Claire opens up the curtains so we can watch the falling snow. It’s falling heavier than it was before and the world is already beginning to be covered in a blanket of white. We are all mesmerized by it. With the virus spreading so rapidly, it was always suggested that we stay indoors when the temperatures dropped. They said that the cold could lower your immune system. In times like that, a vulnerable immune system was the kiss of death. Now that I doubt I will have to worry about the virus again, I wonder if we could go out and play in the snow like I always wanted to do as a kid.
“So,” Marya says, breaking the silence and my chain of thoughts. “This is a nice cabin.”
We all look around awkwardly at the furnishings and nod our heads. Who am I kidding? This friendship with Marya will never work. I sigh, prompting Claire to ask what’s wrong. “OH, nothing,” I say. But she knows; she’s my best friend after all.
Marya sits next to me and fidgets with her hands. We fall into another awkward silence.
I gaze back out at the forest that has become a winter wonderland. Large snowflakes float down through the trees. It seems so peaceful. How can anything go wrong when there is such beauty outside? “I wonder if we can make one of those men made of snow later, if this weather lasts,” I say.
“I think you mean a snowman,” Marya corrects me.
Did she seriously just do that? I do my best to keep from turning and glaring at her.
Before long, the guys come over to where we’re sitting. They distribute bowls of yummy goodness.
My stomach jumps, knowing what it’s about to receive. “Mmmm, Ramen,” I say savoring the smell.
“Raman has a lot of MSG.I try not to make a habit of eating it,” Marya says.
Oh good grief, just eat it. It’s free! By the time I’m done with my second bowl, I feel bad asking for a third. Only if there are leftovers, I tell myself.
Well, turns out there were no leftovers…after Marya sucked down her fourth bowl.
Tony sees my annoyance and takes my hand, pulling me to my feet. “How about we get settled?” he asks. I try not to smile but fail miserably. I nod my head.
He takes me upstairs to his old room and we put our packs down on the floor. Tony falls back onto his old bed, “Ahh, home sweet home.”
I can’t help but smile. He looks so carefree and…cute. He pats the bed next to him. I gladly oblige and cuddle up beside him. Tony plays with my hair as I lay my head on his chest, feeling his heart beating beneath me. My hand runs along his abs trying to figure out if he has a six-pack or twelve-pack.
A quiet voice breaks though my thoughts and I still myself, trying to hear it. “Do you hear that?” I ask Tony. It’s almost like I’ve picked up some kind of radio wave.
He lifts his head from the bed and raises his eyebrow at me. “Hear what?”
I guess that answers my question. I sit up on the bed and focus on hearing the noise again, but I come up short. “That was weird. It was like I was picking up a radio signal or something. I could hear some man talking, but it was muffled, like it was far away. That was bizarre. Now it’s gone.”
“Hmm, yeah that is strange.” He pulls my arm so that I will have to lie back down.
I settle my head on his chest again and listen to the pounding of his heart. I lift my head up and grin at him. “You do know that I’m not sleeping in here tonight, right?”
He laughs. “I wouldn’t ask you to do anything so dishonorable.”
“Mmhmm.” I see the mischief in his eyes that tells me he wouldn’t send me downstairs either. We’ve fallen asleep beside each other before, but to be alone in a room all night would be pushing the limits.
He holds his hands up. “Seriously.”
I stop giving him my fake stern look. “I know you aren’t like that, Tony.” I push him gently on the shoulder.
He tickles me playfully and I let out a squeak. “So, are you ready to go make those men made out of snow?”
“Ah! You were listening!” I catch his hands before he can tickle me again.
“I couldn’t help it. You looked so captivated.” He smiles.
“Did your parents let you play out in it when you were younger?” I ask him.
A mix of emotions crosses his face. “Yes, my parents occasionally let me go out in it. I would only get twenty minutes or so, but it was enough for me to enjoy myself.”
Anxious to change the subject so he doesn’t have to dig up the past, I say, “So, are you ready? I think I’m going to make a woman made of snow. Or a snow angel!” My eyes light up with excitement.
“You are super cute when you get all worked up, you know?” He sits up and puts on the shoes that he’d kicked off his feet before lying down.
“Yes, I know that,” I joke. I grab his arm and we hustle down the stairs. The living room is empty. I look out the window and find that everyone else has already beaten us to the punch.
We put our jackets on, Tony lets me borrow an old one of his moms that’s waterproof, and we head outside. The cold air makes my cheeks burn, but in a good way. We walk down the few steps to meet up with everyone who’s already having a blast.
Claire laughs when Alec pummels Connor in the face with a snowball. Connor squints his eyes at him. “Hey, the face is off limits!” he says, circling his face dramatically with his index finger. He tries to throw a snowball back at Alec but his aim is horrible and it glides past him and hits a tree.
“You throw like a girl!” Alec jokes with Connor.
“Don’t talk to my boyfriend like that!” Claire says in more of a joking tone than a serious one. She goes to Connor’s side and pats his shoulder. “Did he hurt your feelings, babe?” she asks in a pouty, over-dramatic voice.
Connor hangs his head in mock shame. Then he grabs Claire and together they go falling backwards on the snow, giggling. After a little wrestling, they start making snow angels.
Alec goes over to help Marya make her ‘snow-man’. There is a good amount of snow on the ground, but not enough to make a full-sized man. Instead, they make a miniature snow family.
I try not to roll my eyes. I don’t know why she is bothering me. I need to find a way to get over myself. I know she’s not a bad girl.
“You can hit her,” I hear someone say, not just anyone, Zack.
I whirl around. My hearts starts accelerating as I look around for my arch nemesis.
“Willow, what’s wrong?” Tony grabs ahold of my shoulders. I keep darting my head this way and that, trying to find out where he’s hiding.
“He’s here,” I tell him.
Tony’s eyes widen. “Zack?”
I nod my head.
“Ah, I wondered how you pulled it off. You little reaper, you!” Zack says again.
I move out of Tony’s grip and run towards the lake. “Where are you, Zack? Show yourself!”
He laughs menacingly and it echoes inside my head. “I’m here.”
“Where?!” I yell.
“By that canoe,” he says.
I run over to the canoe that’s upside down on the grass. Where Tony must have left it before he came after me. There’s nothing there. “Don’t play games with me, you little bastard!”
“I’m not exactly little, or a bastard. My dad was very much in my life, unfortunately. Maybe I’m in the water? You should swim in and try to find me,” he says.
I realize that something, other than his stupid idea, is off. He sounds way too clear. If he’s hiding out here and calling to me, then I wouldn’t hear him this easily.
Tony runs up to me. “Willow! Is he really here?” He turns me in his arms so I have to look at him.
I try to look around him to find where that sneaky monster is hiding.
Tony’s eyes widen and he grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. “Your eyes are red! You need to calm down now!” he orders me.
I shake my head. My eyes are red? Usually the red blurs my vision, but I don’t see it. Then it clicks. “I can hear him because he’s in my head!” I tak
e a deep breath. Tony looks confused. “Could you hear him talk to you in your head?”
“What do you mean?” he asks, still not following my thought process.
“Did you hear him when he tried to control you?” I point to my head.
His eyes widen with realization. “You took it from me. You took whatever sick power, or weakness, whatever he gave me that made me susceptible to his control.” Fear washes over him. “No, no, no! He’s going to be able to control you now. Now he can make you go right to him.”
“Never!” I say.
“Hey, that’s a great idea. Why don’t you come to me right now, Willow,” Zack says inside my head.
I feel a strange pull. “And where exactly are you?” I ask him in my head. Tony gives me a strange look but I hold up my hand to keep him from asking.
“Ha! Good try, Sugar. Why don’t you just start heading North? Leave your friends there if you want to keep them safe,” Zack says cockily.
That strange pull tries to make me move my feet. I resist it. “No,” I tell him. Then I focus on blocking him out. I can feel a wall slowly being pulled down between our connection, until, finally, I can’t sense Zack any longer.
Tony looks at my eyes. “Silver?” he asks. “What does that do?” He was there when we met Jennifer, but at the time, we didn’t know the extent of what she was able to do.
“I can block people’s powers,” I say. I can’t help but feel utterly creeped out still. Zack has a way of leaving a slimy impression on me; making me feel like I need a shower. “We should go back,” I tell him. A sick feeling is churning in my stomach.
He nods his head and we jog back to the cabin. I don’t see my friends anywhere. “Alec?” I call out. “Clarie, Connor?” Nobody answers. “Marya?” I ask. Nobody answers me. My heart starts pounding in my chest like a drum.
“They’re probably inside,” Tony says, trying to calm me down.
I have a really bad feeling about this. We run up to the door. Nobody is on the first floor. Tony runs upstairs. “Nobody up there,” Tony says as he comes back down. “Maybe they’re hiding?”
“I don’t know, Tony. I have a bad feeling about this.” I try to open up my mind. Maybe I can sense their emotions. I feel a small taste of fear but then it stops short. It’s completely gone and I can’t feel anything else except for Tony’s concern for me. “Something happened!” I tell him.
Tony runs to grab his bag. He pulls out a pistol and checks that it’s loaded. Then he nods silently and we both run back outside. I try calling for them again and again but I don’t get any responses. It’s like they vanished. We comb the area around the cabin and we both spot the footprints at the same time. There are several of sets of them leading towards the front of the house from the woods and back into the woods again. There were footprints all over the front area of the cabin because everyone was playing in the snow. These footprints are different though. They look like military boots and several sets of them by the looks of it.
My stomach drops as I see a few smaller shoe prints heading into the woods. “Claire,” I whisper, knowing that’s the only person these footprints could belong to.
Tony raises his gun as we follow the prints into the forest. I see an area where it looks like there was a scuffle. Then it looks like someone was dragged through the snow. We follow the trail for several yards until we arrive at a paved roadway covered in snow. The footprints stop where the tire tracks begin.
My breathing quickens, as does my panic. I look all around me and listen intently. I have to find them…I just have to. I let the shield down in my head and then say, “Zack, if you had anything to do with this, I will kill you.” I slap the shield back up without waiting for an answer. “We’ve got to go. We have to find Erik and get his reinforcements to help before it’s too late.”
Tony agrees and, without a word, we run back to the house to get our stuff. As soon as we get there, I shoot up the stairs only to turn back and see Tony at the bottom, catching his breath. “Tony, we have to hurry,” I say desperately.
His face is masked with pure frustration when he looks at me. “I’m sorry; I’m just not as fast as you are anymore.
My face falls. I just made him feel like crap for the one thing I took from him. “It’s okay. I’ll hold your hand and give you some of my ability when we run back or give you a piggyback ride if I have to. We just need to move quickly.” He nods his head but I can feel a huge lump of broken pride rolling off him. The pain is evident in his face. He feels helpless and afraid; afraid mostly that he’ll lose me because of his weakness. It angers me to no end to know that’s how he feels. I never stopped loving him when he was a Reaper…why would I stop now?!?
Just as quickly as we entered, we leave again with our bags in tow. I take Tony’s hand in mine. If I can transfer my invisibility to people or help someone walk through a wall just by touching them, I have to be able to help him run faster. I focus my power as we start out at a fast-paced jog, towards the camp. We increase our speed slowly and before I know it, we are darting through the forest.
I look over at Tony. “It worked,” I say as we run through the snow-covered trees. Hoping this helps him feel less powerless.
He gives me a slight smile and then focuses on the path ahead of us. I need to figure out how to get Tony his gift back sooner, rather than later. It takes us a little over an hour to reach Camp Cheley.
We walk through the gate and unlike the many times that the camp appeared deserted, today it’s the opposite. Throngs of people are gathered in front of the doors to the Commons. We waste no time and run up to see what’s going on. I can feel the heightened emotions of everyone around us, weighing me down like an anvil. Fear, nervousness, frustration, and more seep out of the people and come rolling off towards me.
I turn that gift off so I can better focus on the situation at hand. That’s when I realize that the majority of the people outside have yellow eyes, except for Candy. I find her in the crowd, sticking out like a sore thumb. She looks lost and utterly panicked.
I look around the group of recognizable faces. “Lee!” I call out from behind the crowd. Everyone’s eyes turn towards Tony and me. The crowd parts and I can see Erik and Lee talking to each other quietly in the front of the group. Tony tries to move in front of me, but I squeeze his hand, hinting to him to stay still, that I’m alright.
I cringe when Erik looks at us, knowing that we are breaking our deal. I brought Tony back before the three days was up. He doesn’t look mad though. No, his eyes are filled with…sympathy. I look from him to Lee and notice they both share the same sad expression. Something is wrong; something is really wrong.
“No,” I whisper as I walk towards them. My whole body is shaking and Tony instinctively wraps a protective arm around me. No... My dad, Sabby. Something is wrong, I feel it, I know it. Why else would they be looking at me that way?
“Willow,” Lee says to me in a sad voice.
“What happened?” I ask, not dancing around the bush. I try to stand up taller. If I can fake that I’m strong enough to hear what he has to tell me, then maybe I won’t crumble. Maybe I’ll survive this just like every other time I’ve received awful, life-changing news.
“They’ve been taken,” Lee tells me. I’ve never seen him so broken and hurt. It makes me weak in my knees.
My shakes turn into all out trembling. I thought they were safe with Lee. I shouldn’t have left them. It’s my fault; I should have protected my family. My brain runs a million miles a minute. A red haze starts overtaking my vision as I think about the unfairness of this horror show that has become my life. Will I always be destined to lose the ones I care about, to have my heart broken into a thousand pieces? When will this vicious cycle end? Just when I pick up a few pieces off the ground, they are blown to smithereens again! I close my eyes so they don’t see them turning red.
I hear Tony telling them about Alec, Marya, Connor, and Claire being taken. I lose myself and can’t hear him talking anymore.
“It’s not working,” Erik says from far, far away. I feel him grab my hand in his.
A gentle wave of calm rolls over me. The red disappears from behind my eyelids. I breathe in and open my eyes. “Thank you,” I tell him. If I have any hope of helping them, I have to remain calm and levelheaded. I turn to Lee with the newfound calmness that Erik has lent me. “Did you see who took them? Where they went?”
He shakes his head. “We don’t know where they went, but we do know how they were taken. There were witnesses who saw it.” His face still looks sad. “Well, actually, in a way they helped the kidnappers.”
My hands are still trembling so I clasp them together, impatient to hear the story so I can get on with saving my family. “Somebody helped them take my dad and brother? Who?”
“Well, one of them was the boy you saved, John,” Lee says.
My mind starts processing through everyone I’ve met recently. “A thirteen-year-old boy aided the kidnapping?” I ask in complete shock. I remember his gold eyes and all of the cuts he had from falling into the thorn bushes.
He nods his head. “Yes, but he was being controlled by Zack. When he came to, he told us everything he knew,” Lee says.
“And the other person?” Tony asks for me.
“Peter,” Lee says.
“I don’t remember anyone named Peter,” I say. The frustration is starting to triumph again within me.
“That’s because you haven’t met him yet.” He catches my glare so he continues. “We found him recently, when we went back to the prison to try to find a way to communicate with the other shelters. We didn’t see him come up on us until after we had the radio working and we finally made contact with the D.O.D. While invisible, he snuck in right in front of us and cut the lines. When our guys finally realized what happened, they grabbed him. After Peter became visible again, we saw his eyes change from red to purple.”
“And what? You brought him home to live with you?” I ask, trying to keep my anger at bay.
“It’s not like that, Willow. We couldn’t leave him outside, just like we couldn’t leave John alone. They are both good people. You know just as well as me that they had no choice in doing what Zack made them do.” He turns to Tony and says, “Right?”
Surviving ELE (ELE Series #4) Page 12
