The Night Bridge by S.A. Huchton

Author:S.A. Huchton [Huchton, S.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

Numb, Shari didn’t speak the entire way back to the house. Even curled up on the couch, she had no words.

Maggie was dead.

Maggie died saving her.

No one would ever know.

A mug appeared in front of her, and she blinked at it.

“Take it,” Eran said. “It will help.”

Shari sat up and slid over, making room for him beside her. She stared into the cup as steam rose from the tea, smelling faintly of flowers.

“What can I do for you, Little One?” he said softly. “Please speak to me.”

She shook her head. Words were pointless. They wouldn’t bring her best friend back.

“I assure you,” the Adiutory woman said, “you will be all right in time. For now, you must accept what has occurred and try to move forward.”

Something inside Shari snapped. A surge of anger made her slam the mug down on the coffee table, the liquid sloshing out over the side. “Move forward? Like it’s just that simple? She was my friend, my best friend, and because of me she’s nothing more than a missing persons statistic now. Maybe you can shut your heart off that way, but I can’t.”

The woman’s face remained passive. “You assume I do not mourn those lost in battle? I assure you, I will honor your friend in the way I honor all who fall, by living my life in a way deserving of their sacrifice.”

The calm rationality of the answer grated her nerves. Shari’s teeth ground together. “Why are you still here? Won’t you be missed on the front lines? I’m sure there are plenty of Dominari out there who need to be obliterated.”

With a light shrug, An’finlei looked unmoved. “I’ve not yet been called back. It would seem my purpose has not been fulfilled.”

“I worry what this means for us, Shari,” Eran said. “If the AI has chosen to keep An’finlei here, it means more Dominari will come.”

Shari’s stomach clenched, anxious. “My parents. What about them?”

“They should be safe for now. They aren’t illuminated as you are.”

She looked at him, brow furrowed. “At all?”

He shook his head. “Only you. As I said before, Shari, you are important.”

“But they aren’t?” Hands shaking, she folded them in her lap to keep from lashing out at him. “Without them, how would you build your device, hmm?”

He sighed. “I have no answers for you. I can only tell you what I see.”

Pinching her eyes closed, she tried to calm down. It wasn’t his fault. None of it was, but she needed someone to blame, someone to scream at.

“You should drink the tea,” An’finlei said. “Some of your hostility may be attributed to close contact with the Dominari. The herbs in the brew were selected to ease the effects of the neurotoxin.”

Disgusted with their unnatural calm, Shari stormed out of the room, needing fresh air. Throwing open the back door, she stood on the porch, gazing up at the orange-tinted sky of the suburbs. What she wouldn’t give to be back at the lake where she could see the stars.

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