Sought(3)

The shuttle tilted alarmingly and Kat’s vision came back with a jolt. She saw a patch of green rushing toward the viewscreen at alarming speed and had a blurry impression of tiny, Barbie doll-sized figures running to get out of the way. Then her gaze was dragged back to her own still form. Lock was working on her frantically, doing some Kindred version of CPR that looked exceedingly painful as he begged her under his breath to “Live, Kat. Please, live.”

“Almost there,” roared Deep. “Hold on, Brother. Keep her with us!”

“I’m trying!” Lock’s voice sounded close to despair. “But she’s so still. She’s not responding.”

“Fucking make her respond!” Deep ordered. “And be ready to run the moment we touch down. We’re taking her stretcher straight to the center of the garden. Directly to Mother L’rin herself.”

“Yes, all right.” Lock nodded frantically, still working on her. “Please, lady Kat, if you can just hold on a little bit longer…”

There was a jarring thump that rattled everything in the shuttle and Kat saw her body jerk. Then Deep was out of his flight harness and reaching for her. “Go, go go!” he barked, nodding at the opening which had somehow appeared at the back of the shuttle.

“Going!” Lock was still holding her hand as he pushed the floating stretcher toward the pinkish-gold sunlight pouring in through the opening. “Get the other side.”

“Got it.” Deep grabbed the stretcher with one hand and Kat’s arm with the other. “Goddess, she’s cold! And her lips are blue.”

“I know. I—”

But before she could hear what else Lock was going to say, Kat felt a huge jolt, as though she’d been struck by lightning. Suddenly she was no longer hovering above her own still body, but rushing toward it on a collision course.

Wait, she had time to think. This can’t be right. I can’t—

There was a flash of brilliant light and then…

Nothing.





Chapter Two





Mother L’rin was a stern, older woman whom Lock had met only once—years ago when he and Deep had been confirmed with their mentor F’lir as a finder/seeker team. Now she paced in front of Kat’s floating stretcher, her bare feet splashing in the golden waters of the holy stream that ran through the center of the Healing Gardens. Mother L’rin practiced holistic healing and drew her powers from nature and the Goddess of All Life. The gardens around them were filled with herbs and plants mixed with flowering bushes and trees, all in shades of pink and gold and pale green.

“I remember you two,” she said, nodding at them in her slow, unhurried fashion. “Two more opposite twins I never saw.”

“Never mind about us,” Deep almost snarled. He was pacing as well, striding up and down the pinkish-gold and green grass that had been allowed to run wild along the edge of the stream. “It’s Kat we’re here for. She’s in trouble.”

“Enough trouble for you to land your shuttle in the center of my garden, almost crushing some very devout pilgrims?” Mother L’rin raised one pink-tinged eyebrow at them. She was of the native stock of Twin Moons, with no Kindred blood at all, which explained the way she blended into her own garden.

“Yes,” Deep snapped back. “I gave them time to get out of the way.”

“Barely.” Her voice was mild but her pink and gold eyes flashed. “You must care for her deeply, this Kat.”

“Not really.” Deep shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. “But we have been charged with her safety. So—”

“Yes, we care,” Lock interrupted his brother. “We care very much. Both of us.” He squeezed Kat’s hand gently and shot Deep a warning look to keep his mouth shut. “Please, Mother L’rin,” he continued. “She’s already stopped breathing once. I’m not even sure what brought her back, but it could happen again at any time.”

Kat was breathing steadily now but Lock knew he would never forget the feeling of relief that had swept over him when he saw her draw that first, shallow gasp as they pushed the stretcher out of the shuttle. He still didn’t know why she’d come back to them from the brink of death, only that he was desperate to keep her.

“How did she come to be sick in the first place?” Mother L’rin looked at them. “What manner of illness is this?”

Lock took a deep breath—this was the hard part. “You may have heard that our mentor, F’lir, died a few cycles ago, Mother,” he said, inclining his head respectfully. “So Deep and I are without a focus. While aboard the Mother ship, we found ourselves in a desperate position—we needed to use our skills but we had no one to—”