by Sarah Jaune
“It’s unlikely, actually,” Eli assured him, trying to sound tougher than he felt. Inside, his stomach felt like it was jelly.
A scraping sound to his right had Eli turning his head, just in time to see the pipe fly from the ground and head straight for him. Before he could react, it stopped an inch from his face.
“You!” Price cried out in fury.
Eli’s head spun to see Thane sprinting up the lawn, holding his hand up.
The pipe dropped to the ground, once again lifeless.
Eli threw Price to the grass and took a step back as Thane joined him.
“When she said he,” Thane spit the word out like his brother was a nasty, disgusting disease, “was here, I decided to come up.”
“He’s hard to hold,” Eli admitted as he rubbed at his arm, which was throbbing at the bite mark. “Don’t try anything,” he ordered Price calmly. “If I can’t take you, Thane can.”
“I hoped you were dead,” Price said to his brother, ignoring Eli.
Thane didn’t take his eyes from Price, but he spoke to Eli. “What do we do with him?”
“I have an idea,” Eli said, but didn’t elaborate. He didn’t want Price to know the plan.
“I will kill you both,” Price promised coldly as he rose to his feet.
“You’re not going to kill us both,” Eli laughed that off. “There’s no way. You may get one of us, but not both. You’d do better to shut up and sit down.”
Price attacked again. This time he threw several things towards them, but he was no match for Thane’s power. Thane easily deflected all of the objects.
Eli was done with him. He strode forward and punched him, putting enough force into the blow that connected with Price’s head that he knew he’d knocked him unconscious.
He glared down at him. “We need to put the furniture back. At this point they don’t know we were here.”
Thane glanced around at the disheveled yard. “Do you have any idea where everything went?”
Eli nodded grimly. Part of training with Pablo had been observing even the little details. He didn’t have it exact, but close enough was all that mattered. Quickly, and as quietly as they could, they set the yard back in place, including putting the rock back that Eli had chucked at Price.
When it was done, and he was sure that the grass didn’t bare any undo marks from the fight, he hoisted Price over his shoulder and took off for the boat.
“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Thane told him flatly.
“It’s actually a brilliant idea,” Eli chuckled as they closed in on the trees. “They’ll assume that Price ran off with Haleigh and the kids. It will set your father and Haleigh’s to fighting.”
Thane froze, then doubled over in silent laughter. “What are we going to do with him?”
“We’ll dump him somewhere,” Eli said as he ducked around a tree. “Don’t panic,” he told a clearly frightened Haleigh. “He’s knocked out. We’re going to get rid of him where he can’t tell on us.”
A splash sounded in the water as Keela poked her head from the water. “We drown him?”
“No,” Eli replied as he dumped the dead weight into the bottom of the boat and took up a seat to row. He turned to Haleigh and saw her cradling her sleeping brother on the bottom of the boat next to Claire. Diana sat up with Ivy, holding an oar which was bigger than she was. “Are you going to row?”
Diana nodded solemnly. “Ivy said I may.”
“Okay, then,” Eli turned back to Keela. “We have to hide him, but we don’t want to kill him. The problem is he could tell people he saw us.”
Keela chittered and shook her head. “He needs forgetting.”
“Uh,” he hesitated and leaned to the side as Thane climbed in. “Something like that.”
“I can,” she said as she dove back into the water.
Eli waited a full beat. “So… we’re going, right?”
“Yeah,” Ivy set the boat in motion. “If Keela wants to catch up with us, she can. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. It’s already been forty-five minutes.”
“We haven’t seen anyone, though,” Thane said as he turned to Haleigh. “Is that unusual?”
“They were probably drinking in the great room. I doubt they’ll notice unless a servant alerts them and odds are good, they won’t. The servants hate my father,” Haleigh informed them with a helpless shrug. She winced and shifted uncomfortably.
“Your face looks so painful,” Eli said after a moment.
“What can I say?” Haleigh laughed half-heartedly. “My brother has a mean right hook.”
Dark thoughts swirled dangerously through Eli’s mind as he kept an eye on the rapidly receding shoreline.
“We got off easy,” Eli said after a moment. He pointed down towards Price. “If you hadn’t come along,” he told Thane, “I would have lost.”
“I doubt it,” Thane shook his head. “Beth could beat me any day.”
“Beth is stronger than I am,” Eli said with absolute confidence. “She already had strength at age ten. Plus,” he smirked a bit, as something in his chest let go and settled back into a comfortable place, “could you really put up a fight against her?”
Thane smiled sheepishly. “No. She just has to look like she might cry, and I lose the ability to do anything.”
“Boys,” Ivy muttered in amusement. She pointed to Thane as she spoke to Haleigh. “He’s attached to Eli’s sister.”
“Oh,” Haleigh said, clearly confused.
It suddenly occurred to Eli that she didn’t know. “You don’t know what an attachment is, do you?”
Haleigh hesitated. “No…”
“I’ll explain later, then,” Ivy promised as she kept her eyes peeled on the water. “You’re doing a great job rowing, Diana.”
Diana, who was more skimming the paddle in the water, beamed at Ivy.
Moments later, the boat rocked under a larger wave as Keela broke the surface and hung onto the side of the boat. In her hand was a small pearl. “Break in his mouth. He forgets everything.”
Eli’s mouth fell open. “Everything?”
“Weeks go away,” Keela promised, handing the pearl to Eli.
“How did you…” Eli started to ask, but stopped. “Never mind. Thank you, Keela.”
“You is freeing us,” Keela reminded him. “We thank you.”
Then she was gone with another splash.
“I wish I’d known she would have helped before,” Haleigh said miserably. “I could have gone away sooner.”
Ivy shifted a bit in her seat. “Your baby brother… he has two powers, but you and your sister don’t.”
“That’s not possible,” Haleigh said after a stunned moment of silence. “No one can have two powers. How do you know that?”
“I have two powers,” Ivy explained quietly. “Eli has three. I’m sure you saw him demonstrate them.”
Haleigh’s eyes flashed between them as thoughts marched across her face, her expression of disbelief turned to calculation. “Payton is my half-brother. My mother died a year after Diana was born. My father remarried.”
“Was your mom magical?” Thane asked her quickly.
Haleigh shook her head. “Payton’s mother is, though. She is air.” Eli knew that meant the ability to control air currents.
The information hung between them like a curtain they all wanted to throw aside, but were too afraid to see what was on the other side.
“Is your father crazier than he used to be?” Eli wanted to know.
Haleigh nodded. “He wasn’t so bad much of my life, but he’s definitely gone insane over the last few years. He wasn’t violent when I was little. My brother… after he beat me, he just glared at him and let it go. It didn’t matter to him that Virgil had hit me. He was furious with me for making Virgil upset.”
“You did want Virgil to hit you, though,” Diana pointed out as she motioned to the still figure on the bottom of the boat. “That got rid of the wedding
to that.”
Eli wanted to smile at the girl’s reference to Price, but couldn’t. A small child shouldn’t know those things. It was a twisted way to be forced to live.
“If we can really make him forget everything,” Haleigh said hopefully, “then we’ll really be able to escape. He will still be blamed for helping us leave. No one will believe that he doesn’t remember. They’ll think he’s lying.”
“Yup,” Eli grinned at the prospect. “That’s better than my plan of dropping him in the woods somewhere to survive on his own.”
Ivy pointed to the shore. “We’re almost there, but if we drag this guy through the streets we’re going to draw attention to ourselves.”
“I say we hide in the niche under the bridge while Eli runs back for the truck,” Thane suggested. “He can get back to the truck in less than ten minutes, come pick us up, and we can be on our way from there.”
“What’s the plan for them?” Eli asked Thane. It hit him that he’d never asked that.
Thane smiled reassuringly. “I have a way to communicate with the Guard once I have the truck. I’ll make a call when we’re safely away. We probably should pick up the jeep, though. We have a lot of people to haul around.”
“Ivy and I can take care of Price,” Eli said quickly. “It’s probably best if we keep you separated from him.”
“No argument there,” Thane said.
“Can I kick him?” Claire asked unexpectedly. “I feel like he deserves a good kick.”
Eli couldn’t help but laugh. “He’s not your favorite brother, huh?”
Claire shook her head. “He’s a stupid jerk.”
“That’s how I feel about him, too,” Haleigh told Claire as she smiled at the little girl.
They made it back to the landing and Eli took the toddler from Haleigh, holding onto him as he and Thane worked together to boost everyone up onto the bridge. Eli used his magic to levitate Price’s body up onto the bridge. He wasn’t too careful about how hard he dropped him, either.
“I’ll give you a leg up,” Thane said to Eli. “We do not want him waking up. Then you can come back for me and help get me up.”
“Okay,” Eli agreed as he stuck his foot into Thane’s hand and awkwardly climbed up, one handed. He rushed across the street, following the girls, all except Ivy who was working to sink the boat from the top of the bridge. Claire quickly ushered them across the street and down to the hideout.
The moment he had them all settled into the bricked off room, he went back to get Thane up the wall and move Price. Adrenaline was running hot through Eli’s blood as he took off at a run for the truck. Eli didn’t push it. He didn’t want to be exhausted when he arrived, but he didn’t dawdle, either. They had hours yet before sun up, but it was still going to be close for getting back to the hidden jeep.
By the time he made it back to pick them up, Payton had woken up and was cranky and hungry.
They decided that Haleigh would sit in the cab of the truck with Thane and the baby, while the rest piled into the bed, lying flat so that no one would see them as they drove out. Eli only truly began to breathe again once they left the city of New Orleans.
Price seemed on the point of consciousness as they neared the edge of the New Orleans Zone, but Eli hit him again, and his head lulled to the side. Eli settled back next to Ivy, again, and stared up at the stars that raced by overhead. They’d done it. It hadn’t been flawless, or perfect, but they’d done it. They’d saved three people from their abusive home, and they hadn’t exposed the Guard to anything. Diana, who was on Eli’s other side, sighed as she slept with a blanket wrapped around her. This child had a chance to grow up in peace. Everything they’d been through was worth it, just for that one thing. Now they just had to get them to their new home.
CHAPTER 25
THE NEW FAMILY
They stopped early in the morning once they reached the jeep. Eli dumped the still unconscious Price into the trunk and had the satisfaction of slamming the lid on him. They swapped around so that everyone had a seat in a vehicle, and continued on.
Ivy drove, following Thane, while Eli took a much needed nap, lulled by Claire and Diana playing something in the backseat.
He didn’t wake up again until they were well into the Montgomery Zone and close to the rally point with the foster family.
Eli’s whole body hurt. His back ached painfully from where the metal chair had slammed into him, and his arm was throbbing again at the bite. He kept it out of everyone’s sight, though, because Eli knew Ivy would want to clean it out again. Most worryingly, his joints felt stiff and swollen. The moment the jeep stopped, Eli was out of the car and walking around, trying to stretch his sore muscles.
Haleigh pushed open the truck door and attempted to get down with the wiggly Payton, but she appeared to be in more pain than Eli was. He strode over and plucked the toddler up before offering her a hand down.
“Thanks,” she grimaced as she gingerly put her feet on the ground. “Virgil hit me in the stomach, and it’s been killing me ever since.”
Payton, meanwhile, did his best to throw himself from Eli’s grasp. “I’ll go walk around with him,” Eli told her as she nodded gratefully.
Eli set the boy down and held out a finger, which Payton immediately latched on to.
The road they were on was a dirt road about ten minutes off the main highway, just south of Montgomery. There were a few scraggily trees around, but it was mostly deserted farmlands that were overgrown in grass.
Payton babbled something as they walked at a slow pace up the road. Eli had done this often enough with his baby sisters, although generally Alexi, who was two, demanded to be carried. Eli spotted a frog that hopped across the road and Payton let go to chase after it.
The frog, clearly sensing the danger, leapt off the road and into the grass. Payton glanced back at him with a sunny smile and pointed towards the frog.
“He got away, huh?” Eli asked as he slowly knelt next to the boy. He could see the resemblance between him and Diana, but Payton’s hair was a sunny blonde, rather than a muted brown.
Eli pushed himself up as carefully as he could and forced himself not to cry out. He held out his hand for the baby, but Payton wanted to continue on the road. They ended up wandering around for almost fifteen minutes before Payton wanted to head back to his sisters.
They strolled back, hand in hand again. Eli noted that Ivy and Haleigh were deep in conversation over by the jeep, while Thane appeared to be preparing food in the bed of the truck. When he was close enough, Eli swerved around the two girls, who were whispering. Ivy gave off a signal that she didn’t want him in the exchange, and Eli was equally sure that he didn’t want to be, either.
He wandered over to Thane, who handed him a sandwich. “Thanks,” Eli said as he shoved half of it in his mouth. He pulled off a small corner and gave it to the toddler, who examined it for a moment before taking a nibble.
Thane nodded at the toddler. “You’re good with kids.”
“My foster family has a five-year-old and a two-year-old,” Eli explained to him. “I’ve been dealing with babies and toddlers since I left Chicago. My foster mother seems to think they can teach valuable lessons.”
Thane chuckled appreciatively. “Yeah, I can see that. The family that’s picking these kids up should be here any minute. Food’s ready,” he called to the rest of the group.
They had barely finished eating when a van, much like Maia and Pablo’s, arrived on the scene.
It was an older couple with two younger teenage girls in tow. From what Eli could see, the kids both appeared to be thirteen or fourteen. The girls, who both had matching dark blonde hair, were out of the car and running for Thane the moment the engine stopped.
“Hey!” Thane hugged them both, then stepped back to beam at them. “You two look a lot better than the last time I saw you.”
One of the girls, the one who was slightly taller, sighed happily. “It’s good to see you, Thane! We’ve been won
dering how you’ve been.” She turned and held out her hand to Haleigh. “Hi, I’m Joanna and my sister, Marianne. These are our foster parents, Rudolf and Adele.”
Adele and Rudolf both appeared to be at least in their fifties, if not a bit older. They sported almost matching sets of graying brown hair, but Adele’s eyes were brown while her husband’s were blue.
“Haleigh,” she introduced herself. “Did Thane save you?”
“He did,” Marianne piped in as she moved over to greet them. She crouched down to greet Payton and said, very seriously, “I am going to spoil you rotten.”
