Page 53 of Salvation
Chapter Seventeen
Sakura cracked an egg against the edge of the bowl. The shell crumpled under her fingers and slimy egg splattered over the counter. “Shit. Oh!” She slapped her other hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, Flora.”
The fifteen-year-old girl sitting at the table grinned.
Alexandra paused her pacing. “She’s heard worse, in two languages.”
“Three,” Flora corrected.
“Great.” Alex gave the ceiling a beseeching glance, then resumed her pacing. “Something’s wrong.”
Sakura moved to the sink to rinse her fingers. “You feel it too?” The vague sense of unease in the pit of her stomach had flowered into a sour stomach. Not even the tea seemed to be helping to settle it.
The furrows between Alex’s brows deepened. “I’d hoped it was just my over-active imagination, but if you’re feeling it to then….”
Then something must be wrong. Was something about to happen, or had it already? Sakura swiped her wet hands with a dishtowel then tapped her comm pinned to her shirt. “Nick Bock.”
Comms did not work great in the mountainous area they were in, especially when the weather turned inclement, like it would be in just a few more hours. But maybe, just maybe, she would catch him. She gave the comm another tap. “Nick Bock.”
Nothing.
“Dante Dacian.” More silence. A large blob of lead settled in Sakura’s stomach and she exchanged a look of concern with Alex.
“Maybe it’s just the weather,” Flora suggested. Even she appeared worried.
Sakura gave her comm another tap. “K’rona Zurkku.”
“Hel-lo, Sakura.” K’rona’s carefully spoken English words drifted from the small device.
“Have you heard from Nick or Dante since they left this morning?”
“Nac. No. I will find Storo. Stand by.”
“Okay.” Sakura caught her lower lip between her teeth. Theyhadto be all right. What could possibly go wrong? The paths between the villages were always well maintained. There had not been enough snow recently to obscure them, even the outer rim path should be obvious. Only a complete idiot could get lost on that route, and Nick and Dante were not idiots. It would be easy to dismiss the blanket of impending doom wrapped around her if Alex were not feeling the same way.
The front door banged open and K’rona swept in, “Fyhen! Allazandra!” The joy on her face was undeniable.
“Fyhen,” Alex responded, then almost disappeared in K’rona’s enthusiastic embrace.
Storo stepped through the doorway, Ita directly behind. “We tried to comm the Directionals, but could only get through to West Village. The healers have not arrived there yet, but that surprises us not at all. West is their final destination, and they were not expected there until near evening meal. B’iha, Nero, and one other have gone as runners to North, South, and East. They should be no longer than two hours.”
Sakura let her shoulders droop. So long? Anything could happen in that amount of time. It only took twenty to thirty minutes for a person to succumb to hypothermia, and less to bleed out. A shudder surged through her. Oh, god, what was she thinking?
K’rona’s fingers brushed her arm in a gesture of comfort.
“The runners go with the wind at their heels. All will be well,fyhen.”
~*~
A shiver slithered through Nick as he and Dante were ushered down a corridor. Was it from the cold or icy dread filling his gut? And why had their captors forced them to remove all their cold-weather gear? Especially since it didn’t seem like the heating bill for this place had been paid recently. Even the specially engineered synthetic material of hisbyssyst-shirt wouldn’t be enough to regulate his body temperature for long.
He aimed his nastiest glare at their guide’s back. The same guide who was still warmly bundled in his camo outerwear.
It seemed he and Dante might be expendable. But what about Saku? Mystery Woman had ignored all his questions about Sakura. She’d seemed down right annoyed with him when she’d left him and Dante with their current guard. Annoying the person with the gun probably wasn’t his greatest idea, but goddammit, he just wanted to know if Saku was safe.
Who the hell was she anyway? The hazel eyes did seem familiar, but he’d be damned if he could place her. She was definitely Terrian, though. Caucasian. But that was all he’d figured out.
“In here.” Their guide—a Matiran—waved them through an open door with his telum.
