Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) (13 page)

“Please,” she said, her voice choked. “I-I need to drive.”

I grimaced, taking my hand away.

An exit sign flashed past and ahead of us, Olivia’s car moved to leave the highway. Chloe followed them. At the end of the ramp, the vehicles paused briefly before taking a right toward an enormous gas station situated beside the road. Semi-trucks were arrayed to one side of the concrete sea like a mismatched army, and cars were parked closer to the station or stopped beneath the gas pump shelter fronting it all. Lights glowed over the parking lot like miniature suns while, blinking brightly from the top of a towering pole, a sign flashed various prices for fuel.

When Olivia pulled up beside a gas pump, Chloe came to a stop behind her. With quick motions, she put the car into park and then took the key from the ignition.

She fled the car before I could say a word.

Noah stirred in the other seat.

Ignoring him, I opened the door and went after Chloe.

Striding fast, she headed into the gas station, and I sped up, trying to catch her. When I glanced back, I could see Ellie climbing from Olivia’s car and staring after us both, while Dave was focused on filling up the gas tank.

But Noah hadn’t tried to follow yet.

Good.

The sliding door hissed open ahead of me, and a blast of air conditioning made the hairs on my arms stand on end. I scanned the brilliantly lit interior, spotting her several aisles from the entrance.

Her gaze twitched my way when I came closer, and she grimaced. “Zeke, I can’t–”

“Chloe, stop. Please. I… Are you okay now? Can you at least tell me that?”

She hesitated and then nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine.” She paused again. “A-are you?”

My brow furrowed. She made a halting gesture to my forearms.

The confusion cleared and my mouth tightened. I hated the fact she’d seen that.

“Yeah.” I took a breath, pushing the frustration away. “Listen, I know you’re worried about your parents. We’ll help them. But you don’t need to–”

“It’s not just that.”

I paused.

She cast a quick look around. No one was in the station, except for a bored-looking cashier by the register and a pair of truckers sitting in a booth against the far wall, neither of whom glanced away from their pizza.

But Noah was climbing from the car. I fought back a scowl.

Chloe saw him too. “I just don’t want to talk right now,” she finished, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“Did you kiss him?”

She blinked. “What?”

My heart was pounding, the words having taken me as much by surprise as they did her. And I was being stupid. I shouldn’t have said anything, not when she was already so upset. But with the guy right outside and with me never having a chance to talk to Chloe where he wouldn’t hear…

I couldn’t have stopped myself if I tried.

“Did you?” I pressed. “On the porch the other–”

“You were
watching
us?”

“I was watching the street. I was trying to keep you safe.”

A breath left her and she turned away.

“Chloe…”

“No,” she snapped. “No, I didn’t. And I–”

She cut off with an exasperated noise and took off deeper into the store.

I grimaced. Stupid. Stupid, stupid,
stupid
.

And more relieved than I wanted to admit.

Still cursing myself for being an idiot, I followed her.

“Zeke,” she warned, her eyes on the racks of snack foods in front of her. “I don’t–”

“I’m sorry.”

She paused.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated.

A heartbeat passed. “Thank you for watching the street,” she acknowledged without looking at me.

“Of course.”

“You should’ve gotten sleep.”

I hesitated, unsure how to take that. I wasn’t going to leave her up by herself, no matter what the others had decided to do.

At my silence, she glanced toward me, though she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “It’s just… you have to take care of yourself too. I don’t–” She seemed to struggle with the words. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I paused, knowing I couldn’t agree to that. Not if it left her at risk. I reached out, taking her hand.

Air left her. For a moment, she closed her eyes, the tension seeming to leak from her.

And then she drew a breath, pulling her fingers from mine. “Please,” she said.

Without another word, she snagged a bag of pretzels from the shelf and headed for the register. The cashier rang up her order, regarding us both with a trace of humor the entire time, as though our quiet argument through the aisles had been the most entertainment he’d had all night. Ignoring him completely, Chloe grabbed her change and the pretzels, and strode out of the store.

Noah was waiting by the car. “Everything alright?” he asked neutrally, his gaze flicking between the two of us.

“Fine,” Chloe replied. “How much longer till we reach the house?”

He glanced over as Baylie climbed from the passenger seat. “A few hours.”

An annoyed breath escaped Chloe, but she just nodded. She looked to Olivia, Ellie, and Dave. “You guys still doing okay?”

The landwalkers hesitated, and for the first time I registered how tense they all appeared. Olivia and Dave had been trading off driving throughout the past day and night, but the strain on their faces looked more pronounced than that effort would have caused.

Chloe seemed to notice it too.

“I-it kind of hurts,” Ellie allowed.

“We should probably attempt your… solution now,” Olivia added, careful control in her voice. She glanced to Ellie. “Or else return. I think we’ve come as far as we can.”

Protests surfaced past the pain on Ellie’s face. Olivia quelled them with a look.

Chloe’s brow rose. “Why didn’t you all say something?”

She hurried over to them and then hesitated, as though uncertain what to do. Reaching out, she took Ellie’s hand.

A heartbeat passed. The pain on the girl’s face cleared. She looked up at Chloe. “What did you do?”

Chloe shook her head, seeming unnerved. “Just… wanted it to stop.”

She hesitated, not quite looking back toward me, and then she headed for Olivia and Dave on the other side of the car.

The tension in the two elders seemed to evaporate only moments after Chloe touched their hands.

I heard Baylie let out a breath and when I glanced over, I could see her surprise.

She caught sight of me looking at her, and she blinked, attempting to hide the expression.

Releasing Olivia’s hand, Chloe hesitated. “So, um…” Her gaze twitched to the elders and away. “You want to drive, Noah?”

Chloe drew the keys from her pocket and extended them to him, not meeting his eyes either.

He took them without a word.

She headed for the rear door of the car. Baylie gave one look to us and then moved for the back seat as well, leaving me to take her place in the front. By the other vehicle, the landwalkers opened the doors and climbed into their car.

And then it was just me and Noah.

I tried not to grimace as I headed for the passenger seat. This had to change. We’d rescue Chloe’s parents, we’d take care of Noah’s relatives, and then this
had
to change.

Otherwise, I was going to go crazy.

Chapter Eleven

Chloe

Next time I went across the country, I was taking a plane. I’d never been in one and, honestly, I was more than a bit afraid of them crashing.

But it had to be more comfortable than this. Or at least a faster trip – one that maybe wouldn’t require magic tricks.

My stomach twisted. I was glad Ellie and the others weren’t sick. That was great. It meant I could probably help Mom and Dad when we found them.

The fact that I apparently had magical powers, that I’d been on display with them in front of everyone, and that I didn’t even know what I’d
done
… oh, that was less great by far.

On the seat next to me, Baylie’s hand twitched. I looked over at her. Keeping an eye to the guys ahead of us, she curled her fingers quickly through the language we’d developed when we were kids.

You okay?
she signed.

I hesitated.

Her hand twitched again.
Not a freak
.

I swallowed, closing my eyes. I loved that sign. Loved her for creating it, back when we were little and my parents had me convinced I was being raised by escapees from an insane asylum. We’d used it back and forth for years, when school was awkward or popular kids made us feel dumb or whenever growing up in Reidsburg left us wondering if we were the biggest losers on the planet.

I was so grateful to see it now.

Glancing back to her, I managed a smile. Her brow rose insistently.

I started to nod, only to pause when I caught Noah looking back at me in the rearview mirror.

My stomach twisted for a whole other reason. I dropped my gaze to my lap.

A heartbeat passed. Baylie tapped the seat beside me. I glanced over again.

What
? she asked.

I hesitated. I didn’t want to lie.

And the truth was too hard to explain.

I gave a tiny shrug.

Her mouth tightened and then her hand flicked into another sign, aimed at the front seat.
Them
?

Or maybe not that hard after all.

I felt like an idiot. I should be concentrating on my parents – even if really, the possibility of what could happen to them left me so nauseated, I could barely stand it. But all hell could break loose when we reached those creeps’ house. Everyone here could be seriously hurt.

I needed to focus on coming up with a plan.

And throughout all the hours of driving, my thoughts had just kept slipping back to the two guys now sitting in the front seat.

It was moronic. My parents could die because of psychos who just wanted to get their hands on me. The whole world could be screwed simply because I’d been born half-dehaian and half-landwalker.

And I couldn’t stop thinking about boys. About how I couldn’t have both of them. About how, for God knew what reason, life felt like torturing me with two amazing guys and ending us all up in this situation where, no matter what I did, one or all of us were going to get hurt. And there was nothing I could do to fix it. I couldn’t even seem to figure out what I was feeling for them anymore. When I was around Zeke, I just felt like I wasn’t being fair to Noah. Like I was maybe even
cheating
on Noah. But when I was with Noah, it was
exactly
the same for Zeke. I couldn’t find a way out of that, and the result just left me going in circles, unable to be with either of them.

If it wouldn’t have been even
more
idiotic, I’d have just burst into tears.

I shrugged again.

Baylie sighed. She probably knew I was lying. All things considered, she was pretty good about that.

But thankfully, she also didn’t press for more.

Hours crept by. Portland arrived, with morning commuter traffic everywhere and buildings shining in the sunlight. The highway led us over a river and north past the suburbs, until finally the city fell behind us. Long after the state line had come and gone as well, Noah took an exit from the highway and soon after that, the main roads were a thing of the past. The rumble of gravel beneath the tires became our constant companion while we wound through the maze of back roads, where pines like Christmas trees on steroids formed blinding walls on either side of the car.

I knew we were approaching the coast, though. With every passing mile, my awareness of the ocean was growing stronger. I couldn’t see it yet, couldn’t even guess how many miles we had left to go. I hadn’t seen a house in what felt like forever and the closest we’d come to signs of civilization had been other dirt tracks that twisted into oblivion through the trees.

But we were close, so close it made shivers run over my skin.

Baylie shifted position on the seat beside me and the motion snapped me back to the present. She drew her cell phone from her pocket and then glanced to it. Her brow furrowed at what she saw.

My stomach twisted nervously as I read her expression. We were in the middle of nowhere. If we
did
end up calling the police, it’d be a miracle if they could find us in this mess. Or if we had enough cell signal to reach them.

“So,” Baylie prompted, raising her voice over the gravel’s roar. “How much longer?”

“Maybe twenty minutes,” Noah answered.

“And when we get there,” she continued. “What’s the plan?”

Noah’s gaze flicked up to the rearview mirror. Zeke turned his head toward us, though he didn’t quite look back to me or Baylie.

And that was it.

I drew a slow breath, working to stay calm. They weren’t going in there by themselves. That wasn’t going to happen.

But this wasn’t exactly encouraging either. I hadn’t come up with anything, but I’d been hoping someone else had.

“When do you think we should call the cops?” Baylie pressed.

Noah shifted uncomfortably in the driver’s seat. “My uncle probably has an arrangement with them. If the landwalkers take care of things for greliarans…” He shook his head. “Let’s just say that goes a
long
way toward explaining how my cousins haven’t managed to end up in jail by now.”

“We need to do something,” Baylie argued. “We can’t just go in there guns blazing or whatever.”

No one said anything.

An annoyed sound escaped her. “Pull over,” she ordered.

Noah hesitated, and then did as instructed.

“Okay, listen,” Baylie said. “What’s the plan? Where will they have the Kowalskis?”

I glanced through the rear window. Olivia was pulling her car over as well.

“Noah?” Baylie pushed.

“I’m not sure,” he grudged. “There’s a shed to the south of the house, so they could be there. Or the basement. They… they also have traps around the property.”

“Traps?” I repeated incredulously.

He paused. “They say they’re for animals.”

It wasn’t hard to read the implication. I swallowed and glanced back again when the doors on Olivia’s car shut. The elders started toward us and Ellie trailed after them, giving nervous looks to the forest while she came.