Forecast of Shadows by Bronwyn Leroux

Author:Bronwyn Leroux
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9798634064642
Published: 2020-04-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Eking out only a handful of possible routes takes hours. By the time I have them, it’s nearly midnight, and an internal sledgehammer pounds away at my skull. Rising, I rub my temples and massage the back of my neck, trying to forge relief. I consider calling Frances, our Abbie healer, to deal with it.

But it’s late. And old as she is, she’ll be cranky if I wake her, even though she’s been something of a surrogate mother to me since my parents died. Because as fortune would have it, Frances saw my mother toss me from that car. She was the one who healed me, despairing that, although her gift could heal my body, it could not heal my mind.

After a year of seeing her intermittently for injuries sustained in altercations after I left her care, it was only fair I offered her a safe place to stay once I’d established my gang. Since then, she’s enjoyed my hospitality—and protection.

I know the gang will continue to provide that, considering Frances is a rare gem. Abbie healers are scarce. They’re usually so well protected not even an army can get to them. It if weren’t for my gift, neither could we on the handful of occasions when we need an additional healer.

If we survive this offensive, perhaps I should look into getting a second Abbie healer for the crew, to take Frances’s place when she passes on and assist her until then. After all, if things go according to plan, I won’t be around to take care of them anymore. Taking care of my crew is one of the few good things I could do with my gift.

There’s a soft knock at my door. “Enter.”

Trent slips in and shuts the door behind him. “The crew are getting antsy. Do you have something?”

“Only a few options but better than nothing. What’s the mood out there?”

“A lot of anger. They feel duped. They know the Hawks abandoned the place. They want to know why you led them there, instead of to where they really are.”

Sighing, I roll my shoulders. “They’ll be even more unhappy if none of the options I present pan out.”

“You really believe they won’t?”

I shrug. “The black boxes are difficult to circumvent. I don’t know how much of what I saw is probable, only that the least visible routes let me bypass the boxes. You do the math.”

Trent knows the odds are against us. “Tell me the paths at least all point in the same general direction?”

This time, I smile. “They do.”

Trent grins, white teeth flashing in his tanned face. “I’ll take it.”

Sobering again, I grimace. “While I may have found a general location, there’s no clear path to victory like usual. The boxes block all routes beyond that point.” Head aching anew, I pace. “I don’t know how he’s doing it. How he’s stopping me from seeing how to get to him.”

“You know he’s using an Abbie.”

The thought deflates me. “If he’s doing to them what he did to me .

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