Firewalker (Worldwalker 2)

Lily could guess what it was—enriched uranium, which had been made in the laboratories of Lillian’s college. Chenoa used the tunnel women to pass the uranium from city to city and then into the Outlands where she and her two acolytes, Hakan and Keme, put it into the thirteen bombs. And she never told the women how dangerous it could be. All this time Lily had sided with Outlanders, wanting to believe that they were pure victims who were blameless and noble. There were no good guys anymore.

Lily felt Rowan put his hand on her arm, startling her out of her thoughts. She smiled at him warmly. At least Rowan was still pure and good. He had no idea about what Chenoa and Alaric had done to these women.

I know this is hard, but you have to be strong, Lily. They need help.

It’s okay. I can handle it.

Lily passed on Rowan’s instructions and then started approaching the contaminated women, trying to find even a scrap of undamaged DNA. She couldn’t help but think of Lillian and she didn’t want Rowan to know. Lillian had used the same words Rowan had. She’d said “tipping point” when she talked about her strange illness with Captain Leto, and now Lily knew for certain what that illness was—radiation poisoning. This was how Lillian was dying. Slowly. Painfully.

Lily and her mechanics walked through the medical camp, but very few of the women could be saved. The children were even worse. All of them were under the age of two, and all of them suffered from heart-wrenching birth defects. Lily tried to be respectful, but more than once she had to turn her face away or she knew she’d start crying.

“I can’t think of a worse way to die,” Una said quietly when they had regrouped.

“I think I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life,” Breakfast said, agreeing with her.

“Did you find anyone with healthy cells?” Rowan asked. His expression was stormy with anger, but Lily knew it wasn’t because these people rejected him. He needed to be angry. Rowan couldn’t allow himself to be paralyzed by sadness right now or to get insulted by the prejudice that surrounded him. He had to stay focused and find a way to save these people.

“I got two, maybe three,” Breakfast said.

“Three,” Una said.

“One,” Lily said, looking down.

“I only saw one, too,” Tristan said, looking at Lily.

“I got two,” Rowan said. “Were any of them children?” Everyone shook his or her head. “I didn’t think so. We need to collect clean tissue samples—no contamination or it will be a disaster,” Rowan said.

Tristan looked around at the filthy conditions of the med camp. “That’s not going to be easy.”

Rowan turned to Breakfast. “See what you can get from Riley. We need nine, maybe ten, sterile metal rods that are slightly sharpened on one end and about that big.” Rowan held up his forefinger and thumb to indicate about two and a half inches. “Breakfast and Una are going to swipe the inside of their cheeks and collect some cells from the people who might be saved. Don’t collect cells from an ulcer. If you have any problems finding undamaged skin inside their mouths, let me know and we’ll take blood instead.”

“Got it,” Una said. Breakfast and Una left them to get what they needed from Riley.

“Tristan, you’re with me,” Rowan said. “We’ll set up for the ritual.”

“What do I do?” Lily asked.

“Gather your strength,” Rowan replied. He led her to one of the barrel fires and sat her down on a small stool beside it. He met her eyes and let his glamour drop for just a moment so she could see his true face. He looked worried. “You’re going to need it.”

Lily sat next to the fire, staring at the women, who were staring back at her. She could feel their distrust and awe. They hated witches, but at the same time they had spent their whole lives ruled by them. Old habits like respect and fear die hard. Their stares made Lily uncomfortable, but it didn’t take too long for Tristan to come back for her.

“We have a tent set up,” Tristan said. He handed Lily a white silk slip that was a little dingy and slightly frayed at the hem. “Rowan said to put this on and we’re to meet him there.”

“You want me to strip right here?” Lily said, looking around. There wasn’t much light down in the tunnels, but Lily was still exposed.

“This ain’t Nordstrom’s. I doubt they have fitting rooms,” Tristan replied, shrugging. Lily glared at him and he started looking around. “Wait,” he said. He picked a filthy tarp off the ground and held it up, blocking Lily against a wall.

“I don’t believe this,” Lily grumbled, and then stripped as quickly as she could behind the meager screen Tristan had created.

Tristan carried her clothes while Lily shoved her bare feet back into her unlaced boots. She clomped along behind him, her arms crossed over her nearly naked frame as they went to the tent.

It was already sweltering inside the small space. A fire blazed and a pot full of water rested on top of the glowing embers. Rowan’s shirt was off, and he was stirring something inside the pot. He used tongs to pull a now-sterilized sheet of metal out of the boiling water and laid it to dry by the fire.

“Get the tissue samples from Breakfast and Una,” Rowan told Tristan, who left Lily and Rowan in the tent alone together. Rowan was silent

as he placed a single knife on a square of black silk in front of him. He looked at Lily.

“This is blood ritual,” he said quietly.