Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(42)

“Your home. Kelleys Island. The swing. Where were we?” she asked.

“That was my dream.” He looked at her with a sense of growing dread.

“I was there with you, Quinn. That wasn’t just a dream.” She turned in his arms, nuzzling into his chest. She was so exhausted, her eyes were already drooping. “Whatever it was, it was nice.”

“Rest while you can, Mina,” he whispered. He would let her sleep as long as she could. But Quinn wasn’t sure he ever wanted to sleep again.

It can’t be that. The gift was rare. A relic of a dead world. The gift of dreamwalking hadn’t manifested in centuries. He needed to get out of Soma more than ever now. He would need his family to get through this. To be a dreamwalker without a mentor could be a disaster for him and anyone he touched in the dreamworld.

~~~





CHAPTER

FOURTEEN





Sasha: Summer


The Chola Valley Temple


It turned out Jayesh wasn’t quite as Zen as Sasha. Weeks later and he was still a closed-off prick, but they had at least reached a place where they could work together, despite the tension between them.

He’s still blaming me, Sasha thought as she moved through the kalaripayattu forms beside him. She matched her movements to his, bending her body and flexing her muscles as he guided her through the poses. The exercise felt good. With each passing day she was becoming more limber and her joints more flexible. She knew it would benefit her later to get these movements perfected now. Once she began active sparring with Jayesh she would be glad she had.

They worked well together during these moments. During these silent moments. It was only when they had to communicate with words that things started to fall apart.

“Time to go.” Jay clapped her on the shoulder just as she moved into the last position, causing her to stumble.

“Where’re we going?” She crossed the pavilion to gather her sunglasses and slippers, adding an indigo silk headscarf to protect her from the sun. But Jay was already halfway up the path to the northern gates and she had to jog to catch up with him.

“Higher ground.” He pointed across the grassy valley up to the wilder terrain toward the Ghat Mountains in the distance.

“How far do the temple grounds reach? I mean, the mother’s influence?” Sasha asked.

“Many, many miles in each direction,” Jayesh said. “All the way to the Arabian Sea to the west and to the far reaches of the valley to the east. North over the high mountain peaks and south to the foothills where we entered the valley.”

“And mortals can’t wander into this region?”

“They can. But they see only the temple ruins when they come. The mother’s influence makes them wary of this place, though. Whenever they do venture close, they never stay long.”

They hiked in silence. Sasha struggled to keep up with him in her inappropriate-for-hiking slippers. She had often thought about continuing her bratty behavior over the last weeks, but she’d decided to take the first steps toward cutting the bullshit. They might not like each other, but if they were going to get anywhere, they had to put their mutual dislike aside. Still, Jayesh seemed to be finding it difficult to remember how to not be an asshole.

“Seriously, where are we going?” Sasha finally asked after they crested yet another hill.

“We’re here,” Jayesh said, pointing at the sheer cliff below and the rough terrain of the mountains in the distance.

Sasha crossed to the cliff edge to scan the view. Rocky mountains rose in the distance and trees grew in patches of jungle-like forests, interspersed with grassy plains. As she turned, she saw that the temple monks had traveled ahead of them and set up a clearing for target practice. There were various weapons spread out on a makeshift table, but Sasha only had eyes for the beautiful piece of machinery calling her name.

“Can I, please?” She brushed her fingertips over the cool metal surface of the sniper rifle. “This is a Barrett M107A1?” She leaned down to get a good look at it. “This thing is badass. I can’t wait to shoot it. Look at this!” She picked up the shell ammunition. “This a .50 Cal, long-range armor piercing round!” She held up the five-inch bullet that looked more like a tiny missile.

“Uh, yeah. I think so.” Jayesh tried to hide his surprise at her enthusiasm.

“Can-I-Can-I-Can-I?” Sasha danced in place; she couldn’t wait to try it.

“Not yet.” He turned her away from the pretty gun. “Lunch first, and then we start small.”

Refreshments waited for them in the shade of a canopy where the temple monks relaxed. Jayesh offered her a cool drink.

“You’ve been busy.” She accepted the drink, wondering when he’d arranged this. “What am I shooting?” She scanned the horizon, expecting to see long-range targets in the distance.

“Over here,” Jay said. “Like I said, we’re starting small.”

An array of clay birds sat in a basket beside the table along with a simple bow and a quiver of arrows.

“No.” She shook her head. “No, no, no. Jayesh, you cannot dangle a Barrett M107A1 with armor-piercing rounds in my face and then put a bow in my hand. It’s not cool, man. Not cool.”

“Show me you can hit a moving target first and then we’ll move up to the big guns.”