Page 50 of Rising

Their eyes shot in my direction skeptically, questioning why any of this would matter when it came to Pansies. As far as everyone else in this side of the world was concerned, Pansies were aimless, uncoordinated, unstructured creatures who acted on impulse. Everyone I knew held on to that belief. Pretended it was the last piece of science from The Before that made sense. I’d never fully bought that. Had seenwith my own eyes reason to believe otherwise.

And now so had Riley.

He nodded at me to continue on. “If … see if you can pick up on any communication patterns as well.”

She gave me a concerned smile, the question they all wanted to ask lingering in her eyes. “Yeah, you got it, Gen,” Moe said, giving me a mocking salute before she headed out the door.

“I’ll go see what information I can get from their injuries,” Reina chirped, a bit too excited for the subject matter. I knew it was only the love of the job. The ability to heal and learn fed her soul, and I loved that for her.

“So now what?” Seth asked, pacing a bit in his immediate space, ready for me to give him something to do.

It was just the four of us left. Alexiares and Riley were still on either side of the door, and Seth now leaned up against the arm of the couch. I moved next to Riley, my head resting on his shoulder, offering him a small token of comfort as the next words left my mouth.

They were bitter and tart, leaving my lips, but they were necessary. “Now we send out a team to gather what Moe can’t from her visions.”

Seth’s eyes turned violent. “A suicide mission, then? Fuckin’ fantastic.” A sharp laugh left his throat.

“He’s right, Maia. What sense does that make? There’s a reason Luna said no. We already knew that was a dangerous trade route.” Riley’s voice was toneless. He’d had to distance himself from the conversation, set his personal relationships to the side. “They knew the risks.”

The shock of his second deferment in my judgment rattled me to my core as I moved a step away, studying his face. It was a gut blow. The feeling that we were no longer connected the way we had been, knowing my absence had caused that, no matter the weeks I’d spent trying to make up for it.

“Well, what else would you all like me to do? Hmm?” I paced the room and tossed my hands in the air. “Twiddle my thumbs some more, perhaps? Something’s got to give and playing it safe isn’t going to cut it anymore. We’re sitting fucking ducks.”

Their eyes followed me. Alexiares toyed with the silver rings he always wore no matter what he did during the day. I’d only seen him remove them once, during his assessment. He hadn’t so much as blinked since Moe and Reina had left the room.

“I’m not asking for guidance or permission for this. I’ve made my mind up. We’re never going to learn anything if we keep relying on old information to come in from emissaries and whatever scraps Moe can pull from a vision. Seth, can youfeelanything?” I looked at him, not missing the confusion on Alexiares face.

He hesitated, taking a second to threaten Alexiares with his storm filled eyes before glaring at me and answering, “Yeah. But it’s weak and nothin’ strong enough to latch onto and figure out what’s happening out there.”

My nose scrunched. A weak connection meant they were dying. Whoever we sent out next wouldn’t make it in time, but it did mean there was something left for us to go back to. We didn’t have that confirmation for the San Diego mission. We could have lost them anywhere from Riverside to their next check in location. With Seth’s man being a witness, we not only had a live account for what happened, we also had a scene to go back to for clues.

“Well then, sounds like we’ve got a reason to go.”

My words echoed in the now silent room. Minutes passed before Riley nodded in agreement.

Seth threw his head back, sloshing onto the couch. “Thenyoufigure out who we’re about to send to their death.”

“I’ll go.”

Our bodies rustled, slicing through the air to listen to Alexiares, speaking his first words since he walked into the room.

“Yeah buddy, I don’t think so.” I scoffed, turning to Seth and Riley to finish our conversation.

“I’m serious, let me go—”

“I don’t even know why you’re here, let alone speaking.”

Seth leaned forward and motioned for me to be quiet. “No, let him speak. I wanna hear what the kids gotta to say.”

Of course you do.

“By all means.” I motioned for him to continue.

He strode towards the center of the room before clearing some of the mess from the coffee table and taking a seat. “Think about it. I just came through the area a few weeks ago. Suckerpunch and I holed up during a stormy week. I can eliminate some risk because unless a helluva lot has changed since then. I know the general layout, and any traps that need to be evaded along the way. I take it y’all won’t be taking your usual route”—He looked at me—”or your Plan B. Thus leaving it up to chance.Unless,” the words sang from his lips, “you follow the steps I took to get here myself. Leaving only the last few miles a real risk.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” I accused, “You just happened to pass through a now tumultuous piece of land that was once stable enough to cross through at mild risk. And now you’re here, a walking tornado if you will.”

Riley cleared his throat and rubbed the back of my shoulder, trying to talk me down, but I shrugged him off.

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