Tiernan laughed loudly, and Ava couldn’t hold back her own giggles.
Emma looked back and forth between them as though they’d lost their minds. “I don’t get it,” she said, shoving her hair away from her face. They kept laughing, and she shrugged, curled up on the seat, and closed her eyes. “You guys are weird.”
Ava watched the girl for a moment, an idea forming that she was pretty sure Tiernan wasn’t going to like. “Emma?”
The girl opened her eyes, but didn’t sit up.
“When you said you were excellent at compulsion . . .”
“Yeah?”
“How excellent?”
Emma’s lips curved into a smile. “Pretty excellent, if I do say so myself.”
“What are you up to?” Tiernan asked with a suspicious glare.
“Can you do it long distance?” Ava asked, ignoring him.
“How long distance?” Emma sat up, intrigued at the challenge.
“Like, over the phone?”
“Humans or Race?”
“Humans.”
“Oh no,” Tiernan said with a frown. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve never tried,” Emma said. She seemed lost in thought as her words faded off, and she appeared to be working through the logistics in her mind. “But humans are easy, so . . . yeah. I think I could. Why?”
Ava pulled the disposable phone out of her pocket. “I’d like you to talk to my parents.”
“Ava, this is a bad idea,” Tiernan said. “You don’t even know if it will work.”
“It’s worth a try. I can’t let them keep worrying.”
“Wait a second.” Emma held up a hand. “Your parents are human?”
Ava let out a heavy breath. “Yeah. Kind of a long story. I was adopted.”
“But . . . how? Why?”
“That’s the question of the hour.” Ava shrugged. “But here’s the bigger issue at the moment. I’m suspected of murder.”
“Holy crap.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” Tiernan said half under his breath.
Ava ignored him and focused on Emma. “I didn’t do it. Someone’s setting me up. Maybe the Rogues. You hear any of them talk about that?”
Emma thought for a moment, but shook her head with a frown. “Sorry, no. Like I said, they left me alone for the most part.”
Ava sighed. She hadn’t really expected it to be that easy. “Anyway, we don’t know for sure it’s them, but until we figure it out, I need to keep my parents safe, and I really don’t want them to worry.
“Do you think you can push them? Convince them everything’s okay?”
Emma bit her lip, considering. “I think so. I mean, I don’t know if I can make them not worry. They’re your parents, after all, but maybe I can help a little.”
“Can you do it to them both at the same time?” Ava was already dialing the familiar number.
“If they were Race, no. I’d have to focus on one at a time,” Emma said. “But humans? Since the message is the same. Yeah, I can do it.”
“It’s the middle of the night,” Tiernan said gruffly.
Ava checked her watch. “Early morning for them. I don’t want to wait.”
“And what if the police are monitoring them?”
“We’ll keep it quick,” Ava said, already dialing. “I mean, it takes them a few minutes to trace a call, right? And it’s the middle of the night. They’re probably not even listening.”
He was running out of arguments. “Well, call the land line, not a cell. That will at least take a little more time.”
Ava nodded, listening to the phone ring. “Keep it simple,” she told Emma. “I’m safe. I’m innocent. I’ll contact them when I can.”
“Okay. I’ve got it.” Emma’s eyes were bright with challenge.
Ava held her breath, only releasing it when she heard her mother’s sleepy voice. “Hello?”
“Hi, Mom.”
“Ava? Oh, thank God. We’ve been worried sick. Are you all right? The police called us—”
“Mom, listen!” Ava clenched her eyes shut, overwhelmed at hearing her mother’s voice, but knowing she couldn’t linger. “I’m fine. I swear this is all a misunderstanding.”
“Well, that’s what I told the police, but they wouldn’t listen.” Sarah Michaels seemed as incensed at the idea as Lucy had been.
“It’s okay, Mom, really.” She eyed Emma, who nodded encouragingly. “Is Dad there?”
“He’s in the kitchen making coffee.” Ava heard rustling as her mother got out of bed.
“Can you get him on the extension? I need to talk to you both.”
“Of course.” She heard her mother call to her father, and the telltale click as he picked up the other line.
“Ava? You okay, honey?”
Ava let out a shaky breath, feeling tears form in her eyes. “I’m fine, Dad. Really. I need you to talk to someone, okay?”
“Who? What’s going on, Ava?” her mother asked.
“Just give me a second, okay? This is my friend Emma. She’s going to explain everything.” Ava handed the phone to Emma, who reached out with her free hand to squeeze Ava’s trembling one.
“Hello?” She smiled at Ava. “Hi. This is Emma. I need you to listen very carefully.” Emma’s voice was low and soothing, hypnotizing, and there was no sound from the other end of the line. Ava’s parents were listening, lulled.
“Ava’s fine,” Emma said in that same soothing tone. “She’s safe. The police have it all wrong, but it will be figured out soon, so you don’t need to worry.” She arched a questioning brown at Ava, who could only shrug in response. Would it be enough? She had no idea.
“Everything’s going to be fine.” Emma added another layer, just to be sure. “Don’t tell the police she called, though. They wouldn’t understand. Just go about your business and don’t worry, okay?” Ava heard low mumbles in the background, and Emma smiled. “That’s right. That’s fine. Here’s Ava.”
Ava grabbed the phone and nodded when Tiernan pointed at his watch. “You guys okay?” she asked tentatively.
“Sure, honey,” her mother replied. “But you still haven’t let us know about spring break, and it’s only a couple of weeks away. Do you think you’ll be coming home?”
Ava felt a rush of relief. “I’ll let you know, Mom. I really have to go now, though.”
“Oh, okay,” she replied distractedly. “I need to get your dad to his doctor’s appointment anyway.”
“Is everything all right?”
“Oh sure,” her father answered. “It’s just a checkup. I’m all right. No flare-ups this week. A bit of a drive to that specialist, though, so we’re getting an early start.”
Ava smiled. “Oh, that’s good. Okay, then. You guys have a good day, and I’ll talk to you soon.”
Her parents bid her good-bye and hung up, and Ava slid her phone into her pocket with a smile at Emma.
“Thanks,” she said. “That was amazing.”
Emma shrugged as if it was no big deal, flushing a little at Ava’s praise. “I’m glad to help.”
Tiernan grunted a bit and turned on the radio.
They drove in amiable silence for the rest of the night, finally stopping at a seedy motel in Winnipeg to shower and get something to eat that didn’t come in a plastic bag. Of course, Tiernan would rather have kept going, but he succumbed to pressure from the two women in the truck, although not without considerable protest and eye-rolling.
“I suppose we should trade cars again,” he said when he conceded. “Get something with a little more room. And four-wheel drive.”
Emma and Ava exchanged a victorious smile as he pulled into a motel parking lot in the early morning hours.
While Emma was in the shower, Tiernan flipped on the television—loud—and turned his blue-green gaze on Ava. “So where exactly are we going?” he asked.
She squirmed a little. Even after getting to know Tiernan a little better, being the center of his f
ocus could still unnerve her. “I’m not really sure,” she said. “All I know is it’s about twenty miles from someplace called Red Lake. When we—Caleb and I—were heading there, someone was going to meet us in Red Lake and take us the rest of the way.”
“And you don’t know how to contact anyone at the Colony?”
Ava shook her head. “Do you think the sensor can help?”
“I asked Andreas, but he says the sensor lost Caleb right around here. He thinks Caleb must have a blank.”
“A blank?”
“Someone shielding his Race imprint. A Guardian maybe? You think he’s contacted them?”
Ava scrubbed her hands over her face. Her eyes burned; the lack of real sleep over the past few days was catching up with her.
“If he did, they’d take him in. They have no reason not to,” she said quietly. “And if he is working with Rogues—”
“They’ll know exactly where the Colony is. And how many people are there.”
Ava thought for a moment. “But why? Why would a handful of Rogues care? The Guardians are no threat to them. Not like the Council.”
“The Half-Breeds maybe?” Tiernan replied. “They’re lost and confused when they’re brought in. Could make them particularly vulnerable to the Rogue message.”
“You make them sound like a cult.”
“I never used to think so,” Tiernan said with a grim smile. “But lately, things have changed. Maybe they’re recruiting. Makes as much sense as anything.”
“If that’s true, Caleb will lead them right to the Colony.”
Tiernan stiffened, his mouth a tight line as Emma came out of the bathroom.
“Next?” she asked, rubbing a towel over her hair.
“You go,” Ava told Tiernan. “I’m going to stretch my legs. Maybe hit the gift shop and see if I can find some clean clothes.”
“Yes.” Emma slid on her coat with a longing sigh. “I’ll come with you.”
“Money’s in the bag,” he called out over his shoulder before closing the bathroom door.
They left Tiernan to his shower and walked past the faded doors of a half dozen rooms and into the equally faded gift shop, for lack of a better term. A few T-shirts and baseball caps hung on a swiveling rack, some books and cassette tapes intermixed with questionable-looking canned goods and automotive supplies. Emma flipped through a six-month old magazine with a floppy-haired teen heartthrob on the cover while Ava collected a toothbrush and some deodorant, as well as a couple of clean T-shirts. She was considering throwing a flashlight onto the pile when her phone vibrated with a text.
Are you all right?
Caleb.
Ava’s breath caught, and she cast a nervous glance at Emma. The girl didn’t seem to notice, though, just continued to flip through her magazine, chewing thoughtfully on her upper lip.
“I . . . uh . . .” Ava clutched her phone with palms suddenly slick with sweat. “I didn’t get enough cash from Tiernan. I’ll be back in a sec, okay?”
Emma nodded absently and turned the page.
Ava stepped out into the dappled morning sunshine, glancing nervously toward their motel room before hurrying in the opposite direction, around the far corner of the motel. Unwilling to waste any more time, she dialed Caleb’s phone, holding her breath and praying that he wouldn’t let it go to voice mail.
“Ava?”
She exhaled on a sob. “Caleb? Where are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He spoke in a low voice, and she wondered if he was trying to hide his conversation from someone as well. “Are you? Are you safe? I heard you were with Tiernan.”
Ava hesitated, unsure if she should confirm that and guilt-ridden that she would wonder. “I’m fine. Caleb, what’s happening? Why are you running? The Council says you’re helping the Rogues.”
“The Council.” He almost spat the words, then took a deep breath. “There’s more going on here than you know, Ava. You have to trust me on this. The Council has kept us down for too long—”
“What are you talking about?” Ava leaned out to peer around the corner of the building. She didn’t have much time. “Caleb, we found a girl—Emma. She says she knows you. She says she did something to your mind.”
“My mind is fine.”
“Are you going to the Colony? Are you leading the Rogues there?”
“Ava, listen to me.” Caleb seemed to be fighting frustration, and not very successfully. “This isn’t about the Council and the Guardians, or even the Rogues. It’s about the Race. All of us. Look, just . . . get away from Tiernan and go home. Whatever you do, stay away from the Colony. And don’t trust the Council.”
“I can’t—”
“Someone’s coming,” Caleb whispered urgently. “I have to go. I love you.”
“Caleb?” But he was gone. She stared down at the phone. “I love you, too.”
It took a while for her to realize it was the first time he’d said it. Sadly, it failed to reassure her.
“Well?”
Caleb knew Bartok was standing there, but his voice made him jump slightly anyway. Caleb was jumping a lot lately.
“I told her to stay away.”
“And?”
“She’ll come anyway. She’s stubborn that way.” Caleb couldn’t keep a small smile of pride off his face.
“And the girl?”
Caleb shrugged. “Emma’s with them. Tiernan, too.”
“We’ll deal with Tiernan.” Sloan crossed the hotel room and poured himself a drink from the minibar. “We make our move once they reach the Colony. You know our orders.”
Caleb nodded curtly. “And you swear Ava won’t be hurt?”
He chuckled. “Nobody wants to hurt your little girlfriend, Caleb. That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?”
“How will they know where to go?”
Bartok took a sip of his drink, the ice tinkling as he eyed him over the rim of the glass. “Well, you’ll need to leave a trail, of course. But don’t make it too obvious. Wouldn’t want to make Tiernan suspicious.”
Caleb turned away, staring sightlessly out the window. “And then?”
Bartok sighed, obviously bored with the conversation they’d had several times already. “Then we get Emma . . . and Ava. And when this is all over and things are settled, the two of you can go wherever . . . and do whatever.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Do your part, Caleb, and everything will be the way it should be. The Council’s time is over. It’s our time now.”
Something teased at Caleb’s memory. Something that made him feel as if what the man was saying wasn’t exactly right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. When Bartok slapped a hand on his shoulder with an encouraging smile, Caleb smiled back.
He was just nervous . . . worried about what was coming. But it would all be over soon, and he and Ava could be together without Protectors watching their every move. The Council would no longer be looking over their shoulders, and they could live in peace.
Yeah. That was what he was fighting for.
Chapter 9
“Are we there yet?” Emma asked from the backseat, sticking out her tongue when Tiernan glared at her through the rearview mirror. “Just trying to lighten the mood,” she said. “You seem so tense.”
“I’m not tense,” he replied. “I’m concentrating.” The window was cracked open next to him, and he scented the air periodically.
They’d slept in shifts through the day and driven through the night, picking up Caleb’s trail outside Red Lake and following it east. It felt good to rely on his own abilities for a change, and he felt pride that he no longer needed the sensor. The trail was weak—several times Tiernan feared he’d lost it—but then he’d catch a whiff, or find a sign in the damp ground, and knew he was on the right track.
Ava worried him, though. Since they’d left the motel, she’d been noticeably silent—unusual for her—not even taking the opportunity to mock Tiernan when he’d popped in an eighties boy band CD and tapped his fingers on
the steering wheel in time with the beat. He’d risked a car rental company this time, procuring a black SUV with one of his fake IDs.
Ava had eyed him curiously. “Couldn’t we have done that before?” she’d asked. “Or does car theft give you a rush?”
“As much as possible, I try to be inconspicuous.”
Ava had snorted at that, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. And with each mile they’d driven, she had seemed to withdraw into herself. No curious questions or stubborn bargaining. Her unseeing eyes had stayed fixed on the horizon as she’d chewed on a ragged hangnail.
Yeah. He was worried.
Andreas had been concerned as well. He’d made it clear to Tiernan that he was to bring all of them—Caleb, Emma, and Ava—to him personally. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. Do not talk to the rest of the Council. At least not until Andreas had had a chance to speak to Caleb personally.
“This matter must be handled delicately,” he’d told Tiernan. “Once we’ve established Foster’s motivations, his true loyalties, then we can move forward. We need to find Borré, and if Foster has information on his whereabouts, I need to know.”
Andreas hadn’t said anything more about the girl they’d rescued from the Rogue lair other than her gifts could prove useful in the future.
Tiernan wasn’t an idiot. Andreas Petrov was a politician, so whatever he did was motivated by one thing—protecting himself and his position on the Council. Whatever he wanted with Borré—with Caleb and Ava and Emma—was planned solely with that goal in mind.
He suspected Andreas had his eyes on Madeleine’s chair at the Council table.
“What can they do?” Ava’s voice broke though the cheesy ballad on the CD player, pulling Tiernan out of his own thoughts.
“Who?”
“You’re a million miles away,” she said.
Tiernan shrugged. “Concentrating,” he said again. “Who are you talking about?”
She twisted on the seat, turning to lean her cheek against the headrest. “The Council. They must be very powerful. I mean, more powerful than your garden-variety member of the Race.”
“Not really.” Tiernan downshifted and turned onto a gravel road. “They all have gifts, of course. Naomi is able to communicate with animals. Kaeden can shift, like Caleb. But they’re politicians, so it’s their abilities with people that really come into play.”
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