Dream-speaking with Neena was old hat by now, so Cam knew to just push on and avoid distracting her. “Just tell me what you need.”
Neena rung out her long hair. “For once a, ‘How are you Neena?’ or ‘I love the location you choose, Neena’ would be fantastic. But I guess that’s asking too much.”
Cam shrugged. Arguing would only distract her.
“Fine,” Neena said. “What I need from you are images of the people you saw aboard the ship, the one with the Collector’s people.”
She wondered how much Neena knew about the Collector. “Am I allowed to ask why? Or, maybe even, what you know about her?”
“Well, the Collector is a recent thorn in my side, mostly because I can’t see her face in my visions. I’m hoping I can use one of her people to lead me to her, hence, why I need the faces of the people you saw on that ship.”
While Marco and her team had told Cam a little about the shadow-shifter and the Collector, she wanted to know more. She chanced a question. “Why does DEFEND need to track down this Collector woman?”
Neena gave her an impatient look. “Because she’s a pain in my arse, and I need to take care of it. Why else?”
That didn’t tell her anything. Getting an answer out of Neena was close to impossible, but Cam was going to try one more time. “But how is she a pain in your ass? Is she poaching future recruits or something?”
Neena waved her hand in dismissal. “Enough chit-chat, I need you to concentrate and show me all of the people you saw aboard that ship, and what happened.”
Great. When Neena said ‘no,’ then getting anything out of her was akin to banging your head against the wall. It was best to give her what she wanted, and get the hell away as quickly as possible before she asked for some kind of strange favor.
Cam had shared images with Neena before and knew the drill. She closed her eyes and recalled the details of the man, woman, and ship captain. Once she had as many details as she could remember, she let the events play out in her head. When Cam reached the part about jumping into the ocean, she opened her eyes to see the last of her memories fade away. She didn’t know how Neena did it, but she could make the memories recalled during one of her dream talks play on a free-floating movie screen in front of her.
Cam waited, and finally Neena said, “How positive are you that you saw the ship captain’s face flicker for a moment, revealing a glimpse of pale skin?”
“I remember the flickering, but I just assumed it was related to my weakened state. You think it could mean something else?”
“Possibly. But don’t worry yourself about it. I want you to focus on finding that Talent.”
“Speaking of which, I was wondering—” Cam started moving, as if someone were shaking her shoulder. “Damn it, already?”
Neena winked. “Your lover boy awaits.”
Before Cam could reply, the world blanked out.
Cam heard Marco’s voice say, “Camilla, we’re nearly there. Wake up.”
She snuggled into his chest, not wanting to wake up. Then his fingers flitted over her sides. She started to squirm and opened her eyes to see Marco grinning. Because she wasn’t the cheeriest person when she first woke up she pinched him and said, “You interrupted my dream. I’d found the golden temple, and was in the process of taking the treasure.”
His grin faded. Dreaming about “the golden temple” was the code for dream-speaking with Neena, and “taking the treasure” meant getting information.
Marco asked, “Do you want to tell me about your dream?”
Cam sat up and stretched her arms over her head. “Maybe later, once I’ve had some coffee and we’re in a more secure location.”
The loudspeaker came on, informing them in English and Spanish that they were approaching Quito International Airport. Cam put her seat in the upright position and tried to remember the ship captain’s flickering face. Thanks to her mother, Cam knew a lot of the old stories about the Feiru, but she’d never heard of anyone being able to wear a false face.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Marco sat next to Cam inside a taxi and resisted pulling her up against his side. They’d arrived late last night in Quito, and barely had time to reach out to their contacts and put together their plan before going to sleep. Sex, once again, had been put on the back burner. But, at least, Cam had let him hold her through the night as they slept.
He hadn’t had a chance to tell her about the other Elemental Masters yet, but that was something else that would just have to wait. Their mission took priority. For now.
Since it was Friday, and he’d learned from one of his contacts that not all tour company offices were open on the weekend in Quito, they’d woken up early and were now heading to meet this mysterious Diego. Cam and Marco were to play friends, not lovers, to avoid showing a possible weakness to Diego or anyone he worked with.
However, not being able to touch Cam was proving to be harder than he’d thought. He’d barely gotten a taste of her, and he was hungry for more.
The taxi stopped in front of a door on the corner of a building, and he focused. The dilapidated sign above the door said, “Agencia de Viajes, D&D Tours.” The same company the note had mentioned. Cam gave him a look, and he nodded.