Coming Together (Tèarmann Chronicles book 6): A Christian Urban Fantasy

by TR Moore Ede

  Nurse Clare shrugged. “Well, I am his mother and I work here. Also, they tend to allow the older adults to know more, so it’s fine. He’s also stressed about trying to keep you two safe.”

  “He’s taking on too much. And no, I don’t know why she was there. Her fancy dress suggested she might have been rich but we didn’t really get to talk to her because after we got out, she ran off. As we were in the woods near the UIC base, finding her didn’t work out,” I said.

  Nurse Clare stared at me for a moment, seeming to decide if she believed me or not.

  What if she finds out you lied? Jessie asked.

  We can’t tell her about the alien. I still want to know more about her, but handing her to the Agency would be torture, even if it’s just mentally. And she won’t have any legal rights here or support.

  Jessie shivered at that thought.

  “Are you all right?” Nurse Clare asked, looking over at Jessie.

  She nodded.

  “That was close,” Jessie muttered as we exited the medic room.

  I elbowed her. “Shush.”

  “Everything all right?” Terry asked, making me jump and nearly punch him. He looked at me before pushing my fist down. “So that’s a no.”

  “We’re fine,” I said through gritted teeth, wishing he would take our word for it. “We should go find out parent-”

  Terry caught the back of my collar before I could make it a foot away. “They’re doing normal people stuff. I’m driving you home.”

  My shoulders drooped. “Of course you are.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “You know, you’re most annoyed with me when I’ve done or said something you don’t like or because you’re scared that I’m going to find out something you don’t want me to.”

  I looked him dead in the eyes. “Or you’re just annoying.”

  He leaned forward. “Or not.”

  I flinched.

  He straightened. “Let’s go.”

  Terry is really nice one moment and terrifying the next, Jessie thought.

  I patted her shoulder. He’ll only find out if he can guess. If I remain calm, he has little reason to start questioning me.

  Aside from the fact that he left him during a mission.

  I shot her a bit of a look. I’m trying to stay calm.

  He will start asking.

  Jessie!

  Jessie retained her unsure look.

  Terry looked back at us. “Girls!”

  “Coming!” I muttered, picking up my pace.

  Jessie hurried to keep up.

  A minute later, we were in the car. “Do you know what information Mr. Mason wanted from those files? He seemed pretty set on getting it,” Jessie said.

  Terry shook his head. “I don’t know much. I think it had something about aliens or whatever, and then a ship crashed nearby, likely piquing his curiosity.”

  Jessie's eyes grew wide. She quickly looked away, but it was too late.

  Terry glanced in the rearview mirror. “Bingo.”

  Sorry, Jessie thought, hunkering down.

  I reached over and squeezed her hand. I wasn't expecting that either, but of all the people to find out, Terry is the best. He'll listen.

  When it comes to this?

  I'm hoping so. You’re lucky. He worries about you but will respect that you don’t know him very well and will just interrogate me instead.

  Sorry.

  It’s fine. I can hide things better anyway… No offense.

  She shrugged. I understand.

  Watch your gestures.

  She bit her lip. Sorry.

  Biting your lip is also a gesture.

  Jessie went completely still, unsure how to move.

  I looked away, trying to stifle a chuckle.

  It’s not funny!

  I put a hand over my mouth, resisting the urge to laugh.

  “What is going on back there?” Terry asked, glancing back for a moment.

  “Nothing,” I muttered, my hand still covering a smile.

  Jessie gave a ‘humph’ and looked away.

  I snickered.

  When we arrived home, Terry walked us to the doorstep. When Jessie headed inside, he caught my arm and closed the door. “Care to explain Jessie’s reaction?”

  “Nope.” I reached for the doorknob.

  He snagged my wrist. “Do I need to bring this up with the boss?”

  My hands rolled into fists. “Terry-”

  “Jessica!” He folded his arms across his chest. He kept his voice relatively quiet just in case anyone was nearby. “Our line of work is dangerous. If something comes up with the UIC that you refuse to tell anyone, I will bring it up with everyone in the room. So, an alien? Did the prisoner know something about them-”

  “She is the alien,” I muttered.

  Terry flinched, momentarily caught off guard. “You’re kidding.”

  I shook my head. “No, we rescued the alien.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Almost positive. Her figure looked human but …” I sighed, rubbing my opposite arm. “She had blue blood. In fact, all of her was blue, her hair, eyes, skin, everything.”

  He stared at me, unsure whether he was going to take me seriously or not.

  “She was terrified, even of us at the beginning. If she really is an alien, she has no legal rights. Terry, she looks about our age. There is no way she came here on purpose. You can’t tell anyone, please.”

  He looked at me for a long moment, then let out a long sigh. “All right.”

  “Thank you.”

  He rubbed my head. “You’re so sweet.”

  “I almost prefer you being serious.”

  He laughed. “See you later. Stay out of trouble.”

  “That’s your job,” I muttered, then headed inside. I leaned against the door with a sigh.

  “That went well,” Jessie said, glancing out the window.

  I nodded. “Better than I expected. I thought I was going to have to convince him not to tell anyone else.”

  “I think talking about the poor, scared girl helped,” Jessie said with a small smile. “Terry has a big heart for people.”

  “That your crush does,” I said, leaning over to take my shoes off.

  Jessie’s face turned red. “He’s not!” She whimpered, covering her face with her hands. “Stop it.”

  I laughed. “There’s only one other girl my age at the Agency that I know of, not that she goes out, and I can’t tease her.” I headed into the kitchen.

  She huffed. “Have I met her?”

  I shook my head, grabbing a glass from the cupboard. “So, what would you like to do?”

  “Do you know why Mom and Dad are meeting Mr. Quinn?”

  I shrugged as I opened the fridge and pulled out the milk. “Where did you hear that?”

  “It’s on the calendar. They’re meeting with him on Thursday.”

  “Oh. Well, I have no clue. I mean, it’s not unusual. He’s been talking to them ever since he found out we had powers.”

  “I suppose,” Jessie said, pulling out her earpiece. She ran her fingers through her hair. “There’s a note on the kitchen table. Mom and Dad will be home soon. They’re shopping.”

  I nodded and leaned against the counter. “I wonder what their talk is about. It’s never been marked on the calendar before.”

  “As you said, probably about the experiment again.”

  “How many discussions can they have about that?” I muttered. “It’s not like they know that much information about it.” I placed my empty cup in the sink.

  Jessie headed to the living room and flopped on a couch with a huff. “Why do we have to do this on Sundays? I really don’t like missing church.” She was the only one in our family that was a Christian.

  I leaned against the wall, trying not to groan. “Missing one church service isn’t going to kill you.”

  “I’ve told our boss about this so many times though. You know, in hopes that we won’t ha
ve a mission on Sunday,” she said.

  I rubbed my forehead. “It hasn’t been that many times! And sometimes the mission can’t wait. Besides, you are the only person in this family who wants to go.”

  She closed her eyes. “I know, I know. But not going won’t stop me from wanting to go.”

  “Never said it had to.”

  Jessie sat up. “You want it to.”

  I looked away. “It’s just frustrating. Weekends are another more set time we can continue to get to know you. But then you put church before us.”

  “It’s not church, it’s God.”

  “Yeah, I really don’t get it.”

  She huffed.

  “What? This person in the sky is more important than us, your family, who you don’t know much about.”

  “You have my memories.”

  “You can’t just browse through memories. And it doesn’t mean I understand it,” I said. I wished she would just roll with it instead of complaining every time.

  She glared at me.

  I frowned. “Don’t read my mind.”

  She stood up. “Why not? Isn’t it about me? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to listen to a sermon. I doubt you’ll mind since you think I complain too much.”

  “I never said that!” I snapped, as she headed up the stairs. “You’re just always set on going to church even though we, your family, exist.”

  “It’s only for an hour or two!”

  “Still. You seem to put in much more effort to it than seeing us!”

  Her grip tightened on the railing, and her head whipped in my direction. “For your information, another reason I go is to see Miss Silver. Forget how much time I’ve been here, I do like you all, but I’m still not used to not seeing her every day. I was fine at first because it was like I’d gone away to camp or something, but I still feel homesick sometimes.”

  Part of me wanted to calm down and talk it out. I knew Jessie’s whole world had been turned upside down lately and that missing church and Miss Silver must be really hard for her. I had tried my best to interline my annoyance but now that I had opened the floodgates, I didn’t feel as if I could stop the rushing waters. “Oh, is this not your home?”

  “Don’t twist my words!”

  “You do it to me,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

  She sent me a sneer before storming upstairs.

  I gave a huff and sat on the couch. This was another reason I didn’t care for her religion. Anytime it was brought up, nine times out of ten, Jessie and I would argue. I rubbed my face with both hands.

  Chapter 3

  A bit later, I put my phone down when I heard the door open. “Hey Mom, Dad,” I said, leaning against the wall in the front hall.

  “Hey Jess,” Mom said with a smile, as she hung up her purse. “Where’s Jessie?”

  I shrugged. “Probably off being Miss Perfect Christian and listening to a sermon as usual.”

  “Jessica,” Mom said, sending me a look.

  I avoided her gaze. “I’m sorry, but it bugs me. I’m happy that she’s here and all, but I’m tired of her wanting to go to church. It’s annoying. Sometimes it’s the only day we have together as a family.”

  Dad walked in with an armload of groceries and set them down. “I understand that it doesn't fully make sense, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Neither your mother or I went to church when we were younger, so it’s not like we know what it’s like. Being a Christian seems to be a big part of her life, and I’m proud of her for continuing to pursue it even though the rest of us aren’t. I’ll be right back,” he said, heading back outside.

  I turned to Mom. “Shouldn’t she care about how it affects us? I want a sister, not the back of the Bible.”

  Mom ran her fingers through her hair. “She believes in a god, therefore it makes sense that this god comes first. And don’t talk about her like that. She does make an effort to do things with us.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “Yeah, I know… It’s just hard sometimes since I don’t believe in this god. So in my mind, she’s putting an imaginary friend before me and everyone else.”

  “You have to look at it from her point of view. You may not believe what she believes, but I hope you two can one day talk about it without starting an argument,” Mom said. “Could you grab some of the bags and bring them to the kitchen.”

  “Sure.” I loaded as many as I could into my arms and took them to the kitchen. “Do you think that Jessie would still believe in this god if Miss Silver wasn’t around?”

  Mom shrugged, then started pulling things out of the bags and putting them away. “Maybe, maybe not. Why does this bug you so much? Surely it’s more than the time she spends at church.”

  I grabbed a few things out of the bags. “Well, yeah. Her best friend died in a fire. If this god is so loving, why would he allow that?”

  “I don’t know much about the religion, so I don’t know,” Mom said. “Ask Jessie.”

  “I’d prefer not to. I don’t want a sermon.”

  “Right, because every time a Christian wants to explain something, it’s a boring sermon,” Jessie muttered, walking past the doorway.

  I cringed. “I didn’t mean it like that,” I said.

  Jessie ignored me and disappeared out of sight before returning with a few bags of groceries, Dad close behind with the rest. If you didn’t mean it like that then why do you seem to always want to pick a fight when my faith is brought up?

  My eyebrow shot up. Me, pick a fight? You’re the one that gets all defensive-

  “Jessie! Jessica!” Mom snapped. She had gotten good at telling when we were mentally arguing. “If you have anything to say, I’d like to hear it out loud.”

  We both looked away.

  “That’s what I thought,” Mom said. “Let’s get these groceries away, but trust me, we’re going to talk about this later.”

  “I was going to ask if I could head over to Miss Silver’s house for the afternoon,” Jessie said, fishing some cans out of a bag and putting them on a shelf.

  “Sometimes I wonder if you like hanging out with us,” I said quietly.

  “I wonder the same thing.”

  “Jessie! Jessica!” Dad said in a stern voice.

  Jessie huffed. “Sorry.”

  I gave a small sneer. I knew she didn’t really mean it.

  Jessie glared at me. “At least I said it.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “At least I didn’t say something I didn’t mean. You know the truth. And stop reading my mind!”

  Dad stepped between us. He looked at both of us, almost daring us to say anything else.

  Jessie let out a long breath and shoved her hands in her pockets. “May I go over to Miss Silver’s house?”

  Dad sighed. “I’ll drive you over, but your mother’s right, we are going to discuss this later.”

  “Again?” I muttered.

  “Obviously, it’s needed,” he said, leading Jessie out.

  “You two get along great one minute and are enemies the next,” Mom said, rubbing her forehead.

  “From everything I’ve heard, that’s what siblings normally are,” I said with a shrug.

  “That is no excuse. Jessica, this is your house. Jessie is the one whose world has been turned upside down. More so, at least. I’d like to see you put in some effort.”

  I sighed. “Fine.”

  “Thank you.”

  When Jessie got home, it was obvious that she was still annoyed with me. We spoke minimally for the rest of the day.

  The next day was better. Well, ish. Jessie and I were still learning how to talk through things together. We didn’t have any missions, so we started our schoolwork.

  When Thursday rolled around, my parents headed out to have lunch with Mr. Quinn.

  “Aren’t you the least bit curious?” I asked, leaning in the doorway of Jessie’s room.

  She was sitting on her bed, crocheting. She glanced up at me, then back down at w
hat she had been doing. “Why should I be? It’s none of my business.”

  I sat on her desk chair. “I’d accuse you of lying if you said you weren’t the least bit curious. And besides, it probably has something to do with us.”

  “I’m just trusting Mr. Quinn and our parents since they haven’t told us about it. I’m allowed to ignore my curiosity.”

  I gave a huff. “You love being little Miss Obedient. You talk like I’m going to do something to find out what’s going on.”

  “You have before.”

  I stood up. “Fine, be that way.”

  “And stop calling me that. I really don’t like it,” Jessie muttered. “I’m not perfect. And I have to guard myself more because I can read minds! It’s so easy to find out something that I don’t want to know or catch the tail end of something and have it bug me for days!”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being curious. It matters what you do with it,” I said, standing in front of her.

  “...What if I can’t control it? What if I go too far?”

  I facepalmed. “You don’t need to be perfect. If you make mistakes, don’t sweat it; everyone does. Pick yourself up and try again. And ask your god for help. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”

  Jessie ran her fingers through his hair. “Yeah.”

  “And shouldn’t it help?”

  “I mean, I guess … But God doesn’t snap and fix our problems. If He did, everyone would believe in Him.”

  “I suppose,” I said. “But if he wants everyone, why doesn’t he?”

  “He wants to have a relationship with us, not to be treated like a vending machine. I mean, would you?”

  “I guess that makes sense,” I said with a shrug. I sat on her bed.

  Jessie gave a small smile, then put down her crochet. “Jessica?”

  I moved back until I was sitting next to her. “Yes?”

  She hugged herself. “I’m sorry…”

  I tilted my head. “For what?”

  She cringed. “For how I act whenever my faith is brought up. To me, you sound accusing, and I feel the need to defend, so I have been kind of rude … well, that’s what Mom and Dad told me,” she mumbled under her breath. She hugged her legs to her chest. “Either way, it isn’t Christ-like or polite, even if I wasn’t a Christian. So, I’m sorry.”