Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

16. Luminous as the Moon

Chance

She's infuriating! I glared at the road. Absolutely infuriating!

I hadn't done or said anything that could have been construed as even impolite - and Chessie Catt had been treating me like I was a lecher since the moment we met!

At least I knew I wasn't the only one she sharpened her tongue on. She'd taken a bite out of 'big brother' Kerry with all the haughtiness of a queen. Even after he'd scolded her for it, she'd continued to look down her nose at me, which was impressive considering I was six inches taller.

Out of nowhere, my memory drew up a face, and a sad smile tugged at my mouth. Zoe Becerra had been a prickly porcupine, too.

After Rome had brought Zoe on board as part of our small team, it had taken me a while to figure out why. Sure, she'd displayed talent, but her attitude had been as caustic as acid. It humbled me to realize Rome had seen through her act before I had. She'd been with us for a month before I'd thought to use my side skill of empathy to "feel" what she did.

I'd touched her shoulder and the intensity of her pain had knocked flat on my keister.

Although Zoe was not a pleasant person and her tragic death was mostly due to her own pigheadedness, she had taught me to look beyond the surface. Shields came in all shapes and forms, after all.

I blinked.

"You're doing it on purpose, aren't you?" I blurted.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're deliberately baiting me." Committed to the conversation now, I plowed ahead. "Why? Are you nervous? I won't hurt you and I gave Kerry my word that nothing else would, either."

"I'm not nervous," she sneered.

"Then are you afraid?"

"No." The word had icicles hanging off it.

"Okay." Since I could hardly expect her to confide in a stranger, I'd let it go for now. "Look, I don't want you to be uncomfortable the whole mission, so if there's anything I can do to ease your mind—"

"I'll let you know." If her voice grew any colder, ice cubes were going to fall out of her mouth. "Thank you for your concern."

I reached out with my power - and a hundred wasps stung me. At least, that's how it felt.

Sometimes, I hate being right.

"Why didn't you ever learn to drive?" I asked.

"Why do you want to know?" she shot back.

"I'm making small talk. Conversation helps pass the time on a long drive."

"What did you give the sheba?" She dropped her head so that her hair hid her face. "As collateral for this car."

"What does that have to do with—"

"You want to know about me, you can tell me something about you. A fair exchange of information."

"Hardly fair." I rolled my eyes. "Not when you can read everything about a person with one glance."

"You can do the same thing with empathy." Her tone was scathing, but then she gave in a little. "I try not to. I really do. I stare over people's shoulders or at the sky or something, and most people only ... oh, I guess 'flicker' is a good enough description, either too self-contained or free of trauma or whatever. They're easy to ignore. Sometimes, though, I run into someone like Kerry, who's a supernova. I can't help but look."
"I know what you mean. After the incident with Gemma on the Appalachian Trail— Wait, do you know about that?"