Independence

by Shelly Crane

  I screeched the car to a halt and Maggie was out of the car before I even stopped barely. I growled, "Maggie."

  I knew she was worried, but the girl was crazy if she thought I was going to let her hurt herself.

  She ran and I jumped out to follow her. She threw open the passenger door and her face crumpled when she found no one there. I reached her and put my arms around her from behind to keep her from running any further. "We knew they had abandoned the car. We need to go further in."

  "I just thought maybe…they had tried to come back."

  "We won't stop looking," I promised. "Come on."

  She obliged easily and let me put her back in the passenger seat of the SUV. The tyrant in me was front and center. I took deep breaths as I jogged back to my side and climbed in. I drove around Ralph's car and bounded through the open gate that led to the new road. Maggie was quiet and that was all right. I turned on the radio again and gripped her hand as we kept looking.

  She squeezed my fingers in silent thanks. She leaned forward on her elbows and let her eyes sweep the terrain and trees. I heard my phone beep and pulled it out of my front pocket. It was letting me know cell range was now gone.

  Great.

  We needed to be careful or we'd end up stuck out here ourselves. At least I had told our fathers where we were. And I hadn't even checked their return text messages from that. I was sure they weren't pleasant, especially Jim's, but I was the Champion of my clan now. It wasn't like I needed anyone's permission to take the Visionary on a quest that she'd gotten a vision for.

  I winced thinking about Jim. The man already struggled to like me. I was sure this hadn't helped the situation any. But Maggie was what mattered most. Not being down with the in-laws wasn't unheard of by any means.

  I glanced over at her. She was so focused she wasn't even picking up anything I was thinking. She had no idea what I had planned for the house that was to be her wedding present. I was going against everything the Virtuoso had done before me. I was sure my family would be upset and appalled, but the one thing Maggie had taught me was that I had to do what was right for me, right for us.

  I knew exactly what I was going to do, it was just the manner of executing the plan without heads rolling that was tricky.

  By the evening I had to refill the tank. It was all we had left and I hated to say it, but I had to tell her that if we hadn't found them by the morning, we had to head home. She nodded in understanding, but was frustrated. She'd gotten the vision for Beck, so why couldn't we find her?

  We got out and walked for a while. She called for Beck and I called for Ralph. We searched along the bush and hedge line for any kind of place that people could hide in…or in this case, fall asleep from exhaustion and hunger.

  When nightfall came, I took Maggie back to the car as she cried softly. She felt like a failure and I had no idea what to tell her. Her ability was to get visions as the Visionary, so why would she get a vision for Beck only to never find her?

  This time we lay in the back as I folded the seats down. I laid my hoodie down and climbed onto it, beckoning her to me. She nuzzled her face into my neck, for comfort but also as a way to hide. I sighed, but said nothing as I stroked her hair. I was starving. The beef jerky was gone and we wanted to save the drinks and crackers for when we found Beck and Ralph, but it was looking more like if we found them.

  But I saw it when she saw it. The vision smacked into her with enough force that she flew onto her back. She sat up and saw the cave behind her eyes in her mind. She started to go and I knew she was being led by some other force, just like she had been before. I didn't say anything. I just followed close behind as she ran.

  I began to get worried when it had been ten minutes and she was still hustling along the dirt. She began to stumble over the rocks and things. "Maggie," I complained, but she kept going.

  "I can't stop," she said softly and then gasped as her body swung her to make a sharp right. And then we were looking right at a bright red shoe peeking out of the small cave. We both took off toward it.

  "Beck," Maggie sighed as she knelt down to the prone forms of her friends. "Ralph," she barked and shook his arm. "Beck!" Maggie's hand touched Beck's cheek and she patted it gently.

  When Beck's eyes flew open I sighed and thanked the big guy. Maggie didn’t squeal or laugh or say anything at all. She just lifted Beck's head to rest on her knees. And then she told her over and over again that everything would be OK, that they were fine now, that we were taking them home.

  I told Maggie in our minds that I was getting the car and ran all the way. The bumps and bangs on the SUV had me cringing as I bounded over the rocks and hills and bushes to get back to them, but I'd apologize to Uncle Ken later.

  A million bad things were going through my head as I slammed the car to a stop and got out to go to Maggie. Was Ralph even alive? And Maggie's vision…she only showed them alive, it never said they would make it. And if Maggie's friends didn't make it, I could only imagine the amount of guilt Maggie would bury herself with.

  I pushed that to the side and knelt down next to Maggie. She was exactly as I left her and when I touched her arm to get her attention, she jolted a little. "Baby, let me have her," I told her. She gulped. "Let me take her."

  She nodded and I lifted Beck into my arms and ran as quickly as I could to the backseat with her. I laid her down gently, settling her legs in the seat with her, before running to the back hatch and lifting it open. I went back to Maggie and saw her wet face as she stroked Ralph's hair.

  Hell.

  "He's alive," she said to stop my thoughts. "Barely."

  She backed away and I reached down to heft him over my shoulder. Dude was a freaking tank. I grunted all the way before slamming him as gently as I could into the back. Maggie climbed in the back, too. I wasn't surprised. She immediately began opening a water bottle and trying to pour some into his mouth.

  See if you can get her to drink, Caleb. Please.

  I opened the other door on my side and looked down at Beck's face. I reached for one of the bottles and saw her eyes open. She tried to sit up so I helped her. She drank and drank and drank. She wiped her mouth with the back of her shaky hand when it was drained and asked where Ralph was. I pointed to Maggie in the back.

  That must've been what she was waiting for, because when she saw Ralph taking small sips from Maggie's bottle, she lost it. She gripped by arm so she wouldn't fall over and was wracked with sobs. I slid onto the edge of the seat and put my arm around her. I was glad that Maggie was too focused to be reading their minds right then. I did not want to live the hell they had lived. I was sure it was nothing but absolute hell.

  She cried, but there were no tears on my shirt. She had nothing in her system to produce them. I closed my eyes and was thankful we found them, and apparently, just in time. They were safe now, and Maggie was now safe from her own guilt…I hoped.

  Beck looked back once more over my shoulder and watched for a second before leaning forward and whispering to me. "Did I imagine all that glowing light when you found us?"

  Crap. "It was a flashlight," I tried.

  "No," she insisted and shook her head. She gave me the 'no bullcrap' look. "No, it wasn't."

  Double crap. How was I going to explain the energy ribbons from Maggie's gift to a human? So I took the coward's path and changed the subject. "You lie down back here." I shifted to ease her back down gently. She sighed, letting me know she knew something was up and knew I was playing the deflection card. "So what happened?"

  Her lip started to quiver. I leaned down and put a hand on her head to hopefully offer her some comfort. I felt a little sting go through my arm. I realized it was my body warning me that this girl didn't belong to me and I wasn't supposed to be touching her. She wasn't Maggie. I pushed it away and tried to keep up my comfort of Maggie's best friend. She started slow. "We ran out of gas. But Ralph had just filled up about an hour before that so I knew something was wrong. The gauge said we were empty, but t
hat wasn't possible. Our cells didn't work. We waited and waited and then decided to try to find someone or something when night came and… and we knew no one was coming for us. But then we got lost and couldn't find the car again."

  "It's OK," I soothed, but under my breath I was cursing Marcus. I knew he had something to do with this. Knew it. "Shh. Sleep, all right?"

  She nodded and let a breath go that said she was exhausted.

  "Babe," I called quietly back to Maggie before rounding the back and sitting on the edge of the trunk. "How's he doing?"

  "He drank the whole bottle down." She smiled in relief. "I think he'll be all right."

  "OK, well…" I hated this next part. "We can't take them to a hospital…or home, you know that right?"

  She sighed and nodded. "I know. The Watsons can't know that they're alive."

  "We'll find a hotel in town and then we'll go back to my place tomorrow. Figure out what to do from there."

  "Are you going to be OK with that? All of us invading your space?" She bit her lip. "I mean, I've never even been there."

  "Are you kidding? Of course I'm fine with it. I would like to have you there all alone, but…" Even I heard my voice go all husky. She scooted out from under Ralph's head, who had passed back out, and met me at the back. I helped her down and wrapped my arms around her. "You in my space is what I've wanted from the very beginning."

  "Thank you," she whispered. I felt her body jolt as she tried to hold in a sob. She was breaking my heart all over again. "For being so sweet to my friend."

  "Of course, baby. Of course." I put my hand behind her head and pulled her to me. She tried to stop me.

  "No, Caleb, I'll start crying again. Let's just go-"

  "Resistance is futile." She fought her smile and rolled her eyes at me. I smiled and beckoned her back to me with my fingers. "Come here."

  She sighed dramatically, but her fingers told the truth when she gripped my back and laid her cheek on my chest. I knew we had things to do, but she needed this right now. She needed my touch to refill her and calm her so she could be there for her friend with a clear head. I combed my fingers through her hair before pulling the hood on my hoodie she was still wearing up over her head. "It's cold. Ok, let's go. You all right?"

  "I'll be fine when these two are safe again." She closed her eyes tight. "She almost died. I thought she was dead."

  "We'll find Marcus, don't you worry about that," I promised and felt the rumble go through my chest. "And when we do, I'll end this like I should have done a long time ago."

  She looked up at me. I expected her to be appalled, but she nodded. "And I'll be right there beside you."

  I didn't argue or agree. I just held her chin between my thumb and fingers and kissed her once. Then I ticked my head toward the car and climbed into the driver's seat to find us a hotel for the night.

  I couldn't tell anyone that we'd found them or that they were alive. Not yet. That sucked worse than anything right then, remembering Beck's mom's face. She deserved to know the truth, but for now, it was our little secret to bear.

  As I backed out to turn around, I saw Maggie reach back to grip Beck's hand and then took her hoodie off and laid it over Beck's torso before gripping her fingers again. I cranked the heat higher and tried not to think about Maggie being cold in her camisole.

  But when Maggie finally leaned over to put her head on my shoulder and fell asleep, I knew that it was done. The night had ended as well as it could have and my Maggie was spent. Her gift had saved her friends.

  I just hoped that we could write off all the weird stuff from Maggie's gift with Beck as just a hallucination. If not, well, we were going to have a problem.

  Chapter Five

  Maggie

  Beck was trying as hard as she could. She leaned hard on me as we made it up the stairs to our hotel room. Caleb was lugging Ralph behind us in a similar manner. They were better after munching on crackers and downing some Gatorade, just tired.

  There could be no hospital visit. We didn't know how closely the Watsons were keeping an eye on things. But it was without a doubt them that did this. Caleb and I both knew it in our guts.

  And we weren't taking any chances.

  So we lugged them to the hotel and watched them carefully to make sure they were all right. They were talking and walking…sort of. So we assumed they would make it with a lot of rest. We put them straight to bed. It didn't matter that they were dirty.

  They were asleep within a minute flat. But the sweetest thing ever? Ralph searched for her with his hands until he found her in the sheets and when he did, he heaved with all his strength to pull her into his chest. I felt all the relief and just everything hit me like a sledgehammer as I watched my two best friends cling to each other in sleep. I felt my eyes well.

  Then Caleb's arms were around me from behind. He moved my short hair out of the way and kissed the back of my neck. "It's over, baby," he whispered, his lips moving on my skin with each word. "You found them. You did good."

  I nodded and turned into him. He pulled me right to the bed, our clothes on and all, and laid me in the covers. I kicked my shoes off as he kicked off his. He climbed in with me and wrapped me up just like Ralph was doing to Beck.

  She was safe, he was safe.

  I sighed into Caleb's chest and went right to sleep.

  I was awakened with the sound of the shower. I peeked up to find myself alone in the bed. Beck and Ralph were still passed out in the next bed. More like sprawled like the dead. I smiled.

  They were safe.

  I woke with the blanket up to my chin and an unnatural warmth in the room. We never turned on the air when we came in last night. I threw the blanket off and went to turn on the air, to stir the stale room and make it easier to breathe. The steam pouring from under the door wasn't helping things.

  I checked both Rebecca and Ralph's breathing - ridiculous, I know - and then stopped at the bathroom door. I thought about knocking. I thought about just bursting in. With my hand poised on the old brass knob, I remembered straddling the line with him. I felt my cheeks pink with pleasure and a blush, too. I couldn’t lie about that. It was all so new, but so welcomed and my body was calm and inviting it.

  So I compromised. I knocked gently, but opened the door without waiting for an answer. I heard him say, "Hey."

  "Hey. Couldn't sleep?" I went to the mirror and wiped it with a hand towel.

  "Nah. Dad texted me and woke me up. He's…kinda pissed."

  The frosted glass was obscuring my view just enough to keep me from making him out behind the door. I could tell he was washing his hair though. "What for?"

  "Well, apparently, running off with the Visionary into the mountains alone isn't what is proper of the Champion of our clan." His voice was mocking. He was pissed at his dad, too. I hated that. I hopped up on the counter.

  "I'm sorry. You did it for me."

  "I'm not complaining. He just can't understand sometimes, especially over the phone, that I'm not a fifteen year old boy anymore that needs to be fed the rules of our kind at every turn. We weren't sneaking off on a getaway, we were rescuing your friends."

  "I'm sorry," I muttered again.

  He poked his head out of the shower curtain. "Don’t be. You're the freaking Visionary. You can do whatever the hell you want to." He grinned. "By the way," he started and closed the curtain to finish, "there's only two toothbrushes. You wanna share one and they can share the other?"

  Share a toothbrush with him? I'd never even thought about that before. Did married people share toothbrushes normally? His mocking voice belted over the waterfall, "Don't over think this, baby." He poked his head out once more. "My tongue has been in your mouth. Your tongue has been in my mouth. We've already shared fluids. It's not a big deal."

  "I know," I said and scoffed like I hadn't been worried at all. "I know that." He chuckled and shut the door once more. I unwrapped one of the cheapest toothbrushes I'd ever laid eyes on. I brushed my teeth and then wiped o
ff the sleep and mascara gunk from under my eyes. "So what's the plan for today?"

  "We'll leave as soon as they're ready and head back to my place. They need to see us there. They would expect us to go to my apartment. We'll just sneak them in and then figure out what to do from there. I don’t know how far their plan goes. If they are watching us or just toying with us, you know?"

  I grumbled, "When are they going to learn that they shouldn't mess with a Jacobson?"

  He chuckled again and then the water shut off. "Hand me a towel, babe?"

  I grabbed one and tossed it over. He came out seconds later, dripping and grinning as he watched me. He was waiting for me to freak out like I'd done in the palace. But something had changed in me. My body was taking over in a new way. I wasn't on defense anymore. I was on offense. And he had better watch it or he was going to get tackled.

  I walked to him across the damp floor and rubbed the hollow star on his shoulder with my thumb. "What's this one for?"

  He glanced at it and back down at me. "Uh…rebellion?" He grinned. "I wanted to get more tattoos, matching the whole moon and filigree theme for our families. Dad wasn't happy about that. Even though my own body put a tattoo on me." He rubbed his wrist. "Oh, well. He got over it. Mom was on my side with that one. He doesn’t fight with Mom for very long."

  "I bet," I said and laughed remembering the way Peter smacked her behind at the beach house. "I'm sure your mom can be pretty persuasive."

  He ticked his head to the shower. "You going to get in?"

  I nodded. "I left the toothbrush on the sink."

  Once again, if he thought I was going to cower and tell him to scram, he was wrong. I pulled my shirt off as I walked to the shower and took the rest off after I closed the door, tossing it over the top. I saw him in my peripheral and he stood there for a long time. He was thinking about the change in me. He didn't really understand it; why the imprint in my body was all of sudden so intent on…whatever it was trying to do. But he was intrigued. He was thinking about our wedding night. About how he thought I was going to be scared and incredibly nervous. He had been surprised in the best way in the car last night.