by Skye Malone
But at least I wouldn’t have to listen to the guy anymore.
“We could try Harman?” Clay suggested from the back seat. “See if he knows any other numbers to call?”
Disgust twisted my face. “That little weasel won’t–”
“Good idea,” Dad said. “Call him.”
I could have punched Clay for his smirk.
Knowing I couldn’t easily reach him over the seat, he ignored my glare while he thumbed on the phone and then dialed. “It’s us,” he said when the doctor answered. “We can’t reach the fish. Who else can we call?”
My ears picked up the sound of Harman sputtering.
“I-I think she might’ve headed to Fort Pedrosa. My granddaughter… she’s with them and so we’re–”
The sounds were muffled for a moment as Dad reached back. “Give me that.”
Clay handed the phone over.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell us this earlier?” Dad demanded.
“Well, I mean, I wasn’t… Eleanor is a very smart girl. She might go there, but…” Harman seemed to regroup. “It’s under control, Richard. I have the chief of police from Chloe’s hometown with me. He understands the seriousness of this and of what that dehaian boy has done. Don’t worry; we’re only minutes away from Fort Pedrosa and if we find Chloe and Zeke there, Barry will help–”
“We don’t need help,” Dad growled. “Give us your granddaughter’s number.”
Harman was quiet for a moment. “Now, Richard, Eleanor is my–”
“You want the fish or not?”
The old man listed off the number. I smiled.
“You understand, though,” Harman continued. “Eleanor isn’t to be–”
Dad hung up.
“We going to that place?” Owen asked.
“No.”
Dad extended the phone to me. “Call the granddaughter.”
My brow climbed. “What? We’re still–”
“Weren’t you listening?” Dad snapped. “They might not be there. I’m not chasing them to Colorado just to find out those scum-suckers are somewhere else. We’re getting them to come to us this time, no matter what.”
I made no move to take the cell, my expression unchanged.
Giving me a disgusted look, Dad tossed the phone back to Clay.
“Call her,” he ordered again.
Clay dialed the number.
I turned to the window. This was stupid. No, it was beyond stupid. It was driving in circles. We’d been at this for a day already and we’d be at it for more, the way Dad was handling things. If the fish was somewhere, even if there was a chance the fish was somewhere, we should head to that place.
That’s what hunting was.
My gaze slid to Dad. He wasn’t watching me anymore, and his hands moved on the steering wheel like he was imagining wrapping his fingers around that guy’s throat.
I would’ve come up with so many better plans than this. I’d have the fish already and Brock… well, dead or not, whatever. But we’d have the fish. We wouldn’t be just driving around like a bunch of old ladies lost in the countryside.
The woman started up crying again and the man whispered stupid words of comfort like he couldn’t see the reality in front of his eyes. I rested my head back on the glass. This would change soon. Whether by the girl answering the phone or my patience coming to an end, this would change.
I’d make sure of it.
Chapter Seven
Noah
The scents of pine and mulch surrounded us, and so many birds filled the trees with their cries that I felt like I was being bombarded by a Hollywood sound effect. The trail ahead of us curved through the forest, as did the one behind, and occasionally I could spot boot prints in the dirt, showing where rangers had hiked up and down this path before us.
In the lead, Olivia continued on unwaveringly, the crayon-blue cooler bag bouncing against her back. Ellie was close behind her, and cast nervous glances at us with every few steps. Meanwhile, Zeke seemed to have installed himself as a buffer between those two and Chloe and Baylie.
At the back of the group, I struggled to hold my focus to the forest, though it kept slipping to Chloe. I hadn’t had enough sleep – barely an hour, if that – and my brain felt like it had the attention span of a squirrel on speed. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop my thoughts from returning to her. To the way Zeke had attempted to touch her in the kitchen, and the way she’d pulled away from him.
Almost like she’d pulled away from me yesterday.
I didn’t know how to read that. I wanted to hope that was a good sign for me, that maybe she wasn’t as into him as I’d thought, but that seemed like a big conclusion to jump to based on one small action that could have meant anything.
And besides, I really needed to concentrate.
Grimacing, I glanced to the trail behind us again. Winding down the hill and only partly visible between all the trees, the track seemed empty. My hearing mostly agreed, though the birds were giving me a headache and interfering with my ability to be sure.
We crested another rise and the path led down to a clearing nestled in a tiny valley, where a collection of fallen logs rested. The Park Service or time had smoothed the logs’ upper sides, till they looked like natural benches for hikers. Crossing to the nearest one of these, Olivia sat down and swung the bag from her shoulder.
“Anyone hungry?” she asked, looking mostly to me and Zeke.
I shook my head, and he did the same. I hadn’t eaten since we’d grabbed a meal on the road last night, but my body was too distracted by the possibility of people sneaking up on us to let my stomach worry much about food.
The others sat on the logs, with Baylie and Chloe staying near each other and leaving the rest of us to find places elsewhere.
“So I’ve got to say,” Olivia began. “You all came at a good time. Colorado is beautiful in the summer.”
I struggled to keep my irritation from my face. I wished she wouldn’t try to make small talk. Between that, the birds, and my steadily growing headache, it was hard to hear if anyone was coming.
“Though,” Olivia continued with a smile, “I admit I’m a bit biased. I love it when the trees are so brilliantly green.”
Baylie smiled, though I could tell the expression was strained. Chloe didn’t respond, her gaze on the path.
“It’s great, yeah,” Ellie agreed supportively.
“So where are you from, Noah?” Olivia continued. “Kansas as well?”
“California.”
“Oh, that sounds nice.”
I nodded, returning my attention to the trail.
A heartbeat passed, and then Olivia finally seemed to give up on her attempt at conversation.
Time crept along while the birds shrieked at each other and nothing else happened. Every few moments, my gaze twitched back to Chloe. I wondered what she was thinking about. I wondered if there was something I could do to change this situation – the one where Zeke was still in the picture. Things had just been starting to get good between us when she’d had to leave Santa Lucina because of what those dehaians had done. And yes, after that, everything had gone to hell. I’d hurt her. She’d fallen for that guy.
But there had to be a way to get the good stuff back again.
Nothing came to me. Nothing that wouldn’t be stupid, anyway. Near silence – birds aside – in the middle of a group wasn’t exactly the best setting for a private conversation with a girl.
I scowled, fighting the urge to rub at my burning eyes for the twentieth time. My family and that Harman guy just wouldn’t give us a break. Whenever I turned around, they seemed to be after us again.
A buzzing noise made me tense. I glanced over to see Ellie pulling out her cell phone. Her brow furrowed when she read the caller ID and then she tucked it away again.
“Who was it?” Baylie asked, her quiet voice seeming loud after everyone’s silence.
“I do
n’t know. I didn’t recognize the number.”
I returned to watching the forest.
A minute passed. The buzzing came again.
Ellie drew out the phone. “It’s the same number. Should I answer it?”
“Probably just someone convinced they’re not wrong about what they dialed,” Baylie replied. “They’ll give up in a minute.”
Ellie nodded, though she still appeared concerned.
My gaze snapped over as the thud of footsteps came from farther back along the trail. My brow drew down. My cousins wouldn’t be that loud. Harman might, but that sounded like at least three people.
I turned back to find Chloe watching me. I glanced to Olivia, but the woman was studying the other direction of the path.
I gave Chloe a quick nod.
She shifted anxiously on the log.
“Hello?” a man called.
Olivia turned. “Over here, Phil.”
I rose to my feet, listening for anyone else around us, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the others stand as well.
Breathing heavily, a large, middle-aged man strode up to the crest of the hill. Sweat shone on his face and balding head, and the red flush of his skin probably owed as much to the polyester sports jacket he wore despite the summer’s heat as it did to the hike. Two others followed him, one of them a petite woman with long and gray-streaked brown hair who was dressed like she’d just been dropped out of a time-warp from Woodstock, and the second was a blond guy in a striped polo shirt who looked as if he belonged in some high-end suburban neighborhood, where he’d most likely be obsessing over his lawn.
“So!” the first man announced while he came down the slope toward us. “Quite the secret meeting you’ve got going, Olivia. You sure we had to come all the way out here for this?”
“Of course she is, Phil,” the Woodstock woman replied. “Like I said back by the cars, Olivia wouldn’t ask us here without a good reason.”
The suburban guy gave a quick nod of agreement, though he kept an eye to Phil as if concerned the man would see the motion.
“And besides,” the woman continued. She drew a deep breath of the forest air. “This is a much nicer place to meet. No offense to your office,” she added to Olivia.
“None taken.” Olivia glanced to us. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet the elders of the landwalkers. A few of them, anyway. Dave, Phil,” she nodded to the two men, “and Robin.”
“Hello,” Robin said with a smile.
“Hi,” Phil offered shortly, his attention more on tugging a handkerchief from his sports jacket than on us. “So what’s the big secret, Olivia?” He swiped the sweat off his bald head. “It’s hotter than hell out here. Why’d we have to–”
“If you would allow me to explain,” Olivia interrupted evenly. “I asked you out here because something has occurred that requires our attention and our assistance. This is Chloe. She is half-landwalker, half-dehaian. And she survived the change.”
Phil froze halfway through stuffing the kerchief back into his pocket.
Robin’s brown eyes widened. “She–”
“Are you sure?” Phil demanded. He turned to Chloe. “Young lady, you can’t just make claims like that and expect no one to–”
“I’ve seen proof.” Olivia looked to Chloe, raising an eyebrow. “If you’d please?”
Chloe hesitated. I couldn’t blame her. Robin seemed like a kid with a new toy, while Phil just appeared ready to bulldoze over everyone here on his way back to the car. Dave stood behind them both, his eyes on Chloe like he couldn’t decide whether to retreat.
With a quick glance to Baylie, Chloe let her spikes emerge from her forearms.
Robin’s mouth dropped open and Dave gave in, moving back a step like he’d obviously wanted to do. Phil’s gaze snapped from Chloe’s arms to her face, as though he couldn’t figure out how the two were attached to the same person.
I barely kept myself from getting up to make them stop staring. I hated it when people did that, mostly because I knew how much Chloe hated it too.
It didn’t help that it’d happened so often in the past few days.
But she wasn’t a freak. Or some kind of landwalker savior thing. I wished people would quit treating her like she was.
“Unfortunately, we are not the first to find out about Chloe,” Olivia continued. “Her parents, who had previously not heard of the treatments now available to half-dehaian children, sought the assistance of Harman Brooks in repressing those traits after she survived changing.” She paused. “I’m given to understand it did not go well. But with the help of my student and Chloe’s friends, she was able to escape and recover.”
The others glanced to the girls. Ellie dropped her gaze to the forest floor, visibly embarrassed at their attention.
“Harman also got his hands on another person,” Olivia said. “Someone who, by all rights, shouldn’t be here.”
She glanced over. “This is Zeke. He’s a full-blood dehaian.”
The expressions of surprise had been fading from the others’ faces, but now they came back in full force.
“Are you s–” Phil began.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, don’t start that again,” Robin interrupted. She looked to Chloe. “He is?”
Chloe blinked uncomfortably. “Um, yeah?”
Robin nodded as if that was all she needed to hear. “And how is he here?”
“Her,” Olivia said when Chloe paused.
They returned to their staring. My jaw clenching, I fought the urge to order them to stop.
“You all know the stories,” Olivia continued. “What it means for a person like Chloe to exist. There have already been signs that the creature of legend is returning – the storms on the coast, the seismic readings from the seafloor. And that is why I’ve called you together. Harman doesn’t believe in this. You know that; I know that. But given what he has already tried to do to her, if he got his hands on Chloe again, there is no question that he would continue experimenting on her. Meanwhile, her parents will also insist upon exposing her to the treatments again. We can’t let that happen. Repressing what she is won’t resolve this – though I realize that wasn’t her parents’ intent – and experimenting upon her is intolerable. So we need to keep Chloe protected and stop what’s happening at the same time.” She paused. “And I’m open to suggestions.”
The three of them stood there, staring like idiots and doing nothing useful.
“What have you ruled out so far?” Robin asked.
“Nothing. This is the first we’re discussing it.”
Robin frowned. “Okay…”
“Why not simply mask the magic coming off of her?” Phil suggested like we were all stupid for not thinking of it.
“How?” Robin asked.
“Put her underground.”
My eyebrows rose and I saw Zeke’s do the same. Incredulous, Baylie sat up straighter, looking ready to interpose herself between Chloe and anyone who thought to make good on that idea.
Dave cleared his throat. “What about–”
“The original dehaians tried that,” Robin interrupted, shaking her head. “They lived underground for fifteen years and it didn’t work. In the Vlostine account, there’s clear evidence they even–”
Phil made a rude noise. “I’ve read Vlostine. He was a moron. He wanted them to wear wire-rimmed skullcaps, for pity’s sake. But if you examine Dartinian’s records, they show that–”
“Oh, come on!” Robin countered. “Dartinian was a hack who couldn’t even read! He needed scribes to write down his theories, and he couldn’t tell if they got the words right!” She scoffed. “Underground. Honestly, Phil. If we go by the information from the archives of Longtiel, it shows that the original dehaians knew–”
Phil gave a bark of laughter. “Longtiel? You must be joking. How many times have I told you, Longtiel wasn’t even considered reputable in his own–”
“And Dartin
ian was?” Robin retorted.
The throbbing in my head worsened. Seated on the logs, the others looked like they were developing headaches of their own, while behind Robin and Phil, Dave kept clearing his throat and attempting to speak, though he never succeeded in getting a word in edgewise.
“Dartinian recorded thousands of dehaians living on land at that point in history,” Phil argued. “This is just one girl. The difference in scale makes this a viable strategy.”
“We could try–” Dave started.
“Scale is irrelevant!” Robin cried.
I looked away. They wouldn’t stick Chloe in a hole in the ground. I’d make sure they’d regret it if they tried.
And meanwhile, I wished they’d keep it down. The idiots could probably be heard for miles.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate on the sounds of the forest beyond their arguing.
Birds shrieked. There was a river not too far to our left.
“We have new technologies now,” Phil snapped. “We could shield her location in ways those dehaians couldn’t even have dreamed.”
“Technology isn’t the issue,” Robin replied. “Magic is energy. It will permeate the–”
“Energy frequencies can be disrupted,” he retorted.
I grimaced, struggling to hear anything past their voices.
A rustling came from deeper in the forest to my right. A branch snapped, and then another. More leaves rustled.
I opened my eyes, looking toward the noise.
“You can’t be serious,” Robin snapped.
“Says the woman suggesting we use Longtiel as a reference.”
I fought to focus. Something was coming this way. Maybe someone.
It could just be a bear.
That didn’t make me feel better.
The rustling sound came again, closer this time. A voice murmured, the words too low and distant for even my ears to pick them out.
My heart began to pound harder. Someone was coming. Someone avoiding the main path.
That couldn’t be good.
