Marked In Flesh (The Others #4) - Anne Bishop Page 0,157

motivational speaker for the Humans First and Last movement. It is also rumored that Scratch had taken a ship bound for Cel-Romano before the hurricane reached the Northeast Region of Thaisia. Initial examination by police medical officers confirm there are signs that Scratch had been in salt water at some point, but they refused to comment about whether the head had been severed by tools or teeth.”

• • •

Vlad took a seat at the big table in the consulate’s meeting room. After hearing the report about Nicholas Scratch, he understood why Stavros Sanguinati had lingered around Toland instead of coming here to assume his position as terra indigene leader of Talulah Falls.

It also explained the backhanded slap Ocean had given Toland. She had been hunting specific prey, and, with Stavros’s help, she had silenced the enemy’s voice.

Now Stavros was on his way to Lakeside, riding in earth native or Intuit trucks that were going in the right direction. It would take a little longer for him to get to Lakeside, but until they were sure the “metal snakes” really would be allowed to run through the wild country during the daylight hours, it was better for the terra indigene to use other means of travel.

Vlad nodded to Agent Greg O’Sullivan, who looked pasty and trembled slightly. Taking a seat, O’Sullivan dropped a folder on the table and muttered, “Gods above and below.”

“Problems?” Vlad asked.

“Plenty to go around.”

Simon, Henry, Lieutenant Montgomery, and Captain Burke walked in, followed by Elliot Wolfgard. The humans took seats on one side of the table; the terra indigene took seats on the other side, with Simon at the head of the table.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Burke said to O’Sullivan.

“I’d rather not consider the alternative to these discussions,” O’Sullivan said grimly. He spoke quietly, but he wasn’t trying to hide his words from all the sharp ears in the room.

Vlad wondered what O’Sullivan had heard—and how he’d heard it.

“I’ve been on the phone for the past hour and have so much information, I’m not sure where to start,” Simon said.

“There is a saying: all roads travel through the woods,” Burke said. “Let’s start there.”

“All right. Trains will be allowed to travel in the Northeast Region, but only during daylight hours.”

“We’ve already put that policy into place. For the most part, the railways have followed it, at least for the passenger trains,” O’Sullivan said. “How is this different?”

“From now on, there is no safety in the dark. The earth natives in the wild country will destroy anything that moves through their territory after dark.”

O’Sullivan frowned. “No safety in the dark. Does that apply to vehicles on the roads?”

Simon nodded.

“So we’re back to closing the stockade gates.” O’Sullivan sighed. “Can people go about their business after dark within the boundaries of land leased to humans?”

Simon hesitated. “Maybe. But humans invaded the wild country and erased the boundaries, so now there are . . . gaps . . . in your stockades that you can’t mend, and I don’t think some kinds of Elders are going to stay away from the human cities anymore.”

“Sounds like cities are going to have to establish, and enforce, curfews,” Burke said.

Vlad noticed that neither Burke nor Montgomery mentioned that police officers, of necessity, would be out after dark to enforce the curfews and other human laws. What about the humans who drove ambulances or put out fires?

No way to tell. Not yet. But Vlad was sure of one thing: no matter how hard or terrifying life would be for humans in Thaisia from now on, it was going to be much, much worse for the people living in the Cel-Romano Alliance of Nations after Namid’s teeth and claws retaliated for the deaths of the shifters as well as the humans’ attempt to claim a part of the wild country.

“What about travel between regions?” Montgomery asked.

Simon shrugged. “I only know the new rules for the Northeast.”

That wasn’t quite true, Vlad thought. Because of the drawing Hope made, Simon and I—and Jackson—know more about what will happen between regions than anyone else. “You already know that lines of communication between regions have been severed,” he told O’Sullivan. “You can no longer call, send an e-mail, or even send a telegram to a person or business in another region. But there has been no sign of train tracks or roads being destroyed at regional boundaries that would deny travel or the flow of mail and merchandise between regions. I’m guessing that travel is still