CHAPTER SEVEN
Returning to look for Wisteria, Bach found her searching the kitchen for something. She was rummaging through the drawers and cabinets. Then, she tucked a long wooden spoon and one of his metal tools in her backpack.
“You are stealing from me,” he accused as he walked into the kitchen.
“It’ll only be a matter of time before some biters make it through here.” She hobbled away from him.
“You have lived through an overrun. You know if the infected were to get in, they would have gotten in here by now. We are safe here.” Whoa, she smelled incredible now that the poisons she’d smeared on herself had worn off. Her scent reminded him of… What did she remind him of?
“Of course,” she mumbled unconvincingly and then nodded, her braids framing her face.
This was disappointing, as he felt that she used to trust him implicitly at one time. Unless this was part of the game she was playing with him all along. If this was a game, she was going to lose in a big way.
Bach didn’t know when he decided to renew her, but seeing Enric trying to make a play for her decided it for him. He had indeed seen Enric go into her room and Bach felt obligated to ensure his guest was safe. Enric had tried to use his faycard and attempted to lull Wisteria into asking for something.
Furious to see Enric starting the renewal and powerless to stop it, Bach had left the hallway outside of Wisteria’s door. Part of him wanted to know if Wisteria would allow Enric to renew her. Fortunately, Enric’s attempt failed, and she didn’t surrender to him, but Bach wouldn’t risk Enric or another Famila trying the same thing.
“I heard you and your friend arguing up there.” She was inching away from him. “What were you arguing about?”
You. He closed the space between them. “He was not treating his Terran properly. We had to discuss it.”
“His Terran? I thought her name was Piper?” Backing toward the living area, she pretended to smile.
From his experience with Terrans, they hated being called Terran.
“What happened to her? Do you know why she’s so crazy?” she asked.
“It is complicated.” The renewal was never something he discussed with Terrans. Their minds weren’t designed to assimilate such knowledge.
“I can only imagine what she’s been through.” Biting at her lip, she closed her eyes. “If things were different I’d say she should leave him.” Her eyes shot open and her expression looked sad.
“You are right. She should be with more people and taking her back with you might be the best solution for her,” he admitted.
“Really?” She smiled a little.
“If you think your people can help her.”
She seemed to release a slow breath.
“You look relieved.” Bach sensed that she seemed happier.
“Enric was telling me that you weren’t going to let me leave.”
“Would staying here be that bad?”
“Hmm.” She looked as if she were trying to choose her words. “No. Yeah, it would be great. I’d like to first get back to my family—or my mum will be out of her mind. You guys can come. They’d be eager to know how you managed to travel eighty miles in this. The soldiers would be eager to learn how you knew about the swarm.” She rambled.
“I do not integrate well with you Terrans.”
“Why do you call everyone Terran? Can you not call me that?” Trying to back further away, she discovered she was trapped between him and a counter.
Looking to his right hand, he glanced at his faycard. A blue light, what they called the pulse, weaved through his fingers as he lifted up the card. He had sworn he would never renew a Terran, but Wisteria was too important to let her just go free. Uncovering what she was hiding was imperative. Being from the Ino caste, he could renew her and keep her mental and emotional balance, if he wanted to. There was no risk she would end up like Enric’s Terran. No, Bach hated creating Thayns, not because he didn’t want Terrans serving him, but because he believed Terrans needed to be destroyed. They were a plague on everything they touched. “I use the name to describe human people,” he clarified as he stepped even closer to her.
“Oh.” Her reply was short and she now looked very fearful.
“What do you want more than anything in the world?” He’d ask her one wish, show her an image of it and in exchange for the glimpse of the life she wanted, she’d agree for him to renew her. This was going to hurt her more than anything she’d ever feel, but she’d soon forget the pain.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You’re sweating and it’s not that hot here.”
“I do not sweat.” Unless some of the poisonous lotion she wore when she arrived was still on her?
“No, you’re really sweating.” She ran her finger down the side of his face.
“Do not touch me.” Removing her hand from his skin, he was stunned to see his sweat on her fingers. Trying to make sense of it, his vision blurred for a second, but he shook his head and it cleared up. “What if I could give one thing to you, what would you want?”
“You can let me go.” Her eyes dropped to his hand now gripped around her wrist. “Once the swarm below leaves, you can take me back to Smythe.”
“What if I show you your island now?” Raising his faycard, before her dark eyes, he asked, “What would you want?”
Entranced, she stared at the card.
“Wisteria, what do you see?”
“Home?” she whispered. “I see my parents, together with David.”
In a few seconds, she would be fully entranced and would give her free will over to him. Bach, stop! he heard her say, not the Wisteria in front of him, but her voice echoing from his past. Bach moved the card out of Wisteria’s line of sight.
Her eyes followed it until he put it in his pocket. Blinking, she shook her head. As she looked at his empty hands, she saw his fingers glowing blue. “What—what are you?” She was clearly repulsed and clambered over the counter to get away from him.
Watching her run from the room, he wondered at his own actions.
“Bach, you lost your nerve?” Felip was standing behind him.
