Seeker (Riders #2)(68)

"I don't know," I say. Even Shadow, out there in the middle of the ice, could've been fake. "Part of me hopes so."

Jode frowns. "You hope they weren't real?"

"Bas was standing with Samrael, Jode. With him. I could be wrong, but Bas didn't look like he was being coerced or under duress."

"You think we've lost him to Samrael," Jode says.

It sounds like a statement, and that bothers me. "I didn't say that. All I'm saying is that it's possible Samrael tried. You know that's how they operate." In the fall, the Kindred wanted to recruit me. Their leader thought I had potential. If Bas has been here with Samrael for the past eight months  …  Samrael could've tried to convert him, too. "If Samrael turned him, we have to be prepared to deal with it."

"Thoughts on how we'd 'deal with it'?"

"Working on it." 

Jode lets out a long sigh. "Will nothing come easily in here?"

"No. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. We're out of food."

"No more trail mix? That I don't mind."

* * *

Half an hour later, we find Marcus and Daryn. Before we've even dismounted, Daryn asks about Shadow.

"Did you find her? Where is she?"

"We had some trouble on the lake," Jode says. As he describes our ice-capade, I notice the look on Marcus's face. He's wearing the same expression he used to wear all the time when we hated each other. Like he wants to kick my ass. Very thoroughly.

I interrupt Jode. "Marcus, what?"

"Nothing."

I look at Daryn. "Why is he pissed at me?"

"You attacked him," she says. "In a haunting."

Haunting? I instantly know-she and Marcus went through their own trial. "I attacked him. I did?"

"Yes. A dozen of you. Perfect look-alikes."

"A dozen Gideons?" Jode's eyebrows shoot up. "The sarcasm must have been intolerable."

No one laughs. Marcus walks away, heading toward the lake.

"Marcus," I call to him. He doesn't stop. "Marcus. Come on, man."

"Best to let him cool off," Jode says, jogging after him.

Anger builds inside me with nowhere to go. Why am I taking the blame for something I didn't do? I just drowned. I just watched my horse drown. Why the hell am I being punished right now?

The Rift.

It's messing with us. It's taking us down without throwing a single punch.

"How bad was it?"

Daryn glances down, hesitating. "Pretty bad."

An image flashes through my mind. Me, beating the hell out of my best friend. Pummeling the best guy I know.

"He knows it wasn't real, Gideon. But it was hard to go through. It'll take him some time to shake off."

I know she's remembering seeing her mother on the roof of the yellow bungalow. I know it'll take her some time to shake that off, too. Just like it'll take me time to forget Riot disappearing into dark water. And Daryn, banging on Dad's truck window. "You called it a haunting."

"It's just something that  …  well, that you said."

"I said stuff? Daryn, what did I say to you? Did I hurt you, too? I did, didn't I?"

She steps in and wraps her arms around me, resting her head against my chest. "Let's just hug this out."

"How about not now?" It's not hug time.

She lifts her head. "Okay, then let's kiss it out."

That gets my attention. My entire body's listening now. "What happens if I say no again? Does this game keep elevating? What's after kissing?"

"Are you going to say no again?"

"Martin, when you say things like that, my brain powers down. It makes it impossible for me to … "

The drumming sound of hoofbeats stops me. I scan the woods.

Someone's riding toward us on a black horse. On Shadow.

Bas?

Sebastian?

I can't believe what I'm seeing.

"Bas?" Daryn says, whirling to face him. "Bas!"

"Wait. It might not be him. He might not be alone."

"It's him."

She's smiling, buying in completely. Didn't she just see a dozen fake versions of me? It can't be him. After all this searching, there's no way he just rides up.

She breaks away from me and she's gone, running to meet him.

"Daryn-wait!" But she's pure determination.



       
         
       
        

My pulse rises to a shrill pitch in my ears. I brace myself for the ground to open up. For ice to form. For wind, Harrows, Samrael. Hauntings.

Nothing changes.

Bas-if it's him-draws closer.

As he closes in, he looks from me to Daryn. Going back and forth, like my mind is.