The MORE Trilogy (20 page)

“The thing that’s strange is the bloodline,” he said finally. “I know your dad’s been ill, so it’s obviously not him, but there doesn’t appear to be a link to your mother, either.”

Ava sighed heavily.

“What?”

“There wouldn’t be.” Her voice cracked slightly, although whether from nerves or acceptance, Caleb wasn’t sure. “I was adopted.”

“Adopted? How did we not know that?” Caleb muttered to himself.

“It was kept pretty quiet,” Ava answered. “I was abandoned on the steps of a church. I know, how cliché, right?” she said with a slight smirk. “Anyway, my parents had just lost a baby—stillborn, and the priest knew what had happened so he gave me to them. Honestly, I don’t even know if there’s any paperwork for the adoption. It was a small town, and nobody ever asked any questions.”

Caleb thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s not that strange,” he said. “It might have been the Guardians looking out for you, even then.”

“You think so?”

He shrugged. “Weirder things have happened.”

Ava laughed a little at the understatement, and Caleb found himself smiling in return.

They rounded a bend, and Ava’s steps faltered. The gravel drive continued only a few feet before coming to an abrupt stop at a low, stone wall, mossy with age and crumbling in places. Behind it, an empty lot apparently served as the area’s dumping ground. Piles of trash and discarded appliances—even a ratty sofa with springs popping out—littered the frozen ground, a light dusting of frost covering it all. Someone had apparently tried to solve the problem by stringing up barbed wire above the wall, a large “No Dumping” sign dangling from one of the wires.

Ava stopped, and Caleb looked back at her expectantly.

“Come on,” he said. “It’s okay.”

“But there’s nothing there,” she said, waving a hand toward the dumping ground. A deep forest surrounded the lot on three sides, thick brambles twisting between the trees. It looked impenetrable.

Caleb smiled, holding out a hand. “Trust me,” he said.

Ava eyed him skeptically, but took his hand and followed him as he headed toward the wall, stepping over it easily and picking his way between the sofa and a broken-down refrigerator. Suddenly, everything wavered and rippled, like a pebble in a pond, and the air seemed to thicken around her. Caleb pulled her forward against the odd resistance, and the next thing she knew, they were back on the gravel drive, the forest parted before them. She gasped in surprise, looking back behind her. She could see the discarded garbage and the stone wall, but the air seemed to shimmer before it, like a wall of water hung between it and them.

“It’s the cloak,” Caleb explained, as they continued on their way.

“Weird,” Ava muttered under her breath.

They topped a slight hill and a large white house came into view. Two-storied, with ivy-wrapped columns running from front porch to roof, it evoked feelings of the antebellum South, and Ava couldn’t help a small smile at the relaxed beauty of the estate. A circular drive wrapped around a concrete fountain, leading to double front doors, each bearing a wrought iron knocker in the shape of a dragon’s head. Caleb smiled at her reassuringly before raising his hand to knock, only to have the door fly open before he even touched the knocker.

“Caleb!” A petite redhead with bright green eyes emerged from the doorway, wrapping him in a tight hug. “We were wondering what was taking you so long.”

He smiled. “I take it Bel called you.”

“Of course,” she said, patting his arm as she turned. “You must be Ava.” The tiny woman wrapped an arm around Ava’s shoulders, leading her into the house. “I’m Audrey. This is my place, for all intents and purposes.”

Ava started to speak, but Audrey turned back to Caleb. “Shut the door, would you?” she asked, and Ava noticed the lilt of a brogue to her speech. “Did you have any trouble?”

Caleb shrugged. “Tiernan and Katherine are tracking us, I’m sure,” he said as they walked down a shadowed hall into a large, bright kitchen overlooking the backyard. “We sent Ava’s cell phone on a trip to New York, and I shifted to get us at least part of the way here, so maybe that will slow them down a bit.”

Audrey nodded, her attention returning to Ava. “Well, you’re safe now. There’s no way they’ll find us through the cloak.” She squeezed Ava’s shoulders sympathetically. “This must be a lot to take in,” she said. “How about a cup of tea and we’ll chat, yes?”

Ava nodded, a bit overwhelmed by the petite woman’s personality. She filled a kettle, setting it on the stove as Caleb walked to the back windows to look out at the expansive yard edged by a looming forest. Ava could make out a few dark figures walking around.

“You brought in some recruits?” Caleb asked.

Audrey smiled. “Bel did. I suppose it’s a good precaution, given the situation.”

“Any word from the Council?”

Audrey shot a concerned glance Ava’s way before shaking her head slightly.

No one said anything for a while, the only sound the tinkle of teacups and silver as Audrey prepared the tea and a tray of sandwiches. When she slid it in front of Ava, her stomach growled, and she realized she was famished.

“Help yourself,” Audrey said with a grin.

Ava dug in without a second thought, devouring a half a sandwich and starting another before taking a sip of the strong, hot tea. Audrey patted her hand, smiling as if greatly pleased.

Caleb sat down next to Ava, taking his own sandwich and consuming it in two big bites. Audrey frowned at him.

“Manners, boy,” she chided.

Caleb shrugged, swallowing the food with a swig of tea.

“I used to babysit this rascal . . . known him for years,” she told Ava. “Since he was in short pants, you know? Never could hold himself back when there was food to be had.”

Ava smiled at the thought of a young Caleb, all awkward elbows and knees, dark hair hanging in his wide, innocent eyes. “You don’t look old enough,” she said without thinking, taking in the woman’s unlined skin and vivid hair without a touch of gray. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-five years old. “I mean . . . to know him that long. You seem so . . . young. Not that you’d have to be old . . .” Ava flushed in embarrassment, but Audrey just laughed.

“I’m very . . . well-preserved,” she said with a sidelong glance at Caleb. He smirked in response, and Ava was certain she missed something.

Again.

But before she had time to pursue it, Audrey asked, “So, what’s your plan?”

Ava turned to Caleb expectantly, only to find him tearing the crusts from another sandwich.

“Bel mentioned the colony?” Audrey continued, eyes darting between them cautiously. “Or perhaps I misunderstood.”

“Colony?” Ava asked. “What colony?”

Caleb sighed heavily and frowned at Audrey before returning his gaze to his mangled sandwich. “A Guardian colony,” he replied curtly. “Near Ontario.”

“Ontario?” Ava gaped. “As in
Canada
?”

“Oh, it’s lovely, dear,” Audrey said, pouring her more tea. “So much space and the people are so nice. You’ll love it.”

“But . . .” Ava stammered. “I can’t go to Canada. I have school and my parents . . . Lucy. I can’t just disappear off the face of the earth. People will notice.”

“Oh, that’s not a problem,” Audrey said with a shrug. “We have people to deal with that kind of thing.”

Ava’s spine chilled. “What do you mean by that?” She turned to Caleb accusingly. “You
people
better not do anything to my family. What kind of monsters are you?”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Nobody’s going to hurt anyone, Ava, for God’s sake.” He turned a little on his stool to look into her eyes. “It’s easy to excuse an absence. Maybe you won a fellowship to study a semester in Europe . . . or you got a student internship with a publishing house in New York.”

“Nobody will believe that,” Ava huffed, although she was relieved that it wasn’t something more sinister.

“With a little push, they would,” Caleb said quietly.

“You mean your little trick,” she replied, pointing a finger at her forehead. “You’ll mess with their minds.”

Caleb shrugged. “Nothing too invasive. And only as a last resort.”

“Oh, well then, I guess that’s fine,” Ava snapped. “As long as it’s as a last resort.”

“Look,” Caleb said, shoving away his plate so he could lean on the counter. “I know it’s not the ideal solution, but my primary goal right now is keeping you safe. The only way I can see to do that is to get you to the colony.”

“Why can’t I just talk to this Council?” Ava asked. “I’m not going to tell anyone about all of this. And you can do your little mind-blur thing and erase it all if that will make them feel better.” She abandoned her tea, suddenly feeling a bit nauseous. “I’m not one of you. I’m
normal
.”

Caleb sighed heavily, and she could feel Audrey’s wary eyes.

“It’s not that simple, Ava,” Caleb said.

“Why not? I mean, I’m not convinced I can do anything special, really. The things you’ve talked about could all be coincidences,” she said, grasping for any viable argument. “And I’d imagine to really become good at it you have to—I don’t know—train and practice or whatever, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, if I don’t, then I won’t be able to cause any problems. You wipe my memory clean, send me back to school and everything goes back to normal.” Ava brushed her hands together, forcing a bright smile on her face.

Caleb’s jaw tightened, and Audrey interjected quietly, “The Council will never let that happen, dear.”

“Why not?” Ava threw up her hands.

“First of all, the blur doesn’t work on you, at least not permanently,” Caleb said. “The last time, I put all I had into it—it should have ‘wiped you clean’, as you put it. But you fought through it.”

“Well, can’t you do that push thing? Make me not
want
to remember?”

“You don’t get it,” Caleb retorted. “If you were normal—human, and
only
human—you shouldn’t have been able to regain those memories.”

“Maybe I’m just special,” Ava argued stubbornly. “A strong mind, like you said.”

Caleb rubbed his hands over his face and looked to Audrey for assistance.

“Your memories are only part of the problem,” she said. “The Council’s greatest fear—next to exposure—is untrained and uncontrolled power. If you refuse to acknowledge your gifts and gain control of them, you will be seen as a threat.”

“So I’ll go to them and show them I’m not a threat.”

“No,” Caleb said abruptly.

“Why not?”

He took a deep breath. “If you go before the Council, they will test you thoroughly. They’ll be able to determine what, if any, abilities you have—dormant or otherwise.”

When he paused, Ava said impatiently, “Okay . . .”

He flashed her an irritated glare. “If they determine you have even the
potential
for abilities that could pose a threat to the Race—if you go before them without first gaining control of those powers—they won’t take the time to train you,” he said ominously. “Their first priority will be to eliminate the threat.”

Ava blinked at him in disbelief for a moment before sinking down on the stool. “You mean . . . you mean they’ll kill me.”

Silence was her answer.

“So,” she said resignedly. “Canada, huh? Guess I better get a passport.”

Audrey grinned. “Oh, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

For the first time since her nightmares came to life and she’d encountered Tiernan, Ava finally felt safe. She still worried about the people she left behind—especially her parents—but Caleb assured her that the college had no reason to raise the alarm—Lucy had been dealt with—and it would all be over soon.

She didn’t bother asking for details. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Instead, she tried to enjoy the brief respite from fear. As Audrey led her to a brightly lit room with a little balcony overlooking the back lawn, she found herself actually able to relax.

“There are towels in the bathroom, and shampoo and soap—an extra toothbrush if you need it,” she said, gesturing to an open doorway on the other side of the four-poster bed. “And if you need anything else, I’m just down the hall.” She set an extra blanket on the end of the bed with a smile. “Please make yourself at home, Ava. I mean that.”