Page 132 of Awry
“I’ll come with you!”I shout.“I’ll come with you.”
Chains stills, narrowing his eyes on me.
I step forward.
“No, Zaya…” Presh sobs, her voice strangled and bruised.Broken.
The cu-sith reaches a huge paw around me, claws slicing through my clothing from my lower ribs to my upper thigh.The grim reaper holds me to his chest.
Chains laughs mirthlessly.“Apparently, we’re at a stand-off.Fine.The littlest twist will do.He never has to know you even fucking exist.But you better fucking believe he’s going to be very interested to discover that the rumors are true.Your mystical fucking pets will be in cages next.”
I’m certain that the ‘he’ Chains refers to is the Cataclysm.I have no idea how the three brothers have managed to keep the nature of their beasts from their own father.Not that it’s important in the Now.
And the Now is where I exist.
“I can … smooth all of this, Chains,” I say.“I can give as much as I take, if not more.”
Chains scoffs.But he is listening.
“You want to be rich?Powerful?I can fix it all.”
“You can’t beat the Cataclysm, twist.You’ve only had a tiny taste of what he can do.”He starts dragging Presh back.One step, then another.
Rought and Rath are still caught up in their transformations.Reck in his cu-sith form won’t loosen his hold on me.
“No!”Presh kicks uselessly at Chains’s legs.“No, I’m not going back!”Her essence curls all around her as usual.But as I watch, all that vibrant energy, all those threads that lead to so many futures, deepen in color.
Not black, but red.
“I won’t go back.”Presh sobs.“I’d rather die.I’d rather die!”
My heart starts pounding.I’ve seen this before.
I’ve seen an untrained awry manifest under duress.And Presh won’t survive it.
It’s also possible that she could take Chains and her brothers with her.Maybe even the entire township.
“Don’t, sweet girl,” I plead.My hands fall to the massive claws hooked gently into my clothing, trying to wrestle out of the cu-sith’s grasp.“I’ll fix it, Precious.I’ll fix it.”
“He killed Kris!”Presh sobs.Her essence is now condensing, threads weaving tightly together and cocooning her in energy.“He killed DeVille!!”
“What the fuck are you doing?!”Chains snarls — at me.So he can feel the energy about to explode, but he can’t see it or reckon its source.
“He wants to cage me.To cage you, Zaya!”
Presh is completely irrational.She has been from the moment she dropped the gun and charged Chains instead of shooting him.
I raise my hands.I reach for all the energy surrounding her.If I can just soothe her …
The universe nudges me.
Hard.
And Iknowthis is my punishment.
I know, and I still follow.
Theknowingnudges me toward Chains’s life force, not Presh’s.
