Winter's Scars: The Forsaken (Winter's Saga 5) (16 page)

“What should I do, Mom?”

Margo was quiet for a moment.  Her warm brown eyes glistened with unshed, worry-filled tears. 

“Let me be sure I understand her abilities as you’ve described them.  She can feel the emotions of people near and far, read their intentions, heal them of emotional pain and now she can project a psychic, mind-control energy across a distance that can affect one to a dozen or more people—human and metahuman.” 

“That about sums it up.” Alik felt his adrenaline start to course and made himself breathe slow, deep breaths to calm down so he wouldn’t overreact—in his own way.  He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed deeply.

“Where is she now?”

“Running.”

“Alik, you know I have always taught you three to choose the path of morality—God’s will, over your own.  Every thought and action must be filtered through our faith first.  There are definite rights and wrongs.  In this battle our family has taken on, the lines between the two have started to blur.  I’m going to have to pray that all my years of teaching will help Meg find some sense of God’s purpose in her abilities.”

“She’s got to learn to control her emotions.”  Alik’s blue eyes stung with worry.

“That’s always been her double-edged sword.  Just think of all the good her gifts have done for us.  She’ll come out of this, Alik.  Just give her time.  Everything has happened so quickly.   It wasn’t all that long ago that we were at the old ranch—just the four of us—separate from the world.”

“You’re right, Mom.”

“Now,” Margo sighed deeply as a way of shifting subjects in her mind.  “What are we going to do about Arkdone’s witch hunt?”

“Well, it’s just a matter of time until they produce some formal charges.  We may have to go into hiding, Mom.  I don’t know how they’re going to prove it, but I bet Arkdone is going to have Meg charged with the deaths of all those ‘heart attack’ victims.  That would mean life in prison. Damn, I wish I could ask Evan his thoughts on this.”  Alik looked wistfully at his sleeping brother.

“I just don’t get it.  Why is Arkdone doing all this?  What’s his motive?  Williams, well as monstrous as he is, his line of thinking made sense.”  Margo tried to keep her voice steady, though she was feeling anything but.

“Those are good questions.  I’ve been racking my brain over the same thing.  I’m going to start researching him and see what I find.”

“Good idea Ali.  I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

“And Alik?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for all you’re doing to keep our family safe.  I wish none of this was happening, but I have faith that there will be a way to live in peace.”

“I know, Mom—and please don’t thank me.  You know I’d do anything to keep my family safe.” 

“Whisking you, Meggie and Evan away with me was the most wonderful thing I will have ever done.  You three have been my gift from God, no matter what happens.” 

Alik could hear the tears in her voice.  “All right lady.  You’re embarrassing me,” Alik teased, trying to put a smile on his mother’s face.

“Maybe you could have Meg call me when she gets back from her run?”

“Sure thing, Mom.  We’ll get through this, okay?”

“Okay, sweetie.  Bye.”

“Bye, Mom.”

Margo sat with her phone still warm in her hands thinking.

She was thinking back a few hours ago when she sat waiting during her layover.  She’d waited in the middle of terminal B3 in El Paso International Airport when the flat-screens angled around the room came to life in unison with the footage from the Flagstaff scene.  The first time it showed the footage, she watched the screens with wide-eyed amazement at her precious children as they fought to stay alive. 

The second time the story looped, she watched everyone else’s reaction.  They were terrified of her children.  She saw the slack jawed, wide-eyed expressions and cringed.  She saw mothers sweep their children up into their arms and hurry past the screens so as not to expose them to the freakish, scary scenes.  She watched men cross their arms, sway anxiously and shake their heads at Alik as he tossed the sedan. 

The reaction to Meg’s demonstration of her powerful mind control provoked the most visceral response from the humans walking around her.  The looks on their faces was fear and hatred.  Margo had felt the urge to scream at the top of her lungs in defense of her children, but she knew it would have done no good.  The media and Arkdone’s fabricated speech had insulated the world from the truth. 

She transferred carefully back to her wheelchair and moved around the house closing and locking all the windows she had just opened.  The world outside was too ugly and the air had lost its sweetness as worry slipped deeper into her soul.

Chapter 32  I’m Not What I Seem

Meg was completely paralyzed physically and though her cognitive abilities were mostly intact, the effects of the drug on her system had numbed her empath abilities.

She looked up into the light brown eyes of one of the largest soldiers she’d ever seen aside from Creed and Alik in hulk mode.  His face was half shadowed as he spoke
, causing the pupils of his eyes to pulse large and small as they tried to adjust.  His face was near hers as he’d caught her before she fell to the ground from the drug.  For a moment, she thought she saw a glimmer of concern cross his face before he locked his jaw. 

“Williams has ordered me to bring you in.”

Meg narrowed her eyes, but the paralyzer forced her silent. 

“I’ve given you a paralyzing agent that will take full effect within minutes, so you’d better listen while you can.  I’m Gideon Niche—a
metamonarch working for Dr. Kenneth Williams.  I’ve been tracking you since the helicopter crash in Kentucky.  I need you to know I’m not what I seem.  I’m…”

Meg’s eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out. 

“Damn it!” Gideon breathed, kicking himself for misjudging the dosage.  He shook her, trying to see if she could be roused, but only watched as her hair moved loosely—her eyes never opening.

He carried her easily through the darkness of the foliage to the sedan parked just ten yards away.  He placed her carefully in the back seat and hurried around to the driver’s side. 

Meg’s body jostled with the movement of the truck as Gideon easily saw well enough in the dark to manage his way out of the woods and back onto the paved road leading away from the motel.

Chapter 33  They’re Coming

“Alik.” Evan’s raspy voice was just above a whisper.

“I’m here, Ev,” Alik dropped the phone in the chair he’d been occupying for the past thirty minutes waiting for his sister to come back and hurried to his brother’s side.

“We have to get out of here!” H
e enunciated each word as carefully as he could.

“No, little brother.  You just need time to finish your evolution.  We can take one night to let you rest before we get back on the road tomorrow.”

As Alik talked, Evan shook his head no.

“They’re coming.  They’re coming, Alik.  We have to leave now.”

“Who’s coming?”

“Federal agents—Arkdone’s men.”

Alik’s eyes widened.  “What?  How do you know?”

“I just know.”

“Meg is still out there.” Alik ran to the window to peek out again, desperately scanning the view for his sister’s silhouette.

“She’s already been captured, Alik.” Evan’s words resonated in the room.  “We have to think about the others now.  Get everyone in the van.” He struggled to push himself off the bed and patted around with his good hand looking for some clothes. 

“Evan, what are you talking about?  We’re not leaving Meg.  We’re not leaving at all.”

“Listen to me, Alik,” Evan’s feverish body flushed with his effort to be understood by his brother.  “Meg has already been captured and Arkdone’s men are coming for the rest of us.  We can’t fight them off without Meg.  We will be captured and imprisoned.  Think of Danny, Alik.  We have to get him and everyone else to safety.  Then we can worry about getting our sister back.  The rest of the family—they are our responsibility.”

“How do you know all this?” Alik had started pacing the room like a caged lion.  His hands were clenching and unclenching, adrenaline starting to surge from frustration and panic.  “Evan, answer me!  Why should I believe you and not just chalk up this whole outburst as delirium brought on by the fever?”

“You’re going to have to trust me, Alik.”  Evan’s voice was steady, solid and as lucid as ever.

Alik stared at his brother through rapidly changing eyes.  Violet daggers pierced Evan’s feverish body. 

All the shouting had gotten the attention of everyone in the next room.  Maze growled deeply and moved to hobble protectively next to a wide-eyed Danny. 

“What’s happening?”  Theo asked, worry etching his aging face.

Alik and Evan were still locked in silent battle, staring at each other—communicating through years of shared memories.

“We’re leaving.  Now.”  Alik said the words, but even he couldn’t believe he was going along with this plan.

“What?” Creed called from over Theo’s shoulder.

“Pack up, we’re leaving now.”

“Wait, why?”

“We don’t have time to discuss this,” Evan said still looking at his brother and cradling his burned hand.

“We’re leaving now.  Arkdone’s found us and we have to get out while we can.”

“But what about Meg?  She’s still running, but she should be—”

“She’s been captured,” Evan called over the murmurs of confusion.

“WHAT do you mean ‘captured’?”
Creed forced his way past the others in the doorway to get inside the room.  He looked ready to strangle someone.

Evan finally let go of his brother’s gaze to look at Creed.  “You must believe me when I say if there were any other way to do this, I would.  We must leave right now.  And we’re leaving without Meg.”

“Not again!  We’re not leaving her behind again!”
Creed roared.

“We don’t have a choice.  She’s already gone.”  Evan’s voice was calm but the ominous meaning behind his words exploded off the walls like shrapnel
, causing everyone to gasp.  He tossed his legs over the edge of the bed wearing nothing but a thin pair of navy boxer briefs.  He shook hard enough to make the hardest of hearts feel for him as he struggled to pull on a pair of wrinkled jeans with one hand. 

“You must believe me, Creed.  I swear there’s no other way.” He reached back onto the bed for the T-shirt he was wearing earlier, but it was covered in blood and burn holes.  “Theo, help me find a shirt?” he asked the doctor.

Theo hurried back into the other room and returned with a fresh shirt they’d bought at the superstore.  “I have fresh jeans for you too,” Theo started taking the tags off them.

“No time.  We have less than five minutes.  Please believe me.”

Everyone watched his shaking hands reach into the T-shirt and lift the edge over his head.  He looked weaker than a newborn kitten.

He shoved his feet into the shoes at the foot of his bed and hobbled out of the room.  The others stood aside, jaws still agape and let him pass.

“Danny,” they heard him say to the toddler.

“Danny, we have to go.  Get your things and bring Maze.  We have to get in the car, buddy.  Come on.” 

Alik looked at Creed.  They were mirror images of dread and uncertainty.

“What do we do?”

“We could wait until they break down the door, but then it’ll be too late.” Evan’s raspy voice called from the door to the motel room he was exiting.

“Give me the keys if you’re not coming.  I have to get Danny to safety.”

“Shit!” Alik threw his hands in the air in frustration.  “Everyone get in the van now!” Alik grabbed Theo’s cell phone and shoved it in his pocket before pushing past Greg and Theo.  Farrow and Sloan had been listening to everything, but stayed quiet until then.

“We’re leaving without Meg?  Why?  We have time to go find her if we run and split up.”  Farrow had already yanked her bag across her chest, mail carrier-style and looked ready to bolt.

“Yeah, if we’re leaving, then we’re
all
leaving,” Sloan grabbed her doctor’s flashlight from her bag, ready to search for Meg.

“NO!”
Evan yelled to the group.  Danny flinched at his feet.  Maze started growling again. 

“
Meg is GONE!
  She’s
GONE
!  And we’re about to be captured, experimented on and eventually killed.  We leave NOW!”

The room was silent except for the ragged breathing of both the metahumans and humans alike. 

Without another word, Sloan went to stand beside Evan.  Alik yanked the satchel they’d used to stash all their hastily purchased supplies and yanked the keys from his front pocket.  Theo sighed deeply and walked out behind Alik.  Greg hurried after him.  “Theo, what are you doing?  We can’t leave the girl!” 

“Greg, maybe now is a good time for us to part ways.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned while living and working beside these kids, it’s that the safest place to be is right behind them.  It’s when we’re separated from them that life turns deadly.”