Embers & Ice (Rouge) (25 page)

FORTY-FOUR

After
a couple more nights in hospital, Hunter was given the all clear by the nurse
and escorted back to her cell late that evening. The others were all sound
asleep. The guard gave her a tray of cold food which she devoured greedily and
lay on her thin mattress, staring at the long spider-crack in the ceiling,
listening to nothing in particular but her thoughts. She was fresh and sleep
seemed so far off that Hunter was afraid of being alone with her thoughts for
another night. She sat up in her bed, deciding to take a shower. Even if she
was caught by the guards and given a warning, it would be worth it.

But
there was someone waiting outside her cell.

Little
Sammy stood behind the glass with one hand up in a wave, his rug dragging along
the ground. Hunter smiled, crossed to the door and let him in.

“You’re
better!” Sammy whispered. Once the door was closed, he wrapped his arms around
her waist and hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad you’re better.”

“Hey,”
said Hunter as she wrapped her hands around his head and peered down at him.
“If the guards find you, you’ll be in deep trouble Sammy. What’s the matter?”

The
look in Sammy’s one good eye was so beautiful and pure that Hunter wanted to pick
him up and hold him tight and never let him go.

“I
was having bad dreams and I wanted to see if you were here,” he replied.
“Hunter?”

“Yeah?”

“Can
I stay with you for a bit?”

Hunter
would have rather pulled off her arm than say no to a face like Sammy’s. His
bright eyes widened with his smile and he ran over to her bed and wriggled
under the thin blanket. Feeling a little nervous, Hunter slid in beside the
small boy – who practically had to lie on top of her, the bed was so small –
and stared at the ceiling again. Only this time, she was a little warmer.

Sammy’s
head rested between her shoulder and her ear. He closed his eyes and breathed
heavily. Hunter listened and found it oddly soothing.

“Hunter?”
Sammy whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Why
do bad things happen to good people?”

Hunter
resisted the urge to answer with ‘Shit Happens’, instead opting for her own
personal answer to that question. It was something she often thought about
while lying in her cell. She used to believe in Karma – that this was her punishment
for the man she killed by accident in the alleyway, or for being so reckless
with her powers and not listening to Joshua’s advice. But after meeting so many
innocent and good people in this place who had done nothing wrong in their
lives, she knew that there must be another explanation. And perhaps it wasn’t
to punish them, but to help them grow.

“Everyone
has to go through bad times, Sammy,” she said. “It’s what makes us stronger. It
opens our eyes, gives us the courage to fight and the heart to forgive. If we
didn’t go through bad stuff, we wouldn’t be grateful for the good things we
have. Like each other.” She squeezed him a little and he squeezed her back.

“Hunter?”

“Yes
Sammy?”

“Did
your mommy ever sing to you when you lived in the real world?”

A
lump wriggled into Hunter’s throat. No one had ever asked her such a simple
question and reduced her to tears. “No Sammy,” she said. “I never had a mommy.
She died giving birth to me.”

“My
mommy sung to me once. I remember because she sung about angels. I really miss
my mommy.”

“You’re
very lucky to be able to remember her. Does that help you sleep better?”

“Sometimes,”
he said. “But sometimes I forget. Hunter?”

“Yeah?”

“Can
you sing it to me? The angel song?”

Hunter
squirmed on the bed. “I don’t know the angel song.”

“That
doesn’t matter,” he replied simply. “You can make it up.”

“Oh.”
Hunter swallowed, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.
No way I could ever
be a mother, I’m a terrible singer.
“How about I sing something else?”

“Okay.”

Hunter
scrambled through her brain for something – anything – to sing to a boy without
a mother. She wasn’t sure she believed in a happy ending to their story, but
she definitely believed – as Will did – that there was a higher power watching
over them. Maybe it really was an angel.

And
then she remembered.

It
wasn’t a lullaby; it was a poem she’d studied in school. Hunter had never been
musically gifted, but she always imagined a tune to go with the lyrics. Now
seemed the perfect time to test them.

She
took a deep breath and began.

“
There is someone who cares for you,

Who watches you sleep so sound,

Who holds you in their warm embrace,

Who helps the lost be found.

An Angel watches over you,

With comfort and with love.

An Angel carries you away,

To heaven up above.
”

Hunter
sniffed away the tears in her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. The
sound of her song echoed in the dark cell room, the words still thumping inside
her heart. And for a moment, it felt like a prayer being lifted to the heavens,
to whoever was watching over them. A prayer for their survival in the escape
tomorrow.

Carefully,
she twisted her head and looked down. Sammy was asleep.

FORTY-FIVE

The
demonstrations were over. They electrocuted Marcus in almost every way
possible. He took a day to recover in the infirmary; the moans Hunter had heard
the other night were from him. Jet’s was a little trickier; to test the limits
of his Telekinesis, they threw knives at him from every angle at impossible
speeds. He dodged many with his mind, but came out with a large slice in his
arm and on his forehead. Fearne was last, but her demonstration was different
from everyone else’s. Instead of putting her life at risk, Dr. Wolfe did
nothing at all to harm her. He simply asked her to read the mind of a volunteer
scientist and that was it.

“It
was seriously spooky,” said Zac at the breakfast table the morning Hunter
returned. She sat beside Will – whose eyes filled with warmth when she appeared
beside him – and Sammy, who disappeared in the early hours of the morning back
to his own cell.

“But
it’s over now,” she said. “It’s time to talk about the plan.”

“Yeah,
uh, about that,” murmured Zac uncomfortably. “Are you sure we’re actually
ready? I mean you just got out of the hospital and-”

“It
has to be done today,” she snapped, looking at each of them in turn. Their eyes
were filled with uncertainty. How could she assure them that everything would
be okay when even she didn’t know? “I know Dr. Wolfe probably has wind of our
escape plan, hell he might have even blocked the way out.” Chantal made a small
whimper of panic and some of the others exchanged fearful glances. “But hey,
we’re super-powered freaks of nature. We have power here that none of them can
measure up to. If we can’t do this, how do you expect to survive in the real
world? What’s the point in being special if we don’t even
try
? It’s now…
or it’s never.”

There
was silence at the table. Hunter caught a small smile from Fearne and knew she
would follow them all to the ends of the earth. Marcus and Mosi were nodding –
they already had their game faces on. Chantal was with Hunter long ago. But the
children were still unsure.

“First
thing I’m gonna do when I get out,” whispered Benji suddenly and everyone
stared in surprise at the quietest member of the group, “is go to the zoo.”

“Hoping
you’ll find your family there?” Zac chuckled.

Chantal
whacked him. “You’re a douche, you know that?”

He
glared at her. “I suppose the first thing you’ll do is walk into the nearest
Chanel store and buy yourself a season’s worth of shoes, huh Barbie?”

“Why
would I do that when I can just
ask
for it?” she replied, batting her
eyelashes devilishly.

“I’m
going straight to the nearest fast food joint, because this shit-” Marcus
shoved his tray of food away, “-is horse piss.”

“I
want to watch a movie,” said Ryo. “A really good one.”

“Oh
yeah?” Zac nodded. “Watch Die Hard. The first one, not the others.”

Chantal
scoffed. “How the hell would you know that, you got here when you were seven.”

“I
happened to be a very young movie buff,” he replied. “And I watched them with
my older brother.”

“I
dunno, I prefer-”

“Guys,”
Hunter interrupted. “As wonderful as your excitement is, we need to be focused.
Can you do that?”

They
nodded.

“Now,
when I give the signal – or whenever the distraction begins – deactivate your
restraints. Marcus, do you have the key?”

He
nodded and patted the pocket on his hip. “I don’t take it off me.”

“Good.
You all have very useful, very defensive powers. I’m sure you can figure out a
way to run from the guards. Hell, some of you will be gone in seconds-” she
nodded to Ryo and Benji, “-but what’s more important than anything is this: to
stick together. I don’t want to lose any of you in this escape. We’ve already
lost some.”

They
grunted complaints and even Hunter had to admit she didn’t give a rat’s ass
whether Jet the snitch and his psycho girlfriend came with them or not.

“Please,
please
, I’m begging you not to run. There’s a place we have to meet if
something goes wrong. It’s the safest place I know.” She pulled out the address
and started passing it around the group. “Memorize it. It’s our rendezvous.”

“How
do you know it’s safe?” asked Ryo.

“Because
the person who’s providing the distraction gave it to me.”

“You
trust this person Hunter?” asked Chantal.

“With
my life,” she nodded. “Mosi, you have the way out right?”

He
shot a glance at the door. A few of the Men in White moved around the room and
Hunter felt jitters in her stomach.
We have to hurry, the distraction could
happen any minute now.

“It’s
a little complicated, and we’ll make ourselves known as soon as we hit the
elevator, but we’ve got Marcus to shut off the security and get the elevator
running. If we can find the right exit in the labs, there’s a staircase that
leads above ground. If not, there’s a sewer system directly above us. After
that, I’ve got no idea what’s up there.”

“I’ll
take care of that,” she said to reassure them. “Remember to stick together,
okay? Use your powers in any way you possibly can, even if you have to use them
offensively. Do everything you can to get out.”

Slowly
and unsteadily, they agreed. She tried smiling in encouragement, but it felt
like a grimace, so she put her game face back on.

“We’d
all better eat, who knows how long it’ll be until we get a decent meal like
this.”

Zac
snorted, and some of them chuckled at her sarcasm, and the mood was lifted.
Uneasiness still flowed between them, but the thought of what awaited them in
the outside world was well worth the gamble.

“Can
we get our powers back now?” Zac moaned. “I’m itching again.”

Ryo
and Benji nodded in agreement. Hunter glanced around at the older ones. Will
gave her a nudge at the table, and she turned to the door.

Steel
had just stationed himself by the entrance. He muttered into his earpiece as
his eyes shot daggers at their table. He raised two fingers to signal to the
other Men in White, who immediately sped to the door and were out in a flash.

Something
wasn’t right. Hunter waited, feeling the gazes of the others burn into her
skull, but she wasn’t sure it was time yet. Dr. Rosenthal said she would
know
when the opportunity arose.

Then
it happened; a rumble beneath their feet. The trays and cutlery on their tables
started quivering.

And
from somewhere deep down in the pits of the Death Caves, there came a tortured,
infuriated, hair-raising roar.

Hunter
looked at the group, nodded to Marcus, steadied her beating heart and smiled,
feeling more alive than she had in months. “You heard the dinosaur,” she said.
“Time to go.”

FORTY-SIX

He’s
crazy. Bat-shit, out-of-his-mind, dingo-ate-my-baby crazy.

No
matter how many times Jenny repeated that in her mind, it didn’t change their
situation in the slightest. She was still under ‘observation’ by the FBI. She
was still aching all over from her recent heart attack. And they were still in
a chunky SUV driving across the country with a federal agent in the driver’s
seat.

Jenny
glanced at Eli on the opposite side of the car. He was staring out at the dark
night, his eyes drooping shut every few seconds then snapping open again. After
Joshua’s FBI friend –
since when did he ever have an officer of the law as a
friend? Since when did Joshua have
friends? – took them out of the
interrogation room and told them to pack up their bags and jump in the back of
his car, Jenny knew Joshua was up to something. He wouldn’t just get arrested
for the sake of helping the Feds out. He had a plan; she could see it in his
eyes. But in showing this guy all of the secrets he’d fought to keep, what good
did that do but get them into more trouble?

Jenny’s
mind was buzzing, and it made it that much more difficult to sleep. Not to
mention the pain in her chest every time they drove over a stone or a dip in
the road. It was nearing three-am, and despite the fact that she needed sleep,
she simply couldn’t do it.

Agent
Barry Sanders took his hand off the wheel and pressed his fingers against his
ear. “Copy that Arthur. We’re about five miles outside of Spokane. I’ll need to
refuel, call you when we’re at the motel.”

“What
motel?” she asked.

Barry
turned the heat up and Eli stirred in the backseat. He had a line of drool down
his chin. He didn’t answer her.

“Okay,
that’s it-” She leaned forward and stuck her head between the two front seats.
“Joshua, what the hell is going on? Where are we going, and how is bringing the
FBI helping our situation?”

Joshua
gave her a warning look and the car turned instantly cold. “Jenny…”

“It’s
helping your situation by not arresting all three of you for fraud and
kidnapping,” Barry grumbled. “And shit, Edward Cullen, you might not be able to
feel the cold but we’re all losing valuable body parts here. Turn it off!”

Joshua
went rigid and immediately released the cold temperature of the car. Barry shot
him a frown and went back to concentrating on the road.

I
really don’t like this guy,
Jenny thought to herself,
though she admired Barry’s confidence with a man as powerful as Joshua
. He
reeks of arrogance.
“Okay, so once we complete this little mission of
yours, what happens to us? To Eli and I, at least?”

“Hmm?”
Eli sat up fast at the mention of his name. “What?”

“We’ll
cross that bridge when we get there,” Barry replied. “But I believe we have a
bigger problem on our hands, am I right Jennifer?”

Jenny
grumbled under her breath and heard him snicker. What was the point in arguing
with this man? Whatever Joshua told him, he was intent on getting there and
nothing she could say would change his mind. Jenny knew she should trust Joshua
but something about getting involved with the government – particularly the FBI
– made her uneasy. Was she going crazy? Did Joshua really know what he was
doing?

Jenny
tried to relax in the tight leather seats as the SUV plunged further down the
highway into the dark night, but her stomach didn’t settle even after they
parked in a motel outside of Spokane. Jenny spent longer than usual in the
shower and glanced through the peep-hole in the door where a local policeman
had taken up guard of her door. The room was on the third floor, so there was
no way she’d have any hope of escaping.

This
is stupid. What am I doing here? Suddenly I’m a criminal, and we’ve lost hope
of getting Eli’s memory back or rescuing Hunter because now we have some agent
breathing down our necks, and there’s no way Joshua would ever take him to the
doctor’s house, or risk the doctor’s identity.

Or
would he? Was that what Joshua had come to? 

Jenny
towel-dried her hair so vigorously that her head throbbed when she flicked her
hair back. She was relieved she had her own room, and flopped in dry clothes on
the bed where she tried to imagine that she was completely alone, and there was
nothing stopping her from walking out of the hotel and… moving on.

In
the middle of her wonderings, there was a knock on the door.

“What?”
she groaned.

“Jenny?”
came Joshua’s familiar voice. He was nervous. “Am I able to come in?”

Jenny
hauled herself to her feet and dragged her legs to the door. The hotel had a
strange smell, like cherries in the summer only cold and damp. The door was so
thin she could almost hear Joshua muttering to himself as he so often did, and
for a moment it made her smile.

She
unlocked the latch and opened it to see him still in the same shirt, tie and
black pants as he’d worn two days ago when they left Dickinson. His expression
was full of the usual anxiousness, and his eyes drooped tiredly from the long
week of driving. She was surprised he hadn’t passed out yet.

“Yes.”
She stepped aside to let him in.

“Um.”
Joshua stared at her empty room, not sure where to put himself, and turned to
her. “I just wanted to speak to you about what’s happening. I feel it’s unfair
to you, after all that you’ve done to help, that you know nothing about what
Barry and I plan to do next.”

“What
Barry
and
I?
So you’re working together now, and Eli and I are
just tag alongs?” She crossed her arms and glared through narrowed eyes. “Do
you still even
care
about Hunter?”

Joshua
frowned, hurt. “Of course. Finding Hunter is all I care about.”

“Yeah,
right. I should have known this would all go pear-shaped. What was I thinking?”
She walked to the bed where her backpack lay open and zipped up her vanity bag,
shoving it back between her shoes. “That we’d be successful in getting Eli’s
memories back, and finding Hunter would be easier than finding the nearest
McDonalds? That we’d all fly back to New York and life would return to what it
used to be?”

“I
don’t want to go back to what it used to be,” he said softly.

“Why
not?” She whirled on him. Her anger was building from a hole inside her she
never knew existed. “You won’t have to constantly watch Eli and I. You can
forget everything that happened after you froze me in my hospital bed. Hunter
can graduate and you won’t ever have to see me again.”

“But
I want-” Joshua caught his words before they could jump out of his mouth and
his eyes seemed to grow wider. He was about to say something that terrified
him, but Jenny saw the word form on his lips. She felt her entire body seize
up.

“You
want
to?” she breathed.

“No.”
His tone was harsh, but his watery-blue eyes gave away the truth. He was lying,
and he knew it. He was simply afraid to believe it.

“You
want to,” she said again, this time as a statement of fact. Her next words came
out in a breath.

They
were only a foot apart, Jenny with her back to the bed and Joshua standing
awkwardly near her. A thousand emotions flashed across his face. He was
struggling internally, raging a battle with the ice inside him. A magical,
invisible force was pulling them closer until suddenly she was staring up into
those endless, weightless, wonderfully pale blue eyes and she couldn’t control
it any longer. The urge was too strong and too tempting.

This
time, Joshua didn’t freeze up.

“I
do,” he said. Then he closed the distance between them.

Jenny
flung her arms around his neck and forced her lips to his. His hands spread
across her back and electricity sparked through her. Joshua’s lips moved
hesitantly, as though he feared he might make a mistake, but Jenny traced her
fingers down his strong cheekbone and pressed harder against him, letting him
know she wanted more. In response, Joshua clung tighter and lowered his hands.
She forgot about his awkwardness and the fact that he was terribly cold and
instead, she found herself lost. There was only warmth inside her. Warmth in
her lips and her fingers and her desire for him. Jenny had never felt anything
like it.

“You
once asked me…” she said between soft kisses as he breathed down upon her neck
and melted her knees, “why… Hunter could overpower the fire…”

“Mmm,”
he murmured as he trailed kisses down her neck, chilling and glorious.

“Now
do you understand? She drew power from her memory of love, Joshua.” Jenny felt
a shiver go through her body and she clung to him tighter. “That’s all you
need.”

Joshua
pulled away. He met her gaze with confused eyes, his hands still wrapped around
her back. “Wait a minute… you think I don’t
love
?”

Jenny
frowned. “No… well, I just thought you didn’t
understand
the power of
love. If it’s strong enough, you can overpower the ice. That’s the answer.”

His
hands dropped and he stepped back and Jenny knew the moment was over. She
killed it, with her big mouth and false assumptions. She suddenly wished she
could take it all back as Joshua regarded her with painful confusion.

“What,
you think I’m some monster Jenny?” His face was a mask of hurt. “You think I
have no emotions at all?”

“No,
I-”

“I
took care of Hunter’s mother when she was pregnant with my best friend’s child
because I
cared
for Leo like a brother. I took Hunter in when her mother
died in my arms because I
loved
Liz more than anything in this world,
and it killed me to see her die!” As Joshua’s voice rose, the temperature in
the room dropped. His eyes filled with tears. Jenny was so paralyzed with shock
that she couldn’t think of words. “I
threw
away my life for Hunter, and
I grew to love her like my own daughter, feeding her and sheltering her and
going to fucking parent-teacher meetings and piano recitals because she
needed
me there
!” He stabbed at his own chest, his blue eyes blazing. “I love that
girl with every fiber of my being and I spent so much time trying to protect
her that I have no strength left inside me to fight this
evil, disgusting
power
that clings to my soul every single day of my existence. I lose control because
I can’t
stand
the thought of her hurt, or in pain, or on the brink of
death. Now she’s trapped in an institution that I pulled her away from when she
was a child and it’s
all because of me!
”

Joshua’s
face was streaked with tears, and Jenny’s heart was breaking very slowly and
very painfully in her chest watching him crumble before her. Joshua sobbed,
wiped a hand under his nose and shrugged his shoulders.

“She
thinks I killed him,” he said. “The love of her life. She thinks I’m a monster.
She is out there,
alone
and
grieving,
and for the first time in
her life I am not there for her. I promised her mother I would protect her, but
I love Hunter so much, I lost sight of what it is to sacrifice everything for
someone, because I was too selfish to let her go, to let her love another.” He
looked up into her gaze and suddenly, he fell to his knees and cried.

Jenny
could not stop herself from dropping to the ground beside him. She had never
seen a man cry, not since her father anyway, and to see someone like Joshua –
who was usually so stiff and emotionless and formal – crumpled and defenseless
on his knees before her was oddly freeing. She had been so unsure of him for
the past few weeks, but suddenly she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it
before. Joshua was not without love. In fact, Joshua had so much love inside of
him that it physically hurt him in everything he did.

And
the only thing she could do was be beside him. So she carefully took both his
hands away from his face.

“Hey,”
she muttered and let joy fill her words. “I’m sorry I thought that. It turns
out I was terribly wrong about you Joshua.”

He
gazed at her like a small child, afraid and helpless. Her heart ached for him.

“But
you’re wrong,” she said. “You didn’t lose sight of how to protect Hunter,
because you didn’t ever stop loving her. And love is more powerful than
anything in the world. You didn’t kill me because you are caring. You didn’t
kill Eli because you knew on some subconscious level that Hunter loved him. And
now you are sitting here, so worried about her, so angry with yourself, when
you should be
proud.
Your love for that girl is what carries her.” Jenny
lifted her hand and brushed away a tear that rushed down his cheek. “You
showed
her love, Joshua. She would never have beaten the fire if she didn’t have
you to guide her.”

Joshua’s
thin lips spread into a smile. “Thank you,” he said, his voice thick from the
tears. “I’m sorry for ruining your life.”

She
pulled his head towards her chest and held it there, stroking his hair gently.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I forgive you. Now you just need to forgive yourself.”