Time's Daughter (28 page)

“
I always miss out! Alex, you
promised you’d talk to dad.”

“
I did talk to him. He said the same
thing he always does: you’re too young.”

“
I’m
thirteen
! He let you
fight when you were thirteen. This isn’t cuz I’m young. It’s
because I’m albino.”

“
Abs, it’s not because you’re
albino. It’s because you’re his little girl and he doesn’t want to
see you get hurt. Plus, the few times you have joined in, you’ve
been reckless.”

Her lips pursed. “That’s only because no one would
let me do anything so I jumped in where I could.”

“
You can’t do that. You know we all
have our place. Until you learn yours, he isn’t going to let you
join.”

She tossed her hands up. “How can I learn my place
when they make me stay fifty feet back?”

“
I know it’s tough but you have to
be patient.”

Arnold approached.

Abby righted herself in the seat but she grumbled a
comeback when it was too late for Alex to retort. “You
weren’t.”

The Cadillac was the only vehicle to start back.
Perhaps the others were scouring the forest floor to remove signs
of the struggle. It seemed like a reasonable explanation.

Without a caravan to follow, the eldest member of
the clan drove like a bank robber fleeing the police. I quickly put
on my seat belt then grabbed onto Alex’s arm for dear life. He
laughed and covered my hand with his.

The trip that had taken fifteen minutes when I’d
driven it and eight minutes with the caravan took Arnold a mere
four minutes. Up the winding drive he drove like a man who had
lived there his entire life and was impatient to get back. We
slowed only when we neared the garage around the side of the
house.

The car’s brakes applied far earlier than they
should have. I saw why when I followed their gazes to the glow that
had once been the bonfire. In the dull orange light stood the
figures of six wendigo.

Arnold put the car in reverse and began backing the
car slowly down the driveway. The figures broke into a run for us.
He slammed the breaks and put it in park.

“
Aeon,” Arnold said rapidly. “We’re
going to shift. You’re going to open the car door, run into the
house and lock the door behind you.”

For once I had no interest in arguing with their
overprotective demands. I nodded my assent. The creatures barreled
down on us. I opened the door as soon as I heard the tearing of
their clothing. Alex sprung over me onto the gravel drive. He
knocked over the closest wendigo. I bolted from the back seat
toward the house.

The front door was thankfully unlocked. I slammed it
behind me and then peered out the narrow glass windows on either
side. There was nothing to see from that vantage point. It was
infuriating. How could I hope to help if I couldn’t see
anything?

I made my way through the house until I found
windows looking out onto the fight. The ferocious battle was loud
enough that the sound was easy to follow. Even the white cat had a
foe. Alex checked on her before heading to his second victim. His
concern had earned him a swat on the nose from the pale white
paw.

The French doors ten feet from me shattered in a
deafening crash. I screamed in terror even as I tried to process
what had happened. Five wendigo had found their way onto the deck
stomped through the room toward me. I bolted for the front door and
struggled to lock it behind me in the hope they weren’t smart
enough to get it open.

“
There are more in the house,” I
shouted at the cats. I pounded onto the front steps and down into
the gravel driveway. Four more creatures emerged from the forest on
the opposite side of the driveway. I halted, fear slicing through
me. “And four more just walked out of the trees beside
us!”

If only the other clan members would hurry
up!
We stood a far better chance against the horde with all
nine cats. What could they possibly be doing?

I headed toward the fighting cats because I didn’t
know where else to go. Two sets of headlights appeared in the
trees, moving far faster than was legal. Soon the cars weaved up
the driveway at maniac speeds. Six individuals jumped from the SUV
and van, shifted into their animal forms as they ran and engaged
the monsters in combat.

A massive pack of creatures appeared from the same
copse of trees as the previous four. The sea of heads and tattered
clothing made me nearly lose my lunch. There were dozens within the
light and perhaps more I couldn’t see in the shadows behind.

I held my breath. And then wished for time to
stop
.

I knew it was against the Chattan clan’s rules for
me to freeze time but I had to think. How could nine cats and one
of me hope to fight against a number so large? Even if they were
immune to the creature’s madness in their animal form, they weren’t
immune to physical attacks.

The cats’ attacks continued even though time had
stilled. My heart soared. I’d forgotten the Chattan clan was immune
to my power. The wendigo weren’t quite so lucky.

I nervously watched as the beleaguered family
methodically handled the sea of monsters until I could barely keep
my eyes open. The longer I held time captive, the less I was able
to hold myself up.

When the final wendigo fell, I exhaled deeply,
allowed time to resume and promptly passed out on the driveway.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Warm, comfortable and
safe—those were the adjectives that came to mind when I awoke. I
was in a bed in a room I didn’t recognize. But I knew the face in
the chair beside me.
Alex.
He was snoring quietly. I had the
urge to kiss him but didn’t want to wake him from his
slumber.

“
Aeon.
” He said my name like
a prayer.

I hadn’t realized his eyes had opened. He blinked
with the lazy gaze of someone who had recently woken from a sound
sleep.

“
Are you okay?” We both asked at
once. Our answering chuckles were a little too cutesy.

“
I’m fine,” I said.
“You?”

“
Tired.”

“
Is it over?”

Alex shook his head. “We don’t know. There were
stragglers all night. They stopped coming when the sun rose. Father
thinks we’ve taken care of the majority of them. We’re going to
canvas the area tonight but I think we’ve probably saved Junction
Hill from a catastrophe thanks to you.”

I winced because I recalled what I’d done to help.
“They’re not mad that I broke the rule and froze time?”

He laughed quietly. “No. Even Alicia knows we would
have been toast if you hadn’t helped.”

I glanced at the window next to me. The light
pouring in meant I’d been away from home
all night
. A blush
colored my cheeks. My mom was going to flip.

I couldn’t tell her I’d spent the night at the
Chattans’ without her thinking something improper had happened. It
would be nearly impossible to convince her otherwise.

“
What’s wrong?”

I forced a smile for Alex. He’d sounded so
concerned. It was sweet. With a soft shake of my head I replied,
“It’s silly.”

He slid from the chair and sat next to me on the
bed. His warm hand covered mine. “I like silly.”

My attention dropped to our hands. “I know I should
be worrying about life and death but right now I’m just trying to
decide how I’m going to explain to my mom why I’m not in bed at
home.”

“
You should tell her the
truth.”

I swallowed hard and nodded that he was right. I
did
need to tell her the truth. There was no time like the
present.

My gaze lifted and held his. “You’d better take me
home before I lose my nerve.”

* * * *

Minutes later Alex and I drove down the dirt road
away from the Lake in Anna’s Volkswagen. I couldn’t help but look
for signs of the wendigo and their attack in the trees. There
seemed to be little evidence of anything at all.

Alex held my hand during the entire drive but said
little. I imagined it was hard to talk between his near constant
yawning. I hoped he’d be able to make it home safely in his
exhausted state. It would have been smart for us to bring another
family member but neither of us had wanted to bother them while
they scoured for stragglers and slept in shifts.

We reached Eagle Street far too quickly. I leaned
over and kissed him before he could initiate. The pleased smile on
his face afterward was worth my effort. He certainly seemed to
enjoy when I kissed him far more than he enjoyed kissing me. I
guessed I really didn’t suck at it.

His smile fled quickly as if he’d remembered
something upsetting. “Unfortunately I’m going to have to postpone
our date tonight.”

“
Its okay. I understand.”

“
It sucks too,” he groused
petulantly. “I had tickets to the symphony.”

I blushed while smiling a little too broadly. “Alex,
you’re too perfect.”

He gave an adorable laugh. “And your only flaw is
that you think I’m perfect.”

Alex kissed me, cutting short any argument I might
have given. I instantly forgot what I would have been disagreeing
with.

We hugged tightly while he wished me luck and told
me to call him when I’d finished. My trepidation exploded as the
Volkswagen pulled away from the curb and I was left standing in
front of the entrance.

I took the stairs up, stepped through into the
kitchen and stared at the closed door to my mother’s bedroom. She
hadn’t woken up yet. She might not have realized I was gone.

But I still needed to tell her
. It was
time.

I showered away the grime of my ghastly night,
dressed in comfortable clothes and sat on the couch with the intent
to wait until she woke. With a call into Felix, I gave myself a few
extra hours. Now the tricky part would only be getting Mom out of
the house before Guy appeared with the camera. This was definitely
not a poignant mother-daughter discussion that could be filmed.

She appeared bedraggled at her door after I’d banged
a few pans too loudly in the kitchen. I let her visit the bathroom
first then declared that we were going out to breakfast together
and that she had to hurry or I was going to be late to work. Ten
minutes later she emerged from the bedroom with an intentionally
disheveled appearance.

She covered a yawn as I tugged on her arm to the car
parked out back. My hands didn’t stop tapping the door handle with
a rhythmic beat until she griped at me to hush up. I sat on them in
an effort to still their nervous movement. I’d start up again as
soon as I let my thoughts drift off to how I’d broach the
subject.

I handed the breakfast menu to the waitress at our
favorite breakfast haunt.

The words tumbled out of my mouth as soon as she was
gone. “Mom, I have something to tell you.”

My mother’s drowsy eyes cleared in an instant while
her fingers stilled on the cup of coffee she’d been about to lift.
“You’re pregnant.”

I gasped in horror. “No!”

Her hand went to her chest. “Oh, thank god.” She
lifted the coffee and took a sip.

“
I know who my father
is.”

Mom choked on her drink. With a hasty gesture she
set it down and snatched up her napkin, covering her mouth.

I continued before I lost my nerve. “The dream I
told you about, well, it was no dream. I know who my father is and
I can manipulate time. I can freeze it and freeze specific things
in it.”

She slowly lifted the cloth from her mouth and
dabbed her eyes. “Oh, Aeon. I’m so sorry I never told you. I didn’t
think you’d believe me. I didn’t believe it myself.”

She hadn’t
freaked
out? Had she heard me when
I’d told her I could do things with time? Was I going to have to
say it again?

I reached across and took her hand. “I know, Mom. I
completely understand.”

She smiled ruefully. “I always knew you’d be an
extraordinary girl. And you are, even without any of that.” My
mother seemed to be the nervous one now. She launched onto a
completely different topic. “The documentary people saw that too.
That’s why they picked you even though you had no interest in
it.”

“
They picked me because that casting
guy wanted a date with you,” I reminded her with a
grumble.

“
The casting guy?” Mom dropped the
napkin onto the table. “He’s the director’s boyfriend.”

“
Then why did he ask you for your
number?”

“
He wanted the salon’s number so he
could make an appointment for a hair cut. He never did show up for
that appointment even though I went in early for him.”

I stared at her in confusion. If the casting
director was gay then he couldn’t possibly want a date with my mom.
Had they really picked me on my own merits?

My head spun as I recalled the conversation at hand.
“You’re not freaked out that I can do special things?”

She gave me a wide smile that extended to her eyes.
“I love you, Aeon. Everything you do is special to me and nothing
you could ever do would freak me out enough to change that one
bit.”

It was my turn to dab moisture from my eyes. “I love
you too, Mom.”

She squeezed my hand. I returned her broad smile
eagerly.

If my life had ever been more perfect I couldn’t
recall it.

“
There you are.” An average male
voice interrupted our tender mother-daughter moment. “We’ve been
looking for you all over.”

I glanced to the side and discovered a video
camera’s lens in my face. With a groan I picked up my orange juice,
sipped and mentally counted the days until the documentary was
over.