A Dangerous Connection – Chapter 8

The rental craft hums as we make our way through the city streets. Stella is safely tucked away in her crate, but her anxiety bleeding through, coating every beat of my heart, every breath I take. She knows we’re getting her closer to home, but the crate and the confines of the craft are making her antsy.

Don’t worry, Stella. I’ll keep you safe.

She mewls, and I reach down and stroke her soft fur. Her wings continue to open and close, and it’s clear she won’t be comfortable in the crate any longer.

“Just a little longer, girl,” I say. “We’re almost there.”

“How’s she holding up back there?” Tiago asks from the passenger seat.

“Eager to get out. I think being cooped up is getting to her.” I glance at the crate buckled into the seat beside me, and Stella’s piercing yellow eyes stare back at me.

“We’re almost there,” Adrian says over his shoulder. He’s focused on the busy streets, even though the autocab drives itself. “It’s too bad I couldn’t hire an air taxi.”

We all peer up through the transparent cover of our ground car. Traffic zips along in the skies above us. Sigh. I always make the wrong choice. It’s like how I always pick the slowest moving line or choose the most backed up, delayed restaurant.

Am I doomed to failure? Sometimes it seems like it.

It’s fatalistic thoughts like this that get me into trouble, over and over

“We’re making good time so far. Don’t worry.” Adrian’s calm smile does not help.

I nod and try to send Stella calming thoughts. But no, Sora. She’s the telepathic one. Not you.

Stella responds with a soft chirp, her agitation simmering beneath the surface. It hits me in unbidden waves, causing my neck to break into a sweat and my knee to bounce.

Ugh. This is torture. I adore this little creature, but she’s messing with my head.

My vision tunnels, and it’s all I can do to keep from screaming as Stella’s memories come to me, over and over and over. The longer I sit here, the more these memories become my own. What is happening? I can’t tell where I end and Stella begins. I can’t tell where my own paranoia begins and hers ends. The two feelings are so entwined that I can’t imagine them as separate entities. Stella’s fear is my fear.

I clutch the metal crate, my knuckles turning white. My stomach turns over and drops. Shit. I need out. I need a bathroom. But as a cold sweat breaks out over my top lip, I’m not sure I’ll make it to a bathroom in time. I’m not sure I’ll make it anywhere.

I close my eyes and focus on my breath, trying to inhale and exhale and nothing more. I need to be here, in the moment, not wherever Stella is taking me. I need to focus on my breath and on this crate, the feel of it under my fingers.

This is not working.

“Sora, are you okay?” Tiago asks. His hand touches my knee.

“No,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut harder. “I am not okay.”

I gasp and a sharp pain spikes through my chest. My heart races, and I swallow hard to keep from vomiting.

“Sora, what’s going on?” Tiago is shaking me now.

“She’s scaring me,” I gasp. “I don’t know how to help her.”

My hands still gripping the crate, I open my mind to whatever she’s sending me. I’m taking a gigantic risk here, but I have little choice. It’s not like I have any kind of defense against this, and she’ll break through on her own in no time.

I have to understand what’s happening to her.

A flash of a jungle. Green, vibrant, alive. Flowers and rot and rain fill my nose. Heat on my skin. Stella runs, darting through the underbrush. A small animal nips at her heels, but she doesn’t stop. She’s laughing. She’s always laughing. She runs and runs and hides in the leaves, watching the creature hunt. She’s always hiding. Always afraid.

The scene shifts, and I’m looking at two humans from behind a cage door. They’re arguing, and I can tell they’re fighting over something. They’re angry. They’re angry at Stella? No, about Stella.

I open my eyes and gasp, taking in a deep breath. My heart rate slows, and my stomach settles.

Who were those people?

Adrian and Tiago are staring at me. Adrian’s face is creased with worry, and Tiago is pale. They’re both terrified.

“What just happened?” Adrian asks. “What was that?”

“You felt it too?” Tiago asks him, and Adrian nods.

“She’s scared.” My voice is hoarse. “She’s always scared. It’s her memories. I’m seeing them. She’s always running, always hiding.” I swallow the lump in my throat.

Tiago rubs his hand over his mouth and takes a deep breath. “This was a bad idea.”

I blink at him, and the scene shifts again. Now I’m looking at a compound, a series of temporary houses in a jungle clearing. A woman is walking between buildings, the same woman from her other memory. Stella is watching her from the edge of the trees. She’s been here before. She’s been here many times. This is must be close to where she lives.

The vision shifts once more, and I see the two humans from before. They’re angry again, but they’re angry at each other. Stella’s cage is opened and the one woman from all the memories picks Stella up and carries her out the door.

I close my eyes and shake my head, trying to dispel the images.

“Sora,” Adrian says, his voice soft and concerned. “What did you see?”

He looks out the window at all the cars heading in the same direction as us. Traffic has crawled to a halt. Up ahead, flashing police lights bounce off the sleek, glass buildings.

The buildings, the streets…

“She’s been here before. She’s been to this city. That’s why she’s been so scared. And…” I swallow and look up at them. “She’s been kept here before… Caged.”

I stretch out my fingers over the crate. My hands ache with the need to open it and free her. She’s terrified she’ll end up in the same situation she was in before.

I close my eyes and squeeze them shut. I have to get control of myself. I can’t be freaking out like this. I have to help her escape this city and return home.

“Please,” I whisper to the crate. “I’m here. I’m listening. I’m listening to you. I’m here. You’ll be out soon. I promise.”

A soft chittering comes from the other side of the crate, and I know she’s trying to talk to me.

“I’m listening,” I say again. “Please, hold still for a little while longer.” Up the street, the police lights getting closer and closer.

She’s silent for a moment, and I start to panic. Maybe she’s given up. Maybe she sees me as an enemy.

Up ahead, the street narrows and the flashing lights morph into a checkpoint. My shoulders tense.

“Just act normal,” Adrian murmurs. “Let me do the talking.”

He pulls the craft up to the guard post. The officer peers inside, eyes sweeping over all of us.

“Where are you headed?”

“We’re taking a brief trip out to a lower level park,” Adrian says. “Thought we’d get out of the city for a bit, breathe some fresh air, see some trees.”

The guard’s gaze lands on Stella’s crate. “You got something in there?”

My heart pounds, but I force my face into a neutral expression. “Oh, that’s just my cat. She gets anxious traveling, so we have to keep her in the crate.”

Please, please let us through…

The guard stares at the crate, then back at Adrian. “The lower level parks are closed. Some kind of animal on the loose out there.”

Fuck. We can’t turn back now.

I lean forward, and when the guard’s eyes meet mine, I infuse my voice with as much sincerity as I can muster.

“I know it sounds silly, but I just got reunited with my cat after being separated for months. She’s part of our little family.” I reach back and pat the crate, blinking back tears. “It would mean so much if you could let us through. I just want to spend time with my family and my long-lost pet… while I still can.”

Yep. Suddenly, I’m dying and this is my last wish. Well, when you think about it, I’m almost emaciated after having barely anything to eat for the last few weeks. I’m underweight and paler than usual. I should bank on it. “It’s been a rough month of treatments.”

Tiago’s right eyebrow climbs as I manufacture tears from absolutely nowhere.

I missed my calling, I think.

The guard’s expression softens. After a long moment, he steps back and waves us on. “All right, go ahead. But you can’t go to the lower level parks. The mid-levels are still open. Head to the right ramp and be careful out there.”

“Thank you,” I breathe, wiping away a tear. The craft pulls forward, and we all let out a sigh of relief once the windows are up.

Tiago twists in his seat to face me. “That was some performance. Treatments?”

I shake my head and give a shaky laugh, adrenaline still buzzing through me. “I’m fine. A lie. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I said whatever I could think of to get him to empathize.”

Tiago nods. “You know, I think I misjudged you before. You really do want this to work out.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re willing to fight for the people, and animals, you care about. It suits you.”

Warmth spreads through me at his words. I’ve been so focused on how my actions affected my network, I didn’t realize how much I’d grown as a person along the way. Maybe I am braver, smarter, more capable than I gave myself credit for.

“I guess you’re right. I do feel different now. More sure of myself and what I want.” My eyes meet his, full of meaning. “Who I want.”

Tiago’s lips part, but before he can respond, Adrian calls back to us.

“We’re almost there. The access road to the mid-level parks is up ahead. We’ll have to go on foot to the ground shuttles if we’re going to bring Stella to the jungle. That’ll be at least a thirty-minute walk.”

I tear my gaze away from Tiago to glance out the window. The buildings of the upper decks of the city have given way to dense forest on both sides of the road as we descend into the mid-level parks and sub-level homes.

We must be close. A frantic scraping comes from Stella’s crate. She’s clawing at the sides, letting out anxious chirps.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I say, trying to soothe her. “We’re almost to your home. Just another shuttle ride and you’ll be there.”

But Stella doesn’t calm down. If anything, her panic increases. She throws herself against the door of the crate, mewling loudly.

Adrian frowns, throwing a look over his shoulder. “What’s gotten into her?”

“I don’t know. She’s really freaking out.” I unlatch my seatbelt and kneel beside the crate. “Stella, sweetie, just hang on. We’re almost there.”

Her terror slams into me in waves as she claws and scratches frantically.

“Maybe… She senses something. She’s terrified.” I hurriedly unlatch the crate before she hurts herself. Stella bursts out in a frenzy, her wings spreading wide.

“Whoa, grab her!” Tiago shouts.

Too late. Stella leaps through the open window of the craft, disappearing into the trees in a flash.

“No!” I cry out. Adrian slams on the brakes, bringing the craft to a hard stop.

Before either of them can react, I’m out the door, plunging into the forest after Stella.

“Sora, wait!” Tiago calls behind me.

I don’t slow down, shoving through the underbrush, heedless of the scrapes and thorns. Stella’s terror still echoes through my mind. She wouldn’t have run off without reason. She must be trying to escape from something.

I have to find her before something happens to her.