Worlds Apart

Chapter 28

R EU N I O N S • & • R E V O L U T I O N S

Daisha had lost count of how long she had been waiting. The lights buzzed, the voices whispered, but Elin did not reappear. The hallway was cramped and narrow, the sandstone rougher than their 'house's', gritty. It was streaked in places as if someone had tried in vain to wipe away decades of grime. Yet through the veil of abandonment, Daisha could tell the building had once been grand. The corridors leading here had been vast, the ceiling so high it disappeared into the darkness.

There were no windows in here. She wished she could tell the time.

The doorknob squeaked and the dim reflections on the unpolished bronze shifted. A young head poked out, the one that had pulled Elin in before locking Daisha out with a weary determination in his dark eyes. She had had her doubts he could help then, just as she did now—he looked Riona's age, for God's sake—and she held her breath.

"It'll take a while," he said finally. He ran a hand through his scraggly straw hair, starry patterns on his finger. There was something familiar about his face, but she couldn't place what it was. "She's stable but it won't go away in one day. She might have to spend most of her time under until it does—she would be in too much pain otherwise."

Daisha nodded numbly. Was that good news?

"Was it—kadin sickness?"

"Uh—yeah. Yeah," he nodded absently. "Happens with too much kadin exposure. I guess you guys coming through a very suddenly activated Gate might have done that."

"Or the Gate's activation itself."

Daisha leapt to her feet at the voice. A thin, wiry woman in her fifties stood in the middle of the hallway, the low murky ceiling lights shooting her towering shadow down the hall.

The woman tilted her head, remarking, "It's a messy mechanism, that one."

Her dark features were stern, the lines near her eyes set. She reminded Daisha of one of her senior officers at the London station. She had a badge of some sort on her lapel—two guns with sun rays emerging from where they crossed.

The kid inclined his head. "Ma'am," he said, before shooting Daisha a last inquisitive look and disappearing behind the splintered edges of the door. The soft click echoed in the narrow space.

"Are you the leader here?"

She gave a sharp nod. "Teia Yio. Charmed to meet you, Miss Vancleave." The faint crow's feet near her familiar dark eyes deepened, as did her smile lines. Had she been smiling, Daisha knew it would be reminiscent of a particular young man she had met less than a month ago.

"Family business, is it?"

The grin did appear then, exactly how Daisha had imagined it. She swallowed her shock as Teia said, "Right, you're already acquainted with my twins. I'm sure I shouldn't be surprised, having been regaled with tales of your skills."

"Sorry?"

Teia nodded her head towards the door. "Your friend is in capable hands, I promise. Celnis is young but very skilled. He might become one of the best in the country when he grows older." She turned and spoke over her shoulder: "Come with me. Someone has been very excited to reunite with you."

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Daisha felt stupid. It had been such a stupid thought. Stupid, stupid. The dead never came back to life. She shouldn't be disappointed. She should be happy the kid was alright—that this beaming girl with a bionic arm hanging heavily where her arm should have been was alright.