The Gathering Read Online Free PDF

force my rising panic down and squeeze Cap and Clive’s hands harder.
    Luka … Luka … Luka …
    Nothing.
    I blink a few times—an attempt to chase away the blurriness encroaching from the periphery of my vision—and try again.
    Still nothing.
    This happened in my dream with Link on the beach, but my dream wasn’t stable because I wasn’t sleeping well. I don’t have that excuse here. The probe hooked to my left temple ensures that I am in a deep sleep.
    I try again, and again, and again. Until beads of sweat roll down my temples and my chest heaves.
    “Tess,” Cap says.
    I don’t stay to hear what he has to say. I startle awake and tear the probes away.
    Link places his hand on my arm. “Whoa, whoa. What’s going on? Why are you awake?”
    “I can’t get to him. I can’t get to him!” We must be too late. Just like we were too late with my grandmother. I tear the last probe off my chest and hurry out of the room. Away from all the stares.
    If only I could get away from my panic.
    It follows me. Hounds me. All the way to Luka’s room. I stand for a moment on the threshold. Then I go to his bedside and drop to my knees. I tear the hemp bracelet off my wrist and tie it onto his.
    “Please, Luka. I need you to be okay. I need you to come back.” I bury my face in his sheets and clutch his warm, lifeless hand. Tears leak from my eyes, soaking into the thin cotton. “All of this is my fault. You didn’t want to go. You said you had a horrible feeling. You begged me to listen, but I didn’t. I went anyway.”
    And because I went, so too, did he.
    The truth of it—that he was captured and tortured, all because I wouldn’t listen—crushes me. I cry until the tears run dry. I cry until my entire body aches. I’m supposed to be his breath of life, and yet I feel like I’ve lost mine.
    “Tess?”
    I twist around, my kneecaps smarting against the hard floor. Cap sits in his wheelchair in Luka’s doorway. I sniff and wipe my cheeks. “We waited too long.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “But I couldn’t get to him. He’s—”
    “ Bait . You don’t get rid of the bait before you catch the fish.”
    “Then why couldn’t I find him?”
    “You were having a hard time linking.” Cap rolls inside. “You never have a hard time linking.”
    I lean back on my heels.
    “Link seems to think that you’re too distraught, and because of that, you’re not performing like you’re normally able to perform. You used all your energy linking everyone. You didn’t have any left to reach Luka.”
    “So how are we supposed to get to him?” My question comes out breathless. Hopeful. Terrified.
    “We know Luka’s captor is somewhere in Detroit, well within Link’s territory.”
    “But he can’t link all six of us. The most he’s done is four.”
    “He doesn’t have to. You can get there on your own. As far as the rest of us, Link will do what he did when we rescued Anna. He’ll link one of us at a time. As soon as we’re through the doorway, he can sever the link, and link someone else. He’ll take Jose’s place in the chair, which means we’ll be down a Fighter.”
    I wipe at my face again. “You really think he’s still alive?”
    Cap jerks his head toward the door. “Let’s go find out.”

Chapter Seven
    Death March
    W ater drips somewhere. A slow plink-plink that echoes into the silence. Clive and Gabe are already here, crouched to my left. In front, the same wooden crates Link and I hid behind earlier. I peek over them and there he is. Luka. Relief comes like a seismic wave. It tears through my body, making everything—muscle and ligament, bone and marrow—quake. Luka’s still here. He’s not gone. He lies unmoving on the floor, bound by one guard. Just like last time.
    Cap puts his hand on my arm.
    He’s arrived and crouches beside me with his finger held up to his lips. Sticks has arrived too. All of us squat beneath Clive’s cloak.
    I motion toward Luka. I want to shout, “Now!”