Page 182 of Moon Chosen

“What Tribe is that?” Sheena asked.

“It’s complicated,” Nik and Sol said together.

Then Sol turned to Mari, taking her hands much like Sheena had so recently done. “Thank you is not enough, though I heartily thank you—for my son’s life—for my nephew’s life—and now for the lives of two more precious members of our Tribe. If there is anything you need—anything you want—ask it of me, my dear. If it is within my power, I will give it to you.”

Everything around Mari got very still, and within that stillness she knew what she must ask for. In a voice that echoed with the authority of generations of Moon Women, Mari said, “What I want is for you to take me to Farm Island.”

47

“No, Mari!” Nik grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing Mari to look into his eyes. “I don’t care what you say, I won’t let you go there. I won’t let you turn into a sad ghost of yourself.”

Mari put her hands over his. “That won’t happen to me. It can’t. I’m a Moon Woman, Nik. It’s different for me.”

“Why do you want to go there?” Sol asked.

Mari turned to him. “I can help my people.”

“I won’t let you stay there,” Nik insisted.

Mari held Sol’s gaze as she answered Nik. “That’s not your decision to make. It’s mine.”

“Actually, it’s mine,” Sol said.

“Not if your word is good,” Mari said. “You just offered to give me anything I wanted that’s in your power to give.”

“It is in my power to take you to Farm Island. It is even in my power to allow you to stay there, should that be your desire. It is not in my power to speak for the Tribe and release the Earth Walkers. That I cannot do.”

“I’m not asking you to release my people. I’m also not asking you to lock me up with them.”

“Then what are you going to do?” Nik asked.

“The right thing. I’m going to heal my people, just as I healed you, Nik, and O’Bryan, and Sheena and her Captain. Sol, will you take me to Farm Island or not?”

There was a long pause as Sol studied his son. Then, with a deep sigh, he said to Mari, “I will take you there.”

“Not without me you won’t,” Nik said.

Mari glanced up at the sky. “We need to hurry. The moon is waning.”

“It’s late enough that few of the Tribe will be stirring. Pull up your hood and stay close. We’ll use the lift closest to the edge of the ridge,” Sol said.

Mari nodded, pulled up her hood, and hurried after Sol with Nik close beside her.

***

Thaddeus waited until Sheena and Captain had gone back inside the nest before, quick as a Terrier, he sprinted away. His mind was reeling with what he’d just witnessed. He’d always known there was something about Nik that he hated, something besides the fact that everything came too easily for him.Well,he corrected himself smugly as he sent a self-satisfied look to the canine by his side,everything except the ability to get a canine to choose him. Though it seems he might have done that—in a twisted, perverse version of how a true Companion was chosen.

The girl was a mutant though he didn’t understand how the mutation had happened. Her face was a bizarrely compelling mixture of Companion and Scratcher. It was obvious to him that she had been sent to the Tribe as a temptation. That much was abundantly clear. Thaddeus knew about temptation. Since he’d returned from the ambush, his body had continued to change and strengthen. His mind had begun changing, too. Everything seemed sharper, clearer to Thaddeus. He could see so many problems with the Tribe’s archaic Law system. Why were Terriers less than Shepherds? It made no sense, and that was only one of the Laws Thaddeus saw as senseless or obsolete.

Odysseus had healed completely, seeming even stronger than he’d been before the Skin Stealers had wounded him—shared his flesh with Thaddeus—and drastically changed their lives. Their bond was more intimate, too. The Terrier had become more serious and more easily angered. At first Thaddeus had been concerned about the change in Odysseus, but after further reflection, he’d decided the canine wasn’t actually that changed. He’d always been quick to temper, his sharp teeth keeping other Terriers focused during Hunts. Plus, he liked and appreciated Odysseus’s edge. There was no reason a Terrier couldn’t be as fierce as a Shepherd, just as there was no reason a Terrier’s Companion couldn’t lead like a Shepherd’s Companion.

Thaddeus felt his anger building, his body heating, his blood pounding through his veins. He balled his fists, fighting the urge to hit something—anything. Odysseus, who had been trotting determinedly before him, turned and yipped impatiently.

“You’re right. One thing at a time. Get rid of Nik and the Sun Priest. That’s the beginning of the end of the old ways.” Satisfied, Odysseus sprinted on with Thaddeus following. All that really mattered was that the two of them were tight, and strong, and in agreement that what had happened to them was a good thing—a very good thing. The rest would come. He would be sure the rest would come.

Thaddeus did wonder about the change in his dreams. Every night, every single time he fell asleep, his dreams were filled with strange visions, as disturbing as they were alluring. In each of them the predominant image was of an eyeless girl who beckoned to him with a smooth, soft, outstretched hand.

Thus far, Thaddeus had resisted the lure of that beguiling hand, though he fantasized endlessly during the day about sneaking back to Port City and the Temple of the Reaper God. With the amazing increase in his strength and sight and sense of smell, Thaddeus was sure he could manage to steal the sightless girl from them.