Synnergy, Chaos Time Book 3 by Marie Hall

She was wearing the same dress as
the night before. It was a wrinkled mess, Ari’s hair curled a wild
frame around a pale face. Dull looking eyes stared back at her.
    “You look like crap,” Sable said before she could
check her thought. “I...I mean,” she stuttered, but snapped her
mouth shut when Arianna held up her hand.
    “I know how I look. Did you learn anything
yesterday?” But it was forced interest. Her voice was flat and
monotone.
    After her talk with Hunter she’d learned they
basically had no idea what they were looking for. Aside from the
Bandit, who may or may not be the Lord, they had no leads. One
night mingling with the people had led Sable to one irrevocable
conclusion, the faster they could learn what they needed, the
faster they could leave.
    The Wild West was totally not all it was cracked up
to be, for one, there was no such thing as indoor plumbing. Using
the bathroom last night had been fun. Not. She’d squatted and
prayed no snakes would sink their fangs into her exposed rear. Most
of the people stunk and hygiene was a laughable notion. On top of
that, everyone seemed horribly normal and she was beginning to
doubt after her talk with Hunter that the Bandit was the Lord
because killing and stealing didn’t sound all that scary.
    A concern in the back of her mind was the longer they
stayed in one place; the easier it would be for Dragden to lock
onto their position and kill them. She had to ask Hunter.
    “Nothing. What time did you come to bed last
night?”
    Ari shrugged a slim shoulder. “No clocks. It was
late. They made me come up.”
    The last thing they needed was to have Arianna get
fired. Like who gets fired from a whorehouse? Really? But judging
by the nasty looks Milly threw her way every once in a while, she
could only imagine how much more angry she’d be at Ari who didn’t
even pretend to sleep with someone.
    “What did you do to that guy yesterday?”
    Arianna squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her
forehead in a slow back and forth grinding motion. “I flirted.”
    Sable wasn’t stupid. It might have appeared that way
to someone else, but Arianna was doing something other than
flirting. Men didn’t pass out cold from being touched.
    The healer winced and then laid back down, curling
into a ball with her arms thrown over her face.
    “What is wrong with you, Ari? Do you have a
headache?”
    She groaned. “Too much whiskey.”
    “I thought that was beer. You were knocking back a
lot of that stuff, isn’t that supposed to be bad for you?”
    Ari peeked at her between her fingers for a second
before her lashes fluttered shut again. She didn’t answer.
    “What are you doing to yourself, Ari? Are you trying
to get yourself killed? I thought you said your father told you to
protect life. I don’t think he meant drinking yourself into a
disgusting stupor.”
    She wanted to shake the healer, rattle some sense
into her brain. Okay, so fine, she was grieving, she got it. Not
like Sable hadn’t seen her fair share of crap in life, but this
wasn’t healthy. Clearly.
    “You know...” But she never got a chance to finish
her thought. Arianna sprang to her feet and ran towards the open
window with a hand over her mouth. The second her head dangled out
she threw up.
    The breeze lifted at that moment, rolling the rotten
stench of day old alcohol and who knew what else, through the room.
It was enough to make Sable gag and curl her nose. Pinching her
nostrils shut, she sighed. Nagging Arianna wasn’t going to help fix
this. She gathered the healer’s hair in her hands and patted Ari’s
back until she stopped hurling.
    “Madre de Dios,” Ari moaned a second later and wiped
the back of her mouth with her wrist. Tears dripped from the
corners of her eyes and her nose was swollen.
    “Jeez, Ari, what are we going to do with you? You’re
a mess.” She gripped Arianna’s elbow and led her back to the bed.
She sat down with a heavy sigh.
    “I feel better,” she said after a