don’t think so. Randolph genuinely seemed to want to do something to fix whatever’s going on. Since he was attacked by another Full Blood, he may be on the outside of this whole thing. Maybe the others are looking for you.”
Cecile shook her head. “No. They’re going to stay there until the Breaking Moon rises. I was born there. That means it’s a spot where the energy collects. That’s how I was turned into . . . this.”
“From what I’ve heard, it’s a war zone and getting worse.” Abruptly, Cole stopped and straightened up as if smacked in the face. “Is that why Randolph wants you hidden from them? Because you’d be drawing some of this fire or energy as well. And if you have a share of it, then that means there’s less for everybody else.”
When he looked at Cecile, he stared into her eyes intently. Even if she’d shifted into her full, raging form, he wouldn’t have backed down, because his next questions were too important. “What happens if one of them gets it all?”
“Then however bad the Full Bloods are now,” she said, “they’ll get a whole lot worse.”
Silence fell upon the camp.
A gentle wind drifted by, fanning the flames of the campfire and sending a much-needed chill down Cole’s back.
“What about that thing in your arm?” Cole asked. She looked at him intently, but he merely waited patiently. That was enough to give her the strength to continue.
“I think it draws even more of the power to it,” she explained while rubbing a spot on her arm. “It’s hard to explain, but it feels like it’s getting hotter. I don’t think any of the power is going into me, though. It’s just getting hotter like it’s collecting something.”
“Randolph wanted you to come to us to hide you,” Cole said, more as a way to let that idea roll around inside him. “There’s another one of those things somewhere. He was looking for it at the place where I was being held. Can you find it?”
“I don’t even know what to look for!” she cried. “Randolph protected me, but he wants me to give in to this monster inside of me. You guys haven’t tried to kill me yet, even though you probably had a chance. I don’t want to be a part of any of this.”
Jessup crossed his arms and studied her carefully. “So Randolph is after both of these stones to collect this energy or just to keep it away from the other Full Bloods?”
“All he told me was that the others can’t be allowed to get more powerful than they already are. Once things got past a certain point, he said all of it would be wiped away.”
“All of what?”
Glancing back and forth between the two Skinners, she said, “All of everything.”
Chapter Eighteen
Atoka, Oklahoma
The basement beneath the autobody shop was well-insulated against the outside world. While down there, Paige felt removed from everything that had brought her to that spot. The only things left were the starkly lit room next to the storage space, a few cots, and a couple of dirt walls. The Mongrels had dispersed to scout for reinforcements and not yet returned, leaving Paige and Nadya with Milosh. Treatments from the medical kit meant none of the wounded were going to change into Half Breeds, but Milosh was still missing an arm. The remains of that appendage had been cleaned, wrapped, and tied off to stop the bleeding long enough for the Amriany healing serum to be administered. After that, he passed out. In fact, all three of them had passed out for a few hours of some of the worst sleep Paige ever experienced.
At various times throughout the night Nadya spoke to some of her people on a cell phone. Even though Paige couldn’t understand the Amriany language, Nadya’s tone of voice bounced between angry and desperate.
The Mongrels came and went, and the Full Bloods seemed to be doing the same. Rather than run after every shapeshifter that made a sound, Paige tended to her own business. The kit she had with her was about the size of a small cosmetics bag. It was a length of leather wide enough to carry a few simple tools, some tubes of premixed necessities, and some ingredients to mix up emergency doses of healing serum. When rolled up tightly, it fit perfectly beneath a loop that had been stitched into her belt just behind her left hip.