With the bruised face guy was distracted, I slammed my foot into the top of his knee. He screeched in pain and fell to the ground, grabbing his leg. A branch smacked the ground less than a few inches from his head. When I went climbing in behind the wheel, a limb about three inches wide punched me between my shoulder blades. Despite the pain, I crawled inside and turned the car on.
The cop tried to wave me to stop, but I didn’t. I shoved the car in reverse and hit the gas. I slammed into the first thick piece of branch, but put the car in drive and skidded to the left out of the parking lot. A limb smacked into the corner of the passenger side windshield. I kept driving, peeling out of the parking lot and back onto the highway.
While I could still see the cop trying to wave people to safety and tending to the broken knee guy, I could tell he was trying to see my license plate. If he didn’t get it, he definitely got the make and model of the car.
Now, we are in more trouble than ever.
Chapter Seventeen
We finally made it to a mall in Indianapolis. I parked in the highest traffic area I could find. Near the food court. I crawled into the backseat with Nadia who wasn’t feeling any better than before. Had it not been for me grabbing a bag and emptying it out for her to throw up in, the car would have smelled like a putrid chemistry experiment gone wild.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one. Fatigue and achiness had settled deep into my bones and joints. So much so that I didn’t want to move from this spot. Even the few snacks we bought at the store had lost their appeal.
There was one thing I had to do before I passed out. I used Jayden’s phone to call Mason’s business phone number. Whoever answered at his office, put me on hold for a good couple of minutes while they transferred the call to Kurt.
“God, it’s good hearing your voice,” he said. “Where are you?”
“Are you sure this line is safe?” I asked, unable to keep the exhaustion out of my voice.
“It is. That’s why it took a few seconds for the operator to transfer the call. if anyone is trying to trace it, they’re going to get a signal bounced around the world. Now that I got your number for this phone, I’ll call you on it.”
“It’s not a throwaway phone. It’s Jayden’s. They didn’t check Nadia’s bag, so I guess they didn’t find it.”
“Or they did in case you escaped and they’re using it to track you.”
Goddamn it! That would explain why I didn’t find a tracker on the car. They didn’t need one if they had one on the phone. Besides, they left everything else in her backpack alone. Or maybe they could’ve put a tracker in one of her stuffed animals.
Son of b—! I was so tired. Too tired to care anymore. Too tired to keep running. Everything hurt right down to every cell in my body. My brain was turning to mush, so even thinking straight had turned into a gut-wrenching task.
“Are you still there?” Kurt asked.
“Yeah,” I whimpered, fighting back tears and failing.
“Oh geez.” He paused. “Phae, I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s not like you’re used to being on the streets anyway. Not like this.”
“I’m tired, Kurt.” I glanced down at Nadia who had gone to sleep against my side. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had given her ibuprofen. “We’re both messed up. Nadia is sick and I don’t know how to fix it. She’s scared and we barely have enough money or clothes. It’s another eight or nine hours until we get back to Raleigh and I don’t think we can make it. These guys keep coming and—”
A momentary breakdown caught me by surprise. I sobbed into the back of my hand, trying to be as quiet as possible and not wake up my little sister. She couldn’t see me like this or she might lose hope. I promised I’d get her home and I was even failing at that.
“They chased us,” I said in a low voice. I cleared my throat. It was time to get it together. If we didn’t survive this for whatever reason, someone had to know how we had gotten to this point.
“Tell me everything,” Kurt said.
I did. From the moment Aunt Shelly had tranquilized me in the car to the two guys who tried to grab us at a rest area. Kurt knew everything I did, except for where we were now. He stopped me from telling him in case the phone was bugged.
While it was somewhat of a relief to get that off my back, it didn’t fix our situation. We were still alone in a big city and probably had the cops after us, too. This was not supposed to be my life. I was supposed to become a biochemist.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“I’m not in the hospital if that’s what you mean. I was ready to leave that place the day Aunt Shelley came to get you guys. I was so pissed that I tore some of my sutures and the doctors had to go back in. Anyway, I’m better now. I left yesterday and I’m staying with Mason at his house in Cary. When you guys get back, you’re staying here. I don’t give a damn about the law.”
“Have you heard from the Kendricks?”
“I did. When they told Savoy about what happened, he was so pissed that he—”
“Please, Kurt. Don’t tell me how upset my headmaster is when I think he’s the reason why we’re in this mess.”
“Phae, I know the guy. I’m sure he doesn’t have anything to do with this. He has feelers out for you two.”
“Oh, I bet.” I shook my head as though he could see it. “I don’t trust anyone who keeps tabs on their students the way the hub does. It’s bullshit. Those records are kept to weed out who has what powers and how they can be useful to the higher-ups in the community. That’s why we’re in this nightmare now.”
“It means there’s a leak at the school. But that’s not my concern right now. Getting you and Nadia back home is. The Kendricks are on the same page as me.”
“So you finally trust them?”
He sighed. “I wasn’t so sure at first, but the more I talk to them, the more I think they’re on another side.”
“What other side?”
“I think they’re part of an underground. Like they help supernaturals who don’t fit into the supernatural community or those who don’t fit into the human world.”
“So what exactly do they do?”
“I don’t know. Not for sure, anyway. There are rumors that people who can’t cope in either can go somewhere to live where it’s completely self-sustaining. Like a little town hidden in the mountains or something. I have a feeling they know how to get there.” He hesitated. “Look. No matter what you’re thinking, I can’t live in seclusion like a fugitive from life.”
“I’m not thinking about that at all. Besides, I doubt they have a university there.”
He chuckled. “Look. You have to get a throwaway phone this time. Once you get it, call me back on it, okay? I think I might have a solution to your problem. It’s something I’ve been working on all week. It’s not the Plan A I had hoped for, but more like Plan B.”
“All right, but what about Nadia? I can’t leave her alone here and she’s too sick to go into a store. If she wakes up and sees me gone, she’ll panic.”
“Then you have to pack up whatever you can carry and take her with you. Leave the phone and the laptop with the car. Once you get the throwaway, call me back and I’ll give you more information. Say about an hour from now?”
I glanced around the parking lot and noticed an outcropping of stores on the edge of the mall. “I can call you back in thirty minutes.”
Nadia wasn’t cranky as much as she was lethargic. Still, the cold air woke her enough to get her moving again. We stuffed as much as we could in our backpacks and in a cheap duffle I bought while on the lam and made our way to a high-end electronics store that looked more like a techie’s paradise. Finding a phone wasn’t hard. Keeping people from staring at us was worse. I bought the lowest amount of minutes I could afford and activated the phone while in the bathroom.
Kurt’s plan was stupid, but we didn’t have anything else and I didn’t have the guts to tell him that. He was trying to help and that was all that mat
tered.
Nadia and I trudged back over to the mall and bought tickets to two different movies. For almost three hours, we sat in the back of the theater while the surround sound beat into our pounding heads. I pulled an oversized windbreaker over Nadia’s head, so she could rest a little easier while I watched some stupid animals sing and dance across the screen. If Kurt was going to send us to a movie, he could’ve picked something with more action. Sadly, this was the only place any of us could think of to hide out for a while with some level of comfort.
Right before the second movie ended, Kurt texted me and instructed us to go to the food court and wait. While there, I bought bottled water for Nadia and me to share. It sat on the table with less than a third of it gone. I checked the time and it had been an hour since I last heard from Kurt. With Nadia nodding off in the chair and more people staring, probably wondering if we were homeless, I gathered up our things and started for the exit. There were a series of hotels across the street from our hotel, so I was going to grab us a room for the night. I’d have to take my chances by paying in cash and praying nobody would be suspicious.
We were about fifty feet from the sliding glass doors on our right when a man with salt and pepper hair and wearing a blue jacket came inside. He pulled off his softball cap and shook the snow from it when his focus landed on us. Something about his dark eyes looked familiar, though he certainly wasn’t dressed like someone who wanted to kidnap us. His skin wasn’t mulatto like ours, but I thought it was weird that he had a tan in the winter. The way he stared at us, we weren’t the only ones suspicious of this chance meeting. He continued his approach.
I wanted to turn and run away, but I couldn’t. I’d have to pick up Nadia and I couldn’t. She was too heavy and there was nowhere for us to go. I glanced at the thickening foot court crowd. They would have to be our protection if this guy had any bad intentions toward us.
When he slowed, he held out his hand as if to stop us. There must have been something on my face that said we were going to bolt. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Trying to keep an eye on it and us, he tapped the screen and pulled the phone up to his face. He spoke a few words into it before reaching forward to hand it to me.
“It’s your brother, Kurt.” He motioned for me to take it.
I did. “Kurt?”
“Yeah. He’s a little late, but better late than never.”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Howard. I don’t like him, but I trust him with my life. He was one of the first people I met during my travels and we didn’t part on good terms.”
“Then why should I care?” I moved Nadia behind me because I didn’t want her anywhere near him.
“Give it to me.” Annoyed, Howard flapped his hand at me, so I did as he asked. He kept his gaze on us as he spoke to Kurt. “What did you tell her? She’s got this look on her face like she’s going to blow my eyeballs out through the back of my skull. And given your family’s history, I’d prefer she didn’t.”
Wait. Did he know about my powers? I pushed Nadia even further behind me.
“Did you tell her everything?” He paused as he got the answer. “Lovely. You know this is a great imposition you’re putting me in right now. Why not ask me to fetch the moon for you, while you’re at it?”
I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing. Whoever this guy was, we had one thing in common: a way with words whenever Kurt got on our nerves.
Nadia slipped away from me and fell on the floor.
“Oh my god.” I turned and tried to pull her up. She wasn’t exactly unconscious, but my anxiety went into overdrive when her eyes rolled to the back of her head. The moaning only made it worse.
“Can’t talk now. Gotta go.” Howard tapped the side button and slipped the phone into his pocket. He reached Nadia and hoisted her up in his arms. Despite onlookers, he shifted her so that it only looked like she was asleep. He slipped her backpack off her shoulders and held it out to me. “Can you carry this?”
“Where the hell do you think you’re taking my sister?”
Several nearby tables and chairs started to tremble. Onlookers gasped and either scooted or stepped away.
Howard glanced around. “You might want to tone that down, big sister. People are watching.”
“Don’t you tell me to—”
Scraping across the floor brought my attention back to the tables and chairs. They slid together as if to form a tangled mess before jettisoning out into different directions.
“Look, I’m not here to hurt either one of you. Only to help.” He finally took his gaze off the metal mess and stared at me. “I know there are some guys after you, okay? I don’t know who they are or anything like that, but I know you need an adult in your life right now who has more of your best interests at heart than them. Now, do you want to continue debating this or—” Something behind us caught his attention. His eyes widened. “Oh man. We really have to go.”
“Where, genius?”
He started toward a cop who looked like they were coming over to investigate the commotion. “Officer. Those two guys over my right shoulder wearing the dark blue jacket and the brown one have been following my granddaughters and me throughout the mall. They’ve been paying special attention to my smallest one if you know what I mean. Now they’re looking at my older one, too.”
I looked around at the guys that he described. Both of them had their attention on me.
“Wait here.” The cop spoke into his radio as he approached them.
“Phae.” Howard motioned for me. “You want to hang around and explain why I lied to the law? Let’s go.” He started for the door.
I scrambled to keep up with him. “Hey. Who are you really?” A gust of cold wind cut me off before I could say another word. The chill had picked up outside and it was only getting colder the later it got.
“Didn’t you hear what I told that cop?” He waited for a car to cross in front of us before continuing to the next row of cars.
“No, seriously. Who are you?”
“What, kid, you want a DNA sample to convince you?”
I stopped. Everything in my brain clicked off and I stared at his back. Was this guy for real? Grandpa?
Chapter Eighteen
We made it to his SUV where I threw our bags on the floor in the backseat before getting in. Howard handed Nadia off to me. After he closed the door, he glanced over his shoulder before getting inside and closing the door.
“Did you toss the phone and laptop, like your brother told you to do?” He started the engine.
“Yeah. I left them in our stolen car.” I reached inside our duffle bag, found the blanket, and spread it over Nadia. I pressed my hand to her head. She was so feverish and clammy. My worry wanted to spill over, but it couldn’t figure out in which direction. Nadia was sick, but we had thugs on our trail, too.
“Good.” Howard readjusted his rearview mirror. “How’s your sister doing?”
“Not good.”
“Well, I can’t do much about it now until I get you two away from here.”
“Are you finally going to tell me where that is?” I leaned slightly forward.
“Just outside of Columbus, Ohio. About three hours out of the way, but the only way I know. Let’s hope your friends back there aren’t as smart as they think they are.”
Howard pulled out of his parking space and headed for the main road.
#
At some point, I had fallen asleep. We might have stopped somewhere, but I didn’t care. By the time I lifted my head to see where we were, Howard was heading back to the SUV with a bag in hand. I tucked Nadia in as best I could before passing out again myself. I rolled back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness. I remembered seeing the night sky, a white ceiling, open rooms, hardwood floors, and large windows.
Like before, I woke to the sun trying to peek around the corner of a set of blinds. However, this was different. I was in a warm room and lying on a soft bed with
clean linens and a thick comforter. It was a huge change from the cold, dark attic at the other house of horrors.
Searing pain tore through my thigh and my entire body ached. Even my head hurts. How many times have I gone through that lately? It was like never-ending suffering.
It was a struggle to get myself into an upright position, but I pushed away from the blankets and placed my feet on the carpeted floor. My pants were gone and the only thing I was wearing was a white, button-front shirt and my underwear. The thought of my so-called grandfather changing my clothes sickened me. What else did the pervert gaze over?
Swallowing past my sore throat, I pushed off the bed and staggered to the door. Warm light emerged from the hallway with a walkway that overlooked a larger room below. Whoever lived here believed in some serious opulence. At least, more than what we were used to. When I looked to my left, more rooms lined the hall and it looked like it might have opened up into some sort of open area. Rather than head downstairs, I went to the other two rooms looking for Nadia. She wasn’t in any of them.
Limping from the pain coursing through my bandaged thigh, I continued down the opposite end of the hall. I peeked over the edge of the wall and noticed how much the house had opened up. Windows stretching from the first floor to the second floor only added to the majestic home as I had first suspected. A crackling fire from a large fireplace sent warmth throughout the living room and even up the angled staircase.
“You’re awake,” a female voice said.
I scrambled away from her and threw my back against the wall with my heart pounding against my chest.
A picture on the opposite wall tore off the hook and crashed into the wall inches from us. Glass shards sprinkled across the hardwood floor.
The middle-aged Asian woman’s eyes bulged out of her head as she clutched a set of towels and washcloths to her chest. She gulped, obviously shaken by what she saw. Seeing me probably would’ve been enough. Seeing a picture fly four feet in the air and destroy itself had to be a little disconcerting.
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