The Tower (21 page)

“Sounds good.”

However, it turned out that the Guardian Knight who had delivered us had already notified Mr. Baker, and less than a minute later, the phone rang. Cindy answered it and had a heated exchange with Mr. Baker, who clearly was in no mood to play games either. Still, Cindy was adamant, promising Mr. Baker that if he came up now, he would find the door locked and bolted. Then Cindy sat me down in the living room and calmly continued my tutoring.

Alia spoke very little over dinner, but for that matter, I was probably pretty quiet too.

After eating, I spent the rest of the evening in 3901 talking to an irritable Mr. Baker and several of his Knights about the near-abduction. I described the gray-haired man’s face while one of the Knights drew a sketch. I couldn’t describe the driver, but I was quite impressed at how closely the sketch of the peacemaker resembled my memory of him. The sketch artist, in addition to being a part-time Guardian Knight, was also a city policeman.

After I had told my story for the third time straight, Mr. Baker finally said, “Based on your statement, Adrian, theoretically, they could have belonged to any faction. But I must agree that they were most likely Seraphim.”

“Seraphim?” I asked. I somehow knew that seraphim was a religion-related word, but hadn’t a clue what it meant. I wondered if it was the name of another psionic faction.

“Angels, Adrian,” explained Mr. Baker. “Much like our Knights, it is what they call their fighters.”

I looked out the window of Mr. Baker’s condo, wondering if I really had done the right thing by honoring my promise to the peacemaker.

Mr. Baker said, “It appears we’ll need to assign you and Alia a security detail like Cindy’s.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I was still too shaken by what had happened to care too much. Even if I was going to be hounded by Knights, well, I supposed it beat being kidnapped by Seraphim.

We went through every little detail of the incident over and over, even taking a walk back to the actual location so I could show them exactly where the black sedan had been parked. I didn’t get back to the penthouse until a little after Alia’s bedtime.

“That took a long time,” said Cindy when I finally got home. “Are you alright?”

“I’ve been better,” I admitted. “But I’m okay. I’m just tired.”

“You’ve had a rough day,” said Cindy. “I just tucked your sister in, but I’m sure she’s waiting up for you.”

“No doubt,” I said, chuckling. “How is she doing?”

“She’s still a bit shaken,” Cindy said slowly. “But it could’ve been much worse.”

“Yeah,” I agreed quietly. “Listen, I don’t want Alia staying up for me, so I’m going to turn in now, too.”

Cindy smiled, saying, “Thanks again, Adrian.”

“We were just lucky, Cindy,” I said, shaking my head. “Maybe you already guessed this, but Mr. Baker thinks they tried to get Alia and me so that they could get to you.”

Cindy nodded. “I suspected as much. You better not keep your sister waiting.”

“On a night like this, I’m surprised she didn’t ask to sleep in your bed, Cindy.”

Cindy smiled serenely and replied, “I’m not too surprised.”

After hastily brushing my teeth, I entered my room expecting to find Alia in her bed with her big unicorn. Sure enough, the unicorn was up on her bed, but Alia herself wasn’t. I instead found my sister seated by the window where I usually rested after waking up with nightmares.

“Alia?” I called softly, but she didn’t reply.

I quietly sat down next to her, and neither of us spoke. I knew that sitting in silence was how Alia dealt with her emotions. I just had to wait until she was ready to talk.

Eventually, I heard her murmur into my mind,
“Addy?”

“Yeah?” I whispered.

Alia continued to stare out the window.
“Why are grownups always trying to hurt us? Why are they always so horrible?”

“I wish I knew,” I said, stroking her back. “But you’re forgetting Cindy and Mark... and Mr. Koontz and Dr. Kellogg...”

I had already run out of examples. Maybe Alia was right.

Alia turned to me and smiled slightly.
“I liked Dr. Kellogg.”

“He liked you too, Alia,” I said.

Alia became silent again for a few more minutes, and we watched the full moon rise high above the city lights. Then my sister turned to me and, with an apologetic look, said hesitantly into my head,
“Addy? Just for tonight, is it alright if I sleep in your bed?”

“Yeah, Ali,” I replied, “it’s alright. Just tonight, though, okay?”

“Okay.”

Alia’s bed was much too small for the two of us, but mine was about the same size as the one we had shared at the Psionic Research Center. We lay on our sides and I let Alia rest her back against my chest, putting my arms around her from behind. Her long hair tickled my nose a bit, but I gently held her until I heard her soft snores. Before drifting off to sleep myself, I wondered again where I had seen the Angel with dark gray hair, and hoped for my sister’s sake that I wouldn’t wake up screaming. Fortunately, and surprisingly enough, I didn’t.

The next day, Cindy didn’t wake us until after breakfast was on the table.

It was a sunny Sunday morning, but after yesterday’s incident, Alia seemed perfectly happy to stay at home. It didn’t matter to me since I was still determined to finish seventh grade before September. Seeing me grinding through my schoolwork, Alia insisted on doing her school stuff as well, so Cindy went back and forth between us, tutoring and checking our work. A little before noon, Cindy told me she had to leave for a meeting with Mr. Baker.

“Is it about yesterday?” I asked.

“I’m certain that will be one of the primary topics,” answered Cindy.

“Mr. Baker said he wanted to assign a security detail to Alia and me,” I said darkly.

“Personally, I don’t think that’s such a bad idea anymore,” said Cindy, “but I’m guessing you disagree.”

“I didn’t mind so much last night, Cindy. But now that I’ve had some time to calm down, I’m not so sure I’d want a group of Knights trailing me around everywhere I went.”

Cindy chuckled. “I know how you feel. Well, it’s not really for me to decide, but I’ll see if I can work something out with Mr. Baker.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Don’t forget to clean up after lunch, and see if you can finish your math worksheets before I get back, okay?”

Cindy left for her meeting.

Alia helped me cook lunch. After we ate, I sloppily finished up my math at the dining table and then checked over Alia’s work. I was happy to see that, at least outwardly, my sister was already back to normal. So was I, for that matter. I wondered if perhaps we were actually getting used to being in hazardous situations.

Cindy returned in the early afternoon. As she corrected my math, I asked her how the meeting went.

“For the moment, you’re not going to get your own private army,” said Cindy. When I breathed a sigh of relief, she added, “But there are going to be some changes.”

Cindy reached into her pocket, pulling out what at first glance appeared to be a black digital wristwatch. “For starters,” she said as she handed it to me, “Mr. Baker wants you to wear this whenever you go out.”

“What is it?” I asked, fingering the Velcro band and looking at the square-ish black plastic device set on it. It wasn’t a watch, having no display, and there was only one large round button set into the center of the device.

“It’s a tracer band,” said Cindy.

“A what?”

“A transmitter. It allows the Knights to find you in an emergency.”

I did my best to imitate Cindy’s overly innocent tone as I asked, “You mean they’re going to track me like a wild animal with a beeper collar?”

Cindy laughed. “No, Adrian, it only activates if you push that button for three seconds. It’s waterproof, so wear it at the pool too, okay?”

I wrapped the tracer band around my left wrist, pulling the Velcro so that the device fit snugly, and discovered that its weight was hardly noticeable. At least it wasn’t some bulky control band. Pulling it off again, I asked, “Is Alia getting one of these too?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to scare her. Besides, when does your sister ever leave the house alone?”

“Point taken,” I said, and then asked, “You said ‘changes.’ What else does Mr. Baker have in store for me?”

Cindy smiled. “Promise you won’t get angry?”

“Uh-oh,” I said slowly, recognizing the expression Cindy had worn the time she bought me a dress for my birthday.

The doorbell rang, and Cindy answered it, saying, “Right on time, as usual.”

That ominous remark already put me on high alert, but I was still shocked when in stepped...

“Terry?!”

Terry ignored my outburst and said politely to Cindy, “Hello, Ms. Gifford.”

“Oh, no, Terry,” laughed Cindy. “If you’re going to live here, you’ll have to call me Cindy.”

Terry laughed with her, replying, “Whatever you say, Ms. Gifford.”

Then she un-shouldered a large duffle bag and tossed it to me, nearly knocking me over. “Hey, Adrian. Nice catch.”

“You’re living here now?” I asked as I dropped her bag onto the floor.

Terry nodded. “Just for a few months. Ms. Gifford insisted.”

Cindy said to me, “In addition to being your trainer, Adrian, Mr. Baker just placed Terry in charge of your security. Yours and Alia’s. That means neither of you leaves the building without Terry from now on, okay?”

I gave Cindy a disbelieving stare.

Cindy shrugged and said, “Hey, if you prefer a pack of Knights, we can trade.”

“It’s okay,” I said hastily. “Terry’s fine. But why is she
living
here?!”

“Terry’s uncle is going off on a mission, and I couldn’t just let her live by herself, so...”

“This was the offer you made her last month?”

“Funny how things work out, don’t you think?” Cindy said with a smile.

I didn’t smile back. Cindy, my morning tutor, and Terry, my afternoon instructor, living under the same roof... Even though I was on much better terms with Terry these days, this was still going to take some getting used to. Terry was less than a year and a half older than me and yet she was a whole head taller. I had hoped that this glaring discrepancy would remain isolated to the dojo, but no one had asked for my selfish opinion.

“I heard what happened yesterday,” Terry said to me as she picked up her duffle bag. Then she rolled her eyes and continued in a loud and exasperated tone, “Honestly, Adrian, it’s bad enough that you let them go without a fight, but you actually
helped
them escape!? You are truly unbelievable! Idiot!”

I didn’t reply. It was useless trying to justify my actions to Terry.

“Adrian,” said Cindy, “I want you to promise you won’t tell anyone that Terry is living with us. Mr. Baker knows, of course, but aside from him, everyone should still think that Terry is living alone in her uncle’s place.”

I shrugged. “Who am I going to tell? I hardly know anyone in New Haven. But just out of curiosity, why the secrecy?”

“You know why,” said Cindy.

“Oh, right,” I said, smacking my forehead. “Dumb question!”

Terry, who had lived in New Haven since the start of her freshman year of high school, had a life and friends here. It was already bad enough that she spent so much time around me. The Guardian families would no doubt give Terry the same wide berth they gave me if they found out she was actually living with Cindy. Cindy herself rarely left the building these days, and never without her armed escort. I guessed Mr. Baker had finally convinced her to take her security more seriously.

Terry completed her move by herself, taking just one more trip down to the fourth floor. Terry didn’t wear makeup and certainly wasn’t one to decorate her room with pictures or posters or anything like that. Like her grandfather, Terry was a born-and-bred fighter, used to small quarters and living rough. I doubt she used even half of the furniture that we had put in the guestroom.