Читать книгу Unnaturals - Dean J Anderson - Страница 9

Mason cracked open an eye. Legs and arms lay across him in a jumble. His head ached and his tongue was swollen. What the hell? Through a gap in the limbs he could see a gravestone.

`My arm,' Wilson muttered. Mason felt movement and knew it was Wilson's arm under him. He arched his back and cold air rushed in as Wilson rolled away.

`Ruth.' Mason moved her legs. `Ruth?'

She began to move slowly beside him. `That was, ah! like falling through a huge washing machine.'

`It can't be...' Wilson's voice wavered.

Mason looked up. Cold clawed at his insides. He knew this place. `Don't touch anything.' He stood up.

Wilson, pale and shaken, helped Ruth stand. Bile burnt at the back of Mason's throat as he took in the scene of frozen carnage. When the hearse had exploded he had borne the brunt of it. Protecting them. Shrapnel had torn his chest apart.

`Ruth. Don't look,' he said.

Too late. She grabbed his arm. `No, not again.'

Mason put an arm around her, helping her stand.

`This is so wrong.' Wilson leaned against him. `Is that what we looked like when it happened? There's so much blood.'

`Who would bring us back to this?' Ruth's grip was savage.

Mason couldn't speak for shaking. Not here, please. He couldn't be here. Not again. Cold tore at his insides. Fear raced through him.

`That's us, dying,' he whispered into the eerie silence.

`This is impossible, right, Dad? We haven't really gone back to the funeral?'

Ruth was crying as she clung to him. Wilson was right. It was impossible. A voice that didn't belong in this place came to him. `A man shows his true colours in the time of greatest need.'

`You!' Wilson spat on the ground. `You bitches brought us here.'

`No.' The dark-haired witch stepped out from behind a crypt. `I suspect my sister and I were brought here, as you were, to witness your pain.'

`Why should we believe that?' Mason clenched his hand, waiting for the rage to come as it always did.

`We have no reason to lie.' The witch held her open hands out to him. `I believe whoever brought us here wants us to see this.' She nodded at the family, frozen in time at the moment of what should have been their death.

Mason felt Wilson shift his weight and caught him by the arm before he could do anything. His rage had not come. In its place came confusion, and an instinct not to attack.

Ruth moved against him. `You're not Bloodells, are you?'

`No,' the witch said evenly.

The redhead edged out from behind the crypt, slowly standing. `Enough talk, sis. This is freaking me out.'

The witch indicated the redhead. `This one is Renee. I'm Nikki.'

Mason raised an eyebrow. Renee seemed very human now, compared to the woman he'd been fighting. And both women was being very unlike Bloodells, who'd never been much for chat, or introductions.

`Whoop de doo,' Wilson snorted. `Still doesn't explain why we're here, or why you attacked us on the island.'

`We didn't attack you, idiot.' Renee took a couple of rapid steps towards them, green eyes flashing. Mason blinked at the speed of her response. She sounded so human now, yet she was so fast. He tried to form a reply, but his brain was moving so slowly. The earth began to tremble.

`Holy shit!' Renee moved so fast she was a blur, finally coming to rest on top of the crypt.

The ground had begun to move upwards. An arm formed, followed by a head.

`That,' Nikki said, climbing up beside her sister, `would be the freaky bit you mentioned before.'

Wilson shuffled back and Mason pulled Ruth around behind him. Something touched his mind and he didn't know if the situation had improved or just become worse.

He knew that touch. It was her. The voice.

`A woman,' Wilson said.

Liquid blue eyes stared back at them. Earth made her flesh and skin. Strands of sand formed her long hair. Her lips were of a deep clay red. He smiled. She'd put make-up on.

`It's my Voice,' he said and was rewarded with her smile.

`You know her?' Nikki said, clearly surprised. `You do realise who she is?'

`No. Who is she? On the day — the real day — this happened, we all heard her voice.'

`We hear her in our dreams,' Ruth whispered, stepping towards the earthen figure. `Who are you?' she demanded.

`She's Gaia.' Nikki said from her spot on the crypt, sounding worried. `Or Mother Earth as some know her.'

The woman nodded.

`You, Gaia, brought us back here?' Mason breathed more easily as she nodded again. `What for?'

An arm came up and she pointed at the two women crouched on the crypt.

`Oh, shit,' Renee muttered.

`The Unnaturals?' Mason frowned, trying to understand. `You want me to, what, deal with them?'

The ground shook under him. Gaia didn't really need to shake her head.

Then the arm came up again, and she beckoned the women down.

Renee moaned. `I got a bad feeling about this.'

`Don't be a wuss. Come on.' Nikki slipped down off the crypt and stood waiting.

`No way, sis. This is way too freaky.'

Nikki glared up at her sister. `You got to trust me here. The magic stuff, I handle. You do the fighting, remember? Now, come on.'

Gaia stood patiently, hand outstretched.

Renee climbed down, under protest, not taking her eyes off Gaia who beckoned again.

`Shut up, Renee. This is not the time to argue.'

Mason hummed, surprised to realise they'd spoken the truth. `So they are really sisters.'

`Is that important?' Wilson whispered.

`Yeah, I thought it was a cover, but…' He glanced at them, reading their scents. `They really are sisters. Bloodells don't do happy families.'

`They don't look like sisters.'

`That's because you're men,' Ruth said. `Ignore hair and height differences. They're sisters.'

`Oh.' Wilson shrugged.

Mason would have smiled, but Gaia turned to him, reaching out for his family while the sisters approached to accept her other hand.

Everything slowed. Mason hestitated. He felt the urge to run but Gaia smiled some more and his legs went heavy. He stared back, knowing something unexpected was about to happen whether he liked it or not.

Ruth glanced at Mason, statue-like beside her. Gaia's fingers made a soft rustle as she beckoned again. `Child.'

Ruth's eyes widened as she grasped what was happening.

The voice touched her mind again. `Trust I have in you.' Ruth followed Gaia's glance at Mason. `He is strong-willed, loving. But tainted with a powerful rage.'

`Mum?'

`I can hear her, in my mind.'

`But Dad's not moving.'

`I think he's okay.' Ruth looked back to Gaia.

`Hunter needs to listen and let us speak.'

`Gaia is kind of making sure he doesn't lose his temper just right now.' Ruth glanced at Mason standing stony-faced beside her.

`Uh-huh,' Wilson muttered, resting his hand, hot and strong, on her shoulder. `I don't like this.'

`We've got to trust her, Wil.'

`Not her — them.' His finger moved in the corner of her vision.

`I don't think the sisters are going to try anything with Gaia here.' Ruth hoped she was right. The sisters didn't look dangerous to her. And they smelt nice.

`The sisters will not harm you or your family.'

`Gaia says they won't try anything, Wil.'

`Hey, he's—' Renee shut up as Nikki spun round and grabbed her by the face.

`Keep your mouth shut and behave.' Nikki leaned in closer and, though she whispered, Ruth found she could hear easily. `Don't screw this up. We're here because Gaia wants us to be. She's not one to invite our kind anywhere.'

`The Darkells child is right. To act rashly now would be a mistake. Tell her so.'

`Oh.' Ruth wanted to know what a Darkells was, but now was not the time. She wet her lips and felt the command flow through her, from Gaia.

`Now is not the time to argue. To act rashly now would be a mistake.' Physical energy rippled out, filling her as the ground shifted beneath her feet. The sisters froze as the air vibrated.

`Mum?'

`The Voice of Gaia,' Nikki said, letting her sister go. `The woman is at one with the goddess. Gaia, I give you my word that she, that we shall not act in a rash manner.'

Ruth blinked as Nikki's fear tainted the air. Again with the scents? What was happening with her sense of smell?

`My time here is short, child, so listen. There must be no war between the Douglas and Darkells clans. Take my hand.'

Ruth slipped her hand into Gaia's, enjoying the warmth of her touch.

`What are you doing?' Wilson squeezed her shoulder. `Mum, what's happening?'

`I think Gaia wants to show us something, to make sure that there is no distrust between us and the sisters.'

`She wants a treaty between us and Butcher?' Renee stared at Gaia's outstretched hand.

`No. Peace between my family and yours.' Ruth felt how right her words were. When Mason was with her, he was not Butcher. Just a loving family man. `To have no bloodshed between us.'

`Why?' Nikki looked to her. `Why would we do this?'

`Without each other, both clans will perish. A war is coming and the clans must be united.'

`A war?' Ruth's mouth went dry but she didn't move her hand. `I don't understand.' She ignored the question on Nikki's face and Wilson's grip on her shoulder. Gaia held her attention.

`Another seeks to take this world. All here will perish. You will watch your children die as Hunter is lost to the darkness.'

`My children?' She touched her abdomen out of instinct. `I cannot have any more children.'

`You will have children, many more. You are mother, lover, wife. All that is yet to be, hangs on you. It is you who have to lead here, because Hunter cannot. He is blinded by hate and will be lost if he cannot find his true self.

`The Darkells can help, but they have to be as kin. You alone cannot do this, and they need you as well. Follow your instincts, child, for they are a powerful gift.'

`What's she saying?' Nikki asked, excitement in her voice.

`Yeah, what is going on?' Wilson's heartbeat was loud in her ears.

`Okay,' she said touching Wilson with her free hand. `We need to agree to a treaty between our two families. That's the word, right?' Gaia nodded. `Treaty between us and the sisters.'

`You think that's a good idea?'

`The other option is we continue trying to live as we have been. Is that what you want, Wil?' Ruth's stomach churned.

`No,' Wil's grip eased. `I want to stop trying to second guess everything. I want us to be together and safe. I want Sal to be safe when she's with me.' His hand joined hers in Gaia's.

`Are you nuts?' Renee pulled Nikki back from taking Gaia's hand.

Nikki's eyes fixed on Ruth. `Maybe I'm nuts but, but it feels right.'

`It feels right!' Renee threw her hands up and backed away. `Gaia's not a deity who has been exactly friendly to us. And him,' she pointed at Mason, `he's the freaking Butcher!'

Ruth sagged. Renee was right. Mason would never—

`I believe in you, Ruth.' Mason moved to join their hands in Gaia's. `Like I said, you know how to love and trust. It will not be easy but,' his arm went around her, `I will try.'

Ruth leaned against him, feeling his body hot and tense. `You can start by not glaring at them. I can feel you doing it.'

`Old habits die hard.'

`No way am I doing this.' Renee stood, arms crossed, behind her sister.

Ruth almost felt the grating of Nikki's teeth as she turned to her sister.

`Whatever!' Mason snapped. The mood hardened. Renee glared at Mason. `Nikki's agreed, so let's get on with it.'

Ruth stomped on his foot but failed to make an impression. He didn't flinch. `Mason, you said you would try.'

`I am.' He waved a hand at Renee, `but she's obviously not going to do it, which suits me fine. She's a brat who thinks she's above us.'

`A brat!' Renee slapped her hand over her sister's. `Better a brat than a freak.'

Ruth squashed the smile threatening to form. Mason was helping, in his own way.

`Okay, we've been sucked back in time. Seen ourselves dying again, met Gaia and now made up with the freaky sisters,' Wilson muttered loud enough for all to hear.

Ruth closed her eyes for a second, her own temper itching at the distrust around her.

`Oh,' Nikki gasped.

Ruth saw a warm, soft fire flick across Gaia and onto their hands.

`Nice,' Wilson said.

Ruth watched it touch her, then Mason.

`What's it supposed to—' Nikki buckled at the knees and Renee caught her. `Holy shit!'

Ruth tensed as the fire surged, making every part of her tingle. Then it was gone.

`Cool. Really weird, but cool.' Wilson looked at his hand.

Mason did the same.

Ruth swallowed. She felt hot, very hot. `Is it me or is it, um, hot?'

Mason put his arm around her again. `Welcome to my world.'

`Mum, Dad!'

Gaia now stood encased in a blue energy.

`This is what she wants us to see.' Ruth watched, colours and scents washing over her. The sisters glowed from the glare off Gaia. The ground hummed underfoot and Gaia turned to look down at the family, the other version of them, frozen in time.

`This is going to hurt.' Mason's grip tightened. She felt Wilson's hand on her shoulder.

Gaia knelt. `Be strong and follow your instincts and heart, my child.' She drove her glowing arms deep into the dying family.

`She's part of us.'

Ruth watched the torrents of energy poured from Gaia. Into Mason, with his chest torn open. Into Wilson, who'd been shot in the back trying to rescue them. Into her own cowering body. She knew then how they had survived. Not through a miracle, but by Gaia's life energy flowing into them.

Renee screamed as the ground heaved. Nikki staggered and fell. Lightning streaked above them and shattered the air.

The world around them began to shift and break apart. Mason held her, but it was the fear on Renee's face that made her act.

`Help them!' Ruth tried to push Mason's arms off, but the pressure was too much. The ground began to melt away. `Mason, help them!'

He tensed. She pushed again and then he was gone, moving unhindered through the chaos, his shape visible through the swirling debris.

`Let him help!' she yelled as he offered his hands to the sisters. `Please, trust me. Let him help.'

The world began to fold in and cold raced towards her. The sisters were not connected, as her family was, to Gaia.

`Dad, it's coming.'

A wave of icy darkness bore down on them. Ruth froze.

Mason glanced back, his face overshadowed by another. Something darker than Butcher, something thriving on the chaos, the thing she knew Gaia had warned her about: what he could become.

Nikki lunged for his hand. Ruth trembled as the shadow vanished from him. The last image in her mind as the cold darkness crashed down was Mason grabbing Renee.