“She’s probably right,” said Ed Regis.
“The whole thing is just a big nuisance,” said Scott. “So, anyway, what kind of trouble did you guys run into?”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to answer that within earshot of Hammer. “Nothing serious. We’ll tell you later,” I said lightly. I quickly changed the subject, asking, “So how is everyone doing? Still alive and kicking?”
“Pretty much,” said Scott.
Alia asked hesitantly, “How’s Susan?”
Susan had been on my mind too. Her older sister, Felicity, had been killed when the Angels raided our house to kidnap Alia. For all of their frequent and loud arguments, Susan had been very close to her sister. Susan’s outrage at being forced to evacuate early had been partly from her fear of being separated.
“Susan is alright,” said Scott, and added, “I mean, she is now.”
Rachael explained, “Susan was really down for a few months, kind of hollowed out after… you know. She was a bit like Max, just sitting around all day and hardly talking to anyone.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. Sorry, but not surprised. That’s just what happens when someone you love suddenly dies.
Rachael continued, “But then a really nice family adopted her. Recently, she’s pretty okay.”
“Does she…” Alia started to ask, but her voice quickly trailed off.
Rachael asked curiously, “Does she what, Alia?”
My sister couldn’t bring herself to say it, so I did, asking, “Does she blame us for what happened?”
“Blame you?” Rachael asked in a surprised tone. “Of course not! Susan’s a fighter. She understands.”
Scott said, “Hey, Alia, you know those little kids you used to teach combat to? Rachael and I took over the classes after you left, and we still have them twice a week.”
Rachael added, “And since about mid-summer, Susan’s been helping out almost every class. It’s been really good for her too.”
“A lot of things have changed,” said Scott. “I think everyone has pretty much forgiven us for what happened at Walnut. They’re really nice to us now.”
Sure they are, I thought to myself wryly, now that you guys are helping to protect them.
I couldn’t say that out loud since our driver would hear. I hoped Hammer’s attitude was the exception to how we would be treated at Wood-claw.
A few minutes later, I heard Alia yawn loudly. I couldn’t help following suit.
Rachael said, “We’re just about there, but remember you can’t remove your blindfolds until we say so, okay?”
I felt the van make a sharp left turn down a steep ramp, and then slowly back into a parking space.
Exiting the van, I could tell by the sounds and the air that we were in an underground parking lot not unlike the one under New Haven One. We held hands, and Scott and Rachael guided us to an elevator. As we got in, Rachael explained that we were in a seven-story apartment building, and that all of the apartments from the first floor up belonged to the families of Wood-claw.
Scott said, “We managed to kick… I mean, convince the last of the former residents to move out before the summer started. Everyone got a fair price for their troubles.”
“We have two guest houses on the second floor, but they’re kind of like prisons,” Rachael said apologetically. “The windows are all boarded up so you can’t see outside.”
The elevator stopped. We were guided along several yards of carpeted corridor. A door was opened, and we stepped into what I assumed was one of the apartments.
“Can we take these off now?” I asked.
Instead of an answer, I suddenly felt a pair of lips touch my own. I jumped a little and almost released a telekinetic blast in my surprise, but as I felt her arms around me, I hugged her back, and found her lips again.
Candace lifted up my blindfold. “Welcome home,” she whispered.
“I missed you,” I said, gazing into her deep blue eyes.
Rachael was having trouble suppressing a laugh as she undid Ed Regis and Alia’s blindfolds. Candace was three years older than me and almost a full head taller, and I discovered that I was levitating myself to compensate. I quickly set my feet back onto the floor.
Once her blindfold came off, Alia instantly jumped into Candace’s arms.
“Oh, you got so big!” said Candace, picking her up. “We were all so worried about you!”
I looked around. We were in a modestly furnished living room. The only window was covered by wooden boards, painted the same off-white as the walls, but otherwise it was a perfectly normal and livable place. Rachael had no idea what a prison was like.
James was there too, sitting on a long sofa, but not Terry.
“Terry’s taking a shower,” James said unnecessarily. We could hear the water running.
Letting go of Candace, Alia said weakly, “I’m really hungry.”
“Me too,” I said. We hadn’t had anything since breakfast with the homeless group.
“You’ll be dining at our place tonight,” announced Scott, smiling.
“Your place?” I asked.
Scott explained, “Rachael and I, we have our own apartment now, right down the hall, actually.”
“This is getting serious,” I commented. “You guys married?”
“Not yet,” said Rachael, blushing.
Scott laughed. “But we already got kids.”
I raised my eyebrows. We hadn’t been away that many months.
“Walter and Daniel,” explained Rachael.
Candace told us that she and her friend Heather, like Susan, had been adopted into the Wood-claw families. Both Walter and Daniel had been offered homes too, but they had refused, preferring to stay with Scott and Rachael.
“Where do you live now?” I asked Candace.
“Up on the fifth floor,” said Candace. “I live with this elderly couple and their daughter, Kate. She’s in her forties but she’s more like my sister than my mother.” Candace giggled and added playfully, “But don’t think I’m going to invite you over to meet my family until after our first real date!”
I heard the shower shut off, and a minute later Terry appeared, properly clothed but hair dripping, and without her arm attachment.
Noticing our lack of baggage and my unfamiliar sweatshirt, Terry asked brusquely, “So what happened to you guys?”
My sister decided to get straight to the point. “Addy got shot.”
Terry’s jaw dropped. “Again?!”
“Yes, again,” I said wearily, knowing I wasn’t going to hear the end of that one for a while.
Candace asked in alarm, “What happened to you?!”
“It’s nothing serious,” I insisted, not wanting to worry her. “Alia healed me in seconds.”
“Literally,” agreed Alia.
Terry narrowed her eyes. “Don’t tell me you guys had something to do with that plane crash.”
“You won’t hear it from me,” I assured her.
Terry smacked her forehead and groaned. “You did…”
There was a knock on the front door. Scott opened it to Mrs. Marjorie Harding.
The leader of the Wood-claw Guardians was a dignified gray-haired old woman whose grandmotherly appearance was offset by the calculating, no-nonsense manner of a breakaway faction leader. A former Guardian Knight herself, Mrs. Harding still had a fairly powerful telekinetic focus, though I suspected that mine was stronger now.
“Adrian! Alia!” exclaimed Mrs. Harding, stepping into the living room. Without commenting on our appearance, she shook my hand and hugged Alia. Then she caught sight of the ex-Wolf. “Ah, Major Regis,” she said, forcing a smile. “Welcome to our settlement.”
Ed Regis nodded to her and said pleasantly, “Thank you.”
Mrs. Harding quickly turned her attention back to Alia and me. “I do apologize for the delay in your pickup. Perhaps Scott has already told you of the Wolf plane.”
I smiled and said lamely, “He did.”
> “I had to be sure it was safe for Scott to leave. I have more than a hundred people in my care at the moment, and these are very dangerous times.”
I nodded. “We understand, Mrs. Harding. Thank you for having us here.”
Terry was scowling at me. I knew that I should hurry up and confess to Mrs. Harding my involvement in the plane crash, but by now, news of our arrival had reached the rest of the building. Daniel, Walter, Heather and Susan came down to greet us, along with several of Alia’s former kiddie-combat students and their parents.
There were many more hugs and handshakes as everyone crowded into the living room. I was happy to see that Susan, at least outwardly, was in very good spirits. Like Alia, I too felt some responsibility for Felicity’s death. Felicity had been one of our charges, after all. But Scott was right about Susan: at thirteen years old, she understood and accepted this war.
We also met Thomas and Sally Richardson, the two psionic sparks who had helped us retrieve Alia from the Angel outpost. Their young son had been one of Alia’s students, and he was there too, quite delighted to see his former instructor.
My sister was a bit of a living legend among her young trainees. Though a few years younger than her, most were slightly bigger, and at first they had been reluctant to learn combat techniques from a frail-looking healer girl. But the youngest-ever Honorary Guardian Knight soon showed them that size is no measure of strength, and now she had returned from a death-defying journey to the great Historian’s mountain. The kids instantly bombarded her with questions about our travels. Alia brushed them off, citing hunger and fatigue, and promised them the story another time.
Then my sister said something that made everyone stop.
“Where’s Patrick?” she asked. As an uncomfortable hush fell upon the crowd, Alia peered around at their faces. “Where’s Laila?”
Mrs. Harding looked at her sadly. “The Lands no longer live here, dear.”
“Where did they go?”
No one seemed to want to answer. Finally, Candace said, “They’ve turned Angel, Alia. They went to Lumina.”
Mrs. Harding quietly explained that the Angels had abducted Dr. Land’s wife and baby Laila back when they were living at their temporary mountain retreat following the evacuation of Walnut Lane. Several weeks later, Dr. Land and Patrick decided that they were willing to accept Angel conversion to be reunited with their family.
“I’m really sorry,” said Candace, putting her hands on Alia’s shoulders.
Alia refused to cry in front of her students. She just nodded silently.
We had heard stories like this at other Guardian settlements all year. Taking advantage of the fact that Guardian morale was at an all-time low, the Angels frequently targeted children and non-psionics in an attempt to divide families and entice surrender.
Mrs. Harding cleared her throat and said to the crowd, “Okay, I think it’s time we let our guests get settled and rested. There will be plenty of time to see them again tomorrow. Let us leave them for now.”
Mrs. Harding ushered the crowd out and, after reminding Terry to explain to us the conditions of our stay in Wood-claw, left us too.
Only Scott, Rachael and Candace remained.
“Alia…” began Candace.
“It’s okay,” said Alia. “I’m just really tired right now. I just want a bath and a bed, and maybe some dinner.”
“Dinner will be in an hour,” promised Scott. Then, after a quick glance in my direction, he asked Candace, “Would you like to join us too?”
Candace smiled. “I’d love to come.”
“We’ll set another plate,” promised Scott. “It’s going to be a feast tonight.”
Gesturing toward Ed Regis, Alia and me, Rachael said to Candace, “These three lost their luggage. I think we can spare some clothes for Adrian and Mr. Regis, but we don’t have anything Alia-size at home. Think you can go borrow some?”
“Sure,” Candace replied confidently. “I’ll go ask around your combat kids.”
Then Candace gave me a quick peck on the cheek and said, “And you can tell us over dinner how you got shot, Adrian.” She looked at Alia and asked, “Um, how many times now?”
Rolling her eyes, my sister put up a hand, all five fingers.
Candace shook her head in wonder.
Scott, Rachael and Candace left us. As soon as the door closed behind them, Terry rounded on me like a cobra. “Okay, Half-head, talk.”
I told most of the story, with bits of help from Ed Regis and Alia. Terry and James looked intrigued, shocked and mildly amused by our account of last night from our capture by the Wolves to our plunge into the dumpster.
“Harding is going to blow her top when she discovers what we did over her city,” I concluded, laughing nervously.
“It’s worse than that,” said Terry. “Harding suspected already, but this proves that the Angels are in control of the government now. Or at least bits of it.” Terry had quickly realized the significance of what we had seen and heard on the cargo plane. “Jodie Decker was a top-level Guardian. She was the Raven Knights’ second-in-command. Even converted, the Angels wouldn’t have entrusted someone like that with the location of the Divine family unless they were seriously trying to heal the break between the two factions.”
“Maybe King Randal just trusts his daughter’s power,” I suggested.
“No,” said Terry. “They’re planning to do it. Soon. And if they really have control of the government, then what’s to stop them? We need to go tell Harding right now.”
“Sorry, Terry,” I said, “but I’m with Alia on this. All I want is a meal, a bath and a bed. Everything else can wait till tomorrow.”
Terry let out a loud huff. “Okay, okay, you big baby! I’ll go talk to Harding myself. She won’t be too mad at us, I hope. This is going to be a real game-changer, and it’s good that you found it out before the Angels made a public announcement.”
“Oh, so this is a good thing now?” I said sarcastically.
“Well, we could all be dead before the year is out,” said Terry, grinning, “but aside from that, sure.”
It had taken a lot of time to tell Terry and James the story of our capture and escape. We now only had a few minutes left till dinner and we still hadn’t even washed up. Before heading up to Mrs. Harding’s place to report our discovery, Terry very quickly explained the conditions of our stay to us.
We had been given two guest apartments: the one we were in now and the one across the hall. Ed Regis and Alia were limited to the second floor, Ed Regis because of his ex-Wolf status and Alia because her age prevented safe memory alteration. Terry, James and I were permitted access to the other floors on the condition that if we accidentally saw the neighborhood from the windows, we would submit to mind-writing to erase our memories of it. Technically, James and I were still under the safe age limit, but Terry had vouched for us.
As Terry left, Candace returned to our apartment carrying three small duffle bags packed with donated secondhand clothes for Alia, Ed Regis and me. She had also driven out to a nearby store to get us clean underwear, socks, towels and toothbrushes.
“We can’t pay you for this,” I said apologetically. “We lost all our money along with our car.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Candace. “Everything’s on the house for now. But how did you lose the car?”
“We’ll tell you over dinner,” I promised.
Pressed for time, Ed Regis, Alia and I settled for two-minute showers to make ourselves presentable before heading to dinner at Scott and Rachael’s.
But we weren’t as fashionably late as we thought we’d be. Scott was still finishing up in the kitchen and Rachael was setting the table, so Walter and Daniel took us on a short tour of their apartment. The Wood-claw building had six apartments per floor, and each was fairly spacious. The boys had their own bedrooms now, and although their furniture clearly showed that the family was still living off of a borderline income, it looked like a pretty nice lif
e for them. I thanked them for sparing their clothes, which fit me well.
As the boys led us through their home, I noticed that as per Mrs. Harding’s rule concerning non-Wood-claw visitors, every curtain had been closed tightly. I was curious about the quality of the neighborhood, but not enough to risk memory alteration. Outside was dark and mostly quiet.
We were called to the dining room where the table was set for ten. I sat next to Candace, and Alia found her usual place on my other side. It was a pretty tight squeeze putting ten chairs around a table made for four, but Rachael had insisted on keeping an extra spot for Terry just in case she came late. It wasn’t a problem for me. I was used to small quarters in our motorhome, and I certainly didn’t mind being a little closer to Candace over dinner.
Scott hadn’t been kidding when he said that it was going to be a feast. We had plenty of roast chicken and too many side dishes to fit on the table at once. Scott, who had been the best member of my kitchen crew back in Walnut Lane, was the chef of this household. Rachael laughingly explained that Walter and Daniel had permanently banned her from the kitchen.
“I don’t think I’m that bad a cook, but the boys disagree,” said Rachael, “so Scott cooks and I clean.”
“And now you’re finder and hider,” James said with a chuckle. “It’s like you planned it that way.”
“I like this,” Alia said quietly in my head. “It’s like we’re back in Walnut.”
I agreed. Life on the road these past few months hadn’t been all that bad, but I still envied a family that could actually live like one. Someday soon, I promised myself.
Before I could tell our story about the cargo plane, Walter asked to hear about our trip to the Historian.
Our official line on our meeting with the Historian was that, since we arrived without gifts, he had refused to give us any information regarding the Angel king, but then took pity on us and teleported us home. Scott and the others had already heard a fair bit about our travels from Terry and James, but they asked us plenty of additional questions about our time in the mountains. We couldn’t tell anyone, even our closest friends, what the Historian had revealed about my bloodline, so we focused instead on the Angel pursuit through the mountains and how we survived.
Guardian Angel (Psionic Pentalogy Book 5) Page 7