The Watchers (34 page)

Chapter 17

Fifteen minutes after calling Alex, I heard
the door open, and she called my name. Blinking in an attempt to
clear away my conversation with Daniel, I looked up then smiled as
she appeared around the door. “Thanks for coming.”

“Did you expect me to say ‘no’? You’re my
friend.”

“I know. I’m just glad you came…glad you’re
so freaking awesome to care like you do.” I took her bag from her
and started toward the stairs. “We don’t have to spend all night
working on this. I don’t want you to feel like…”

“You’re using me for my knowledge? That you
only call when you need a favor?”

“Yes.”

“I know you better than that, Clare. Finding
Amanda is important.”

“It is…very.”

She followed me upstairs and down the hall.
“Clare? What’s really going on? There’s more going on here…I can
tell.”

I stopped walking. We were at the foot of my
bedroom stairs. I could hear Ellen in the bathroom humming along to
a different song, earphones blocking out our voices. I was alone in
this. I couldn’t blatantly lie to Alex, but could I trust her with
the truth? I couldn’t help wanting to protect Daniel, and I knew if
I told her the truth it would put him at risk…it would put us all
at risk.

“I can’t tell you,” I said honestly.

“Is it because you don’t trust me?”

“I trust you. It’s just that not everything
in this world falls into the realm of simple. Some things are
just…complicated. Telling you is complicated.”

“That is the most ridiculous thing I think
anyone has said to me all year,” she said walking around me and
starting up the narrow stairs.

“It’s the most honest thing anyone has said
to you all year,” I retorted, following her.

She spun around, her eyes bright with
emotion. I tried to listen to what she was thinking but it was
going by too fast. “What would it take for you to tell me?” she
asked.

“Um.”

“I just want to understand and help find
Amanda. Is that so wrong?”

“You don’t understand…” I sighed. “It could
get you killed.”

She tensed at the warning in my voice. “You
mean by Daniel?”

“No. He would never hurt you. But there
are…others.” I shook my head. “I shouldn’t even be saying that. You
could be found and killed for knowing. Knowledge is deadly in my
world.”

Her face transformed in slight fear. Whatever
she was thinking – and she’d carefully not thought about it around
me – must have been a lot nicer than the truth. Controlling her
panic, she stared me down in a typical Alex expression that meant
she was trying to understand everything in the universe all at
once.

“What if I proved myself to you? What if I
did something that linked me to you forever?”

I started laughing. “You’re being way
melodramatic.” I laughed as a shudder ran down my spine. “If you
get all teen-angsty on me, I’m leaving and not coming back. That’s
a promise.”

She ignored my comment. “I know you can’t
trust me like you can trust Daniel. That’s different. He’s your
soulmate. But I’m your friend. No,” she shook her head, “it feels
odd to say this, but I feel as if I’m your sister. It’s like we’ve
spent our younger years apart. We were meant to be sisters, Clare,
can’t you see it?”

I stepped back, a little startled. Alex had
never been like this. She got mad at me, sure, but she was always
so cool and collected. She was the calm in the storm. Her composure
was falling apart like a house on fire now. I wasn’t sure how to
respond.

“You’re meant to tell me the truth!” she
added.

“I don’t believe that things are meant to
be,” I scoffed.

“That’s a load of horse crap, and you know
it.”

Her eyes, if possible, grew even wider and
brighter. I wasn’t sure what she would do next; her thoughts were
moving too quickly. From her expression, I gathered she was either
about to lead a massive army against a raving horde of lunatics in
a drastic final stand to preserve the country she loved, or she was
going to do something just as reckless, like make me swear on my
love for Daniel to tell her the truth.

“I have an idea,” she said as if she’d heard
my thoughts. “There’s this tradition in Native American culture
where two people bind themselves together through a blood pact. To
betray that pact is to betray your honor and your soul.”

“Blood pact?”

“Yeah. You know…blood brothers. It’s been in
a million movies. Chuck Norris had a Native American blood brother
in Walker, Texas Ranger.”

“I’m not even going to ask how you knew
that.” I paused. “What does this blood pact really do, beyond
hurting a lot?”

“It makes us blood sisters…It makes us
family.” She threw me a funny look. “You tell everything to your
family, and they keep your secrets, because they love you.”

I went over to the bed and sat down, my head
heavy. A sister? I could have a sister? Was it a trap? “I’m not
sure I should have gotten out of bed this morning,” I muttered.

“If you don’t want to I’ll understand, but…”
She shrugged.

“You’ll forever doubt if I trust you?” I
finished. She nodded, and I started laughing. “You’re almost as
good at backing people into corners as I am.”

“Then you know you can only back people into
corners if they are willing to be backed into them,” she said
pointedly.

I knew in my heart that I’d already said yes,
maybe, even before Ellen and I moved here. “You can’t tell Sam. Not
yet. He should get a chance to fall in love with Ellen first.”

“Please! I’m not new to keeping parents in
line.”

I stood, feeling excited, suddenly. The
notion we were teetering on the edge of something big hadn’t faded,
but I wanted to believe this oath would be the beginning of a
resolution. If not, at least I would get a sister out of it.

“So, what do we have to do?” I asked.

“We have to cut our hands and share blood,”
she replied.

“Our whole hand?”

She pursed her lips. “I think I remember a
story or something where they just cut the thumb.”

“So, we’ll be thumb sisters? We could
hitchhike in perfect unison?”

“Ha. Ha,” she said dryly. “You’re not scared
of blood, right?”

“No.” I uncurled the hand I had clenched.
“You don’t have any sort of diseases do you?”

Alex rolled her eyes scornfully and retrieved
her bag from beside the chimney. She pulled a tiny pocket knife out
of it.

“Did you have this whole thing planned?” I
asked indignantly as I eyed the knife.

“Nope. I always carry a pocket knife with me.
You never know when you’ll need one.” She turned to me and flicked
it open with a deft move. “You learn to be prepared when you’ve
been on as many hikes as I have.”

I looked at the knife and swallowed. “I take
it back. Can’t we be blood sisters without actually spilling any
blood?”

“You
are
afraid!”

“I am not! It’s just…what if you slip or
something?”

“But you have a piercing!” She pointed to my
nose.

“Done by a professional.”

She flipped the knife around, offering me the
handle. “You can do it yourself.”

I reached for the handle slowly. I could see
how serious she was about this. From brief flashes of her rapid,
confused thoughts I saw how badly she wanted a sister. She’d wanted
one ever since her mother had died, and she realized she wouldn’t
have any other women in her life. Seeing that truth in her eyes, I
knew I could do what she asked.

I put the knife against my thumb and pushed.
Bright red blood oozed out of the wound. Grimacing to hide the
pain, I offered Alex the knife. She took it from me quickly and did
the same, her face contorting with pain. She held her thumb out to
me. After a second of hesitation, I pressed my thumb against hers.
We stood with our thumbs pressed together and looked at each other
seriously.

We were silent for a second then I started
laughing. “Now what? Do we find an animal to sacrifice and do a
traditional dance to the moon or something?”

“We do have to bathe naked in a lake at
midnight, but other than that…” She laughed at my shocked
expression. “I’m kidding! You just have to promise to be my sister
forever, and I do the same.”

“Okay.” I fought the giggles that were
threatening to consume me. This felt so corny movie moment-ish. “I
promise to be your sister forever.”

“I promise to be your sister forever too,”
Alex said firmly.

As soon as she said it, a tingling started
from the wound as if I’d stuck my thumb into an electrical socket.
Alex shook her head, and her eyes glazed over with a white film.
They cleared, and she smiled at me like nothing had happened. Was
she unaware of what her eyes had just done? I was freaking out, but
I pushed the feeling away, not wanting to alarm her.

She dropped her hand. “There.” She looked at
her wound that smeared blood trickled from. “Do you have a Band
Aid?”

“I think so.”

I went over to my nightstand and dug around
for the emergency first aid kit. I found two and handed her the one
that didn’t have Mickey Mouse on it.

“Thanks.” Alex cleaned off the tip of the
knife and put it back in her bag as if nothing had happened; as if
we hadn’t just promised to be sisters forever. Wrapping her thumb,
she sat down on the window seat and looked at me expectantly.
“Okay. Explain.”

I took a deep breath. Pacing in front of her
nervously, I started talking, trying to phrase things in a way that
wouldn’t make me sound as if I belonged on an express train headed
for crazy town. It was pretty difficult.

When I finished, Alex stared at me intensely
for a long minute. I couldn’t tell if she thought I was crazy or
telling the truth. I wasn’t certain which would be worse for her.
She kept her thoughts scrambled, and I realized she was doing it on
purpose. I frowned then concentrated. It took a minute to make
sense of everything.

It all sounds so crazy. I
mean she couldn’t have made that up…who would make that up? I
just…it would be so lovely if it were true. It would be proof…I
can’t believe all this time I thought she’d been exposed to
radiation or something…And these people that are after her! No
wonder Daniel has been so serious lately… He’s probably been
worrying himself sick. Poor guy! I can’t believe no one else in
town has seen the truth!
She paused.
No, I can see why. He’s very good at charming
people. But this!
She looked at me.
I trust her, though. She’ll be one of the good
ones.

I backed away and sat on the bed. Why was she
taking this so calmly? Why was her first inclination to worry about
Daniel? I took in her face, which was dim from the darkness
creeping across my room. I knew the truth. She was a good person,
and good people don’t waste their time placing blame or accusing
people of being liars.

“I…” she started to say. “I believe you.”

I ran a hand through my hair trying to come
to grips with her calm. “I…I am not sure how I feel about
that...”

She smiled smugly. “If you think fate doesn’t
exist, then you’re a fool. You come to the one town with another
one like you, and you just happen to fall in love with him! Ha!
Now, that’s fate!”

“What is this, fate night? Is there a
discount for advice on fate that I missed? Do they keep it at
Wal-Mart between the detergent and the scary prophecies?”

“Where’s Daniel?” she asked. “Is he trying to
find those others?”

“Yes…I think, I think he’s preparing for a
fight. He keeps acting so…he’s been beating himself up, and I think
it’s because he doesn’t like killing. They’re forcing his hand,
though,” I answered fiercely.

“Of course they are.”

“I just wish I could figure out why!” I said
in exasperation.

Alex shook her head. “Right now, we need to
do what Daniel asked and concentrate on finding Amanda. Let him
worry about the other stuff.”

There was a knock on my door then Ellen
walked up the stairs dressed in her pink bathrobe and carrying two
cups.

“Hey guys! I brought you tea!” she said,
proud of herself.

“You figured out how to turn the stove on?” I
asked lightly in an attempt to clear the air of tension and
intensity of our conversation.

“Yep!” She glanced between Alex and me
sensing the intense atmosphere she had walked in on. “Is everything
okay here?” she asked.

“Um,” I glanced at Alex.

Hadn’t I promised Ellen not to tell anyone?
Would she be mad? More importantly, would this ruin her chance with
Sam?

“Clare told me the truth,” Alex said rising
from the seat to walk over and accept the tea.

“Oh!” Ellen paused. She was calm…a little too
calm. “Okay. So, what do you think?”

Alex shrugged. “It’s kind of cool.”

“To you maybe,” I said darkly.

Ellen joined me on the bed. “Is that what you
were talking about?”

“Actually, we had just moved on to trying to
figure out where Amanda could be,” Alex said.

Ellen turned to me. “Clare.”

“Ellen.”

“You’ve shared some of Amanda’s thoughts over
the past couple weeks, right?”

“Of course,” I answered. “It’s hard not
to.”

Ellen continued, “I know when I’m stressed
out, or feeling down, I like to think of a calming place. I think
about that place and shove everything else out. Maybe, Amanda’s
thought about an actual place she goes to? It might be a place
where she would hide.”

“That’s a great idea!” Alex said jumping up
to go and rummage through her bag again. “Can you think of
anything?” she asked as she pulled out a small map of the area and
shook it open.

I went over all the thoughts I’d heard from
Amanda. Most of them had been sad and depressed and far from any
kind of retreat. “I don’t think there’s anywhere,” I said.