Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) (7 page)

Chloe didn’t look away from Olivia.

The woman picked up the cooler bag and then slung it over her shoulder, not seeming to notice the attention. “So, could you all follow in your car?”

“Sure,” Baylie replied.

Olivia headed for the door.

“What was that about?” Baylie asked Chloe in a low voice.

Chloe pulled her gaze from Olivia. “It’s just… Ellie’ll know better if something’s wrong.” She glanced to me. “Like she did with her grandfather.”

I paused, remembering how uncomfortable Ellie had been at Harman’s house, even compared to her normal anxiousness. She’d known what they were going to do to us. She’d attempted to argue against it.

“And I’m not sure I trust Olivia yet,” Chloe finished.

Baylie nodded. “Yeah.”

Ellie hung up the phone. A smile spread across her face as she came back over to us.

“Thank you,” she said to Chloe. “I know they’re worried, but I’d really like to do what I can to help you guys.”

“No problem,” Chloe said.

The girl’s smile grew. She hurried for the door.

Chloe and Baylie shared a glance, their cautious expressions nearly identical, and then they headed after Olivia as well.

I followed them, ignoring Noah. I didn’t know what’d happened in the short time I’d been asleep, but even more than before, Chloe looked on edge.

And like so much else, that couldn’t be a good sign.

Chapter Six

Wyatt

We’d burned through the charge in the cell phone twice and still we hadn’t reached the damn fish.

Clay muttered a curse and hung up. “You
sure
we can’t just leave a fucking message?”

“Keep calling,” Dad ordered from behind the wheel. “I want to hear her voice when we tell her.”

I kept my eyes on the view beyond the window. We’d been meandering across Wyoming for most of the night, stopping occasionally and generally buying time till the girl finally picked up the line. Dad didn’t want to push it, or take the landwalkers too close to the coast before the girl knew what was happening. It was no good killing them with proximity to the water if the girl wasn’t even aware we were doing it.

Though at least it’d make her father shut up.

I grimaced as the woman began crying again. I didn’t mind the sound. There was something soothing about things being afraid of you, like a certain rightness to the universe. But the guy would start comforting her, and his whispers of how everything would be alright annoyed the hell out of me. He seriously thought they both weren’t dead in all this. That by keeping her quiet, rather than ditching her and gnawing his own leg off like some animal in a trap, he still stood a chance of surviving and the woman did too.

It was revolting.

His little whispers started up again. I pressed my head to the window glass. Much more of this, and those two wouldn’t make it to Washington – to hell with the plan. Dad’s idea was to get a hold of the fish girl, tell her to meet us at our cabin or else, and then head back home and wait for her. I wasn’t sure which of us he intended to let have the girl – though I was pretty certain he wanted to kill that black-haired bastard himself after what the guy did to Brock – but if Clay or Owen thought they were going to get a chance at her, they were sorely mistaken. I was the oldest. I’d been waiting the longest. I was damn well going to be the one to take that girl’s life, and if either of them got in the way, I’d just have one more body to bury.

Though all that was irrelevant if we couldn’t get a teenager to answer her fucking phone.

“This plan blows,” I muttered.

“You got a better one?” Dad snapped.

I paused. I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud. He sounded pissed.

And I didn’t have an answer anyway. I’d kill her father and leave his body for the cops, under the assumption that the bitch would hear about it eventually, but Dad probably wouldn’t agree. More leverage was better and all that.

But at least I wouldn’t have to listen to the guy anymore.

“We could try Harman?” Clay suggested from the back seat. “See if he knows any other numbers to call?”

Disgust twisted my face. “That little weasel won’t–”

“Good idea,” Dad said. “Call him.”

I could have punched Clay for his smirk.

Knowing I couldn’t easily reach him over the seat, he ignored my glare while he thumbed on the phone and then dialed. “It’s us,” he said when the doctor answered. “We can’t reach the fish. Who else can we call?”

My ears picked up the sound of Harman sputtering.

“I-I think she might’ve headed to Fort Pedrosa. My granddaughter… she’s with them and so we’re–”

The sounds were muffled for a moment as Dad reached back. “Give me that.”

Clay handed the phone over.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell us this earlier?” Dad demanded.

“Well, I mean, I wasn’t… Eleanor is a very smart girl. She
might
go there, but…” Harman seemed to regroup. “It’s under control, Richard. I have the chief of police from Chloe’s hometown with me. He understands the seriousness of this and of what that dehaian boy has done. Don’t worry; we’re only minutes away from Fort Pedrosa and if we find Chloe and Zeke there, Barry will help–”

“We don’t need
help
,” Dad growled. “Give us your granddaughter’s number.”

Harman was quiet for a moment. “Now, Richard, Eleanor is my–”

“You want the fish or not?”

The old man listed off the number. I smiled.

“You understand, though,” Harman continued. “Eleanor isn’t to be–”

Dad hung up.

“We going to that place?” Owen asked.

“No.”

Dad extended the phone to me. “Call the granddaughter.”

My brow climbed. “What? We’re still–”

“Weren’t you listening?” Dad snapped. “They might not be there. I’m not chasing them to Colorado just to find out those scum-suckers are somewhere else. We’re getting them to come to us this time, no matter what.”

I made no move to take the cell, my expression unchanged.

Giving me a disgusted look, Dad tossed the phone back to Clay.

“Call her,” he ordered again.

Clay dialed the number.

I turned to the window. This was stupid. No, it was beyond stupid. It was driving in
circles
. We’d been at this for a day already and we’d be at it for more, the way Dad was handling things. If the fish was somewhere, even if there was a
chance
the fish was somewhere, we should head to that place.

That’s what hunting
was
.

My gaze slid to Dad. He wasn’t watching me anymore, and his hands moved on the steering wheel like he was imagining wrapping his fingers around that guy’s throat.

I would’ve come up with
so
many better plans than this. I’d have the fish already and Brock… well, dead or not, whatever. But we’d have the fish. We wouldn’t be just driving around like a bunch of old ladies lost in the countryside.

The woman started up crying again and the man whispered stupid words of comfort like he couldn’t see the reality in front of his eyes. I rested my head back on the glass. This would change soon. Whether by the girl answering the phone or my patience coming to an end, this would change.

I’d make sure of it.

Chapter Seven

Noah

The scents of pine and mulch surrounded us, and so many birds filled the trees with their cries that I felt like I was being bombarded by a Hollywood sound effect. The trail ahead of us curved through the forest, as did the one behind, and occasionally I could spot boot prints in the dirt, showing where rangers had hiked up and down this path before us.

In the lead, Olivia continued on unwaveringly, the crayon-blue cooler bag bouncing against her back. Ellie was close behind her, and cast nervous glances at us with every few steps. Meanwhile, Zeke seemed to have installed himself as a buffer between those two and Chloe and Baylie.

At the back of the group, I struggled to hold my focus to the forest, though it kept slipping to Chloe. I hadn’t had enough sleep – barely an hour, if that – and my brain felt like it had the attention span of a squirrel on speed. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop my thoughts from returning to her. To the way Zeke had attempted to touch her in the kitchen, and the way she’d pulled away from him.

Almost like she’d pulled away from me yesterday.

I didn’t know how to read that. I wanted to hope that was a good sign for me, that maybe she wasn’t as into him as I’d thought, but that seemed like a big conclusion to jump to based on one small action that could have meant anything.

And besides, I really needed to concentrate.

Grimacing, I glanced to the trail behind us again. Winding down the hill and only partly visible between all the trees, the track seemed empty. My hearing mostly agreed, though the birds were giving me a headache and interfering with my ability to be sure.

We crested another rise and the path led down to a clearing nestled in a tiny valley, where a collection of fallen logs rested. The Park Service or time had smoothed the logs’ upper sides, till they looked like natural benches for hikers. Crossing to the nearest one of these, Olivia sat down and swung the bag from her shoulder.

“Anyone hungry?” she asked, looking mostly to me and Zeke.

I shook my head, and he did the same. I hadn’t eaten since we’d grabbed a meal on the road last night, but my body was too distracted by the possibility of people sneaking up on us to let my stomach worry much about food.

The others sat on the logs, with Baylie and Chloe staying near each other and leaving the rest of us to find places elsewhere.

“So I’ve got to say,” Olivia began. “You all came at a good time. Colorado is beautiful in the summer.”

I struggled to keep my irritation from my face. I wished she wouldn’t try to make small talk. Between that, the birds, and my steadily growing headache, it was hard to hear if anyone was coming.

“Though,” Olivia continued with a smile, “I admit I’m a bit biased. I love it when the trees are so brilliantly green.”

Baylie smiled, though I could tell the expression was strained. Chloe didn’t respond, her gaze on the path.

“It’s great, yeah,” Ellie agreed supportively.

“So where are you from, Noah?” Olivia continued. “Kansas as well?”

“California.”

“Oh, that sounds nice.”

I nodded, returning my attention to the trail.

A heartbeat passed, and then Olivia finally seemed to give up on her attempt at conversation.

Time crept along while the birds shrieked at each other and nothing else happened. Every few moments, my gaze twitched back to Chloe. I wondered what she was thinking about. I wondered if there was something I could do to change this situation – the one where Zeke was still in the picture. Things had just been starting to get good between us when she’d had to leave Santa Lucina because of what those dehaians had done. And yes, after that, everything had gone to hell. I’d hurt her. She’d fallen for that guy.

But there had to be a way to get the good stuff back again.

Nothing came to me. Nothing that wouldn’t be stupid, anyway. Near silence – birds aside – in the middle of a group wasn’t exactly the best setting for a private conversation with a girl.

I scowled, fighting the urge to rub at my burning eyes for the twentieth time. My family and that Harman guy just wouldn’t give us a break. Whenever I turned around, they seemed to be after us again.

A buzzing noise made me tense. I glanced over to see Ellie pulling out her cell phone. Her brow furrowed when she read the caller ID and then she tucked it away again.

“Who was it?” Baylie asked, her quiet voice seeming loud after everyone’s silence.

“I don’t know. I didn’t recognize the number.”

I returned to watching the forest.

A minute passed. The buzzing came again.

Ellie drew out the phone. “It’s the same number. Should I answer it?”

“Probably just someone convinced they’re not wrong about what they dialed,” Baylie replied. “They’ll give up in a minute.”

Ellie nodded, though she still appeared concerned.

My gaze snapped over as the thud of footsteps came from farther back along the trail. My brow drew down. My cousins wouldn’t be that loud. Harman might, but that sounded like at least three people.

I turned back to find Chloe watching me. I glanced to Olivia, but the woman was studying the other direction of the path.

I gave Chloe a quick nod.

She shifted anxiously on the log.

“Hello?” a man called.

Olivia turned. “Over here, Phil.”

I rose to my feet, listening for anyone else around us, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the others stand as well.

Breathing heavily, a large, middle-aged man strode up to the crest of the hill. Sweat shone on his face and balding head, and the red flush of his skin probably owed as much to the polyester sports jacket he wore despite the summer’s heat as it did to the hike. Two others followed him, one of them a petite woman with long and gray-streaked brown hair who was dressed like she’d just been dropped out of a time-warp from Woodstock, and the second was a blond guy in a striped polo shirt who looked as if he belonged in some high-end suburban neighborhood, where he’d most likely be obsessing over his lawn.

“So!” the first man announced while he came down the slope toward us. “Quite the secret meeting you’ve got going, Olivia. You sure we had to come all the way out here for this?”

“Of course she is, Phil,” the Woodstock woman replied. “Like I said back by the cars, Olivia wouldn’t ask us here without a good reason.”

The suburban guy gave a quick nod of agreement, though he kept an eye to Phil as if concerned the man would see the motion.

“And besides,” the woman continued. She drew a deep breath of the forest air. “This is a
much
nicer place to meet. No offense to your office,” she added to Olivia.

“None taken.” Olivia glanced to us. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet the elders of the landwalkers. A few of them, anyway. Dave, Phil,” she nodded to the two men, “and Robin.”