02 Seekers (7 page)

I took the clothes she pulled out of her bag, knowing she loved doing ‘mom’ things like that.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Are you hungry?” Daniel asked me.

“Starving,” I admitted.

“Daniel made enough to feed the whole state,” Alex said from where she was hovering over

Ellen’s shoulder. “He’s probably trying to make you a un-beanpole.”

I ignored her comment about my lean frame and sat up. The table was laden with heavy dishes overflowing with food. Daniel and his family didn’t need to eat, so any kind of food in the house was ridiculous. “Where’d you get the food?” I asked, amused.

“I didn’t get to make you dinner, so I thought I’d make you breakfast instead,” he replied, not answering my question.

Alex pulled me up the rest of the way, gave me a quick hug, and led me over to the heavenly smelling food. She forced me to sit in the chair, and Ellen pushed a plate in my direction. As I ate, Ellen chatted about her date and anything but the serious things we all need to discuss.

Daniel sat next to me in comfortable silence. He had made his choice and had come to terms with mine. It was my role to convince Ellen now. Despite the fact that she was talking a million miles a minute to cover her anxiety, Ellen saw my thoughts on my face.
There’s that look again.

What is she thinking? Is she thinking I’ve been selfish by staying here? I should have left
earlier…This is all my fault.

“Mom…” I interrupted her thoughts. “Don’t think that. Ever.”

“We should have left when you were attacked. I trust Daniel,” she reached out and patted his hand, “but you wouldn’t have gotten attacked if we were here. We were never attacked before.”

“That was luck,” I said.

She shook her head, disagreeing, but not wanting to argue in circles. “So, what do we do now?”

“Um…” They all looked at me. “Mom, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Oh, God…” she said.

“I’m, uh, I’ve decided, well…” I searched for a way to begin that wouldn’t hurt her feelings.

“Since when do you have trouble with words?” Ellen asked.

“Since I’ve decided to do something reckless, stupid, and dangerous…all without your

supervision,” I admitted.

“Something else that’s dangerous, you mean,” Ellen said pointedly.
What kind of dangerous?
she asked with her thoughts afraid to say it out loud.

“Daniel is going on a mission to New Orleans to find a way close to Marcus, and I’m going with him,” I said.

“Are you?” she asked, her eyes narrowing at my words.

“Yes,” I said. “I figure the only way I can stop the attacks is by going to the source. I can’t sit here anymore and pretend like I’m not a ticking time bomb.”

“So, you’re telling me you’re going to New Orleans under the supervision of your boyfriend to search out a crazy Watcher who will most likely kill you if he finds you?” she asked to be sure.

“Well, Daniel is searching for information. I’ll be with Jackson and Margaret helping innocent people escape from bad Seekers.”

“That’s so much better,” she said dryly.

“It’s what I have to do,” I told her.

Alex had been x-raying me with her baby blues. It was hard to avoid her stare. Her thoughts were silent from me, but her eyes said it all. Anger, hurt, determination, and a desire I had seen only once, lit a cool fire in her eyes. I shifted away from her gaze determined I wouldn’t let her make me feel guilty about my choice.

Ellen was running through reasons for my choice. She got up, finally, and came around the table.

She knelt next to my chair. “I understand why…I just don’t like how. Can I come with you?” she asked softly.

“Mom, the whole point of this is to keep you and the others safe.”

“I’ve known since you were born that you were different, that you wouldn’t get the chance to live the life others get, but I had hoped this moment wouldn’t come so soon. I had hoped I could protect you from it, but now that we’re here…I’m so proud of you, sweetie,” she said.

“Does this mean I can go?”

“I, of all people, know that when a person feels compelled to do something they have to do it.

I’m just proud that you’re leaving for the right reason instead of a selfish one,” she said.
Like I
did.

“Maybe there is a little selfishness in there,” I said thoughtfully. “But I think my reasons are good.”

She reached out and put her hand on mine, gripping it forcefully. “You’re going to be careful, and come back as soon as you have answers, you hear me?”

I laughed, while a swoop of regret tried to make me stay. “Yes, Mom”

“And you’ll call every single day?” Her thoughts were suddenly a scrambled mess, and I didn’t know if she was doing it on purpose or more worked up than she was letting on.

“That might be a little tricky,” Daniel said. “Calls are easily traced, and the people who are tracking us definitely have the resources for those kinds of traces. We’ll have to be careful.”

He tapped impatiently on the table despite his appearance of calm. I think a part of him had been hoping Ellen would forbid me to go, would make me feel guilty enough to stay. He didn’t

understand how understanding Ellen could be. Or else he had underestimated Ellen’s ability to know when a person had to do something for reasons that didn’t always make sense.

Ellen let out a long sigh then her honey brown eyes narrowed with fierce emotion. She pointed a finger at Daniel. “You take care of her,” she demanded of him.

“Forever,” he replied.

Ellen gave my hand an extra squeeze and stood. She took a moment to compose her thoughts.

“When are you leaving?” she asked.

“Tomorrow. We’re going to drive,” Daniel said for me.

“You’re going to drive to New Orleans?” Alex asked.

“It’s the best way to stay off the radar. It would look a bit funny if I showed up with a bunch of Watchers in tow to get myself recruited by Marcus’s new pet down there. They will do their homework on me, and I have to look the part…desperate and alone.”

“You make it sound like they’re everywhere, and that they can hack into anything,” I scoffed.

“Yes,” he agreed.

“Oh.”

“We have a lot to do before tomorrow,” Ellen said as casually as she could manage. “Stories to tell the school, and packing, and whatever, so, I think we should get started.”

I knew she really just wanted to spend time with me before I left. I didn’t have to tell her that I didn’t have a clue how long this mission would take; that we could be gone for months, maybe longer. She knew. She always knew the things I didn’t say.

I changed into my clothes in one of the many rooms on the second floor. I heard Margaret and Jackson talking in low voices from the room Beatrice and Han gave them whenever they stayed.

Most of their conversation was out of my range of hearing, but the words which escaped the confines of the room were words of preparation and determination. At least, they weren’t

worried I would die a horrible death the moment I stepped out of King’s Cross. They were

focused on the mission, not the likely outcomes. I appreciated they were coming for that fact alone. Worry wouldn’t make this any easier.

I finished changing and went back downstairs. Ellen and Daniel were in deep conversation again, while Alex chatted with Beatrice. Alex avoided my gaze, her normally bubbly smile gone.

Beatrice was somber as well, her radiant face heavy with the weight of what we were all

preparing to do. I knew she was used to Daniel going on missions, but she never liked them; she could never stop the worry that accompanied each of his trips out of town.

As soon as she saw me, Ellen popped off the sofa, scrambling her thoughts. “Ready?” she asked me.

“Yep,” I said.

Daniel took my hand to talk privately.
I’m going to follow in a moment, to keep an eye on things,
but I think you should have this day with your mom. I’ll be close if anything happens.

Okay.

I released his hand reluctantly and followed Alex and Ellen down the hall, after a sad goodbye hug from Beatrice and Han. My feet dragged a bit as I savored the sights around me. The overly large fireplace, the exposed ceiling, the stone floors and lush carpets – they had become as much a home as my house. And now I was saying goodbye. The first of several, I was sure.

The drive home was silent. Alex wasn’t speaking to me, and Ellen was contemplating if she had made the right decision. I could understand Ellen’s thoughts of fear and confliction, but was having trouble understanding Alex’s huffy silence. I tried to listen in to her thoughts, but she wasn’t that easy.

When we got home, Alex didn’t waste any time getting to her Jeep, slamming her door, and

barreling off down the street with only the briefest of goodbyes to Ellen and an angry glare at me. Ellen and I watched her leave from our front yard.

“What was that about?” I asked, confused and a little hurt she would leave so abruptly.

Ellen sighed. “Sweetie…you’ve just decided to run off on an adventure, a scary adventure, but an adventure none-the-less. She’s hurt you’re doing it without her, especially since she is so invested in your life now.”

“Oh…” I found Ellen’s eyes. “She’ll forgive me, right?”

Ellen’s eyes went to harass the ground. “I’m sure she will…eventually.” She sighed and shook her head. Then, not wanting to spend the day in sadness, she grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me close. “What outrageous story should I tell the neighbors to explain your disappearance?”

“Alien abduction,” I said.

“Nah, they’d believe that too easily…”

“I got a contract to Sumo wrestle in Japan,” I offered.

“How about you joined the circus?” she asked.

“Hm…I don’t think that would work. Everyone knows I have a fear of clowns.”

She laughed, and led me to the porch swing, offering more suggestions. We sat, talking over the stories we would feed the neighbors, the stories growing more ridiculous with the passing

moments. Rocking companionably, it wasn’t long before our conversation shifted to other

stories, stories from her childhood and the swing we were rocking on, and I knew I was facing another goodbye – a sendoff from her past and the house I had grown to love. It was almost as difficult as the knowledge that, after tomorrow, there was a possibility I would never see Ellen again. There was a possibility I wouldn’t come home alive.

When I woke up the next morning it was early. A slow dawn crept over the dewed grass of my back lawn. The window I had left open brought me scents of summer and the steady growth of the old forest. My head pounded, and my neck throbbed, from my injury, but I knew they

weren’t the reason for the bad feeling in my gut. I rolled over, feeling a presence next to me on the bed, and saw Daniel. He had a computer on his lap, which he was staring at intensely. When he felt my movement, he looked over and smiled. The smile wavered a bit when he saw my

expression. He shut the computer and put his hand on the side of my face in compassionate

understanding. “No one would think any less of you if you stayed.”

“I would. Did you stay all night?” I asked.

“Well…just the morning hours. I had to wait for Ellen to go to bed. She had to call Sam to come over, because she was, um...crying.”

“Oh.” I sat up and avoided looking at the duffle bag she had helped me pack, which was by the chimney in the center of my room. “What time are we leaving?”

“As soon as Jackson gets back with a proper vehicle.”

“What’s with the computer?” I asked.

“It’s a tracking program I designed. It pulls the police database of a city in with state and federal databases and creates a map of the unusual disappearances. It then narrows down the criteria to disappearances related with our kind. I use it to track down Watchers and Nightstalkers killing humans. I was updating it for New Orleans, so Jackson and Margaret could use it.”

“And me.”

“And you…” he said.

“So, it tracks down bad Watchers?” I asked.

“It tracks down deaths. You have to use your own common sense and skill to find the Watcher.

This just narrows it down,” he explained.

“That’s pretty cool.”

“It’s always worked in the past.” He sat the computer on the ground and rolled out of the bed. He walked around to my side of the bed and held his hands out to help me up. “You should probably shower and get ready. Ellen is about to get up. I’ll go pretend to just arrive while you’re in the shower.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

He kissed me lightly and left. I took a moment, savoring the slight breeze in my room and the delicate light on the trees, then gathered my clothes and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Ellen was red-eyed, but in control, when I finally went downstairs. Sam held her hand and glared at me as I entered. He didn’t say anything, but his thoughts were in full lawyer, accusation mode. They pointed out every guilty emotion I was feeling.
How could you leave her? How can
you put her at risk? Why are you being so selfish in following Daniel? There are other people in
this world beyond you…What of Alex? How could you leave her to what you have done to her?

His eyes told me he knew I could hear every single accusation. I sat at the table, accepting his blame, and found Daniel’s eyes. He was leaning against the counter, watching the scene with a curious expression on his face.

“Morning,” I said to the room. I catalogued the people around me. “Is Alex coming by before…”

“She didn’t say,” Sam said. “She locked herself away in her room and wouldn’t come out when I told her to.”

“That doesn’t sound like her,” I said, hurt beyond words.

“Sometimes, people act in ways we don’t like,” Sam said pointedly.

“Sometimes,” I agreed.

“Jackson is here,” Daniel said softly. “I’ll get your bag…”

He was really giving me time to say goodbye. I was upset I wouldn’t get to see Alex, but I couldn’t change her choice; I couldn’t change the fact that I was leaving. I had already made up my mind. Ellen’s brown eyes were a doe’s caught in headlights as she looked at me. She didn’t know what to do now that the time had actually arrived. Her thoughts were panicked that we were really saying goodbye; she kept circling around the idea that it had always been me and her.