The Institute

by Kayla Howarth

CHAPTER TWENTY

  I’ve been checking in with Headquarters every day to see if they have word on Chad and his partner yet, and they haven’t, which is quite normal for the beginning of an assignment apparently. But he hasn’t even checked in or anything. I guess they aren’t worried though. With his tracking bracelet, they would know exactly where he is—they just aren’t telling me.

  But today is the day I leave, and Shilah has come to see me off. I said my goodbyes to Tate last night. Something I don’t want to be remembering right now. He cried, I cried, we all cried, wah, wah, wah. I don’t need to be starting with that again.

  Shilah’s sitting at my dining table eating my breakfast, just like Chad used to do. What is it with boys and stealing my food? I’m putting last-minute things together like my toothbrush and toiletries. They dropped off an already packed suitcase last night with clothes that aren’t Institute branded for me.

  As annoying as this place is, I do weirdly think I’m going to miss it. I have friends here, and I have my brother; out there I have Drew … and a small possibility of seeing my Dad. I won’t be able to see him frequently, but I’m hoping I can manage to sneak away just once.

  I find it funny that a few months ago I was trying to sneak out so Dad didn’t find out I was going to see Drew, and now I’m going to be sneaking out so Drew doesn’t find out I’m going to see my dad. Life certainly seems backwards right now.

  Shilah walks me to the farthest point he’s allowed to go, which is just before the walkway that leads to Agent Headquarters. I give him a hug goodbye, squeezing so hard I half-expect him to collapse from having no air left in his lungs.

  “Wait here a minute,” I say.

  Grabbing my stuff, I start heading towards the doors to the walkway. Turning back to face him, I see he has a confused look on his face, but it turns happy, no, ecstatic, when I open the door and rays of bright shining sunlight come flooding in.

  I yell to him, “It’s something for you to work towards.” I smile at him before turning and walking away.

  When I reach the other side, I meet up with Drew, and we start heading down to the garage to pick up our car. I haven’t been down this way before. We’ve been having all of our meetings in the conference rooms. We get in an elevator, and Drew presses the “G” button.

  He leads me into the parking garage, lifting the key into the air and pressing a button. Lights of a car nearby flash at us. It’s obvious they haven’t put any thought whatsoever to providing us with a car—we’ve been given a car worth more money than my farmhouse back home.

  “How is a newlywed, fresh out of high school, couple able to afford a car like this?” I ask Drew.

  “Oh, we won’t be using it once we get there. This is just to get us to where we have to go.”

  “Wouldn’t it be quicker to catch the train?”

  “Well, yes, but with our bags and belongings, this is just easier. It’ll be there for us in an emergency as well; it’s just a safety precaution for if something was to go wrong.”

  We get in the car, and Drew starts to pull out of the car park. We drive up a ramp and out of the exit onto street level. My anticipation and adrenaline start building. I’m free … well, sort of.

  Elation crosses my face as I look out of the window and just stare at what I’ve been deprived of for such a long time. Looking at the barren land on either side of the road, I remember a time I thought it was an eyesore. It’s amazing how life can change in such a short amount of time. You don’t really notice just how far you have come until you’re taken back, back to a time of complete innocence.

  Drew starts humming, putting an end to my euphoria and bringing me back into the present. The present where I’m currently being sent on a witch hunt to arrest more of my own kind. Is my so-called freedom really worth that? I guess I won’t know for sure until I have to experience it.

  “I’m not going to have to put up with that the whole way, am I?” It’s bad enough putting up with Chad’s incessant humming whenever we’re around Tate, and I don’t think I could handle a whole car trip with Drew doing it. “How long is this going to take us anyway?”

  “It’ll be a few hours. Maybe about three, if we make good time.”

  I grunt. “We should’ve just taken the train, or at least I should’ve. I could’ve met you there tomorrow.”

  “That’s the newlywed spirit,” he says in a sarcastically upbeat tone.

  I think he’s trying to break the tension between us, but all it does is remind me that I have to pretend to be in love with him, and while I can now look at him without wanting to inflict violence, we’re a long way from becoming even friends, let alone anything more.

  I still cringe when I think of those times we spent together back home, the memory of his hands on me, his lips on mine, the way he anticipated my every move, my every need. The moments themselves bring feelings of fondness, of young love and of joy, but the significance of his betrayal has tainted those memories making them moments I’d rather forget.

  We’re silent for what seems like hours, but when I look at the clock on the dashboard, it has only been forty-five minutes. I think this is going to be the longest car trip ever. I fidget in my seat and let out a sigh.

  “Can I ask you something?” I’ve been thinking about this for a while but haven’t wanted to ask him because I don’t think I truly wanted to know the answer.

  “Hmm, this sounds dangerous. I’m just going to go with no, those clothes don’t make you look fat.” He smirks.

  “Be serious, for one second, please.”

  “Fine, what is it?”

  “So that isn’t really your mother, is it, the one who’s now partnered with Chad?” I ask.

  He shifts in his seat. “Allira, it’s my job. I—”

  “Okay, no need to explain, I was just curious. You came to our house that night so we wouldn’t leave, didn’t you?”

  “We figured you were a flight risk, yes.”

  “Why did you start investigating Jax? What could he do?”

  Drew sighs, “Are you sure you want to have this conversation?”

  “No, but I can’t think of any other way to pass the time.”

  “Jax was basically invincible. Well, so we thought—clearly he had his limitations. I guess no matter how strong you are, being thrown from a car is going to do some damage. Maybe invincible is the wrong word. He could withstand a lot more than the average human, from what we could tell anyway. It’s probably why he thought by crashing the car he had more of a chance of survival than I did.”

  “And do you think …” I hesitate.

  “Do I think what?”

  I don’t think I want to ask the question, I’m too scared of what the answer will be, but I have to know. “Do you think you would’ve suspected Shilah if I hadn’t helped you that day?”

  “Your family was actually on our radar, not enough to bring an investigation on you, but they’re always suspicious of people who move around a lot.”

  “Oh.” I was right, I didn’t want to know the answer. This whole thing was my fault. I’m suddenly glad I’m not allowed to go see Dad. I don’t think I could face him.

  Drew and I sit in silence again until about an hour later when he pulls off the highway and into a familiar street.

  “I thought you might’ve wanted to see this,” he says as he parks the car on the side of the road.

  I sit up and lean forward so I can see out of the windshield. I recognise the rickety picket fence across the street that confines an old run-down farmhouse. Jumping out of the car, I can’t contain my excitement. Drew brought me home.

  Only, I realise, it’s not home. The house is all boarded up, the mail box is overflowing, and the grass is dying and brown.

  “We lost track of him not long after we arrested you,” Drew says. “I’m really sorry.”

  My face drops. He puts a hand on my shoulder to comfort me, but I shake it free and walk across the street to the place I called ho
me for almost three years. It may not have been long to some people, but it was the longest I’d ever lived anywhere.

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” My tone isn’t angry. I’m too upset and worried to be angry. Where could he be?

  “I wasn’t allowed to. I really shouldn’t have even brought you here. In fact, we’d better go.”

  I go back to the car, and I feel comfortless. Everything is my fault.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have shown you this. I just thought you might’ve wanted to know.”

  “No, I’m glad you brought me, I just wish I knew if he was okay or not.”

  “I’m sure he’s fine.” Drew tries to reassure me, but I can sense he doesn’t even believe it himself. For a moment, I see Eminent Falls Drew and not Agent Jacobs.

  “Thank you,” I say, “for trying to make me feel better.”

  We drive in silence again and arrive at our new house about thirty minutes later. The sun is beginning to set which confuses me. The clock in the car says it’s 12:10 pm—it’s only lunchtime.

  “Is this clock right?” I ask Drew.

  “Oh, I forgot to adjust it when we left.”

  I look at him confused. “Adjust it?”

  “I’m surprised you never noticed the Institute operates at night. It’s not a complete twelve-hour switch, our nine am is the real world’s three pm. They have a skeleton crew on during the day, we’re only waking up as the students on tours are leaving.”

  I’m stunned. It still amazes me that anything can shock me. With everything that’s happened, you’d think I’d be used to it by now. But this does make a lot of sense. I always wondered why we never saw anybody on those tours. I wondered why it looked like the sun was setting while I was taking my field agent fitness test. Drew and I always met at Agent Headquarters in the morning and were never together for longer than two hours so I couldn’t have worked it out then either.

  “It takes a while to get used to, but when we go inside, there should be some food stocked in our fridge. I suggest we go in, have some dinner, and try to get some sleep,” he says.

  “Sleep? I’ve only been awake for four hours, how am I meant to sleep?”

  “Well, if you don’t sleep soon, you’ll experience what they used to call jet lag—it used to happen when people travelled to a different time zone—you need to reset your body clock to its new timetable, and we’ll be starting early in the morning. There’s a diner a few blocks away where Ava Johns used to work, we’ll start there. You’re going to have to try and sleep or you won’t be at the top of your game.”

  Sighing, we start unpacking the car. For a quaint little cottage, the inside is neat and modern, more so than what I’m used to anyway. The living room is to my right, and the kitchen and dining room is right in front of me. I walk down the small hall to the left and pass a bathroom on my right until I reach the bedroom … the one and only bedroom. They don’t really expect us to share a room, and a bathroom, do they? They do know we aren’t actually married, right?

  This isn’t the best start to my first assignment.

  Drew follows me into the bedroom. “Oh. Well, this is awkward.”

  “No kidding. What do we do?”

  “There’s a couch in the living room, I’m sure you’ll find it very comfortable.” He smiles. “Okay, fine, I’ll take the couch,” he says, catching the unimpressed look on my face.