Councilman Bennett stepped forward next to me only a second later. He placed a hand casually on the edge of my shoulder. “Just a little further,” he said, as if he too had no idea whatsoever that something crazy…amazing…out-of-this-world mind-blowing… had just taken place a few inches away from him.
As he directed me toward one of the metal doors guarded by a woman in a navy blue uniform, I shot a glance down to my Watermark. It was still glowing bright and shiny like a lit up diamond, confirming to my mind that I didn’t imagine the extraordinary event that had taken place inside the Threshold. I hadn’t spent a whole lot of time in Banya, but while I was there, I never saw a single person with a Watermark of this kind. Everyone’s mark always matched the color of their eyes, blue, green, amber, or violet.
My shoulders suddenly hunched forward as I folded my arms to my chest, hoping nobody would notice the transformation of my mark. Luckily, the earlier glow from the stone appeared to be completely subdued inside my pocket. I wondered if there was a change in my eyes as well, but if there was, Councilman Bennett didn’t seem to notice.
He moved to the front of the group again, just like he had done with the previous set of guards, and spoke to the woman while showing her our paperwork. The woman motioned us through the door, and we came out to yet another screening area. It was becoming extremely clear that the people of Ambrosia were serious when they said they didn’t want anyone from Earth finding a way into their world. The place was like a fortress.
After they made me stand in some kind of laser chamber, where they scanned my body up and down, sideways and back, inside and out, we made it out to a room where a few people waited in lines across from a wall of elevators. It was beginning to feel like home was never going to come, but once we boarded and exited one of the elevators, we finally emerged from the windowless security center and made our way through a dark parking garage full of cars.
Councilman Bennett directed me to the back seat of a dark SUV while Agent Duke and his partner took the front. The other agents dispersed into three other vehicles, one pulling out in front of us and two behind us like a convoy.
When I finally saw the sunlight appear through my window, I felt a small sense of relief. I didn’t recognize the street where we emerged, but even through the dark tint of the glass, the surroundings started to feel more familiar. It didn’t look like we had come out in the exact neighborhood where Rayne had taken me when he showed me the gate to the Threshold before, but the area in general looked like it could be right, with familiar looking homes up in the hills, and even some palm trees. Something did feel different though; I wasn’t sure what it was.
I tried to press the button on my window to roll it down, but it appeared to be locked in place. Figures, I thought, rolling my eyes. I leaned over discreetly and tried to get a look through the front windshield, which wasn’t quite so dark. Then I realized what the difference was; the sky was still a hazy shade of violet.
I turned in my seat. “Councilman B—” I paused, remembering I wasn’t supposed to call him councilman anymore. “I mean, Orion,” I said. “Did we, uh, finish…going through the Threshold?”
His brow pinched. “Yes, we’re officially through. This is Los Angeles. Don’t you recognize it?”
“Um, yeah, of course,” I said, not wanting to give him the wrong idea. “But the sky,” I went on. “Is it still supposed to look so…purple?”
Orion looked amused. “Oh, that. Well, I suppose for someone who has lived here outside the Threshold their entire life, such as yourself, you’re accustomed to blue being the most predominant color of the sky, but undoubtedly it appeared purple to you while on Ambrosia, am I right?”
I nodded.
“This is actually an interesting subject,” he said. “In a science class, when they discuss why the sky is purple—or blue in the case of Earth—they traditionally teach on the subject of light frequencies and the way different color wavelengths are scattered when they come in contact with molecules in the atmosphere, but really that’s only half of the explanation. The sky appears blue to those on Earth and purple to those on Ambrosia because it is the perception of the human eye that differs, not the makeup of the sky itself.”
I looked at him blankly. “I’m not sure I understand.”
Orion smiled. “The difference is the Healing Water. When it’s at its strongest inside our bodies, it enhances the way our eyes see the color around us. If there was no Healing Water in Banya, the sky would most likely appear blue to everyone there as well. By the end of the day, the Healing Water will be weaker in our systems and the purple sky will fade to blue.”
By the time Orion finished his explanation, we pulled up to a house along the steep residential street. We waited in the car while the other agents moved in and out of the house, carrying various pieces of equipment out to load in their vehicles. I wondered how much of that equipment would be brought along for the sole purpose of spying on me.
“Are you going to let me go back to school while we’re here?” I asked Orion once we were finally driving away from the neighborhood.
“I don’t see why not. One of the purposes of this trip is to verify the validity of your life here. The more you prove to me that you belong here, the better.”
“Won’t it seem a little suspicious for an armed barricade of men to be following me around wherever I go?”
“Most of the time you won’t even know my men are there,” he replied simply.
Believe me, I’ll know, I thought to myself.
“Sadie, if you’re okay with it, I thought while we’re driving you might be willing to look at a few pictures I brought with me.”
“What kind of pictures?” I asked warily.
Orion pulled his briefcase to his lap and retrieved a folder from inside. “Well, you mentioned in your testimony the other day that you might be able to identify the men who were working with your mother’s boyfriend. It could help our security team immensely if we had some information to help us track down these criminals.” He turned to send me a look of sympathy. “Only if you feel up to it of course; I wouldn’t want to trigger any traumatic memories.”
I stared down at my lap, trying to decide how to answer.
“No pressure,” he said. “It’s okay either way.”
I peered up at him. “You haven’t even proven that I’m not lying about who I am. Why would you trust my input on anything else?”
He shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. “I suppose…I just feel in my gut that I can trust you.”
I gazed at him a moment, finally feeling a little more at ease.
“That’s all right,” he said, putting the folder back in his case. “We can do it some other time.”
“No, that’s okay,” I finally said. “I can do it. It’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Um, yeah, if I can be of any help, I guess I should try, right?”
Orion looked pleased as he handed me the folder. “Thank you, your help is greatly appreciated.”
I searched through the photos one by one until I came across a photo of Ash. It was a terrible photo, probably a mug shot, but I was sure it was him. A spread of negative emotions filled me just by looking at his face.
“This was the guy that shot me,” I accused.
Orion reached over and took the photo from my grasp. “Ash Hastings,” he said matter-of-factly. Then, he turned again to face me. “I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. You should be happy to know that we apprehended this man a few days ago.”
“Good,” I said quietly. “He deserves to be in prison.”
I continued to scour through the photos for Voss’s wretched black eyes, an image that had become ingrained into my nightmares. I glazed over a photo of a somewhat attractive middle-aged man with dark hair and crisp blue eyes, turned the page, then paused. I flipped back to the man’s image and stared at it closely. If I pictured him differently, with grey streaks through his hair, lines of tired wrinkles
creased through his face, the light gone from his eyes, it could be him, my worst enemy.
It was almost eerie to imagine him this way, younger, more vibrant, with a hint of a smile on his face. It was hard to imagine he had ever worn a smile in his life at all.
I held out the photo to Orion. “The eyes were a lot darker,” I said. “They were black and sort of veiny, and his hair had more grey, but I’m pretty sure this is the other guy.”
Orion went rigid when he saw the picture in his hand and turned to me with concern in his eyes. “You’ve seen this man before, in person?”
I glanced to the side. “Um, I think so. Like I said, he looked kind of older and his hair was different, so I’m not sure.”
“This man’s name is Voss Hastings. He’s the father of the man who you said shot you. Does that sound right? Is the name familiar?”
“Yeah, that sounds right. That was him.”
“And you interacted with him? Did he speak to you?”
I nodded. Orion looked up, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe it.
“How long ago did you see him?” he finally asked.
“Um, less than a week ago. The same day I got shot and Rayne had to bring me to Ambrosia. He was with the other guy. They were working together.”
“Sadie, this man was reported dead over five months ago. He’s one of Ambrosia’s most wanted criminals. Our security team stopped looking for him because Rayne Stevens reported him dead. But if he’s not really dead…” Orion paused. “You don’t think there’s a chance Rayne was working with—”
“No!” I blurted in horror. “Definitely not. Rayne was trying to stop them. I’m sure of it.”
“No, of course not,” he agreed quickly. “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. Voss is quite a resilient man.” Orion patted my hand casually. “Thank you for help. I’m sure it will be helpful in our investigation of the matter.”
I nodded with half a smile in response, then turned my head away to watch the streets of Santa Monica pass by my window. I wasn’t in the mood to talk anymore. I thought about Orion’s fleeting accusation of Rayne working with Ash and Voss. It was completely wrong of course, but it was starting to feel like no matter what I said, the Council could find a way to implicate Rayne if they really wanted to.
The entire thing just made me more upset with my father. I felt like Rayne and I were still in this mess because of him. I couldn’t think of anything he could possibly be doing that would justify him not coming back to help us. Would I ever see him again so I could tell him how I felt?
As the sites outside my window grew more and more familiar, I started to wonder what all had happened here after I was shot. When Rayne spoke to Jax that same night, he assured me that my mother was safe, but was she okay? I’d barely had time to think about it, but I realized she must be worried sick. She saw me get shot. I had been gone for days now. Did she even know where I was all this time? She had witnessed my father, her lost love, return from out of nowhere after over seventeen years of not so much as a letter from him. And then there was Dr. Jensen. He was gone now—murdered right before my mom’s eyes. I couldn’t imagine how upset she must be.
Suddenly, the wheels on our vehicle couldn’t spin fast enough. All I could think about was getting home to see her as soon as possible.
As if reading my mind, Orion turned to me and said, “Our next stop will be your house in Newport Beach. My men will need to do a full sweep of the property when we arrive. If you suspect your mother will be home, I suggest you come up with a way to convince her to leave with you while they get things set up; perhaps a trip out to breakfast.”
Breakfast? It felt like I had eaten breakfast at the Court of Ambassadors several hours earlier.
“What time is it here?” I asked.
Orion didn’t even stop to look at his watch. “Eight forty-five.”
“Okay, I’ll try,” I said. “My mom doesn’t go to work until the afternoon, so there’s a good chance she’ll be home, but I have a feeling she might be upset that I’ve been gone all this time. It might take some convincing.”
He nodded warmly. “I understand. There’s no rush. We’ll wait down the street while you two take a minute to catch up. Just remember, we will be monitoring your conversation through the voice tracker.”
I looked away. “I remember.”
When we finally pulled off the freeway to head down Newport Boulevard, the warmth of familiarity spread through my limbs. We passed Triangle Square, Eighteenth Street, the sub shop where Tracy Wang worked and would sneak us free sandwiches after school, the Starbucks Nicole and Lindsey insisted they had to stop at every Monday morning in order to wake up their brains for another week of school, the gas station where Heather had accidentally driven away with the pump still stuck inside her gas tank the first week she turned sixteen. They were all here; all the memories from my once normal life.
I sat forward in my seat as we drove into my neighborhood just a few blocks away from my house. Then, a sudden flash of terror crashed through my thoughts. Heather and all my friends at school knew Rayne as my very loyal boyfriend of five months now. There was no doubt they would ask me about him once I saw them again. But I told the Council I met Rayne just last week. They would know I was lying.
Another terrible thought crossed my mind. My mom was there that day at Voss’s penthouse when my father showed up out of the blue. What if she tried to talk to me about him? What if she said his name while Orion’s henchmen were listening to my every word? Who knew what kind of trouble that could bring? My hands clamped tightly together in my lap. I already had to focus to keep my newly transformed Watermark from getting noticed, and now I had to figure out a way to make sure nobody ever said the wrong thing around me too.
If in doubt, just keep your mouth shut, I told myself. Run away if you have to. I had to do whatever I could to avoid Orion’s men hearing anything that would discount my testimony. Rayne’s freedom was depending on me.
The agents parked their black line of vehicles a few houses down and waited while I walked across the sidewalk to my house. My mother’s car wasn’t in the driveway. As much as I longed to see her, I hoped that meant she wasn’t home. Realizing that I didn’t have my keys at the front door, I turned the knob slowly, almost wishing it would be locked. It wasn’t. The knob slid easily to the side, obliging me to step inside.
“Mom?” I called out weakly. “Are you home?”
I took a quick circle around the kitchen. When I didn’t see her, I went back toward the hall outside her bedroom. The door to her room was shut, something she typically only did when she was asleep or in the shower. I doubted I had ever witnessed my mother sleeping in this late, so a shower seemed more likely.
I quickly swallowed before tapping lightly on the door. “Mom? Are you in there?” I waited a moment but didn’t hear a response.
I moved forward to check inside, but as soon as my hand touched the knob to her bedroom, a strange noise distracted me from a few feet away. My legs froze in place. My head jolted to the side, where a man in a suit held a gun, aimed in my direction. He looked like an agent, but I didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t one of Orion’s men.
Before I could respond, the door to my mother’s room swung open and my eyes bulged wide at the sight. It wasn’t my mom in her bedroom as expected; it was my father.
We both stared at each other for the longest two seconds of my life.
“It’s okay,” he instructed the agent. “She’s Leena’s daughter.” The guard nodded and retreated back to where he came from, which apparently was my bedroom.
I continued to gape at my father, my head shaking in disbelief.
“Sadie,” he said in earnest, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
I shook my head again in shock, waving my hand in front of my mouth to urge him to stop talking.
“Mom, is that you?” I quickly blurted, trying to cover my tracks. “You sound hoarse. Are you sick?”
My father looked
at me, puzzled. I started mouthing words to him without a sound, trying to get him to read my lips. I pointed to the back of my neck. “I have a voice tracker,” I explained silently. “Orion can hear us.”
My father nodded quietly, acknowledging my plea. He looked like a complete mess compared to the last time I saw him, like he hadn’t showered in days. His hair was straggly, his face covered in whiskers, and I was pretty sure he was wearing the exact same clothes that I saw him in before.
“You guys need to get out of here,” I mouthed again. “They can’t see you here.” He stared at me intensely, as if analyzing my words.
A second later, his hands gripped the sides of my shoulders. “No, it doesn’t matter,” he said out loud. “I don’t care who knows I’m here. Sadie, I have to talk to you about your mother.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. Orion’s men couldn’t find out who I was talking to. I had to run away. It was the only thing I could think to do. I could tell Orion that the person I was talking to was just some creepy guy my mom used to work with at the hospital or something, a stalker that I had to get away from for my own safety.
“No, stay away from me!” I said, hoping to make my flight convincing. I peeled away from his hands and started running toward the living room.
“Sadie, please don’t leave,” he cried after me. “Your mother needs you. I think she’s dying…”
My feet stopped. That couldn’t be possible.
My father followed me into the front room with eyes full of despair. “Please, you have to see if you can help her.”
“Where is she?” I demanded. “Is she at the hospital?”
He looked down. “No, she’s here. She’s in her room.”
Without waiting to hear more, I pushed past him and rushed to my mother’s bedroom. When I saw her back, lying on the bed facing away, I called out to her, “Mom…”
Her body didn’t move. I hurried around the edge of the bed. “Mom, are you okay?”
She still didn’t answer. She didn’t even stir.
Ambrosia Shore (The Water Keepers, Book 3) Page 14