Page 24 of Faithless
She stood off to the side while my fathers had fussed at me and now smiled as I approached. “You remind me of myself,” she said, pulling me into a hug.
“Clueless, scared shitless, and in way over my head?” I asked, holding onto her tightly.
“Yes, exactly. All of that.” She pushed her fingers through my hair. “Those feelings are normal, Rori. They don’t mean you’re not ready for this. You know what else I see?” Mom pulled back and held my face in her hands. “Someone a lot braver and more prepared than I was. I know you don’t feel like it, but youare, my love. You were a warrior the day you came out of my womb, screaming bloody murder and kicking your brother in the head.”
I let out a very undignified snort, but my mom’s words did the trick and eased a little bit of my tightly wound fear. “Thank you, Mom. You don’t know how much it means to know you believe in me.”
Now she blinked back tears right before bringing my face down to kiss my forehead. “Always, my daughter.”
When we separated, I still felt clueless, scared shitless, and in over my head. But also a little steadier. A little more determined to see this through, if only to return to my amazing family again that much sooner.
I went to my bike and climbed on, my tentative steadiness turning rock solid the moment I sat on that machine. The world was mine when I rode, gods or no. This was freedom, and this was power. As I turned the key and felt the engine roar to life, I couldn’t imagine arriving at my destiny any other way.
With a quick nod to Torr, I shot out of the driveway. Together, we followed the dove flying just ahead.
Astarte led us northwest, toward the Great Wasteland.
9
TORRANCE
We followed Astarte through miles and miles andmilesof desert. With the exception of a couple of pit stops, Rori and I rode nearly the entire day. I’d never admit it to her, but my ass and balls were aching like crazy by the time night started to fall. She’d been riding years longer than I had and probably never got sore from riding anymore.
Around dusk, Astarte perched on a rusted sign, which teetered dangerously to one side and was riddled with bullet holes. I had to tilt my head and squint to read,Welcome to Carvers, Nevada.Damn, so this was a pre-Collapse place. No one my age ever called it Nevada, only the older folks did.
You will rest here for the night.I shuddered at the sensation of Astarte’s voice. It felt like fingertips dragging over my brain. Rori didn’t seem to have the same reaction. I wondered if she’d gotten used to it.
“Where?” Rori looked around, and she had a point. There wasn’t much to see.
In the tavern, child. In the morning, you will meet your first contact in that same location.
“Thatplace?” Rori sounded incredulous as she nodded toward a building that had seen better days. Dust caked the windows and exterior walls. The siding was warped with age and some parts were tagged with faded graffiti. Neon signs in the windows advertised liquor and food, although their illumination of all the dust made the offers feel a little suspicious.
Windows covered the second and third stories of the building, and I could only assume those were rooms for the overnight travelers like us.
“Come on, it’s not so bad.” I nudged Rori with an elbow. “Imagine if Bryce’s place was also a motel. That’s what this is.”
She rolled her eyes toward me, her expression dripping with disapproval. “Don’t insult Bryce’s like that.”
“I mean, sure, it’d probably be less dusty, but Bryce isn’t exactly a clean freak.”
“We can’t stay anywhere else?” Rori looked at the dove.
The answer came with a straightforward,No.
“Alright,” Rori huffed, not sounding convinced as she popped up her kickstand.
We drove up the short distance to park in front of the building, and I waited until we turned the bikes off to keep ribbing her. “I thought you loved roughing it on camping trips,” I said, following her to the front door. “This is just like that.”
“I know my sleeping bags are clean and where my food comes from on those trips,” she shot back. “This…I don’t know anything about this.”
“It’s an adventure.” I reached in front and pulled the door open for her. “And remember, I’ve got your back.”
She glared at me on her way inside, but her mouth tipped up with playfulness. “Your eternal optimism is already exhausting.”
“Sounds like a stamina problem for you, not me.” I stepped in behind her, head swiveling around the dark room as I allowed the door to close behind me.
We’d walked right into the small bar-slash-restaurant area. Only a few wooden tables with benches lined the walls, most of them empty. The long bar at the far end, backed with rows of dusty liquor bottles, was similarly empty.
