Triple Infinity (7 page)

Plucking out thoughts from their minds, it was clear it came down to trust. At this point, both Shafar and DeLisio
were close to making progress, but were at a stalemate. The stalemate boiled down to trust, as it always did. Neither trusted the other.

After a few minutes, Shiv took a deliberate step away from the two, striding over to the four-wheelers. The exasperated look she shot Triaten on her way
, told him all he needed to know about her patience with the situation. But she kept her lips tightly closed as she followed his lead and leaned against her ATV. 

Triaten gave DeLisio and Shafar
a few more moments to take in the sight. He knew they were both still trying to catch their breath. When they finally ambled back to Triaten and Shiv, Triaten grabbed his sunglasses from his face and hung them around his neck while pointing up the trail. "It’s decision time. The left route is pretty technical, lots of boulders and slick rock. The right is more the dirt path we've been on. Which way do you all want to go?"

Eyes on Triaten and hiding a smirk, Shiv piped up right away. "Definitely the hard route. That was way to
o easy getting up here.” She turned to Shafar and DeLisio, innocence on her face. "What do you two think?"

Both
men were still heaving, even after the ten minute stop. Neither spoke, each waiting for the other to crack first.

Triaten stepped in. "Okay,
how about this: the trails meet again about a half-hour up the mountain. Shiv, why don't I take you up the left trail, there's really only room for two ATVs at a time, anyway. And Shafar, DeLisio, you two take the right trail. We'll meet you up there and then pull out the wine I brought.” Triaten stopped and bent over the back of his ATV, digging in the gear box. “Or better yet — I'll give you two the bottles, and you can crack into them if we're slow and you get bored. Sound good?"

"It will do." The Frenchman
wheezed out a reply.

"Agreed." Shafar
added.

Both looked beyond relieved, having had the decision made for them, without losing face.  

Triaten picked up his helmet and turned to Shiv. "I'll take the lead, and you follow me exactly. Turn for turn, brake for brake, acceleration for acceleration. You got it?"

Shiv nodded.

Triaten slid his sunglasses back into place before putting his helmet back on. He nodded at Shafar and DeLisio while he waited for Shiv to get her helmet on and onto her ATV. "We'll see you two up the mountain. It will be quite obvious where the two trails meet up — there's a wide, flat clearing."

Triaten took off, Shiv close behind him. Ten minutes into the woods, the sounds of the other
ATVs had already faded into the trees. The trail was actually quite easy, even easier than the part they had already covered. It pulled down alongside the river, paralleling the water for some time, before opening up next to a wide pool. At the far end of the pool, a fifty-foot waterfall draped rushing water over a wall of random boulders that cut out through the falls.

Triaten pulled to
a stop at the edge of the pool and cut his engine. Shiv followed suit. Her helmet had barely left her head before she burst.

"Holy numb-nuts! You had
said they were dicks. But incredible — that was disgusting. I guess I usually avoid those types of assholes. Eeesh. Is it wrong for me to be as repulsed as I am right now?"

Triaten laughed as peeled off his chest-protector. As much as he preferred not to, he had to wear it for show
— an ATV rolling over on him wouldn’t do him any damage, but it would crush any of the other three’s lungs in an instant. And a dead member of the party would do no good for negotiations.

"Sorry, love. I tried to warn you, but there really is no approp
riate warning for men like that. I appreciate you hanging in there with a smile on your face, though."

"So what's the plan now?” Shiv fluffed her helmet hair. “This is how you wanted it to go down, right?"

"Couldn't be better.”

“I'm surprised that worked at easily as it did.”

“It wasn't hard when both were desperate to get away from you. As much as both are hoping you’ll end up in their beds, they’re each exhausted and not wanting to lose face in front of you.”

Shiv rolled her eyes as she started to remove her protective gear.

“But the best part — and I think you’ll like this — is that it’s actually a pretty hard trail I sent them up. They’ll have to work together to get up the mountain. And I doubt they’re adventurous enough to come back down without a guide.”

“Clever.”

Triaten shrugged. “I’m basically just getting them to do a summer-camp trust exercise — what works for a fifth-grader, usually works for grown men.”

“So how much time do we have?”

“Couple hours.”

P
rotective gear, arm and leg guards, and chest protector, now off, Shiv eyed the water with lust. "I have to get this layer of filth off me.”

Triaten eyed her
up and down. "You're not even dirty — a few mud splatters, but you were out in front, that's as clean as it gets." He turned to the back of the ATV and started to dig in the gear box.

"No, I’m talking about the
filth that layered up on my skin every time one of those two gawked at my body. Filth without even touching." She shuddered. "I know what I signed up for, but I don't think their eyes ever made it up past my neck, and I can guarantee they couldn't tell you the color of my eyes.”

"They're green." Triaten said
, without looking up from his digging.

Shiv paused and considered him, then smiled. "Thanks.”

Triaten pulled a water bottle out and offered it to Shiv. “No problem, love. I know there’s head attached.”

She took it and gulped, then sat on her
ATV, pulling her shoes and socks off. She walked over to the edge of the water.

“It’s going to be chilly,” Triaten warned.

Her toe went into the water. “Eeeee, son of a...you’re right,” she stepped away and pulled off her top. “But I’m going in anyway.”

Shiv peeled off her pants. Thumbs under the straps of her underwear, she stopped and looked at Triaten. “You mind?”

Triaten sat down on the rocky riverbank, legs bent, and leaned back against a boulder. He motioned with the water bottle in his hand. “By all means. I’ve seen it.”

She shot him a shameless smile. “Yes, you have.”

Naked, Shiv waded into the edge of the river pool on a skinny strip of sand sandwiched by sharp rocks. She grimaced as the cold water covered her toes.

“Do it fast or you’re never going to do it.”

She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Is it deep enough for a dive?”

“Yes.”

Shiv took a deep breath and didn’t waste another second. Arms above her head, elongating her form, she leaned forward and splashed into the water, part grace, part flop.

Curiosity pushed Triaten forward, his eyes fixated on the water. That they were at the river that
baptized Panthenites, unleashing their powers, was not lost on him. Skye got her powers late in life, so why not Shiv? He squinted, watching for a flash of light.

The water sparkled smoothly under the sunlight, rings of waves from Shiv’s dive snaking to the outer edges. Birds cawed from the orange-gold aspen leaves above.

Nothing.

Her dark hair broke the surface, and a shocked gasp followed as soon as her mouth
hit air above water.

Triaten leaned back, propping himself on the rock. Not a Panthenite. Not unless she had been previously
baptized in the water, which wasn’t likely. And especially unlikely, since he would have seen any powers in her when they first met. It was pretty hard for Panthenites or Malefics to hide their powers from him. And the reason why Triaten’s reading ability gave him such a step up. Knowing exactly what he was dealing with made him exceptionally effective, whether in battle with a Malefic or negotiating the politics of the Panthenites.

“Mother of –” Shiv interrupted herself with a sputter of water. “
I guess you warned me. Tell me you have a towel in that gear box.” Her hands sifted through the water, her feet kicking her back to the sandy spot in the rocky shoreline. Dark hair swept out around her, a black halo kissing the surface of the water.

Triaten got up and rummaged as Shiv stepped out of the water.

He handed her a fleece jacket. “Best I have. I must admit, I’m surprised you don’t mind the water at all. Skye told us how your parents died.”

Goose bumps blanketed Shiv’s skin, even as she wiped with the jacket. Fle
ece didn’t make the best towel and her teeth chattered. “I don’t remember it like Skye does. I was too young. I’ve always been amazed that she managed to pull me out. She was pretty young herself.”

Triaten handed Shiv her
shirt. “Do you remember your parents at all?”

“Not really
— I have occasional flashes — memories of feeling loved — nothing much beyond that.” The shirt went over her head.

“Was there other family
?”

“No.
I guess my parents were odd, in that they didn’t have any other family, aside from us.” She pulled up her pants. “So after the accident, it was always Skye that took care of me. We went through lots of foster and group homes — case workers would just show up all the time with no warning, and move us to a new home. It was a constant state of flux. I never knew what was going to happen next — why people didn’t want us. It’s why I still hate not knowing what’s going on around me. But still, all those years, Skye always managed to take care of me, she was mine...” Shiv’s voice trailed off as she pulled her hair tight and twirled it over her shoulder, squeezing water out of it.

She wasn’t looking a
t Triaten anymore; her eyes had moved on to blankly stare at the water.

“And what happened?” This, Skye had never told them, or at least never to
ld Triaten or Charlotte — Aiden probably knew.

Shiv’s
green eyes turned dark. They stayed on the water. “We were living with a family with several foster kids. One of them was an older boy. We had only been there a few months. I was 14 when he attacked me — Skye showed up, knife in hand — where she even got it, I don’t know. She stabbed him and cut his spinal cord — I begged her not to attack him — I begged because I knew they would take her away — but she did it anyway.”

Shiv’s fist
s were in tight balls. “She abandoned me and almost killed him — he lived, but was paralyzed from the waist down. They took her away to juvie and I haven’t seen her since.”

Her eyes darted quickly
to and from Triaten. With a deep breath she walked to the bank’s edge. She sat down; legs crossed, and mindlessly fingered rocks, tossing one after another into the water. “Skye came to the apartment building once. I talked to her over the speaker, but didn’t let her up. I couldn’t.”

Triaten went back to the
ATV and produced a small silver flask. He came alongside Shiv and nudged it into her hand. “It’ll warm you up.”

With a grateful crook on her lips, she flipped
open the top and took a gulp. She coughed at the whiskey fire in her throat, then took another healthy swallow.

“I’m assuming you went to a new home after that?” Triaten asked as he sat down next to her.

She nodded, and her body started to relax again, her troubled eyes fading. “After that I went to an elderly couple — I was the only one there. They were good. Very kind-hearted people. They convinced me to go to college and set a plan for life. But I never really recovered from Skye leaving. And then the next person I loved was the asshole.” A handful of rocks flew from her hand and plunked across the expanse of water. She looked at Triaten out of the corner of her eye. “It’s why I not only chase, but revel in casual relationships.”

“That’s awfully
cognizant of you. Not that I’m complaining, as the current recipient of poor choices.”

She shrugged.
“Self-awareness has never been a weak spot with me. It was kind of the only way I could survive all the families — making myself invisible was always the best course for me. And to be invisible I had to be painfully aware of everything about myself, at all times.
I also learned to never hold onto any emotion — life was always going to change in the next moment
.
At least I was like that until I was an adult.” Her eyes went up to the blue sky with a sigh. “Jeez, sorry I’m such a downer. Beautiful day like this, and I’m depressing both myself and you.”

Triaten looked hard at her profile. He was a bit mystified that afte
r all she had been through, she had the sense of normalcy about her that she did. He’d met too many people that allowed their past to define their present in a destructive way. But aside from Shiv’s penchant for casual sex, he didn’t get any sense of self-destruction from her.

“Shiv, you know you don’t need to apologize for having feelings? For not having a perfect life? We all have crap in our past.”

Shiv took another swallow from the flask and handed it back to Triaten. “I know. I tend to apologize for things. It’s who I am. Sorry.”