Guerre stepped forward. “Ash, we’ll help you. Can you take some slow breaths?”
She made an angry face and pointed vehemently at the cabinet where Tina’s things were. Merc went over and opened it, feeling a little frustrated. He’d just finished telling her he hadn’t wanted to expose Guerre to what Merc knew would be a brutal vision if he touched any of the things that survived that crash.
Merc reached for Tina’s purse, but Ash stopped him. He used his considerable powers of focus as he again attempted to enter her mind, something that until now had been as easy for him as breathing.
Merc touched his palm to her face. Still nothing. She was in extreme distress, but there was nothing he could do for her.
“It’s Flynn,” Liege said. “He’s in her mind right now.”
Ash nodded vigorously. How had that happened? Merc had been careful to maintain a protection over her ever since he got her out of the pit her first visit to the town.
“Let’s get him out of there.” Liege drew Ash over to the bench in the middle of the closet. He held her hands and looked into her eyes. “This won’t hurt, but it can take a little while. Bear with me. It won’t alter you in any way other than to cut the hooks Flynn has set in your psyche that let him wander in as he pleases. It’s basically like getting rid of a virus in your system. You may be tired afterward, but otherwise you’ll be unaffected. Just free of a parasite.”
Ash sent Merc a worried glance. “This is a good thing,” he told her. “We’ll just be in the next room if you need me.”
Not like I can just holler for you, Ash groused.
Merc laughed. I heard that! Liege is already separating you from Flynn. You’ll be fine. We’ll stay close by.
Liege nodded at them to leave, then said to Ash, “Close your eyes now and don’t open them until I tell you.”
Merc, Bastion, and Guerre left the room as Liege worked to purge Flynn from Ash’s consciousness.
“Ash has a bug bite just inside her hairline,” Merc said. “Could that be how Flynn got in?”
Guerre nodded. “Two of the women from Owen Tremaine’s group were infected in that way—Owen’s wife and Angel’s wife. We’ll have the Ratcliffs take a sample of her blood and a scrape of the bite wound.”
“How did this happen, Merc?” Bastion asked, more curious than condemning. If it happened to one of them, it could happen to any of them.
Merc shook his head. “I was fighting a bunch of ghouls. And by a bunch, I mean a fuck-ton. I let my guard down. But what would Flynn want with her?”
“Besides having a way into the fort?” Guerre asked.
“Flynn’s been grooming her for months,” Merc said. “What if he was who drew her back to Valle de Lágrimas?”
Bastion frowned. “But why?”
“She’s gifted in psychometry,” Merc said. “I was surprised to learn how accurate she is. Her abilities are immature, but could become as strong as yours, Guerre.”
“We could use that skill,” Guerre replied.
“So could Flynn. But why did she point to your cabinet, Merc?”
“I kept some of my girls’ things from the crash site.”
“Was Flynn at the crash?” Bastion asked.
Merc tilted his head. Ash hadn’t mentioned that. Was Flynn already blocking her, then? “I suspect Flynn was there. Or, at least, he might have been in her vision of the event, but she didn’t say that to me.”
“Ce salaud. Why can he not leave us alone?”
30
Ash wasn’t alone when she woke. Merc was lying next to her, his green-brown eyes watching her. Everything that had happened in the last few days blew into her mind, filling her with a sense of breathless wakefulness. She sat up and looked around. His room was dark, but she realized it was because of his light-blocking curtains.
As she thought that, they opened, all on their own, as if sensing her thoughts. So. It wasn’t one great big nightmare. It was real. Or maybe it was a nightmare, and she was still dreaming.
“How do you feel?” Merc asked.
She looked over her shoulder at him. He wasn’t a nightmare. He was the sun chasing out shadows.
His brows lifted as his eyes laughed at her.
“I feel okay. I still remember you. Everything.”
“Liege told you he wasn’t erasing your memories.”
“I thought Sam was going to make me forget. You. Everything. Despite what he said.”
“If we erase your memories, I’ll be the one doing it. And I won’t do it before you tell me your answer about joining us. And even then, I won’t do it until you say you’re prepared. It can be a shock to the system. Are you hungry?”
She nodded. “More than food, though, I’d kill for coffee.”
“Throw some clothes on. We’ll head down. Bastion cooked up a feast for you.”
Ash hurried into Merc’s big closet and got ready in no time. She sent the secret cabinet a tense glance. Hopefully, she’d never have to see what that showed her again.
Warm arms encircled hers. Merc pulled her against his chest. “I’ll get rid of it.”
“No. They’re your memories.”
“I don’t want my past to hurt you.”
“I don’t want you to lose your past for me.” She turned in his arms. “What happened last night? I remember Liege working with me, then nothing until just a moment ago.”
“He was able to purge Flynn. For now.”
“You think he’ll be back?”
Merc nodded. “He will if he didn’t get what he wanted.”
“And what was that?”
“We’re trying to figure it out. What was it that you were trying to tell me last night?”
Ash stared into his eyes, half afraid that Flynn would jump back into her mind and block her from speaking. “When I told you what I saw after touching your wife’s purse, I didn’t tell you everything. After her car went off the cliff, Flynn was standing on the overlook, staring right at me, smiling.”
“Hmm. Can you tell whether he was actually there at the time, or if he was just in your vision?”
“I can’t tell. Do you think he planted that vision somehow? Or was it a genuine knowing? I mean, did her car go over a cliff?”
“It did. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he was there. But Flynn is always up to something.” He pulled her into a hug that calmed her frazzled nerves. “Guerre reminded me that two friends from Selena’s former team were injected with change agents from insects, which is why I’m worried about your bite wound. Would you be willing to have some blood drawn?”
“Sure. If it’ll help.”
“And there’s one more kind of test our doctors will want to do—“
“You have doctors here?”
“We do. Researchers. You met the Ratcliffs. The Omnis were using them to engineer the human modifications. They’re still doing that research, trying to understand all the varieties of genetic and nano modifying agents the Omnis are using and are still developing. We have a special lab down below for them.”
Just when she thought she’d caught up with everything in Merc’s world, she realized she’d only begun to understand the small fraction he’d shared so far.