Search (SEEK Book 1) (19 page)

“Hide!” Jonathan orders Mayet, grabbing my hand and holding tight.

“You too, Irkalla, get as far from here as you can.” I lead Jonathan away from the encroaching flashlight, trying to gage my surroundings. “Gah, I don’t have a clue where we are, do you?”

“Ummm, yes. There’s a Budgens not far, that way. Maybe they have a phone.” Jonathan pulls his cell out of jeans, water dripping from its case.

We traipse barefooted in the direction of the grocery store, staying off the road but careful to keep it in sight. The sound of soft mushy ground is all I hear over my breathing. Fortunately, only the occasional stick or rock stab my bare feet. I keep up with Jonathan. The flashlights work in a steady zigzag pattern behind us. They haven’t picked up our trail yet. It won’t take them long until they do. And then we’ll be easy to catch.

Luckily, it’s late enough that there aren’t a lot of cars when we run cross the highway. In the corner of Budgens’ parking lot we find a traditional English phone booth, red and round-roofed. We squeeze inside together.

“Who do we call? Paul?” I ask.

Our breath fogs the windows.

“Let’s try a cab to the hotel first. I’d rather not wait for Paul to get here,” Jonathan says, pushing zero.

It takes a couple of tries for Jonathan to get through to a local taxi, but eventually he hangs up. “They’ll be here in ten. Anything?” He brushes the window clear with his sleeve.

I shake my head. “I saw a glimpse of them a minute ago—there, but they’ve moved down to the river. It’ll be five minutes before they work their way back to the highway, unless…”

“Unless they find our tracks,” Jonathan finishes.

“And we probably shouldn’t be waiting in here when they do,” I warn, pointing at the overhead light.

“Good call.”

Outside the air feels colder, now that my adrenaline has slowed. Jonathan slings an arm over my shoulder.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” I say softly.

“You had a point. It wasn’t my decision to make. I should’ve let you go, but I just…”

“I’m glad you didn’t. I can be pretty stubborn when I want to be, seeing my Khayal flying around like a bubblegum-pink cupid probably would’ve freaked me out. Who knows what I might’ve done.”

“I’m forgiven then?” Jonathan asks lightheartedly.

“I suppose. But don’t ever do that again, deal?” I offer to shake on it.

Jonathan grabs my hand but instead he yanks me into him, twisting his arms around the small of my back.

My heart flutters.

“Home.”
The disembodied voice that keeps popping up might be weird and might even mean that I’m crazy, but for once I agree.

Jonathan feels like home as his lips press into mine. With careful precision he deepens the kiss, stealing every last breath.

My head fills with fog. 

It’s funny. I’ve heard a lot of stories about first kisses. Some people claim they see fireworks or hear tinkling bells. Those people must’ve had Khayal because all around us a lightshow explodes as the Khayal cheer, the sound a lot like chiming church bells.

The kiss itself feels as though it’s meant for a lifetime, like there is no one else on this earth made for me. Only Jonathan.

He smiles down at me. “I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw you standing on a cliff like a Grecian Goddess. Don’t tell me it was awful.”

“No, no, the kiss was good, I think. I don’t really have anything to compare it to, but…yeah.” I run the back of my thumb along my lip, savoring Jonathan’s mint-berry taste.

“Come on! That was not your first kiss,” Jonathan says, brushing a hair off my cheek.

A damp breeze kicks up from the north. I huddle closer against Jonathan, Irkalla’s warm breath a distant memory. “Okay, I guess if you count Phillip Burstein in the seventh grade, who I kissed on a dare, then no, it wasn’t technically my first kiss.” 

“Really? I am flattered, Agent Donavan.” Jonathan smiles broadly, cupping my cheek.

“Don’t call me that, okay?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

But Jonathan is cutoff by the sound of an engine coming down the highway. Together we peek around the green recycle bin and watch the approaching headlights, trying to discern if they belong to the cab we’re waiting for or not.

“Isn’t that a light on the roof? Yes, it’s our cab,” I exclaim.

“Good. Look!” Jonathan growls.

Like a silent movie, the flashlights shine in the direction of the cab. A warning, telling us exactly what our assailants are thinking. Now they’re coming directly toward us.

“They’re running! Come on!” I shout, grabbing Jonathan’s hand and darting toward the approaching taxicab.

“Hey!”

Jonathan and I flail our arms to get the cabby’s attention. Finally his head turns and he pulls the car in our direction. The passenger window comes down as we book it over the sidewalk. “You call for a lift?”

“Yes!” Jonathan and I say in unison, scrambling into the backseat.

“Drive. Please,” I say, nudging Jonathan and pointing to the tree line where two large shadows emerge.

“Keira! Can we just talk?” a voice calls as the cab driver steps on the gas.

“Friends of yours?” the driver asks, peeking in the rearview mirror.

“Um, ex-boyfriend.” I shrug at Jonathan.

“And mine. They’ve teamed up.” Jonathan smiles hugely.

I elbow him, biting a knuckle.

“They did that to you? Let me call a Bobbie,” the driver says, eyeing me in the mirror.

I have no clue what he’s talking about until Jonathan lurches forward. “No! No police. Please, we just want to go home. It’s been a very long night.”

But it isn’t so much the words Jonathan is saying that has the old man hanging up his radio as it is the wad of bills Jonathan lays on the front seat. The gray-haired driver looks at the cash, checks the mirror once more—I smile innocently.

“Where can I take you?” he asks.

“The Lord Hill Hotel, but don’t pull in. If we go inside keep it running. I’ll make it worth your while,” Jonathan adds.

I spend the next five minutes nestled against Jonathan, guessing what’s waiting for us at the hotel, but as it turns out, nothing. Not a single unmarked car. Not one agent. Not even the local police. Jonathan and I run in, grab our stuff and dash back out to the cab. But I’m confused when Jonathan opens the door instead of paying the man for waiting.

“What about your car?” I whisper.

The driver pops the trunk and Jonathan hands him our bags, rattling off Paul’s address. Then he joins me in the backseat. “I’ll send someone for the Mini later. I’d rather do this.”

Jonathan’s lips cover mine. More urgently than last time. As if he may not get the chance to kiss me again.

“Wait, I can’t think when you’re making me dizzy.” I push him back.

“That’s the idea,” Jonathan growls, shoving his face in the nape of my neck and nibbling.

“Stop. I’m serious. Jonathan!” I squirm.

The cab veers out onto the highway.

Jonathan sits straight up, his head cocked to the side, as though taking notice of something important. “I like it when you say my name.”

“Jonathan,” I say again.

A long time passes. We leave Shrewsbury behind us. I gaze at Jonathan, he looks at me, and it’s enough. Just a look that says, “I found you.” And in that one glance I find everything I didn’t know I’d been searching for. A new purpose.

And in that exact moment I know flying around out there somewhere—invisible to the Unbonded—Irkalla is flashing a rainbow of my emotions. And I have a feeling Mayet looks the same.

I smile so hugely it hurts my cheeks. Jonathan smiles back with a sigh as I rest my head against his arm and close my eyes.

What feels like mere seconds later I wake to the wailing cry of a siren. “Jonathan.” I nudge. Jonathan’s eyes open wide as the sirens grow nearer. I spin around, fully expecting to see a pack of police cars behind us, but the road is empty.

“There!” Jonathan points out the windshield.

From the highway, smack in the middle of Paul’s housing development black smoke billows through a glowing orange backdrop.

“Looks like a house fire,” the cabbie says daftly.

My stomach twists into knots. Right away, I know it has to be Paul’s. I know who’s done it and why. “Oh, my god. This is all my fault.”

“How could this be your fault?” Jonathan hisses, tapping the driver. “Drop us up there.”

The driver takes the bundle of bills, tucking it in his shirtfront pocket as he pulls along the curb. I follow Jonathan. The outside is gloomy and dark, heavy with black smoke. The fire smells different from a campfire or barbecue, there’s something much more sinister about someone’s possessions going up in flames.

Jonathan pats the roof the cab and our ride drives away.

“What are you doing? Our bags are in the trunk. We have no car.” I choke, drawing my fresh cardigan over my mouth.

Jonathan tucks his nose under the collar of his t-shirt, dismissing my concern with the wave of a hand. “He’s just getting his Shrewsbury cab out of sight. I don’t want everyone to know we’re back.”

Something about Jonathan’s tone makes me realize just how dumb I’ve been acting. I thought by abandoning my SEEK training that I was somehow paying back my enemies. I didn’t want to be their weapon anymore. Now I realize how stupid that sounds. I almost died once already tonight.

I’ve had SEEK training. I know how to survive under the worst of circumstances.

I set my jaw and turn toward the fire. “Come on.”

Jonathan raises his eyebrows, following obediently. Ahead, a family dressed in pajamas, are moving in the direction of the fire. I pick up the pace and we fall in behind them.

“It’s Paul’s,” I say. “It has to be.”

“You think?” Jonathan sputters, eyes growing wide as he stretches up to his toes for a glimpse over the trees. “No. Can’t be.”

My fears are confirmed. We round the corner to Paul’s behind the family, their three young girls shuffling along in slippers, pigtails swinging. The line of fire trucks and emergency vehicles begin at the end of the hostel’s driveway.

“Damn!” Jonathan grits his teeth.

“Act natural.”

Jonathan nods, brow creased anxiously.

I take Jonathan’s hand, steering him into the crowd gathered behind the police barricade. “Can you see anything?”

Jonathan shakes his head. We dart between a large woman in a fuzzy purple bathrobe and a man wearing his boxers with a jacket and rain boots. We search every sleepy onlooker for a familiar face. Three gangly guys in sweatpants and rugby jerseys stand shoulder-to-shoulder. “How about them?”

Jonathan considers the trio. “I don’t think so. They don’t look familiar.”

“We have to get closer.” I side step to the right, dragging Jonathan along. Toward the trees, spotting a break in the trucks. “Run for it!”

“Keira!”

I hear my name through the sirens like a dog hears a whistle and reel around, expecting a black leather jacket or blue ball cap. Instead, I find Tuck’s familiar red Mohawk.

“Tuck,” I breathe, dragging Jonathan into a three-way hug.

Tuck smashes us together in a desperate embrace, reeking of smoke. I only indulge for a moment and then shove him back for a better look. His face is covered in soot and streaked with tears. “Why are you crying? Are you hurt?”

Tuck sniffles, shaking his head.

“What happened?” Jonathan asks monotone.

“I don’t know! One minute we were all sleeping and the next there was choking and screaming. God, the effing smoke! I couldn’t see anything.” Tuck smears a hand across his face, kicking the ground.

“Where’s everyone else?” Jonathan presses, gently patting Tuck’s back.

“Paul took them away before the fire trucks got here, except…” Tuck’s whole body shutters with silent sobs.

“Except what?” I pry, coaxing Tuck’s face toward mine.

“Except—not—she wasn’t in her room!” Tuck wails, jerking his chin away. Tortured.

“Who? Who’s in there?” My hands tremble against Tuck’s shuttering shoulders.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Rose Marie.” Tuck buries his face in his hands, dissolving to tears. “She’s dead!”

Jonathan gasps, pulling Tuck into his chest and rocking him like a child. Tuck bawls, grabbing Jonathan, dragging on his jacket.

My vision spins with the red lights whirling around on the cop car. Rose’s face fills my mind. A ray of sunshine bursting with hopes and dreams. Gone. I let the tears come freely.

Anger follows.

Rage and injustice burn like acid in my veins.

SEEK did this. SEEK did this as a warning to me. Punishment for running, for disobeying orders, and for going out on my own. I picture Harnel giving the order to finish my friends if I won’t come peacefully. SEEK wants me. And they won’t stop until they get me.

This was all part of their plan. To make me wonder what was happening to Lindy—that’s why her surgery was moved up to today. They’d found me. They knew I was on the move and they had to stop me.