Drawing Bloodlines (21 page)

“Now, Amelia,” cautioned Avery. “Let’s not lose track of why we’re all here.” He gave both Nathan and Lafonda a stern look. He then a
llowed his penetrating gaze to connect with Angela and Alan, seated across the table. “Yes, sneaking away in the middle of the night to fly half-way across the world was definitely wrong — for any reason — and we will definitely address that later. But right now, we have a more pressing issue at hand.” He turned to look at Malick. “We need to keep them safe, and when my mother gets here, she’ll take care of the rest.”

“LaDonda’s
coming? Here?” blurted Nathan.

“So, the mysterious Lady D has finally come out of hi
ding,” mocked Alan.

“I’m sure she wasn’t hiding, Alan,” said Angela, rolling her e
yes. “She has no reason to be.”

“Oh, okay,” he mumbled, pausing to turn on his cell phone. “It was quite the convenient disa
ppearing act.”

“Where is she?” asked Lafonda. She had an impatient look on her face as she unfastened a few of the almond-colored bu
ttons to her dark trench coat.

“Well, at home,” said Avery, glancing over at Amelia. “In Cahokia Falls. I spoke to her this morning. She said she had a few things she needed to wrap up first, bu
t she will be here by Tuesday.”

“Tuesday?” said Amelia. The space between her ey
ebrows had formed frown lines. “I was planning on putting them on the first flight back to Cahokia Falls as soon as possible.”

“No, not yet,” said Avery. He eyed Nathan and then Lafonda. “Mom was very specific not to do anything
until she got here.”

Lafonda tossed her long shiny black hair over her shou
lder and then bit her lip. “Okay,” she said with a nod, glancing at Angela.

“So,” said Angela, scooting forward in her chair. Ene
rgetically, she rested her elbows on the dark wood table. “What shall we do until then?”

“I can think of a few things,” said Alan, his head still bu
ried in his cell phone. “And they all involve Burberry’s and Prada.”

Angela quickly gestured her head toward Lafonda’s f
ather and Lafonda quickly nodded her head. “Dad,” she said, taking a position next to him. “I was talking to Mom about going shopping.…”

“Absolutely not, Lafonda!” said Avery. He glared at Alan and Angela from above his glasses. “Like I said to your friends earlier, how are we supposed to keep you safe with you
guys running around the city?”

“Dad! But we came all the way here!” said Lafonda, in a whiny little girl’s voice. “And b
esides, why would we still be on the Orders radar? They don’t know about Jonathan’s phone. And based on the smug look on the blonde’s face that attacked us, she totally thinks she has us beat.”

Nathan raised his eyebrows and stifled his chuckle.
Don’t overdo it Lafonda
, he thought to himself.
There’s a reason why you didn’t get cast in our high school’s version of High School Musical
. A slight chuckle escaped his mouth.
Not even as the janitor
.

Avery glanced at Alan and Angela again as Angela no
dded eagerly. He took a deep breath and looked helplessly at Amelia. “I know I don’t want them going anywhere near that shop,” she said.

Slowly, Alan began to raise his hand. “Uhh?” he stuttered and Ang
ela quickly put down his hand.

“Yes!” Avery said, with nods of affirmation, as he stared at his wife. It was as if he was trying to muster confidence for his decision. “We’re not doing anything, and that i
ncludes shopping. At least until LaDonda gets here.”

“But shouldn’t we be trying to decipher the rest of the prophecy?” asked Dr. Colvers. There was a sudden silence in the room and Dr. Colvers fidgeted with the black buttons to his white shirt. Avery and Dr. Gregory Black stared at him. “I mean, if you really think about it, isn’t the best way to keep all of us safe is to find out why the Order was comin
g after us in the first place?”

“I second that idea,” said Jonathan, immediately, adjus
ting his glasses.

Dr. Colvers smiled wholeheartedly and Angela appeared to squirm again. “If Jonathan still has the pictures on his phone,” he continued, poin
ting at him. “Let’s find out why they’re so hell-bent on keeping the legend about the Firewalker a secret.”

“Oh boy,” said Alan, underneath his breath. “Here we go with the Firewalker prophecy again.” Defiantly, he gawked at Angela. “How about I vote, no,” he said aloud. “And if we’re smart — considering I’m sitting in a room full of Ph.D.’s — we drop that phone in the toilet and
then toss it down the river.”

Jonathan frowned.

“What?” asked Alan with a dramatic shrug. “It’s not even a smart phone — get over it.”

“I second that idea,” said Malick, putting away his cell phone again. “The sooner we distance ourselves away from thi
s prophecy stuff, the better.”

“We do have three archeologists in the room,” said Gre
gory, ignoring Alan, and Malick. His piercing blue eyes were wide and they had an extra sparkle to them as he caressed his chin.

I’ve seen that look before
, thought Nathan. He glanced over at Jonathan and chuckled.

“And I bet if you get started now, you could have it fi
nished by morning!” said Angela with a wink.

Lafonda quickly nodded at Angela and then smiled, pla
cing a hand on her father’s shoulder. “What else are we going to do until my grandmother gets here?”

“And don’t forget about the smart and lovely assistant,” said Sakiya Lee. There was silence around the table and across the room. “Our femme fatale may have my flash drive, but I’m sure I
can still recall my research.”

“She speaks!” said Alan, his eyes wide open. Angela r
eleased a drawn out sigh and then swiftly elbowed him in his side. “Ow, Angela! What? She’s barely said a word this entire time!”

“And don’t forget about me,” said Jonathan, eagerly rai
sing his hand.

Avery watched fondly as Gregory Black beamed at his son’s enthusiasm. “So, what do you think, hon?” he
asked, looking back at Amelia.

She leaned against his chair and then gently caressed the top of his head. “I don’t know,” she said, slowly. “But what I do know is that I don’t have a good feeling about this.” She stood u
pright again and then unbuttoned the top two buttons to her maroon pea coat. “What did LaDonda say?”

“Nothing,” said Avery.
His brow continued to furrow as he adjusted his brown speckled glasses. “When I spoke to her earlier, she really didn’t say much about anything. Just that she was leaving for London soon, but had something very important to do first.”

Lafonda softly bit her lip and Angela eagerly gestured toward her again. “Uh — well,
can you call her?” she asked.

Dr. Devaro sat in silence. “And what about Roy?” asked Ame
lia. “What did he have to say?”

He turned to look at Lafonda and then up at Amelia b
efore nodding his head. “Right,” he said, scooting back his chair before standing up. He took out his cell phone and then gestured at Dr. Black to follow, before heading out the room.

There was silence in the conservatory again, as Amelia and Lafonda finally took in the room. “Well, isn’t this exci
ting,” said Angela. Her enthusiasm was met with silence, so she decided to stand up from the table. “It looks like we will finally get to the bottom of this prophecy.”

“Yeah, and probably die because of it,” mumbled Alan. He looked up at her and then frowned. “I didn’t sign up for this Angela, and I didn’t
bring clothes for the funeral.”

Angela continued to eye Mrs. Devaro as she made her way to one of the windows. “You’re not going to die, Alan,” she said, looking down at him. She turned to look at Amelia again as
she looked outside the window.

“Ha, not my funeral,” he smirke
d. “I was talking about yours.”

Angela rolled her eyes, but her attention was quickly drawn to Mrs. Devaro, as it appeared she was heading out of the room. “Excuse me, Mrs. Devaro?” she said, trotting t
oward her. She placed a few locks of curly blonde hair behind her ear as she forced a short laugh. “Alan and I were talking and we couldn’t help but notice how amazing you look.”

Amelia appeared amused, but also slightly confused. Alan looked up but just shook his head. “I just love that pea coat you’re wearing,” e
xplained Angela. She pointed to her coat on the back of her chair. “In fact, I have one almost like it, but mine is red.”

“Well, thank you,” said Amelia, smiling at her. “That was very nice of y
ou.” She turned to leave again.

“And I just love the brown fur accents around the collar and the bottom of the sleeves,” co
ntinued Angela, quickly. “It really compliments your eyes and your skin color. Where did you get it from? Chanel?”

“Yes,” she said with a smile. She paused to run her fi
ngers through the faux fur on her sleeves. “I found it on sale at this quaint little boutique, not too far off the beaten path, in downtown London.” 

Angela turned to look at Lafonda, but by the look on her face, her thoughts appeared to be elsewhere. “Well now I know where Lafonda gets her good taste from. She’s so lucky to have such a fashion-forward mother. And you pro
bably know where all the good shops are, so it probably doesn’t take you long to shop — in and out!”

Amelia’s brown eyes now appeared to have an extra sparkle to them. “Well, sometimes,” she said, preparing to leave. She winked. “But sometimes it takes me a little bit longer than I care to adm
it, at least to Avery anyway.”

“It was nice chatting with you, Mrs. Devaro,” projected Angela, as the double wood-paneled glass doors closed b
ehind her. Sakiya Lee also exited the room.

“It’s not going to work,” teased Alan, over the rattl
ing glass.

“Shut up, Alan!” moaned Angela, as she stomped over to Lafonda. “Hey,” she said, sounding annoyed. Dr. Colvers abruptly looked over at them but then turned his attention back to the struggling, potted fern hanging above the table. He appeared to be examining one of its fallen leaves. “What happened to you?” she whispered. “I could have used your help back there. I was trying to get your mom in the mood to go shopping. Your dad is more likely to allow us t
o go if your mom goes with us.”

“I’m sorry,” said Lafonda. “I overhead you guys talking and, knowing my mother when it comes to shopping, it shoul
dn’t take much more prodding.”

“Okay, what’s going on Lafonda?” asked Nathan. “I know that look, something
is definitely bothering you.”

“I’ll say,” said Malick, joining the conversation. “You’re quieter than usual.” He folded his arms across his chest. “You know, yo
u really shouldn’t get your….”

“Yeah, yeah,” mocked Lafonda, interrupting him. “Don’t get you
r pretty face in a knot — or twisted. She flippantly waved her hand at him. “Whatever it is that you say.”

Malick stood completely still. If his eyes didn’t occasio
nally blink from time to time, Nathan would have sworn he was frozen. Nathan smirked, looking into Malick’s blank face and then abruptly busted into laughter. Malick shook his head and then frowned. Lafonda glared at the two of them and then softly bit her lip again. Slowly, she began to pace the room. The dark hardwood floor creaked as she moved between Jonathan and the others. “It just doesn’t add up!” she shouted.

“What
doesn’t add up?” asked Nathan.

“The Order,” she said, stopping abruptly. She looked up at him. “They always seem to be one step ahead of us.” The space between Nathan’s eyebrows frowned inward and he looked co
nfused. “How did they know about Dr. Helmsley and the caves?” she explained. “How did they know about Dr. Colvers?”

“Probably the newsletter,” said Angela, swiftly turning around. Her curly blonde hair bounced on her shoulders as she smiled at Jonathan.

Slowly, Jonathan nodded. “Your argument would’ve been quite plausible if Dr. Helmsley actually had a blog or a newsletter,” he said. With his index finger, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he turned to look at Lafonda. “She doesn’t have either of them.”

“So, how did they know
?” asked Lafonda, with a sigh.

There was a brief silence. “Email!” said Angela, enthus
iastically, and with bright blue eyes. She smiled as her eyes connected with all the blank faces. “Jonathan said yesterday that Dr. Colvers thought they were monitoring their emails.”

“Okay,” said Lafonda, sluggishly. “That would explain how they knew to attack Dr. Helmsley in the caves. But after the attack, Jonathan said they were using fake email a
ccounts.” She turned to look at Jonathan. “So how did the Order know where to find Dr. Colvers? Are they just watching everything that’s sent out of his computer? I mean, he just started working at Kings Royal University.”