So this was as good as I was getting.
Emma was true to her word, leaving a small pile of clothes on the other side of the door. There was new underwear—with tags—along with black leggings and a white shirt. I shrugged them on, and while the pants and shirt were a little short, baring my ankles and stomach, they fit well enough. I didn’t have shoes, and there was no time for me to grab my Converse, left at the lifeguard station in my bag, so I’d just have to go barefoot.
Going barefoot didn’t bother me. Shoes were useless for someone who was mostly in the ocean. But I did find it amusing that the only pair of shoes I had ever owned were Chucks, and that they also appeared to be the shoe of choice for the secret keepers.
Everyone was in the surveillance room again. Xander, Daniel, Chase, and Lexen appeared to be in the middle of a serious conversation.
“They’re figuring out the best way to get the helicopter out to take us to the airport,” Maya whispered to me when I sidled closer. “It’s noisy, and if Laous is monitoring the airways for traffic, then it’s going to be very obvious.”
She had a point. “He’s probably staking out the airports as well,” I suggested, thinking that’s exactly what I would have done. Why bother hunting us down; eventually we’d come to him.
“We’re not using the same airport as last time,” Daniel said, turning from where he was speed-typing into one of the computers. “We’re taking the boat out first, then a helicopter, then the private plane. We’re going to do everything we can to confuse the trail.”
“He’s going to know we’re heading for Overworld, though, isn’t he?” Callie asked, leaning back against a nearby wall. I hadn’t had a chance to see her this morning until now, and she was very pale. Her lips were almost colorless.
She looked ill, like a bad case of the flu had hit her. Before I could say anything though, Daniel rose from his spot at the table and in two long strides moved to her side. His arms were around her in a flash and Callie sagged against him. She dropped her head onto his chest, and as she closed her eyes some pink came back into her face.
“He will know, which is good because we don’t want him to attack Hawaii,” he said. “But we want to make sure we can get away without any bloodshed as well. This is the dilemma.” He dropped a kiss on Callie’s head, before turning to us. “We can’t waste any more time. Callie has been away from House of Imperial for too long. Her energy is fading.”
“Your energy is keeping her steady, right?” Emma asked with urgency. “Because the plane ride is at least six hours back.”
Daniel nodded, although the worry in his gaze did not lessen. “She will make it. I’m sharing energy with her right now, but … we don’t have time to waste.”
That really shook everyone into action. Lexen got off the phone, as did Xander, both of them declaring that everything was set up for all of our transports.
Then we were off.
I wasn’t sure it was a conscious thing or not, but the overlords kind of shuffled the four girls into the center, spreading out around us. Callie ended up between me and Emma. We both reached out to wrap an arm around her because she still looked wobbly. She leaned on me more than I expected she was comfortable with. As we moved Daniel kept shooting worried eyes at his mate, but she just waved him away when he tried to take her back into his arms.
“I’m fine, you do your overprotective thing keeping all of us safe. My girls have me.”
My chest hurt then, emotion so strong it was painful. This was what a family felt like. This was what it felt like to be relied on. Being relied on might not sound that brilliant, but it came with the stipulation that I could rely on others as well. Now that … that was my idea of amazing.
The boat was not where we left it yesterday; someone had moved it to a nearby marina. I helped Callie, practically carrying her, until she collapsed against Daniel’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her, and again this seemed to send some relief and energy through her.
Xander was the driver, comfortable behind the wheel of the marine craft. The engines seemed extra loud in the early morning silence, and in no time we were moving across the water.
Step one was complete. Hopefully the next two legs of the journey would go as smoothly.
8
The helicopter was not waiting in a nice, open, easy to access sort of area. Once we were off the boat, we had to cross about two miles through a pocket of forest. I worried about Callie, but she kept up without fuss. I wasn’t the only one shooting her concerned glances; she just wrinkled her nose at us.
“I’m fine,” she repeated more than once.
I was distracted when we reached the helicopter. I’d never been close to anything like it—it was like a large beast, sending plumes of leaves and dust flying as the blades rotated. I didn’t know who the pilot was, but clearly he worked for one of the overlords. Xander maybe, because he greeted him like an old friend.
“Tommy, thanks for getting this all set up so quickly for us,” I heard him say over the racket.
We were all given protective headwear and then buckled into seats. The pilot wasted no time getting us into the air, and I was enthralled by the sight of the land growing smaller below us—while also trying not to vomit since I wasn’t exactly used to flying.
I wasn’t sure how the headsets worked, so I didn’t try to talk. I just let the million thoughts in my head go free. A lot had happened in the last two days, starting with my rescue of Maya in the water. But for some unexplained reason none of it felt weird.
It felt right.
That in itself should have had me flipping out, but I just … went with the flow. Wherever this new path took me, something told me it would be better than the path I’d been on. Loneliness … displacement … isolation. Silent killers, slowly leeching away my will to live, turning the world dark and depressing.
The moment I’d seen Maya, my vision filled with so much … hope. I didn’t understand it at the time, but now I did. These seven people—aliens—were what I’ve been searching for. Even if I didn’t know that’s what I was doing at the time.
