Discovery (16 page)

Ben took a deep breath and sighed. “Grace, this isn't a situation. It's my job. It's my job to protect you and since every Anti-Power in the world is looking for you right now, I suggest we get going before we run into another one.” Ben threw enough cash on the table to cover the check the waitress had not yet delivered and then stood up. “Come on.”

Grace glanced at the cash on the table and quickly followed Ben outside. “Now what?” she said looking around at the town's narrow, empty streets.

“Now we need to find a car,” Ben replied. “Follow me.” He walked across the street toward the thrift store and glanced in the store window. The same clerk from the night before was working. Ben pulled Grace into a small, dark alley that ran along the side of the thrift store building and pointed. “There.”

At the end of the narrow alley was an old yellow Jeep Wagoneer that had obviously seen better days. The faux wooden sides were faded and rust dotted the yellow metal like chicken pox scars. Only the tires appeared to be relatively new and the sole parts worth stealing.

“Ben? What are we doing?” asked Grace, her brow now permanently knitted.

“We're buying that Jeep from our friendly clerk.” Ben pulled a large wad of cash from his jeans pocket.

“It doesn't look like it's for sale.” Grace shook her head, eyeing the wad of cash in Ben's hand.

“It's not, but it will be. Now go hide behind the Jeep while I go inside.”

Before Grace could protest, Ben was gone, leaving nothing but a breeze cooling Grace's face. He had disappeared. Grace looked around before squeezing behind the Jeep as Ben had ordered. Before she could even find a comfortable position in which to crouch, Ben had returned and was pushing her forward into the Jeep's front passenger seat.

“What did you do?” Grace asked, buckling her seatbelt with an extra tight tug.

“I bought the Jeep,” Ben said nonchalantly as he slid into the driver's seat beside her. “Don't worry. The clerk didn't see me. I ran in there and left enough money on the counter to cover the Jeep and then some.”

“How do you know this is his?”

“Because it was here last night parked in the exact same place. That and I saw the Jeep key on his key ring when he was locking up last night. See?” Ben smiled, dangling the key in Grace's face before inserting it into the ignition. “Perfect fit.”

Grace's eyes widened. “Your powers … they're … they're … ”

“I know, I know,” Ben rolled his eyes teasingly. “At least that's what they tell me. My dad was just as powerful. That's why the Council picked us to be your Guardians.”

Grace shook her head. “You … you know I have to ask,” Grace stammered. “Where did you get all that money?”

“The Powers have been around a long time, Gracie. I told you. I have my resources,” said Ben. “Now hang on.”

Ben gunned the Jeep out of the alley and down the street back toward the town's outskirts. He drove in silence down the winding two-lane road until the town disappeared in his rearview mirror.

Grace didn't say much either as she processed their discussion from the diner. She still had so many questions but could tell Ben was tired of giving answers. She reached over and turned on the Jeep's radio. The eighties station was playing Peter Gabriel's “In Your Eyes” and the image of Gregory pulling her toward the dance floor at her birthday party flashed through Grace's memory. She immediately turned off the radio.

“Hey,” Ben said. “I like that song. I thought it was your favorite.”

“It was … it is,” Grace said. “I'm just not in the mood for it right now.” She looked out her window at the mountains rushing past them. They had past their motel a few miles back and were now officially outside all civilization. “How much longer?”

“Just a few more hours,” Ben replied. “We'll be there before you know it.”

“What's so special about this mountain place? About the Misfits?” The questions popped out of Grace's mouth before she could stop them. She braced for Ben's expected retort.

“It's a safe place,” Ben answered, calmer than Grace expected. “I don't think anyone really knows the Misfits are there. I only know about them because of Dad's best friend, Dave.”

“So your father was a Power. That means your mother was related to me?”

“Yes, but distantly. I think you would have to go back a few hundred years to find where my mother and your immediate family connected. Otherwise, they would not have picked Tom to be — ” Ben abruptly stopped talking.

“Tom to be what?”

“Nothing. Forget about it,” Ben said. He changed the subject quickly. “I think you'll really like Dave. He's a lot of fun.”

“Will your father be there or are your parents still in Florida?”

Ben shifted uncomfortably in his seat and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “My father won't be there, Grace. And my parents are not in Florida.”

“Where are they?” Grace asked but she was afraid she already knew the obvious answer to her question.

“Gracie, the Anti-Powers killed my parents about a year ago. Tom and I just told everyone they retired to Florida to avoid any weird questions.” Ben stared at the road winding in front of them.

“Oh, Ben. I'm … I'm so sorry. So very sorry. I didn't know.” Grace shook her head. Ben's parents had always been so kind to her, including her in their family get-togethers, taking her to the beach with them, making sure she was never alone. Then a realization hit her hard right in the middle of her chest. “Ben, were your parents killed because of me? Because of their connection to me?”

Ben didn't reply but his silence was confirmation enough. Overwhelmed, Grace threw her face down into her hands and began to cry. Not just tears, but huge all-out sobs that shook her entire body like an earthquake. She tried to stop but she could not. The tears just kept coming and coming and coming. She did not want to fall apart in front of Ben yet again, but the floodgates were open now and all that had happened the past two days pushed out through her eyes and flowed down her face.

“Gracie,” Ben said softly as he placed his hand on her knee and gave it a squeeze. “It's okay. Really. It's okay. It's not your fault.”

Grace's head popped up out of her hands, her eyes red with sadness and self-loathing disgust. “How can you say that, Ben? People are dying because of me!”

“No, Gracie, no.” Ben shook his head. “You have it all wrong. Can't you understand how important you are? People aren't dying
because
of you. People are dying
for
you.”

The Pines was the most exclusive gated community in a hundred mile radius. Lush, green lawns flowed from mansion to mansion, tended with care by workers whose annual salaries barely equaled one month of the residents' monthly association dues. Perfectly poised pink azaleas and crepe myrtles colored the detailed landscapes and dotted the emerald lawns like gemstones. Even the tall southern pine trees that lined the entrance to the Southern Pines Country Club seemed more graceful than their relatives that lived outside The Pines' gates. This rainbow of shrubs, trees, and flowers did more than color the residents' world. This horticulture masterpiece also provided unique sound barriers between the mansions, preventing neighbors from listening in on each other and unmasking the private worlds housed in the individual brick homes. These natural sound barriers ensured the streets winding through The Pines community maintained the high-priced peacefulness that the residents had come to expect.

A peacefulness that was shattered by Mrs. Reich that afternoon.

“Jamison!” she screamed with a pitch that pierced the air and tore through the Reich mansion's walls, rippling out onto the landscape, bending the tall pines like a hurricane's wind. Mrs. Reich burst through the study's heavy wooden double doors without knocking, her eyes a deep crimson red. “Jamison! She killed my brothers!” she shrieked through gritted teeth. “I want that girl dead! I want her head on a platter! And I mean now!”

Seeing his wife without her sunglasses, Mr. Reich rushed from behind his desk to meet her before she burned the whole room down. “Shhh, my darling Ava. Calm down,” he said, rubbing her shoulders as he avoided her eyes' glare. “I know, I know. We have it under control.”

“Under control?” she fumed. “Under control? If you have it under control then why are my baby brothers dead? My poor precious baby brothers you sent out there. You said they could handle her! Well, apparently you were wrong!” She shoved her husband's hands off her shoulders and stepped back out of his reach. “If you don't take care of this, I'll go out there and kill her myself!”

“Darling.” Mr. Reich tried his best to use a soothing voice. “Now you know we can't kill her until our scientists are finished with her. Let them get what they need from her to complete their genetic assessment and then, I promise you, you will have your revenge.”

Mrs. Reich seethed, “Have you found her? Where is she?”

“We don't have her exact location but we know the vicinity. Gregory thinks she is traveling with some boy named Ben, possibly a Power. But trust me, every soldier we have is closing in on the area even as we speak. Our sheer numbers alone can handle this Ben person. I promise.” Mr. Reich drew his wife into his arms and caressed her long blonde hair. “Shhh, darling. I promise you there is absolutely nothing to worry about.”

Mrs. Reich looked up at him, her red eyes on the verge of exploding. “There better not be.”

• • •

The woods were denser, the mountains steeper. Even the road seemed narrower.

“How much longer?” Grace asked looking out her side window. She had spent the last few hours avoiding her thoughts by counting the wildflowers on the side of the road. Driving deeper into the forest, she was now running out of flowers.

“Not much further.” Ben glanced at the Jeep's gas gauge. “But we probably need to make one more quick stop for gas before we get there, so start looking for signs of civilization.”

Grace squinted and looked deeper into the steep forest lining the road. “Civilization? Yeah, right,” she chuckled to herself. “We'll be lucky if we find a place with running water in these mountains.”

Ben smiled over at her. The sun, filtered by the trees, made its way through the Jeep's dirty passenger-side windows to form a dotted halo around Grace's entire body. Her ponytail glistened in the mottled sunlight and, without thinking, Ben reached over and gently removed the band holding Grace's hair back. Her long, brown hair fell softly around her shoulders just as she turned to meet Ben's gaze.

“So now you're my Guardian
and
my hair stylist?” She softly smiled.

Ben's eyes were tender and didn't shy away from Grace's gaze. “Sorry. I don't know why I just did that,” he spoke with naked honesty and had to restrain himself from touching her again.

“That's okay.” Grace looked back out her dirty side window. “It kind of feels better to have my hair down and loose anyway.”

Ben placed his hand back on the steering wheel, resuming the ten o'clock and two o'clock positions required by a careful driver, and silently chastised himself. Spending all this time with Grace was making it harder and harder to control his feelings. He needed to concentrate on his job. He needed to focus his energy on being Grace's Guardian.

He needed to get out of that Jeep before he did something really stupid.

“There,” Grace pointed out the front window a few minutes later. “Let's pull in there.”

A few yards off the side of the winding, narrow road sat an old, dilapidated, one-pump gas station. It looked deserted but an old man sat right by the front door, rocking back and forth in a ladder-back rocker and looking in their direction. He was bald and had lost most of his teeth, but Ben could see his blue eyes were truly blue. Contacts were definitely out of the question in these backwoods.

“We can stop here,” said Ben.

The sign above the gas pump said “Cooper's Gas and Groceries” and a neon “Open” sign flickered in the store window.

“At least they have electricity,” Grace said, unbuckling her seatbelt. She was ready to escape the Jeep's dirt for a little while.

“Yeah. But do they have gas?” Ben pulled the Jeep off the road and parked it beside the lone gas pump. Before he could turn to ask Grace if she wanted anything from the store, the old man was standing at her window, knocking on the dirty glass with a toothless grin.

The old man's sudden appearance startled Grace. She screamed and jumped over the Jeep's console, contorting herself into Ben's arms.

“Gracie.” Ben held her close. “It's okay. He's not one of them.” He wrapped his arms tighter around her and gave her a little squeeze. “I promise. No green eyes.” He smiled and released his hold on her. Being this close, her sweet smell filled his senses and his heart briefly stopped.

“Sorry. I guess I'm a little jumpy,” was all Grace said as she climbed back into her seat.

Ben patted her hand and took a deep breath. His heart started beating again. “Understandable. Why don't we go stretch our legs a little and work off your jitters?” He released her hand and got out of the car.

By now the old man had moved to Ben's side of the Jeep. “Mista, I didn't mean to scare yer lady friend like ‘at. I was just goin' to ask ye' if I could pump yer gas.” The old man's grin was infectious.

“Oh, she's okay. No problem. Go ahead and fill it up,” Ben replied, knowing this was probably going to be the highlight of the old man's day. “Do you have a pay phone I could use?”

“Sure thing,” grinned the old man. Being helpful appeared to be his life's work. “Right ‘nside th' door thar.” The old man pointed to the store and then turned back around to pump Ben's gas.