Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

35. Simple Works

Mira

Rome answered the knock at the door. We could hear muffled murmuring, then he led a woman and a child into the living room.

"Wow. That was fast." Kerry almost smiled as he stood up.

"Am I not supposed to be here?" The dark-haired woman curled up one eyebrow.

"Yeah, but I only called you yesterday. I didn't think you'd get something together so fast. And I never thought Clem would let you out of his sight." Kerry ushered her into a chair. "Rome, Mira, this is Amanda Greenaway, Clem's wife."

Rome said hello and I made a polite noise and smiled.

"And who is this young lady?" I pointed at her ninja turtle t-shirt. "I can see she has excellent taste."

The little girl grinned.

"Hey, Lilas." Kerry scrubbed her hair with his hand as she fastened herself to his leg. "Everybody, this is Lilas Tyne. Shortcake, say hi to my friends."

After she did, Kerry explained to Rome and me that they'd met the little girl last fall when her warden had rushed her to the Sanctuary's hospital with a shrouder on her neck. He'd wrestled it off her, and Gemma had healed her while Chessie called her soul back to her body. After that scare, Lilas' mother moved them to the Sanctuary.

"We hang out with her on the weekends. Gemma's teaching her to play the piano. And a coupla weeks ago, she ran into trouble with some bullies, so me, Jax and John went to her school one day." Kerry's grin was not nice. "That ended the bullying real quick."

"I bet Gemma fussed at you for scaring the mess outta seven- and eight-year-olds." Rome snorted.

"Yeah, but not too much. She likes Lilas, too."

"Kerry!"

Lilas jumped up and down to get his attention. He scooped her up so she sat in the crook of his arm, and she patted his scarred cheek with her chubby little hand.

"I found her," she chirped. "I found Gemma!"

"Oh, yeah?" His eyes lit up like bioluminescent plankton, which was both wicked and alarming. "You found her in dreamland?"

"Yep! I can take you to her."

"That's a very child-like view of the process." Amanda's smile was a tad smug, I thought. "You will not go anywhere physically. Lilas will project your unconscious mind into Gemma's, much like a hologram, only a psychic one. It will seem real enough, however."

Kerry and Lilas looked at her, then back at each other.

"Keep explaining it your way, kid," he rumbled. "Simple works for me."

She giggled, which made him almost smile.

"Lilas, will you be able to see everything in the dream, too?" Rome plunked down on the sofa beside me.

"Yeth." Her lisp from her missing front teeth made her even more adorable.

"So go easy on the kissing, Kerry. Little eyes will be watching you," I said to embarrass him, then grinned as dark red skated across his cheekbones.

"Eew! Why would you kith Gemma?" Lilas' little face screwed up into a grimace of disgust.

I laughed and even Rome chuckled before Amanda took over the conversation.

"Be that as it may, this lark comes with a warning. Neither of you will know the content of Gemma's dream until you enter it. The possibility exists that it will reflect her current situation, which could be ... upsetting, to say the least. Are you prepared for that?"

My amusement died quick. Hadn't even thought of that. Despite Mingo's reassurances, that djinni could be doing anything to the poor girl, which was detestable in and of itself, but Kerry was crazy enough not knowing. If he knew for a fact she was being tortured... Well, the Big Apple might become the Fried Apple.

I wiggled closer to Rome and he obligingly dropped his arm around my shoulders.

"If it means I get to see Gemma and talk to her, I'll handle it." Kerry tilted his chin up and narrowed his eyes. "I'll do anything I have to do to see her."

"Can we be sure Darius hasn't handed her over to his master?" Rome pulled me closer until I was snug against his side, my shoulder in his armpit. "For all we know Hubler's already—"

"We'd know if he had," Amanda cut him off. "From every corner of the world, our sources and operatives report the prince's bounty still stands. Also, the Diabolical would flaunt such a victory in our faces."

"I'll make sure when I talk to her." Kerry blew out a heavy breath and his eyes bounced from Amanda to Lilas. "You can pull me out at any time, right? I don't wanna get trapped or anything."

"Yeth."

"Uh, I'm thinking there are some things in your memory bank that a kid shouldn't see." Rome raised an eyebrow at Kerry.

"Heh. There are some things in there no one should see." The good side of Kerry's mouth hiked up. "You hear that, Lilas? Stay out of my memories. They'll give you nightmares."

"No problem."

"So, do we need to wait until I fall asleep? And how do we know if Gemma's asleep at the same time?"

"She ith," Lilas confirmed.

"Want me to knock you out, buddy?" Rome held up his big fist.

"I have a better way." Amanda waited until Kerry looked at her, then flicked her fingers at him. "Sleep."

White glitter frosted his face and he woulda face-planted on the carpet if Rome hadn't moved in a blur and eased him down to the floor.

Lilas settled beside him, held his hand, and closed her eyes.

"And now," Amanda murmured, "we wait."