As the yellow light crashed over the vessel, Chrissie’s brown eyes widened. She looked more intrigued than shocked; she had remembered my story. She dropped her gaze to stare down at her arm – but she wore the same soft, unblemished skin from before I opened the locket.
Eva, on the other hand. Well, there was no doubt any longer. She was the Kaos clan half-Walker. A creamy brown row of stripes had formed across her skin. They were a caramel tone and seemed to bring out the golden-brown of her eyes.
I was instantly reminded of a tiger. The stripes and eyes were very reminiscent of those large cats. I’d be a liar if there wasn’t a very small sliver of disappointment that it wasn’t Chrissie. It would have been nice to have another person from my past with us, and it would have given her a purpose.
She would have fit in perfectly with the rest of the girls. Tough and sarcastic were her personality traits, but with a bubbly fun side. Although, she was much harder and more biting than she used to be; time on New York streets had weeded out a lot of her softness. Which would also have worked for the half-Walkers. If you were soft, you’d be destroyed – partly by the Seventine and the other part by Fury.
“Guess I’m not one of the super-squad.” Chrissie didn’t sound disappointed, but I kind of got the vibe that she was. “My calling is to keep cleaning up the streets of the City.”
Eva still hadn’t said anything. She didn’t look particularly excited to be part of our very exclusive group – which was not that shocking when you considered the membership benefits. I decided to not push her just yet. She’d give me a piece of her mind soon enough. I already knew, just in this short time, that she was blunt. But also secretive. She held a lot close to her chest, and something big lingered beneath her beautiful exterior.
I changed the subject. Eva needed a few moments to process her heritage. I quickly explained to them what we’d learned of the barrier around the New York City area and about not knowing how far it extended into the surrounding state. Chrissie tried to school her expression, but I think for the first time she was stunned.
“I used to live in upstate New York,” Eva said, her voice hard but sort of shaky. “In the country. I had no problem crossing into the city, and there were often gangers around our area. I think it’s pretty safe to say that the barrier extends over the entire New York State.”
Chrissie was still blinking rapidly. “That might mean … if you do break this barrier, well, others might come to help the city. If the rest of America is unaffected by the negative energy of the barrier, there could be … armed forces or something.”
The responsibility of trying to cleanse a city filled with evil had been weighing heavily on Chrissie. Her face had aged beyond its young years, eyes heavy and filled with darkness. A slice of hope was bursting through her darkness now, the thought that maybe she wasn’t in this alone.
“Don’t get your hopes up too high,” I said. Yeah, I was a Negative Nelly at times. “Maybe things are worse on the other side, or maybe there’s nothing left there at all. For all we know the Seventine or lalunas have severed every other tether on Earth by now.”
Okay, that was doubtful. They had to be careful to not upset too much of the balance before the convergence. Otherwise the Gods might step in. I recalled a few rumors we’d heard over the time about Earth tethers disappearing, but until I saw the other side with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe any stories.
Brace interrupted us then, his brows furrowed as he stared out into the ocean. “These energy transference barriers aren’t hard to break, but I should have taken into account that we’re on Earth. It’s going to be more difficult to interfere on this planet. I’m not sure we’re going to have access to enough power.”
He left the control panel, stepping to the side of the vessel. There he began to run his fingers through the air. Kind of like he was miming – although, most probably he was feeling for the barrier.
“It’s going to take a large hit of energy to interfere with the electrical pulses. This barrier has been here for a long time. It’s well established.”
“Can we combine our energy?” I asked.
Lucy reached out and linked her hand with mine. I squeezed it, glad for her comfort.
He didn’t answer straight away, instead continuing to play with the air off the side of the boat.
“It’s different to what I thought. This energy is familiar,” he said, before his hand sort of froze in midair. He swung around to face me. “It feels like your energy, Red.”
He didn’t like that revelation and neither did I. Could this barrier somehow be tied to me?
“What does that mean?” Eva asked, her golden eyes shifting from one to the other.
Brace’s features hardened, his eyes very dark now. “It means that I’m hesitant to destroy it. We can’t be sure that if we interfere with this, there won’t be a negative effect on Abby. It’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”