Page 76 of Ace
“Listen, I can’t stay,” he growled, “but I’ll be back. Think about what I said. You’ve got this,Nuka.”
“I think I l-l-love you,” she stuttered. “I mean, like a brother. No one’s ever called me Little Sister before and…”
Tate was around the bed before she knew it. Darn, he could move fast. “That’s what makes Deuces Wild work,” he said. “We’re just brothers and sisters trying to make a difference out there. Stay strong. Believe in yourself. When Keller wakes up, tell him I was here.” And Tate was gone.
Savannah stood by Keller’s bedside long after Tate left, holding his hand and thinking about what Tate said. He thought she was strong, humble, and kind. He thought she was smart, too. It felt right. It felt true. She’d never doubted herself until Rudy John got inside her head, poisoning her self-esteem like he’d poisoned the birds and Keller. But she’d never tracked a man tohurt him before, and locating RJ would surely end in violence. How could she pray for that?
Violence was not her way. It never had been. Savannah’s world had been relatively peaceful all her life. She’d lived with Gran Mere most of that time, then by herself at Sanctuary. She’d been safe and protected. Even confronting Bubba to save Red had cost her nothing but courage and nerve. He might have punched her that day, but she’d never thought to strike first.
Yet the world she’d known was gone. Now she felt exposed and worse, orphaned. No Gran Mere to run to. No houseboat to hide in. Even Sanctuary had undergone a vicious assault. Savannah was twenty-five, yet still very much a babe in the—bayou.
Yet Tate thought she could track Rudy John? It seemed impossible.
Keller’s fingers twitched ever so slightly, startling Savannah. She wanted to call for the nurse and shout, “He moved! He moved his fingers! Hurry, come see!”
Yet she didn’t. Smoothing her hand over his prickly scalp, she leaned into him and pressed her mouth to his forehead. “You think I can do what Tate said, don’t you?”
Another tiny tremor twitched his fingers, imperceptibly small as to be nothing more than her imagination. But Savannah sensed Keller’s desperation. With all his soul, he wanted to get back to her. And that was enough.
“I’m going after Rudy John, Keller. Because you and Tate believe in me, I believe. Never forget how much Ilove you. Rest easy, my handsome Secret Agent Man. I won’t be long.”
An alarm from his monitors rang out then. By the time the ICU nurse arrived to reset the machine, Savannah was gone.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Savannah withdrew to the hospital chapel. Here in the soft glow pouring through the amber-tinted windows was the place of power and solitude she needed to confront Rudy John. An older man knelt far to her left and another knelt just ahead and at her right, almost like two sentinels who had expected her arrival. That alone comforted her on a purely spiritual level. They weren’t true sentinels and were most likely there for their own reasons, not hers. But it seemed the universe always provided who and what she needed with clocklike precision. Whoever these men were didn’t matter. That they were here and praying was all Savannah needed to begin her quest.
Settling at the end of the row nearest the chapel door, she drew in a deep breath. Most chapels were consecrated places devoted to worship, heartfelt prayer,and divine intercession. They offered calm energy, silence, and reverence. This one was no different.
Blessing herself, she cast the first handful of what would be many threads into the eternal river of the universe. Relying on her inner sight, she let the music of forever and everywhere and everyone flow through those threads to her. With each pure note, the colors of the rainbow coalesced along those threads, washing through her like tiny drops of rain on spidery filaments, filling her soul with peace and contentment.
The threads she looked for first bound her to Keller. They were a vivid, vibrant green this morning. A smile blossomed over her face, lighting her up from inside. When she’d first met him, the threads between them had been brittle and dry. Unexplored and unknown. Now they pulsed with energy. His soul had come back to life again. She’d known their attraction was mutual, now she was blessed to see that attraction in beautiful color. He loved her. He no longer needed to say the words. She believed.
The threads between her and the other members of his team each vibrated with a red hue, like blood coursing through veins. It was fierce, the perfect definition of Mr. Chase, Isaiah, Eden, and Tate. Each of them were proud. Resolute. They stood fast against a world that feared them, and they considered Keller as their brother. Better yet, he’d finally realized that.
Turning away from the comrades she’d grown to love in just days, she cast another prayer to locate Rudy John. A searching prayer.
Oddly, it bounced back, the thread snapping past her spirit as if it had been stretched too tight and had broken. An ugly shadow whipped out at her, stinging her with a snake-like tentacle. A raspy voice hissed,‘You dare challenge me?’
‘I did not challenge. I only seek answers.’Savannah paused, for the first time in her life, her instincts on fire, telling her to run, that this might not be who she thought it was. The voice was ragged and laced with pride, yes, but not the one that had attacked her spirit—and lost. Still she asked,‘Doctor John?’
‘Come to Sanctuary if you’re so brave, little one.Come, Savannah, or they die. They all die!’There was a definite psychic push behind every word, every letter. This was someone of power. Butlittle one? Really?
‘Who will die? My animals?’she asked politely. She’d never encountered such ugly feelings in a single entity before. This was definitely not RJ.
Instead of replying, the voice spewed a whirling cloud of sparks and chaos at her. But Gran Mere always said only bullies resorted to light shows to frighten their prey, and light shows only worked on weak-minded people. Savannah held her ground.‘I ask again. Who will die?’
‘All of them! Come to Sanctuary alone! If you don’t, I kill all of them!’
‘That is hardly an answer.’
‘Enough!’A murky, black cloud boiled out from the now shadowy universe, turning each of Savannah’s carefully cast threads to ash. First, Keller’s lovely green drifted into the cosmic wind, then each of the brilliantreds of the Deuces Wild team followed suit. Even Isaiah’s purplish-blue thread fell to the rage within the voice.
But those threads were not those people, and Savannah had enough.‘Are you the warlock Gran Mere warned of?’she asked, needing to know once and for all.
A cackle perforated the silence of the chapel, stealing Savannah’s breath like a slap across her face. ‘I am more,’the voice spat,‘so much more than that dimwitted old fool. Now come, damn you!’
So, you knew Gran Mere…
