Poppy comes closer. Instinct makes me back up.
She grabs me by the elbow and stops me. “Possessive brute. Why didn’t you just tell me you care for her?”
“I don’t.”
“Sure, and I’m a human,” Poppy sasses as she opens Sefina’s mouth and slips another bit of a soft, dark material under her tongue. “Don’t let her head roll back, or she could choke on it.”
“How long is she going to be like this?”
Poppy shakes her head and pushes us in front of Shifter and Bomber, who take up rear guard posts. “A few hours.”
“What did you give her?”
“It’s a root only found in a few places in the Solcrue system.”
“Why does she get migraines?”
“Suddenly talkative?” Poppy glances behind us as we catch up to the other survivors. “She’s like most of the girls here, used and tested on. She grew up a descendant of augmented rebels. They practiced connecting with the energy of all things around them.”
“Sounds like magic.”
Poppy packs the medicine into Sefina’s bag.
Poppy>>Menace: Is it so far off to think that humans could not communicate as we do with the right enhancements? Where do you think they came up with the programming and tech?
Poppy>>Menace: Humans tried everything to stay in contact and keep rebel groups alive despite the Solcrue, all the way back to the original Sol system. She takes this root to shut it off because someone poked around in her head, no doubt trying to control her abilities.
Menace>>Poppy: That’s why she has trust issues? She keeps everyone at a distance because she thinks everyone wants to crack her head open?
She slides me a glance. “You two have more in common than you know.”
I memorize the softness of Sefina’s curvy body in my arms, certain she’ll punch me in the face and run the moment she wakes and sees me carrying her.
“You should tell her,” Poppy whispers as we follow the survivors into a new tunnel.
“She is safer knowing nothing. You all are.”
“Morbid has given us the general idea of what happened to you.”
I catch the warm scent of Sefina’s hair and find myself drawn to it.
Poppy pokes me in the side. “Don’t sniff her.”
“I’m an animal, Poppy. And Morbid wasn’t in mycage. We did not all get the sametreatment. He can kill with touch. I have to use my teeth.”
Poppy’s eyes flash. “Rebel wants to see Sefina. We’re setting up camp not far ahead. When she wakes, tell her the truth.”
“I’ll tell no one of what I went through. I am not a victim. I do not want pity. I want to be left alone so I can put it behind me.”
“No, you don’t.” Poppy reaches over with the tenderness of a Creator and wipes the blood dripping from Sefina’s nose with a cloth she pulls from her medical kit. “Every Brother has known you wanted Fin since Rhee saved Diesel. You obeyed Cara’s desire to try an improvised iridithatium blast weapon on her, but you won’t let Sefina carry her own stuff?”
“It’s different.”
“How?”
“One was for the benefit of all. Now we have RID shots that will help us fight Solcrue. Sefina was only wearing herself out carrying all that stuff.”
“You took her choice from her. You took control without any regard for her concept of her well-being or independence, which is just as important to humans as it is to us despite the fact that they made us to protect them. They made us in their image. And we were once human. How would you like it if someone took control of your body?”
