“It was,” she admitted.
“Plus, if we’d told you, you would have tried to persuade them to stay where they were.”
She nodded. “I would have.”
He laughed at that. Ha. He knew her so well.
She looked around at them. All together. The people she loved. And in that moment, she needed this connection with them. Needed to feel their love.
“I think we should take off the reflector devices,” she said. “If they find us now, so what? They’re going to know we’re here soon enough anyway. Maybe they’re even expecting us.”
Jake looked at her and gave a nod. He raised his hand, then slipped off the device and shoved it in his pocket. All around her, the others did the same. Kane held her gaze as he removed the device. She copied his movements, pulling the thing from her head.
And then they were there with her, filling her mind with a sense of love and peace. She could feel Kane’s love like something tangible, hot and wild and total. Jake’s was cooler, Rose’s had a hint of sweetness, Sadie’s of pride. All of them were slightly different in flavor, but all of them were filled with love.
Her family.
“Okay, guys, let’s go save the world.”
“Nothing to save so far,”Rose said. She waved a hand toward a black van.“Stefan has set up a monitoring system bouncing off the satellites in the area. We’re keeping a watch on where we expect to see the asteroid.”
“And that should be any moment now,”Stefan said.
Kaitlin gazed up at the sky. It was a cloudless day, and over toward the south, she could make out the white trails from airplanes, and the skyline of the city.
“Oh my God,”Stefan shouted in her head. He appeared at the back of the van and jumped down, a pair of powerful binoculars in his hand. He was grinning.
He ran across the open space and pointed the binocs off at a distant hillside. Kaitlin peered over but could see nothing moving. “What is it?”she asked, hurrying over, Kane beside her.
“Take a look,” Stefan said, handing her the binocs.
She stared in the direction he’d pointed and finally focused on a couple on the hillside about a mile away. She stared some more, and a smile tugged at her lips. “It’s Quinn and Melody,” she said.
“They appeared out of nowhere,” Stefan said. “One moment there was nothing and then they just…were there.”
“We have to get over to them,” Kaitlin said. She examined the land around them. No way would the truck or the SUV make it. “We’re going to have to go on foot.” Quinn couldn’t transmit over these distances.
“Okay,” Jake said. He took the binocs from her and examined the scene. “You two go. But take weapons, and a few more for Quinn. It doesn’t look as though he and Melody are armed.”
Imogen was already in the trunk, pulling out automatic rifles. She handed them to Kane and Kaitlin.
“Bring them back here,” Jake said. “But if you find out anything urgent, let us know straight away.”
She rolled her eyes. “No, I’ll keep it to myself.”
Jake grinned. She could tell that seeing Quinn had cheered him up. Jake and Quinn had always been close—best friends even, back when they’d been growing up, and Quinn had visited the Rayleigh estate. She knew that Jake had missed his friend over the last few years.
“Come on,” she said to Kane.
They set off at a run, a sense of urgency fueling her. Something was going to happen; she could almost feel it in the air. They were about halfway there when Kane called out behind her, “Kaitlin, stop.”
At the urgency in his voice, she skidded to a halt. “What?”
He touched her on the arm and then pointed to the sky.
She squinted up to the sun, staring hard. Then she blinked. There was something in the sky—something huge—and it was heading straight toward them.
And she was pretty certain it wasn’t a goddamn asteroid.
