Chapter 15
Kiora
I STAYED IN THE CABIN while Troy got the yacht moving. I couldn’t see from here if they eyed us or not. They might be following, for all I knew.
The fear distracted me from my outrage at being duped about the apple charlotte. I’d have to remember to grumble about it later.
When the engine shut off, I stiffened. Was it a good sign? What was even happening? Being stuck in this cabin sucked. Good thing there were plenty of heavy blunt objects around. Would’ve been better if they were sharp, but choosers couldn’t be beggars, or something like that.
“It’s just me,” Troy said from the other side of the door before opening it.
I lowered the fire extinguisher. It’s not like I was going to hit him without making sure who it was first. Totally wasn’t going to do it.
Troy grinned at the fire extinguisher. “So violent. I like it.”
“You can tell me that again when I give you a piece of my mind about Azar’s apple charlotte.”
“He gives me good intel.” Troy shrugged like it was no big deal. “Come on, let’s get back on land. We still have at least an hour of walking ahead of us.”
He looked at my shoes and nodded in approval. Of course, I was wearing my HOKAs. Comfortable shoes were a must for me, even if I did spend most of the day sitting in the truck. There was just no telling when I’d have to run.
As I climbed back onto the deck, I took in the surroundings. The river curved into this tiny, wooded area with nothing but rocks all around.
“Isn’t it kinda risky to bring a yacht here?” I asked. “Aren’t the rocks kinda dangerous?”
“It’s hardly a yacht. Just a boat,” Troy argued.
Right, sure. There were two bedrooms on his ‘just a boat’. In my books, it made it a yacht.
“If you say so,” I said and jumped into the dinghy strapped to the side. Because his not a yacht needed a boat to get to the shore.
Troy followed me and got the dinghy moving like a pro. It took him less than a minute to get us to the wet, moss-covered rocks. Climbing over them turned my shoes into an ugly, green and brown mess. And that was fine. They were just things. I could get another pair, but I could only do it if I got out of this situation safely.
Maybe I should find someone else to craft me a new identity. What if the technomage I had used before was compromised?
Troy tied the dinghy to a nearby tree, then took my hand and led me into the forest.
I had never had anyone help me in my escapes, not unless I paid them for it. Having Troy help me now felt good, more than good, but it was also terrifying. Relying on someone else, trusting someone else was like jumping off a cliff blindfolded.
“It’s going to feel like a really long walk,” Troy warned me. “We’ll be going up the hill. It’s a gentle slope, so you don’t see the incline, but your legs will feel it.”
“Don’t worry about me. I go on walks like this all the time.”
He looked at me like he couldn’t tell if I was being sarcastic or not but chose not to question it. Smart man.
“So, you tricked me into buying apple charlotte for Azar.” It’s not that I couldn’t let it go. We were just going to have a long walk, and there were supernaturals out to get me. I needed to think about something other than them for the next hour.
“I duped a lot of people into buying it for him,” Troy admitted, like that made it better.
“Not helping your case but keep digging.”
“He keeps an eye out for me, in case I need information on someone. Sometimes, he does more than that. I asked him to keep an eye on you in case someone bothers you.”
“Mhm.”
“I swear, I did. You can ask him yourself. The first time we met, I noticed you were acting weird, like you were always on a lookout for someone. You didn’t want to go to a public beach. You always have one eye on the door. Things like that. At first, I thought you had a stalker or something. I guess you do, in a way. Vezolds don’t give up easily, when they set their sights on someone.”
Vezolds. I avoided so much as thinking the name of the criminal organization that kept me on the run as if thinking about them might conjure them up.
“You know much about them?” I asked.
My sources were limited. I was a truck driver, not the Interpol. What information I could find was nothing more than bits and pieces.
“They are international, so it doesn't matter what nationality or species you are. If they think they can use you, they’ll accept you. They have their hands in just about anything they can profit on. Mostly high profit low risk type of stuff. You won’t catch them selling pot on the street.”
I nodded. That was mostly what my online search had told me. “It’s hard to believe they have so many supes, especially with supes trafficking. How can anyone do this to their own people?”
“Humans kidnap other humans all the time,” Troy pointed out.
“Are they always this persistent or am I just lucky? Because I’ve been running for years.”
“If they think you might know too much, then yeah. You might not even know what it is that’s so important, like a name you heard, or maybe someone's voice. Every loose end can be used to unravel the whole, no matter how complicated their web is. That’s why they stay away from high-risk ventures, unless it’s going to give them the big buck.”
I had overheard Dad talking to one of them on the phone, but I was so shocked and scared after I realized he was selling me, that nothing else registered. I didn’t know anything. Even if I had heard something, I wouldn’t tell, as long as they left me alone.
I was so tired of running, driving, sleeping on that uncomfortable bed in my truck, and treasuring clementines like they were gold. I just wanted to stop.
All those people in Whynot could go to a coffee shop to chat with their friends. Then they could go home to their families. They didn’t have to talk themselves out of caring for the little things in life.
Troy put an arm around my waist and hugged me to his side, so we could keep walking despite the embrace. “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anyone hurt my little mermaid.”
His words spread through me like warm butter. I never had anyone to watch out for me. Team Kiora had always been just me, myself, and I. But I couldn’t stay with him forever. He couldn’t protect me forever. Soon enough, I would be all alone again.