and Emily followed suit with their rapiers. Stuart fiddled with
his hand-cannon. Too drained to talk, they did not wish to make any unnecessary
noise and draw attention.

Shelby surveyed the area while keeping low. She didn't like the
idea of not posting a lookout. The sky grew overcast and heavy, the tops of the
trees electric against the gunmetal gray clouds. Nothing stirred, and soon the agreed
upon time passed. Still, they waited a quarter-hour more. Shelby prayed Sculptor
would appear from the brush. Even though Max had seen Mr. Dempsey fall, she hoped
he might show up, too. Some part of her remained convinced Max was wrong.

Nothing happened. Shelby turned back to the group, and when she
spoke, her voice cracked with grief. "All right, the clock is ticking. We need
to go."

The map illustrated the Eridanus River along the way, northwest,
to the Canaveral Caves. They decided to travel there to refill their canteens and
refresh themselves. As they forged west, the woods grew less dense.

Shelby relaxed a bit, as improved visibility
lessened the chance of an ambush. Her legs screamed as she climbed a rocky hillside.
After running all morning, the pace was better than she'd thought. It distracted
her, too. Rather than dwell on Mr. Dempsey's death, she could focus on searching
for the caves.

They reached the stream well after midday. It was hard to believe
that they'd only broken camp that morning, and had already been ambushed twice,
on their way to Meracuse. The Kin washed in two groups. First, the girls went, the
boys standing guard, and next the boys took their turn.

"I wonder what we're supposed to search for when we get
to these caves," said Riley as she stood with Shelby and Emily.

The two girls gave Shelby space to mourn, but she knew they were
right. All of them needed to be prepared for anything at the caves.

She told them as much as she remembered about what Bianca had
said. "I couldn't make out the last part of the message. We'll find
something
there, though. Maybe we'll get a map or some clue to where the others are being
held."

She felt clean and refreshed, glad to
have washed the grime from her face and neck. The current had swept away her tears,
and she felt strong once more, ready for vengeance. She shoved the pain of Mr. Dempsey's
death aside; that, she'd deal with later.

"Or, if nothing shows up," said Emily, "we'll
go straight to Meracuse. These caves are close to where we were, so thankfully it
won't take us out of our way."

Shelby nodded. Presage had informed them that as Kin, they had
an innate ability to adapt to Azimuth. Adapting, however, did not change the fact
that they functioned as catalysts in assisting this world to defeat a supernatural,
evil force. How overwhelming it sounded when she thought about their situation that
way. Now they were fierce warriors, not students. Every one of them had killed men
in battle, and they'd barely had a moment to reflect on it.

That lack of processing was a good thing.

After the boys finished washing, the group crossed the river
and continued traveling toward the Canaveral Caves. They all smelled like fish and
algae, but at least they were clean. The roaring water ebbed behind them. As they
left the river, Shelby sidled up beside Max.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey." His reply wasn't warm.