Page 71 of High Noon

Chapter Fifteen

Titus

Eve was sittingup in bed, waiting for us. She’d thrown her blanket off. She looked ready to run, but in no shape to do so. Her skin looked sallow. Maru took the right side of the bed, I sat on the left. “Titus,” she began, “I think you should link to Maru.”

I started to tell her we’d already planned on it, but she kept talking.

“Otherwise, if we aren’t linked to Maru and Kael pulls us, Maru may not be able to get home. What if they find out he jumped and find a way to block him from returning?”

I withdrew a knife from my pocket. “Already on it.” I waved it at Maru, who sobered quickly. “This, my amazing friend and trainer extraordinaire, is going to suck. Possibly for all of us.”

“Why all of us?” Eve asked.

“I think I might have to set each of our links manually. If I can even override Kael’s commands, that is.”

“You linked us before,” she reminded me. “Through mine.”

“Yeah, well, my guess is that he allowed it. If he has the ability to pull us home whenever he feels like it, he can also manipulate our links.”

“So, you’re saying that even if we do this, he could still just wipe it all away?” Maru asked, eyeballing the knife warily.

“Yep,” I confirmed.

Eve looked toward the darkening sky. “It’s a risk you need to take.”

“We need to take,” Maru replied pointedly.

“And you’ll land at the Haven?” she asked.

“We,” I echoed. “We will be landing at the Haven, yes. You might be sick, but you aren’t going to die here.” She watched as I reached for Maru’s hand. “Just remember that the suit will heal you,” I reminded him. Maru winced and looked away from the blade.

“I want to stay,” she suddenly blurted. Maru and I both swiveled our heads toward her, incredulous. “I want you to take my tech out, Titus.”

I shook my head. “No, Eve. If you make it home, Kael will help you.”

She exploded, “How do you know he will? What if he kills us as soon as we land? We’ll be stunned from the impact, unable to move. He would have ample time and opportunity to do whatever he wanted and we would be powerless to stop it.”

“But why would he want to?” I posed. She didn’t have an answer. “You’re overthinking this. Do you even know Enoch? The guy who’s madly in love with you? The Nephilim downstairs who’s most likely rudely eavesdropping on our conversation right now? He loves you. If you get pulled, he’ll be waiting in twenty-one fifty-seven. If he caught you in this time, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be able to catch you when you land in ours. Believe me, if Kael needs any motivation to help heal you, Enoch will be happy to provide it.”

“What if there’s nothing Kael can do?” she said, her voice breaking.

“Then… in that moment, you decide whether you want to be turned. But for the record, I vote yes. I’d rather deal with a fangy, moody you than not have you around at all.”

“Even if I turned you so we’d be forever friends?” she tried to tease.

“Yep. Even then. Could you imagine our sparring matches if we were both vampires?”

She laughed out loud at Maru’s horrified expression. “I’d turn you, too, Maru. Don’t be jealous.”

Enjoying the momentary respite from our glum predicament, I knew it was time to get down to business. “No time like the present,” I advised, slicing into the back of Maru’s hand. To my surprise, he ground his teeth but never screamed.

After a few moments of tense silence, Eve held tightly to his hand and asked, “Can you do it? Can you link together?”

I shook my head. “It’s… it’s blocked or something.”

Maru began to pant, followed by the soft whirring of his suit. His skin began to knit back together, so I had to slice it open again. The data I saw within his tech was limited. Unfortunately, it wasn’t like a fully-operational computer had been embedded. What I could see and manipulate was restricted. And, damn it… “I can’t do it.”

“Try again,” urged Eve.

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