Fragments - Book One of the Missing

Chapter 49 - Rowan

The dreams were terrible. All of the faces. The faces of the Missing swam in front of her eyes. Now she knew what was happening to them, how they were being shipped off like cattle to serve or be used. Most of them probably died, holed up in glass cages, having the life sucked out of them slowly.

She felt sick to her stomach. The thought of it happening to Olive was too painful to bear. But would it have been any better if she was used as a weapon for the Officials? For Darus's army? At least she would still be alive, but she would still be used and abused.

Then again, Rowan couldn't afford to think like that. She chastised herself as she rolled out of bed. She cursed every inch of her body, stiff from the pain. The apartment felt particularly empty in the dark, just one lone light shining dimly. Her feet touched the cold ground, her eyes sought the familiar.

She found Taniel sitting on the kitchen counter under the grey light attempting to stitch a gruesome wound in his side. She gulped back her repulsion at the blood over his hands, shirt and counter. His hand was shaking.

"Do you need help?"

His hand fell heavily onto his leg and he let go of a breath. He nodded. Rowan took the needle without a word and gingerly pinched his skin together. She was careful to keep her gift controlled, anchored in herself. He sucked in a quick breath.

"Your hands are cold."

She ignored him and continued. The act was surprisingly intimate and made her far more nervous that she should have been. When she was done, she smoothed a wet cloth over and around the sutures before moving to the sink to clean up.

Not daring to look at him while wiping her hands clean, she stared at the sink. "Scooter?"

She waited. He didn't respond, so she turned to look at him. He shook his head glumly. His voice was raw with emotion. "I went back once I brought you home. There was nothing left. Just ashes and bone." He put a bloody hand to his face and a choking sound escaped his throat. He was sobbing, she realized with guilt.

"But he could have made it out of there, couldn't he?"

Taniel didn't answer her. They both knew likelihood was slim to none.

"I am so sorry, Taniel. I wish we could have saved him." She remembered his collapsed body on the floor. The carnage they left behind him. There was no way he could have gotten out.

"And the Missing behind the glass?"

Hi could only shake his head. Tears slipped over his lashes and down his cheeks in small rivulets.

Taniel's chest heaved with sobs for a few minutes more, the only sound in their bleak loft. She looked at him helplessly, unable to find the right words to say. They both knew what real loss felt like, and both knew there was nothing you could say.

Eventually his sobs subsided and he looked up at her, his warm brown eyes shining. "Don't be sorry, Rowan. I chose."

"We all did."

Their foreheads touched as the leaned into each other for comfort. She stayed that way for who knows how long. Somehow, having him there, despite all they had lost and all he had done was a small solace.

"It wasn't all in vain though, Taniel." She said, softly, afraid to disrupt their fragile peace. "I think I found Olive."