Sorry for the delay in updates. When I started posting I was a couple chapters ahead. Now you're waiting for me to write and edit each chapter as I go. Hopefully it doesn't slow me down too much.
Chapter Seven
"But Mason," Boomer pleaded, following the big man as he packed weapons and supplies, "we've been stuck here forever. We'll stay close, promise."
Mason checked the blade of his sword in the light before sheathing it. "It's too dangerous."
Boomer tried his trump card. "We are the kings."
Mason finished tying his travel pack and looked at the brothers. "Not right now you're not. Right now, you're the rallying point for the rebellion, the biggest threat to the Phoenix's power. If you're found, you won't be captured, you'll be killed." Mason slung the bag on his shoulder. "You're staying here."
Boomer watched Mason leave the room then shared a look with Boz.
"He's right, we'd be safer here," Boz said.
"What if Mikayla found the healer again and that's why she hasn't come back? What if they're heading right to Brady?"
Boz didn't look convinced so Boomer continued.
"Even if they aren't, I want to be out there, looking for our brother, instead of sitting here, safe and useless."
Boz nodded his agreement and Boomer smiled in relief. "Great! We'll give them an hour then sneak out after dinner."
Water dripped somewhere above her head. The steady plop, plop, plop filled her ears and she screwed up her face in annoyance. Cold assaulted her back and she rolled, trying to get out of the wind.
"Don't worry," a female voice said, "it'll get warmer when the door closes."
Mikayla glared up at Haylee, who looked in at her from the other side of the bars. "You drugged me."
Haylee nodded.
The cell she was in wasn't large. A small cot lay under her and the dripping water came from a porcelain sink in the corner. Thick bars adorned three of the four walls. They had the strange orange-gray color that came from being enchanted to withstand giant strength. So much for her Sasquatch heritage getting her out of this one. "What happens now?"
"You stay here until the Phoenix gets back." Haylee gestured to something in the distance and a door slammed shut. The air stopped moving.
"Then?"
Haylee shrugged. "We'll see."
As the healer left a small, round stone rolled across the floor, kicked into the cell by the healer's foot. The action looked accidental, but when Haylee looked back from the doorway she glanced at the stone before meeting Mikayla's eyes.
"For what it's worth," Haylee said, "I am sorry for lying to you."
Another clang followed the statement and Mikayla knew she was alone. She stood and kicked the wall in anger, a chunk of rock broke off and a few seconds later the wall smoothed out, looking as if it hadn't ever been damaged. Definitely enchanted. Her eye fell on the stone and she picked it up, planning on throwing it at the wall, but something stopped her. The weight and feel of the stone was familiar.
The disk that lead her to the healer was still in her pocket and she ran the stone around the edge of it. The arrow followed the stone. Why had Haylee given her the tracking stone?
Following Mason and his group was easier than it should have been. At least that's what Boz kept saying every time they came close to the group. Boomer was happy they were so focused on their goal and not paying attention to them following, but Boz was worried.
"Doesn't he realize he's the force behind the rebellion? A rallying point is worthless without Mason there to direct it." Boz moved as he talked, jumping through the trees like one of the monkeys he'd been raised by.
Boomer held onto a vine and watched his brother's unique version of pacing. "He's worried about Mikayla."
Boz was suddenly in front of him, hanging upside down from a higher branch. "We're worried about Brady, but we're at least trying to stay out of sight."
Mostly to avoid being scolded by their head of security like they were five years old, but Boomer didn't say that.
Boz pulled out a banana that Boz hadn't seen him pack. "I don't even need the animals to help me track them."
Boomer cocked his head, trying to see the group through the trees. "They're not watching at all?"
"No." Boz peeled the banana. "They're spread out so far a goose could track them. They're too reliant on those tracking stones." Boz took a bite of his banana and continued talking with his mouth full. "I mean, finding Mikayla's trail isn't that hard."
Boomer looked up at his brother. "You found her trail?"
Boz swallowed and pointed. "She followed the river for a while after she left the city, then she crossed it. I don't know why they haven't seen that."
Boomer glanced in the direction of Mason's group, then thought of the lecture they'd get if they were found. "Let's go see what she found."
Boz watched the river from a low branch. He'd lost Mikayla's trail the moment she'd joined the road, but he knew she'd crossed the river because he'd spent fifteen minutes listening a squirrel complain about a "dark haired human hybrid" breaking his favorite tree branch. The squirrel had chittered in amusement, when he'd described how she'd planted face-first into the bank on the other side of the river.
The tree in question was on the far side of the road. It looked like it had broken weeks ago instead of the day before like the squirrel insisted. Boz was certain there was a reason for that, but he didn't know what it was.
"Are we gonna cross?" Boomer crawled forward on the branch and looked at the people on the road below.
A steady stream of people had been coming and going all morning, mostly townspeople, but there were enough Phoenix guards to make him nervous about trying to cross the easy way. "We'll have to eventually." Boz looked at his brother. "Any ideas how to do that unnoticed?"
Boomer chewed on a fingernail while he contemplated the question. A few seconds later his finger left his mouth and pointed at the air. "I have an idea."
The next chapter is halfway finished so I don't think you'll have to wait as long for that one as you did this one. Thanks for reading. :)
