Coming back to the bed, Jax squats down so that we’re eye level. “You saved our lives, Kricket. We would’ve died in our cells if you hadn’t gotten us help. Thank you. Get some rest. I’ll check on you again soon. ” He kisses my hair tenderly. I sniffle in response.
When Jax is gone, I hear Trey say behind me, “The Alameeda won today. They pulled us out of the sky, but that won’t defeat Rafe, just as it won’t defeat us. We’re together again. What were two is now one.” His warmth seeps into me and I find it hard to keep my eyes from closing.
Soft male voices flow around me, moving me toward the surface. My heavy eyelids open reluctantly. I recognize Jax and Wayra seated in the plush, high-backed chairs that they’ve turned and pulled nearer to the bed. Trey is sitting next to me on the mattress, facing them. Between the three, they have a 3-D map of the city blocks. Trey is pointing to a highlighted section that seems to be beneath the streets. Trying to focus on what they’re saying gives me a headache. My eyes lift to the window wall beyond them; it’s still opaque—I can’t see anything outside. How long have I been asleep?
I lift my head, but my neck is really stiff, so I don’t attempt to turn it. Groaning, I lie back onto the pillow. They all look up from what they’re doing to stare at me. Trey’s hand touches my hip. “How do you feel?” He strokes me lightly.
“Tired,” I murmur. I don’t recognize my voice as being mine. I sound ancient.
Wayra and Jax both get to their feet. Wayra lifts the Alameeda gun; I recognize it as the one I stole from Keenan after I tranquilized him. He comes to my side, bending down to look in my eyes. “You hungry?” he asks me with a concerned expression. “I found some venish—I’ll share it with you.”
I frown, my eyes closing involuntarily as I say, “You’re gonna share your venish with me? I must be dying.”
A surprised laugh comes from Jax at my comment. “Don’t scare her like that, you knob knocker.” His voice is soothing as he adds, “You’ll be okay, Kricket. You just need to rest.”
I want to say something else, but I’m so tired that I just listen to their soft voices as they go back to discussing our position in relation to our enemy.
CHAPTER 10
EAST OF EDEN
It’s dark in the room when I wake. Rolling over, I find Trey asleep next to me in one of the plush chairs that he pulled up close to the bed. He has his hand near the barrel of a Kaiser Gat that is leaning against the side of the chair. He looks exhausted, like he hasn’t slept in a while. Not wanting to wake him, I slide over the mattress slowly and move toward the opposite side of the large bed. My joints are stiff when I get to my feet. I pause, realizing that the bandages that wrapped them are gone now. I don’t know when they were removed, but as I take a few steps, I can tell that the wounds I had are nearly healed. Jax and his horabus plant ointment are miracle workers.
When I near a large bureau on my way back to bed from the Commodus, I pause. Movement from within a gilded frame catches my eye. A video is playing within the frame, which is arranged in a place of prominence among a few others in the middle of the beautiful wood surface. I recognize two of the figures in it immediately as being those of Trey and Victus, Trey’s twin. They’re on either side of a very beautiful young woman. Each brother has his arm wrapped around her shoulder. There’s no sound as Trey mouths the word One, the girl next to him mouths the word Two, and just after her, Victus mouths the word Three. Trey and Victus turn and kiss the girl on the cheek at the same time. Laugh lines form around her eyes as she closes them, giggling, exposing a very attractive set of dimples. Then, Trey and Victus both lift their lips from her at the same time, running away from the frame as she opens her eyes with a stunning grin. The picture resets again and it replays the same scene over and over as I stare at it.
I glance back to the chair. Trey still sleeps, hardly making any noise at all. Numbly, I change direction, walking to the lavare attached to the bedroom. I close the door to it when I’m over the threshold. Leaning against the door frame, I notice that the entire wall ahead of me is mirrored, the reflection interrupted only by a glass vanity countertop.
My image stares back at me, but I hardly recognize her. She’s so pale and haunted—something wild and savage, but not unbeautiful—no—she may be even more so because of the lack of civility to be found there. But she looks nothing like the girl in the frame. They don’t even seem like they belong on the same planet.
I go to the mirror, wondering what it is that Trey can possibly see in me if that girl in the picture is actually Charisma, his ex-fiancée. Deep down, I know that she is. She looks like the sweetest thing ever to walk Ethar, and I broke them up. That thought doesn’t make me feel good.
I gather my hair back from my face, trying to comb it with my fingers. It does no good, so I give up and touch the countertop with my hand instead. With my finger on the glass surface, I draw a square. The movement activates a recessed compartment in the vanity. A medicine cabinet rises from the surface of the glass. I’m not at all disappointed by the treasure trove of feminine products lining the glass ledges. I do, however, have a Goldilocks moment when I think about the fact that this all belongs to someone else.
I try not to dwell on it as I choose a vial that contains something akin to mouthwash. Tipping the pink liquid to my lips, I swish some of it around in my mouth. As I touch my hand against the glass countertop again, I use my three fingers to draw squiggly lines over the surface, the symbol for water. The countertop opens up, revealing a small sink. I spit out the mouthwash and watch it swirl down the drain.
Next, I select an aerosol can from the many colorful scents and bottles aligned in the compartment. Lifting my arms, I spray the aerosol on my armpits one at a time. The small hairs melt away instantly, leaving my skin smooth to the touch. I pull up each pant leg and apply the spray liberally to my legs. It leaves them hairless and shiny, like they’re coated in a moisturizing aloe.
After straightening my pant legs, I replace the aerosol can on the shelf. I realize that it’ll take more than dry shampoo to tame my hair, so I clean the countertop, putting everything back into the compartment. Drawing a square in the reverse direction allows the compartment to be absorbed once more by the countertop.
Avoiding the posh porcelain spa tub, with its complex buttons and controls, I turn on the water in the luxurious shower. Steam rolls up, clouding the shower doors. Fans click on, whisking the hot air away so that the rest of the room doesn’t get overly steamy.
In front of the mirror once again, I attempt to peel off my dingy shirt that was once white, but now has several different smudges of brown, dull red, and gray. I grasp the hem to pull it over my head, making my ribs ache just enough so that I wince and pause. Weakly, I drop my arms, breathing heavily.
The water to the shower turns off. Behind me, Trey moves away from the glass partition. He’s looking at the floor, at the sticky, ointment footprints I’ve left on the pristine white tile. Without a word he walks to the gigantic spa tub and activates it. It’s not like a normal one, taking several minutes to fill from a spout. No, not at all like that. Water comes up from the floor of the tub, filling it to capacity in a matter of moments. Steam curls up invitingly. From his pocket, he produces a small vial. He unstops it and pours the liquid into the water.