The flight attendant scuttled into the room and looked worriedly at the cracked wall but was smart enough not to say a word as she moved toward the Senator with a glass full of Scotch. She set it carefully beside him before backing out of the main cabin herself.
Arkdone reached for the drink and threw it back, swallowing half the glass in one gulp. “She sees it as a gift, but I see it as a weakness. She can’t use her psychic influence on me at all and when she tries to use it on others,” an image of the bloody-faced, unconscious girl from last night flashed in his mind, “it bleeds her energies dry—leaving her absolutely vulnerable.”
He tossed back the rest of his drink. “Let’s see how long she lasts with three dozen metamonarchs.” A wicked smile slipped across his handsome face.
30 Rest for the Weary
The edges of the white light encircling the ten bodies in the water began to draw together, constricting until it only enveloped Danny before fading completely.
Clipped echoes of Maze’s worried barks were replaced by a series of loud, powerful splashes. The coydog had enough of whatever was happening to his family without him. He paddled furiously at the salty water and reached them just as the light subsided.
Each floated lifelessly, their bodies rolling atop the undulating, dark surface of the lake.
The wind began slicing away at the desert’s top sheets of sand and flinging them across the sky.
Maze made his way to the closest person and started licking his face frantically, stopping only to bark in his ear. It was Alik.
He opened his eyes and blinked hard against the tiny shards of desert pelting the side of his face. Gasping, he flipped himself over and reached with his long legs to find his footing in the gritty basin. He looked around frantically at the floating bodies starting to drift apart propelled by the gusts of sand and wind. Maze barked in his face before swimming away. His bright-yellow eyes locked on the body furthest from the shore. Farrow was the nearest body to him. He swam and grabbed her by the arm, yanked her upright. Her head lolled to her shoulder, limp.
“Farrow! Wake up! We have to get out of here!” He held her with one hand while the other cupped her jaw and gently shook her.
Farrow’s eyes slowly opening, she inhaled. She ended her breath in a coughing fit.
“What happened? Alik! Oh my God, Alik!” Her hands touched the skin around his eyes.
“No time,” Alik shook her off.
“We need to get the others and find shelter. The sandstorm, Farrow!”
Farrow looked around as though waking from a dream, squinting into the sand-filled air and saw the others in the water.
“Can you reach the bottom?” Alik asked worriedly.
Farrow tried, but felt nothing except water under her boots.
“No, but I can swim!” She took off to her left. Her short, dark hair plastered to her head and swam toward the nearest person.
Alik felt as if he’d been slapped in the back of the head by the next wall of sand that tumbled across the water’s surface. The bodies around him started to stir having felt the razor-sharp shards scrape their exposed skin. Within thirty seconds, all but two were upright and swimming toward each other as much as they were heading to shore. Through nearly closed eyes, Alik saw Maze paddling tirelessly with a bundle on his back. It was Danny. He was burying his face into Maze’s wet body, both small hands gripping the coydog’s fur. Maze didn’t even stop to acknowledge anyone else; he was focused against the storm to get the little boy to safety.
Alik was doing a headcount when he heard someone yell over the wind for help.
He whipped his head around searching for the source of the small voice that seemed to come from every direction.
He chose his nearest guess and after ten furious strokes he nearly barreled through Theo as he Margo and tried to tread water.
“Mom!” Alik called, shaking her by the shoulders.
“I can’t get her to wake up!” Theo screamed over the roar of the storm.
Alik reached around his mother’s shoulders from behind and locked his arm holding her tightly. “This way,” he yelled to Theo and started swimming back to shore, pulling his mother with him. When he could touch the ground, he pushed his mother in front of him determined to get her to safety. Lifting her he ran toward the abandoned vacation homes along the beach. The sandstorm tugged angrily at their sopping clothes, fighting him at every step. Still he ran.
Through squinted eyes he saw the others struggling against the wind as they made their way to shelter. Everyone was disoriented and unable to communicate over the roaring, violent storm, but they all heard the sound of Maze’s sharp barks. Instinctively, they followed the coydog’s sharp cry and converged at the leeward side of the nearest house.
Alik found a side door to the house and grabbed the locked handle. One shove with his shoulder and the deadbolt ripped through the wooden door frame.
He ran into the darkened room. Everyone came spilling in behind him, panting and coughing the desert from their lungs.