Page 10 of Odder Still
Sheona snorts. “I haven’t seen any sign of this Lilias.”
“She went to Maraheem,” I reply.
“Did she now?”
Tavish glares. “Sheona, if he were lying—if that aurora came from my family—they’d have told me. I’m at least that involved in the company.” He sounds as though he’s trying to convince himself more than her. “Besides, he didn’t even know where Maraheem was when he found me.”
“I still don’t like this.”
The cold keeps coming, demanding my attention now that the pain is subsiding. “May I sit up now? I promise I’m only dangerous if you’re hacking up animals for sport.” I try to make it sound humorous, as though being able to joke about the poachers’ deaths is somehow a reason to trust me. Against all odds, it works.
“Sheona, let the poor man be! If he attacks me, you may pummel him all you like then, and not before.”
She bristles, but slowly she lowers the pistol and tucks it into her waistband.
No move of Tavish’s head or shift of his eyes signals he’s turned his attention back to me, but I feel the heat of his consideration blaze across my face like a blush. “I do apologize for her; she’s always a wee bit high-strung. Fantastic bodyguard, though, when she’s not trying to scout an entire town on her own.”
“You’re the one constantly shooing me away,” she grumbles.
“Only because I love you, Nana.” Cane tucked under one arm, he offers me both hands and pulls me to my feet, using his extra weight as a counterbalance to my height. His thumbs linger on my fishnet gloves, a little tighter than mere hesitation. He traces just below the raw line of my wrists where Lilias’s cuffs sat. “Everything I’ve been taught says that auroras never attempt to latch to people—to any being with a complex nervous system.”
“This seems to be a fun new exception.” I wiggle my shoulders as the parasite warms. It fades back to cold, but I can’t shake its lingering presence. If it’s latching to me the way it did to its last host, then the thing will slowly sift deeper into my being until my emotions are no longer mine, my body controlled by foreign impulses and desires. It will take me over from the inside out. Without the energetic buzz of alcohol, what little energy and motivation I can scrape away from my depression is incredibly valuable—I can’t allow this damn parasite to supplant that. No matter how lethargic I am, I won’t let it replace me. “Already the aurora can influence me. It killed those poachers, using my body. Or it imbued me with its desire to kill them, at least.”
Sheona scowls. “So, you might not be dangerous, but you’ve got a thing in your head that can make you kill for it?”
“I don’t think I’m at risk of random murder sprees. It was the idea that they were going to slaughter another ignation mutant that enraged it.” My gut twists, because if it hadn’t been for my shared distaste for the orca’s death, the parasite might not have managed to overwhelm me so thoroughly. “But I still can’t risk something like that happening again. Happeningpermanently. I need it gone.”
“I’ve got a knife.” The forearm-length blade Sheona pulls from her hip sheath looks like a knife the way a jaguar looks like a cat.
I hold both hands in front of me. “If that worked, I’d already have it gone. Somehow, it’s integrating into my muscles, maybe even my brain. Anything short of surgery will probably kill me.”
“There has to be another way.” Tavish’s diamond-edged voice is a weapon right now. “Someone in Maraheem must ken it.”
“Your mother—” Sheona cuts in.
“We won’t tell her,” Tavish replies, defiant in a way that seems nearly factitious, but I can’t tell what emotion he hides beneath it.
Hope and fear mingle in my throat, creating a lump I can’t swallow. A flier comes billowing up from the tunnel where Tavish and I ascended, snaking its way through the courtyard. Its wet form smacks into the window. I can just make out the skull and crossbones. I suppress a tingle of panic. “Will I be safe there?”
“As long as you’re with us.” He certainly sounds genuine. “If you’re hesitant, though, you’re free to walk away, aurora and all.”
Sheona glares at him. “Tavish.”
He ignores her. “I won’t force you to come with us. If you wish to leave, this is your chance.”
“Is that a threat?” I ask.
He smiles. “It’s a warning.”
The way he says it gives it an entirely new spin, a new tone, a new life, reminding me that he is so much cleverer than I could ever have expected. Looking at him now, his wet hair half dried and his cloak still rain splattered, the auburn freckles on his nose standing out amidst a mass of faded, browner spots, I can appreciate that. It doesn’t mean I can trust him. But perhaps that’s not important when my other option is to return to the South, where our knowledge of the auroras is limited and the chance is low that anyone will figure out how to remove it in time.
Home will mean nothing if the parasite engulfs me before I can reach it.
“Then take me to Maraheem,” I say. “Will it be a problem if Lilias sees me? She’ll want me back.”
Sheona slams her blade into its sheath. “I’ll make sure it isn’t.”
I nearly point out that Lilias isn’t someone to be trifled with, but I don’t feel confident trifling with Sheona, either, especially while she holds all the weapons.
