“And evening.” He grinned and kissed her on the nose.
Chloe nodded and couldn't resist wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. “I'll see you after,” she whispered.
“Hey, hey . . .” He pulled away, his hands on her hips. “What's wrong? I'll be fine. It's only the mall, right? Just a guy I need to talk to. Nothing dangerous.”
But he wasn't the one going into a dangerous situation. He wasn't the one who might not come out. He wasn't the one who knew he might be saying goodbye for the last time.
Chloe smiled. “Right. Of course . . . you know. Just stressed about everything.” She waved a hand. “You'll do fine.”
He bent his knees slightly, ducking to look her in the eyes. “Chloe, is there something you're not telling me?”
She smiled, fighting the guilt and fear twisting through her. “Of course not. Call me when you get there?”
Ethan studied her for a moment, then seemed to be satisfied with what he saw. He leaned in and kissed her lightly. “You'll be in class.”
She shrugged. “Call me anyway?”
“Sure.” He kissed her again. “At least I get the day off.”
“I completely forgot about that,” she said, eyes wide. “You're not missing anything important, are you?”
“Nah, I got it covered,” he said, shaking his head. “I only have one important class tomorrow and I'll grab notes from a buddy of mine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, no problem. I'm an excellent student.” He winked, and Chloe couldn't help laughing a little.
“I better go,” he said, pulling away. “I'll talk to you tomorrow.”
Chloe wanted to stop him. To pull him close and hold him and never let go. Instead, she tucked her hands in her pockets and nodded. “See ya.”
She watched him through the window as he walked across the street and into the Alpha House. She leaned her forehead against the glass and let out a sigh.
“I hope we're doing the right thing,” she murmured.
The house creaked a little, and she didn't know if it was simply settling, or commiserating with her situation. Instead of waiting around for answers that might not come, she climbed the stairs and got into bed for what she was certain would be another sleepless night.
“Hey, you told me to call,” Ethan said to Chloe's voicemail the next day, right after noon. “I'm here, waiting in the food court, but there's no sign of the guy in the leather jacket yet. I'll keep you posted.” He sat down and sipped on his quickly cooling cup of coffee. “Call me back between classes if you want.”
He hung up and drummed his fingers, looking around at the various restaurants, the empty tables, the security guard eyeing him warily.
Ethan settled in and pulled his phone out, trying to look non-threatening.
This could be a long day.
“Okay, is everything in place?” Chloe asked, glancing at her phone and declining Ethan's call. She'd get back to him when she had a minute.
“Yeah,” Beck replied with a nod. “Last of the rope's out at the clearing, and we have the containment area set up.”
“It's all hidden?” she asked.
“No one will notice it unless they know what to look for,” he replied.
“I still don't get it,” Wren said. “If you didn't see this in the vision, why are we doing it?”
“Because the vision's not set,” Tru said before Chloe could reply. “She sees a possible future, but it's shown to her for a reason. We need to make sure we make the most of it.” She'd been tapping at her phone while she spoke, but looked up at the resulting silence to see everyone staring at her.
“What?” she said defensively. “I pay attention.”
Chloe shook her head slightly in awe. “She's right. Just because I didn't see it doesn't mean it might not help. To be honest, things didn't look like they were going too well in the vision. We need all the help we can get.”
“Too bad we can't get some knockout gas or chloroform or something,” Miranda said.
“Wouldn't work,” Chloe replied, shaking her head. “It's not like in the movies. There's no gas we could get that would knock them out—and they'd have to inhale chloroform for like five minutes for it to work.”
“Not very efficient,” Maia said. “And I feel so misinformed by Hollywood.”
“No kidding,” Chloe said with a laugh.
“Well, I think we're as prepared as we're going to be.” Dylan pulled on his jacket and tugged his backpack over his shoulders. “Everybody ready?”
“You guys go ahead,” Chloe said, nodding at Dylan, Maia, Miranda, and Tru. “It'll take you longer since you have to stay in real time. We'll follow with Wren.”
Beck grabbed Dylan's arm as he made for Chloe's sliding door. “You make sure you take care of my little sister.”
“Beckett!” Tru said, with typical teenage outrage, but Dylan nodded solemnly.
“I will,” he said. In fact, Dylan's main mission was to shield as many of them as possible, but Tru was his top priority. She was the one who had to end all this, so she couldn't be taken out of play. Everything depended on her. The others would try to restrain as many of the influenced townspeople as they could, but it would be up to Tru to take Chaos head on. To bind it and send it back to wherever it came from.
Tru confessed she wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to do that, but Chloe encouraged her to trust her gift. That's what they all had to do.
The first group left and Chloe held up a finger at Wren. “Give me a second,” she said. “I've got to call Ethan before we go.”
Wren and Beck sat down at the kitchen table while Chloe moved into the living room, dialing Ethan's number as she went.
“Hello?”
“Hey, how's it going?”
“Quiet so far.” Ethan yawned. “Hey, shouldn't you be in class?”
Chloe cursed to herself. She hadn't even bothered to check the time before she called.
“Stepped out to use the restroom,” she said, “so I can't talk long.”
“Well, I wish I'd brought a book or something,” Ethan said. “Plus, I don't know how long I can sit in the food court without drawing attention. There aren't a lot of people hanging out in the mall food court on a Tuesday afternoon.”
“It'll fill up,” Chloe replied. “Just buy some fries and play a game on your phone or something.”
“For as long as my battery lasts,” he said with another yawn. “Don't worry. I'm on it. I won't leave until I find our guy.”
Chloe swallowed thickly. “Thanks.”
“No need to thank me, Chlo. We're in this together.”
As if she wasn't feeling guilty enough already.
“Right,” she said, clearing her throat. “Well, I've gotta go. Talk to you later?”
“Sure,” he said. “Call me when you can. I’ll be here.”
“Bye.”
She walked back into the kitchen and Wren and Beck, who'd been talking in low voices, their heads together, straightened to look at her.
“Everything okay?” Beck asked.
“I guess we'll see,” she replied. “Come on, let's go.”
Ethan paced in front of the video game store, pretending he was looking at the display, while he was really keeping an eye on the food court. The security guard had gotten suspicious after about an hour, and when Ethan ran out of fries, he'd had to leave his table and move.
He walked over to the kiosk selling remote-controlled helicopters and pretend-watched the demonstration, his hands in his pockets. He examined the boxes on the shelves and walked away when the salesman approached him, holding up his phone like he was getting a call.
He texted Chloe: Still nothing. Did your vision say anything about me dying of boredom?
She texted back a few minutes later: Did I not mention that?
Ethan smiled and walked over to Cinnabon, nodding at the security guard as he bought a sticky bun and yet another cup of coffee.
But as
he sat down and took a bite, his stomach flipped, and for a reason he couldn't quite place, he suddenly got the unmistakable feeling that something was very, very wrong. The hair on his arms stood up on end, an uneasiness sizzling through him as the food soured in his belly.
Chloe.
He left his food on the table and ran for the exit.
Chloe stumbled over a root, distracted by her phone, and Beck grabbed her arm to hold her up, arching an eyebrow.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” She waved her phone. “Ethan's still on the job.” She sighed.
Wren glanced over her shoulder, but didn't break concentration as they moved through the forest, their surroundings still and frozen in time. “He'll be okay.”
“I know,” Chloe said. “That's the point, right?”
She looked up at the sunlight shining through the trees, the dust in the air unmoving—animals and birds eerily silent as they hiked toward the clearing.
“We're still about half an hour out,” Wren said. “Do you think I can stop? I'd like to save my power for the fight, if I can.”
Chloe scanned the area slowly, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Well, other than the fact that the world was completely frozen in time.
“Yeah, go ahead,” she said. “At least until we get close.”
Wren took a deep breath and slowly, the forest came to life around them, the birds singing and animals scrambling in the underbrush. Wind rustled through the trees as they rejoined normal time.
“Don’t think I'll ever get used to that,” Beck said.
“You know, Dylan doesn't think I stop time at all.”
“Really?” Chloe took Beck's hand as he helped her over a fallen log.
“Yeah, he thinks I actually speed up myself—or whatever's around me—so we move faster than everything else.”
“Huh.” Beck cracked his neck. “Interesting. But what's the difference?”
Wren shrugged. “Nothing, I guess.”
They walked in silence for a while, until the ground sloped upward and they knew they were nearing the clearing. Wren took their hands so she could freeze time—or speed them up, whatever—with the least amount of effort. The world slowed around them and they emerged from the forest onto the cliff overlooking the clearing.
Chloe's breath caught. They weren't alone.
Ethan raced down the highway, speed limits forgotten in his newfound panic. He didn't know what was going on, but he had to get back. Had to get to Chloe.
He passed on the shoulder, ignoring the blaring horn fading behind him, and prayed he wouldn't be stopped by traffic or the highway patrol.
What was happening?
Why was he so certain that Chloe needed him? That she was in trouble?
He didn't know, but he let out a slow exhale as the highway opened before him and he stepped on the gas.
“Keep it up,” Chloe said quietly, squeezing Wren's hand.
Wren nodded and closed her eyes to focus.
A small group of people stood in the middle of the clearing. Chloe would think they were staring right at them if she didn't know that they were frozen in time, and didn't actually see them.
Still, they stood, faces upturned toward them expectantly. Chloe counted quickly—ten—and hoped that Maia and the others were already in place.
“I thought it didn't happen until later in the day,” Beck said quietly.
Chloe sighed. “I couldn't tell. It was dark, but it could have been from the dust and everything. I just—I don’t know.” She ground her teeth in frustration, not the first time she'd felt it in the wake of her visions.
“Well, it looks like there are more on the way,” he said, pointing to the forest on the opposite side of the clearing. Chloe could make out a few more people walking out from under the trees.
“Great,” she murmured. “Well, let's go. It looks like our time's up.”
Ethan made it back to Gatesburg in record time, but once he crossed the city limits, he had no idea where to go. He had a sneaking suspicion that the trip to the mall was a diversion of some kind, but Chloe wasn't answering his texts, so he had no idea what she was diverting him from.
He pulled over on the side of the road and called Beck, tapping his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as it rang . . . and rang . . . and went to voicemail.
“Damn it.”
Ethan pulled back onto the road and took a deep breath. Then, as he stopped at a red light, he closed his eyes and explored the nervous, uneasy feeling in his gut.
Chloe.
He didn't even wait for the light to turn green before he took a sharp right and peeled out.
“I don't know how much longer I can hold it,” Wren said, her voice wavering.
Chloe tightened the knot and waved Beck over to pick up the last of the townspeople and lay them in a row off to the side of the clearing. They'd opted for Dylan's technique of tying them up while they were frozen in time, but Wren was getting tired, so Chloe knew it wouldn't be long before they lost that advantage.
She looked toward the others coming out of the forest, wondering how many there were. If her visions were to be trusted, it would be a lot.
“Okay, Wren. Let it go.”
Her eyes widened as the group at the edge of the forest moved out from under the trees, slowly at first, then faster and faster until they were running.
And they just kept coming.
“Oh my God,” Beck murmured.
“Maia?” she shouted. “I sure hope you're here!”
Her response came a few seconds later when the first wave of attackers flipped through the air and landed flat on their face. Maia and Miranda appeared a moment later, a rope extended between the two of them.
“We've got to steer them toward the corral!” Chloe shouted at Beck.
He looked back at her with wide eyes. “I don't think they're going to fit!” But he turned and ran toward the crowd without further delay. Chloe and Wren dashed toward the area they'd prepared against the cliff; Maia, Miranda, Dylan, and Tru appearing next to them a few moments later. Chloe glanced over her shoulder to find their pursuers closing in, one man with flames sparking from his fingers, an older woman floating a few inches off the ground.
“I don't know if this is going to work,” Miranda said, voicing Chloe's own thoughts aloud.
Instead of responding, she shouted at Wren. “Are you going to be able to do this?”
Wren nodded and ran faster.
Chloe looked toward the cliff, hoping their work was sufficiently disguised. Using the natural curve of the cliff, they'd built eight-foot walls out of iron pieces they pilfered—borrowed, according to Dylan—from the metal recycling yard on the edge of town. Well, Beck had done most of the work, driving the posts into the ground as Dylan and Miranda fashioned the crosspieces with a welder they'd taken from Dylan's dad. They'd covered the walls with uprooted trees and branches—plus a few boulders that Beck had dropped into place to make it look more natural.
“Now, Maia!” Chloe shouted, and immediately Maia, Dylan, and Tru vanished, hopefully to circle around and get into position, like they'd planned.
“Faster!” Miranda shouted, and they ran through the opening in the corral, immediately cutting to the right to escape through the small gap left in the back, where the rails met the cliff. They squeezed through, one after the other, and spotted Beck in the distance, carrying the last section of mismatched iron fence.
“Do it, Wren!” Chloe shouted and immediately, time slowed around them.
“I can't keep it up for long!” Wren said as Beck raced toward them, weaving between the frozen people.
“Just give me a minute!” He held the fencing vertically and used it to gently push as many people into the corral as he could before lifting it and slamming it into the ground, the vertical posts sliding effortlessly two feet into the rocky soil. He grabbed a few lengths of iron pipe and twisted them around the corners, joining the sections of fencing together before he gave
it a tentative shake.
“That should hold,” he said.
“Yeah, but that's only the beginning of our problems,” Chloe said, waving to the large crowd still outside the corral.
“Well, then, I guess we'd better get back to work,” Beck said with a shake of his head, as Wren let time start up again around them.
“Chloe?” Ethan knocked on her door again, peeking through the side window. “Chloe, you in there?”
He frowned and texted her—for the sixth time, he realized—with no response. Where was she?
He knocked again, and the uneasy feeling in his chest grew. Something was definitely wrong.
Ethan looked over his shoulder, then pulled the extra key out from under the fake rock next to the porch. He unlocked the door, calling out as he opened it.
“Anybody home? It's me, Ethan. Breaking and entering.” He pocketed the key and closed the door. “Well, not really breaking, but . . .” He looked around the living room, unsure of his next step. What was he doing? His eyes landed on the picture window.
“I suppose a little guidance would be too much to ask for?” he murmured.
He stared at the window expectantly for a full thirty seconds, but the image through the glass never changed. With a sigh, he turned and went upstairs. He paused at Chloe's door and peered inside, feeling creepy and invasive, but also like he needed to be there. Like he was supposed to be there.
Then he saw it.
A rope dangled from the ceiling at the end of the hall. The pull-down ladder leading to the attic called to him, swinging back and forth like a hypnotist's watch. His throat clicked as he swallowed. Reaching for the rope, he pulled down the ladder, wincing slightly at the creaking sound that broke the silence.
Tentatively, he climbed the steps, pausing a moment at the top to let his eyes adjust to the dim light from the single attic window. Dust tickled his nose as he entered the low-ceilinged room, his fingers trailing over sheet-covered furniture as he made his way toward the far corner. He didn't look in that direction—not yet—but somehow he knew that was where the chest was. Ethan waited until he was standing right in front of it before he lifted his gaze from the floor and let out a heavy breath. He reached out to run his fingers over the engraving on top, the open latch on the front.
Super Natural: The New Super Humans, Book Three Page 13