by Sarah Jaune
They ate together in the large kitchen with Becca sitting on Ivy’s lap while the woman held Jonas so that Cole and Eli could both eat. There wasn’t a servant around, which surprised Eli. Typically houses this big had servants.
“My husband will be home soon,” she told them. “Do not be alarmed when he comes in.”
Once she was done eating, Rebecca climbed down from Ivy’s lap and wandered over to Eli. She didn’t ask to be picked up. He gazed down at his sister as she hovered close to his leg, but didn’t motion for him to do anything. It was heartbreaking. Eli held out his arms and Becca took a tiny step forward so he could pick her up. From there, she buried her head in his chest and held on.
Lex had demanded Eli’s attention, fully expecting she would get it. Becca had no idea how to do that.
Cole watched the whole episode with growing concern.
So did the woman.
“She looks to be about eighteen months,” the woman commented. “She is very small. Has she spoken at all?”
“A little,” Cole confirmed. “She can say her name, and she babbles a bit. We’re told she will be two in two months’ time.”
The woman nodded grimly. “Knowing where she came from, I’m not surprised. She will need a lot of very consistent routine, plus no raised voices if at all possible. She will need firm boundaries, but gentleness while those boundaries are enforced until she’s past the worst of this. If she doesn’t start speaking in a few days, I want you to bring her back to me.”
Eli kissed the top of his sister’s head and held her tighter. It didn’t really surprise him that this woman knew Eli was from Chicago, thus this toddler who looked exactly like him would be as well. She was clearly a doctor, thus a very smart woman. “She can be okay, right? I survived ten years in that house before I left.”
“Eli,” Cole warned him.
The woman held up her hand. “Is her father the same father that you knew growing up?”
There was an extremely pregnant pause before Eli replied, “No. He’s worse.”
“I think she will be okay where she is going,” the woman said quietly. “Now, let’s take a look at this tiny man here.” Her face lit as she picked up the minuscule Jonas. “He’s a few weeks old now, right?”
“Yeah,” Cole confirmed as the door in the front of the house opened.
Eli tensed for a moment, until he remembered that it would be the woman’s husband. Unfortunately, Becca sensed it and started whimpering.
“Shh,” he soothed her as he stood and started rocking his sister. Eli turned to face a very handsome man as he came in. He didn’t look terribly surprised to see them. This man was big, just like Cole, with dark, auburn hair and brown eyes.
He smiled at all of them and went to kiss his wife. “Hey there, beautiful,” he said to her lovingly.
Eli would never have said the woman, with all of her scars, was beautiful, but the way this man looked at her absolutely burst with love. When she smiled at her husband, it was as though her whole countenance was transformed.
Ivy stood up from the table and moved to Eli’s side. He turned to her and saw that she was staring at the older couple.
The man ran a finger along Jonas’ cheek before turning to shake Cole’s hand. “It’s been awhile.”
“It has,” Cole agreed. “We’re here anonymously, for their sake,” he said as he indicated Ivy and Eli.
“Understood,” the man said easily as he went to make himself a plate of food.
Ivy stared at the man, then back to Cole, but she didn’t comment.
“What?” Eli asked her in confusion.
“I…” she hesitated. “I am trying to see the resemblance.”
All of them stared at her.
“What are you talking about?” Eli asked Ivy as he tried to see what she saw.
“Invulnerability is so rare as a magical power,” Ivy told the stunned room.
Cole chuckled dryly. Eli hadn’t known, until that moment, that that was Cole’s particular power. “Not as rare as divining. They are my aunt and uncle. Let’s just leave that one alone, okay?”
The woman stared at Ivy in fascination. “Really? Divining?”
Ivy shrugged. “Can you look at his head, please?” she pointed to Eli. “He hit it hard a few days ago and it knocked him unconscious.”
“I’m fine,” Eli promised as the woman came closer. She touched the back of his head and went straight to the spot. It wasn’t exactly tender, but he knew it was there. Seconds later, the pain was gone. “Daggers,” Eli swore as he rubbed at the back of his head with his free hand. “You’re a healer?”
The woman didn’t answer, but Eli didn’t need her to. This was why their friend, Zen, had to be so careful. If it came out just how powerful Zen truly was, every Overseer would want to hold Zen prisoner for their own use.
Now the house in the woods made sense.
“Are you also a doctor?” Ivy asked her as they followed the woman into a comfortable living room where she spread out a small blanket and set Jonas down to examine him.
“I am,” she confirmed. “I trained in Boston. This baby was born weeks early, Cole.”
“I figured as much,” Cole said as he sat next to Jonas on the plush carpet. “We need to watch him carefully, right?”
She nodded sadly. “I think he will be okay, though.” The older woman held out her hand to Cole. “You’ll be a good father for them.”
Cole lightly squeezed her hand back. “I’m going to do my best.”
CHAPTER 6
THE QUICK GOODBYE
He couldn’t sleep. Eli stared up at the ceiling of the nice bedroom, with the fancy pictures on the wall and a very comfortable bed, but couldn’t shut his mind off. He’d tried meditating, but nothing about this day would let his brain turn off. He’d helped Cole get the children ready for bed shortly after the woman had examined baby Jonas, and then he’d turned in himself. Ivy had already been in her room, asleep for all he knew. There was no point in staying up since they were in for a long, exhausting day the next day if they wanted a chance to reach the jeep.
They really needed to get further away from Chicago, although presumably no one would think to look for them here. There hadn’t been another house around this one, as far as Eli had seen, for at least five miles. It all depended on if the servants had called his father after finding Nanny Florence tied up. The only thing Eli could hope was that his father hadn’t left a number where he could be reached. If that was the case, then they might have a longer time to get away.
Everything was contingent on Eli’s father and whether or not he’d come after the tiny baby boy that slept in a small, cardboard box on a tiny mattress in the room next door. It was difficult to imagine Jonas growing up to be the man Campbell Hunt was hoping for. With Eli’s mother dead, that left his father with few options except to remarry and try again.
Unbidden, Eli’s mother’s face floated into his memory. She’d been sickly looking the last time he’d seen her, but beautiful as always. Now, she was dead, and he’d never see her again. He still didn’t know how to feel about it. If he were honest, though, it was going to be harder letting Rebecca and Jonas go than the thought of never seeing Noelle Hunt alive again.
Still, a tiny tickle lodged at the back of his throat, one that he thought just might be grief. Eli forced his eyes shut, and finally, he slept.
For about ten minutes.
At least, that’s what it felt like when he heard the blood curdling scream from the room next door. Eli flew from his bed, banging the door open with such force that he thought he might have dented the wall, and skidded down the hallway towards Cole’s room. He pushed the door open to find Cole rocking a hysterical Becca, while Jonas cried pitifully in his bed.
Eli went to get the baby as Cole continued to sooth the toddler, and Jonas settled the moment he was in Eli’s arms.
“Jonas was just startled,” Cole explained quietly as he rubbed Becca’s back. “I think she had a nightmare
or something.”
They worked together for about fifteen minutes until both kids were asleep again. Cole put a heavy hand on Eli’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
Eli nodded. “Anytime.”
He meant it, too, except Eli knew that it would only be for another day at most.
Eli walked down to his room, bypassed his own door and went to Ivy’s. He raised his hand to knock, then changed his mind and rested his forehead against the cool wood. He pressed his hand against the frame and closed his eyes.
Ivy pulled the door open and Eli fell straight into her, nearly knocking them both to the floor. She caught him and staggered back two steps before they righted themselves. Ivy’s face was washed in concern as she studied him closely. “Is Becca okay?”
“Nightmare,” Eli said with a hitch in his voice. “She shouldn’t have nightmares, Ivy.”
That was what was killing him. Ava and Alexi didn’t have nightmares, not ones that made them scream like they were being murdered. Suddenly, the grief of his mother’s death, his anger at himself for not taking Becca away sooner, and all he’d lost, hit him. He tried to turn, to leave the room, but Ivy caught him up in a hug, holding on tight until he broke down in his own quiet sobs on her shoulder.
She didn’t say anything, just held him until the sorrow was spent.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered as he pulled himself together. It was harder than he’d ever imagined.
“Your mother is dead, Eli,” Ivy replied simply. “You’re allowed to cry.”
He’d have been less embarrassed if Ivy had cried. Ever. She didn’t cry, though. He sometimes thought that it was her strongest hold on her power over water… she never let tears fall.
“Elijah,” Ivy said quietly as she took his hand. “I’ve had several panic attacks over thunderstorms and you’ve never once held it against me. Your mom is dead.”
“No,” he shook his head, but did feel a bit better. There was a very distinct line in his head between Mom and Mother. “My mom is Maia. Noelle was my mother. She wasn’t someone who loved me, or cared about me. She never hugged me, or was ever truly kind to me.” Eli let out a slow breath and squeezed Ivy’s fingers. “Thanks. I’m… I’m going to bed.”
Jonas was up once more in the middle of the night, presumably to eat, but Becca slept through. Eli left Cole to deal with the baby, assuming that if he needed help, he’d ask for it. He couldn’t claim he was rested the next morning, but as soon as they were ready to go, Eli took his seat behind the wheel of the van. It was his turn to drive.
“We have about six hours of driving left,” Cole told them as he studied a map from the middle seat. Ivy was in the back again. “Hopefully we can make it in nine hours.”
“That’s optimistic,” Eli said as he drove out onto the main road. “How are you going to get home by yourself?”
“Very slowly,” Cole sighed. “I can’t wait too long, though, or we’ll run out of milk. I have about six hours from where I drop you off until I get home. I’m going to try to push through the night and hope that Rebecca sleeps.”
Eli had to force himself to stop tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “That was a bad nightmare last night. I thought she was being murdered.”
“I have never heard a child scream like that,” Cole agreed. Eli could hear the heartbreak. “It’s devastating when something like that happens. She’s still young, though, so we have a chance to turn things around.”
He kept driving and that day the kids did better than they had before. Every hour he drove was an hour closer to saying goodbye. He wanted time to slow down, but it mocked him by seeming to speed up until most of the day was gone. Eli had to fight not to turn around and run away. Every mile made his insides hurt worse until it felt like his chest was on fire.
“Only another hour,” Cole said after they’d stopped again and swapped off drivers.
Eli moved into the back again with his siblings. He held out his finger for Becca, who silently took it. Her whole hand was smaller than his palm. Her sad, blue eyes fixed on him, studying him in a way that only small children seemed to be able to do.
Saying goodbye to them was harder than Eli had ever imagined. It hit him like a punch to the gut, swifter and deeper than when he’d said goodbye to Elizabeth and Naomi six years before. He understood, now, at sixteen, what he hadn’t understood at ten. This goodbye might be forever, but even if he saw them again, it wouldn’t be for another few years. That wasn’t how the Guard worked. They kept the families separated to ensure the safety. It was uncommon for a foster family to know where more than one other foster family was living.
It was one of those situations that was exactly like ripping off a bandage. The faster he did it, the easier it was… in theory. Since Becca and Jonas were both asleep as Eli and Ivy climbed from the van and grabbed their stuff, there wasn’t more that he could do but run a hand lightly over their heads and try in vain to memorize their faces.
“Thank you,” Cole said after an awkward silence. He held out his hand to both of them to shake. “I was hoping that the retrieval would go this smoothly, but it still helps to have back up. Eli,” he coughed as he cleared his throat. “Your sisters are going to be glad to know the kind of man you’ve grown into. I will tell them about how it all went.”
Eli had a sudden thought. “Did Beth tell you about our plans to meet at the Four Corners on our eighteenth birthday?”
A little surprised, Cole nodded. “She mentioned it once a few years ago.”
“If you see her,” Eli told him urgently, “tell her I haven’t forgotten, and that I’ll be there.”
Cole inclined his blond head. “I’ll tell her. I,” he hesitated for a moment, “I should be able to see her before we have to move.”
Ivy took Eli’s hand and pulled him over towards the jeep. “I’ll drive.”
“I want to,” Eli said, even as he went around to the passenger seat.
They sat in the jeep and waited for Cole to pull out again, heading off into the cool, night air. Ivy turned the ignition key and hit the accelerator as blood roared in Eli’s ears making the world around him fade away.
She drove north, the way they’d come, long into the night. Eli stared out at the scenery that flashed by and felt the anger inside of him build steadily.
He didn’t want to be away from his siblings. He didn’t want to be isolated from his family. He… he’d hurt Naomi. Eli knew now that he’d hurt his older sister, at least once, and maybe more often than that. The look Naomi had given him before they’d parted ways had been full of her fear of him, not for him.
Eli hadn’t understood just what he’d done to his sister, because of a combination of blocking out the memories and being too young to get it. It left him feeling sick, scared, angry, and confused.
He blinked as he saw Ivy pull off the main highway that ran through the Cheyenne Zone and head even further north. “Where are we going?”
“To this place I heard about,” Ivy explained calmly. “We’re going to give you a few days to clear your head.”
“We don’t have enough food,” Eli pointed out.
“We’ll catch food if we have to,” she replied, completely unconcerned with his objection.
“We should go home, Ivy,” he said as he thought about his foster family. They would be worried about them.
Ivy shook her head. “We’re going to Yellowstone unless you force me off the road and take over driving.” She waited a long beat. “Are you going to do that?”
“No,” Eli muttered as he slunk down further into his seat. He’d heard of Yellowstone, but only that it was an active volcano.
They drove on, up into mountains along winding roads that were so dark it was impossible to see beyond the headlights. On they went until Ivy pulled over, sometime around three in the morning, and said she was getting some sleep.
“I’ll drive,” Eli offered, but she didn’t budge.
“We’re both sleeping. I don’t want to hit a deer on this roa
d. We’re hours away from help.”
She had a point.
Eli closed his eyes for what felt like a second, only to be woken up by a snuffling to his right out of the passenger window. Exhausted, still, Eli pried his eyes open and nearly screamed at the large, hairy face that was peering in the window at him. It let out a grumble, almost like a low belch, and snorted steam onto the windows.
Fascinated, now that his heart rate was going back down to normal, Eli stared at the bison as it moved around the jeep, part of a herd of about twenty that was meandering around the road. They were huge. Eli had seen a picture of one in a book for school, but up close he could imagine that they would be deadly. They were taller than he was and covered in dark, coarse, shaggy fur.