“You know where she is?” Lucas didn’t sound excited.
“Well, no.” Morgan was slightly disappointed at his reaction. “But I will. Any time now. And when I find out, we can go get her.” She smiled encouragingly at her friends.
But Joss eyed her dubiously. “Are you sure that’s the best idea?” To Morgan, she sent the impression of the blinding energy they had encountered the previous night.
“We’ll be safe,” Morgan insisted.
“How do you know?” Lucas asked.
She shifted, averting her eyes. “I just know.”
Lucas didn’t give up. “But how? Did she call you on the phone to ask you to pick her up? Did you have a dream where you found your mom in a room full of puppies and unicorns?”
Morgan knew he didn’t expect her to answer, but she wasn’t fast enough to keep him from finding the answer himself.
“Tesin? You’ve been in contact with Tesin?”
“He’s on our side,” Morgan said. “He’s a Watcher!”
“Since when?”
“Okay, okay,” Lia said in her taking-charge tone of voice. She looked at Morgan. “You know for a fact Tesin is a Watcher?”
“Wen told me a while ago. He wasn’t supposed to—you know, since Tesin’s still working for Orrick. That’s why I didn’t tell any of you.”
Lia nodded. “That makes sense. And now Tesin has information and he’s going to tell you where to find your mom?”
“Yes.”
“Well, when he does, why don’t we tell Mr. K and—”
Morgan shook her head. “No. It’s too risky.”
“Not telling them is the risky move here, Morgan,” Lucas said.
She closed her eyes briefly. “They know we found Joss. Apparently Orrick’s planning to make a move on us. Tesin says the Watchers are going to move us to a safe house in the next day or two.”
Wide eyed, Joss’s gaze passed from Morgan to the others. “What does that mean?”
“It means we’re about to go to ground,” Corbin said.
“And,” Lucas added, “Morgan’s afraid that if we tell the Watchers about her mom, they’ll either put us on lockdown or move us faster.”
Morgan didn’t meet Lucas’s eyes, but she knew he didn’t need confirmation that his theory was correct. “Lucas. I need to save her.”
“I’m sorry, Morgan. It’s not what I wanna say to you. I wanna tell you that we can go save her and you two can live happily ever after, but, come on. You know that’s not the way it’s gonna go down.”
“But the Veneret won’t know that we know. And we can sneak in and—”
But Lucas was shaking his head.
Morgan looked at the others. Corbin and Lia were still watching her, but Joss was averting her eyes. “Joss?”
When she looked at Morgan, there were tears in her eyes. “No. I mean, you know I want Aunt Chelsea back so much, but, Morgan, I can’t.” She pursed her lips together. “I’m scared.”
Morgan just stared at her cousin for a moment in disbelief. She felt the anger welling up in her, filling her. “Fine, then. Leave. I can’t believe I started to think I might be able to count on you. But you’re still the same as you were back in elementary school—you only care about yourself! Sure, you say you miss my mom and you wax on about how she was your aunt, but when it comes down to it, you really don’t care, do you?” She got to her feet, the anger boiling in her veins. “Get out! All of you! I thought you were my friends, but I guess I was wrong. So leave!” She pointed toward the front door and it opened, slamming against the wall behind it. “Protect your precious little selves!” The furniture began shivering, and all four Naturals got to their feet, looking frightened.
Morgan balled her fists and her nails dug into her palms painfully. The lights in the living room and dining room flashed overhead and the television turned on at full volume. Loose objects around the room began to swirl around like a cyclone.
The anger built within Morgan until a scream ripped itself from her throat and she collapsed to the floor. She heard sounds of feet against carpet and then the click of the front door closing. Though she knew she was alone, she fought the urge to cry. Instead, she focused on calming herself down. She wasn’t quite sure what else might happen if she remained as angry as she was. She hadn’t had her abilities explode out of her like that since the summer.
How much time passed, Morgan wasn’t sure, but when she finally felt calm again, she pushed herself into a sitting position.
“You okay?”
Morgan started, turning her attention to the couch. Corbin and Lia sat there, watching her. “I’m better,” she managed to reply.
“Good,” Corbin said, offering a smile. “Though it was pretty impressive until you face-planted onto the carpet.”
She smiled at him and turned her attention to Lia.
Lia just shook her head. “It’s against my better judgment, but I am your friend, Morgan. And I am part of this. So I’m willing to help.”
“Thank you,” Morgan said. “Both of you.”
Corbin smiled at her.
Lia nodded, lips pressed in a thin line. After a silence, she spoke. “Okay. So, now what?”
Morgan shrugged. “We wait for Tesin to call.”
“And eat,” Corbin added. “I’m hungry. Besides, we’ll probably need some energy for the rescue mission.”
***
Morgan’s phone rang just as she was finishing the submarine sandwich Corbin had gotten for her. She looked at the caller ID, but she didn’t recognize the number.
“Answer it,” Lia said, hastily swallowing her sandwich.
Morgan nodded. As she hit the accept button, she stood and walked away from the table. “Hello?”
“It’s me,” said Tesin.
“How’d you get my number?”
“Seriously? I work for Orrick, and he’s more than slightly obsessed with you. You think it’d be hard to get a simple thing like a cell number?” He paused. “I’ve got information.”
Morgan’s heart began beating faster. “Yeah?”
“I have an address. You ready?”
Morgan walked into her bedroom and over to her desk. She found a pencil and a piece of paper. “Ready.”
Tesin recited the address. “It’s part of a shopping complex that’s under construction. So far as I can tell, they’re just keeping her there temporarily, so you’ll have to move fast.”
“How fast?”
“Let’s see…. It’s not quite four yet? Best guess? They’ll have her out of there by sundown. Once she gets to wherever they’re taking her for long-term holding, she’ll be much harder to get to. Orrick’s sure to have her under heavy guard by then. But since everything’s been so quick, my sources say that the protection detail now is pretty light. Orrick doesn’t think the Watchers have any idea they have her yet, and a small team is more quick and effective than a large one.”
“Okay,” Morgan said. “Any tips about how to actually get to her?”
“Be very sneaky.”
“Tesin.”
“How many do you have helping you? All four?”
“No. Just two.”
“Two?” Tesin sounded slightly alarmed, and Morgan felt a jolt of nervousness.
“Is that okay?”
“Oh—yeah. I’m sorry,” Tesin said quickly. “Three of you should do fine. I’d say to just make sure someone stands as a lookout, maybe, and to move quickly. You should be able to pinpoint your mom with your abilities, so you won’t have to, like, go searching the building for her.”
“Okay.” Morgan took in a breath. “Thanks, Tesin. I know you’re taking a risk telling me all this stuff.”
Tesin was quiet for a moment. “You’d better get going.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “Bye.”
“Goodbye, Morgan.”
When Morgan got back to the dining room, Corbin and Lia looked at her expectantly.
“We have an address,” she told them. “Tesin sai
d we should get going as soon as we can; they won’t be holding her there long.” She looked from Lia to Corbin and back again. “Last chance to back out.”
Lia took a deep breath and shook her head. “Not backing out.”
Corbin stood and crossed to Morgan. He tucked Morgan’s hair behind her ear. “I’m not backing out either.”
She smiled. “Okay, then. Let’s get going.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
There was a fence between the parking lot of the shopping center and the side street it adjoined, a chain-link fence with opaque plastic woven through the links, ostensibly erected so that the dumpster in the parking lot would be somewhat obscured to passersby. But Morgan wasn’t concerned with why the fence was there, she only cared that it provided the perfect place to park the getaway car.
“Don’t call it a getaway car,” Lia said as she put her car into park. “It makes it sound like we’re about to do something illegal.”
“Just—keep it running, okay?” Morgan said. “And make sure the doors are all unlocked so we can just jump in and you can take off.”
“I know.”
“Because we don’t know if the Veneret will be after us when we come out or—”
“I know.”
Morgan smiled at her. “Okay then.”
“So, have you been able to pinpoint her, like Tesin said you could?” Corbin asked from the back seat.
Closing her eyes, Morgan focused herself on the building beside them. Tesin had been right about the protective detail being light: she could only sense five distinct energies in the structure. One of them was definitely familiar. “I think I found her. But I can’t… I can’t See it.”
Corbin held his hand out to her. “Let me help. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to See.”
Taking Corbin’s hand, Morgan pushed out with her mind and led Corbin into the building. After a few moments, it was as though a blindfold had been removed from Morgan’s eyes. She could see the store as if she were standing inside of it. It was definitely mid-construction: there were sawhorses and two-by-fours everywhere, and drywall was only up on half of the walls. There was one room in the back corner, however, where drywall was up on the entire interior wall. A door closed the room off from the main room. But Morgan could also see that the walls hadn’t been taped and mudded yet.
Corbin and Morgan opened their eyes at the same time.
“The back room,” Morgan said. “It looks like it was finished off so something could be put in it.”
“Or someone.”
“Exactly. Now, if we can get in through the back door, I could grab the hammer I Saw laying around and pound through the drywall and grab her.” Morgan’s hand went to the door.
“Wait,” Lia said. “Won’t that make a pretty big noise? You’ll need a distraction.”
“She’s right,” Corbin agreed. “After you get inside, wait for me to distract the guards. I can buy you, maybe, thirty seconds.”
“How am I gonna know you’re distracting the guards?” Morgan asked.
“Oh, you’ll know.” Corbin smiled at her. “Let’s go.”
With a final glance at Lia, who nodded encouragingly, Morgan opened the car door and climbed out. Corbin joined her and, wordlessly, the two moved to the edge of the chain-link fence. “So, now what?”
“Give me a second.” Corbin closed his eyes.
Morgan tried to keep her impatience at bay while Corbin worked.
After nearly a minute, Corbin opened his eyes. “Okay. There are two guys outside doing perimeter sweeps. One guy is just kind of pacing back and forth from the front of the building to the back, and the other one is walking all the way around the whole building. So, if we time it right, we can sneak to the back door while the first guy is on his way back to the front, and while the other guy is on the other side of the shopping center.”
Morgan nodded. “And the ones inside?”
“One’s right outside the door where they’re keeping her. The other one’s pacing in the front of the store.” He stopped abruptly, eyes narrowing. “It’s almost time to move.”
“Right now?” Morgan asked, taken aback.
“Not… quite…. Now!” Corbin darted out from behind the fence, dragging Morgan with him into the parking lot.
She could see one of the guards walking along the exterior wall of the building, his attention in the direction opposite where she and Corbin were running. As they neared the back door, Morgan kept waiting for the man to turn around to see them, but he didn’t. When finally they reached the door, Morgan’s heart threatened to burst through her chest. But she knew this was not the time to take a break. Her hand moved to the doorknob and she jiggled the handle.
“It’s locked!” she whispered.
Corbin didn’t look particularly surprised by this information. “You’ll just have to open it.”
She stared at him, incredulous. “Unfortunately, I seem to have left my lock-pick set at home!”
He shook his head. “Use your abilities and Move it.”
“I’m not a Mover!”
“Earlier this afternoon, you made your front door swing open and your furniture shake.” He stroked her face gently. “I believe you can do this.”
A part of her wanted to disagree, but the larger part realized that she was wasting their window of opportunity. She thought about her mother, about how much she missed her, about how mad she would be at herself if she messed up this opportunity. Letting the emotions fill her, she grasped the doorknob again, focusing her mind on her desire to get through the door. And when she twisted the handle again, it turned easily.
Corbin beamed at her. “I knew you could do it. Now, wait for my distraction.” He leaned toward her and kissed her forehead before darting off around the corner, toward the guard they’d seen earlier.
Morgan waited, her hand still firmly on the doorknob. Her pulse thundered so loudly in her ears she was afraid she wouldn’t hear Corbin’s distraction when it occurred.
But then there was a crashing sound so loud, Morgan was sure Lia could hear it from the car. Not wasting an instant, Morgan pushed open the door and slid into the building. She found herself in a narrow hallway, made narrower by piles of materials to her left. She scanned the stacks of two-by-fours, boxes of nails and screws, and assortment of tape measures until she found what she desired: a hammer. When she picked it up, it was heavier than she anticipated, but she figured this could only work to her favor. Crossing to the wall on her right, she tested the hammer’s weight in her hand. She found the right balance just as she touched the exposed studs of the wall. Just a few hits with the hammer, she reasoned, would make a sizable enough hole.
She swung the hammer.
The drywall gave way to a small hole. Morgan swung again, and the material split. Joy and anticipation filled her. She was about to see her mother for the first time in a decade. All the fear, the anguish, the loneliness—everything was about to be turned right.
“Mom!” Morgan called with her next swing. “I’m almost there!”
But the hammer did not connect with the wall again. Morgan felt an iron-tight grip close around her wrist and an arm encircle her waist.
“Sorry,” said a harsh female voice in Morgan’s ear, “but no Mommy for you.”
In surprise, Morgan dropped the hammer. She regretted the act before the tool hit the floor. Now, without a weapon, she could do nothing but struggle against her captor. She writhed and wiggled, but the hold on her didn’t lessen. All Morgan was able to do was to shift the two of them so they faced the back door through which Morgan had entered.
“He knew you’d come,” the voice said. “You’re so predictable.” She laughed. “And weak. Maybe they’re wrong and you’re not the One after all…”
Conflicting emotions swirled through Morgan’s mind: fear, anger, embarrassment. She struggled more feverishly against the arms that held her, but they were unyielding. If only she hadn’t dropped the hammer, then she could strike—
> Morgan lifted her foot and kicked backward at her captor. It took a few tries, but when she connected, she knew she delivered a strong blow to the woman’s shin. She staggered back a few steps, her grip loosening perceptibly on Morgan. Morgan jammed her elbows into her captor’s chest until the hands released her entirely. With a choking sound of glee, Morgan started toward the back door, but after a step and a half, she found she could no longer move. She was still on her feet, and no one had a physical hold on her, but her body was frozen in place.
A laugh like chimes sounded behind Morgan. “Not so fast,” the woman said.
Unbidden, Morgan’s body took a step backwards, toward the woman’s voice.
“We haven’t officially met yet. And I’m so excited to meet you…”
“Aurelia!” snapped another voice, this one male.
Morgan’s body stopped walking in reverse.
“Go help with the other one,” the male voice continued. “I’ve got her.”
Aurelia huffed. “Fine.”
Morgan could only tell for sure that the woman was walking away because she could move her fingers again. Whatever the woman had been doing to keep her still was receding. In just a moment, she would be able to move again.
But her new captor seemed to realize this too, because Morgan felt a hand close around her wrist, spinning her around.
“Kellen?” Morgan asked as she came face to face with the man who turned her. Her breath caught as she looked at him. What was he doing here?
“What are you doing here?” His voice was a growl.
Morgan opened her mouth, but no sound emerged. Seeing him in her dream had not prepared her for the physical shock associated with seeing him in person. “M…m…my mom,” she managed to stammer.
Something like pity flashed in Kellen’s eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by something else: a closed, almost faraway look. “It’s actually kind of endearing that you still believe in happy endings. But for you, there’s only one ending, only one answer. All roads lead to you doing what Orrick wants.” There was an odd, hollow quality to his words. “He’s been waiting too long for this not to happen. You have to be the One who brings the Veneret back to power.”
The Naturals Trilogy Page 36
