The Complete Lost Children Series

by Krista Street

  I gripped her hand tightly as Amber stood at my other side. “But how?” Amber asked. “What if he takes them somewhere that we can’t find them?” Her pert mouth tightened in worry.

  “It’s him!” Luke snarled.

  My head snapped toward the window, where Luke’s body was visibly shaking as his hands clenched into tight fists. Veins protruded from his neck as he sniffed along the windowsill. “I can scent Albert here.”

  “My babies!” A wail rose up in my throat. “He can’t take them—he just can’t!”

  “Luke, Susannah, Lena, Flint, Jet, and Jasper—come with me!” Di strode toward the door. Amazingly, she had kept her calm. Everybody else around me either stood with open mouths or shook in anger, except for Father. He was already on the phone calling Greg, our pilot.

  “We’re leaving right now,” Di instructed.

  “I’m coming too. You’re not leaving me behind!” I yelled.

  Di stopped in the doorway. She had almost left but turned. “Jacinda, let us handle this. You’re in no shape to join us.”

  I stood on shaky legs with Susannah and Amber supporting me. “There’s no way I’m not following the man who took my children!” Steel rang through my tone. “I’m coming!”

  ~ ~ ~

  The largest vehicle we had could seat ten, and ten of us crammed into it: Father, Di, Flint, Susannah, Jet, Jasper, Lena, Luke, Edgar, and me. Surprisingly, Edgar had insisted he join us. Normally, he avoided all confrontation, but I was too sick with worry to pay him much attention. I just wanted my babies back, and the thought of what might be done to them made me physically ill.

  Luckily for us, our pilot hadn’t left the city yet to return to his Florida home. That meant the jet was ready and waiting. We just had to reach it.

  And then we can find my children.

  Tears shimmered in my eyes as I grasped Luke’s hand tightly. It had been one roller-coaster after another since little Conroy and Emma had entered the world. Why can’t we just have a normal life like everyone else?

  But I knew the answer to that question. We weren’t normal. We hadn’t been in more years than I could remember. Ever since O’Brien kidnapped us for their experiments and changed us into altered humans, our lives had never been normal.

  A breeze rolled in through Di’s open window. Her mouth was set in a grim line as she drove. She weaved between cars on the interstate, her driving meticulous.

  Turning in her middle seat, Lena asked the question I’d been wondering all along. “But how are we going to find them?” Her bright-green eyes shimmered with worry.

  “I can still feel them.” A muscle ticked in Luke’s jaw as his eyes glowed. He tapped his head, which we all knew referred to his intrinsic tracking ability. “I can feel that they’re traveling west, but they’re moving fast. We need to hurry.”

  “West?” Father swiveled in his front passenger seat to face us. “Not east? Not back to Chicago?”

  “No. They’re going west.”

  “Susannah?” Father shifted his gaze to her. “Can you confirm that?”

  Susannah bit her lip. “My connection to them isn’t as strong as Luke’s, since I haven’t been around them much, but yes, from what I can tell, they’re flying west.”

  I cast a worried glance Father’s way. “Why west?”

  Jet cleared his throat from the back. “And, more importantly, how fast are they moving? Won’t you eventually lose them?”

  Luke gritted his teeth.

  I swallowed tightly. We all knew Luke and Susannah’s tracking abilities had limits. Once someone ventured too far, Luke and Susannah wouldn’t know any better than I did where they were.

  I clamped my lips tightly together as a mewling sound rose in my chest. Already, my breasts ached. I could only imagine how hungry my babies were. Please don’t let him hurt them!

  “Di, have you been able to see anything in your visions?” Father asked.

  She swung the large SUV into the airport’s parking lot. In the distance, near the private hangars, our jet was visible. “Nothing specific. I had a flash of a vision. We were traveling in the jet and landing on the West Coast. I haven’t seen anything beyond that.”

  She stomped on the gas and sped toward the plane.

  I continued to wring my hands as the twins began speaking telepathically. Their silent conversation was obvious from the fleeting expressions that crossed their faces. Beside them, Edgar sat ramrod straight. Tension was evident in his shoulders and sweaty brow. I still didn’t know why he’d insisted on joining us, but I welcomed any support he could give.

  As if sensing how desperate I was feeling, Lena reached from her seat and squeezed my hand. “We’ll find them, sis. We will! And when I see Albert Darlington, I’m going to blast him with an energy ball so big, he’ll fly to the moon.”

  I squeezed her back as a snarl erupted from Luke. “Not if I get my hands on him first,” he said in a deadly quiet voice. “If I do, he’s all mine.”

  ~ ~ ~

  The entire flight was agony. Thoughts pummeled my mind like an unrelenting boxer. All I could think about was my babies crying and wanting to be fed and comforted. From what I’d seen of Albert, and from what I remembered of him when I’d been a child at his mercy, the man didn’t provide any comfort—only cruelty.

  “We’re getting closer.” Luke straightened in his seat and gripped the armrests.

  “He’s right!” Susannah uncrossed her slim legs. “I can feel them more too!”

  “Is Portland still our destination?” Greg called from the cockpit.

  Di’s latest vision had shown us confronting Albert in Oregon, but visions weren’t guarantees, merely projections of what a potential future could be.

  “Yes. It’s still Portland.” Susannah closed her eyes and fingered her temples. “He’s moving slower now . . . I think. Luke? What do you feel?”

  “He’s definitely moving slower. He’s in a vehicle,” Luke confirmed.

  I brought a hand to my throat. “Can you see them? Are my babies okay?”

  Susannah shook her head. “I can’t tell.”

  I gripped Luke’s forearm, and his muscles tightened. “Luke? What’s he doing to our babies?”

  He shook his head stiffly and growled. “I don’t know. All I know is that they’re traveling in a vehicle now. They’re not flying anymore.”

  “I think he’s—” The jet suddenly plummeted, cutting off Edgar’s words.

  I screamed.

  “Sorry, folks!” Greg called from the front. “I can’t skirt the thunderstorm we’re approaching if you want to reach Portland in the quickest time. Buckle up and hang on!”

  My body lurched in my seat and my stomach heaved when another rough jostling shook the plane. We bounced in the sky like a yo-yo.

  “Jacinda?” Luke looked at me worriedly. “Are you all right, my love?”

  “I’ve never done well with motion.” I barely managed the words. The cabin dimmed as we flew headfirst into the storm. Lightning flashed outside my window.

  “Do we make it to Portland?” Jasper’s voice was joking but strained. He laughed hollowly when the jet plunged again in a sickening dance with Mother Nature.

  “We . . . land!” Di’s eyes were tightly closed as if she were concentrating deeply. I knew she was having visions. “But this turbulence won’t lessen. Stay buckled!”

  “Jacinda?” Edgar’s quiet voice called, but I felt so sick, I couldn’t turn.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Susannah place a hand on his forearm and shake her head. He closed his mouth in a tight line.

  ~ ~ ~

  What felt like an eternity passed before we landed in Portland. When we finally did, rain splattered the jet’s windows.

  Hands shaking, I asked Luke, “Where are they?”

  He frowned, his jaw tense. “They’re still moving. I think . . . toward the coast. They’re at least thirty minutes ahead of us.”

  “Jacinda?” Edgar leaned forward in his seat as the
jet taxied on the tarmac. “I might be able to—”

  “Let’s get moving!” Di stood as the plane came to a halt.

  Everyone jumped up. I turned to ask Edgar what he was going to say, but Luke gripped my hand and whisked me from my seat.

  The ten of us jogged toward the steps single file as Greg stood at the front of the plane. The older pilot had been with us since we were kids. In a way, he was like an adopted uncle.

  “You’ll find ’em.” He squeezed my shoulder when I passed.

  “Thank you, Greg.”

  And then we were out the door and rushing into two awaiting cars. Di went to the driver’s door of one, Flint to the other.

  “Jacinda, you sit here.” Lena and Luke bustled me to the open back door of the first car. Soft rain landed on my cheeks and wet my hair. I barely noticed. Albert’s taking my babies to the coast, but why?

  Di, Luke, Lena, and Father joined me.

  Jet, Jasper, Edgar, and Susannah climbed into the vehicle parked behind ours. Flint already sat buckled in the driver’s seat.

  The second Lena closed her door in the front, Di gunned the engine.

  “Where are we going?” I grabbed Luke’s hand. He sat on one side of me while Lena sat on the other. Father was in the front with Di.

  “Wherever this tells us to go.” Luke tapped the side of his head.

  All I could manage was a stiff nod. Lena shifted closer and placed a comforting hand on my arm. At her feet lay the diaper bag with two full bottles of milk poking out the side, along with formula. Once again, Di had thought quickly on her feet. To relieve the unbearable pressure in my breasts, I’d pumped milk on the plane. Now, I just needed to find my babies so they could drink it.

  “I think I’m going to be sick.” I leaned over and took deep gulping breaths. “What’s he doing to them?”

  Lena rubbed my back. “We’ll get there soon, sister. Just hold tight.”

  Over my head, I felt the weighted glance Luke and Lena shared, as if their unspoken communication had actual mass and hung between them.

  Just as I managed to sit upright again, Father turned, a frown on his face. “I think I might know where he’s going.”

  My eyes widened. “You do?”

  The grim expression grew on Father’s face. “There’s been talk in the genetic community about a scientist building a remote lab on an island off the Oregon coast. And considering where Albert is headed, I believe that scientist may be him.”

  He’s taking my babies to a private island with a newly constructed lab! It was the only coherent thought I could manage. Horrifying images came next: my tiny infants subjected to merciless testing by a scientist who had no conscience or moral compass.

  The nausea in my stomach increased.

  I should have been surprised, even appalled by what Father had revealed, but I’d grown so used to the mad scientific undertakings that occurred beneath the civilized veil of society that all I could do was picture my babies subjected to that very cruelty.

  “We never should have gone to him!” My words came out in a wail. “Now that Albert knows about them, we’ll never be free of him!”

  “Emma would have died without that drug.” Di looked at me in the rearview mirror. Sympathy glimmered in her irises, but something else did too—resolve. “We needed to contact Albert to keep her alive, but now, it’s a matter of keeping him away.”

  Vivid emerald trees flashed by the window in a blur as Di sped toward the coast. We’d entered the forests west of Portland. The trees’ bright-green colors reminded me of the name we’d chosen for our daughter. Emerald. Oh, please, let her and Conroy be all right!

  Forty-five minutes later, the scent of salty ocean water drifted in through Lena’s window.

  “We’re close. Really close!” Luke leaned forward in his seat and closed his eyes. He inhaled sharply before exhaling. He did it again before his eyes flashed open. “A mile or two that way. We’re almost there.”

  He pointed down the scenic highway that threaded along the coast. Even though I’d never been to Oregon, I didn’t pay attention to the scenery as Di stomped on the gas pedal. Only one thought permeated my mind: Find my babies! Find them before it’s too late!

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “We should stop and convene with the others.” Di stopped at the driveway, where Luke said our children had been taken. Just across the coastal highway lay the beach. The Pacific shimmered in the afternoon sun.

  The driveway’s smooth blacktop snaked into the forested hills. I could only assume the driveway led to a house, but the home wasn’t visible.

  At my side, Luke was like a pressure cooker about to explode. Tension strummed off him in steady waves.

  “He parked up there.” Luke pointed toward the driveway. “But now they’re—” His head swung toward the ocean. “There!”

  Just off shore, a boat was visible as it crashed through the growing surf.

  “They’re on that boat?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Luke’s tone was clipped. He sounded as sick as I felt.

  “How the hell are we going to get to that boat?” Lena asked.

  My stomach sank. How indeed? We didn’t have a boat to follow them. We didn’t have a helicopter to fly over them. Our only option was to swim, yet we had no idea how far they were going. And despite Luke and Flint being strong enough to swim for miles in a strong ocean current, even they weren’t immune to the frigid waters off the Oregon coast.

  With each second that passed, the boat grew farther and farther away. I may never see my babies again!

  Slamming car doors sounded behind us. The twins, Susannah, Edgar, and Flint appeared outside my window, but my attention was focused inward. I was numb. Completely numb. Even the tears had stopped. We’ll never get to them.

  That thought was too horrific to bear.

  A fine misty rain fell outside. Cool wind whistled through Lena’s cracked window. The gray clouds and gloomy weather matched exactly how I felt inside. Cold and empty.

  “Jacinda!” Edgar tapped on the window.

  I turned my face to gaze up at him.

  A pleading expression was in his eyes. Dampness covered his ebony skin and shaved head. A part of me knew I should open the door and tell him to cover himself, but my limbs had turned to concrete. I couldn’t move, let alone reply. The numbness had paralyzed my tongue.

  “It will be okay.” Lena grabbed my hand and nodded toward everyone outside the window. “Come on. We need to figure out what to do from here.”

  She opened the door and pulled me with her.

  As soon as I stood outside the car, Edgar grabbed my hand, but my gaze stayed on the boat that was disappearing from sight. My babies . . .

  “Jacinda!”

  Edgar’s yell finally permeated the fog in my mind. I looked at him blankly. Around us, my family was arguing about the best way to rescue my children, but their words sounded weird, as if everyone were talking under water.

  I didn’t want to hear their words anyway. Nothing they were saying was comforting. It would require hours before we had the resources to follow Albert out to sea.

  “I can stop him!” Edgar’s shout made me jump.

  The conversation around me stopped. Time stood still. Even the cars that passed us on the highway lessened.

  “What did you say?” Luke took a step toward Edgar. “You can stop him?”

  Edgar ran a shaky hand over his head. “I was . . . I mean, I tried to . . .”

  “Dude, just spit it out!” Jet clapped his back.

  Edgar took a deep, shaky breath. “I tried to tell you earlier, Jacinda! I can stop Albert. I have the power to . . .” He took another breath. “Control minds.”

  Lena’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. So did Di’s.

  “Come again?” Jet said.

  “It’s one of the powers I have.” Edgar looked down and shuffled his feet. “It was the third ability they gave me. I was the only one who survived that drug.”

  “You can c
ontrol minds?” Lena stepped closer to Edgar and put a hand on his shoulder. “But why didn’t you tell us . . .” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. What matters is rescuing Emma and Conroy. Can you get them back?”

  Edgar nodded. Sweat beaded on his forehead as shallow breaths puffed audibly from his chest. “You all know I don’t like using my powers. I usually never do, but this time . . .” He raised his eyes to me. “I’ll do it for you and Luke. I’ll do it for your babies.”

  I rushed forward and pulled him into a hug. “Can you really save them?”

  He trembled beneath my grasp. “I don’t know, but I’ll try. I’ll have to . . .” He gulped. “I’ll have to transform into my animal. I need to be physically close to someone to control them. That means I’ll have to swim after the boat until I’m close to it. Then I may be able to.”

  I pulled him into another suffocating hug. “Oh, Edgar, please! Please try!”

  ~ ~ ~

  Edgar transformed into his otter form in the back of the large sedan. From the groaning and screaming cries, I knew it pained him terribly. He wasn’t like Luke and Susannah, who regularly transformed into their animals and had grown somewhat immune to the pain. Edgar had never transformed in all the time I’d known him.

  When he emerged, my eyes widened at how large he was. He was easily ten times the size of a normal otter.

  Lifting his head, he sniffed the air. Before transforming, he’d divulged that he had tracking abilities similar to Susannah’s and Luke’s. Once he caught my babies’ scent, he would be able to find them.

  Jet and Jasper stood near the road. Di had instructed them to use their mind-manipulation powers to their max. They were currently deterring anyone from driving near us. In the distance, we’d already seen a few cars stop and do a U-turn in the middle of the road. Since Edgar was exposing his animal form in public in broad daylight, we couldn’t have anyone see him. His size alone would garner too much attention and raise questions.

  Bending down, I ran my hand over his head. It was soft and smooth. His thick otter fur would keep him warm in the frigid waters. “Be careful and stay safe.”