by Ugo, Kachi
Knowing she didn’t look any better, she turned away from him and looked over her shoulder. Joshua slept peacefully in the back. He looked normal, dressed in a clean T-shirt and black pants.
They had done their best to keep him isolated from all that was going on. But he did know who he was and why they’d had to run all their lives. They had assured him that as long as they lived, he would be safe.
Of course, it was a big promise to make. But what else could they say to a scared twelve-year-old?
“We can’t keep doing this,” Susan muttered, pulling back into the car.
Derrick’s lips twitched at her voice. A moment later, he spoke.
“We have to. It’s his only chance.”
Susan shifted in her chair to face her husband.
“We can’t protect him alone,” she said. “We need help.” Her fears bled into her voice, making it tremble. “Who are we kidding? We can’t keep running across the country like this. One day someone is going to catch us, and it isn’t going to be pretty.”
Derrick’s face tightened into a frown. “He’s safer with us alone,” was all he said.
Susan sighed, suppressing the urge to cry. She hated it when Derrick was so adamant about something that she couldn’t change his mind. They’d had this conversation several times. Always Derrick maintained that they should be the ones to protect Joshua.
“No, he isn’t safe with us alone. We almost got caught this last time.”
Derrick retained his frown. “We’ve gotten this far without help. We will do fine.”
Susan let out a sarcastic laugh. Her nerves were on edge now. Laughing was all she could do to keep from yelling at Derrick.
“All we have been through, we have gone through with Josh inactive. Now that his sign has been displayed for all to see—now that he is active, the search for him will escalate. We are way out of our depth; you have to see that. We can’t do this alone, Derrick. We have to start trusting people.”
Derrick’s only reply was, “No, we don’t,” and then he fell silent.
Immediately, Susan felt rage erupt in her. Before it could pour out of her mouth, she turned away, suppressing the urge. Tears pulled to her eyes, then she looked out the window to dry her eyes with the onrushing wind.
They drove for a while more before they saw them.
Derrick saw it first. The unmistakable convoy of a GAS—Grunt Attack Squad. Trucks loaded with iron. Humvees filled with skilled Metallics. And sleek white and black Sedans leading the chase.
“Strap in!” Derrick yelled, waking Joshua up.
Susan looked up at the rearview mirror and saw them, her blood running cold. Josh followed her gaze, and his eyes widened.
“It’s okay, honey,” Susan said. “Put on your seatbelt now.” She put enough force in her words that Josh jumped to his father’s side of the vehicle and pulled on his seatbelt. Susan was in the process of pulling out her seatbelt when Derrick began to speak again.
“We’re going to try and outrun them.”
Even as he said that, two black Sedans with tinted windows pulled up beside their pickup truck. Susan looked closely through the window. She couldn’t make out anything, save a hint of movement.
“We’re sitting ducks here,” Susan muttered.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” Derrick replied, then chanced a glance at the speedometer. “We’re doing ninety miles an hour. It’s way past the speed limit.”
“Wait, why haven’t they stopped us yet?” Susan asked as the thought occurred to her. “I mean we are in a metal container. They could Levitate us to a stop.”
Derrick glanced at her, and for the first time since they left Maine, Susan saw fear in his eyes, uncorked and raw.
Several vehicles drove on ahead of them, falling into some sort of pattern. Within ten minutes, they were surrounded. Some minutes later, the cars ahead began to slow them, forcing Derrick to stomp on the brakes.
As soon as they came to a halt, Susan felt a slew of powers latch onto the car and hold it in place, the suspension groaning under the pressure. Another slew of powers whipped the hood off the car, the hood crashing into the roadside, and grabbed the engine, ripping it out of place.
Susan watched the engine burst into its component parts, scattering all around the highway.
Grunts began to step out of the vehicles.
In a minute the road was crawling with burly evil-eyed men and women who had all come to abduct their only child.
From one of the Sedans, the leader of this GAS stepped out.
“Lead Dumont,” Susan whispered in quivering fright.
Lead Dumont’s infamy was legendary. He wasn’t necessarily the topmost ranked Grunt in Lord Stane’s army. But he was violently vile and brutally brash.
Lead Dumont dressed the part. Black jeans with chains rolling around his waist. A cotton shirt, revealing portions of his ripped chest. Black leather coat, stylish around his body, hovering only a quarter of an inch above the asphalt. A cowboy hat and boots, both black.
He stepped into the wide berth around their car and looked through the windshield at them. There was no joy in his eyes, only sadness and death.
“We have you surrounded,” he yelled. “Surrender now.”
There was a silence.
“Dad, Mom, what are we going to do?” asked Joshua asked from behind.
Derrick turned and grabbed his son’s hands. “Stay in the vehicle, son. No matter what happens, stay in the vehicle.” Then he turned to Susan and said, “We have to fight.”
Susan froze, staring at the intent determination in Derrick’s eyes. She had seen her fair share of irrational men. The Metallics tribe was full of them. Hell, even Marcus Stane was the archetypical unreasonable man.
However, Susan had never expected to see the same gene of irrationality expressed in her husband.
“Fight?” she whispered, out of breath. “Fight a GAS?”
“What other option do we have?” Derrick asked, frantic.
Susan looked around. She counted fifteen or so Metallics. Ten were aggregated in front of their vehicle, and five behind. Their sides were free. But there was nowhere to run…except into the woods.
Susan glanced back at Derrick. “The woods.”
“They’ll stop us before we can get past the first line of trees,” Derrick replied. “And even if they don’t, they’ll hunt us down and destroy us.”
Susan looked into Derrick’s eyes, not saying a word. She didn’t need to. Derrick immediately saw her intentions.
They had done their best. Now, it was time to let Joshua go. If they could slow the GAS long enough for Joshua to gain good ground, maybe, just maybe, he’ll make it far enough to escape.
Derrick shook his head, his hands clasped together and trembling.
But Susan nodded her head. There was no other choice. Joshua stood a far greater chance out on his own than in the clutches of Marcus Stane.
“I will count to five!” Lead Dumont snapped. “If you do not surrender, we will be forced to come in.”
As he said that, the men and women began to spread out. They were all similarly dressed. Leather trench coats, chains around their waists. Boots black as dirt. Some of them held wrenches, crowbars, while a few held smooth metal balls with silvery surfaces.
“One!” Lead snapped.
Derrick held Susan’s hands and squeezed. Tears streaked down his cheeks.
“I love you,” Derrick said.
“I love you, too,” Susan said.
“Two!” Lead snapped.
Derrick turned to Joshua, who seemed to understand the unspoken conversation between husband and wife. His face was contorted in a silent cry, his eyes gleaming with tears.
“You have to be a man now, Joshua,” Derrick told his son.
Joshua began to shake his head, his face contorting more.
“Yes, honey,” Susan said. “Once we tell you to, run into the woods. Keep
running. Don’t stop running until you’re safe.”
“Maybe they’ll find him,” Derick said.
“The Two?” asked Susan.
Derrick nodded.
Susan said nothing. She didn’t want to crush her husband’s hope, nor did she want to scare an already frightened kid. But she knew that no help was coming from the Two. She didn’t even know if they realized who they were yet.
“Three!” Lead said, his voice growing angry.
“Look for the Two,” Derrick said. “Do you understand, kiddo?”
Joshua nodded.
“Start at the Tree House,” Derrick said. “Be strong. We’ve taught you all you need to know about who you are and what has been prophesied of you. We believe in you.”
Joshua instinctively leaped out from the backseat and bear-hugged Derrick, sobbing loudly. After a few seconds, he threw himself on Susan.
Susan furiously fought back the urge to wail. This was their end. They had run a good race. They had done their best. But the end was inevitable. Now, the One must walk his path without his parents.
“Four!” Lead said, stretching the word for two seconds longer.
Susan pushed Joshua back to his seat. She glared at him and said, “Once we tell you to…run.”
She then shared one last look with Derrick, her husband of nearly twenty-five years. There was no better way to go out than fighting for the One that they loved.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“Go out with a bang?” he responded.
She gave a curt nod. “Let him give the word?” she said, nodding imperceptibly to Lead.
“Why not?”
“Five!” Lead roared.
Susan tapped her power core, feeling the liquid and cold feeling of Metal power explode out of her chest into every extremity of her body. She pushed against the side of her door and stormed out of the car.
As her door flew into the air, she grabbed it before it fell on the ground and flung it toward Lead Dumont and his cronies. In her periphery, she observed Derrick doing the same thing to the ones behind them.
Susan swung momentarily to Joshua. “RUN!” she screamed, then ran toward Lead, whipping a scrap from the car and bending it into a short sword.
Although someone had deflected the car door she’d flung toward them, a few of them had had to dive out of the way, Lead Dumont inclusive, thereby disorienting them. This gave Susan and hopefully Joshua the little opportunity they needed to escape.
With a short scream, she launched herself on Lead Dumont, aiming her makeshift sword at his heart.
But before she could pierce his cotton shirt, a powerful force blasted into her sword, sending it off into the air. Just then, she felt something cold and sharp cut into her chest and slide slowly into her.
The pain she felt was momentary, and then it was gone. Something cold and liquid slid down the thing in her chest around it and down her skin, soaking her dress. She looked down from Lead’s grinning face to her chest.
She saw a knife’s leather hilt, his grip on it, and blood. Lots of blood.
“No!” someone screamed from behind her, but she was already losing consciousness. The world became hollow, blurry, dark.
The man beneath her shoved her to the side, and she fell, her head snapping to her right. To Joshua, or where he should have been. No one was by the trees. Had he made it into the woods already? Or was he still stuck in the car?
Susan wanted to turn and check the car, but her strength had fled her. The only thought that she held onto as the darkness took her was: run, Joshua, run!
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
T
he lone strip of asphalt cut through the forest, heading to the one place Peter wished never to go: the Iron Range of Minnesota. Of course, they were still somewhere in Iowa City, but if they kept heading north, they would drive right up to Marcus Stane’s doorstep.
“We should call in,” Delphina suggested. She was driving while Peter sat in the back. Rose rode shotgun.
“At this rate, we’ll be in Minnesota in a couple of hours. If these guys don’t make a sudden change of course soon, or stop somewhere around, we’ll be entering the jaws of death. You don’t want to take all that information with you.”
It had been a debate between the three of them for the past five or so hours since it became clear that they might be headed for Minnesota. But Peter had held on to the hope that the One’s parents might be trying to throw off the scent of her pursuers and would soon stop.
After all, they’d headed south toward Louisiana where they’d made a complete U-turn to head straight for north, adding a couple of days to a journey that might as well have been a few hours.
Maybe they’ll turn west before heading into Minnesota, Peter thought. Maybe they’ll soon arrive at their destination and take a rest.
Three days they’d pursued. Three days with little sleep, food, or rest. The fate of the Woodfolks tribe was in their hands.
“What if we misinterpreted the artifact?” Delphina questioned.
They had kept the artifact on the dashboard, where its red gemstone pulsed a strong red glow. They had noticed that the closer they got to the One, the stronger the pulse, the farther they got the weaker the pulse.
As one could imagine, this was a terrible way to track someone, especially across a vast portion of land with different interconnecting roads. A lot of times they had missed certain crucial turns that cost them hours.
“Rose, you’re the one who interpreted the artifact,” Delphina said. “Aren’t you going to answer the question?”
“Yeah, well, I’m not really an artifact interpreter, am I?” Rose snapped. “You know what? I don’t see you doing anything other than nagging.”
Peter sighed.
They were grumpy. All of them. Being cooped up in the car for more than seventy-four hours was beginning to get to them. Peter was doing his best to keep everyone calm, but Rose seemed to want to bite off everyone’s head. Delphina seemed to want to point fingers at everyone.
“Nagging?” Delphina said, glaring momentarily at Rose. “I can’t believe you would say such a thing.”
Rose frowned and turned away, looking out the window. She had shed her robes for something more comfortable. A cream-colored vest and plain pants. Delphina was dressed similarly in a red top and blue jeans.
Delphina looked in the rearview mirror. “You should call Julian,” she said.
“I sent him a text twenty minutes ago,” Peter said with a sigh.
“A call would have been better,” Delphina said.
Peter fought the urge to yell at her. “It was a pretty long and detailed text message.”
Delphina shrugged and looked ahead. Then she muttered, “You should have called him the moment we were done interrogating Rex.”
Peter frowned. He hated it when he was being second-guessed.
“We’ve been over this, Del,” he said. “We weren’t going to tell Julian that there was a mole within our ranks. Not when the Tree House just got destroyed. Not when morale was so low. Not when we weren’t even sure that we had the right information.”
“I’m just saying,” Delphina said, reprobate in her thoughts.
Peter sighed, looking away. Maybe he should have called Julian immediately, maybe not. He wasn’t going to feed Julian information that he hadn’t confirmed. That’s the real reason he’d held off. He needed to be sure.
He’d hoped to catch on to the One and his parents or Lead and his goons. Either one of them could have corroborated Rex’s story—if not all, at least parts. Then he would have felt more comfortable telling Julian.
How was he supposed to know that after three days he’d still be on the One’s trail?
But it was about to get dangerous as they approached Minnesota. In case he didn’t make it out of the Metallics’ stronghold, Julian needed to know that there was that possibility of a mole.
“Maybe I should ca
ll him,” Peter said.
“Maybe you should!” Rose snapped. “Why don’t you pick up the phone and call him, eh? While you’re at it, find out if High Lady Regal’s body has arrived and if my protégée is well.”
Peter sighed. Just as he picked up the phone, Julian’s call came in.
“Julian’s calling,” he said, beaming.
Both girls looked at him in the rearview mirror. None of them shared his humor.
“Well, go on,” Del said with a snarl. “Pick it up.”
“Hey, Julian,” Peter said as he answered the call.
“I was getting worried about you guys,” Julian said. “Three days. No calls, no texts.”
“It’s been a tough three days,” Peter said. “We’re still on his trail.”
“I read your text,” Julian said. “You say there’s a mole among us and that this mole helped the Metallics get into the Tree House and steal a book from father’s room?”
“The Book of Grey,” Peter said. “It’s Grey’s ultimate masterplan. Secrets. Truths. Powerful weapons. Safe houses. Game plans. List of spies in the other tribes. All the sort of things we don’t want getting into the hands of our enemies.”
“Which is sadly the case,” Julian said. He chuckled a little, but there was neither joy nor mirth in it. Julian was nervous. No, he was terrified.
“We’re going to lose this war, Peter,” Julian said. “If they really have that Book of Grey, if there really is a mole among us. Then we’re finished.”
“I’m sorry, Julian,” Peter said. “I should have called earlier. I just hoped it wasn’t true.”
“So why text me now?” Julian asked.
Peter swallowed. “We’re heading to Minnesota.”
There was a brief silence.
“Are you trying to get yourselves killed?” asked Julian, his voice low and measured.
“We are at war,” Peter said. “We both have to do what we have to do. I have to find the One and bring him back to save Dad and High Lady Regal. You have to find the mole and prepare the army. We’ll try and do both our jobs without getting ourselves killed.”