Dark Matters - Michelle Diener Page 0,38
going to be difficult anyway.
It took an hour before they found something that resembled a road, and another half hour before a small huddle of what looked like narrow towers loomed out of the mist.
“Turn here,” Bane said in his ear, and Dray turned into a paved lane that led to a garage that was open on both ends, looking out at the escarpment on one side, the sea on the other, although almost nothing was visible now in the thick fog that swirled in blinding patterns in the wind.
He powered the hover down and waited for Lucy to climb off. When she simply sat there, arms still tight around him, he turned to look at her.
She blinked up at him. “Sorry, I can't seem to unclench my hands.”
He covered her hands with his own, warming them, and then carefully eased them apart, then he turned and put his hand at her waist and lifted her up and put her gently on the ground.
She stood, shivering, as he swung off the hover himself.
“What is wrong with her?” he asked Bane, using the Grihan dialect from Xal he'd grown up with so she wouldn't understand him.
“I don't know. I can't see her.” Bane sounded panicked. “What have you done to her?”
“Nothing.” He looked around, feeling a little panicked himself. “Where is the door into the tower?”
“I can't see that, either,” Bane told him, voice going icy. “That's why you're there.”
With a curse, Dray walked toward the cliff side, and saw a narrow path leading to the right. He followed it, amazed at how close to the edge the path was, and found a door set into the stone face of the building.
He tried the door, but it was locked. “Do you have a way to open this up?”
“I'm looking.” Bane's answer was short. “I have found a way into the system, but it's hard to pinpoint the exact house--”
“Open them all then.” Dray turned and strode back to the garage.
Lucy was still standing where he'd left her, hunched over in her Tecran cloak.
He scooped her up, and then nearly dropped her as he realized she weighed far more than he'd been expecting.
He had to heave her a little higher in his arms, and pull her tight against his chest. The walk beside the cliff had him in a light sweat by the time he got to the door. He pushed against it, and it opened, and suddenly they were in a warm, sheltered space.
It smelled slightly strange; the meaty, gamey scent he'd noticed on some of the Tecran he'd come into contact with.
“Where are we?” She was shaking even worse now they were in the warmth of the house and she barely got the words out between chattering teeth.
Bane must have answered her, because she nodded and hunched over, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What do you need?” He didn't bother to hide the panic in his voice.
“Cold.” She rubbed her arms with shaking hands. “Is there a hot shower?”
And then he got it, and he felt a hard, sharp sense of disgust for himself.
He wasn't with a colleague. She didn't have a uniform like his, with temperature regulation. She'd traveled in freezing temperatures with nothing but his own body to protect her from the wind.
And she hadn't said a word.
“Let's find one.” He scooped her up again, bracing himself against her weight this time, and headed up the staircase that curved to his left.
The first level contained a cozy lounge and a kitchen, the second level a bathroom and a bedroom.
He set her down and ran the shower. When steam started billowing, she edged past him, dropping her cloak, and stepped into the hot water with her clothes on.
“Can you find me something else to wear?”
He nodded, backing out and closing the door behind him.
And then turned and leaned back against it, fists clenched, and called himself every insult he could think of.
Getting her out of danger in Fa'allen had been his first priority, and he'd managed that with Bane's help, but after that, his failure to find out what equipment she had, and whether she could cope with the cold--
With a grunt of disgust, he pushed away from the door and began going through the closet set into the curved wall. He chose items that looked like they'd fit and put them on the bed.
He opened the bathroom door a little way and heard the sound of the water still running.
“I've put some things out for you. There's more