CHAPTER NINE
CRISTIAN SPOKE for the first time, his voice raspy and desperate, “Take Caina and run!”
Joshua appeared, his onix deactivated and his red eyes furious. He glared at Cristian for a second, though Cristian never opened his eyes, and then shot him with a plasma gun. Cristian dropped to the floor, jerking a few times before he lay still.
Caina ran to Cristian’s body and knelt beside him. “Why did you do that?” she whispered.
Joshua threw a ball of silvery strands at her. He spoke, his voice low and angry, filled with disgust. “Because he can’t be trusted to help us.”
The ball of onix fell in her hands. Her fingers shook as she unwound the strands. She looked up to find Joshua roughly pulling the onix over Cristian’s body. He’d intended to take Cristian with them, she realized. “Why are you taking him with us if he can’t be trusted?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
“Because he knows where our parents are.” He whispered back, stretching the onix over Cristian's legs. In the dim light of the room, she peered closer at a red stain on Cristian's knee.
“Wait!”
Joshua stopped, the onix stretched in his fingers. “What?”
“He’s injured there. It looks bad.”
Joshua examined the blood and sat back on his heels, pulling a knife out of his pants pocket.
Without a word, he sliced the fabric on Cristian’s leg. White webbing clung to Cristian’s knee, blood seeping through the thin fabric. Joshua narrowed his eyes at it and then before she could stop him, he grasped Cristian’s leg and bent it, moving the knee. Caina grabbed his hand, but he lowered Cristian’s leg down carefully, his scarlet eyes dim and thoughtful. “I kept hearing a sound when he walked,” he said, almost to himself.
“What did you hear?” she asked, staring at the white webbing.
He pulled the cut fabric back over Cristian’s leg. “Cyber joint.”
Confused, she shook her head at him. “He doesn’t have any cyber joints.”
Joshua began pulling the onix over Cristian’s leg, although more gently. “He does now.”
“In one day?”
“Do you know how to put onix on?” he asked her, ignoring her question.
“No.”
“I’ll show you in a minute. You can watch how I do it.”
“What happened to him? Do you know?”
He shook his head at her and continued working the onix over Cristian, rolling him over occasionally until he was completely covered in it. “How could I?”
She knew he was dodging the question, that he’d come to a conclusion and was keeping it to himself.
The onix didn’t seem to have any shape at all, so she just stuck her foot in it. Joshua hissed between his teeth and pulled her hand away. She glared at him. “I hate that sound.”
“Take off your dumb sandals.”
She was silent as she unwrapped the yellow straps, angry at him, and sick inside for Cristian. Even though her brother was cold and methodical, she could tell by his silence about the wound that he was shaken. Once her sandals were off, he showed her how to shape the onix around her body until she was covered in it, head to toe.
“Press any two intersections together and it activates,” he explained, activating Cristian’s onix. She did as he instructed and her body disappeared.
Joshua picked up Cristian’s body and pulled at the invisible weight, his shoulders bowing as he hoisted Cristian over his shoulders. He activated his own onix. “Hold on to me and don’t let go. It’s hard for me to find you when the onix is on. Got it?”
She didn’t know how he thought he’d find her at all if she was invisible, but she answered in the affirmative, grasping the onix strands on his back. He was moving quickly now, no longer relaxed. He disappeared, and she was pulled toward the doorway. Cristian’s arm dangled against hers as Joshua moved down the hall. Joshua jerked to the right, and she almost fell trying to follow him. They went down another hallway, he opened a bedroom door, and they entered it. She felt him push her against the wall as the door closed. She was silent, waiting.
After a few long moments, she heard footsteps go down the hall and fade away. Joshua stayed against the wall a little longer, and then he moved again, pulling her behind him out of the bedroom. He went faster, and she had to jog to keep up with him.
The hallway curved and then opened up the main room with the gilded windows. Joshua drew his gun and hit two guards at the entrance. They fell, and she stepped over them as Joshua nearly dragged her out to the domed foyer. She was running so fast her bare feet smacked the floor as she ran. She heard Joshua hiss at her and she tried harder to be quiet. How was he managing to be silent with Cristian on his back and dragging her behind him?
They made it to the elevator, and he suddenly appeared as the doors slid closed. “Get your onix off. Now.”
She deactivated it and began frantically pulling it off.
“Why are we taking off the onix?”
“Because I want people to see us. We’re going to be out in crowds now, so they won’t dare use plasma in public.”
He was already ripping it off Cristian, who appeared as the onix was deactivated, his face ashen. “Joshua, he doesn’t look good.”
Her brother pulled the last of it off Cristian and wadded it into a ball before starting on his own. “I know.”
“Is it because you hit him with plasma so soon after the first hit?”
Joshua glanced over at Cristian. “He’s got other problems.”
She finally untangled herself, but she was shaking. Not for herself, but for Cristian. “Is he going to be all right?”
“Let’s get out of here first.”
He finished removing his onix and picked up Cristian just as the doors slid open to the main floor of the building. She hastily wadded up her onix as tightly as she could, clutching it in her fist. They walked out into loud music and swarms of people wandering around in glittering, formal clothing. A party? She cringed in her bare feet and most likely disheveled hair, trying to comb her fingers through it.
“Just keep walking,” Joshua said between his teeth, staring straight ahead. Cristian hung limply from his shoulders, and though Cristian's hair hung in his face, it was obvious he was unconscious.
People stared at them, first at Cristian hanging over Joshua’s shoulders, and then at Joshua's red eyes. She’d forgotten how strangers stared at her brother.
They finally made it through the gauntlet of stares, and walked out into the pavilion, the ocean wind bringing a chill. She shivered in her shorts and thin jacket. Joshua kept up his pace, taking her down the street past all the towering skyscrapers, now lit up against the black sky. She shivered, wrapping her arms around her body.
“We’re almost there. Are you okay?” Joshua looked back at her as he walked.
Other than being treated like an unruly piece of luggage she was fine, but she kept that to herself. He was doing his best to get them out of a dangerous situation. “Don’t worry about me.”
They passed a row of restaurants, and her stomach growled at the scent of food. Joshua stopped at a transport parked around the corner from the restaurants, and the door slid open at his voice command.
He let her in first, and then lowered the unconscious Cristian into a seat. He got in and commanded the transport, “To the port. Heat on, please.”
The air warmed immediately, and they pulled into traffic. She huddled in her seat, reveling in the warmth, rubbing her hands against her bare legs.
“I know you’re hungry,” Joshua said, swiveling to face her. “Sorry.”
“I’m fine. Where can we take Cristian? He needs help.”
Joshua’s face was tired as turned Cristian around in the seat to face them. He reclined the seat until Cristian almost looked comfortable. He answered, “I know. But he needs specific help. We’re taking him to the academy.”
She was quiet, her gaze going to Cristian’s knee. “He wasn’t taking advantage of me. You know, in the bedroom.”
Joshua put his elbows on his knees and bent his head into his hands. “I really, really don’t want to talk about that. He’s my friend. You’re my sister. It’s just…never mind.”
Hungry and tired, and sorry that Joshua was mad at her, she dozed off, thinking about her parents.
When she woke, Joshua was tugging at her shoulder. “Wake up. We’re at port.” She stumbled out of the transport and stood blinking in the bright lights of the cavernous port. The port was just as busy at night as it was in the daytime, ships arriving and transports zipping around the docking bays. The Suki was open in front of her, and Joshua was carrying Cristian inside.
“Hurry. We’re not out of trouble yet,” Joshua called to her.
Joshua placed Cristian on a bunk in the back and activated the restraints. Cristian lay, pale and unconscious. She touched his hand for one brief moment before leaving him to sit in the cockpit.