She Who Sees Through Darkness

Part Twenty-Nine

The nine-inch blade sank into the bear's eye socket. He reeled, toppling towards her like a mountain of white fur. Katrina spun, throwing herself over Payaa. Stars lit up behind her eyes as something heavy landed on her back.

I thought he'd crush me, she thought, rolling over. The naked human corpse that had hit her lay in the snow, Shawn's knife sticking out of one popped eye. A direct hit through the brain. She'd killed him instantly. Magic needed a living conduit to enter the world. His second form had evaporated within a second of his death.

Magic? Payaa rolled back onto her feet, fighting a wave of dizziness. Her right eye had swollen shut. Blood dripped from her face where the bear had clawed her. Her good eye surveyed the body. What . . . what is that?

A shapeshifter. Her Indigo training screamed that this was wrong, that she had to preserve the Seal, that Payaa would be killed if she knew. But Payaa deserved to know the reason she'd been created . . . and Katrina had a feeling the wyvern would prove harder to kill than an agent might think. I can tell you want he wanted and why he was here, but this is the most dangerous knowledge in the world. You could be killed for knowing this.

Tell me. Payaa's mind was firm, resolute. I deserve to know.

Katrina swallowed and let the barrier she'd built around her thoughts dissolve. Her thoughts slid into Payaa's, mingling freely so that for a moment she couldn't tell if she had wings or arms. Everything she'd tried to hide bubbled up, in no particular order. Payaa felt cuffs on her wrists and tasted the bile in her throat, but the memories seemed to shrink in the face of what they'd just done.

Katrina began piling snow over Vasilyev's body. Tiny muscles in her chest tickled as they dragged bits of her ribs back into position. The sight of his limp body sent a wave of guilt rushing through her. He'd had a life and a family on the outside. He hadn't been cut out for spywork, and she'd pushed him too far. I was playing my role, part of her said, and I was fueling my addiction said another, and both were equally true.

Payaa sorted through Katrina's memories, building a picture of Indigo in her own mind. This force of yours. This magic. It changes everything, Payaa thought. It's like an old myth come to life. Harper created us for evil? Payaa's own memories rose up: Dr. Harper cradling her as a whelp, Dr. Harper standing mute on the sidelines while the coats injected her with reproductive hormones.

She is evil, Katrina thought. She says I met her once before, when she was younger, and she hates me for that. I think she hoped the transfer might kill me.

Dr. Harper doesn't let personal feelings interfere with her work, Payaa said. She's told me many times she loves me and my siblings. It doesn't stop her from letting them inject us with whatever drug they choose or shock us when we disobey them. This news of yours is startling, but not entirely unexpected. I won't abandon my world for you, but I can help you cross that river. It's the least I owe you. Payaa tried to stand, but her tail didn't rise at the right time, and she toppled over onto her chest. Katrina felt her head swim.

"You have a concussion. He hit you too hard." If Payaa couldn't walk, how could she fly? The wyvern needed urgent medical care.

Katrina pulled the knife from Vasilyev's eye, wiped it on the snow, and set it down atop the mound. If he'd secured his position as the only spy in Wyvernhall, what would he have done about the wyverns when Indigo moved to take down Dr. Harper? The wyverns didn't know about the Seal, or what they'd been created to do. They might look like creatures from legend, but they were scientific creations, with no magic of their own. Indigo had no reason to harm them. But if you couldn't hear the wyverns speak, it would be so easy to ignore the souls behind their eyes and see dangerous, threatening creatures instead.

Payaa wasn't going anywhere; Katrina still had a shot at making it to MountOrso. The wyvern wasn't that heavy; a group of Descendants like the ones waiting for her could easily drag her to the cargo plane. She'd be a full agent again, with all the prestige of having carried out a successful undercover operation, and even though she didn't have magic, she had preternaturally good aim and enough regeneration to pass. She could have the life she always dreamed of.

And all she had to do was destroy one more life. The life of the woman who'd just saved her. My brother's family. Emma and Kyle. Vasilyev. She'd hurt so many people in her quest to become an agent once more. Had that served the greater good? Would dragging Payaa away from her life, her family, and the only home she'd ever known serve the greater good? How could any good come from an act so cruel? There had to be another way. A way to bring Dr. Harper down and end the Valve's plot without abandoning the wyverns to be destroyed.

And then she saw it.

"I'm coming back with you," Katrina said. "I can be your brain and eyes, and fly your body."

Are you crazy? Payaa asked. Katrina pressed her thoughts outward, exposing herself. She felt naked, but at least Payaa could know her intentions were honest. What about your job at Indigo?

"That job can wait. Indefinitely." She tried to smile. Please don't reject me. "Indigo will want a new spy here. I've got a feeling they'd prefer a pair of spies, commanding Dr. Harper's air force. And when those spies bring down Dr. Harper, Indigo will owe them a debt."

Payaa understood. They'll have to protect us.

A wave of warmth washed over her at Payaa's 'us'. Katrina thought of the flash drive in her room. Shawn would take her apologies easier via email. "Let's fly."

Katrina pulled the rope from her pack and tied herself firmly to the saddle before starting; she didn't know if she'd lose control of herself while in Payaa's mind. She drifted, lifting Payaa's tail like a marionette's. They moved awkwardly, at first, as Katrina tried to recreate Payaa's stride one step at a time. But then it all came together, and her brain balanced Payaa's wings and threw them into the sky.

You know the way? Payaa asked, struggling to hold back her urge to fight for her body.

I've got the stars. The angles blazed in her eyes, just like when she fired a gun. She knew what they looked like here and what they looked like in Wyvernhall. That was enough.

Katrina slipped deeper into Payaa's mind, only leaving a spark of attention in her own body to look through her eyes. Payaa's thoughts swirled with pain, fear, and confusion, but one thing was clear: she was glad Katrina was there. And as Katrina wasn't holding anything back, Payaa knew her pilot was glad as well.

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