Chapter Four

He spun from me and took off, leaving me doubling my usual pace to catch up. It seemed that our room was the last in a skinny, cul-de-sac hallway, both sides packed with the same curtained alcoves as ours. The butchered doorways were all evenly spaced and it looked like the whole place was made out of the same rock as my shared room, right down to the purplish-blue light, licking its edges.

"This place is massive," I said, passing through our second cavern. It had to have been at least two stories high, and long enough to leave the fittest man breathless. Unlike the first massive cave, this one had eight corridors sprouting from it, not counting the one we'd just come from.

"This one's the biggest."

I looked up, surprised to see a  smooth white ceiling, completely sealed off. 

"I'm not asking where we are," I knew that question was utterly pointless, "but did you guys build this place or what?"

"Most of the caves were already here when we came, but we've done a lot of work too. Turning tunnels into hallways, adding new rooms, carving out space where we needed more, that kind of thing. " 

"And the white?"

He shrugged. "Paint."

"And you’ve got UV bulbs mixed in with your regulars, giving the place it's blue glow," I said, the pieces clicking into place as I ran my hand along the wall of another hallway. Man made this time.

"Every third bulb. Don't you guys do that on the outside?" 

"Most people can't afford UV bulbs, not with the mercury shortage, and when they can they're hard to find. The majority of us just use normal bulbs for protection. That's what we did until we hooked up with Aaron and the others." 

The mines that provided us with our most needed minerals had sat flush against the mountains of the Diarna, and had been the first places attacked and utterly decimated by the shades. 

"I didn't know they were that hard to come by out there," he said, stopping outside a red curtain. This whole wing had red curtains for doors.

"You mean you guys don't have a shortage?"

He shook his head. "We have a small mine at one of our other nests. The toxicity keeps the population small, but they get the job done. Aaron, you in?"

"Burney? What the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay -"

He pulled the cloth aside and swallowed his words. "What did I tell you?"

"It was bring her or hurt her and I didn't know which you'd rather," Aaron's mini me answered, unfazed by his anger.

"Fine. Get in. Not you Burney. You wait outside."

"Aaron!"

His furious gaze turned on me at the sound of my voice. "What?"

"You know it’s my fault I'm here, not his."

"And?" 

"And he shouldn't get punished for something I made him do! Let him get some food or something. He can come back and get me when he's done."

"Fine." His answer was stony, the word slipped between grit teeth, but at least he'd agreed. Burney gave me a fleeting look of confused thanks then floored it back the way we'd came. 

Aaron stepped aside and let me into his room.

"So you two are related huh?"

 "What gave it away?"

"Is he another cousin?"

"Brother."

I nodded and slipped my hands into my front pockets. Now that I was here, everything I'd planned on saying had fled my brain and nothing else seemed to matter besides the fact that I was here, standing so close to him I could almost reach out and touch him. 

He scratched at the stubble on his chin then walked over to the other side of the room, stopping beside a hand carved table. He pushed in one of the two chairs and closed the open book gracing its polished surface before turning back to face me. 

"Is this room yours?" I ventured, not knowing what else to start with.

"No."

"Whose is it?"

"My mothers."

Right. “Where is she?”

"Dead."

"Sorry," I said, moving over to sit on the edge of the raised bed. It was the first one I'd seen off the floor and the first one big enough to fit more than one person. It has also been slept in. "You’re staying here?”

“Yes. Why are you here?"

So much for pleasantries. "Why didn't you tell me you were a Scorcher?"

"It was none of your business."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"No."

“Why not?"

He folded his arms. "Because it was none of your business."  

"And Lills wasn't yours, but you still forced it from me!"

"I didn't make you do anything."

"No? It was tell you or have you leave us! What kind of choice is that?"

"We wouldn't have left you."

"You said you would!"

"I was angry."

"You're always angry!"

"I'd just killed Stuart!"

I paused a moment, giving myself a fraction of a second to gather myself and cool my frustration before it got too out of hand between us. "Is Dave one too?"

"Yes."

"But he's..."

"Nothing like me?"

I bit my bottom lip, afraid of my next question. "He's not using her, is he?"

"He loves her."

"That doesn't mean he's not using her."

"He'd hurt himself before he ever hurt Lillith." 

"What about you? Are you going to hurt us? Use us as a bargaining tool for whatever nut job plan you've got in the works?"

"You know I wouldn't."

"But I don’t know that! I don’t know anything about you!”

“You know I’ll keep you safe.”

“Safe?” I snorted. “Safe isn’t bringing us to your lunatic friends who can lock Lills up and use her as leverage!" 

"Watch your mouth." 

He said it low, but his tone screamed with warning.

"What's the point? You've already told them everything!" I snapped, halving the distance between us.

"No, I haven't."

"I bet you couldn't wait to get us here and flaunt your find."

"That's not why I brought you."

"Then why!"

"Because you needed help and this was the only place I could get it!"

"Our money means that much to you?"

"You were hurt and it was my fault!"

"Well I'm fine!"

"I didn't know that then! None of us did!"

"What is it with you?" I whispered, my voice losing its momentum. "One minute you’re running to my aid and the next you’re ripping my head off."

"Fayle, don't."

I felt my chest tighten. "Why not?"

"Because you won't like what you hear."

"Try me."

His jaw clenched, but he didn't answer. I shook my head, completely frustrated with him. Did he seriously think he could brush me off that easily? 

"Why didn't you move your arm?" 

The memory of us waking up skin on skin with his arm wrapped around me would be burnt into the forefront of his brain. 

"I didn't want to wake you."

"Why?"

"Because you don't sleep when we're gone."

He knew about that? "Then why did you put it there in the first place?"

"I don't know!" he snapped, springing the last of the stretch between us. 

He stopped just short of me, grabbing hold of my jaw between the bruising fingers of his right hand. I didn't move, I didn't even flinch. If he'd wanted to crush my skull like I knew he could, he would've done it the instant he'd touched me. 

"All I know is that you drive me insane. I want you and it makes me sick. I have a job to do and it doesn't involve you!"

"You don't think I feel the same way?" I hissed back. "You don't think I'm not an anxious mess the entire time you're gone and hating myself for it? I should be focused on Lillith and finding Nick, not whether or not you're going to make it back to me in one piece!"

He stared at me a moment then yanked me forward, his frustrated lips incredibly soft compared to the stubble that clawed my face. His fingertips slid across my jaw to the base of my neck, and then he was gone, gripping the edge of his mothers table on the far side of the room, keeping his rigid back to me.

I touched my fingers to my lips, stunned that kissed me, shattered that he'd pulled away. 

"I'm... I’m gonna go." 

"Fayle -"

"Don't," I said, cutting him off. He could keep his pathetic excuses to himself.