Opposition (Lux, #5)(58)

Wastelands.

Absolute destruction.

For the last two hours, we hadn’t seen another car on the major highway. Not a single moving car. There were a lot along the road. Some were abandoned with their backseats piled with personal items, as if the owners pulled over on the side of the road, got out, and left everything behind for the great unknown.

The others . . . the others were scary.

Burned-out shells of cars. A sad and twisted graveyard of wrecked and charred metal. I’d never seen anything like this. Read about it in books, seen it in movies, but viewing mile after mile of it in real life was something else.

“What do you think happened to them?” I asked when there was a lull in the arguing.

Archer pushed back from the seats, bending over so he could see out his own window. “Looks like some of them met up with unfriendly aliens. Others ran.”

We passed an SUV with its back open. Clothing was strewn about it. A small brown teddy bear lay forgotten on the road behind it. I thought about that little girl in the grocery store, and I wanted to ask if they thought those who’d run for it made it to safety, but I didn’t, because I was sure I already knew the answer.

Humans couldn’t outrun Luxen.

“While you guys were doing things I don’t want to know about in your room, some things were happening out here.”

Daemon didn’t look fazed by that statement, but my face turned into a ripe tomato. “Do tell.”

“You know how they were saying there were cities completely lost, under the Luxen control? Well, those cities are functioning—TV is up, internet is blasting, and phone lines are working. It’s like nothing happened there, except that more than half the population is made of human-hating aliens,” Archer said, returning to his perch between our seats. “But there are a lot of cities that just . . . have been destroyed.”

“Why would they do that?” I leaned back, shifting in the seat. “Wouldn’t they want the cities virtually untouched so they were livable?”

“They do.” Daemon glanced in the rearview mirror. “But if the humans found a way to fight back, even if the fighting back was pointless, then . . .”

“The cities get taken out in the process,” Archer finished. “Things are going to be rough afterward, even if we stop them. A lot of rebuilding. There’s going to be a lot of changes.”

“Not a lot,” I said as we coasted past a burned-out school bus that was more black than orange. I didn’t want to even think about if the bus had been full or not, but the backs of my eyes still burned. “Everything will change.”



We took the long way around Kansas City, since we didn’t want to get within a billion miles of the Luxen-controlled city, and we ended up stopping outside of a small, unknown town in Missouri for Daemon and Archer to switch off driving.

Sleep was fitful over the next couple of hours, and it wasn’t just the uncomfortable seating or Archer’s questionable taste in music. My body was a bundle of nerves stretched too thin. We were about to literally drive into an Arum stronghold, and while Luc swore up and down that Hunter was cool, I hadn’t met an Arum yet I didn’t want to run from. But it was more than that.

I missed my mom. I missed Dee and Lesa. I missed my books and my blog, and in the hours when I couldn’t sleep and Daemon had passed out in the backseat, I stared out the window and I couldn’t imagine what tomorrow would be like or what a month from now would look like.

“You okay?” Archer asked quietly.

I hadn’t realized that I’d been shifting restlessly. “Yeah.”

“Can’t sleep?”

“Nope.”

“He doesn’t seem to be having any problems.”

Glancing behind me, I smiled. Daemon was stretched out on his back, one arm tossed over his face. His chest rose and fell in deep, steady breaths. I flipped around. “He needs it.”

“So do you.”

I shrugged. “What about you?”

He passed me a knowing look. “I didn’t spend all my free time making out like the world was ending the next day.”

My cheeks flamed. “You really don’t need to keep reminding me that there’s no such thing as privacy around you.”

A quick grin flashed across his face as he focused on the dark road, but it disappeared as quickly as the star I’d been tracking in the sky earlier. I studied him out of the corner of my eye, the strong jaw and profile.

“Stop staring at me,” he huffed.

“Sorry.” But I looked at him fully, and I thought of—

“Yes.”

I frowned.

“Like I told you before, I worry about her and I think about her. A lot.” His fingers tapped the steering wheel. “I like her. The girl is . . . well, she’s special.”

Probably a good thing Daemon was passed out while we were having this conversation. “She likes you, too.”

“I know.” He chuckled under his breath. “Dee’s not really good at hiding her thoughts. Actually, I don’t even think she tries. That’s one of the things I like about her.”

“And she’s absolutely stunning.” I grinned.

“Yeah, that has something to do with it.” His hands tightened around the wheel.

I folded my arms and returned to staring straight ahead, remembering the garden Dee and I had created around the front porch of my house. A sad feeling pierced my chest.