Blind the Stars (Rose of the Dawn Series Book 3) (10 page)

Again
everyone voices their agreement except me.

Leland
gets up to talk to Ezekiel. Christophe walks over to me and helps me up. His
hands are soft and gentle. He touches my cheek. I look up at his face and hope
he isn’t in too much pain.

“Thank
you,” I say. I stare up into his face. “You don’t look too bad.”

He
smiles. “Thanks.”

“Does
it hurt?” I ask.

“A
bit,” he answers.

“Your
glasses need to be fixed,” I observe and he touches the frames.

“It
should only take a second to replace. I just don’t have a spare lens. Delia and
Hara have been really careful about dressing the wounds.”

“That
was nice of them. They care about you. You look good,” I kick the dirt with my
boot tip. “Why did they do this to you, Christophe? Just to give me a message.
They didn’t have to hurt you to do that.”

“I’m
glad we’re going together,” he ignores my question. “I mean, I’m glad I’m going
with you. You can keep me safe.” Christophe picks up my hands and holds them.
He smiles and I try to smile back.

“We’ll
keep her safe together,” Pike overhears. My hand drops from Christophe’s and he
smiles, un-phased by Pike’s blatant block.

“Rose,
I really want to talk to you,” Pike looks at Christophe. “Alone.”

Before
I am able to answer, the barn door opens. Two silhouettes stand in the doorway.
Leland gasps.

I
turn my head from Leland to the door. Two boys stand side by side wearing the
same attire. They even have the same face. Clones.

“Well
if it isn’t Archer and Alex,” Leland states.

“And
Vane.” Stepping out from behind the twins is a girl. Small, her hair is jet
black and her skin is ashen, but the color of very light toffee. I can almost
see blood vessels beneath her paper-fine skin. Her eyes are shaped like almonds
and her lashes are the blackest lashes I’ve ever seen. She’s stunning.

“Who’s
Vane?” I whisper.

“She’s
one of the Disappeared,” Christophe whispers back. I stare at her. Her hair is
short and pokes out in all directions. Some coil like a wire, others stick out
straight like tiny feathers from the back of her head. Her body is muscular and
her posture is perfectly straight.

“The
Disappeared?” I ask. I have no idea what he is talking about. Pike moves closer
to me not to hear what Christophe is going to tell me, but to stay away from
Vane. There is something about her that makes my heart beat faster. Something
frightening.

Vane
speaks, her teeth sharpened to fangs. “We’ve come for Rose, the regenerative
one.”

Christophe
pushes me behind him and I see it unbalances Pike. He looks past me to
Christophe, but doesn’t say a thing. Leland does all of the talking.

“Well,
Vane, you can’t have her,” Leland steps closer to the girl who’s stature is so strong
she appears bigger than him.

“You
don’t have a choice, Leland,” Vane says. Alex or Archer brandishes a gun,
directing it toward Leland. It’s small and black. It has a barrel and a trigger.
All it needs.

“That’s
my gun!” Ezekiel exclaims, stepping forward. Delia steps in front of Leland.
“Where’d you get that?”

“I
thought you two got out with us? Why did you go back inside? Why would you go
back inside?” Delia asks. Her voice is comforting, that of a mother. She isn’t
afraid of this girl or the weapon now pointing at her.

“They
tried to stay away,” Vane answers for them. The brother holding the gun looks
like he’s losing his grip on it and it droops under the weight. “But they
couldn’t. They were drawn back as if some magnet kept them close.”

The
other brother pushes the hand holding the gun up and it is righted.

“They
knew they had something to do. We’re going to take Rose back into The Hollow.
They’re going to find their parents,” Vane adds with amusement.

“Your
parents aren’t in The Hollow.” Leland looks from one twin to the other. “They’re
dead. You both know that as well as I do,” Leland says.

“So
you’re going to use Rose to help you get in. And then give her up. How’s that
going to solve anything?” Pike addresses the boys. He doesn’t look at Vane.

“We’re
going to use Rose as a trade. To get us what we want,” Vane says.

Vane
takes the gun from a twin. Her grip is steadier than his.

“And
what do you want exactly?” Leland presses. She doesn’t answer.

Ezekiel
steps forward. His lips form a strict frown and his eyes narrow. He spits on
the dusty ground. “We’re going into The Hollow, but without Rose. She’s not
coming with us. You are more than welcome to come, but she stays behind.”

“We
are going to go in,” Vane says. “It would be so much easier if we had Rose to
lead the way.” The lilt of her voice is high, and her voice is
saccharine-sweet. She steps toward me and Ezekiel blocks her. He and Christophe
make a human shield.

“But
you’re not going to have Rose. You can come in with me, Leland, and Delia. With
Archer and Alex we can only hope to get into The Hollow unnoticed. What you do
once you’re inside is up to you. But Rose is not going.” Ezekiel crosses his
arms.

“So
she is as valuable as I’ve heard,” Vane sneers.

“I
haven’t heard a thing about you,” I snap back, stepping out from behind
Christophe. “I’m not going with you.”

I
don’t care if she has the only weapon.

“What
stake do you have in all of this, Vane? You’ve been disappeared for ages. You
went missing even before I got to The Hollow.” Leland moves his hands to his
hips. “Where have you been all this time?”

“I’ve
been underground as you have. You know that, Leland,” Vane lashes out. The gun
is still surprisingly steady. “Before you and Rose, here, I was the only one to
officially escape Dr. Flint.”

“But
not The Hollow.” Leland returns. “You went the wrong way, Vane. You went deeper
underground. Was this the first time you saw light? How long was that? A
decade?”

“Shut
up! I could’ve stayed underground forever. I had to come up. One of my members
was sick and in need of remediation.” Vane switches the gun from one hand to
the other.

“You
mean you had to dispose of them.” Leland shakes his head. “Why didn’t you work
on getting out? You didn’t need to disappear.”

“There
were too many of us underground. We weren’t leaving unless we all could leave
together. I don’t regret a single moment of my decision. I wouldn’t stay inside
to let them turn me into another experiment. It may not have been fun, but we
were free from the torture. The experimentation.” Vane stands as still and
straight as ever.

“But
you weren’t free under The Hollow. This is free.” Leland looks around. He’s
stalling. Pike has made his way into one of the corrals and is heading slowly
around the perimeter of the room. Vane isn’t paying attention to anyone except
for Leland. His arms are now outstretched. He’s distracting her.

“How
did you get wrapped up with her, Archer? Alex? You could’ve left with us and
you would’ve been free,” Leland redirects their attention to him. Pike moves
closer to Vane.

“They
were coming back in and I saw they needed some help. You did a nice job on that
tunnel. A little too late, though,” Vane answers for the twins. “They got your
parents anyway.” She directs her comment to me.

“Quite
the diplomat, Vane. For a Disappeared. What are you in this for then?” Leland
steps closer as Pike jumps behind her, wrapping his arms around her chest.

She
screams and squawks like a wild bird. The gun goes off. Once, twice, three
times and then drops to the floor. Someone screams. More than one person
screams. I scream and then drop to the ground. Smoke drifts up from the barrel.
Christophe covers my head with his hand. Pike still holds Vane as Ezekiel rushes
to the gun, sliding across the floor to grab it. He doesn’t get there in time.

Archer,
or Alex, grabs the gun and with both hands points it at Ezekiel. Ezekiel puts
his hands up from his position lying on the ground. Vane wrestles herself free
from Pike and retakes the gun from the twin.

“Get
up!” she orders. “All of you! Get up!”

We
stand.

“We’re
going back to The Hollow tomorrow when the tide goes out. And that includes
you, Rose,” Vane states. I don’t respond as I watch Pike run across the room
and fall to the floor. Delia hasn’t gotten up. A pool of dark-red blood has
formed around her waist. She lies on her back.

“Delia,
Delia, get up. Wake up. C’mon, Mom. Don’t close your eyes. Do not fall asleep.”
Pike cradles his mother’s head in his hands. Her skin doesn’t make her look a
day older than me, translucent white and wrinkle-free. Her hair is so soft and
still moves as if blown by a breeze. Her eyes open, close slowly, and then open
again. Pike sobs, holding her head to his chest.

“You’re
going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.” He presses a hand to somewhere on her
side. She flinches. The place where she was shot. Someone must do something.
Someone has to do something.

“Hara?”
I look beyond Pike and Delia.

Pike’s
hand, covered in blood, wipes his eyes. A soft burp and blood spurts from
Delia’s lip. Her body goes limp and her eyes close. She’s gone.

Hara
rushes over to Delia, checks for a pulse, then stands, arms wrapped around her
waist. She shakes her head. I know. There’s nothing she could do.

Pike
rocks her and we all turn away. I want to run to him, but Vane still wields the
gun. She is a murderer. She killed Delia.

“You
will come back with us to The Hollow.” Vane breaks the silence. Her attention
is still on me.

Pike
wipes his eyes once more, gently lowers Delia’s head to the ground and gets up.
As quick as ever, he is in front of Vane, his body up against the gun.

“She’s
not going with you.” His voice is steady.

“I
won’t hesitate to shoot you, like her,” Vane spits the words out. Pike is
unfazed. The gun doesn’t falter either.

“I’ve
had enough of this! I’ll go with you!” I step away from Ezekiel and Christophe.
Alex and Archer flank both sides of my body. I’m their captive. I’ll do what
they want if it keeps Pike alive.

Delia
is dead.

“Then
it’s done,” Vane states. Stepping back from Pike who hasn’t moved even his
gaze. She backs up to me and the twins, leading us out of the barn.

The
door shuts, cutting me off from everyone I care about.

Delia
is dead.

Vane
turns toward me and with the butt of the gun, jams in into my stomach. Not
once, but twice, three times. I lose my breath and my vision blacks out for a
brief second. Not long enough. I drop to the ground, spewing acid bile from my
body. I can’t catch my breath. The last few minutes are a blur.

“Get
her up,” Vane orders and my limp body is lifted beneath the arms. The twins are
surprisingly gentle as they drag me back to the cabin. They can’t be much older
than fourteen or fifteen. Groaning, I clutch my stomach. I’ve never been hit
like that before. The pain is hard to suppress and I cry upon every breath.

We
move into the cabin and Vane locks the door behind us. The man who takes care
of the safe house opens the door to his room and Vane shifts the gun from me to
him. He retracts into the room, closing the door.

“Lock
it!” she orders and with a click, the man locks the door from the inside.

Vane
closes the drapes and stands alongside the window, on-guard, with the gun.

The
twins lower me onto the couch and then one adjusts my body so that I’m not
lying on my arm. “Thank you,” I whisper and one of them nods. It gives me hope.

I
am lying on my back.

“You
didn’t have to kill her,” I say, not bothering to look at Vane. Every
exhalation feels like I’m being pummeled in the stomach all over again. My eyes
burn as does my throat. I don’t want to swallow because it hurts too much. It
makes me think of my feet, which have stopped hurting hours ago.

“I’m
not sorry for killing her,” Vane states, walking over to me. She sits on the
coffee table. “But it was an accident. If her son didn’t grab me, she would
still be alive. Or maybe she wouldn’t. I guess if she had gotten in the way-”
As her tone changes, I become more infuriated. I sit up. Anger makes me
stronger.

We
hear a door slam and a clank outside. Archer and Alex turn toward the window.
The sound of metal striking the ground, crunching through it, and then striking
the ground again. Dirt being dug up and then dumped. It sounds like-. I hold
back the tears. I can’t bear to think of it.

I
turn to the twins. “How come you think your parents are inside? Didn’t you hear
Leland? They’re not in there. They’re dead. So why would you ever go back in?”

“They
know they’re dead,” Vane answers for them. It’s annoying that they don’t talk.
“But their parents are still inside.”