Hunted (38 page)

I shrugged off the backpack and took out the hatchet, then picked a place along the wall and started whacking the sharp blade against the wooden wall. It was cold in the hut, but before long sweat streamed down my back. I hit and hit and hit, and finally a beam of light burst through a crack in the wood.
 

After a few more hits I made a hole large enough to climb through. I dropped the hatchet on the ground—I didn’t want to have to explain to Mom and Dad why I had it—picked up the backpack and climbed through the opening. My feet sunk in the ankle deep snow and I remembered how it had snowed on the night I had run away.

Thinking about that now, I cringed at how immature I had been. Running away just because I didn’t get my way? Please. I had nearly lost everything because of my impetuousness. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Well, I’d certainly learned my lesson.

I laughed with joy as I slowly spun around.
I was home.
I took off the backpack and pulled out the GPS device, then programmed in my home address. Once the satellite was acquired, I set off toward home. I thought about how I would explain my short hair. Thanks to Nick’s friend, Paula, at least I’d gotten it back to its natural color.

As I walked I noticed the pen marks slashed across tree trunks and my grin widened. I only wished Billy was here to see them. Even though he helped me, deep down I knew he doubted my story. I tried not to think about the boy I cared so much about and instead focused on getting home to my family.

My family. The one constant through all of this had been the love of my family. Whether in this world or the one I’d just left, they had always been there for me and I knew they always would be. I smiled as I pictured each of their faces. I could hardly wait to reach home.

I kept one eye on the GPS device and one eye on the slash marks on the tree trunks and before long the row of houses came into view. I picked out the back of the house that I knew was mine, and hurried toward it, but decided to approach from the front. When the picket fence came into view, my eyes were drawn to Goldie, playing with my brothers in the front yard. My heart leapt with joy to see them.

“Hi, guys,” I said as I entered through the gate.

They stopped playing and looked at me. “What happened to your hair?” Zac asked.

“Do you like it?” I fluffed up my short hair and smiled.

“It looks different,” Brandon said.

“Is Mom home?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“‘Kay. See ya.”

They went back to playing and I went into the house. The warmth of the living room embraced me and I paused, drinking in the feelings of home.

“Where have you been?” Mom asked from the kitchen doorway, fury clear on her face. “I’ve been searching for you all day.” She paused. “And what did you do to your hair?”

I let the backpack slide off of my shoulders and I ran to Mom, flinging myself into her arms. “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed.

She pulled away from me and looked at me with sternness. “I’ve been worried sick. I even called the police. And Dad’s been worried too. He took the whole day off looking for you, but he had to go into work for a while.”

“I was stupid. I ran away because I was mad.”
 

“Where did you go?”

“Into the forest.”

Her eyebrows went up. “In this weather?”

I got my tears under control and I wiped them away with my sleeve. “It wasn’t snowing when I left.”

“Where did you sleep?”

“I found a hut, but a tree fell on the door during the night and it took me a while to get out.”

“What about your hair?”

“I cut it.”

She frowned. “I can see that.”

I didn’t want to lie to her, but the truth was too incredible for belief. “You can ground me for as long as you want. I know I deserve it.”

She sighed. “We’ll talk about that later. I’m just glad you’re safe.” Then she gave me a hug. “For now, I think you should go to your room and stay there for a while.”

I nodded, thrilled to be home where I belonged. I grabbed the backpack and ran up the stairs to my room. I set it on the floor, then slowly spun around, so happy to be home.

“Hi, Morgan,” Amy said from the doorway.

“Amy!” I ran to her and threw my arms around her. “I’m so glad to see you.”

After I let her go, she had a look of puzzlement on her face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes! I’m fantastic!”

Her face smoothed out and she smiled, then she glanced behind her and looked at me. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “I didn’t tell them about William.”

“William?” Then I remembered that on the night I ran away I’d told her I was meeting a boy. She’d asked me what his name was and when I saw the book she’d been holding—
Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare—I’d told her the name of the boy I was meeting was William. I felt a jolt as I realized that Billy was a nickname for William. “He actually goes by Billy.”

“And?”

I smiled sadly. “It didn’t work out.”

Her face fell. “Oh. That’s too bad.”

I nodded, my joy in being home tempered by the knowledge I’d never see Billy again.

“Mom and Dad were so worried. I think you’re in big trouble, but I promise I won’t tell them about Billy.”

Overwhelmed by so many emotions, tears filled my eyes, but I brushed them away. “Thanks, Amy. You’re the best sister in the world.”

Her eyebrows pulled together in puzzlement—I’d never said anything like that to her before—then she smiled. “You’re the best sister too, Morgan.”

I hugged her again, my joy in being home filling me with a warmth I’d never experienced before.
 

Amy pulled away. “I have homework to do, but maybe later we can hang out?”

I nodded, suddenly having a strong desire to get to know my sister better. “Yeah. Let’s hang out.”

Her face lit up. “Okay.” Then she walked away, her body language showing her pleasure.

I turned back to my room and saw the mess of clothes and other items strewn around the room. I bent down and started picking up the clothes and putting them away, then I moved on to the rest of the mess and slowly but surely my room began to look tidy. I took the vacuum out of the closet and wheeled it back to my room, cleaning the carpet until it was spotless.
 

After putting the vacuum away, I went into the bathroom and noticed it could use a good scrubbing. I got right to work, thinking how much easier this was than cleaning the four bathrooms at the F.A.T. center. I shook my head as I thought about the last two months. Now that I was home, it almost seemed like a dream.

Bent over the toilet, I stood abruptly.
Had it all been a dream? Had I just imagined it?
I looked at my reflection in the mirror—my hair was still short—and knew it had really happened. But being home now, after longing for it for so long, just felt surreal.

“Wow, Morgan. What a nice surprise.”

I turned to see Mom standing in the bathroom doorway. I hadn’t done this to surprise her—I had just seen it needed doing, so I did it—but making her happy was a nice bonus. “Hi, Mom.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re still in trouble for running away, you know.”

I smiled. “I know.”

She leaned against the door frame as she returned my smile. “But you do know how to soften me up, don’t you?”

My smile vanished. “I wasn’t trying to soften you up. I promise.”

She laughed. “It’s okay. We’ll work it out.” She paused. “I need to run some errands, and Dad will be home late tonight, so I need you to watch your brothers for me.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Her eyebrows went up in surprise. “No sighing? No complaining? You really are working it.”

Had I really been that obnoxious and predictable? I thought back to how I was before. Yeah, I had been. I laughed. “Just trying to work my magic.”

She smiled. “It’s kind of working.” She stood straight. “Okay. I’ll be back later.”

“Bye, Mom.”

After she walked away, I went back to scrubbing and soon finished. Since Mom seemed so happy about what I was doing, I decided to clean the rest of the house. First I checked on my brothers and saw they were watching TV in the living room, then I got back to work.

Two hours later the house sparkled. I was excited for Mom to get home so she could see what I had done.

“Morgan,” Brandon said. “I’m hungry.”

As he said that I realized I was famished. I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. I’d been so stressed and emotional that I hadn’t even been hungry, but now it hit me hard. “I think Mom will be home soon and then we’ll have dinner.”

“But I’m hungry
now
,” he whined.

So was I. “Okay. Let me call Mom and see when she’ll be home.” Her cell phone number was programmed into the kitchen phone, and after a brief conversation with her, I hung up.

I turned to Brandon, who watched me expectantly. “She’s not going to be home for a while, so she said we could go ahead and eat.”

“Yay!”

I took out Mom’s recipe book and found one of my favorite recipes—lasagna. I made sure we had all the ingredients and got started. After what I’d been through, I was nothing short of amazed by the variety of food items we had in the kitchen. I was deep in thought as I mixed the meat with the tomato sauce when I heard a knock at the door.

I froze, my first thought going to the Enforcers who were after me. Could they somehow have followed me into this world?

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Brandon leapt from the couch and raced to the door.

“Wait!” I screamed.

He stopped in his tracks and stared at me, the urgency in my voice seeming to startle him.

“It’s dark out,” I said, as if that was a perfectly reasonable explanation for the panic in my voice—and it wasn’t completely unreasonable, but just out of character for me. “Let me get it.”

A knock sounded again, this time more loudly. Brandon looked from me to the door and back to me again. I shook my head. “I’ve got it.”

His shoulders slumped and he trudged back to the couch.

I hesitated a moment, then walked calmly towards the door—it wouldn’t do to show my brothers I was on the edge of freaking out.

Amy came trotting down the stairs. “Who’s at the door?”

I looked at her with widened eyes, as if I was trying to give her the message that we could be in danger. She looked back at me blankly and I had to remind myself that this Amy hadn’t just been through hell.
 

“Who is it?” she asked again, a perfectly reasonable question.

“I don’t know.”
 

She bounded toward the door saying, “There’s only one way to find out.” And before I could stop her she swung the door open.

When I saw his face, my mind began reeling.
Which world am I in?

“Hi,” Amy said.

He looked past her and right at me, a wide smile on his face. “Morgan?”

My mind cleared and I knew where I was. “Billy!” I raced to the door and flung myself into his open embrace. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

He laughed and wrapped his arms around me. “I can’t believe it either.”

“This is Billy?” Amy said.

Reluctantly, I pulled away from him and turned to my sister. “Yes. Billy, this is my sister, Amy.”

He played along, like he’d never seen her before. “Hi there.”

“I’m Brandon,” Brandon said as he materialized next to us. “And that’s my brother, Zac.”

Billy waved. “Hey, guys.”

I opened the door wider. “Come in.”

He glanced around. “Are your parents home?”

I smiled. “No. Mom’s running errands and Dad had to work late.”

He seemed to relax. “Okay.” He walked inside and I closed the door behind him.

We stood there a moment as I stared at him, trying to convince myself I wasn’t dreaming. Then a thought occurred to me. “You’re staying, right?”

“He’s going to stay for dinner?” Brandon said, grinning. “Yay.”

I looked at Billy and I could tell he knew what I meant.
Staying in this world.
 

He nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

“What changed your mind?”

He glanced at Amy and my two brothers, then raised his eyebrows.

“Hey, guys. Billy’s going to help me in the kitchen. Can you let me talk to him alone?”

Amy grinned and walked back upstairs, Brandon and Zac wandered back to the TV, and I took Billy’s hand and pulled him into the kitchen.

He looked at the ingredients spread out on the counter, then looked at me. “What are you making?”

“Lasagna. Do you like lasagna?”

“Never had it before.”

I smiled. “You’re going to love it.” Then, with a questioning look I said, “So, tell me what happened after I left.”

He leaned against the counter, chewing on his lip for a moment. “I guess I owe you an apology.”

“For what?”

“For not believing you.”

I smirked. “Yeah. You thought I was crazy.”

He nodded. “Well, you gotta admit, it did sound kind of…” he spun his fingers around his ears.

I gently shoved him, then went back to working on the lasagna.

He laughed. “So anyway, after you left I jogged around to the hut, expecting you to come out.” He chuckled. “I waited a while and you never came out. That got me thinking, so then I went back to where we’d parked the motorcycle, and imagine my shock when I saw you walking out of the forest.” He stood straight. “Well, it wasn’t
you
. This girl looked like you did when I first met you. You know, long hair and all.”

My hand stilled on the spoon I was stirring and my eyes widened. My voice came out in a whisper. “The other Morgan.”

He nodded. “Yep. I was pretty shocked, I’ll admit it.”

“So what did you do?”

“I did what you told me to do, and you were right. She knows how that world works and as soon as I told her the Enforcers were after her, she agreed to go with me. I took her to Nick’s place—he was completely confused when she showed up—and I gave her the letter. While she was reading it, I told Nick the truth.”

“You did? What did he say?”

“The proof was right in front of him, so he eventually believed me.”

“Then what?”

“He promised to reunite you—
her
—with your—
her
—family.” He shook his head. “I think my brain’s going to explode soon.”