Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

41. Bigfoots?!

Chance

When Spin and Monkey came around the corner, I waved one arm. He waved back, so I ducked my head into the open window of the SUV.

"They're here," I told Chessie.

When Rome had called me and said there was a change of plans, my first thought was that Monkey had taken a turn for the worse. He'd reassured me that she was fine, then explained that Spin and Monkey would be joining us on our assignment because theirs had hit a wall.

So we'd headed back to the city to pick them up at LaGuardia.

"Good to see you, bro!" Spin caught me in a one-armed guy hug as Chessie climbed out of the passenger seat.

"You, too." I grinned and thumped his back, then turned to Chessie. "Chessie, this is Spin and—"

Chessie let out a hurt little sound, not really a word, and ignored Spin and me in her rush to reach Monkey. Hugging the older girl, Chessie tutted and coated her in power, and Monkey's knees gave out. Despite her pitiful thinness, Monkey was half a foot taller than Chessie and all arms and legs. As Chessie struggled to hold her up, I moved to help, but Spin was faster. He swung Monkey into his arms like a princess and carried her a few feet away.

"Hey! What are you doing to her?" he demanded.

"Helping her!" Chessie snapped. "Can't you see that she ripped up inside? She's full of great, gaping holes, and none of you noticed?"

"We're not transitionists," I reminded her. "Gemma nearly drained herself at City of the Future, then I did the same at the safehouse, but healers are limited to physical injuries."

"Put her in the back seat," Chessie ordered Spin. "You can sit up front with Chance while I do what I can. Hopefully I can repair enough to at least stop her pain."

"She's hurting? I— I didn't know. I couldn't tell. I should have known! She's had nightmares every night!"

Spin's eyes grew wild and wide, signaling a meltdown was imminent.

"Hey, buddy. Calm down," I told him. "We knew she was traumatized, but she flat-out refused to go to the Sanctuary with Gina, remember? We did the best we could with what we had."

"Not good enough." He shook his head. "Our best wasn't good enough. Not if she's hurting!"

"Do what Chessie said, okay? She can help. She's really good."

Chessie had climbed into the SUV and now held her hands out like a mother wanting her baby. So Spin set Monkey in the seat, buckled her in, and watched as Chessie wrapped her arms and her power around his lady.

I put my hand on his shoulder and was a little shocked to feel the fine tremors running through him. I didn't need to call up the empathy, though, to figure out what was wrong with him.

Guilt had him on the rack.

He did or said something in his Spin-typical way, and now he's ashamed of it. I hope Monkey makes him pay penance for a good long while. He gets away with being a jerk far too often.

Then Chessie's words sprang into my mind: "Being a jerk is a form of shielding, too, you know."

Considering how vulnerable a new relationship made you feel, I could guess his anxiety had driven him to be callous with Monkey, and now his conscience was flaying him for it.

That's penance enough, I guess.

"Come on, buddy." I squeezed his shoulder. "I'll drive while you keep watch."