02 Seekers (12 page)

preferred to talk. I had learned as much after a month of her constantly being around. I also knew it would be less painful if I did what she asked.

Her words, like the overwhelming pressure of her powerful mind, were immediate.
This is how
you control it. Watch.
An image of a dark wall reaching out and touching all of my thoughts met my imagination. Once it had covered everything, the thoughts, the sounds, stopped. Margaret took away the protection.
Now you try.

I tried to do as she had shown me, but every time I managed to get the wall built up, my

confidence, my attention, wavered. It didn’t help that Alex was making impatient tutting noises from next to me, because we weren’t explaining what we were doing.

Margaret shrugged at my third failure.
Practice.
She dropped my hand and went back to her room, shutting us out of her private space. I turned, and saw Alex staring at me her annoyance written across her face. I explained what we had been doing, so she would stop scowling then went back to watching the television, my brain not nearly as peaceful as it had been before.

Alex and I weren’t allowed out again for three weeks. This time, the hours in the room passed in a blur of training. I was grateful for the distraction, though I felt sorry for Alex, who spent the same hours staring at the laptop; something that would have driven me crazy. Margaret and

Jackson trained me in shifts, not letting me rest between shifts. Jackson focused on the physical aspects, such as fencing and sparring. Margaret spent the evening in fighting as well, but she also insisted on mental training. I had to practice the dark shield for an hour every day, not that it really helped. I had developed a mental block about my mental block. The physical stuff kept me from getting too frustrated as, bit by bit, I improved my fighting skills. By the third week, it usually took Jackson more than a minute to put me on my back. I saw that as a marked

improvement over the second he had been managing.

Margaret and Jackson didn’t have any more serious encounters, or strangely adapt Watchers

following them, but I sensed a tension that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t until the end of the third week I found out why. Jackson clued me in during one of our morning lessons.

“We weren’t entirely honest with you,” Jackson said as I jumped out of the way of swipe at my head with his foil.

“About what?” I asked.

He wacked me on the arm with his foil a silent reminder to stop overextending my arm, before he spoke again. “We followed the man that was tracking us to a part of town near here. We think he might be a Seeker. He’s not staying in the Seeker’s nest, but it’s pretty obvious he’s staying in a two block radius of where we tracked him to. We’ve been watching the area and saw him again yesterday.”

“Did you kill him?” I asked.

Alex had come to the door to listen. “Is he looking for us?” she asked at the same time.

Jackson didn’t answer either question. “Margaret and I have done some thinking, and we have decided it might be time for you to explore some of the city.”

“Why?” Alex asked.

I was staring hard at Jackson, putting together the reason he would tell me the truth, and the reason for his sudden happy desire to let me out of this stinking hotel room. “I’m bait? You’re going to lure him out and see if I’m the reason he followed you?”

“More or less. If we could catch him and get him to talk, we could save Danny a lot of time and energy.”

“I thought we were supposed to just rescue innocent people while we’re down here…not

interfere with Daniel’s thing.” Even as I said it I knew I was on board with Jackson’s plan. I wanted to help. I wanted Daniel’s mission to end; I wanted it more than I wanted answers.

“Do you want to do it or not?” Jackson asked, obviously growing irritated at the questions and second guessing. He wasn’t one for long conversations over what to do. He preferred action – it was no wonder he appreciated Margaret’s silence so much.

“Yeah, sure, why not?” I asked.

“I have a whole list of ‘why not’,” Alex said.

“I guess you’ll be staying here, then,” I said.

“Are you crazy?! Of course not! If you’re going to do something stupid then I’m coming along to supervise.”

“Yeah, I got that point when you followed us down here,” I said. “When did you want me to go wandering around?” I asked Jackson.

“Are you busy now?” he asked.

I smiled. This moment was the reason I had come down here. It was why I had fought so hard to not be left behind. I would finally get to help, and it was at something I was sure I couldn’t fail at. I had been bait since the moment I had been born. All I had to do was continue being a large human target. Jackson’s return smile was uncertain but determined. He knew the risks, just like he knew he couldn’t back out now. It was important to find this man and make sure the violence didn’t spread to Daniel.

I gathered my phone and wallet from my room and, with Alex at my side, prepared to go out on the town in search of a deadly Seeker.

Chapter 7

We left through the lobby, not having to use the backdoor this time. I managed to keep the thoughts from the tourists and the employees down to a dull roar as we let ourselves out. It was all I could manage after three weeks of practicing. Jackson went a different way down the street the moment we were all outside, disappearing around a corner. I wasn’t worried. He would track us, along with Margaret, and see if we stirred up any interest from the Watcher-kind. Alex had her expensive bag slung over her arm, and her large sunglasses blocked out the sun, looking every inch the tourist. A small smile clung to her face as she looked around the balcony

entrenched streets of a town we hadn’t seen since we had been sequestered in the hotel.

“You seem awfully calm,” I said, surveying her serene face.

“I’m just glad to be out of that hotel room. Three weeks! Three weeks of staring at a computer screen, watching people disappear and not being able to do anything about it…I’m ready to start karate chopping everything in sight.” She made a chop motion with her hand, looking ridiculous.

“I don’t think there will be much karate chopping…not for us anyways. Margaret and Jackson will get those honors,” I said.

“I know…but still…” she said.

“When have I become the voice of reason?” I laughed.

“It is somewhat startling,” she agreed. “Oh! Look!”

Our steps had led us the end of the narrow road – in a way we hadn’t explored yet. Beyond the asphalt of the road intersecting our road, and behind a grassy park full of vendors selling trinkets, was a church. White spires touched the sky with majestic purpose as the building stretched behind the park with graceful magnitude. I sensed a historic peace about the large church, which let me know the structure was destined to outlast the generations.

“It’s huge,” I agreed.

“I want a picture,” Alex told me.

“Go right ahead,” I said.

“With you in it!” she demanded.

“I don’t…”

She grabbed my wrist and spun me around. Her fast hands had taken the picture before I had time to catch up. Her wicked smirk was irrepressible. I rolled my eyes at her and poked her in the side to keep her walking. Had I been more aware, I would have noticed the eyes on us from

across the road assessing Alex’s phone with greedy eyes.

“You’re evil,” I said.

“Yep.” She slid the phone into her back pocket and grinned at me. “Which way?”

I recalled Jackson’s directions, my brain memorizing them without thought. “Left.”

“It feels weird to be bait,” Alex said after a moment, her eyes roaming around the street with more alertness than before. “I’m not sure I like it.”

“Don’t you want to catch the bad guys?” I asked.

“Oh, I am all for catching bad guys. It just feels funny wandering around, hoping to be noticed…

sort of stupid…”

“I thought you knew…stupid is my middle name.”

“Is that before or after annoying and smart assed?” she asked.

“After annoying. Smart assed is more of a title, less of a name.”

“This should be interesting…” she said.

“‘Interesting’ is better than boring, and I’ve had enough of unbearable, disturbing boring.”

Alex hooked her arm through mine, knowing what I was feeling in a look. “I bet Daniel will send another message any day now. He’s probably just waiting for the right moment,” she said soothingly.

We hadn’t heard from him over the course of our three weeks on lock down. Nothing to let us know he was still wandering around the world of the living.

“Or he’s dead.”

Alex jerked me to a stop, her nails digging into my arm. “Don’t you dare say that. Ever. You would know if he’s dead. I would know if he’s dead. He’s not dead.”

It was impossible not to think he was gone after three weeks of silence, three weeks of being locked away in a room while he risked everything. But I knew it wasn’t true. I knew she was right – I would feel it if something had happened to him.

“Sorry,” I said.

“I forgive you.” We started walking again. “You’re getting really good at fencing,” she

complemented me after a moment searching for something beyond the seriousness of our fear.

“Oh…I’m not sure that’s saying much.”

“No, really-”

She was going to say more, perhaps to try and convince me I didn’t suck as bad as I thought I did, but I didn’t give her the chance to finish. It happened so quickly. I glanced back – feeling eyes on me – and saw a boy deftly pull her phone out of her back pocket, without her noticing, and stick it into his ratty clothes in one fluid motion. When our eyes connected, he knew he had been made, and his cocky smirk turned hard. He didn’t wait for an invitation to go to jail.

Without a second glance, he took off. I chased him out of instinct.

Alex yelled for me to stop running, finally catching up to the situation. She chased us much slower, the stupid sandals she had bought getting in her way. I ignored her, and focused on the thief, my indignation overriding good common sense. How dare he steal her phone right in front of me? I didn’t waste my breath yelling for him to stop, knowing that would do little beyond take precious air, and concentrated on following him.

He knew the streets well, his lanky legs taking him fast and far. He led me away from the park, cutting through a back alley, across a street bordered by brick, and into another back alley. As he cut into the second back alley I lost sight of him, his sharp turns, and years of practice at running, working to his advantage. But he had never been chased down by me. As I rounded the corner of the alley, I caught sight of him again. He had stopped running, confident he had lost me,

confident in his abilities. He jumped in surprise when he saw me running at him and started to run again, but it was too late. Throwing aside all dignity, I tackled him to the ground. He grunted in pain as we hit the hard pavement, his body taking the full force of the fall. The phone he had stolen flew out of his hand and crashed into a million pieces. I noticed several things as I tackled him. He was small, very young, had swimmingly green eyes, and was very, very dirty. He tried to scramble away, his fear of me overriding his pain, but I pinned him again.

“Get off!” He shoved at my arms, but I was resolute.

“You dirty rotten thief!” I exclaimed, shaking him hard.

He kicked at me in response, and I gripped his arms harder. I felt my anger at him rise. All my frustration of the past month was suddenly focused on his dirty, smelly body.

“Hey, man! You’re hurting me!” he yelled, his eyes widening in pain.

I released him in reflex, the fear in his voice too sincere for comfort. He rolled away and stood, dusting off his pants, which were so dirty and full of holes, I didn’t get why he bothered.

“Nothing is worth this,” he muttered starting to run off again.

A dark tingling started at the base of my spine and traveled all the way up to the top of my head.

The same tingling erupted along my scalp, and the hairs on my arms rose in preternatural alarm.

It was close to the feeling I’d had when we had been watched after our shopping trip, but was infinitely more dangerous and tangibly more immediate. In the next instant, the reason for the odd feeling was made terrifyingly apparent. For the second time in a matter of moments, I

tackled the boy. Not because he had stolen a phone, but because a large industrial trash can had decided to learn to fly, speeding towards the boy’s back with dangerous speed.

“I’m sorry about your freaking phone!” he yelled as I pinned him again. “It’s just…”

His words trailed away as he turned over in time to watch the heavy metal arch low and fly upward. Together, in mutual shock, we followed the progress of the dumpster. It continued its steady progress up and flew over the side of a building as if gravity were merely a joke science had conjured out of nothing. The dumpster swirled around the ledge like a dog circling a bone. It was then that I noticed a pair of people – a man and a woman – on the rooftop of the building the dumpster was swirling around; two very graceful, tall people. They were obviously Watchers.

My first thought was that I had been found, but the pair weren’t paying me any attention, though I could tell they were aware of me. They seemed content enough on trying to kill each other. I stared harder, trying to piece together an explanation around all the movement and swirling debris and noticed the swords in their hands. From the gleam of the hot sun on the cool blade, I saw that the sharp metal had a silver tint.

As I watched them slash at each other with remarkable grace, more items in the alley suddenly decided they, too, had learned the miracle of flight. Trash, pebbles, the remains of Alex’s phone, dangerously large objects, everything, rose into the air. They swirled around like a miniature tornado in terrible purpose and started launching themselves at the man. But the objects didn’t seem to bother him more than the quick flick of the wrist it took to send them pelting back down to the earth. The woman, her red hair sticking out the back of her baseball cap, increased her delude of items at the mocking smile on his lips.