Page 107 of Pride
Thick despair rolled into Daisy, and she almost swooned from the drag of it. He was sad. So, so sad. It was the same despair she felt daily from Julius. It was dangerous.
“Tell me about her.”
“She’s dead.”
“I don’t believe that.”
His eyes met hers. “She was out there with a powered replicate.”
“But she’s your mate. She must be incredible.”
He stilled. He glanced at the flower. Daisy could have sworn she felt his joy like a warm drink on a chilly night. Then he straightened his spine. “Sheisincredible. She beat me in a battle. I lost my arm because I was too proud to admit how incredible she was. And now because of my pride, she might be lost to me.”
“Then you should tell her.”
“Didn’t you just hear what I said? She might be dead.”
“She’s alive. If she can beat you, she can handle one replicate.”
Coming back to himself, he nodded, eyes now full of sharp purpose. “You’re right. She can handle herself. But us…” He glanced at the rising water level and at the offshoot pipe, now submerged. “We need to survive.”
Relief washed through her and she slumped, her fingers slipping on the ladder. She wasn’t sure if she had the energy to do as he said, but he must have known that. He held out the knotted flower to her.
“Help me unravel it.”
“Why?”
“I only have one arm, so if I’m climbing the ladder I can’t hold on to you. I’m hoping the rope is long enough to tie you to me so, if you can’t hold on, it will keep you afloat.”
Within the short time it took them to unravel the rope, the water had risen to their chins. The rope was long enough to loop around their bodies. It hurt under Daisy’s arms, and her lips chattered from the cold. But they weren’t dead yet.
She looked up at her little brother.
“What?” He took hold of the ladder rung.
“Don’t leave me behind,” she whispered, the horrors of last time igniting in her mind, hot like the flames that engulfed her birth mother.
“Never again.”
Their ascent was painstakingly slow. A one-armed man and a woman at death’s door. Every labored step Daisy took up the ladder, the water did the same. It was like a breath on the back of her neck, following her, holding her trembling nerves for ransom. Parker tried to help her, but he was losing his own battle to despair. More than once she’d seen him glance at his missing arm with frustration.
“You should just let me go,” Daisy said, her teeth chattering. “I’m slowing you down.”
“Stop it,” he said. “We’ll make it.”
But the water level was rising faster than they could climb. Her numb fingers slipped on the metal rung and she almost fell. The rope under her arms burned, holding her to Parker. He looked down at the water, eyes full of calculations.
“Maybe we let go and float up.” He winced and looked up. “A grate covers the drain. If we can’t get out, then hopefully we can still access air.”
Hopefully.
He said the words but didn’t feel them, she would sense it. She slumped with nothing left to give. She hadn’t for a long time. Maybe not since she’d chased after a woman whose despair had been a close companion of Daisy’s her entire life. For years she’d sensed Gloria Godiva’s joy and despair fluctuate from beyond a two-way mirror. Daisy was different to her siblings. She felt their joy as well as their sin. So when she’d seen the woman with her own eyes, and thought maybe if she could get to her and give her a cuddle, then she would be happy. It had always worked.
But the flames had other ideas.
Closing her eyes, she heard her birth mother’s voice whisper from the smokey shadows of her memory.Live,special one. Live.But Daisy wasn’t special. Like Julius had said, she was the test run. The prototype the rest of them were made from.
“You’re not the test run,” Parker gaped.
