Finding our way through the tunnel was much easier with Martin as our guide. He knew where he was going due to the many years he had used them. He also knew another way to Cornelle’s hidden village; one that would get us there faster and I, for one, was ready to see my baby brother. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was going to think of his mommy bringing home a daddy.

Jacob was walking in the front of our group with Monroe when his hand went up and all of us went down on one knee, all but Martin. I reached up and pulled on his sleeve and he, too, knelt down. We were almost to our destination so I didn’t know why Jacob was bringing us to a stop. Most had no care to go anywhere near the leper colony, not even those who lived under the cover of darkness. I saw Jacob point to the right and Monroe took off and disappeared into landscape as if by magic. His ability to blend with the shadows was uncanny.

A few moments later Monroe came back. “The village has been under attack.”

“No.” It was all I could say as my body took off in the direction of Cornelle’s home where I had left my most prized treasure.

My whole crew was running with me at full speed. My feet never stopped but my heart dropped when I saw the smoldering embers of some of the homes as we ran past. It wasn’t the elders’ people; I knew that without a doubt. Monroe was one of them and he had killed the other. I was at a loss of who could have done this. “Johnny!” I yelled at the top of my lungs when I saw Cornelle’s home in ruins. “Shyanna!” I prayed she would hear me and come to me. My eyes searched the dark sky to no avail. “Where are they?” I asked as my voice began to break.

“Here, over here!” Cates called out and I ran as if my soul was on fire.

“Oh God, Cornelle,” I dropped to my knees by her broken form. “What happened? Who did this to you?”

“We fought, but they were too strong.” She closed her one good eye and swallowed. “They took them…they took them all.” Then she turned her head away from me and started weeping.

“Who took them, Cornelle?”

“Renee,” Fala said my name but I didn’t turn from Cornelle, I wanted an answer. “Renee.”

“What Fala?” I snapped, finally turning to see what he wanted, wishing I hadn’t when I saw what he held.

“No!” Then I grabbed my face and broke down. He held one of Shyanna’s little green scale covered fingers and my heart broke into a thousand pieces.

“It was the woman,” Cornelle coughed. “The woman of the west.”

“Inara,” Martin hissed.

“Renee,” Cornelle grabbed my hand. “They killed our Lilly and my husband when he was bringing her in from his brother’s boat. They made us watch as they killed them and burned your ship. They took no one off.” She coughed once more then fell unconscious.

Jacob had walked to the water’s edge, with Monroe standing a few feet behind him. I wasn’t sure if he had dealt with this sort of thing but I couldn’t take anymore. I could see the others talking, but I couldn’t hear a word they were saying. They took my child and I knew where they were taking him. They were going to take him to those who thought he was an abomination and should be put to death and that was unacceptable. My rage hit a point that it did not know and I exploded.

The more the rage built inside, the more I could feel it on the outside. I began pacing back and forth, completely blocking out that anyone else was in my world. The want to follow and kill those who touched my children was overwhelming and I screamed, dropped to my knees and pounded my fist into the ground as hard and as fast as my body would allow. Feeling the bones shift in my face was unexplainable, as well as how my teeth elongated twice their length. I must have looked very much like Jacob when he witnessed his sister being hurt in Cuba.

“Renee,” Martin tried to grab my arm.

              I continued breaking my knuckles on the ground. I felt someone touch me and I jerked away, I even heard my name but I had no idea who said it until he slapped me across the face. “You must get control of yourself, my love, for the sake of those who were taken.” No sooner than the words left his mouth, a fist came out of nowhere and knocked him to the ground.

              “I don’t care what the reason, don’t you ever put your hands on her. Do I make myself clear, Martin?” Derek was furious.

              Cates had stepped in and grabbed hold of Derek, while Garvin and Sydney intervened with Martin. Tanda was holding Fala’s hand with tears rolling down her face. Tammy was sitting on the steps of Cornelle’s home, rocking back and forth and crying just as hard. I looked around at all of them and then threw my head back, and with every ounce of air that I had, I screamed, “Jacob!” then collapsed onto my side. What I needed at that moment was my mentor, not my lover.

              He was holding me in his lap on the ground when I came back around, and for the first time, I saw crimson lines on his cheeks. Jacob gave me a sad smile and one small nod as I sat up. My eyes couldn’t settle on one of his and I didn’t know what to say. Half of his being was gone and he had to be hurting like hell not knowing what was happening to Jessica. We were thinking the same thoughts. We needed Martin’s ship and we needed to get out into open water right away.

              “We have to move fast if we are to reach them before they reach the elders,” Jacob spoke first.

              I couldn’t control my chin from quivering. “Do you think the twins are together?”

              “I do not know, why do you ask?”

              “What if they are together and try to split our family up?”

              “Martin has a plan, Renee. He and the others are getting things ready for us to leave as we speak.”

              “What sort of a plan?”

              “Come, let us go to the dock so he can explain everything to everyone at one time.”

              “Am I remembering right, did Derek hit Martin?”

              “He did, indeed,” Jacob nodded. “They are fine. Martin is very fond of our Derek and knows you have a valuable warrior in him.”

              “What about Cornelle? Did they take her to Martin’s ship?”

              “I’m sorry. She did not make it.”

              “Son-of-a-bitch, Jacob,” I shook my head as the tears began to fall again. The longer we walked, the more I realized how stupid I had been by hitting ground. It didn’t fight back, but it had sure kicked my ass. My hands hurt like hell and they would for a few nights. Every time I bumped one of them on my legs, I wished I had had more control. But I couldn’t imagine any mother controlling their rage if their child had been taken and it was killing me. Nothing I had been through from my birth into the normal world, to my birth into the dark world, was as horrid as the feeling of losing Johnny twice. This time seemed worse because I had grown to think of and love him as mine.

              “How are you controlling your feelings, Jacob?”

              “Jessica will do everything in her power to keep the two little ones safe, including giving her allegiance to the twins. She will tell them anything that they wish to hear. Jess has been trained to do as she is told, no matter the deed, Renee. She will do whatever it takes to keep them from harm’s way until they reach the elders.”

              “I don’t want her to be hurt for anyone’s sake, Jacob.” My mind was swamped with horrible thoughts of what they could be doing to my little ones and I hated myself for leaving them. “And now I’m going to get my brother killed; all because I changed him. I’m always getting someone hurt, Jacob.”

              “Why would you say that? If not for what you have done, none of us would be walking free right now. We will get them back before they reach the elders, we will.” He stopped and pulled me into a hug.