02 Seekers (9 page)

I smiled. “That was the lamest assuring I have ever heard.” I slipped his arms around my waist.

“But I accept, provided you mean it.”

“I do.”

“Good, cause I’ll find you if you don’t,” I promised.

He smiled and bent forward to kiss me. Just as our lips met, the door linking our room with the central room of the suite burst open. Standing in the middle of the doorway was an extremely irritated Margaret. And beside her, looking for all the world as if we had never parted, was a grinning, smug, Alex.

Chapter 5

“Alex?” I asked more shocked to see my best friend than I had ever thought I could be.

“This place is fraking awesome. I thought you guys would be holed up in a sleazy hotel peering out the blinds or something. This is totally opposite of that. Way cool,” she said. She threw her bag on the bed and smiled at the room, approving of the décor.

Margaret was less inclined to smile, but that was just Margaret. “She could have been followed,”

Margaret told Daniel as if he were the only one in the room.

“If she was followed, we were followed,” Daniel said. “You should probably check.”

Margaret nodded and, with an extra glare at Alex, left the room.

“I’m more concerned about how Alex got here then if she were followed,” I said. “What the

heck?” I asked her.

Alex shrugged as if finding me was nothing. “I rode the bus.”

“I mean how you found us here in this hotel,” I said.

“I came to New Orleans then I just sort of…” She pointed to her belly. “Followed my gut…and there you were. I was starting to get a little worried, because of the dark. Oh! Cable TV! Yay.”

I snatched the remote out of her hand before she could turn the TV on. Daniel and I both crossed our arms and stared at her. She got the message.

“I wasn’t going to stay behind and let you guys do all the world saving. The fact that you didn’t even offer me the chance to come along was very hurtful, by the way. I mean, really!” She

paused thoughtfully. “I made a choice. I’m not going to sit idly by and let my best friends risk their necks. Not when I could do something.”

“‘Something’? You mean run away and follow us down here?” I asked, figuring she hadn’t asked Sam for permission to come.

“The same ‘something’ you’re doing,” she pointed out. “I have as much a right to hunt down bad Watchers as you do.” Her blue eyes blazed with determination. I knew the look, and I knew there was no reasoning with that look.

I turned to Daniel for his opinion. His face was thoughtful, but, when he caught my eye, he held up his hands. “This is yours,” he said, opting to not get involved.

“Great. Thanks,” I said.

I put my hands on my hips and turned to Alex again. I tried to think about the consequences of her being down here and her possible reasons for coming. I knew one thing for sure: Alex was looking for answers…just like I was. She was searching for answers to her condition and what that condition meant for her future. That she couldn’t even date a boy because of it, was proof she felt the change more than she was letting on. She was also trying to be loyal to her friend, something I had neglected by not offering her the chance to come with me. The fact that she had to sneak after me was proof I had been a bad friend to the only other person who really

understood how being between two worlds felt.

“Don’t ever do this again,” I said, willing to let her stay, but unhappy she had done something so dangerous.

“Only if you promise to not run off on me again,” she said.

I pulled her into my arms and hugged her tight. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Because I can help in your mission?” she asked hopefully.

“No, because Margaret is a horrible conversationalist and Jackson thinks he’s funny.”

“I’m always funny,” Jackson said coming into the room.

“…Looking,” I added.

“Do you have a phone you don’t mind throwing away?” Daniel asked him.

“Yeah…why?”

“Give it to Alex, so she can call her dad.” He turned to Alex. “Keep the call short, but let him know you’re okay. Don’t mention where we are exactly, or that you’re here with us. Get rid of the phone when you’re done.”

Alex took the phone Jackson offered her with a slow hand. “Okay…” she said, obviously

unhappy about calling Sam. She walked out of the room, already dialing the number.

“She said she just walked until she found us…” Jackson said thoughtfully. “How is that even possible?”

Daniel pointed at me. “They have a connection. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to spend some time with Clare.” He pointed for Jackson to leave.

“What if I do mind?” Jackson asked.

Daniel pushed Jackson to get him walking, not being very gentle about the shove. “All right, I’ll go, but only because I was going to scout the area anyway.”

When Jackson was out, Daniel shut the door with a firm snap. He shook his head and grinned at me. “Friends! Can’t live with them…can’t shoot ‘em!”

“Why is that when I want to come down here it’s WWIII, but when Alex shows up unannounced

it’s everything as normal?” I asked him.

“Because life is unfair,” Daniel replied.

“Ah. Thanks,” I said.

He smiled and took my hands again. “Where did we leave off?”

I smirked and leaned toward him to claim my kiss.

Daniel left at precisely 8:57 the next morning. The night had faded to a swift, hot, dawn as draining as only the hottest places on earth could be. The parting was very difficult, though I didn’t let him see my fear.

“Remember what you promised me?” he questioned as we hovered next to our door; a door

which had not been opened since Daniel had forced Jackson out.

“Yes.”

“Good.” He put a hand on my neck. “I’ll try and contact you if I can. But if I can’t…don’t be worried.”

Yeah…right.

“If you have to contact us, but can’t overtly do so, we should have a code word or something,” I replied choosing to ignore the stupidity of his statement. Worry would be my best friend until he was back.

“What would you recommend?” he asked, keeping his eyes glued to mine as if he thought he

could take a picture.

“The Shadow?” I questioned.

“That’s two words,” he said.

“Code phrase, then,” I replied.

“I like it.”

“Who wouldn’t?” I asked.

He smiled briefly. “Other people. Clare….” he hesitated.

My heart stuttered and butterflies appeared in my stomach. He didn’t have to say the words forming on his lips. I could see it in his eyes. “I know,” I told him.

He nodded and kissed me goodbye. His hand rested on the door’s handle for a long moment, and I wondered how hard this was for him – as hard as watching him leave? I saw him fighting

against the impulse to simply stay and forget the mission. A part of me hoped he would. Instead, he turned the elegant handle and stepped out of the room. He didn’t look back, though I knew he wanted to. I heard him call goodbyes to the others and then, like a soft breeze in summer, he was gone.

I ran to the window to watch him leave, but my view was of a small fenced in area with round tables and beautiful flowers. I scowled at the pretty flowers, hating them for their unhelpfulness, and abandoned the window. I flopped down on the bed and put my arm over my eyes, counting

the seconds until he was really gone. The bed creaked slightly as Alex sat on the opposite side.

She lay back so that her body paralleled mine. We were silent for a long moment then she rolled over and put her head on my shoulder. “Thanks for letting me stay,” she said.

“Thanks for loving me enough to ride the bus down here,” I replied.

“What else are best friends for?” she asked.

“How did Sam take the news?” I asked.

“He yelled a lot then promised me I would be grounded forever and tried to guilt me into coming home. He even cut me off from my bank…like I didn’t think he would. I pulled all 305.02 out of my account before I came.”

“That’s smart thinking…”

“Yep.” She took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Daniel will be fine,” she promised.

“Yeah…”

“Clare…can I confess something to you?” Alex asked.

“Anything,” I said.

“I’m starving. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse, its saddle, and the grass it was munching on.

Then, I would probably even eye the owner hungrily.”

“Cannibal.”

“Do you think we could get Jackson and Margaret to pay for room service?” she asked.

“Order it and find out,” I suggested.

She laughed. “I’m not that stupid.”

I pulled her to her feet and headed for the door. “Let’s see if we can convince them to feed us, then.”

Jackson was in the common area, Daniel’s laptop propped on his knees. His long hair was pulled back, and he was wearing clothes similar to the ones Daniel had been wearing. From the slightly shabby, but not too shabby appearance, I understood them to be camouflage. He wouldn’t be out of place in a lot of places. He kept his eyes glued to the screen as he spoke. “I ordered food.”

“Hey, thanks,” Alex said happily.

I pointed at the laptop. “So, what now? How can I help?”

“How can
we
help?” Alex corrected.

“What she said,” I said.

“We could always use more information. And we could use someone to sort all this data. Danny designed this thing for disappearances, but it doesn’t account for people running away and your normal human murders. It’s a lot of data to sort through,” he told us.

“Data sorters?” I asked in distaste.

“I’ll do it,” Alex said. “I like lists.”

“All right.” Jackson gestured her over and showed her the logistics of the program.

They were just getting into ways to track everything when there was a knock on the door.

Jackson got up at the sound – his head tilted so he could listen – and peered through the

peephole. He opened the door slightly when he was convinced the person on the other side

wasn’t an axe murderer. He talked to the person on the other end for a moment then handed

whoever it was a bill. He waited until the person was gone then opened the door the rest of the way. A cart full of food was on the other side.

“Yummy!” Alex said.

Jackson wheeled the cart in, and Alex started picking pieces of food off the platters. “I forgot to mention…” he said slowly. “Don’t open the door unless Margaret or myself is here. If its

housekeeping, tell them to come back.”

“Are you actually making a rule?” I asked in mock surprise.

“Yes. This is different world down here. Caution is key. You never know who is lurking about.”

“Makes sense,” I said.

“This is heavenly…Clare, eat a Danish,” Alex said.

I made a face of disgust and joined her at the cart. I stayed away from the Danish side and picked a muffin instead. “Did you guys learn anything last night?” I asked Jackson.

He shrugged. “You don’t learn much from one night roaming the streets.”

“But you still learn a little,” I said.

His grin was lopsided. “We know there have been more than your usual amount of

disappearances, but it’s all homeless people, and people who don’t have any families to claim them.”

“So…no bad guys lurking menacingly in the shadows?” I asked.

“Plenty of bad guys, but your normal bad guys. Not much I can do about them,” he said.

“There’s loads you could do!” I argued.

“Kill them all? Then we would be as bad as those we’re trying to stop.”

I hesitated. Limits felt a lot different when I wasn’t the one having to do that actual killing. “Are you channeling Daniel today?” I asked.

“Someone here has to have a conscience,” he said.

“Thanks,” I replied.

Jackson went to the front door. “I’m going to go find Margaret. Keep this door locked, and stay here.”

I sighed. “Yeah, yeah…”

He looked confused for a moment and said something Daniel never would have as he paused at the door, “I helped you come down here, so you could sit in a room? I’m very disappointed in you, Clare.”

“You want me to run off?” I asked incredulously.

“No, but I had hoped you would put up more of a fight,” he said cryptically.

The door shut and Alex and I were left to exchange confused glances.

“He brought you down here, so you could get in trouble?” Alex asked.

“Trouble follows me wherever I go. He understands that…probably more than Daniel does,” I

said.

“Daniel has more optimism,” Alex said.

“I suppose,” I replied.

I flopped down on the sofa and looked around the room. Golden light streamed in from the

windows. The fancy furniture captured the light perfectly, settling it around everything with a calm familiarity. A hazy sense of peace enveloped the room, but I had never felt more restless and agitated. Alex picked another pastry off the cart and plopped down next to me as I twitched uncontrollably. If she noticed my agitation, she didn’t mention it. She started talking to me as if we were home, as if everything were normal. It helped a little. It was enough to distract me from the fact that Daniel was definitely not in the hotel anymore.

Jackson was gone for most of the morning. When he came back, Margaret was with him. Her

face was impassive, but I could tell something had happened.

Alex was faster with her questions. “Did you run into a Watcher?”

“‘Run into’ sounds so lazy,” Jackson corrected. “Margaret tracked one down.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“The usual,” Jackson said. “Oh…I bought these for you while I was out.” He pulled two small phones out of his back pocket. “They’re for emergencies only. If you call a number that might be tapped, get rid of the phone immediately.” He held the phones out to us.

“Wow. I feel like we’re channeling the A-Team right now,” I said as I took mine.

“I really, really want to make fun of you for that reference,” Alex said, “but, unfortunately, it’s not as outdated as I’d like. I will make fun of you for referencing the TV show.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard Mr. T pity a fool! And at least I don’t love Walker Texas Ranger…” I said.