Winter's Scars: The Forsaken (Winter's Saga 5) (27 page)

The two men, whose shoulders rolled like tigers, took long, decisive strides.  The one with tightly clipped, dark hair and blue eyes walked, scanning the room around them as though he were a natural-born fighter ready at any moment to kill anything that came at them.  The other male, whose hair hung longer and shaggier, gazed straight ahead—seeming to look through the people milling about.

The woman
in the middle was strikingly beautiful.  Though much smaller than the men, she walked with the grace and power of a gymnast or dancer.  Her dark pixie hair accentuated her graceful jaw line, neck and shoulders.

They must be elite models,
the attendant concluded. 

In the short time it took for them to close the distance and approach her counter, the attendant found herself mouth agape and envy forming as drool at the corner of her lips. 
These people were exquisite, moving art. 

They stopped just out of earshot and the shaggy-haired male leaned down to whisper to the other two.  The female frowned deeply at his words while the short-haired male seemed to have lost all the color in his face.  The girl nodded and the three continued walking toward the counter.

The one male continued to stare past her with the brightest, bluish-violet eyes she’d ever seen.  The female spoke.  “We need three tickets on the first flight with a destination at or near Cairo.”

It took the attendant a moment to peel her eyes away from the woman whose voice was as crisp and sultry as her looks.

“Yes, ma’am,” she began clicking away at her keyboard.  “We have a flight leaving in two hours,” she offered with a thick Italian accent.

“We’ll take it,” Farrow said whipping out the credit card Dr. Andrews had given them to use for expenses. 

Walking away from the ticket agent, Creed’s face looked so red it veered toward purple.

“She’s being taken back to Arkdone in Kentucky,” he managed to say through gritted teeth.

“Yes, but we can’t go back to the States.  You know that.”

“So does Arkdone!   That’s why he had us turned into public enemy number one on the FBI’s Most Wanted.”

“You knew we were going to have to drop the trail if it led back to the US.”

“Doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.”

“They would have us arrested before we could exit the plane.  The Feds would be standing right there with weapons and handcuffs.”

“I know.” Creed’s fists clenched and unclenched as if barely controlling his need to beat the crap out of something.

“At least we know who has her now,” Farrow offered gently.

“She’s right, Creed.  At least we’re not going to have to chase her echo around the world anymore.”

“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better,” Creed’s shoulders slumped.

The three metahumans waited impatiently in orange plastic chairs to board the plane back to Cairo.  The plan was simple: go home, regroup and devise another plan. 

Though Creed had dry-swallowed one of Sloan’s migraine meds, exhaustion and the threat of the ice pick pain behind his eyes had Creed feeling the need to doze off.  The chair looked way too small for him but he unfolded his long, thick legs and stretched them out, crossing his ankles.  His arms were crossed, too.  The sunglasses he’d purchased from the small gift shop were doing their job blocking the brightest of the airport lights.  And the sound blocking earbuds he’d shoved in place were working as well as he could hope. 

“I’m going to try to sleep this headache off, guys.  Wake me when it’s close to boarding, okay?”

“Sure thing,” Alik nodded, trying to keep the worry for his brother’s pallor off his face.

Creed allowed his chin to drop to his chest. 

Alik and Farrow talked in hushed tones beside him.   They still had at least an hour to kill before boarding would begin.

Within minutes, Creed’s breathing was slow and deep. 

“I’m worried about him,” Farrow said simply.

“Me, too.”

“Listen, I’ve known Creed, or at least
of
him, for a long time.  Meg changed him.  He was always pure soldier—the elite among us.” She shook her head slowly looking over at the sleeping giant.  “He was always formidable, but after being exposed to the original serum back in Hawaii…” 

“I know.  Now he’s a beast of a fighter,” Alik nodded, “but he’s my brother first.”

“Of course, he is.  I just don’t think he’s going to bounce back without her, Alik.  Meg taught him to
feel
, to move outside his soldier-self, he’s even more powerful…”

“And a danger to himself now that she’s gone,” Alik finished.

“Exactly.  He’s my friend.  He and I will always have the shared memories of life at the Facility, such as it was.  He feels like my brother, too.”

Alik leaned toward Farrow, his lips millimeters from her ear.  “I’m afraid we’re losing him,” he whispered.

Farrow nodded slowly, chewing her bottom lip as though she had a hundred things she was dying to say, but was forcing herself to choose her words carefully.  “I will always stand beside you, you know that, right?”

Alik focused on her beautiful, heart-shaped face and nodded, “Thank you, Farrow.”

“We will track Meg to the ends of the earth, you and I—I’m in this for the long haul.  I just need to know what to expect from you if we find the worst-case scenario has come to pass.” Farrow’s eyes darted toward Creed wanting to be sure he hadn’t heard her.

Alik nodded slowly and looked down at his empty hands with frustration.  “Once I have…” he swallowed hard, “confirmation that she has been killed, I will have to make some serious decisions.  Do I search for her killer and avenge my sister or do I go home and take care of the family I have remaining?  I don’t know, Farrow.  I’ll have to do a lot of praying over that one, but not until it has come to pass.  For now, I’m going to keep believing she’s alive and well.”

Farrow stared in the distance, deep in thought.

“As for Creed, I think we both know what he would do.  Heck, I may have to chase him just to help him stay alive.”  Alik shrugged his massive shoulders.  “But Farrow, it’s possible that his weakness for my sister will be the one thing that saves her.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘Our strength grows out of our weaknesses
.’  I’m going to hold onto the hope that his abject determination will not only help us find her, but pull her back from the edge once we do.”

Chapter 50 Dark-Eyed Angel

She moved as if she were completely submersed in water behind the thick glass wall.  Her pale skin seemed ghost-like and shown in stark contrast against her dark hair that moved as a living, undulating frame around her.  Her dark eyes looked right through him as though he weren’t pounding on the outside of the glass encasement screaming her name. 

Her usually expressive, dark eyes were a doll’s set of fake glass marbles.  Their lack of expression was just as devastating as their inability to acknowledge him.  Her black, blank stare cut his heart with a dull, rusted blade. 

The harder he pounded against the glass, desperate to break it, the further she floated away.  He watched her with a mix of terror and heartbreak as she moved; her flowing iridescent dress rippled silently around her—reminiscent of the iridescent blanket she had used as her healing gift on his charred soul a lifetime ago.

On his knees in defeat, he wailed in anguish.  “Please come back to me!  I can’t breathe!   Please, Meggie.  I’m broken without you!”

“Creed!  Wake up, man.”  Alik was shaking his shoulder hard enough to rock the whole row of connected plastic seats they occupied.

Creed opened his eyes but was still lost in the dream.  He gasped for air.

“Come on Creed, wake up.  You’re just dreaming.”  Farrow was kneeling at her friend’s knees, willing him to focus on her and not the devastating dream that still curled a boney grip around his dazed eyes.

She and Alik exchanged identical worried expressions.

“She was there, in the water, but she wouldn’t even look at me
.” Creed’s voice was graveled emotion.  “I kept pounding on the glass, but it wouldn’t break.  I couldn’t help her.  I couldn’t get to her.  Nothing I did mattered.  She was gone.” Creed’s blue eyes looked crazed and lost as he pulled his legs in, leaned over and buried his face in his hands. 

“We’ll find her, Creed.  She’s not gone.  This is the closest we’ve gotten to finding her.  We know who has her now.  Don’t give up hope
.” Farrow offered her hand to the heartbroken soldier.

They didn’t care that several people around them were watching the whole scene play out.  After all these months of interacting with humans, the three had become accustomed to being stared at for their looks.  This was no different.

“Flight 1731 to Cairo, Egypt will now begin boarding passengers with special needs, followed by first class.” A female’s voice sounded over an intercom in English before she repeated the message in Italian.

“We’ll feel better once we’re back with the family.  We’ll figure out our next move together
,” Alik said to Creed. 

“You’re forgetting something brother,” Creed worked his jaw before he continued. “Evan will be there, too.”

Five minutes later, when they stood to join a line forming behind an elderly man, Creed heard a little voice coming from beside him.  He turned to see a little girl holding a handkerchief out to him.  The cloth was pink and simple, but Creed couldn’t help smiling widely at the sweet gesture.

“Per favore non di piangere il signore.”

“What did she say, Alik?” Creed asked, eyes never leaving the little girl.  Alik had turned into their translator at every foreign destination because of how quickly he could memorize and assimilate new information.  It only took him two hours to learn Italian during their flight to the country two days ago.

“She asked you not to cry.” Alik smiled at the little girl who had large dark eyes and curls looking
hauntingly similar to his sister at that age.  Alik swallowed hard his sadness for her loss.

“Tell her thank you for me,” Creed said, reaching out to take the tiny cloth in his huge hand.

“Dice, ‘il Ringraziamento Lei’.”  Alik nodded toward the little girl. 

She tipped her head to the side and asked, “Lei hanno paura di volare?”

“What was that?” Creed asked, as he used her handkerchief to wipe the tears away.  His eyes were red-rimmed and dark circles stood prominently in the soft skin beneath.

“She asked if you’re afraid to fly.”

Creed shook his head no and smiled.  “Tell her I miss my best friend.”

“Manca il suo migliore amico,” Alik offered and stepped up to the moving line, trying to signal to everyone it was time to go.

“Dove ha partito? È morta? Il mio gatto è morto ed è andato al cielo. Era il mio migliore amico.”  The little girl shook her head sadly.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” the little girl’s mother interjected, blushing deeply.  “Adelina, we do not ask strangers about such things,” she said with a beautifully thick accent.

She swept the little girl into her arms and shouldered her carry-on as if she had balanced the two a hundred times before.  She stepped up to the line to board the plane.  The little girl turned on her mother’s shoulder to keep watching the beautiful man wipe his tears away with her pink cloth.

“What did she say?” Creed asked Alik pointedly
, watching the child, watching him. 

“She’s just a kid, Creed.  It doesn’t matter.  Let’s get going.”  Alik started toward the gate but was stopped by a hand on his arm.  Other passengers filed
past the three handsome young adults as they spoke intensely with one another.

“Alik, what did she say?”  The stress and worry he’d been through over the past half year had made Creed look at least ten years older than his nineteen years.

Alik sighed deeply and shoved his hands into his pockets.  “She asked why your best friend left,” Alik cleared his throat, “then asked if she died.  She said her cat died and he was her best friend.”

Fresh, warm tears filled Creed’s eyes.  Alik couldn’t watch so he looked away and flung his arm over his brother’s shoulders, leading him to the gate.  Creed used the little girl’s handkerchief to try to keep up with his sadness, but her little blanket only made Creed miss Meg’s empath blanket even more.  Everywhere he looked, everything reminded him of the dark-eyed angel of his dreams.

Chapter 51  Caged

Theo got home just in time to see Evan and Cole position Maze into his crate and secure the door with the double locks. 

“Someone want to tell me what happened?”

“He tried to run again,” Margo’s voice was hollow and she hadn’t looked away from the still sleeping coydog.

Theo shook his head sadly.  “You boys found him?”

“Yes.  I had to shoot him with a tranquilizing gun.  He wasn’t going to come along without a fight this time.”

“He just seems crazy without her.”  Cole stood, hands on his slim hips.  Both boys’ shirts were wet from their efforts to clean
the large canine in the tub.