Page 74 of Calico Descending

“I’ll probably kill him at this rate. He’s a threat to all three of us. He’ll die out here in his state of mind, anyway, if I set him free.”

“He saved us back there, you know. If it hadn’t been for Cadmus, I can’t even imagine what those men would’ve done to Neela and me.”

With a frown, he looks away, as if my words have stabbed him in the heart. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

“I’m not telling you this to wound your pride, but surely the man who spared me from something so horrible deserves more consideration than death.”

Lowering his gaze, he nods. “He does.”

We drive through open desert for hours, until the air turns cooler, thinner, without the dry bite. Much of the ride is in silence, aside from the few brief exchanges between Titus and Valdys, discussing supplies, and hives they once knew that have been leveled to empty gaps along the route. We pass small groups of Ragers that chase after the vehicle, and I watch them disappear in the side mirrors, behind clouds of dust, as we keep on. There was a time they were the most horrible monsters to walk the desert, but I’ve since learned there are some far more dangerous.

The sun hangs off to the west of us, dipping below the high mountains, by the time Valdys pulls the truck off the main path.

Titus points toward a mountain of rock that he seems to remember, from the days before he was captured by Legion soldiers. How he can remember so much of the landscape is a mystery to me, considering I don’t remember much, at all.

Even with the drop in temps, the sweat clings to my body, as we climb out of the truck and follow Titus along a path through the dusk colored rocks. Legs wobbly from the drive, I slip on a small plateau, and Valdys catches me from behind, setting me back on my feet. I pause at the constant sound that started as white noise, but has since grown louder. A steady hum that doesn’t seem to trouble either of the two, as we climb toward it. We traverse the tall stretch of rock, until my eyes are greeted by the most breathtaking view I’ve ever seen. In a clearing stands a long creek, flanked by shale and rock, and I trail my gaze along its path toward a majestic waterfall spilling into a crystal pool.

Like staring at a lucid dream.

With a burst of laughter, I slap a hand over my mouth, overcome by the awe and magnificence of this place. “It’s so beautiful!” I turn to Valdys, whose lips stretch with a more reserved smile, and he jerks his head toward the pool. “’The hell you waiting for?”

On a high of excitement, I climb down the rock, with Valdys and Titus at my heels, until I reach the edge of the creek. I don’t even remove my clothes, as I walk across the small jagged rocks that eventually turn into soft sand. The water bathes my ankles, while I wade deeper and deeper, until the silky fluids climb to my neck. All sound goes mute for the water rushing past my ears, as I dip below the surface to the quiet there, and it’s as if I’m in another world. Weightless and soothing, while it engulfs the wounds scattered across my flesh.

I’d stay submerged in it forever, if not for the tug at my chest, begging for air.

Standing on the rocks across from me, Valdys and Titus remove their shirts, and arms stretched over his head, Valdys dives in on a splash of water, disappearing below the surface.

With a smile, I glance around, waiting for him to come up for breath.

A force crashes into me, lifting me up into the air, as Valdys scoops me into his arms. Giggles and a scream fly out of me, when he hoists me over his shoulder and spins me around. The otherwise heavy world feels light, as he tosses me into the air, and I slip below the water’s surface again, reveling in the rush of fluids across my skin, before coming up for a breath.

He’s there when I surface again, wiping the excess water from his face, as he looks around. “I’d say this is a good place to set up camp for the night.”

Eyes trailing over the surroundings, I drink in the beauty of this seemingly untouched place, and I catch Titus standing beneath the waterfall, the monstrous Alpha collecting the rapid streams in his palms. Smiling, I turn back to Valdys. “I say we just stay here forever.”

Head tipped, Valdys cups my cheek, running his thumb across my stretched lips. “If that would keep this smile on your face, we will.”

I push through the water, and wrap my arms around his neck, allowing him to pull me in for a kiss. “It would.”

For the next hour, we swim and play beneath the waterfall with such childlike wonder. I don’t even remember being so carefree in my life. Surely, we had these moments with my mother, but they’re long forgotten for the misery I’ve lived since then. My clothes are a little more than damp by the time we set up a campfire on the shore.

“I’ll take one of the blades and see if I can scavenge some food.” Titus rifles through the supply bag and pulls a knife with a gut hook at one end of it. With so many resources, it seems unlikely that the soldiers would’ve perished in the desert, if not for stumbling upon the marauders so soon. But then, they’ve never lived beyond the safety of their wall to know much about survival out here. For those of us who are born into it, it seems innate.

“Don’t get into trouble.”

Titus raises a brow, before turning away, and I lower my gaze with a flare of embarrassment heating my cheeks, recalling the night before when he caught Valdys and me.

The wall of rock at the opposite side of the canyon is where he begins his hunt, as he makes his climb, and when he disappears behind it, Valdys moves in closer to me, urging me to lie down with him.

“I want to show you something.”

Easing onto my back, I lie beside him, and look up to the sky, where the moon has already begun its ascent, made almost translucent by the light still blazing from the sun.

“Do you see the edge of the moon?” he says, pointing toward it.

“Yes.”

“It’s visible where it faces the sun. It’s massive reflection illuminates the moon’s surface, and the rest hides in the darkness of space.” The way he articulates when he speaks tells me there is so much more depth to him than the killing machine into which he’s been made. “It’s incredible to think what lies beyond this world, isn’t it?”

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