The Waking (The Upturned Hourglass) (23 page)

Jack glanced at her, but didn’t respond.

“She really can’t, can she!
Geez. Can this girl do anything
normal
?”

Jack gave her his most withering look as Noah opened the back door to the car. He was getting annoyed with her constant berating of Valie. 

“You’re one to talk,” Jack replied gruffly.

“Yeah, well. I have an excuse, don’t I?” she countered.

Shane leaned into the driver’s seat, watching as Jack placed Valie carefully on the backseat—Noah on the other side of the car, helping him to maneuver the unconscious girl into some sort of comfortable position. Suddenly Shane wrinkled her nose and whined, “She’s wet, Jack.” 

The older Lycan had reached his limit and shot her an angry look. 
“Stop. Now,” he growled. “If you don’t have anything useful to say, then
be quiet
.”

Shane’s ice blue eyes narrowed dramatically as if she intended to say more, but, smartly, she refrained.

“Jack?” a small voice whispered.

The anger immediately emptied from Jack’s face as he leaned over Valie, whose lips were lazily parted as she breathed. Her eyes fluttered opened, and she looked up at him. 

“I’m here, sweets. You’re all right. You’re safe.”

She nodded slightly. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Anytime.”

“I guess I should have taken those swimming lessons?”

Jack laughed softly, but Valie had already slipped back into unconsciousness.

The boy rose to his feet and the three Lycans looked at each other. Noah voiced what they were all thinking, “What’s the plan, Jack?”

“It will take Isaac some time to reorganize. We need to get away while we can.”

“Seattle, then?”

He nodded, and looked down at Valie. “Whether we like it or not, we have the most allies there.”

“Are you leaving your bike?”

Jack hesitated. He loved that bike….

He shook his head, “No. Shane, you can drive it.” Jack dug his keys out of his pocket and tossed them to the delighted she-wolf.  He hated relinquishing his baby to anyone—especially
Shane. She’d always secretly wanted it for herself, despite her having the BMW.  “I’ll drive Noah and Valie up. If we pull an all-day drive, we should be there just before sunrise.”

Shane grinned, eager to drive Jack’s pride and joy. “Cool. I’ll see you up there.” And without another word, she took off to go retrieve the motorcycle.

“Be careful!” Jack called.

“Is that concern for me or the bike?” she yelled back, laughing.

Jack grunted and turned back to Noah.

“Did you want me to drive first?” the boy asked, glancing at the sleeping Valentine.

“No.  I’ll do it,” Jack said grudgingly. He climbed in behind the wheel. Noah sat in the back, resting Valie’s head carefully in his lap.  As he glanced in the rearview mirror, a spike of envy shot through Jack’s core. His hands tightened on the wheel and he spun the car around, speeding out of the wooded area.

As soon as they hit the highway road, Shane zoomed up from behind, passed the BMW on Jack’s yellow motorcycle, blowing a kiss and making half a dozen drivers honk for her to slow down and stay in her lane. Jack shook his head, though he doubted she saw as she accelerated away. They were trying to
avoid
calling attention to themselves at this point. Could she be more ostentatious?

“That’s Shane for you,” Noah chuckled in the back.

“Yeah. I know,” Jack grunted under his breath.

“C’mon, Jack. You two both love to show off at times,” the boy pointed out.

“Not now. This is not a game.” 

With genuine surprise in his voice, Noah asked, “Since when do you take life so seriously?”

Jack stared out of the windshield without really seeing—not even trying to penetrate the darkness.

“Since I met her,” he said quietly. “This
is
serious.” He glanced back over his shoulder at the sleeping girl. If she didn’t wake up by tomorrow morning, Jack would get her to Jericho once they were in Seattle. “You were right all along, Noah; there is something special about her, in fact, extraordinary. Isaac probably knows all about her, even more than we do.”

“But why is she so important to
you
?” Noah pressed.

Jack sighed and shrugged. “She’s important to all of us—we’re betraying our clan for her, the only family we have left. It will all be gone, but, somehow, I just know that she’s worth the risks.”

“It was gone the moment Isaac tried to cover up his indiscretion, Jack. You’re not doing anything wrong.”

Valie stirred restlessly in her sleep.

“Aren’t I?” Jack whispered. He thought about Isaac and the pack that had been his only family for the much of his life. He didn’t much care about himself, but he was destroying the only security that Noah and Shane had in their Occult life—throwing the people he cared about into who knew what kind of dangers. Right this minute, they were deserters, fugitives—soon to be seen as threats to every other pack out there. To top it off, Isaac, Eliza and Terrence would come after them. What would Jack do if—or
when
—they found them? Could he justify the outcome in order to save one defenseless half-blood?

He glanced once again at the still figure lying in the back as she slowly breathed in and out. Jack had new appreciation for that sound and he tuned his acute hearing to the rhythm of her breathing. It calmed him a little. 

He had to believe that this girl’s life was worth the risk.

They boys were quiet for several miles until Noah once again broke the silence. “You realize we’re kidnapping her?”

“Yes. I know.”

“She’s not going to like that.”

Jack took a deep breath. “She’ll get over it.”             

“Hopefully.”

“She will,” he affirmed sternly. She had to.

The hours dragged on. They only stopped when they had to. Noah and Jack took turns
driving, one always in the back with Valie, making sure that her condition remained stable. For the duration of the trip, the girl—still sleeping deeply—intermittently murmured unintelligible bits of subconscious thought.

On the long stretch through
Oregon, the pensive, blue-eyed werewolf sat with Valie and silently watched her peaceful slumber.  Every mile that passed, Jack felt the weight of responsibility grow heavier and heavier. Absently, he brushed the wisps of hair off of her forehead--aware of his own rough hand against her soft complexion. The life of this girl was now his responsibility and he couldn’t escape it. He couldn’t escape
her
.

The girl seemed clammy, having lain in her damp clothes for hours. This concerned him as much as her unconsciousness.

“Hey, Noah. Turn up the heat.”

The boy obeyed—even though the two Lycans were already perspiring. They could sweat it out if it meant she was warmer.

Jack looked back down at Valie. For some reason, he was afraid to take his eyes off of her. She still had a bruise on her cheek where her grandfather had backhanded her. At the sight of it, an angry fire rekindled inside of Jack. Alden had no right to have Valie in his life at all. The moment Jack had realized that the old man had hit her, Jack had wanted to kill him. Valie seemed so defenseless. She was a kid who’d lost her parents--who hurt over it just as much as Alden did. Yet she managed to cope with the pain soberly. Why couldn’t he?

As Jack stared down at her, lost in thought, Valie’s haunting golden eyes fluttered open.

“Valie?” Jack murmured.

“Where am I?” she asked in a small raspy voice. Jack could tell she was still half out of it.

“You’re safe,” he reassured her. He glanced at Noah staring at him from the rearview mirror. “You’re in the car with Noah and me. We have to drive a little while, that’s all.”

Her delicate brow furrowed at this, but in spite of her efforts, she couldn’t keep her droopy eyes open. “Where are we going?” she whispered.

Jack hesitated. “We’re going to see some friends of mine in Seattle. They’ll help us.” The young werewolf sensed the immediate surge of Valie’s heart rate and her breathing became shallower. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”  Jack stroked her hair.

“
Seattle?” she asked in a tight voice.

“Shhh. C’mon, sweets, don’t you trust me?” The dazed girl tried to shake her head, but winced.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” he chuckled quietly. Jack put his hands on either side of her face and brought his own close to hers so that she could see his eyes. 

“But this is me promising that I will not hurt you. We’re trying to protect you, and to do that we have to lose Isaac right now. Just let me take you to
Seattle and we’ll talk there, okay? Just relax and go back to sleep. Everything is going to be fine.” His stomach churned, knowing that the last statement was as much of a lie as his confidence.

With some effort, Valie nodded before falling back asleep.  Soon, her breathing returned to a slow, steady rhythm. Jack took a deep breath and leaned his head back to rest against the seat. He did not like deceiving the girl about anything, but he couldn’t afford to overburden her. After all, there was only so much one person could take.

They arrived in
Seattle around four the next morning, while it was still dark. The city was asleep and practically deserted. After countless turns down quiet roads, through dark, sleepy neighborhoods, Jack pulled into the driveway of an innocuous-looking house in the downtown. The house belonged to a good friend of Shane’s and, as much as Jack wasn’t thrilled with the situation, it would be safer there than with the rest of their clan. Besides, they had stayed there so frequently, they had their own rooms.

Valie and Noah both snored quietly in the backseat. He was thankful, actually, that Valie had yet to awaken again; he was convinced it was exhaustion which was keeping her under.

As Jack parked the BMW inside the garage, he noticed Shane was already inside, leaning against Jack’s yellow motorcycle. He was happy to see it had arrived in one piece. The she-wolf yawned as Jack exited the driver’s seat of the car. His legs felt stiff as wood. The only stretching he’d done was when they had been forced to stop for gas every few hundred miles. He groaned audibly and Shane immediately jumped down his throat.

“Remind me
never
to agree to drive your stupid motorcycle across two states ever again, okay?”

Jack managed a tired laugh. “It couldn’t have been that bad,” he teased. However, he knew exactly how bad it could be if you weren’t used to riding the thing. In fact, it could downright suck.

He heard Shane grumble under her breath as he leaned into the backseat. Noah was as deep asleep as the girl curled up comfortably against his leg. Jack smiled and looked over at Shane.

“Would you help awaken Sleeping Beauty over there?”

Shane peeked in through the tinted window and giggled. “Awww, how cute. They’re like a little couple.”

Jack glared. “Just get him up. I’ll get Valie.”

Shane opened the door carefully so that Noah wouldn’t fall completely out of the car—and then slammed it loudly back into place. Noah woke with a start, eyes wide and startled.

Jack scowled at the vindictive blonde. “That was completely unnecessary.”

“Really? I thought it was necessary.” She grinned spitefully.  Shane was always mean when she was tired.

Jack ignored her and checked to see if Valie perhaps had been roused also. No such luck.

“Are we there?” Noah mumbled through a yawn.

“Yeah.
We’re here.”

Noah stood and stretched as Jack pulled Valie into a sitting position and took Noah’s place on the seat beside her. Her hair had dried into a frizz of long, lanky mess from the lake water, and her clothes were still damp and musty. Gently, the young werewolf lifted the girl and slid her onto his lap, holding her protectively close to him—her head safely against his shoulder.

“Shane?”

“Yeah,” she answered dully. Another yawn escaped her.

“Aw, come on. We’re nocturnal for goodness’ sake,” Jack said, but only with feigned reproof. He was dead tired, too.

“Shut up,” she snapped. “I drove your stupid bike, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. I know. Thanks, by the way,” he answered patiently.

“I would say ‘no problem’, but I don’t think my back is ever going to be the same again.  How do you ride it for that long?”

“Practice.”

“Sure. I’ll bet you’ve developed scoliosis and don’t even know it.
You and your ridiculous high-tolerance for pain.”

“Hey. It’s a useful skill,” he chuckled. “But that’s beside the point. Would you go in the house and find Valie some clothes?” The first order of business was to get her dry. He didn’t like how clammy she still felt.

“Mine will never fit her,” Shane responded, her nose upturned.

“Find something,” he half growled.