City of Light (Outcast 1)

I shrugged and collected my coffee. “Mom was something of an electronics wizard. She used to find and repair old machines, and then sell them. That’s how we survived.”

Once again the lies slipped easily from my tongue. But it wasn’t as if I could tell the truth—that with eternity stretching before me and little else to do, I’d read not only every scrap of material left behind in the bunker, but whatever I could find and steal from Central.

“So where did you live?”

“Everywhere. Nowhere. We moved around a lot, and most of it is a blur, to be honest.” I gave him a thin smile. “Thanks to me, we weren’t made that welcome in most places.”

His gaze slipped down my length, a brief, judgmental caress. “You do not have the scent of a human, so even if you are what you say you are, that should not have been a problem.”

“‘Shouldn’t’ doesn’t equate to ‘didn’t,’ ranger.” I walked across to one of the padded benches lining the wall and sat down.

He considered me for a moment, then moved across to the bench along the wall opposite mine. Wanting to keep not only an eye on me, but distance also. It perhaps suggested he was well aware of the attraction flaring between us, even if he seemed to be controlling his reactions far better than I.

He took a sip of the bitter black liquid I called coffee and grimaced at its taste. But he didn’t put it down, as Penny had with her water. “What were you doing in Central?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Nuri didn’t tell you?”

His smile held little humor. “She cannot control what she sees. In this case, she saw where you would be, not what you were investigating.”

Which was something, I guessed, and hopefully meant she would not “see” through my veil of lies and uncover what I was.

I leaned back against the wall and took a sip of coffee. “I didn’t start off in Central. I actually started in Carleen.”

He frowned. “What were you doing in Carleen?”

“Talking to the ghosts there.”

“I didn’t even know there were ghosts there.”

“There are ghosts everywhere, ranger. You just have to be open to seeing them.” I hesitated but couldn’t help adding, “There’s several déchet sitting with you right now.”

He reached for his weapon with one hand, coffee splashing across the other, the action instinctive, automatic. Fast. As would be my death if he ever confirmed his suspicions about what I was. Then his gaze met mine and realization dawned. “That wasn’t nice.”

I couldn’t help smiling. “No. But it was amusing all the same. Ghosts generally won’t hurt you, ranger. Not unless you do something to hurt them, or someone they trust orders them to.”

“Someone like you,” he said, voice flat.

“Yes.” It couldn’t hurt to remind him I wasn’t alone in this place.

He switched his coffee cup to his right hand and shook the remaining droplets of coffee from his left. “So what did the Carleen ghosts tell you?”

“That they left you alone only because you were tracking the wraith.”

“Nice of them.”

“Trust me, it was. There is a lot of hate in that place for your kind. I wouldn’t advise going there without a damn good reason, because next time they might not be so generous.”

“I will go where the investigation takes me, ghosts or not.”

Then he was either very foolish, very brave, or had absolutely no experience dealing with the wrath of ghosts. “They said the wraiths were using what they called false rifts—rifts that are stationary and covered by that ill-feeling darkness that hovers over most of Carleen.”

Jonas frowned. “What did they mean by ‘false rifts’?”

“I’m not really sure, but their energy felt different from the energy I feel when I’m near the other rifts. Darker, dirtier, if that makes sense.” I shrugged. “Anyway, I asked the ghosts to take me to the one the wraith and Penny last used.”

Surprise flitted across his features. “That was a very courageous step, given there are few who survive an encounter with a rift.”

“Penny did, and more than once if the slashes on her arms are anything to go by.” I frowned, suddenly remembering how quickly mine had healed. “Is Penny full shifter?”