Piercing The Fold (24 page)

Sam waits for Anna the next day after the weekly debriefing at headquarters. “Anna, can you walk with me for a minute? I have something important to ask you.”

Anna is hesitant, but accepts Sam’s request. “Yes. Just for a moment. I have some things to do across town.”

They are walking on the north lawn of headquarters when Sam stops her by holding her arm. Anna turns toward Sam and looks up at him.

“Anna. Marry me. I have fallen in love with you.”

Anna is stunned by his proposal. She has to think quickly to not throw him off. “I don’t know that we are ready for that step, Sam. We are so young, and we have not known each other for very long. I’m sorry, but I can’t. I’m not ready for that yet.”

Sam watches her reaction, and he gets his answer with her response. “Is it because of him? The Dobrian you were with yesterday.”

Anna is taken aback by Sam’s bluntness and discovery.

Anna turns and starts to walk away. She puts her hand in her purse and turns the safety off on the gun she is carrying. She is hoping her partner will surface since she is meeting him a few blocks away. As she expects, Sam hustles after her and a confrontation ensues. He pulls her purse from her arm and tosses it. He forces her into alley between headquarters and a parking garage.

Sam yells accusingly, “Who the hell are you, Anna? Days ago we were inseparable. Now you’re shacking up with a Dobrian. If I didn’t know better, I would think you to be a spy.” Sam snickers and clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, “Tsk, Tsk. Anna the spy.”

He has Anna pinned against the wall now, with his hand around her throat, squeezing tighter and tighter.

Anna thinks quickly and kicks him in the groin. She runs beyond the parking garage and through the alley. She gets to the end of the alleyway when she hears screeching tires and a horn honk; it’s her partner. The car pulls up, and she gets in. Before she can close the car door, Sam is trying to pull her from the car by her hair. Anna swings her elbow back and catches Sam in the nose, leaving him splayed out on the street with blood running down his face.

Anna and her partner need to hide, go underground. Sebastian has a package waiting for them at a Dobrian safe house nearby. The packet contains everything they need to get out of the country for a while.

Within hours, they are on a flight to Nassau.

Within months, they are married. And a few months after, they have a child.

Jesca snaps out of the story for a moment. “A child. Me.”

Ezra looks at Jesca, calculating how the words to follow will sit with her.

Jesca’s mind is working. “My father was the partner. What was my father’s name?”

Ezra leans in and sighs. “Ezra Kahn. I’m your father, Jesca.”

Jesca is speechless. She stands and begins to pace. She pulls her hair back into a bun and folds her arms as she stalks back and forth.

Ezra just watches, waiting and letting her take it in.

She says the words in an accusatory manner and points to him. “You are my father.”

This is the reaction Ezra anticipated, hostility. He knew she would hold it in until it boiled over. He could feel it.

Sensing Ezra’s thoughts, Jesca responds, “No. Not hostile yet!” Jesca continues to pace and think.

Ezra knows she is methodically backtracking the events of her life: in Georgia, the university, at the facility, in Miami. Searching for clues that she might have missed to discover this. Ezra knows that she won’t. He was very careful.

Jesca never thought she would react this way. So many times she played it in her head. She anticipated a cold, emotionless conversation with a man of slight resemblance to herself in a neutral environment, most likely a coffee shop. They would be so caught up in the uncomfortable nervousness of their first meeting that the idea of pursuing a deeper relationship was the furthest thing from their minds.

Jesca stops in front of him. “I’m not going to deck you, but I am pissed. Your only salvation is that for the past fifteen minutes I have read every emotion and thought going through your mind and soul. I know that you wanted to tell me so many times over the years as you watched from afar.” Jesca’s voice begins to crack. “I know that for selfish reasons you could have, but for my safety you didn’t.”

Ezra’s eyes reddened slightly.

Jesca jumps at Ezra with such force, she knocks him back a bit. Ezra immediately responds by returning his daughter’s embrace. Jesca steps back from Ezra first. Both look down at their matching soaking wet shoulders. Ezra hands her a tissue from the side table and takes one for himself.

Jesca clears her throat and sits back on the chair. “Okay. What happens next? I mean, Anna and you.”

Ezra sits back on the chair and continues, “Anna and I were asked by Sebastian to start preparing a training program. Between the two of us, we had to put together a team of mentors to train future Dobrian guardians. Around this time, Sebastian was commissioning an architect to draft the design of a new facility that would be used for the training sessions. Within weeks, a contract crew was hired to begin construction on the facility.

“Three years later, we completed the set-up of the training program and were instructed by Sebastian to return to the United States, Colorado Springs. Before leaving Nassau, Sebastian told Anna and I that you, now three years old, had signs of multiple abilities and that we had an enormous responsibility to nurture and grow them with you. When we got to Colorado, everything was set up for us. We had a home, a car. We walked into the house, and it was fully furnished, baby toys and all.

“We had a community of friends immediately. All of the mentors that we knew as family had relocated to the area as well. It was like a huge reunion.”

Ezra looks off with a smile at the memory of it all.

“Anna had been so busy with training the mentors, monitoring the facility, and making sure you were watched over in the midst of it all. We had to maintain the cover of being an average, working-class family, so I settled into a job. I took on a job as a professor at a local community college. Astronomy. One Saturday I wanted to give your mother a break, so I offered to take care of the grocery shopping while you napped and your mother relaxed.

“I was halfway down the canned soup isle when I felt a surge of dizziness. I grabbed the handle of the cart with both hands. I had never felt such vertigo before. I heard a scream, then a cry. It was you. It sounded like you were right there in the aisle of the grocery store. But I knew you weren’t. You were trying to reach me. Even at the age of three you were using telepathy and trying to astral project to safety. I left my cart and ran out of the store and to the car. I called Lucius and Mary Sera, Nate’s parents. I told them to get over to the house. That something was wrong.

“By the time I got home, Mary was outside waiting for me to pull up. Lucius was standing at the doorway, blocking my entry into the house. I pushed past him. It was a wreck. There was a struggle. The lamp next to the sofa where I left Anna had toppled over onto the floor. Anna’s slippers were still on the floor next to the edge of the sofa.

“I called for you as I stalked through the house, knowing in my heart that you were not there.

“Lucius pulled at my shirt and said, ‘Ezra. It was Sam Crest. He did this. Sebastian has trackers on them. He has them both: Jesca and Anna.’ Those words ‘Jesca and Anna’ were all I heard. Lucius and the other mentors took me in a caravan to track Sam. Sam had been spotted by trackers heading into the foothills toward an old run-down cabin.

“Dusk was coming too quickly. We were headed to a heavily treed area about a mile away from the cabin. We traveled the rest of the way on foot to keep from alerting Sam of our presence. We were about a quarter of a mile away when the vertigo hit me again. You were yelling and crying, ‘No. Mommy! Leave her alone!’

“I could feel pain in my arms and legs. I could only think that I was feeling what Sam was doing to Anna through your mind.

“As we stood waiting for the others to get into position, I told Lucius that we needed to move now. He said that we were not to attack yet. It was too soon since we were still trying to cover the back of the cabin. I escaped his grip and ran for the cabin. I ran so hard and fast the others couldn’t catch up.

“Seconds from the door, I heard a bloodcurdling scream from Anna. My heart was on fire. I kicked open the front door to the cabin.”

Ezra pauses and puts his hand over his mouth for a moment.

“What I saw broke me. She was sprawled across an armchair. Her eyes still alive. Blood streamed from her chest. I went to her, untied her arms and legs, released her from the chair, and embraced her. I looked into her eyes once more. She didn’t speak, but thought,
I love you both, Ezra. I love you both. Keep her safe.

“I said, ‘I love you too. Stay with us, Anna.’

“The life slipped from her eyes as they became still. I covered her with an afghan. Lucius and the others entered the cabin. I heard one of the mentors call from the backyard, ‘He’s on the run!’

“I couldn’t leave Anna and you to chase him. Lucius and the others ran through the cabin and out the back door after him.

“I started to search the house for you. I found you in a playpen in a guest room, sitting with your blanket to your small face. You were whimpering. I picked you up and checked every inch of your body for injuries, bruises, anything.”

Ezra clears his throat. “Sam was gone. Night set in, and the team couldn’t track him any longer.

“You and I stayed with Lucius and Victoria for a few days until we got instructions from Sebastian. This was when you and Nate first met. He was so sweet with you. He was five at the time. The moment we walked through the door that night, Nate held your hand and led you to the guest room where he tucked you into bed. He covered you with blankets and stayed with you all night. He said that he was supposed to protect you. Even then, he was healing you, Jes.

“A couple of days passed, and Sebastian sent word through a vision. He told me that I had to separate from you. You were in danger and needed to be in a safe place away from me. After seeing what happened to your mother and what could have happened to you that night, I wasn’t going to fight it. I couldn’t put you at risk.”

Jesca says, “So that is when I came to Georgia to live with Mom and Dad.”

Ezra nods. “Yes, you did. And I was never far away. I did make that a condition. I would live and work nearby. Watch over you from afar. Never to approach you or let you know who I was until it was essential for your safety. I became a professor at the university. The Sera’s updated me faithfully over the years through letters and pictures of you. When they told me you were going to attend my university, I knew the time was getting close.”

Jesca smiles at the memory. “And then, that one day freshman year. I ran into you, literally. I was looking for my next class, and there you were.”

Ezra smiles.

Jesca puts her hand on top of his and squeezes it. Jesca is the first to pull away and stand. Now completely recovered from the healing, Jesca walks quickly to grab her running shoes, shorts, tank top, and iPod. She is heading for the door, hands full, when Ezra stops her.

“Whoa! Where you going?”

Jesca stops and turns to him, hand still on the doorknob. “I’ve gotta think. I need to breathe after all of that. Work things out.”

Ezra raises his voice. “Jes, it’s almost midnight. You need to rest after everything that has happened.”

Jesca nods in agreement. “I know. I’m just too wired to sleep. I’ll be fine. Promise. Well-lit streets, okay?”

Ezra leans back on the bed and huffs. He knows she needs to put everything into balance, so he doesn’t push any further.

She is dressed in a flash and opens the bathroom door, running straight into Nate’s chest.

Jesca steps back. “Sorry.”

Nate smiles and holds her arms to stop her from moving away. “Wait. Where are you going? It’s late.”

Nate brushes a stay hair off her face. Jesca looks down the hall nervously to make sure certain eyes didn’t catch that.

Ezra.

Nate senses her thought and looks back, then turns to her.

“Um. I’m going for a run.”

His voice grows loud. “Now!”

Jesca looks at him and whispers hard, “Yes!”

Nate leans forward and puts both of his hands on either side of her against the wall, blocking any escape. Jesca’s heart quickens. “I’m going with you, Jesca.”

Jesca senses he is afraid to leave her alone. Jesca puts her hands on his chest. “Nate. I’m all right. I just need to figure things out in my head.”

She stretches up on her toes and kisses him softly. She pulls away slowly; her lips linger near his. Nate’s hands move from the wall to Jesca’s face. He pulls her into him, capturing her lips with his. In this moment of weakness, Jesca slips away from him and walks quickly down the hall. Nate leans his forehead against the wall. Just then, Ezra walks out of Jesca’s room and down the hall toward Nate. Nate stands straight up and leans his back against the opposite wall.

Ezra stops to look at Nate. “What are you doing?”

“I’m, uh, taking a shower.” He rolls his shoulder off the wall and into the bathroom, shutting the door quickly.

Ezra looks at the door for a moment and mumbles, “Okay. Acting a little strange tonight, Nate.”

The shower turns on.

Ezra speaks over the shower. “Goodnight, Nate.”

Nate hollers back, “Goodnight.”

Ezra heads to the master bedroom. “Weird kid sometimes.”

Ezra’s eyes are heavy. He doesn’t fight it. His eyes close.

“Ezra, I have told Corinna’s parents and sister, Isabel. They did not take it well.”

Ezra turns to see Sebastian standing in the bedroom in front of his bed. Ezra sits up and leans against the headboard. “Figured as much. Is it time for Isabel?”

“Yes. Her parents, Felix and Caroline Cain, are against it after what has happened with Corinna. But Isabel is ready, now more than ever.”

“All right. Do you want me to put Siobhan on it?”

“Siobhan is the best fit for her.”

“I will be in contact with Siobhan first thing in the morning to debrief her on Isabel.”