by Sarah Jaune
Gabriel’s dark eyes glared murderously at Campbell. If he blushed, Campbell couldn’t tell. His skin was dark, the same brown as his eyes. “I did what I had to do.”
“He’s right,” Campbell’s brother-in-law, Solomon Crane, assured Gabriel dismissively. “You are an idiot. I could have had you killed for entering my zone without my permission. It’s a miracle that Kasper Morton didn’t simply have you put to death.”
“My son,” Gabriel reminded them, emphasizing the words, “was in need of healing. Morton is the only one with a true healer. He should be punished for hoarding him!”
While Campbell might agree with that, Daniel Kauffman, the Overseer of Portland, cleared his throat. “I thought the boy was his son.”
“What,” Gabriel demanded, “does that have to do with anything?”
Campbell stared at Daniel who hadn’t bothered to maintain his own chestnut hair. Gray was showing liberally in the depths, and there were fresh lines around the other man’s blue eyes that Campbell was sure had nothing to do with laughing. “Go on, Daniel, explain to us why that matters.”
“I simply meant,” Daniel told them with a mild voice, “that if his young son is still living at home, that is not such an unusual situation.”
Gabriel grunted. “It’s appalling that he didn’t hand the boy over. I don’t buy his story that the boy ran off, but several of the servants told me he’d been gone for weeks. They suggested San Antonio. Apparently, he’s attached to their oldest welp, but when I called there, Jackson Menendez barely spoke to me, then hung up on me. I always hated him.”
Campbell was not particularly fond of the Overseer of San Antonio, either, but at the same time he did understand. He, too, wouldn’t want to be on the phone with Gabriel. He could understand taking his son to try to find the boy who could heal people, as well. If he’d had a son like Price Chaplain, he’d have done anything to ensure his safety. Instead, he was stuck with Eli and a handful of useless girls. Maybe… Campbell forced his mind back on task, something that was more difficult now than it had ever been. “What news do we have on my son?” Campbell asked Daniel. “Is he back in school?”
Daniel’s smile was placid. “He hasn’t missed a single day since he was back, apart from a short stay in the hospital. Apparently, they were attacked by wolves.”
“Wolves?” Campbell’s interest was suddenly piqued. “Did he acquit himself well in the fight?”
“He saved himself and the girl,” Daniel shrugged dismissively.
Campbell’s smirk was smug and all knowing. “Can’t call her your daughter, can you? I bet that still rankles that her mother was—”
“Enough,” came a mild reproach from the corner. Filet Hasket also seemed to have aged several decades. “We have problems to solve. My city is in ruins.”
“That was your own stupid mistake,” Solomon reminded him cruelly. “You’d been warned that dam was about to fail. We’re not helping you continue to be a lazy ba—”
Filet flew to his feet, which wasn’t nearly as impressive as it would have been if Campbell had done so. Filet was short, overweight, and bald. Still, his hands did fit nicely around Solomon’s neck, and it was extremely tempting to just let the other man kill his brother-in-law. There was no love lost between Campbell and Solomon.
“You are like children squabbling on a play yard,” Tunis Gerkin said in a tone pitched just loud enough that they would all hear, but not so loud that he was shouting. The Overseer of Buffalo was their oldest, wisest, and arguably sanest member on their council apart from Daniel Kauffman, who hadn’t wanted to partake of the plan.
Solomon and Filet let go of each other and resumed their seats. More’s the pity.
“While we understand your need for your son,” Tunis assured Gabriel, “you were reckless. Not one of us could have raised a hand to save you if Morton had demanded your death. Is your son well again?”
“He is getting there,” Gabriel confirmed begrudgingly.
Tunis’ eyes were piercing. “If he does not meet your expectations, you know what to do. Stage an accident for the boy and your wife, then start over again.”
It was what Tunis had done more than once. The old man had been married three times.
“As for you,” Tunis inclined his head towards Filet. “I understand that three of your children are still missing.”
“None that I care about,” Filet waved his hand towards Gabriel. “It was advantageous to form an alliance with Miami, but I still have my heir, and he is more than I could have hoped for.”
“May I remind you,” Gabriel retorted coldly, “that it was your son who delayed the wedding?”
That was news to Campbell. “How did he manage that?”
“The bride, his older sister, provoked him,” Filet said, coming to his son’s defense. “Haleigh could be a problem like that. If we’d had a healer,” he reminded everyone at the table bitterly, “we could have fixed her face so that the ceremony could have proceeded.”
“He babies his son,” Gabriel accused him.
Filet crossed his pudgy arms. “At least Virgil isn’t a slobbering idiot at the moment.”
Before another fight could break out, Campbell slammed his fist down hard on the table. “Enough of this! Filet,” he turned to the man from New Orleans. “You only had girls taken?”
“Taken, left,” Filet shrugged that off, clearly dismissive. “There was an infant boy, but the only one upset about his absence is my wife. I couldn’t care less. All he did was cry.”
Nodding in satisfaction, he turned back to the rest of the group. It didn’t occur to Campbell that a lot of the people at the table had children who had run away from home. All he knew was that he knew where his own son was, and he still had two years before he either needed to terminate his son, or convince Elijah that he needed to cooperate.
Campbell knew exactly how that was going to happen, too. He had plans in the works for his wayward son, but if those plans fell through… Campbell had learned long before that it paid to have several irons in the fire, several escape routes from the house, and several plans just in case one didn’t work out.
He smiled coldly as he realized it was closing in on the time when his newest project would begin.
The jumper, who none of them noticed, didn’t stand in the corner as he had at their meeting seven months before. This time he watched from an empty seat at the table as some of the most powerful men in this world plotted, schemed, and generally wreaked havoc on their own zones.
The jumper was to blame for much of the trouble. He was attempting, through the children, to make it right, but he wasn’t sure that he’d made enough of an impact. The only stroke of luck was just how susceptible all of the afflicted children were to the jumper’s voice. Their dreams were easier to manipulate, and he’d found, much to the jumper’s surprise, that they would follow his prompting. It was as though he was an internal compass, guiding Ivy to the place where Claire was hiding, slowly starving to death.
It amazed the jumper just how quickly the kids would do what needed to be done. They’d needed to stay several days in Saint Louis, just until Gabriel Chaplain’s men had given up trying to track them down. They’d heard him and left when the jumper had told Eli and Ivy that it was safe.
They were remarkable, in their own right, but this was unbelievable. Normally the jumper had to force himself to be visible before any of the humans could hear him.
What the scientist had unintentionally created were children that were more sensitive to the unseen than anyone else in the world.
It was not the jumper’s biggest surprise, though. He’d come to watch Daniel Kauffman, who knew very well that Ivy and Eli had not been in the Portland Zone, spill the secret to the rest of the council.
Instead, Daniel had effortlessly lied to the other men. Daniel had hidden his daughter’s activities, which coincided exactly with the timeline of when the New Orleans children had disappeared. It was easy enough to connect the dots, and Kauffma
n was not a stupid man. He would have realized that Ivy was part of everything.
The jumper watched Campbell with interest as the man asked, “What is the family like that my son is staying with?”
Daniel appeared decidedly bored. “They’re a regular family with several kids. I think they felt sorry for him. The father is police, so he is already a do-gooder. The girl’s family took her in after her grandmother’s death because they have two children who need a lot of extra help. I’ve been told the girl spends most of her time cooking and cleaning for them.”
Yes, this was odd, the jumper knew. If Daniel had any affection for his child, he did not show it. He had not taken any trouble to meet Ivy, but he sat here and lied to protect not only Ivy, but also Elijah.
It was, indeed, very odd and would need a lot more attention, the jumper knew.
A whole lot more attention.
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2016:
5-5
7-7
9-9
11-11
