“You can’t talk to the police any more than I can.” He grinned.
“True. But my story can start with them and stop with those government officials who know about our existence. Considering you put me in this position, who do you think they’re going to side with?”
The smile fell off his face.
“Thought so.” I turned and ran for the car.
I made sure Nadia buckled in the back before I turned off the stolen cell phone and tossed it into the seat next to me. The last thing I needed was someone tracking me via GPS.
#
We drove for two hours before Nadia and I finally stopped to grab fast food somewhere in Indiana. When I went through the drive-thru, I got a strange look from the cashier. I told her my pimp beat me up, so I stole his car to get away from him for good. She said the food was on the house and gave me directions to a nearby women’s shelter. It was good to know some people in this world still had your best interests at heart.
Next, I went to a drive-thru ATM and withdrew the maximum amount. It was a gamble that Arnold Peglisi didn’t call the cops or give me the wrong PIN, but he could’ve easily called whoever his benefactor was to put a trace on the card. The question was how long it would take for them to get to us. Stupid or not, I had to risk it. We needed the cash and the Peglisis barely had two hundred dollars between them.
I drove another two hours before I started weaving across the lane on I-65. It was time to pull over and call it a night. Nadia was already exhausted from our ordeal and asleep in the backseat. After hitting up an all-night gas station and convenience store for some desperately needed souvenir tee shirts, first-aid kit, ibuprofen, and snacks, I found a one-star motel and paid in cash.
Once inside Nadia and I didn’t care that the shower curtains looked like they hadn't been cleaned in over a year. We took the best shower ever. I cleaned Nadia as best I could, but I had to bite through the pain of seeing her skin and bones and bruises on her arms and legs. Mine matched hers, but Nadia’s were worse. She didn’t have the luxury of being drugged up during the day and sedated every night. She got hers full-on.
I had to tear up one of the pillowcases to make bandages for any open wounds we suffered. Before I went to sleep, I turned on my laptop, which was still in good working condition. It was a shocker. I couldn’t remember anyone’s phone number to save my life, so I sent an email to Jadyen’s school email address and gave her the number of the cell phone I was using. I wanted to talk to her, but I couldn’t risk turning it on long enough for anyone to track it. Nadia and I needed a good night’s sleep. Not a pack up and run.
Another email went to Kurt to let him know we were okay for now. I didn’t bother telling him or Jayden where we were in case it leaked out to the wrong people. While I trusted my family and friends, I didn’t know if anyone was watching them.
I went through the rest of my things, not surprised that Aunt Shelley took what little money we had. My cell phone was gone, so just out of curiosity, I checked Nadia’s backpack while she slept. Shockingly—or not—Jayden’s phone was still there. Shelley must have thought like a bunch of adults did. Kids under twelve didn’t need a cell phone. When I went to turn it on, it wouldn’t work. Again, no shocker there. It was dead and we didn’t have a charger except for the one in our stolen car.
Other than the tee shirt and the blankets, we only had the clothes on our backs and it had to be less than thirty-two degrees at night. Technically, we could freeze to death in fifty-degree weather, too. We needed more clothes, even if we had to rummage through garbage to get them.
Most of my night was spent in and out of sleep. Nadia was no better. Nightmares plagued both of us. Whenever Nadia woke up screaming, I was there to comfort her and smooth her back to sleep. Come five in the morning, I had given up. Those last five hours needed to be enough to get us through.
When I reached over to check on Nadia, I noticed she was a little warmer than usual. God help us if she was coming down with something because we couldn’t go to a doctor. I didn’t have any ID, so the first thing they would do is call social services on us. Heck, I was lucky nobody carded me, yet. The extra blanket I had taken from the house, I spread it out on her.
I went to the window and peeked around the curtain to scan the parking lot. There weren’t many cars out there. The ones that stood out were mine, a luxury van, and a white sedan. The others were older models and probably belonged to people who couldn’t afford anything better than this roach-tel. Anyone who paid enough attention would know that a kid driving around a car that was worth well over twenty grand might be a little suspicious. More than anything, I needed to be careful.
When the dawning sky began to lighten, I started packing. It was still a little early, so I checked my email. Both Jayden and Kurt sent something. Jayden wanted to know where we were and how she could help. She also said her parents contacted Savoy for help, since he had more connections to the supernatural underground than anyone else they knew. I wish I trusted him like I did them, but I didn’t. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew something about what I was going through already. I wrote Jayden back and told her we were safe for now but trying to make our way back to Raleigh. Sending both of us tickets was useless because I didn’t have my ID anymore and officials would certainly ask for them.
When I opened Kurt’s email, it was short, sweet, and unsettling. He was glad to hear we were okay, but I shouldn’t have emailed him, in case someone was tracking IP addresses. They could use it to trace us back to this motel unless we made use of a VPN, which I didn’t. I was too tired to think about that. Damn. He also sent instructions for me to buy a throwaway cell phone and to call Mason’s business line to get in touch with him.
I gathered up our things before rousing Nadia from slumber. She was a cranky-saurus Rex, which wasn’t a surprise. After we brushed our teeth and got dressed in all of ten minutes, we left the room and got into the car. I tossed the room keys into the deposit box and sped out of the parking lot, all before six in the morning.
I had no idea where we were going, but home wasn’t an option. Not yet.
Chapter Sixteen
We hit up another drive-thru for breakfast and then went back on the road. Nadia didn’t eat much, except for her milk. Normally, I wouldn’t worry too much about her. I knew exactly what to do and that was to wake mom to take her to the doctor if she got sick. Mom wasn’t here now.
I pulled into another store that opened around seven in the morning. Thankfully, they sold everything we needed. Despite Nadia feeling like crap, I loaded her up in a shopping cart, went through the clothes as quickly as possible snatching up pants, socks, shirts, and underwear for both of us. Next, I hit up the electronics department and found a plug-in charger and a portable cell phone charger for Jayden’s phone. The health and beauty section was next. Nadia had a fever and was achy. I grabbed chewable ibuprofen for kids. Before we could make it to the checkout, I had her down two and hoped I didn’t overdose her.
I thought about buying a pocket knife for protection but decided against it. A sign on the sporting goods department said they carded anyone under the age of twenty-one. Instead, I went to the household department and found a set of cheap paring knives. If they carded me on those, I’ll put them back and pray I didn’t tip my hand.
By the time I finished paying for everything, we had about three hundred dollars left to get us back to Raleigh. It was enough, but I didn’t want to stay in another roach-tel with Nadia feeling as bad as she did. We had to stay somewhere better, which would mean spending more money.
When I rolled the cart out of the store and up the aisle, I noticed over my shoulder a white sedan driving up the same aisle. I could’ve been wrong, but it looked like the one from the hotel. I continued toward our car where I triggered the locks.
“Nadia,” I said, helping her out of the cart. “I need you to get in the car and put your seatbelt on.”
“Why?” Lethargy settled into her sleepy eyes. When
her cheek settled against mine, she was warmer than she had been before. I wished I had remembered to get some juice while we were in there, but it was too late to go back.
“Nevermind why.”
I placed her in the backseat and tossed the bags on the floor. I gave her the blanket again to cover up and closed the door. I grabbed the shopping cart and waited until the car turned into the space next to us, parking so close that I couldn’t get into the driver’s side unless I narrowed down to about six inches.
The passenger side opened and a man got out. He folded his fingers together on the top of the car.
“We’re really not bad people, Ms. Thorne,” he said. “That’s why we wanted to make sure you were rested instead of charging into your motel room last night.”
“More like you couldn’t afford to have your brains bashed in if you bashed through that door. How are Mr. and Mrs. Peglisi feeling?”
He chuckled. “They’re fine. Well...somewhat fine. Some surgery and lots of scans were needed. Ms. Peglisi will walk, despite having six fractured vertebrae, among other things. Mr. Peglisi had a lacerated liver and a punctured lung on top of the glass sticking out of his back and five broken ribs. That’s a lot of damage for a little girl like you.”
“Who are you and what do you people want?” My knuckles curled tighter on the shopping cart handle.
“We’re here because a rich benefactor who gives a couple of million dollars to hub schools wants to better the future for kids like you.”
“And just like everyone who donates to the hub schools, he wants something in return.”
“Yes. He would like you to return to the house that you and your sister escaped from. To live there for a while. Maybe bring your brother and your mother along, too. Is that too much to ask?”
“It is when you have my aunt kidnap us and hold us hostage while she tweaks your guy for more money. Why don’t you ask her how many beatings my sister and I had to endure? How many times has she drugged me up? How many times were we fed?”
“About that.” His smile turned to near embarrassment with a little touch of remorse. “I can assure you we’re deeply sorry and it’ll never happen again. In fact, you never have to see your aunt again either. We only approached her because she was extremely approachable at the time and thought a friendly face might ease the transition when you and your sister were ready to meet us. We didn’t know—”
“That’s right. You don’t know anything about me or our family dynamics. So, I suggest if you want to keep your insides intact, you might want to let us go.”
“Can’t.” He held up his hands. “You’re both minors. In fact, you shouldn’t even be driving without a license.”
“Please. Call the cops. I’m sure they would love to know why strangers are harassing us to begin with.”
“We don’t need to get the police involved for obvious reasons. All we want to do is talk. Your family is looking for a new home and we have one to offer. It’s quiet and private, which is exactly what you’re looking for. Plenty of room for your family and a few horses. We’ll even help you find your mother if that makes you feel any better.”
“It doesn’t.”
I released the buggy and headed around to the passenger’s side to get in.
The man ran around the front of my car to stop me. I snapped my focus on him. Panic pulverized my insides.
The buggy began to shake. It whipped off the ground and slammed across the hood of my car and hit the guy standing in front of our car. He lay on the ground dazed.
When I went for the handle on the car, the door refused to open. I wasn’t sure if it was my power or what, but it wouldn’t work. I slammed my hand on the glass as anxiety swept through me. The guy was beginning to get up. He reached for an inside pocket and pulled out a tranquilizer gun.
The backdoor opened.
“Get in!” Nadia shouted, tears streaming down her face.
I dove inside just as the driver from the other car was opening his door. I leaped between the seats and hit the locked doors. Before he could get around to the back door, I reached back and slammed it shut. I climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. The guy at the back door had a baton in hand and wound his arm back.
Nadia screamed and drew herself against the opposite door.
The door unlocked and opened on its own, basically inviting him in. He grabbed the headrest of the front seat.
I put the car in drive and slammed my foot on the accelerator. Metal scratched against metal as I skidded out of my parking space, my driver’s side front scratching up his driver’s side rear. The guy with the tranq gun hardly had time to dive out of the way. The man in the backseat clung on for his life. I yanked the wheel to the left and he flew across the pavement. I whipped us to the right and the door closed itself. I nearly hit another car while fishtailing out of the parking lot.
From that point onward, I had no idea how I got from the store parking lot to the thruway. I didn’t even know Nadia was still crying. Everything blacked out until I realized I was going almost eighty-five miles per hour down the road. I slowed down to a normal speed and pulled into a nearby rest area. When I finally peeled my cramping knuckles off the steering wheel, I noticed I had been going like that for almost an hour.
I tilted the rearview mirror and saw Nadia sitting there somewhat shaking and staring at nothing. I climbed into the backseat with her and pulled her into my arms.
“He was going to kill us,” she whispered.
“No,” I said, hoping I was right. “He had a tranquilizer gun like Aunt Shelley had.”
“He was going to kill us.”
“No, he wasn’t.”
I wanted to say more, but our safety at that moment was more important than anything else. They figured out how to find us and had been tracking us since yesterday. They would follow us here unless I figured out how to stop them. I was sort of hoping that stupid buggy would go through their windshield, which was why I left it so close to their car in the first place. But, oh no. My powers couldn’t even manage to do that. Instead, they decided it was better to open the door and allow him inside the car.
“Stay here,” I told her.
“Where are you going?” she asked, worried.
“I need to check something under the hood. I’ll be right back.”
I popped the hood and put the brace in place to keep it up. I had no idea what I was looking for but hoped I’d know it when I saw it. I glanced around every part of the engine that looked somewhat familiar, running my fingers along the pipes and boxes covered in dust and dirt. Overall, the car looked practically brand new. I got on my hands and knees and looked under the car and around the tires, feeling my way and finding nothing. Next, I went to the trunk and opened it. Two windbreakers and a spare were the only things in there. I grabbed the crowbar just in case I needed it.
There had to be something here, so I went back to the front of the car to conduct one more search. I’d need to wash my hands for a lot more than twenty seconds. They were so filthy that not underneath one fingernail was spared from being gunked up.
“Needs some help?” A voice asked.
I jerked away from the car nearly hitting my head on the open hood. A man stood there with more belly than brawn and wearing a goatee in desperate need of some taming. He smiled as though he were harmless enough while holding a few maps in his pudgy hands.
I shook my head. “N-n-no. I’m fine. Just trying to get home from spring break.”
“Oh. I thought maybe you could—”
A trash can flipped over behind him.
When he jerked around to see what it was, I pulled out the brace and slammed the hood down.
The men from the store were standing on the opposite side of the parking lot. One side of the guy’s face that I had hit with the buggy was covered in purple bruises and welts. Blood had dripped down onto his jacket from the corner of his head. Every inch of his tense body said he was pissed.
I gulped.
Branches cracked above us. I hadn’t realized how many tall trees were canopied over our heads. Limbs broke and snapped like firecrackers. Not only were my two assailants looking up, but so were several other travelers who had pulled into the parking lot.
A branch about eight inches in diameter crashed into the ground between those men and my car. They jumped. More branches snapped and hit the ground ranging from less than an inch in diameter to more than six.
“What the hell?” The fat guy said.
I forgot he was standing there. I shoved him out of the way. “Run! Get out of here!”
A six-foot branch slammed across the hood of my car. There was no way I’d be able to control this until I was away from those men. When they tried to make their way to either side of the car, I ran from the driver’s side door, hoping to beat them.
I got the door open, but one grabbed me by my hair and slammed my head into the door frame. Pain shot through my forehead. It was almost like my brain snapped back and forth in my head. A headache pierced from the front to the back of my head. I glanced back at Nadia to see her screaming as I felt myself falling. They couldn’t get her. I wouldn’t let them.
The other guy tried to open my sister’s car door, but she kept it locked just like I had told her to. Good girl.
“Police!” Someone shouted. “Hands in the air. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Some of my senses came back to me enough to see over the steering wheel. A cop had a gun trained on both of them while trying to dodge the last of the falling limbs.
I focused on Nadia’s blood-curdling shrieks. As much as I wanted her to be quiet because the sound hurt my head, it wasn’t her fault. She was scared. So, I yelled with her. I pushed all of my gut-wrenching emotions into the air, forcing my powers to go as wild as my screams.
More branches broke from above and started raining down on the parking lot again. Even though the cop had his gun still aimed at the two guys trying to take us, he was also calling in for some backup while trying to direct everyone to get inside the rest area building.
Silent Scream (Bittersweet Series, Book 2) Page 13