The Complete Pendomus Chronicles Trilogy: Books 1-3 of the Pendomus Chronicles Dystopian Scifi Boxed Set Series Read online

  He stops pacing and says, “You’re right, I don’t know you. Does that mean if roles were reversed, you woulda let me die?” His intense brown eyes burn into mine and the corners of his mouth curve upward.

  The thought of leaving anyone—but for some reason, him especially, to die ...

  I shake my head. “No. Absolutely not.” Refusing to be helpless, I turn and hop along the tunnel of my own accord. On the floor to my right is a detailed set of spirals that have been etched across the dirt. I tilt my head and move closer, but Traeton steps in front and brushes them away with his foot.

  “Erm, okay. So, what’s the deal, then? Why did you ask?” he questions, his eyebrows knit together.

  “I don’t know. You seem so ... different. Hard to figure out. You know?” I offer.

  Tilting his head slightly, he faces forward and walks along side me.

  “Yeah. I can kinda relate.”

  I search his eyes. “You do?”

  “Well, you’re way more interesting than me, for starters. Your attack—whatever just happened back there,” he points back at the Oasis. For a moment he seems distant, then he blinks rapidly, color creeping into his cheeks as he looks away.

  “Yeah… that was weird.” I concede, my cheeks flushing.

  “So we’re in agreement, then. You’re way more confounding.”

  Without any further discussion, he steps forward and scoops me back into his arms.

  7

  Runa

  “COME ON TRAE, couldn’t you re-bandage her eye before you brought her back in here? It’s all gooey.” Kani moans as we enter the kitchen space.

  Traeton gently sets me in the spot I vacated earlier and turns to her. “All things considered, I think you should handle that, Kani. Where’s Fenton?”

  “Mainframe checkups.” She spits back.

  Traeton places a hand on my knee, “I’ll be right back, Runa. Kani will take care good care of your eye.”

  A deep level of disappointment sweeps through me as he exits. I don’t want Kani to tend to my eye—I’d much rather have him do it.

  Maybe it was the water, or the strange voice that invaded my mind, perhaps even being around Traeton. I’m not sure—but I feel different. On top of everything, there are nuances I can’t make sense of and body language I can’t interpret. I’m missing things, and I desperately want to understand. This place is so different from the Helix. There’s a mystery at every turn, and I want to unravel them all. But I don’t even know where to start.

  Mumbling something to herself, Kani leaves the room right behind Traeton. A moment later, she returns and throws down a metallic tray with some sharp-looking objects placed in the center.

  “Don’t move. I’m gonna make this quick.”

  My eyes widen as she takes a seat in front of me, and a soft, powerful light illuminates my face.

  “What is that?” I shrink back, blinded.

  “Hold still,” she commands, reaching toward my face. Reflexively, I lean further back.

  With little need to be gentle, she tilts my head back and rubs a smelly ointment into the lacerations. Her hands are steady and sure of themselves, as if she's done this a thousand times before. The expression on her face is determined and almost pleasant, like she’s in her element.

  Why didn’t I realize this before? She’s their medic.

  “Oh, don’t be so proud of yourself,” she warns, as if reading my mind. “You should’ve figured it out eons ago.”

  I shrug and manage a sincere smile. “I figured Fenton was the one to bandage me up. Though, to be honest, I’m not sure why. He seems more the doctoring type, I guess.” I cover my mouth, trying to hide my laughter. “You would have been my last guess.”

  “That was the plan,” she tilts her chin up and examines my eye. “I was hoping you would be on your merry little way by now, never the wiser. So much for that.”

  With a cleansing wipe, she rubs gently at my face and her expression borders bewilderment. Finally, she says, “What the hell?”

  Anxiety rushes through my veins. I shudder when she sets down the cloth, which is completely covered in brown sludge. “What’s going on? Is my eye—how bad is it? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

  Kani hops up and runs down the hall. “Oh shut it. You’ve got to see this.”

  When she returns, a small handheld mirror is clutched in her fingers.

  “Look,” she says.

  The mirror spins around in her hands and shines directly at me. Three long, angry scabs run from my scalp, over my eyebrow and eye—all the way down to my jaw. Everything’s red and puffy.

  “I’m hideous,” I say, diverting my eyes from the mirror.

  “Well, yeah. Yeah, ya are,” she concedes, “However, not what I’m talking about.”

  “Would you say what you want to say? I don’t get where you’re going.”

  “Okay, I’ll keep things simple, brainless. You have scabs.” When my expression remains unchanged, she repeats, “Scabs. It’s been three days. When I bandaged you up, the wounds on your face were enough to gross me out. Which, for your information, takes a lot. Skin was flapping around everywhere,” her hands flap back and forth, “But this—should have taken weeks to heal this well.”

  I take another look at the dark lines puckering on my skin. “What does this mean?”

  “Means I am damn good!” she says, bursting into laughter. “Let’s check out that eyeball of yours.”

  Despite what she says, the memory of the voice in the Oasis comes to mind.

  … we are doing all we can to speed your regeneration …

  Could this be someone—or something else’s doing?

  Shaking a small tube and emptying the contents into a clean cloth, she wipes at my eyelids. The cool, tingly sensation of the cleanser is nice as she uses small, gentle swipes.

  “Okay, I’d like to see the damage to your retina. It was too crazy before.” She edges closer, slowly dimming her light. “Besides, I don’t have the medical tools to deal with that kind of trauma.”

  The muscles around my eyelids don’t want to cooperate, as she gently pulls them apart. After a couple of sticky attempts, she’s able to get the eye open, but only a slit.

  “Can you open it any further? How do the muscles feel?” Kani watches me with an ardent expression, but she doesn’t force anything.

  Surprisingly, there’s some vision in the damaged eye. I bend forward, trying to focus through my eyelashes. Everything is blurry but becomes clearer the longer I keep it open, and the more I blink. Both eyes start to work in unison, and things I hadn’t seen a moment ago emerge.

  The room is filled with little orbs of light.

  “So?” she asks.

  “I have some vision, but I think the eye is damaged.” I squint, trying to make sense of what I’m viewing. The little orbs float in and out around me, almost dancing happily. The stone wall appears to undulate, making my insides flip. I close my eyes and steady myself on the bench.

  She sighs, “That we already knew, Princess Obvious.”

  “I mean—I’m seeing things—little specks of light all around us. I wasn’t seeing that before.”

  “Well, you eye’s heavily damaged. I’m surprised you have any sight at all. My guess is the photoreceptors in your retina are probably damaged,” she offers, leaning in for a closer look.

  “I’m gonna pull your eyelids apart so I can examine the reaction. This is probably gonna hurt a little.”

  Not giving me time to respond, she uses her thumb and forefinger to separate my eyelids. When our eyes meet, she yanks her hand back, and gasps.

  “Is my eyeball—gone?”

  My hand flies up to cover my face.

  “How would you be able to see out of it, dufus?” She rolls her eyes. “Um… no. I’ve never—Have you always—? Oh, just look.” She spins the mirror around again and focuses it on my damaged eye. Gleaming between the scabs is a swirling bright blue iris where my amber color should be—but beyo
nd that, my eyeball is intact.

  My chin drops open and I touch my face with the tips of my fingers.

  “How can this be? I felt it squish—felt the claws.” I say.

  “So you’re telling me this eye wasn’t always a freaky blue?” She places the mirror face down in her lap.

  I roll my eyes.

  “Wow. That, was creepy.” She stands up and sets the mirror on the tray. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you just thought that had happened? I’m sure an attack like this is pretty disorienting.”

  A lopsided grin graces Traeton’s lips as he enters the room. I rake my hair forward, trying to hide the damaged side of my face.

  “Everything okay in here?” he asks, his eyebrows wrinkling.

  “Yeah, Runa. Everything okay?” Kani’s tone is bordering playful, and I shift uncomfortably. A slight smirk spreads slowly across her face.

  “I—uh.” I mumble, still trying to wrap my head around what’s going on.

  Kani leans toward Traeton and says, “I think you better have a look at Runa’s eye.”

  There’s no way to avoid this, so I sit still and wait. A part of me wants to tell them about the voice at the Oasis … but I doubt it’s a good thing to hear voices when you shouldn’t be connected to the eLink.

  “May I?” Traeton is suddenly in front of me with his hand outstretched. Those deep brown eyes sparkle with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

  I nod and find a spot on the floor to stare at. I’m surprised he can’t hear my heart thumping as he gently pushes back my hair, and tucks the strand behind my left ear.

  When I meet his gaze, his sudden inhalation is all the verification I need.

  I raise my hand and shield my face as I turn away. “It shouldn’t look like this. I don’t know what happened … As if I needed to be more of a freak.”

  He places a warm hand on my shoulder, and I shudder away the goose bumps.

  “No, Runa. Your eye is—well, amazing, actually. I’ll admit, the color surprised me. But look at how you’ve healed,” he takes a breath, “astounding.”

  “Wha’sup wit ’er eye?” Fenton asks as he enters and cranes around Traeton. I stare directly at him. “Oh. Whoa.”

  “What about your sight?” Traeton asks.

  I shrug, trying to give an air of nonchalance. “I can see out of it, but I’m seeing orbs of light.”

  “I already told her the photoreceptors are probably messed up.” Kani says.

  “Does anyone else in your family have two different colored eyes? I’m curious because I’ve never seen this before.”

  “No, this isn’t— ” I shake my head. “I wasn’t— ”

  “She wasn’t born with two different eye colors. Yeesh.” Kani finishes for me.

  “Oh.” Realization spreads across Traeton’s face. “Oh,” he repeats.

  “How’d tha’ happen, then?” Fenton muses.

  “I wish I knew.” With a quick hand stroke, I release the bangs from my ear and let them fall forward.

  “Don’t we all?” Kani’s expression hardens slightly as she starts cleaning up the used bandages and her supplies. “This will have to do for now. Just let it get some air and breathe. Should continue to heal up fine.”

  Elsewhere in the cavern, a loud beeping pierces through the tunnels.

  “That’ll be Landry again.” Traeton says, “I’ll go see what he needs.”

  Without another word, he walks out again.

  “Who’s Landry?” I ask.

  “That’d be me obnoxious brother.” Fenton winks.

  “He’s actually pretty cool.” Kani admits with a grin. “But we can’t have the two of them in the same room or they’ll go off on a tech-talk that will last a week.”

  “Tha’s ’cause he think he knows ever’thin’. Time ta eat, ladies.” Fenton walks back to the counter, clanking around, until four steaming containers slide across the table. I pull the closest one to me and glance down. A brown, gelatinous goop not unlike what came off my eye puddles inside.

  I raise my eyes, and lean toward Fenton. “What is this?”

  Fenton beams, “Only the bes’ soup in all a’ Pendomus. Okay, now here’s a li’l etiquette, ’cause I betcha don’ know if ya were in tha Helix. This—is a spoon.” He lifts a metallic object and waves it in front of me. “Use this ta scoop up tha soup. Behold,” he demonstrates by shoving the spoon into the soup and cramming a large lump into his mouth. “See? Easy. And delicious.”

  Kani takes a seat beside Fenton and rolls her eyes. “Okay, wow. You don’t have to eat like this slob over here. It can be done a little more ... Delicately,” she dips her spoon and takes a small sip. “Truthfully, it’s a million times better than the RationCap crap.”

  My face flushes with an unexpected desire to defend my mother.

  “What’s wrong with RationCaps? I’ve never had a problem with them,” I respond.

  They both stare at me wide-eyed.

  “I don’t understand why you’d think this is better.” I shift my gaze back to the soup, leaving it untouched.

  “There’s a whole hell of a lot you don’t understand.” Kani says, a touch of animosity resurfacing. She taps her fingertips across her lips.

  “Then explain,” I offer.

  “You crash-landed into our world with your freaky attack and strange eyeball. Not the other way around. Since we’re on topic, I think we should have an open discussion? Just not on your terms. Sound good?” She leans forward, resting her chin on the top of her right hand. “What the hell were you doing in the woods? Really?”

  “You wouldn’t understand,” I say, dropping my eyes to my hands.

  “This is complete crap. Admit it. You’re one of them,” Kani spits.

  “One of who? Who do you think I am?” I slap my hand on the table and point to my face. “Take a gander at my eye. Did I do this to myself?”

  “Maybe you did. Wouldn’t put it past your kind,” Kani says, crossing her arms over her body.

  Fenton turns to her and whispers, “Come on, doll. She’s no’ in league with ’em. She’s no decoy.”

  Kani stares at the wall behind me and whispers, “How do you know, Fenton?”

  “Kani,” his voice is soft and he places a hand over hers. “Ya already know it too.”

  Instead of pulling her hand back, she visibly relaxes under his touch.

  “What does the term Labot mean to you?” she asks, her eyes burning into mine.

  Both Fenton and Kani watch me closely.

  “What?” I scrunch my face, confused.

  “Labot. It’s a simple word. What does it mean to you?” she repeats.

  “Nothing,” I shrug, “I’ve never heard the word before.”

  Kani scrutinizes my every move, but something in her face noticeably softens. With a sigh, she leans back. “I’m not saying I believe you—”

  “I think wha’ Kani’s tryin’ ta say is, she’s sorry,” Fenton says, nudging Kani in the shoulder. “Righ’?”

  “I’m confused.” I reply.

  Kani sets her spoon down. “Time you listen up, and learn something, then. There are people inside the Helix who are not good people. Technically, I’m not even sure they’re people.”

  “We needed ta be sure you weren’t one of ’em,” Fenton finishes.

  “Well, I’m not,” I tell them. “These people—Labots? Who are they? What do they want?”

  A mixture of unreadable emotions play out across their faces.

  “Depends on their mission. Mostly, they want to keep you silent,” Kani laments. “To protect the secret.”

  “The secret?” I ask.

  “Everything you think you know is one big lie,” Kani states. Her jaw clenches, but she doesn’t elaborate.

  “What do you mean?” I lean forward.

  “If ya ain’t one of ‘em, ya can’t go back. They’d kill ya on sight, Runa. Labots are tha’ bad.”

  Fenton reaches over and rubs Kani’s back in small circles, but neit
her of them say anything else. Instead, she leans into him and closes her eyes. They’re so—intimate. It’s unheard of in the Helix—and yet, they share this moment. Together. I divert my eyes, contemplating what makes them behave this way. My whole life I’ve wanted to reach out to people like this—but according to the Helix etiquette, it’s wrong.

  Isn’t it?

  “Soup’s gettin’ cold,” Fenton nods at my bowl.

  I raise my spoon to my lips. All eyes are on me as I do so, and immediately I regret putting the viscous brown goo in my mouth. The soup is lukewarm and tastes like feet smell. I drop the spoon back into the bowl and my body shudders. Wishing I could get the taste off, I stick out my tongue.

  Both Kani and Fenton burst out laughing.

  “Pretty good, eh? You’ll get used ta tha’. The more ya try, the more ya’ll be able to pick out different flavors. Tha’s wha’ your tongue’s for, didn’t ya know? Well, amongs’ other things, but we’ll wait to regale you with those types of tales.” Fenton says, wiggling his eyebrows.

  He’s so absurd, and yet I can’t help but giggle.

  “Ha! Did ya catch tha’? I got ’er ta smile,” he says triumphantly.

  Unable to help myself, I admit, “It tastes awful.”

  Kani laughs. “Here, try this.” She pulls a hunk off what resembles a rock and hands it to me. “This is bread. Try dipping it in the soup, and take a bite.”

  “Will it improve the taste?” I ask, sniffing at the bread.

  “C’mon, now. My soup’s amazin’,” leaning in to me, Fenton says, “You’re body just has ta ge’ used ta eatin’.”

  “I’m telling you—that’ll take a while. RationCaps take their time weeding from your system.” Kani swallows another spoonful of soup.

  Fenton rolls his eyes. “Women. Food is wha’ your body wants. Not tha’ synthetic crap inside the Helix. They like messin’ with people. If ya stick around, you’ll notice a big difference. You’ll see.”

  “What do you mean? Why would they mess with people?”

  “Because they can,” Kani says bitterly.

  I shake my head. “Like I was saying earlier, my mother’s a RationCaps chemist. Her profession is highly esteemed. If this were true, why would she do it? Our survival depends on them.”