Born of Fire

He nodded. “You know you’re always welcome here.” He opened the door wider and finally took notice of Shahara. “And who might you be, beautiful?”


“Someone who’s allergic to archaic playboys and who’s young enough to be your granddaughter,” Syn answered. “Call her Shahara, but watch out. She’s responsible for about half of my injuries.”

A charming smile curved Digger’s lips. “Well, I’ll keep my hands to myself, but make no promises about where my eyes might wander. Now come on in you two before someone shoots you in the hallway just for being there.”

At least the inside of the small apartment was a lot cleaner than anything they’d found on the outside. Pieces of electrical equipment were strewn about, but the underlying areas were basically clean.

Digger rushed to the threadbare sofa to clean off paper and wires.

Syn leaned against the wall with one arm wrapped around his ribs. His breathing was labored and he was starting to sweat profusely again. “Dig, you have any Prinapin?”

“Wouldn’t be caught dead without it at my age. Cause dead I’d be if I needed it and didn’t have it.”

Shahara lifted her brow at the mention of the illegal drug. A potent healer, it was banned due to the number of physical defects and mutations it could leave behind. Not to mention about half the people who took it didn’t wake up again. “Are you really crazy enough to take that?”

Syn shrugged. “We can’t afford for me to be on my back any longer than necessary.”

Still, she admired and was repulsed by his courage. “All right, but if you grow another head, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Digger laughed so hard, he started coughing.

“Ha, ha,” Syn said with a lopsided grin. “C’mon, Dig. Give me a bed and the drugs before I fall down.”

“To the back, boy, and you,” he said to Shahara with a charming smile, “just make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.”

Running her hands down the front of her battlesuit, Shahara took a seat on the old green sofa. A spring squeaked in protest.

As she sat there waiting for Digger to return, she glanced around the room, trying to get a feel for who this man was and how he fit into Syn’s life.

From the things in his apartment, she’d peg him as some sort of electrician or technician, but if he lived here on Rook, he must be doing something else, something very illegal, with his electronics.

And as she sat there, she spied an old-style photo on the desk by the window. Getting up, she went to it and saw Digger holding Syn. His sister Talia stood beside them, her young head hung low. Even though she couldn’t be any older than nine or ten, she already looked defeated by life. Syn looked as defiant as always. The same angry fire burned in his eyes that he still had.

Clean-shaven in the photo, Digger was every bit as handsome as she’d suspected. And the love on his face as he looked at Syn was heartbreaking. It reminded her of the way her father would look at them until the day he’d died of simple pneumonia.

She swallowed against the pain of that memory. Though her father hadn’t always been the best morally, he’d loved them all and they’d never doubted that one fact.

It brought tears to her eyes. She didn’t mean to be so hard on her father. She still loved him. But he’d made all their lives difficult while he chased after shifting rainbows. Yet underneath that, she knew how lucky she’d been. While they hadn’t always been fed or even had a roof over their heads, they always had love.

And each other.

Unlike Syn. How awful it must have been for him.

Looking around the room, her eyes became heavy.

How long had it been since she’d slept?

She couldn’t remember. But then sleep had never been her friend. She’d fought against it all her life. First, because she was afraid her mother would die while she slept, then because she was afraid that someone would hurt her siblings.

She should be probably afraid of Digger. She didn’t know him at all, yet something inside her told her that Syn wouldn’t let harm befall her. He trusted Digger.

Yawning, she put the photo back and returned to the sofa.

I’ll just close my eyes for a sec . . .

And before that thought finished, she was fast asleep.

Syn tossed two pills into his mouth and swallowed while he leaned wearily against the wall.

Digger curled his lip in disgust as he finished covering the double-sized bed with fresh sheets. “I don’t know how you can swallow that shit without water. I’d be choking all over the place.”

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”