Seeker (Shadows) (5 page)

“Wonder if he saw me coming.” Ocean pulls his knees up, and I realize that the very beginnings of dawn are creeping up as pale blue
light tinges the edges of the ocean.

“If he was looking for you, or if your coming had a big impact. Something we could have asked him if you and I had a computer on board.” I give him a pointed look.

Ocean shakes his head. “Don’t you think that would be a little obvious? Who sails a tiny sailboat like this with a laptop?”

Good point. But I say nothing.

“Continue.” He gestures forward, giving me another smirk.

“Okay… There’s more. About the energy.” I swallow. “We’re all connected.” I swallow again because this is the part that makes me feel the most vulnerable. “All of us.”

“You’re sounding a whole hellova lot like my hippie mom right now, Kara.” His southern accent dips and pulls on his words, and I’m amazed it wasn’t the first thing I noticed about him—maybe it’s that the energy from him sort of overwhelms everything else.

My heart pulses faster than normal as I try to find the best way to explain. “Our talents came from the same source. All the people with Insight, and Manipulation, and the very rare Shields, and us. It all came from the same place.”

Our history always incites questions, which brings on questions of loyalty and who the shadows really are. It’s the only time drastic measures have been taken on other member of The Middle Men or people with talents. But right now I’m feeling like I need Ocean to have all the facts because I hope it’ll pull him onto my side.

I shudder, but Ocean interrupts my thoughts. “Oh-kay.”

His eyes are boring holes into me again. I can feel him.

“And I think that’s where they’re headed. There was this woman who traded in Voodoo, and—”

“Oh,” he whispers, as he lies flat on the canvas. “I think that’s them.”

I stare at the edges of the horizon as our small boat ventures further out to sea than I’ve ever attempted taking it before.

“Put your hand in the water.” He lies flat and stretches his hand off the side of the boat.

I do
the same on my side and try to concentrate on the people we’re looking for.

“Take my hand.” He reaches out with his free hand, and I grab it before thinking, knowing more energy will help.

The feel of him jolts through me, spinning my thoughts into chaos and making my heart pound. This is supposed to help, not turn me into useless mush.

“Wow.” He’s so still, and staring at me. His thumb starts to trace patterns on the back of my hand, which raises goose bumps even in the muggy heat.

I swallow again. Hard. For a completely different kind of fear. And as much as I want to tear my eyes away from him, I’m locked in.

His fingers squeeze mine again as a faint smile begins to form. “If this is what our fingers feel together, imagine what it would feel like to kiss.”

I flop back to the canvas, turning my head and burning cheeks toward the water, but keeping our hands together. My fingers touch the water again, hoping to feel something of the people we’re hunting and wishing to avoid Ocean. Even a confirmation that this is the boat we’re looking for. It’s not as if there are a shortage of boats in the water off of West Palm Beach. But I keep getting clouded by how Ocean’s hand feels in mine.

“Don’t you want to hear the rest of the story?” I ask, not wanting to talk about what it feels like to touch him or to be frustrated that I can’t tell if it’s the right boat. Water is supposed to be some kind of super-conductor. It should be
easier
.

“We’ve got to adjust sails,” he says. “You can continue the Voodoo story later. Right now, we have a boat to catch because that’s definitely them.”

FOUR

Micah

Twenty-four hours ago Landon stepped sideways next to the mast of his sailboat and we’ve heard nothing. We haven’t seen a sleek Middle Men boat either, and I’m wondering what exactly is going on. Why would Landon leave us for so long when he knows we need his protection?

And then my throat closes up as I think about the last nervous smile he gave me and how maybe he didn’t leave us, he just can’t get back. Tears well up behind my eyes, and I can’t believe where I am and what I’m doing. Being on a boat is weird enough, but shadows? Middle Men? It’s like I’ve stepped into an alternate reality that I really don’t want to be in. I’d happily trade in my gift for normal.

I stare at the ceiling above our bed and listen to the water rushing against the side of the boat and the wind through the sails and the rigging. Both are things I never thought would feel like part of my days, but I can’t imagine going to sleep without it. The three
of us are taking shifts as captain, and I need to get sleep now, while I can.

“You’re a long ways out here,” Dean nearly shouts from his spot at the steering station, and I tense up waiting to see who he’s talking to.

Is someone out there?

We’ve run into quite a few nice sail boaters as we travel, but we tend to keep our distance. Our couple run-ins with The Middle Men, who seem a lot more interested in taking us by force than Landon’s dad let on, has left us cautious.

“Yeah. I’m not a great sailor,” a guy’s voice explains. He sounds maybe our age, though voices can be deceiving. “Showing off for my girlfriend here, and I’m not exactly sure how to get back. Don’t supposed you’re headed to shore and could give us a lift?”

There’s something eerily familiar about the voice as I scramble up the stairs to see who it is. Do I know the voice from a vision maybe? Something else?

“His watch,” Addie whispers.

It was the only thing I could pull from my visions that were the same on several people—the odd, smooth black watches. The Middle Men. My heart stops.

I run up on deck, and the blond guy smiles and gives me a wave. We’ve slowed, and they’re not right next to us, but too close for comfort.

I step closer to the edge and narrow my eyes wondering if they’re the two I saw in a vision from Landon a few days ago. “I know them. Don’t let them get close.”

“Ah.” The blond guy’s smile gets wider. “Insighter. Look. We’re not going to grab you or anything. We’re hardly prepared.” He gestures to their boat, which is a step up from a raft. “We just want to talk.”

I’m shaking all over, and without being asked, Addie tightens the lines and
Dean adjusts our heading to gain more speed. Every once in a while I wish Landon would have chosen a boat with some serious power. But like he tells me all the time—
Not only do I like to sail but we haven’t been caught yet, and I had no idea we were going to be chased when I got the thing
. Besides, it’ll come in handy when we get there. I swear, it sometimes feels like nothing bothers him.

“Landon!” I yell. “Now would be good!” I have no idea if he hears me or not, but it won’t take long for their back-up to arrive. We had a helicopter over us all night one night. Landon was exhausted the next morning after the effort it took to keep us hidden enough for their equipment, and not just their eyes.

“Just a few minutes,” the girl says. “I’m Kara, and this is Ocean.”

Only she looks a lot more nervous than he does. They weren’t out here by accident, and I saw in a vision how we were tied up and questioned in some big house when Landon and I first left Maine. I’m not sure if that vision is void yet or not, and I’m not about to take the risk.

“I’m sure you know who we are, and in about two minutes, you’ll be far enough behind that no one will be talking.” I clench my teeth, and try to push off a lot more bravery than I feel.

We’re leaving them behind fast, and the girl’s face contorts into frustration as she throws a withering look at the guy who is adjusting their sails while smiling widely. He’s so like Landon it’s unreal.
That’s why his voice sounded familiar.

None of this feels right.

“The shadows will try to trick you. You need us,” she yells as they fall further behind.

A gasp behind me makes my heart leap and when I turn around Landon’s
sucking in air, eyes rimmed with red.

“Landon!” I grab him in a tight sideways hug as he coughs next to me. “We need your help.”

I glance behind me, and Landon’s gaze follows, locking on the guy as his head cocks to the side, maybe seeing what I do—they look so much alike. Not exactly, but a lot. And it’s more than that. The feeling of them is similar.

“They’re Middle Men?” His voice is scratched like he’s been breathing smoke.

“Yes.”

The girl’s mouth is open in shock, and I wonder how dramatic Landon’s entrance was onto the deck of the boat. I’m too glad he’s here to care and can’t take my hands off him. After seeing him as a shadow, I knew I might not get him back.

He sits, and I wrap my arms around him hoping that I’ll somehow be able to help.

I can see the wide-eyed shock on both of their faces when Landon shields us, and they can’t see us anymore.

“Well that’s just cool,” Ocean yells as we pull even further away. “Not even a dent in the water. Absolutely brilliant Landon! Well done!”

My body releases the tension I’ve been holding on to for the past day as tears stream down my face, and I clutch Landon against me more tightly.

FIVE

Kara

“This is just great.” I turn our small boat back toward shore. “It’s going to take us forever to get back.”

I’m sure I sound like a petulant child, but I’m also sure I don’t care.

“This i
s what watches are for Kara.” Ocean slides his open and asks if someone can bring out the speedboat and a few changes of clothes for each of us.

“Now you like our technology.” I glare.

“I never said I didn’t. I just said that this was the best route
this
time.” He shrugs.

“Oh. I see.” Only I don’t see. Not really. We didn’t get them. And after watching Landon sprawl onto their deck, I’m guessing he was able to cross over into shadow people territory. This is not good.

“It’s not always about getting the end result as fast as possible. If we want them in The Middle Men, we can’t just go grabbing them.” He’s sitting comfortably on the canvas stretched between the pontoons, his forearms resting on his knees.

“It’s worked before.” I widen my eyes knowing he can’t contradict me. I’m also not ready to tell him we have some serious time constraints.

“Fine.” He shifts his weight as he adjusts his hold on the rudder. “But we maybe gave them something to think about, you know? We didn’t come after them. We didn’t show up in two thousand dollar suits to have a little “informal chat.” We just said we wanted to talk and then you warned them about shadows. I don’t know. I don’t think that went all that bad.”

He’s totally missing the point. “You’re totally missing the point.”

“Kara.” He rests a hand on my shoulder, and as the energy of him pulses through me. I find myself staring at his lips before jerking away.

“Sorry.” He shakes his head. “I think Landon’s really helping Micah’s Insight. She’d seen us. So I think we need to make decisions that are very non-confrontational so that maybe she’ll see a vision of us that won’t make them run. She can only see what’s decided, or things that are out of all of our control. So. Let’s decide to go into this as passive as possible, and see where that takes us. Cool?”

“Now
you’re
sounding like hippie parents.” Only it does make sense, and I’m angry with myself for not thinking of all of these possibilities. I’ve just never gone after someone who didn’t want to be caught before. Not without being second to a supervisor anyway.

“There’s our boat out there.” His stupid smug smile is back as he points to the sleek boat speeding our way. “Perfect timing.”

We’re not supposed to be going back to port. In a Middle Men boat we’d catch up to, or pass Landon’s boat in a second.

“They don’t understand,” I argue. “We’re ready to leave now.”

“Sorry.” Samson shrugs. “Orders are to bring you two back instead of letting you go on.”

“Gah!” I throw my bag down in the bottom of the boat. “Fine, but let’s make it quick.”

Ocean gives me an apologetic frown as he takes one of the back seats next to me.

I slide open my watch to see if I have any new messages but nothing’s there.

“Hey.” Ocean runs his fingertips against mine. “We’ll still find them. We did it once, we’ll do it again.”

My breathing stops, my heart’s already racing, and thinking about his fingertips sliding up my arms across my shoulders over my collarbone sends shivers through me. “Stop that.” I jerk my hand away.

He holds his hands up between us in a gesture of surrender but looks confused. “Don’t you love the feel of that energy?”

Yes. Way too much.
“No!” And I widen my eyes at him and then at the back of Samson’s head because this isn’t a conversation we should be having in front of him.

“Sorry. I thought it would help.” Ocean looks wounded, which really isn’t fair.