Riders (Riders, #1)(37)

“Can’t you just tell me where we’re going?” I said. It came out harsher than I’d meant. Why? No idea why.

She pulled her notebook out, propped it on her knees, and started writing.

Solid brush-off. It simultaneously annoyed me and made me want to smack myself for insubordination. Did I question my commanding officers? Hell no.

She’d told me what we needed to do. Wrangle up some horsemen. I had to focus on that. Sebastian obviously knew more about our tools, our weapons. Maybe the other guys, Conquest and Death, would bring their own contributions. Like Daryn said, I needed to get everyone together, and fast, so we could get down to the real work of mastering our capabilities. It was our best shot at standing against the Kindred. And, no question about it anymore, it was also our best shot at staying alive.

*

An hour later, night was falling and Eddie Vedder was singing about still being alive as I drove past the turnoff to Barstow. I watched the sign come and go, marking a place that I didn’t know, but that had pretty big personal meaning. My dad had spent six months stationed at Fort Irwin in Barstow. Anna and I were born during those months. I hadn’t been back here since.

Thinking about that took me to thinking about my mom and how worried she probably was about me. Maybe I should call her. Sure. Call and say what exactly that would stop her worrying?

Sebastian leaned forward and rested his elbows on the front seats. “Is she asleep?”

I nodded. Daryn had somehow rolled into a ball in the passenger seat, tight as a pill bug. I had no idea how she could make herself so small. My kneecaps would’ve exploded in that position. A lock of her hair had fallen over her face. I wanted to brush it aside.

“Gideon, I’m not even going to try to tiptoe around the bush about this—”

“Beat around the bush?”

“Yeah. I have a lot of questions, like”—he tipped his chin at Daryn—“how does she fit into this?”

“She’s, um. Well, I don’t know a lot.” I wanted to know more about her. More and more I wanted to know more. “But she calls herself a Seeker. She’s in charge.”

“That’s what it seems like.”

I looked at him. He looked at me. It didn’t seem like he’d meant it as a put-down. I rubbed my eyes and drove.

“She seems cool.” He paused like he was waiting for me to weigh in on Daryn’s coolness. When I didn’t, he said, “You’re never going to believe this.”

“Try me.”

“When you tackled me earlier—to save my life, so I’m not mad, I know you didn’t mean to do it, I’m just saying—I scraped my elbow when I hit the asphalt. But get this. It’s healing!” He tugged his sleeve up. “It’s almost completely healed!”

I glanced at the pink stamp on his elbow. “That hasn’t happened to you yet? The fast-healing thing?”

“Has it happened to you?”

“Uh-huh.” Finally. I knew something someone didn’t.

“Whoa.”

“Yeah. Whoa.”

Bastian lowered his arm. “Did you die, then come back with the cuff?”

“Yep. Died and came back.”

“Trippy, right?”

“Total trip.”

I wanted to know how he’d died, but it wasn’t the kind of question you just asked.

He pushed his hair out of his eyes. “Man, it is such a relief not to be the only one. I thought I was losing my mind! Sorry about running back there. At Herald Casting? When you first showed up, I didn’t expect it. I think I was in denial or something. So what exactly is our job?”

The guy was kind of animated and … I don’t know. Upbeat. He reminded me of a Great Dane puppy. But I liked him. Any guy who offers to run lines with you for a bogus audition because you lost a fake contact lens is cool in my book, so I told him what I knew about us being incarnations of the horsemen. That we were supposed to protect something. That was exactly how I put it.

“So we’re bodyguards?”

“Pretty much. Except minus any concrete knowledge of what we’re actually guarding.”

I didn’t mention the chain around Daryn’s neck. Containment of information was critical because of Samrael and his mind-scanning abilities. Which … checking, checking … yes. Confirmed. It did make me a damn hypocrite.

“We can do that, right?” Sebastian said. “We can totally protect the thing. Especially with you being in the Army. What do you think the other guys are going to be like?”

“Don’t know.” I wanted them to be easygoing like Sebastian. But maybe a little tougher. Or a lot.

“You think it’ll be the same with the cuffs?” he asked, looking at his. “This feeling?”

“Probably.” Mystery metal had calmed down. The buzzing I’d felt at the casting office wasn’t as loud but it was still giving me feedback. A constant silent tone, like I’d developed a completely new sense. I was positive Sebastian’s proximity did that. Then I remembered. “Hey. Sebastian. Do you have a power? Like control over people?”

I felt stupid as soon as I said it. Like I was asking if he believed in unicorns. Which weren’t half as weird as our horses.

Bastian nodded. For the first time since I’d known him, his expression went dark. “Yeah, I do. You don’t even want to know about it, man. It’s effed up.” He slid back, disappearing into the backseat, our conversation at a clear end.