Wild Tiger Chase | Book #2 (Complete)

54: from half to whole truths

— Rob —

Only when Rafa finished sharing her findings did Rob manage to breathe.

"So... their own ecosystem, huh. And if I had to guess, I'd say Jackal found a way to manipulate that, since she's after Léon." Rob walked from one side to the other in that narrow corridor. Then, he stopped and repeated, "Their own ecosystem! I can't believe it." His eyebrows were arched high, and his lips half-opened as if ready to say those words again. "I'm no scientist, but that's... I mean... a lot, yeah? Because wielders can't lose matter naturally, but—we saw Toni; we know what he did—they can increase the pool of essential chemical elements inside them. Their powers don't have any limit."

"Right you are." Rafa fitted her hands into her pockets to hide the tremor in them, but there was no hiding from Rob's quick eyes.

Honestly? He understood her. Goddess, cosmic trace wielders were so much more powerful than he thought they were. Rob spluttered a few more words, scoffed, and fell into a tension-filled silence.

He... was scared.

He was so scared. For Pipo, for Rafa, and for Léon. But more than anything else, he was scared of what Toni could do to them. He was scared of how far Toni would go the next time he and Léon met. Toni was a wielder too, and he knew how to manipulate those powers—wrongly or not—more than any human alive. Forget Jackal and Count Cae; of all the dangers Rob could think of, having Toni around was the greatest of them.

Satina cleared her throat and faced Rafa. "And this ecosystem thing. You realized that thanks to Dr. Bree's research, right?"

Rafa leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms. "Yeah. This"—she raised the datapad—"is from four years ago. Dr. Bree apparently wrote a ton about cosmic trace wielders while she finished transferring my powers to Toni."

"Oh, fuck." Satina rubbed her right temple. "For a minute there I just forgot that you were... you know." She made air quotes to add, "The machine's battery. Or that's how Brash, uh... called you." Her shoulders tensed and her voice hardened. "That pig is lucky to be in Prison. He deserved so much worse than that."

Something in Satina's eyes made Rob shiver as if he was looking into the quiet, merciless depths of the sea. Rob was glad they were on the same side in all this. He didn't want to be the target of Satina's wrath.

"Thank you, Satina." Rafa tried on a smile and glanced at Rob. She continued, "There were also a few rushed additions at the end of Rio's notes." Rafa glanced towards the door to her room. "I didn't want to say it in there, but I can't be sure if Rio did this as a way to help, warn, or fuck with us. This kind of knowledge changes everything—and if Léon was worried about hurting people with the power he had before, I wonder what he'll do once he knows how much stronger he can be."

"How much stronger you two can be," Satina corrected.

Rafa scrunched up her face. "Nah. My companions are both dead and my connection to the flow is severed; I'm as much a wielder as any traceless person in the street." She let out a weak laugh.

The silence that issued proved Rob and Satina weren't ready for that kind of humor.

"Anyhow," Rafa continued. "Dr. Bree's machine to redirect the Life Force flow is what brought Toni back to life—but according to Rio's notes, a willing Cosmic Trace Wielder could do the same thing. I think Toni is the one behind all this."

"So..." Rob's gaze dropped to the tip of his boots. "Toni is the reason for all this? The sickness? All the people who died? The damage to the forest? Everything?"