sleek against her scalp, was longer now, unkempt. And her nails… Alex’s chest tightened as he saw that they were ragged and broken, with no sign of the jaunty pink polish she used to wear.
They got her down to the medical bay. In response to Alex’s page, Claudia arrived; she looked at Kara in surprise. “Who…?” she started to say.
“She’s an AK from the Mexico City group,” Alex said tersely. “I’ll explain later.”
“All right, let me clean up her face and see what I can do for her nose,” said Claudia. “Any other injuries?”
“I think I’ve got a broken rib,” Kara murmured. She was lying on the examination table, her good eye closed. In her jeans and old T-shirt, she looked almost skeletal.
As Claudia started to work, Seb took Alex’s arm and drew him aside. “She’s been around angels,” he said. “I can feel their energy in her aura – not angel burn, but they’ve been near to her. For a long time, I think.”
Somehow Alex wasn’t surprised. He gazed at Kara. “I can’t believe she’s still alive,” he said softly. “It’s been almost a year; what’s been going on?”
It didn’t seem likely he’d find out anytime soon. Though sitting up now, Kara looked dead to the world as Claudia dabbed at her face – hardly even reacting when the paramedic adjusted her broken nose with a quick motion and then set it with tape.
They didn’t have an X-ray machine. As Claudia gently examined Kara’s ribs, Alex winced to see how sharply each was outlined beneath Kara’s mocha skin. Not to mention the bruising – it looked like someone had used her for a punching bag.
“Think it’s just a fracture…at least there shouldn’t be any danger of it puncturing the lung there,” Claudia muttered. “I hope.” Finally she nodded. “Okay, I think that’s it – you look really dehydrated, though. Let’s get you into bed and onto a drip.”
She brought out a green hospital gown. “Here,” she said, placing it on Kara’s lap. “There’s a bathroom just there, if you want to get changed.”
The gown slithered to the floor as Kara eased herself off the table, clutching its edge for support. “No, I’ll keep my own clothes.”
Claudia blinked. “But you need to rest. You won’t be very comfortable if—”
“I said no.”
Claudia looked at Alex; he shrugged. “Forget it. Let’s just get her into bed.”
There were three hospital beds in an adjacent room. Claudia drew back the covers of one, and Alex helped Kara into it; she sank against the pillows. Then as Claudia readied an IV drip, Kara’s good eye flew to Alex’s in alarm.
“It’s just to get you hydrated again; it’s all right,” he said. Kara swallowed and nodded. She made no protest as Claudia eased the needle into her forearm and taped it into place.
“Okay,” said Claudia, holding a hypodermic up to the light as she filled it. She reached for Kara’s arm again. “I’ve got something here that will help you sleep—”
Kara’s thin hand shot out and grabbed her wrist; Claudia gave a startled squeak. “Touch me with that thing, and I’ll stab you in the neck with it,” said Kara in a low voice.
Alex had lunged at her first movement; he gripped Kara’s wrist hard. Finger by finger, she let go of Claudia. “Trust me, you don’t even want to try it,” he said. “Do
She nodded, still pale. Seb stood leaning against the doorway; she brushed against him as she hurried out.
“I should go too,” Seb said, straightening.
There was a chair beside Kara’s bedside; Alex dropped into it. Kara had collapsed back against the bedding, her good eye closed again. “I’d better sit with her for a while,” said Alex, rubbing a hand over his face. “But, yeah, you go on to bed.”
Seb shook his head as he glanced at Kara. “It’s not that. She doesn’t want me here. Goodnight,
Before Alex could respond, Seb had slipped out, silent as a ghost. Alex looked at Kara with a frown. Since arriving she’d hardly acknowledged Seb’s presence, but now he saw her relax a little. At the sound of the outer door closing, she turned her head to look at him, twisting at the sheet’s hem with a fretful hand.
“Willow’s here too, isn’t she?” she asked. “Alex, how can you bear to have them around? How?”
Alex’s jaw tightened. He seriously thought the question of whether half-angels could be trusted should have been settled a year ago, when Willow and Seb had almost died trying to halt the attack on the Seraphic Council. His instant anger faded slightly as he took in Kara’s bruises again.
“Look, I don’t know what you’ve been through, but you’re way off base,” he said. “I’d trust Seb with my life, and Willow… Christ, Willow
Alarmingly, Kara seemed close to tears. “The whole time he was standing there… Oh god, his energy is so similar to theirs that it makes me sick. And for you to actually
Alex started to reply, then stopped short. This so wasn’t about Willow and Seb. He reached for her hand, held it between both of his. “What’s happened, Kara?”
She swallowed. “I’ve been in an Eden.”
Alex’s spine stiffened – he should have guessed. “Where’s Brendan?” he asked after a pause. “Is he alive too?”
Kara was staring up at the ceiling; as she shook her head, a single tear ran down her swollen cheek. “No. When we were trying to get out of Mexico City, the quake hit. The van crashed, and he was injured – really badly – internal stuff. I managed to steal another car, and we got out. I kept telling him to hold on, kept thinking he might make it… Finally we got into Texas, and there was a makeshift hospital set up for people who’d been injured in the Houston quake. He died there. He hadn’t even been conscious most of the trip.”
Alex let out a long breath, remembering Brendan – his shock of reddish hair; his wiry body and incessant talking. Incongruously, he thought how weird it must have been, to have travelled so many miles with Brendan without hearing him talk the whole time.
Kara wiped her cheek. “Then before I could leave the hospital, some soldiers came and said they were taking everyone to a refugee camp. I didn’t want to attract attention by saying no; I thought I could escape on the way. But I couldn’t. They took my gun, and once we were at the camp, we were watched every second.” She gave a bitter laugh. “The others were just happy to be someplace with food and electricity. They couldn’t see all the angels – all the feeding that was going on, day and night. After three months, almost everyone in the place had angel burn.”
Alex’s veins chilled. “How did you avoid it?”
Kara looked haunted. “I don’t know. They tried. They kept coming down to – to choose me, and I’d see them looking so beautiful and feel their minds linking with mine…” She gave a convulsive shudder.
“And then what?” Alex asked intensely. “They just gave up and flew away again?”
“Yeah.” Kara let out a strangled laugh. “Maybe I don’t taste so good.”
Alex’s thoughts were whirling. It sounded as if Kara had been marshalled – something an angel named Nate had told him about. Before the Seraphic Council had executed them all, there’d been a group of angels sympathetic to humans. They’d been trying to marshal as many people as they could: place a small bit of resistance in human auras, making them unpalatable to angels.
But Kara would have realized. It wasn’t something an angel could do without being noticed.
His attention snapped back as Kara started talking again, her voice thick and halting: “Anyway, I kept trying to escape – never managed it. Then they moved us all into Austin Eden.”
She let out a shuddering breath. “Things were kind of chaotic in the refugee camp, but once we got to the Eden… Alex, you wouldn’t believe how
She went into a sudden coughing fit, and Alex rose hastily to get her a glass of water. She drank it with his arm around her, holding her up. The news about the sectors was something they’d long suspected, from reading
