Hunger (Gone 2)

“How are you at keeping secrets?” Diana asked. She made her voice casual, but she stared hard into Orsay’s eyes, hoping she would get the message, hoping she knew how great a danger she was in.

Orsay blinked. She was about to say something, then blinked again. “I never told anyone anything I saw,” Orsay said.

Caine said, “Interesting question, Diana.”

Diana shrugged. “A good spy needs to be discreet.”

When Caine looked blank, Diana added quickly, “I mean, I assume that’s what you’re thinking. We have Bug, who can sneak into a place, maybe overhear some conversation. But Orsay could actually get into people’s dreams.” When Caine’s expression remained skeptical, Diana added, “I wonder what Sam dreams about.”

“No way,” Drake said. “No way. You heard her, she gets anyone’s dreams who happens to be nearby. That means she’s in our heads, too. No way.”

“I doubt she wants any part of your dreams, Drake,” Diana said.

Drake uncoiled his arm and lightning quick wrapped it around Orsay, who yelped and froze stiff. “I brought her in. She’s mine. I say what happens to her.”

“Just what is it you want to do with her?” Diana asked.

Drake grinned. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll cook her and eat her. Meat is meat, right?”

Diana glanced at Caine, hoping to see some sign of revulsion, some acknowledgment that Drake was going too far. But Caine just nodded as if he was considering Drake’s claim. “Lets find out what her range is first, huh? Orsay: How far away can you be and still get someone’s dream?”

Orsay chattered her answer, shaking with fear. “Only like…like…like from the ranger station and the nearest part of the campground.”

“How much distance is that?”

She tried to shrug, but Drake was squeezing her, like a python, taking advantage of every exhalation to tighten his coils. “Maybe two hundred feet,” Orsay said.

“Mose’s cabin,” Diana said. “It’s twice that far from the campus.”

“I said no,” Drake threatened. “She was in my head.”

“We already know it’s a cesspool in there,” Diana said.

“This is uncool, Caine,” Drake said. “You owe me. You need me. Don’t mess with me on this.”

“Don’t mess with me?” Caine echoed. That was the step too far.

Caine jumped up, knocking his chair over backward. He raised both hands, palms out. “You really want to challenge me, Drake? I can blow you through the wall into the next room before you can unwrap yourself from that girl.”

Drake flinched. Started to answer, but he never had a chance. Caine had gone from calm and contained to crazy in a heartbeat.

“You stupid thug,” Caine raged. “You think you can replace me? You think if I was out of the way you’d be able to go down the hill and take out Sam and the rest? You couldn’t even beat Orc! You nobody!” Caine screamed, spit flying from a mouth moving as fast as it could but still not fast enough for the fury within.

The blood had drained from Drake’s hard face. His eyes burned furiously, his arm twitched, almost out of control. He looked like he might choke on his own bottled rage.

“I’m the brains!” Caine shrieked. “I’m the brains! I’m the brains and the power, the true power, the four bar, the one. I am the one. Me! Why do you think the Darkness kept me for three days? Why do you think…Why do you think it’s still in my…in my…”

There was an abrupt change in Caine’s voice. For a second it was as if he was sobbing, not raging. He caught himself and righted his voice, swallowed hard. He looked unsteady and reached for a chairback to hold himself up.

Then he saw the not-quite-pitying look in Diana’s eyes, and no doubt the shark’s cold gleam of triumph on Drake’s face as well.

Caine roared, an incoherent, lunatic howl. He extended his hands, aiming down and to either side of Drake.

There was an earsplitting sound, stones ripped apart, as the floor expl

oded upward in a geyser of shattered floor tile and dirt.

The pillar of rock and debris shot up, slammed into the already-scarred and damaged cathedral ceiling and tumbled back down again, a rain of gravel, as Caine’s howl fell silent.