Jessica Andersen - Nightkeepers

‘‘The satellite phone’s no good—I’m not sure if it’s the signal, the battery, the system, or what.’’ His throat worked when he swallowed. He locked eyes with her. ‘‘Can you walk?’’

She shook her head. ‘‘You go. You’ll get to satellite range or another phone faster if I’m not with you.’’

‘‘No way,’’ he said flatly. ‘‘Not after what just happened. The . . . thing you saw, whatever it was, could come back.’’

She shivered at the thought, and at the strange sense of longing it brought. Would that be so bad? something whispered inside her. Gray-green lassitude stole over her, making her want to lie down and nap. Dream.

‘‘Anna!’’ Red-Boar shook her, snapping her back to painful reality. ‘‘Can. You. Walk?’’

She whimpered, wanting to sleep, but nodded jerkily. ‘‘I’ll try.’’

‘‘Good enough.’’ He combined the contents of both their packs, jettisoning all but the absolute necessities, then shouldered his bag along with Ledbetter’s duffel. At her look, he shook his head. ‘‘I didn’t shake out his underwear, but nothing jumped out at me.’’ He looked around at the temple they were in. ‘‘This isn’t the temple we’re looking for. The information Strike wants may have died with Ledbetter.’’

Or else it’s inside me . Anna frowned, trying to find a message amid the mush her brain had become. She got a faint sense of copan and grief, but nothing more. And she was tired. So very tired.

‘‘Anna.’’ Red-Boar shook her awake once again, his touch more gentle this time, his dark eyes worried. ‘‘Come on. We need to move.’’

She nodded numbly and followed him out, followed him along the machete-hacked trail until her entire world was concentrated in the center of his back, where she fixed her eyes and forced herself to put one foot in front of the other. She stumbled and fell, but righted herself and forged on. Stumbled and fell again, and this time couldn’t get up.

Sleep, the voices told her. Stay with us .

Then strong arms gathered her up, lifting her. And the world slipped away.

Leah was tucked in next to Strike on the sofa in the great room of the mansion, reading another of Ambrose Ledbetter’s journal articles on the Pyramid of Kulkulkan at Chichén Itzá, when the landline phone rang.

‘‘Jox?’’ Strike called in the direction of the kitchen.

‘‘Got it.’’

Leah glanced over. ‘‘There’s a phone right beside you, you know. You could’ve answered.’’

‘‘Yeah, but that’s why I pay him the big bucks.’’ She snorted. ‘‘Please.’’ Jox might not be on her buddy list, but she wasn’t backing down on the winikin -are-people -too soapbox. Before she could say more, though, Jox stuck his head through the kitchen pass, his face sheet white. ‘‘Hit the speaker. We’ve got a problem.’’

Strike cursed and twisted, grabbing for the phone. Rabbit, Patience, and Alexis appeared from the billiard room on the opposite side from the kitchen, drawn by the winikin ’s shout. Strike punched the speakerphone and turned up the volume. ‘‘What’s wrong?’’

There was a hiss of feedback, followed by a harsh breath and Red-Boar’s voice. ‘‘You’ve gotta lock on and get us out of here. She’s hurt bad.’’

‘‘On my way,’’ Strike said curtly, and the phone line went dead. His hand went to his hip and came up empty. ‘‘Fuck!’’

‘‘Use mine.’’ Rabbit pulled his knife and tossed it.

Strike caught it on the fly, scored his palm until blood flowed free, closed his eyes . . .

And disappeared.

Strike blinked in a few feet up, moving fast, and smashed into the ground, churning up a good three-foot gouge in the soft loam before he stopped. Struggling to his feet, he fought to reorient. The rain forest was lush and green around him, and the air smelled of plants and warm earth and blood. He followed the latter scent and found Red-Boar crouched over something on the ground.

Anna.

Strike’s heart pounded up into his throat as he dropped down beside his sister. She was deathly pale, unmoving, and blood had soaked through a pair of makeshift bandages at her wrists.

‘‘Gods damn it!’’ Rage spiking through the fear, he spun on Red-Boar. ‘‘How could you let— Never mind.’’ He cut himself off. ‘‘We’ll deal with that later. Right now she needs a hospital.’’

He closed his eyes and thought of white walls and the smell of disinfectant, and a bathroom, generic and empty, safe for them to zap into. Then he thought of Albuquerque, though he’d been there only once. He hoped like hell the two threads would combine into a single address.

‘‘You can’t make the jump blind,’’ Red-Boar said quickly. ‘‘Let’s take her to the compound. We can—’’

‘‘We can what?’’ Strike interrupted. ‘‘Call for an ambulance? Screw that. Even a helicopter would take too long.’’ He held out his hand, which still leaked blood. ‘‘Either grab on and boost me, or stay here. Your choice.’’

Red-Boar cursed, but he grabbed on and sent power to Strike. The boost clarified the yellow travel thread, though it still wasn’t as strong as he would’ve liked. No choice, though. He wasn’t even sure she was still breathing.

‘‘Gods help us all,’’ he muttered, grabbed on, and yanked.

Silence echoed deafeningly in the great room at Skywatch.

Jox glared at Leah as if all this were somehow her fault. Patience held on to Rabbit’s hand. Alexis had slipped out soon after Strike disappeared, probably to warn the others what was going down, and Leah stood there, waiting for the puff of displaced air that would signal their return. As she waited, she prayed.

God, she thought, or gods—whatever—please let them make it back. Please let Anna be okay . And though she knew it was small and self-serving, Please let them figure out how to save me.

‘‘Come on,’’ Jox muttered under his breath. ‘‘Come on !’’

There was no zap of displaced air. But the phone rang.

Jox hesitated, and then hit the speakerphone. ‘‘Hello?’’

‘‘We’re in Albuquerque. At a hospital. I’m not sure which one.’’

At the sound of Strike’s voice, Leah exhaled a long, shuddering breath of relief. They’d made it back to the U.S., at any rate. She didn’t want to think about how they’d gotten to the hospital, though, or she knew she’d get the shakes. He’d flipping jumped blind.

‘‘How’s Anna?’’ Jox’s voice broke.

‘‘They’re working on her now.’’ Strike’s voice dropped. ‘‘She sliced her wrists, nearly bled out before Red-Boar found her. He says she saw a nahwal , followed it into a temple, and cut herself.’’

Jox’s eyes flicked to Leah. ‘‘What about Ledbetter?’’ ‘‘Dead. And apparently a Nightkeeper. I’ll explain when I get back.’’

In the shocked silence that followed, Leah cleared her throat. ‘‘Do you want me to drive out?’’

‘‘No, stay put. Red-Boar’s already going to have to do some serious mind-scrubbing on our way out, and I don’t want to add any more brains to his list. Besides, it’s probably not a good idea for you to be out in the open right now.’’

Because it was in the best interests of the ajaw-makol and the Banol Kax to keep her alive through the equinox, thus destroying both Kulkulkan and the skyroad.

‘‘Of course.’’ She paused, wanting to say something, but not sure what. So in the end, she went with a lame, ‘‘Take care.’’

‘‘You, too.’’ He paused. ‘‘Jox?’’

‘‘Still here.’’