Empowered (Unbound, Book 6)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Aside from fear, all I felt from Aaron was defeat that triggered a complete disregard for life. His exhaustion made logic and voluntary movement impossible, making the trek across the rocks outside the cave treacherous. The girls' memory loss stole her ability to stop the storm. I tried talking her through, hoping she worked similarly to me, but eventually took her hand to sense her abilities and try coax it to do what we needed.

The rain finally stopped, replaced by fog. Though our vision was improved somewhat, the rocks remained slick. I was relieved when we reached the valley without injury. It was good timing—Aaron passed out a few steps away from the rubble we had navigated. Quickly adjusting, we put one arm over my shoulder and one over Zach's. After dragging his feet a short distance, the girl insisted on carrying Aaron's legs.

After a gazillion years climbing rocks and five minutes with all three of us having the burden of Aaron's weight, we reached the car. The girl sat in back with Aaron and Onyx between them, and Zach sat in front with me driving. I blasted the heat as soon as we turned the car on, still soaked and freezing from before the rain ceased.

I plugged my phone into the charger and sighed. "There's still no service."

"Just drive straight until we reach a road," Zach said. "Eventually it will lead somewhere we can figure out where we are and the path home."

"No. To Wickenton. That's where the Council is, and we need to get these two back with their families and checked out by a doctor."

"Are you coming then?"

"I am still thinking about it." I glanced in the rearview mirror and shifted into drive. As we began driving through the dark, we were jostled each time we went over bumps and dugouts. "Everyone put their seatbelt on."

*****

A half hour later, I found a two-way road with no shoulder to turn onto. It didn't have any lights, keeping the creepy dark backdrop of a lone vehicle driving down a highway in a scary movie vibe. As compensation, it was well paved and I no longer felt like my teeth were being jostled out of my mouth.

After ten minutes, my phone beeped and the screen lit up with notifications. I glanced at Zach, holding his gaze for a minute, then nodded as I looked back at the road. Though I hadn't seen another vehicle, I couldn't stop. It took another fifteen minutes to find a safe spot by way of a gravel side road. I pulled the vehicle over, parking in the field just beside it.

"Is that all social media?" Zach asked.

I grabbed my phone and rolled my eyes. "Mostly texts, some podcast or YouTube notifications to things I subscribe to. Lots of artsy stuff."

"That's a thing?"

"Yeah, Zach. That's a thing. You can learn almost anything online."

"It probably isn't the right time to—"

"Relax. I am going into the map to figure out where to go. We can't just drive around and hope our gas doesn't run out."

"Between us, I'm sure we wouldn't be stranded."

"Personal gain."

"Not if it's to ensure these two are helped."

I snorted and bit my lip as I looked up Wickenton in the map app. It didn't populate. I searched for the small town five minutes from Wickenton, finding success.

"Oh, yay! We've been heading in the right direction."

"How long?"

"A couple hours."

"Do we need gas?"

I snorted. "Nope. I visualized our escape ride with a full tank."

I put the Car Play on so the map would be visible on the display screen, then chose a mellow but happy playlist so the trip wouldn't drag with small talk or silence. I didn't check if anyone needed to go to the washroom. All-in-all, we were delayed no more than five minutes and were back on the road. I contemplated calling Calin, but I wasn't ready, especially with an audience. A ball of fear filled my chest and, though I knew it wasn't likely, I feared he was with Duvessa, wouldn't understand, or didn't care to know anymore. As much as possible, I pushed the ideas away and concentrated on the music and the road, singing along internally so the words of the artists replaced the ones in my head.