Shelter (17 page)

“And you would trust a hunter?” I shouted. “And even if we could trust him, I would
never, ever
just hand you over!”

“But I can save you and your family,” he said. “Please, all I want is to make sure you are safe.”

“Kai, listen to me,” I said seriously, looking straight into his piercing blue eyes. “We will stay together… no matter what.”

“But, I…” he started to say.

“Wait!” I gasped. “I just realized something.”

“What?” Kai asked.

“He’s not a hunter,” I explained.

“Yes, he is,” Kai said. “He has a hunter’s dagger. He said…”

“No, no,” I interrupted. “He’s not a hunter,
yet
!”

“Oh!” Kai understood right away. “He’s not eighteen, yet!”

“Right!” I said. “I don’t think his birthday is until next month.”

“February 11,” Jamie said.

“How did you know that?” I asked her curiously.

Her face flushed.

“I snuck a look at his license at lunch one day.”

“Oh,” I nodded. “So we have over a month before he can really track us effectively.”

“That’s plenty of time to find a safe place,” Kai said.

“But can’t he track you there after…” Jamie began.

“Not if we’re careful,” I interrupted. “We would have to rent a completely non-descript home and never go outside.”

“Yeah, and never turn on a television or read a newspaper,” Kai added.

“Or even get mail, for that matter,” I moaned.

“Why not?” Jamie wanted to know.

“Because he’d see our address on the mail,” I explained.

“Oh, yeah,” she said dejectedly.

“I heard they can’t see through human eyes,” Kai mentioned. “Too bad one of us isn’t human.”

“I am,” Jamie reminded him.

“Well, yes,” he admitted. “But you won’t be with us.”

“Yes, I will,” Jamie said quickly.

“No! Absolutely not!” I said flatly.

“You are my only friends,” Jamie pleaded. “I
want
to go!”

“I won’t put you in that kind of danger,” I objected.

“Please let me help you,” Jamie begged. “I don’t have anyone here. I have no reason to stay.”

“What about your family?” I asked. “You’re always talking about them taking you bowling and to the beach and stuff. Aren’t you close?”

“Not really,” she said, her head hanging. “They just bring me along because they have to. They really only care about my brother and sister.”

“What? Why?” I demanded.

“Because they’re thin and I’m not,” she said. “My parents are always calling me names like ‘wide load’ and ‘fat ass’, and they clearly don’t care about me as much as they do them.”

“Your
parents
say things like that to you?” I gasped.

“Yes,” she said meekly.

“Alice, she
could
help,” Kai suggested.

“But it’s too dangerous,” I objected.

“Max wouldn’t hurt her,” Kai reminded me. “Hunters feel it’s their duty to protect humans. She wouldn’t be in any real danger.”

“That’s true,” I admitted.

“Please let me come with you,” Jamie begged.

I searched her eyes for some sign of fear or reluctance, but I found nothing. She truly wanted to go with us.

“Alright,” I caved. “You win.”

“We have to be really careful about this,” Kai said. “If his father is a hunter, he could be tracking us right now. Was he at the party? Did he see us?”

“Oh, God, that’s right,” I agreed. “I didn’t see him there. But if he saw us, he might be able to. I think Kai said he was out of town, though.”

“I have an idea,” Jamie said.

Kai and I both looked up at her.

“What if I make all of the plans? If you give me the money, I will rent a big van or something. I’ll drive, I’ll rent the house when we get wherever we’re going, and I’ll take care of everything else,” Jamie told us.

“That could work,” Kai said reluctantly.

“But we’ll still see things,” I said.

“Not if I blindfold you,” Jamie suggested.

“What if we get pulled over or something?” I mused. “How would you explain having blindfolded people in a van?”

Jamie laughed. “I’ll just tell them I’m taking you to a surprise party. As long as you agree, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Alice, this won’t be much of a life,” Kai said suddenly. “Even if it works, we’ll be stuck in that house twenty-four hours a day for the rest of eternity.”

“Eternity…” Jamie mumbled. “How long will…”

“We live for thousands of years,” I interjected. “Hunters can live for hundreds. And their kids carry on when they are gone. As long as his family continues, we’ll never truly be safe.”

Jamie mulled that over in her head.

“Who will protect you when I… when I can’t anymore?”

“Jamie, I’m really thinking I can’t do this to you,” I muttered. “How can I ask you to give up your entire life for us?”

“You’re like family to me,” Jamie said truthfully. “I
want
to.”

Kai’s phone rang again, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I looked at the caller ID. It was Will.

“Will?” I answered immediately. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he answered. “Mother’s fine. Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you,” I said. “Not right now. It might not be safe.”

“Why wouldn’t it be safe?” Will asked.

“Max is a Viewer,” I told him.

“What?” Will said in a low voice.

“He called from my phone,” I told Will. “He was at our house, Will. He said his father is a Viewer, which means odds are, he will be, too.”

“Will be,” Will noted. “So he isn’t a hunter, yet?”

“Not until February… something,” I said, forgetting the date.

“The eleventh,” Jamie reminded me.

“Yes,” I agreed. “February 11.”

“If he’s a Viewer, there’s nowhere we can go,” Will said.

“We have a plan, but I need you and Mother to drive around as long as possible,” I told Will. “Try not to go anywhere with any major landmarks that would make it easy to find you, just in case. I’ll call you as soon as things are ready.”

“Okay,” Will replied. “Be safe, please.”

“We will,” I agreed. “I love you. Tell Mother I love her, too.”

“I love you, Alice,” Will answered. “Talk to you soon.”

When we hung up, I told Jamie we needed to get to an ATM. I couldn’t withdraw more than four hundred dollars, because my ATM card had a limit, but I hoped it would be enough to rent a van.

The only car rental place we could find open in the middle of the night was at the airport in Atlanta. It was a long drive, and Jamie drove Kai’s car because it was faster than hers. Kai and I kept our eyes closed on the trip, but we certainly couldn’t sleep.

When we got there, the woman at the counter told us we’d have to secure the vehicle with a credit card or pay a six hundred dollar deposit. We only had four hundred, but Kai had his mother’s credit card with him.

“She’ll be pissed, but what choice do we have?” Kai said. He took his wallet out of his back pocket and handed it to Jamie without opening his eyes. “It’s the gold card. I just hope she hasn’t canceled it.”

She hadn’t, and the card went through. Jamie secured a large white van, and she helped Kai and me into the van with our eyes still closed. Then she used Kai’s cell phone to call my brother back.

“Will?” Jamie asked when he answered.

“Yes, who is this?” he wanted to know.

“I’m Jamie,” she said. “Alice’s friend.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well she isn’t here.”

“I’m with her and Kai,” Jamie explained. “She and Kai have their eyes closed, so I’m calling you. I need to meet you somewhere.”

“Okay, where do you want to meet?” Will asked.

“Tell him to find somewhere very non-descript, no landmarks,” I told Jamie.

“I heard,” Will said. “How about that dirt road near Oak Creek Park?”

“The dirt road near Oak Creek Park?” Jamie looked at me.

“That’s perfect,” I said. “Just tell him not to pass the park sign.”

“Don’t pass the park sign,” Jamie parroted.

“Okay,” Will agreed. “I’ll be there in around an hour.”

“We might be longer,” Jamie explained. “We’re in Atlanta. It was the only place open this late.”

“Did you rent a car?” he asked.

“Yeah, a big van so you can all fit in with your stuff,” Jamie answered.

“Cool,” Will said. “See you when you get there.”

It was daylight by the time we got to the dirt road. Will had chosen it because of its location. It was near a park where Mother used to take us to play when we were kids. We used to sneak off and run down that dirt road because it was creepy. There were no houses on the road, just a boat dock and another small park with some picnic tables and some areas on the lake for fishing. When we got there, we loaded Will’s and Mother’s bags into the van, and we all got comfortable and closed our eyes.

“Oh, wait,” I said. “Mother, Will, I need your ATM cards.”

“What for?” my mother asked.

“They each have a withdrawal limit of four hundred dollars per day,” I explained. “We have to take out the maximum each day so Jamie can rent us a house when we get… wherever.”

“I have cash,” Mother said, reaching into her purse and pulling out a fat envelope.

I took it and looked inside. It was stuffed with twenty and one hundred-dollar bills. I gasped aloud.

“Why do you have this much cash?” I asked her.

“I was always afraid something like this would happen,” she said. “I had to be prepared to take you both and run. Of course, I never expected it would be a Viewer.”

I nodded gravely. I never expected it, either. I certainly never expected it would turn out to be a guy I’d once… well, a guy who had supposedly been in love with me.

I handed the envelope over to Jamie.

“Thank you for doing this for us, Jamie,” my mother said to her.

“Alice is like family to me,” she said. “I would do anything for her.”

With that, we abandoned our home and all of our cars and headed off in search of safety.

We drove for hours and hours. Everyone was getting restless, but Jamie felt we should get as far away from Savannah as possible. I had no idea where we were going. Jamie didn’t blindfold us, but she made us promise to keep our eyes closed. It was rough when we had to use the toilet, but Jamie led us into the restrooms and once inside we could open our eyes. One restaurant or gas station bathroom looked the same as any other.

Jamie looked after all of us like a mother hen. She brought us food and drinks, and helped us open packages and bottles. It was surprising just how difficult all of this was without vision.

When we finally arrived, Jamie found a house on Craigslist. She had to leave us alone inside a very nondescript restaurant while she went to look at the house. It would have been rather creepy for the landlord to see four people in the back of a van all with their eyes closed!

She secured the house and then picked us up. We couldn’t open our eyes until we were inside. There was no furniture, but Jamie said she would get some as soon as possible. Luckily, we had Mother’s fat stack of cash. We couldn’t use our ATM cards or credit cards now that we were in the new location, because those could be traced.

It wasn’t long after we arrived that Kai’s phone rang. It was my phone again.

“Max,” I said certainly.

“Have you decided to give him up, yet?” he asked smugly.

“Never!” I hissed.

“Suit yourself,” Max said. “I’ll be eighteen in a few weeks, you know.”

“Yeah, but you can get Daddy to help you track us, right?” I snarled.

“I’m not getting my father involved,” he said flatly.

“Why not?” I demanded.

“I’m just not,” he said.

“What’s wrong, Max?” I gloated. “Daddy not the big, powerful Viewer you claimed he is?”

“That’s not it!” he snapped. “I just don’t want him involved.”

“Why not?” I demanded again.

“I just don’t!” he shouted.

“I’m hanging up, now,” I said.

“Wait,” he said gently.

“What is it, Max? Haven’t you caused enough problems for my family?” I growled through the phone.

“I never wanted this,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, right,” I laughed angrily. “You wanted to kill Kai in the clearing. I saw it.”

“You’re right about that, and I still do want to kill him,” he agreed. “But I never wanted to cause problems for your family… or you.”