Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

heart jumped. Her mother sounded like she was saying good-bye all over again.
     Her hands trembled as she smoothed Riley’s hair. She looked so fragile Riley’s heart
     ached. Clearly, Annabel wanted to help Riley, but in her defeated state she felt incapable.
     That small surge of determination faded far too fast.
    Riley let her breath out slowly. “You need to drink more water, Mom,” she advised,
     giving up on trying to rally Annabel’s defenses. The best she could do was get her
     mother up the mountain and keep anyone from killing her. And that required a better
     weapon than the one she had.
    Jubal was off to her left, not far from them. Gary was on their other side, a discreet
     distance away, and Ben had found a resting place in front of them, as if guarding
     them from the others. Riley couldn’t count on her mother, and she needed these men
     to help keep her mother safe. She needed to plan every step carefully and prepare
     for any emergencies. That meant her pack as well as her mother’s needed extra supplies.
    She always carried rations and her own water filtration system. She’d been backpacking
     for years and knew how to survive, but she needed weapons. “Mom, rest here. I want
     you to eat this.” She held out a high protein bar to her mother. “You need to keep
     up your strength. I’m just going to go over there”—she indicated Jubal—“to talk to
     him for a minute.”
    “You can’t trust them,” Annabel hissed, her eyebrows coming together. “You really
     can’t. Evil looks beautiful and good can look quite rough and terrible. You can’t
     know who is on our side.”
    “Maybe not, Mom,” Riley said, forcing the protein bar into her mother’s hand. “But
     at the moment, I need a weapon and he’s got one. Eat this and just wait for me to
     come back. Don’t move.”
    Suspicion slipped into Annabel’s eyes. Her hand closed around the protein bar gingerly,
     as if her own daughter might be trying to poison her.
    Riley’s heart sank as her mother turned away from her, hunching her back and rounding
     her shoulders. She actually felt Annabel pulling away from her, distancing herself.
     The look in her eyes was both defeated and accusing.
    Riley shook her head and squared her shoulders. Her mother was obviously ill, her
     grief overcoming her ability to function. Riley set her teeth and marched over to
     Jubal. She couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder often to make certain no one dared
     approach her mother while she was away.
    “Riley,” Jubal greeted with a slight nod. His gaze was restless, moving over the camp,
     up into the trees and along the ground. “Is your mother all right?”
    Riley shook her head. “She’s exhausted, but she wants to get up the mountain. Maybe
     if we make it to the site, she’ll feel better. That’s my hope.”
    “How far up the mountain?” Jubal asked. “The tremors are getting worse. The mountain
     hasn’t blown in hundreds of years, but that doesn’t mean it won’t. I’m not certain
     we’re going to be entirely safe on that mountain. Gary’s trying to get us some data.
     He’s got to wait for the satellite, but we should be able to find out if there are
     any changes to the shape of the mountain. Photographs of all these volcanos are regularly
     taken from space.”
    Riley sighed. It wasn’t as if the tremors hadn’t gone unnoticed. “One more thing to
     worry about. Do you really think the volcano will explode?”
    Jubal frowned thoughtfully. “It feels like it to me. I’m not certain it’s such a great
     idea to go up, although the plants we’re looking for are supposed to be close to the
     ruins. If those plants are really there, we need them.”
    “Look.” Riley made up her mind to lay her cards on the table if she had to. She didn’t
     have much of a hand, but she was going to get the job done and protect her mother
     no matter what. The determination grew in her that she had to go and stop whatever
     was inside that mountain from getting out. “I know you and Gary are armed to the teeth.
     You’re not exactly hiding the fact from anyone.”
    “I thought it might help deter anyone thinking they could use a machete to hack up
     members of our party,” Jubal pointed out.
    She winced, feeling she deserved the slight reprimand. She shrugged it off. “I don’t
     like anyone prying into our business so the last thing I want to do is pry into yours . . .”
    Jubal smiled at her, although there was