Kelly Meding - Wrong Side of Dead

“Why is that?”

A distant rumble of thunder caught my attention. I glanced at the sky and saw only cloudless blue. Then a groan of metal joined the thunder. Across the slice of water, on the opposite ferry, Tybalt braced himself on the deck rail with his right hand and was gazing at his feet. He looked up, puzzled. Then concerned.

“Because it’s about to sink,” Thackery said.

1:20 P.M.

Letting Thackery out of my sight, even in the capable hands of Phineas in full-on protector mode, took a little effort. I trusted Phin to keep a handle on him, but I didn’t trust Thackery. He was slippery, and we could not allow him to get away again.

But knowing that others needed me more had me back on the lowest level of the ferry, searching frantically for a way to open those damned Plexiglas cells. Cold water already swam around our ankles, as whatever backup plan Thackery had rigged allowed the river inside the slowly sinking ferry. It wasn’t deep enough to sink completely, just enough to submerge this entire level—and probably the parking level, too. We had to get the Therians out.

They were still unconscious, although Leah showed signs of waking. Water oozed up through cracks in the floor’s metal plates at a slower rate than in the corridor. At least an inch deep already, the water would either snap everyone awake or quickly drown them.

Baylor, Paul, and bear-Shelby prowled the corridor, looking for a control panel. Shelby even tried throwing his weight against the doors, with no results. We couldn’t risk shooting at the Plexi, for fear of a ricochet killing someone, and I had no doubt it was bulletproof anyway. Thackery built the thing to contain Therians able to shift into bears and large cats.

Others were farther down the corridor inspecting the laboratories, gathering anything they could save. I left them to it, intent on those cells and the lives trapped behind their slick, impenetrable walls.

Impenetrable to everything but me. I pressed my palm against the cool Plexiglas of Joseph’s cell. Goddamn, this was going to hurt a lot.

“Stone?” Baylor asked, coming up next to me. “What are you thinking?”

I looked up at him, forcing a smile. “I’m thinking I’ll be lucky if my brain doesn’t start leaking out of my ears by the time I’m done down here.”

“Huh?”

“I can get them out.”

It took him a moment to catch on. He hadn’t seen me teleport others with me, but I’m sure he’d heard stories. I’d already teleported too many times today. My head ached continuously, and the pain would only increase. Using the magic of the Break often used humans right back. Our bodies were not physically capable of handling the full force of its power. I’d gotten nosebleeds and migraines from it before.

This was going to be a doozy. If it didn’t kill me.

Slowly, Baylor nodded. “We’ll keep looking for a release mechanism.”

“You do that.”

I closed my eyes and took a breath, trying to calm my unraveling nerves. The Break snapped and crackled close by, eager to be used and yet still playing the bashful virgin. I pulled it in and it danced away. I tugged harder, drawing on everything in my arsenal to power it with loneliness—Wyatt drifting away from me, Alex dying, my Triad life gone and taking all my security and acceptance.

I slipped in and through the wall. White lightning struck between my eyes. I materialized in front of Joseph, and before I had time to reconsider, I crouched, looped my arms around his narrow, bony chest, and fell into the Break again. We reappeared in a tangled heap in eight inches of water that stank of river rot. My chest ached and my head throbbed. I let strong arms take Joseph away.

Baylor helped me sit upright. “You gonna make three more?”

A canine bark startled me. Kyle bounded through the water, shifting from dingo to human even as he ran. He skidded to a hard stop in front of Lynn’s cell. Someone else’s blood covered his hands, chest, and face, and through the gore, love and need shone through.

“Yeah,” I said, “I can.”

Tremors rocked the ferry. A blast of cold water ran in from somewhere down the corridor. Voices bounced and echoed on the low metal walls, only adding to the confusion, panic, and awful noise. The water level in the corridor rose to knee height quickly; in the cells, it was dangerously close to the mouths of those still unconscious.

I got Lynn next, then Dawn. They were civilians, so they got to go first. I was moving on automatic, exhausted, nauseated. My head hurt so badly I could barely see past the red haze over my vision. Teleporting while so disoriented was stupidly dangerous, but I had no choice. No mechanism had been found to open the cells, and the Therians had to come out.

Without my healing ability, I’d have surely passed out. Or simply keeled over dead from the shock of it all. As it was, I’m pretty sure Baylor carried me over to the last cell and put me down as close to the wall as possible. The water was up to my chest while sitting, and the cold shock of it cleared my mind just enough to concentrate.

Had to get Leah, and then I was done. Could rest for a bit. Maybe pass out for a few hours. That sounded nice.

Leah first, then pass out.

“Yeah, you can pass out soon,” Baylor said.

Okay, so I hadn’t just thought that last part.

He squeezed my shoulder. “I think your brain-to-mouth censor is fried.”

Fuck it all. I looked into the cell and picked my spot. Felt for my tap. It danced out of reach, the power teasing me, there and yet impossibly far away. God, I wanted Wyatt. He’d help me. Between the two of us, we’d summoned half a Jeep into a log cabin. Together we could get Leah out of that damned cell before we all drowned in the river.

But Wyatt wasn’t there. He might never be by my side again. My throat closed and my nose stung. I coughed—it might have been a sob. The Break sparked. My tap hit me like a sucker punch, and I was moving. Flying apart. Coming back together. Less water, metal floor. I reached out blindly, flailing for a body. Touched skin. Grabbed hold.

Back in, to the other side. Agony turned me inside out. Freezing water pushed me down, under. I choked on it.

I didn’t want to drown, but I really, really wanted to sleep.

The gentle lull of movement greeted me as I woke. I was on my back, resting on something moderately soft, with the hum of an engine close by. Cymbals still crashed behind my eyes. I was wet, chilled despite the presence of what felt like a blanket.

I grunted something I intended to be “where am I?” and came out a garbled mess of muttering.

“Evy?”

Male voice. I huffed some semblance of response.

“We’re on our way back to Watchtower. Just rest, okay?”

Tybalt. Sounded like him. I tried words again and managed, “Therians?”

“They’re fine, all coming around. Turns out Thackery rigged up an electrified floor to keep them docile. Used it to knock them all out just as we got there.”

The very image of him electroshocking Aurora and Ava made my blood boil. I tried to sit up, and only managed to make my head spin and my entire body spasm. “Fuuuuuuuuck,” I groaned.

“Then keep still.”

“Why?”

“Because sitting up is obviously painful.”

I almost smiled at his error. “No, why them? What did Thackery do?”

His silence only compounded my unease. I peeked through one eyelid. He was crouched on the floor between the seats of an SUV. I could see Astrid watching us from the front passenger seat, wrapped in loose sweats, her face stony. I didn’t know who was driving; I couldn’t see.

“Leah told us that Thackery was draining their blood a few pints at a time,” Tybalt said. “Because of their accelerated healing, they replenished faster than a human would. He’d use the floor to knock them out, then go in. She said she woke up weak, groggy, and with a cotton ball taped to the interior of her elbow. She put two and two together.”