The Other Morgan (Parallel Series, Book 5)

by Christine Kersey

  “What do you guys do here anyway?” I asked.

  “Just hang out. Mostly get away from home for a while.” He paused, like he was waiting for more questions, but I didn’t know what else to ask. “Look, Raven, I’ve known these guys my whole life. You can trust them.”

  I didn’t even know if I could trust Falcon. Why would I trust his friends? “Okay,” I heard myself saying.

  “Really?” Amy asked. “You’re okay with this?”

  I wasn’t okay with anything that had happened in the last week, but I was too wrung out to argue. If Falcon’s friends wanted to call the Enforcers, I’d deal with it then. I had to trust someone. I looked at Amy and shrugged.

  She sighed and shook her head.

  “Okay,” Falcon said as he turned the lock on the door. “Right this way, ladies.”

  I tugged my hood close to my face then followed him up two flights of stairs and into a room that looked like it had once been an office—a fairly large office. Two boys sat near a propane-powered space heater, but when we entered the room, they stared at us.

  “This is Raven and Hummingbird,” Falcon said, gesturing to the two of us, then he pointed to the boys. “That’s Connor and Austin.”

  “What, do you have your own flock now?” Connor asked.

  Austin laughed, and I looked at Falcon to see his reaction, but it was too dim in the room to clearly make out his face.

  “Very funny, Connor,” he said. “Why don’t you move over so these ladies can get warmed up by the heater.”

  “Yeah, sure, Falc.”

  The boys moved out of the way, and Amy and I eagerly sat beside the space heater, trying to absorb as much warmth as we could.

  “Is it safe to run a propane heater indoors?” I asked, remembering hearing something about carbon monoxide poisoning.

  “That one’s meant for indoors,” Falcon said, then he pointed to a window which was open a few inches. “Plus we ventilate. It’s safe.”

  I nodded, and allowed myself to enjoy the warmth.

  “Where do you girls go to school?” Austin asked.

  The last school I’d attended was Fox Run High, but DM had last gone to the high school in Timber Hills. I decided to go with the place I knew—besides, I didn’t want to give any clue that I was Morgan Campbell. “Fox Run High School,” I finally said. “What about you?”

  He rattled off the name of a high school I’d never heard of, then asked, “What brings you to our humble abode on this fine evening?”

  “Uh, just, you know, I want to get away from my parents for a while.” That was so opposite the truth that it made my chest ache, but that was the answer I figured he’d want to hear.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean.” He used his chin to gesture toward Falcon. “Right, Falc?”

  “Yeah,” Falcon said, his voice sounding downcast. “Whatever.”

  Curious what his story was, I tucked away the question to dig into at a later time.

  “What about you, Hummingbird?” Austin asked. “You seem a little young to be in a place like this on a Saturday night.” He laughed. “Or any night.”

  “What’s wrong with this place?” Amy asked. “Is it full of rats or something?” She gave Falcon a sidelong glance when she said it, making it clear she thought he was one of the aforementioned rats.

  “I don’t think she likes you, Falc,” Connor said. “Maybe you need to look for more birds to add to your flock.”

  “You’re a laugh riot, Connor,” Falcon said.

  They continued to banter, but I barely listened to them as the warmth of the space heater made me drowsy. My head dipped toward my chest and I jerked awake, terrified that if I fell asleep, I’d wake up in Holly The Torturer’s custody.

  Despite my resolve to stay awake all night, my body refused to cooperate, and the next thing I knew, someone was shaking me and calling for Raven. It took me a moment to remember that I was Raven, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Falcon leaning over me, a grin on his face.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  That’s when I noticed how light the room was.

  “It’s morning,” he said.

  “Morning? I slept all night?” I jerked upright, my gaze seeking out Amy, who was curled up beside me.

  “Yes.”

  “Where are your friends?” It was just the three of us in the room, and I feared Connor and/or Austin may have called the Enforcers.

  “They left last night.”

  “Oh.” Maybe they hadn’t called the Enforcers. If they had, surely the Enforcers would have come to get me immediately. “Did they recognize me?”

  He shook his head. “I made them leave you alone, so they never got close enough to get a good look.”

  Relieved beyond measure, I smiled. “Thank you.”

  “How’d you sleep?”

  Now that he’d brought it up, I realized my body ached from sleeping on the hard floor. “Okay.” I squinted at him. “Did you sleep?”

  “Nah. I kept watch.”

  “You did?” His admission surprised me. Did he really care about what happened to Amy and me, or did he have another reason to keep watch. “Are the Enforcers after you too?”

  He burst out laughing, but I had no idea why my question was so hilarious.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” I murmured.

  He got himself under control. “Sorry, it’s just that . . .” He shook his head. “Never mind. It’s not important.”

  More curious than ever about Falcon, I stared at him. “Won’t your family wonder where you were all night?”

  This seemed to sober him. “No.”

  “Do you live with your brother?”

  “For now.”

  “For now?”

  He huffed out a breath. “Yes, for now.”

  “Okay.” Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. I’ll get us some food.” He jumped up and headed towards the doorway.

  Torn between not wanting him to leave us here alone, yet afraid to leave the relative safety of this place, I called out, “Wait.”

  He stopped, then turned and looked at me.

  “I . . . I just . . .” I had no idea how to express my fear without sounding nothing like DM would sound. I was certain she’d be brave and fearless. In fact, she’d probably be the one heading out to get food—not sending some boy she’d barely met. She wouldn’t have had to. Billy would have been with her.

  Falcon gazed at me a moment, then he came to my side and squatted beside me. When he spoke, his voice was gentle. “Don’t worry, Raven. I’ll take care of you.”

  This was the first time I’d seen him in such bright light, and so close up, and when my eyes met his, I was captivated by the color of his irises. Crystal blue, but rimmed by sapphire, they reminded me of the sparkling waters in some tropical paradise. That, coupled with his reassuring words, made a feeling of security sweep over me. “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He stood. “There’s a working bathroom down the hall.”

  I nodded, then watched him leave. A moment later I heard the front door close behind him. Worried someone else would walk right in, I ran down the stairs and locked the door, then rushed back up the stairs and went to the window. I could just see Falcon turning the corner at the end of the street.

  I looked at Amy and was tempted to curl up and go to sleep myself, but when I thought of all that had happened the day before, I found myself on alert and wide-awake. I couldn’t chance being caught unaware, so I sat on the windowsill and gazed out onto the street, on the lookout for anyone who didn’t belong. But particularly for Enforcers.

  “What’s going on?” Amy asked when she woke up a while later.

  “Hey.” I sat on the floor beside her. “Falcon went to get us some food.”

  She pushed herself up. “He’s still around?”

  I laughed. “Yes. Does that surprise you?”r />
  “Well, yeah. Kind of. I mean, why would he want to stay with us?”

  Her question made me doubt Falcon all over again. Why would he want to stay with us? What’s in it for him? “I don’t know, Amy.”

  She smirked. “It’s Hummingbird, remember?”

  I laughed. “Sorry.” I glanced at the window. “I’d better get back to my post. I don’t want anyone to sneak up on us.”

  “Good idea.”

  I went back to the sill and got comfortable. Not many people had passed by—then again, it was early on a Sunday morning. Then I saw Falcon come around the corner. I hustled down to the door and unlocked it, and a moment later he pulled it open.

  “Oh, hey,” he said, seemingly startled to find me standing there.

  “I locked the door after you left, so when I saw you coming . . .”

  He held up a bag. “I got you some breakfast.”

  “Great.” I smiled.

  “Is Hummingbird awake?”

  “Yeah.”

  After spreading the food out on the floor of our new home, we all dug in.

  “While I was out,” Falcon said around a mouthful of food, “I got a little information.”

  “What did you find out?” Amy asked. “Did they show Mor . . . I mean, Raven’s interview with that reporter?”

  “Yeah. I stopped by a diner that had the morning news on and they were talking about it. Even showing some clips from it.”

  “So what information did you get?” I asked, anxious to know something about my possible fate.

  “A man representing the Enforcers was on the show I saw, and he said they have evidence that you . . .” Falcon cleared his throat. “That you . . . uh . . . murdered Enforcer Hansen.”

  Oh no. She did it. DM actually did it. “What kind of evidence?” Maybe they were lying—just trying to get people riled up about me.

  “They said they found DNA evidence at the scene of his murder. DNA that belongs to you.” He seemed to hesitate.

  “What?” I asked.

  “They also found DNA evidence that someone named Billy Foster was there. He’s wanted too.” Falcon’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s Billy Foster?”

  A boy I knew for about fifteen minutes. “Someone I met at Camp Willowmoss.” I shook my head as fresh fury at DM bloomed within me. She murdered an Enforcer then fled this world. Nice. “I don’t know where Billy is.” Which was sort of true.

  “Well, you’re in deep trouble, Raven,” he said.

  Clearly.

  “It’s not true though, right?” Amy asked me. “You didn’t kill him, right?”

  “Me?” I vigorously shook my head. “No, I didn’t kill him.” They could take a polygraph of that and I would pass it. Of course, that would bring up a whole different crop of problems.

  Amy’s eyebrows pulled in. “Did Billy?”

  I had no idea. “I don’t know anything about Enforcer Hansen’s murder, okay? Can we drop it now?”

  “Sorry,” she mumbled.

  “It’s not your fault,” I said. This is so messed up. I turned to Falcon. “Do you know if my interview had any impact at all on people?” Self-pity and despair mingled within me, and when I spoke again, it sounded like a plea. “Like, does anyone want to help me?”

  “I do,” Falcon said. “I want to help you.”

  His sincerity touched me, and I nodded with a smile. When I met his gaze, I was again struck by the intense blue of his eyes. “Thank you.”

  “But what about other people?” Amy asked. “Does anyone else believe her? Does anyone else want to change things? Is anyone else as brave as us?”

  Falcon turned to her, his lips compressed. “I don’t have the answer to that, Hummingbird.”

  So the interview might not have helped at all. But at least it had brought me to Falcon—the only person in the world who wanted to help me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Who owns this building anyway?” I asked.

  We’d finished cleaning up from breakfast, and the three of us sat in a circle near the space heater.

  “I don’t know,” Falcon said. “I just know it’s been vacant for the last few months.” He chuckled. “This isn’t the most desirable part of town anymore, you know.”

  No, I didn’t know that. I’m not from around here. “But it’s safe here? I mean, really?”

  “No one’s ever bothered me when I’ve been here.”

  That didn’t exactly give me warm fuzzies, but no one else was offering me a place to stay. I decided to not worry about what I had no control over, and instead focus on what I could control. “What should we do today?”

  Falcon laughed. “I don’t know about you, but my top priority is making sure we don’t run into any Enforcers.”

  My lips curved into a small smile. “Yeah. That’s kind of our top priority too.”

  “I also have to go to work in a couple of hours.”

  “Oh. Where do you work?”

  “A place where people call when they need help with their computers. I do tech support.”

  I didn’t like the idea of Amy and me being left here on our own for hours. What if Connor or Austin came back? They would recognize me, and then what? As worried as I’d been that Nick would turn Amy or me over to Holly, now the idea of his house seemed more appealing. Maybe if I had any idea of where he lived or how to get there, I’d consider going back. Then again, Scott had been captured by the Enforcers. If he knew where Nick lived, the Enforcers could torture that information out of him. If that happened, Nick’s house would be less safe than this abandoned building.

  I just want to go home. The thought came to me unbidden, and as I pictured being with my family in our house in Timber Hills, I wanted nothing more than to be with them, safe and sound and left alone by Enforcers. My overwhelming desire to make that happen forced me to acknowledge that it was up to me to make that a reality. But how?

  “How long will you be gone?” Amy asked.

  “Six or seven hours.” Falcon turned to me. “Will you be okay here on your own, Raven?”

  I gazed at him as a hundred different scenarios of all that could go wrong paraded through my head—all of them ending with me in the hands of Holly. “I don’t know.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “What if I sneak you into my brother’s apartment and hide you in my room?”

  A list of pros and cons popped into my head. Pros: No Connor or Austin. No rats. No unexpected visitors. Cons: His brother could find us, and then what?

  Falcon must have read the indecision in my face. “My brother’s probably not even home. He always hangs out with Cami on Sundays.” He smiled. “No one ever goes into my bedroom. Not unless I invite them.”

  That you know of. Still, that sounded safer than this place where anyone could show up. I turned to Amy. “What do you think?”

  Her face was pinched with worry. “It might be better than here. I mean, in case those other boys come back.”

  Glad to know my thoughts aligned with hers, I nodded, then looked at Falcon. “Okay. Let’s go to your apartment.”

  A short time later the three of us began walking towards his apartment complex. I kept my hood pulled tightly against my head, and every time a car passed, my heart pounded, but we kept going. Twenty minutes later we arrived and Falcon led us to a corner of the building.

  “Let me make sure Dylan’s not there.”

  Three minutes later Falcon came and got us.

  “Home, sweet home,” he said as he held the door open for us.

  “So, your brother’s not here?” Amy asked.

  Falcon smirked. “I wouldn’t have brought you in here if he was.”

  Amy glared at him.

  “We appreciate you giving us a place to hide out,” I said, trying to smooth things over between Falcon and Amy.

  Falcon shut the front door. “It’s no problem.”

  Struck again by his unusual eager willingness to help us out, I turned to him with a frown. “Why are you helping
us, Falcon? I mean, really?”

  He gazed at me a moment. “I have my reasons, okay?”

  “No,” Amy said. “That’s not okay. We need to know why.”

  He turned to her with a scowl. “I’m not going to tell you why.” His expression showed a challenge. “You can leave if you want. It won’t hurt my feelings.”

  “No,” I said. “It’s fine, Falcon. You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.” I gave Amy a meaningful stare. Don’t make him mad or we’ll end up on the street.

  She sighed, then turned her back on us. “Where do you want us to hide?”

  “Let me show you around first.” Falcon gave us the tour of the two bedroom apartment, ending at his room. “You can stay in here. If my brother comes home and you get scared, just go in my closet. It’s a walk-in, so it’s pretty big. I’ll give you some water bottles and food to keep in there. You’ll have to come out of the room to use the bathroom though.”

  I went to the closet and peeked inside. Plenty big for Amy and me. The apartment was comfortably warm, and I didn’t fear random people would show up and find us, so I felt reasonably secure.

  “You can watch my TV if you want. Just keep the sound low, and if Dylan comes home, turn the sound off.”

  “Okay.” I sat on the bed and Amy sat beside me.

  Falcon left us alone while he went to the kitchen to gather food and water.

  “I don’t like this,” Amy said.

  “It’s better than that building though.”

  “I guess.” She rested her forearms on her thighs. “What are we going to do, Morgan? The Enforcers think you killed one of them. They’re not going to stop hunting for you.”

  Hunting. I hated that word. It made me feel like I was someone’s prey—which I guess I was—but I didn’t like to be reminded of it. The image of me crouching in a corner of Falcon’s closet while a horde of Enforcers stood outside the door with their guns drawn made me shudder in terror.

  “I don’t know,” I finally said. Since I didn’t know if Duplicate Morgan had actually killed Hansen, I didn’t know how to prove my innocence. For all I knew, they had overwhelming evidence that it was her—which meant me. There was nothing I could do to change that.