Page 63
“No, they aren’t dead,” he said quickly, and I relaxed a bit. “But it’s hard to explain. The spirit thing came to us, and it is willing to destroy the whole resort to get to the monster. We need to bring it to him.”
“Where is my son?” Ila cut in, pressing against my shoulder to make room for herself in the conversation.
Austin licked his lips. “That thing—”
“The tupilaq,” I corrected.
Austin nodded. “It’s now a giant wind face. It wasn’t so willing to wait to destroy everyone.”
“That was the earthquake,” I said, realizing what had nearly happened.
“Right. Well, it only agreed to give me a few more hours to bring it the monster in exchange for leaving the others up there.” He bit his bottom lip and looked away.
“You’re leaving something out, Austin,” I said, knowing he was holding back. “What is it?”
He sighed, his shoulders slumping. “It… He said he would work on strengthening his energy in preparation for dealing with this monster once and for all. Apparently, Toklo and Cora are gifted, and he’s able to draw energy from them.”
Ila fell back on her knees, in shock.
Dizzy with worry, I grabbed Austin’s hand. “Is he going to drain them? Is he killing them, Austin?”
Shaking his head, Austin gripped me right back. “That’s the time limit, Rosi. They have about three hours’ worth of energy, apparently, and if I can’t get that monster up there by then, we all die. Well, those of us still here do, so the first thing we have to do is evacuate everyone else.”
“Agreed,” I said, and he seemed to visibly relax. “Help me get this door open.”
Austin stood and braced himself, using raw strength to pull the door open another few inches—enough to make the difference and allow us to climb through. I fell into his arms and reveled for a selfish moment in the comfort that brought.
Pressing my head to his chest, I took strength from his steady heartbeat and said, “You should go tell Nicole and the others to get on their gear and wait outside for the plane.”
Austin pulled away to look at me. “I will. You two get your gear on and get out there.”
He turned to leave as my mind spun. “I’m not going, Austin. I’m helping with the search.”
He froze, facing the other way then spoke so softly I almost didn’t hear him. “I thought you agreed?”
“I did. To evacuating the others,” I said, catching up so I could face him.
“We don’t have time to argue about this,” he said. “Cora and Toklo don’t have time.”
“Exactly,” I said, unable to make sense of the jumble of feelings that assaulted me. “So don’t. Just go tell the others to leave. I’ll start the search.”
“As will I,” Ila said. I smiled and nodded, knowing aside from the hypocrisy of it, there’d be no way to convince her otherwise when her son was the one trapped up there being drained by a spiritual hitman.
Austin reminded me of a volcano ready to erupt. His skin flushed scarlet, and his breathing increased by the second.
“Ila, can you please give us a moment?” I asked, eyes locked on Austin.
“I’ll grab a holopad and pull up a map of the ducts,” she said to the sound of her retreating footsteps.
“Austin—”
“Rosi, I am asking you to listen to me because I care about you. I survive the unsurvivable for a living, and I do it because I empty my mind and focus on the moment. But I can’t focus since I’ve been here. Since I met you.” He grasped my shoulders and pulled me toward him, searching my face with desperation. “You’ve taken the space in my heart that I’ve kept vacant since losing my sister. I can’t lose you too.”
My heart must have leaped into my throat because it was impossible to speak. But I knew what I had to say, and I knew it could put a rift between us that might never be bridged. Part of me didn’t want to do it. I’d only known the man a short time, but I felt closer and more open with him than with any other man I’d ever met. I pushed the word “love” from where it danced on the recesses of my mind because it couldn’t be—not that fast. Could it? I believed in bigfoot, why not believe in insta-love?
I considered his argument for a moment. He was the expert here, and his worry for me was getting in the way of his concentration. I could understand that. But I was the expert on the mythos and the one with experience with the paranormal. We both contributed to the goal, and we ought to work together to end this and save Cora and Toklo.
It was a moot point anyway.
You know you aren’t leaving Cora behind, and Austin needs to hear it for his own good.
Swallowing down the enormous lump in my throat, I raised my hands to his face, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time I’d feel his coarse stubble against my skin. “Austin, that means so much to me. You mean so much. But you can’t control every situation, and you certainly can’t control me.”
I watched, heart breaking as the meaning of my words washed over him. Tears burst from my eyes when I realized how much this hurt him, but I forced my way through it.
“You lost your sister because you fought against her, Austin.”
The words were like knives that made him physically wince as they pierced his armor. I wasn’t stupid. He’d let me in when it was hard for him to trust, and this was how I repaid that trust. But if he’d only hear the message I was trying to impart.
He backed away from me and rubbed his face with the back of his hand, refusing to meet my gaze. He nodded and rushed past me down the hall toward the medcenter.
“Austin!” My voice echoed down the corridor, but he didn’t turn around. “I’m sorry,” I whispered to the empty space before me. And I wondered, as my heart continued to ache like I’d torn it in two, if I might have been better off listening to him.
