“Why did he tell you to go back to the Dormitories?”
“He said the protectors had made a pact that the Antaeans would return to the place where it all started once we had turned eighteen. He told me the Antaeans were designed to have reached their full abilities at that age. That is how Dr. Hersher designed us.”
“Devlan never mentioned any of this to me. He never divulged my true self until after his death.” I walk into the kitchen to refill the bowl with fresh water. I look up at the window above the sink and catch a glimpse of Lehen in the reflection, an evasive look upon his face.
I kneel back down in front of him, lathering the towel once again.
“What went wrong?” I ask, as I begin working the damp cloth on his hands.
“My protector was killed during a raid on one of the storage areas Acheron uses for their medical supplies. I barely escaped with my life.”
I stop midway up his arm as Jagger begins to scream. I close my eyes, trying to block out the world around me, as he howls in agony.
Fear of his pain and the possibility of losing him again, this time for real, freezes me.
I feel Lehen take my hand, removing the cloth from my clenched fingers. He squeezes as the volume intensifies inside my head.
“Tell me how you got here,” I inquire through gritted teeth, my eyes still clamped shut.
“I found the Dormitories. It took me several months to get there, and I wasn’t the first one to come home.” I open my eyes and look into Lehen’s pink scrubbed face.
“Quin.”
He nods his head.
“It was almost like he was expecting me. I came up a ridge that flanks the south side of the complex and there he was, standing under a lone oak tree. He was leaning against the trunk, bending a blade of grass in his fingers. He told me I was the second one to come home, that the others hadn’t shown up yet. I looked past him, spying the remains of the Dormitories, which appeared to be about a mile north and below the ridge. I swore I could still see smoke rising from the blackened granite. Screams seemed to drift along the breeze as it floated past.” He gets a distant look in his eyes
I shake his hand, trying to get him to focus back on the present. “Is that when they took you?”
“No,” he says faintly. “They came the night Vier arrived.”
The screaming stops. Keller walks out of the bedroom, his hands covered in blood. He goes to the kitchen sink and tries to scrub it off. Gage enters, with Braxton following. Slung over Braxton’s shoulder is a large burlap sack, which he sets gently down onto an armchair by the couch.
“What’s going on here?” he asks, after he removes the Morrigan head armor from his face.
“It’s Jagger, sir,” Keller begins, as he dries his hands on his clothes. “He’s more injured than we thought. He may not make it through the night.”
Braxton tells Keller and Gage to take turns keeping watch, while he goes into the bedroom.
“Tell me about Vier.” I want Lehen to continue talking, as it’s a distraction for me.
“Quin and I’d spent most of our time scavenging through the old buildings looking for whatever we could find. We camped out at night in the woods to the east, never wanting to be near the Dormitories when it was dark. One day, two months after my arrival, Quin left the camp. It had to have been during the night because he was gone by the time I woke up. We were almost out of firewood, so after a quick meal of canned fruit that we had taken from a transport who was delivering supplies to a hatchery, I headed deeper into the woods, making several trips back to the campsite with heavy bundles.”
He sighs deeply, almost as if trying to catch his breath.
“My fourth trip back, I found Vier sitting next to a freshly made fire. Winter was starting to approach, but Quin and I only built a fire at night to keep warm.”
Lehen shivers, pulling his feet up under him on the couch. I leave my perch on the floor and sit next to him.
“He asked me if I knew where Quintus was. I said I didn’t, but he wouldn’t accept that, even though that’s all I could tell him. I asked him how long he’d been in the area…did he just arrive…if he knew where the others were. He simply told me it would be best if I left the place. I asked him why, but he only repeated that I should leave. As he got up to go, I noticed he was carrying one of the satchels of food that we had stolen, along with a Pugio blade slung over his back. But what made the biggest impression was when he pulled off the hood that had been covering his face. When he was sitting down I only saw the left side of his face. After he removed the hood, he brought his full face into view.”
Lehen closes his eyes, either trying to focus on the image or block it out.
“A bright blue, jagged scar snaked down from his right eye, across his cheek, and around his neck, ending at his collar bone. Pieces of brown flesh poked out in spots along the scar. His right eye appeared to be dead with the exception of the iris, which was bright blue.” Lehen reopens his eyes, and looks down.
He strokes my arm, following the path of the Quantum Stream shining under my shirt.
I feel sickened by his touch. I carefully remove his hand, placing it back down at his side.
“Did Vier ever tell you how he got the scar?”
“No, he just turned around and walked away. The Morrigan came that night.”
“Trea!”
My
