Seeker (Riders #2)(105)

It's quiet for a long time. I want to keep talking, but there's a rock lodged in my throat.

Bas breaks the silence. "Okay, I get it. You're saying I should look for real gold. Forget about Rael. Forget about the things that don't have real value."

"No. I was just trying to pass the time by telling you my gold-mining story."

Bas laughs. "I want to see your Chinese gold someday, Gideon. And the cuff link."

"Sure." I'll give him the gold jar.

If we make it out of here, it's his.

* * *

We mount up an hour before sunset and ride to the gatehouse.

Bas and I leave our horses with Jode and Marcus about a hundred yards back, and approach the rest of the way on foot.

The guy inside the stone house has a rounded back and the mild smile of a sloth, which he turns on Sebastian. "Hello, Bas," he says. "You're here. Everyone said you left."

Bas smiles back. "I tried," he says. "But I realized after about a week or two away that I missed it here too much, as messed up as this place can be." I casually walk behind the man as Bas talks.



       
         
       
        

"I could never even try to-"

I grab his wrist and get him into an armlock. He barely struggles, even as I tie him up with rope.

"Sorry," Bas says. "It's safer for you to be out of the way."

The man nods and accepts his situation.

Bas climbs down the ladder and opens the inner latch, pulling the gates open.

Marcus and Jode bring our horses over. We close the gate behind us, mount up, and charge for the main house.

We pass a few smaller homes along the way. Enclosed gardens. Stables. Everything Bas told us to expect.

People stop working in fields and look up. They stand at their front doors and watch us ride past. I get the same vacuous feeling from them, like they can't feel anything in the extreme zones of life, like love and hate. Hope and disappointment.

We reach the house and move as planned. Fast. No hesitation. Jode guards the front. Marcus sweeps through the first floor as Bas and I shoot up the stairs.

Bas rushes into Samrael's room to hunt for the orb. I bust through the other doors in search of Daryn.

As soon as I step into the last room on the right, I know it's hers.

Her journal sits on the bed.

I grab it and stuff it into my belt at my back.

I find Bas in the hallway. "I found this," he says, and tosses my sword at me. I catch it by the grip. "But no orb. It wasn't where I thought it might be."

"Neither was Daryn," I say.

"Time's up," Marcus calls from downstairs.

Bas and I rush back downstairs and head outside, joining him and Jode.

Harrows pour through the open gate in swarms. I don't know who opened it for them-maybe the guard was coerced? It doesn't matter now; there's no undoing it.

The people who gawked at us minutes ago dash for safety, shutting themselves behind doors. Their panic is bizarrely quiet-no yelling for friends or family to take shelter.

The Harrows don't miss any opportunities as they come after us. They're a rabid cluster of fangs and claws, and they don't hesitate to attack anyone in their way.

But the mass of Harrows flows with focus, and an obvious goal, thundering closer.

They're not here to wreak destruction at random.

They're coming for us.





CHAPTER 43

DARYN

I'm watching Shadow-the Shadow I've created out of water-when fear touches me like a breath, lifting the hair along my scalp.

My focus breaks. Shadow dissolves back into the pool with a splash.

I know Rael is behind me, but I can't face him. And I hate the smoky scent I smell hanging in the air.

I think of what Gideon told me about conjuring, about what Rael told him was the cost, and realize I've just created Harrows. I've created violent, mindless creatures because I needed a little bit of comfort. 

I'm disappointed with myself. Disgusted.

"I wondered what you would create first," Samrael says. "Intentionally, that is. I thought it would be your mother."

I lick my dry lips. "When I see her, I want it to be real."

"I understand."

I whirl around, facing him. "How could you? Have you ever told the truth? Ever? Even once?"

"Yes," he says. "Today, I told you the truth. Yesterday, I did as well. Tomorrow, I hope to continue to. And the following day. You've changed me, Daryn."

"I don't believe you!"

He winces and looks away, staring off across the water. "I'm very sorry to hear that. I have to admit," he says, "I'm surprised you're still here."

"I wanted to leave. I would have if I'd found Gideon." I reach into my pocket to touch the orb. "What did you do to him, Rael?"