Destinata (Valguard) (6 page)

Charlie needed to get home, it was dark already and she knew the questions would start as soon as she walked in the
door, sometimes having overprotective housemates wasn’t such a good thing. She made her way towards the door, Zane following on her heels. She spun around to say goodbye and thank you and was caught by surprise as he brought his lips down to hers.

“Stay.”

The whispered word in her ear sent a shiver through her that radiated into the pit of her stomach causing what felt like a stampede of elephants rather than butterflies to course through every fiber of her being.

“I can’t
. El’ will worry.”

“El’ is
not
your mother, text her and let her know that you are staying out tonight.”

“I need clothes.”

“I have plenty of shirts.”

“You have an answer for everything don’t you.”

“Stay… Please.”

She gave in, there was no resisting Zane. He didn’t need the haze to convince her to do what he wanted, she would do it anyway.

After texting Eloise and letting her know that she wouldn’t be home she turned her phone off to avoid the twenty questions that would surely come from that text and settled in for the night at Zane’s. It was a fairly uneventful night, they ordered in – pizza – and then played on the x-box for a while before Charlie started to drift on the lounge. She hadn’t asked about sleeping arrangements and didn’t really care, as long as she had somewhere to sleep she was happy. Being one of those people who could sleep anywhere and through anything if she was tired enough, the lounge would suffice for one night. Sometime during the night she felt Zane lift her effortlessly off the lounge, she was asleep again before making it to the entry hall.

These distant images and memories came slowly back to her as she woke in the morning. Slowly opening her ey
es she found herself in a bed; a four post bed with curtains draped around the outside giving it a dreamlike edge to waking. She rolled over, sure that Zane would be there beside her to say good morning. He wasn’t.

After a quick necessity trip to the bathroom she dressed and headed for the stairs, she was greeted by the unmistakable smell of freshly brewed coffee and bacon as she entered the kitchen and was delighted
and amused to see Zane standing behind the counter, wearing a very floral patterned apron.

“Nice apron.”

“Good morning to you too, you should have slept, I was going to bring you some breakfast up.”

“Morning.
It’s fine, I’ll take it here. Thank you.”

She gave him a small smile and let him continue on plating up the food onto the timber tray. A small vase with a single rose
was carefully placed in the corner.

“So what’s on the agenda today?”

“I need to get my mom out. Do you know where they are holding her?”

“Charlie, we aren’t going to get her out easily, it’s going to take time and planning.”

“Yea, so we should get planning then. I want her out of there as soon as possible.”

“So do I but you can’t just go rushing into these things.
I was thinking maybe we should go see Kara again today. You can work on your training while I deal with Jaramm and a few other things. We can start planning tonight.”

“How can you be so relaxed about this? She’s my mother and she’s being held in an underground cell for god sakes. I don’t want to train with
Kara, I want to plan my mom’s escape!”

“You can’t just go and crash through the walls of the town hall to get her out. You’ll get yourself killed and more than likely her as well. You’re just going to have to suck it up and deal with the fact that she is going to have to stay there for a few more days.”

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief at what Zane had just said to her and pushed back the stool that she had been sitting on with a little too much zealous, sending it flying across the room and crashing into the dining table. She winced for a fraction before turning back to Zane, anger firmly etched on her face.

“No! You suck it up and realize that she is my mother
!! I am not going to sit idly by learning how to use a useless skill while she rots away in a cell. With or without you I’m going to the town hall today! Thanks for breakfast!”

She practically spat the words in his face as she retreated from the kitchen, gathering her shoes on the way out the door, she headed home. She didn’t even care whether Eloise and Matt were awake when she stomped through the front door and slammed it in frustration. She just wanted to wash up, get dressed and get out there. She needed to do something, anything
and helping her mom was number one on that list.

“Charlie?!”

“Yea, it’s me Matt.”

“Come in here, are you ok?”

“I’m fine, I just want a shower.”

He said something that sounded suspiciously like ‘
A shower isn’t going to help you when ‘El gets back
.’ But she ignored it and continued towards her own stairs and her own bathroom. It felt like she had been away from home for days but it had in fact been less than twenty-four hours. She comforted herself under the warm water of the shower. Half way through shampooing her hair, she heard the front door close and closed her eyes bracing for what was coming. That was either El’ or Zane and she didn’t really want to face either of them right now and decided on taking her time finishing up. Not that it mattered because a minute later the bathroom door crashed open revealing El’s angry form in the doorway.

“Where the
hell
have you been?”

“Can your berating wait until I’m done in the dam shower
Eloise
?”

“No
Charlie
it cannot! First you have strange next door neighbors storming through the front door, then you completely disappear after work yesterday,
then
you text and say that you aren’t going to be home but don’t tell anyone where you are or what you are doing or when you are going to be home and then turn your phone off! What kind of greeting did you expect this morning after that?”

“It’s really none of your business El’ but I stayed the night at Zane’s last night, I was right next door the whole time, there was no need to worry. And I turned my phone off because I knew exactly what kind of response I would get from you. I’m
not a child El’. I’m eighteen in case you hadn’t noticed. I can do what I want when I want without your permission or having to tell you where I am dam every second of the day!”

“Fine!
I’m
so
sorry for caring!”

She turned and slammed the door as hard as she had crashed it open and Charlie heard her stomp the whole way down the stairs and across the floor to the living room. Matt would surely be the next to cop the fiery little red-head’s ranting and as always he would sit back nod his head and completely agree with her whether he actually did or not.

Eloise was tiny, at nineteen she was a full head shorter than Charlie and had a slight figure. Her bright red hair being her stand out feature against her pale white skin caught the attention of many people and symbolized the passion with which she went about her life. Some would say that she had a temper but Charlie knew that it wasn’t temper that drove her, it was passion, love and the urge to protect. El’ hadn’t had the great upbringing that she herself had received, she was brought up in an abusive family, her father beating her and her siblings on a daily basis and eventually killing her mother in one of his temper tantrums. That was when her brother and sister sought permission to leave Tole and she moved in with Charlie and Matt. Matt took her under his wing, just as he had Charlie when her mom had been carted off to the ‘psychiatric hospital’. They grew closer by the day and soon were inseparable. Then one day about six months ago they moved their stuff into one room and Charlie finally had a use for her headphones. She was happy for them, but she dearly wished that she could find something like what they had, they were the best of friends and now they were lovers. It’s not often you can say you fell in love with your best friend.

When Charlie headed back downstairs she knew immediately that Eloise had calmed down, if she hadn’t the screaming would still be erupting from the living room, but she could only hear murmured voices, which meant her tirade of screams had eased for now. She breathed a sigh of relief as she headed in to explain what she could for now.

The murmuring stopped the moment she walked in the room, letting her know that they were talking about her… Nice.

“Hi.”

“Oh hey, you decide to join the people you live with now?”

“El’… Don’t.”

Matt wasn’t harsh or angry, he was quiet and cautioning her to back off a bit, a fact which Charlie for one, was grateful for.

“Actually I’m heading back out again in a minute. I just wanted to come and let you know what was going on.”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“
Well, it’s not easy to explain but I don’t think my mom is in the psychiatric hospital.”

“What! Charlie, that’s just crazy, you’ve seen her there, we all have. Why would you even think that?”

“I… I just know that she isn’t there ok and I need to get her out.”

“Out of where?
You know as well as I do that there is no way you are going to break her out of the psych ward. It’s maximum security.”

“I said that she isn’t there, so why would I go there to get her. She’s at town hall somewhere, I’m heading there now.”

Charlie turned to walk out the door, slightly annoyed by the fact that the people closest to her just couldn’t believe her. If it were her, she wouldn’t doubt their story.

“Wait Char, you can’t go. It’s pouring out.”

“I’ll take an umbrella.”

She listened to their protests as s
he walked out into the downpour that must have started sometime between getting home and leaving again. Today she would get her mom back, nothing other than that mattered. Nothing, except maybe the dark shadow standing in the rain, waiting at the end of the drive.

She moved forward slowly, cautious of the
menacing figure in the rain. Why the hell anyone would be out in the torrential rain without so much as an umbrella was unfathomable. The abnormal humidity of the last few days had definitely moved on now, making way for the cold to return. It was definitely jackets and boots weather and the rain was like shards of ice, feeling like they penetrated right through to the bone. So why on earth would anyone just be standing there?

She had a sneaking suspicion she already knew… Jaramm! Wishing she had spent longer in the shower and given Zane more time to ‘take care of things’ she moved faster now, determined not to be frightened of this
man
for lack of a better term. She had enough to be frightened of, she wasn’t going to be intimidated by anyone or anything else.

“Hello Charlotte.”

Charlie realized as she approached the man that it wasn’t Jaramm at all, it wasn’t even a Valguard. No the man standing before her dripping wet was one hundred percent human.

“Ford?!”

“In the flesh.”

She rushed forward and bear hugged his tall frame so hard she thought they might topple over. She had missed him more than she had realized and pulling back to look at him again, she realized just how much he had grown, not just in length but in girth also, his small wiry muscles had developed into
something which you would see on a full grown man who hit the gym every day, not the lanky eighteen year old that had left a year ago.

“But, you left. What are you doing here?”

“Couldn’t very well leave my baby sister alone with all the weirdness of this town forever could I?”

“Weirdness?”

Charlie knew exactly what Ford was talking about but she wouldn’t let on just yet, she wanted to hear it from his mouth first. Ford was the only other person in Tole that she knew of that knew something was up. She remembered he was forever ranting and raving about advanced humans taking over the town. He spent most his time holed up in the small town library or his bedroom. He never even went to school, forcing his mom to get permission to home school him.

I should have listened to him and got out while I could!

Ford had offered to take me with him when he left and I declined, choosing instead to stay with his sister. Speaking of sisters…

“El’ is going to
freak
when she finds out you’re back! Why didn’t you let us know you were coming?”

“Why else do you think I am standing outside your house in the pouring rain? There is no way I wanted El’ to be the first one to greet me! At least now you can lessen the blow.”

“Ahh, not exactly. She isn’t all that happy with me at the moment either. And as it was, I was heading out.”

“Oh so the umbrella isn’t just for decoration then! Where are you headed?
Work?”

“Actually
, no. You’ll probably think I’m crazy just like they do but what the hell. My mom’s being held hostage in an underground cell, she isn’t in a psychiatric ward. I’m going to set her free.”

Ford just stood staring. Rain flicking from his eye lashes as he blinked hard and fast processing what Charlie had just told him.

“Okaay! Let’s go then.”

“What? You don’t want to know how I
know?”

“Not really. This town is crooked Char, you and I both know it and if you say your
mom is being held prisoner then I believe you. Now lead the way.”

“You’re serious?”

“Of course I am, like I said I believe you and well… I’ll do anything to postpone the inevitable yelling I’m going to get from El’”

“Dag! Come on, let’s go.”

She curved her body around to glance next door and saw Zane in the front bay window a straight unreadable set to his face. She didn’t know what he was thinking but she guessed it wasn’t anything good.

“Who’s that?”

“Hmm? Oh, that’s just Zane, he moved in a few days ago.”

“He’s been standing at that window watching since you walked out. You two got something going on?”

“Something…”

“Okay, I know when to keep my nose out of it. Hey, are you going to share that umbrella or what?”

Charlie turned back toward Ford and reached the umbrella up in a gesture for him to take it. At her height there was no way she was going to walk with her arm outstretched the whole way up just to get it over his head. She huddled in to shelter from the rain and put her arm around his waist. She was comfortable with Ford, she had grown up with him, he was familiar and it made today’s task just that little bit easier to face knowing that she had him there with her.

Ten
minutes later, they were standing outside the town hall. The large building looming over them like a castle. Really it was an old Victorian house that had been moved here and converted into an official building; all of the rooms had been turned into offices. Downstairs the heart of the house had been removed to make way for the ‘hall’ part of town hall where everyone gathered for town meetings. Upstairs housed the offices and the attic was reserved for the honorable Mayor of Tole. Though how honorable he was now that Charlie knew he was housing her mother as a prisoner was yet to be seen.

The work day hadn’t started yet and the old building was still in darkness and locked securely. Luckily though, she knew a way in that as far as she knew
, no one else had any idea about. The building used to belong to old Mrs. Henderson before she died. Charlie had spent a lot of time at Mrs. Henderson’s place as a child, exploring all the rooms and secret doorways, reading her musty old books and earning a bit of spare cash tidying up the cobwebs that were made every night by the thousands of spiders that resided in the old house. One particularly fond memory had stuck with her forever; it was the day before Mrs. Henderson had passed away. She had known she was dying and trusting only Charlie had pulled her aside to let her in on a secret in case the need ever arose, for her to need to get into the building after she was gone.

One look around the side of the building told her that the hidden entry was still there, distinguishable only by the small handle sticking out from under a windowsill. Anyone else looking at it wouldn’t have a clue why it was there or what it did. But boy was Charlie glad she did.

She reached for the small protruding brass handle and turned it just a little to the right until she heard a faint click then 180 degrees to the left, another faint click. Then with a shove that was harder than she remembered, she pushed the handle in revealing a key hole. Removing the chain that she wore at all times around her neck, a small key could be seen shining at the end of it, she placed the key in the lock and was pleased that it still turned effortlessly. With a rush of air, the smell of mildew hit her in the face hard, making her gag and retreat slightly. Regaining her composure she moved forward once again towards the small door that had opened on the side of the building.

“That… was seriously cool. How did you even know it was
there? How did you get the key?”

“I guess old Mrs. Henderson liked me better than we all realized. She entrusted the key
to me the day before she died.”

She shrugged, passing it off as nothing interesting and moved further into the dark that the door had revealed. The smell of mildew that had gusted out when the long sealed door had opened was nothing compared to what was waiting for them on the other side of the blackness.
The strong scent burned her nostrils and brought a tear to her eye, but the tart stench was nothing compared to trying to find her way through the small tunnel in the dark. Thankfully Ford had a light in his pocket, the kind that flipped open and contained fluid. At least his fingers wouldn’t get burned from holding the flame on for too long. The dim flickering light was just enough to see by and from what they
could
see the room they crouched in was empty – just as it had been the day Mrs. Henderson had told Charlie of its existence. There wasn’t much room for error down here; it was just one straight line from the hidden door to the small closet in the main foyer of the building. Still, they moved slowly and cautiously through the enclosed space, weary of anything that slithered or bit and eventually came to the other end. Using the same key in the small lock Charlie opened the door into the closet. Standing and stretching out, she found the cord to the light in the tiny space and pulled. The light flickered momentarily before staying on. She moved to the door leaving Ford to seal the hidden doorway they had just clambered through and listened for sounds of anyone ready to start their day at work. She heard nothing but silence.

Deeming it safe
, she reached out for the internal knob that would let them out into the foyer, only once her hand connected with the cold metal, she was overcome by the sudden onset of nausea. Crippling over and retching, she vaguely felt Ford’s hand in the middle of her back and heard him distantly asking if she was ok. She didn’t answer because when the rolls of nausea subsided, the sound of tornado-like winds erupted in her ears; she couldn’t hear a thing now, but she could see. What she was seeing though wasn’t the closet that she was standing in, she was in some kind of dank underground cellar.

In the far left corner she could see a cell containing a slight frail woman with dark blonde hair. It was her
mom, but surely she couldn’t have deteriorated that quickly! She reached out her hand to try and get Eva’s attention but as she did a big hand clamped over her own, twisting her arm backwards and holding it firmly behind her back she screamed in agony. Turning to see her captor she realized it was Mayor Reynolds.

“Charlie! What are you doing here?”

She twisted and pulled but she couldn’t get free. She was no match for the bulk of a man standing behind her.

“Bastard!
Let me go!”

“Now, now Charlie, is that anyway to speak to your Mayor? Your mother will be let go just as soon as she learns her lesson.”

She turned and spat in his face with as much hatred as she could muster, frantically looking around for Ford while the Mayor was preoccupied with wiping her sputum from his cowardly face. She saw the blood first. Closing her eyes hoping that it wasn’t Ford lying in the corner covered in blood, she took a deep breath before opening them once more.

She let out a blood curdling
scream worthy of any banshee when the realization hit her that it was Ford, and from the looks of it he’d had his throat slit. His lifeless eyes rested on Charlie’s face, his arm outstretched as if to warn her. A moment later she felt a blunt blow to the back of her head and everything was black.

The retching started again, only this time it wasn’t from the warning of an oncoming vision, it was in terror. The Mayor? How could he? He was one of them! Human! He killed Ford in cold blood and it was fairly clear that her fate was to be the same.

“We need to get out of here Ford.
Now!!”

“What? We just got here. Don’t you want to get your
mom out?”

“Not now. I need to think first.”

“Wait! Charlie, are you ok?”

“No. We need to go!”

Frantically clambering back through the tight crawl space
, Charlie became all too aware of the sheen of cold sweat that had broken out across her forehead and was running directly into the tears that had already tracked a path down her cheeks.

Throwing caution to the wind, not waiting for
the flicker of Ford’s lighter, the journey back through the dank tunnel was quicker by far. Once at the end she gave the entrance door an almighty shove, scrambling out to gulp in the fresh air. Letting the still pouring rain wash away her sweat and tears she waited close by for Ford to join her.

“What the
hell
?”

“I’m sorry, I… I…” She knew she couldn’t explain, not yet anyway and even if she wanted she would have no idea where to start. Ford would just have to accept the fact that he would have to wait for now.

“You’re seriously freaking me out here Char. What’s going on? First you’re all mission impossible and then when the moment comes, you completely freak out?... And what the
hell
is going on with your eyes?”

“Huh? What’s wrong with my eyes?”

“They’re kind of… glowing.”

“What?!
You’re out of your mind Ford. I was crying, eyes tend to glisten some when people cry, they
don’t
glow.”

Ford didn’t re
ply he just stared into her eyes, like he was trying to see something that just wasn’t there. Or something he didn’t want to admit was there.

“Let’s just go ok. I need to speak to… someone.”

“Yea ok, I know when I’m not wanted Char, you don’t have to skirt around the issue.”

“It’s not that at all Ford. Look. Yea, there are some things that I can’t explain right now but it’s not because you aren’t wanted! It’s just complicated.”

“Right, because in twelve months your life just got so complicated that those close to you don’t even get a look in?”

“No actually in the last
three days my life got so complicated that no one else can
help
!”