CHAPTER SIX
Staring at my arm and the little cotton ball covered with tape that sits where the needle went in, I can’t help running my finger back and forth over it and fidgeting. Drew hasn’t said a word to me since we got on the bus, and we’re five minutes away from arriving back at school. The silence between us this morning was completely different. We aren’t cuddled up to one another, and the air between us feels stale. This morning, we didn’t have the need to talk like we do now, but even if I knew what to say to him, I’m not sure I’m ready to hear his response.
We walk to the train station together, still silent, and when we get out of earshot of everyone else, he says the last thing you want to hear from your boyfriend: “We need to talk.”
“That’s a bit of an understatement, don’t you think?” I say, surprisingly calm.
“We need to go to my house and talk to my mum first, then we can go see your dad and Shilah.” Does that mean she knows about Shilah too? This is getting worse by the minute. “I promise I’ll answer all of your questions, but this isn’t the time, and this isn’t the place. Just get on the train, we’ll be at my house soon enough.”
The train ride is agonisingly long even though it’s only fifteen minutes. Drew and I sit in silence until we’re off the train and walking towards his house.
“There’s something I never told you.”
I don’t like where this is going already.
“I was in the hospital when it happened, after my car accident. At first, I thought I was hallucinating or I was delusional. I could feel what everybody around me was feeling. It wasn’t like I could read their minds or hear exactly what they were thinking, but I could sense what they wanted and what kind of mood they were in.”
“So you’re saying you—”
He nods. “I’m Defective. I know I should’ve told you, but I figured you had enough worry with Shilah. I didn’t want to burden you with my defect as well.”
“How do you know about Shilah? How long have you known? How could you have kept this from me?” Tears well up in my eyes, and I’m finding it difficult to swallow. I try squashing my feelings down, but it’s not sadness that’s fuelling my emotion. It’s anger, and the more he talks, the angrier I get.
“It took me a few days to work it out, but I sensed it. I’m what they call an Empath. I could tell there was some tension in your family. I didn’t know what or who it was about at first, but eventually I worked out that it had to do with Shilah. You would tense up whenever he was mentioned. I sensed a need to protect him.”
“Why didn’t you—”
“I couldn’t have told you that I knew without telling you about me. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that … I don’t know. I guess I felt like I needed to protect myself and my family, just like you feel you need to protect Shilah.”
I don’t know what to say. I did keep Shilah from him, so why do I feel betrayed that he kept his secret from me? I should be worried about what is going to happen to both Drew and Shilah, but all I can think is how could Drew have done this to me? How selfish is that?
“Allira, everything will be okay. My mother has a contingency plan for me. She thought something like this might eventually happen. It’s a long story, but we need to start formulating a plan on how we can get out of this mess, how all of us can get out of this mess. Wait here, I won’t be long,” he says when we reach his front door.
Less than a minute later, Drew comes back out and opens his garage where a car sits.
“Where are we going now, and since when do you have a car again?” I ask.
“I’ll explain all of it, but right now we’re going to your house. We’ll get some things together and meet up with my mum in a few days, far away, where no one will find us.”
Drew was inside for less than a minute. How could he have explained everything to his mother in that time? Just how long has his mother been planning for this event?
“We?” I ask.
“All of us.”
His vague, nondescript answers are starting to annoy me, and my head is really pounding.
Shilah’s home when we arrive. He jumps off the couch and runs over to me, throwing his arms around me in an embrace.
“I couldn’t find you anywhere,” I say, hugging him tightly.
“Umm, Dad wants to talk to you,” he says, his tone weird. “Alone.” He glares at Drew.
“Actually, Shilah, we all need to talk, including Drew.”
Shilah’s gaze shifts back to me, and he purses his lips as his nostrils flare. You don’t need to be an Empath to know he’s pissed.
Drew steps between Shilah and me, putting a hand on Shilah’s shoulder. “Whoa there, sport, just hear me out.” Drew’s tone is calm and rational. I don’t know how he can be so calm.
“I know what you’re here to say, and I know you know about me, but I’m not leaving my family.”
Oh, that’s why his tone is weird.
“You don’t have to leave us, Shilah, we’ll come with you. How about we just all sit down and talk about this like normal people.” Having conversations with Shilah can be frustrating because he knows exactly what you’re going to say.
“I see how it ends, Allira, no matter what I say or do, it always ends the same. You and Dad are staying here, and I’m going with him,” he says, gesturing to Drew. His lip trembles as he wards off tears.
“Why do I stay here with Dad?” I ask. “I want to be with you as much as you want to be with us.” Why would I choose to stay behind? Why does Dad want to stay behind?
Dad comes in from the back, covered in dirt from the farm. “Okay, let’s get this conversation over with,” he says, pulling off his work boots and sitting at the dining room table.
Shilah glances at me. “I told him the gist of why Drew’s here. He’s already made up his mind about what’s going to happen.”
How could Dad have been working at a time like this?
As I sink into the chair next to Dad, he’s the first to speak. “So, Drew, what exactly is your plan for Shilah, and why should we follow it?” Straight to the point, as usual.
“My family own a cabin in Boyce Forest. No one knows of it or where it is. It’s secluded but has everything we’ll need to live on. It’ll take us a day to get there. The forest is filled with animals to hunt for food, and the cabin has a fruit and vegetable garden. There will be enough for all of us, including you, Mr. Daniels.”
A secluded cabin far away from everything sounds mighty good right now.
“Now, Drew,” my dad says in his fatherly advice voice. “I have no intention of living my life like a fugitive, and if my daughter had any sense at all, neither would she. The only reason I’m hearing you out is because I want to do what is best for Shilah, and to be honest, I’m not sure running away is the best answer for him right now.”
“Dad, I don’t want to leave you,” Shilah says.
I interject, “Well, Shilah, you have a choice. You can stay here with Dad for a few days until the Institute comes to get you, or you can spend your life quietly in the woods where you’ll still be free to make your own choices.” I have no doubt the best option for Shilah is to go with Drew, and I hear the edge of pleading in my voice.
Dad has a point, though. Do I want to live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder? I was looking forward to the day I didn’t have to do that anymore. We’ve moved around a lot in the past, but those moves were strategically planned and weren’t spur of the moment escapes. Even with Shilah and his ability, will I be able to stay calm every time we have to pack up and move again? Do they have a back-up plan for the back-up plan? What if they find us? Where would we go?
“What about you, Allira?” Shilah looks at me with hopeful eyes.
“Of course, she’s coming with us,” Drew says matter-of-fact. “She’s no safer than you here. She still might have a defect we’re unaware of, and I’m not going to let her risk that.”
It kind of angers me that h
e answered for me, as if I have no other option but to follow him into the woods. “Actually, Drew, the nurse said I should know by now if I’m Defective.”
“Allira, what are you saying?” Drew looks at me confused, his brows coming together.
“She’s saying that she’s staying. Like I said earlier, no matter what I say or do, this conversation ends the same, every time.” Shilah sounds disappointed, but it’s obvious he was expecting it.
“I didn’t say that at all, I do really want to come with you, but I’m thinking that if all of us disappear, it shows we have something to hide. What if, when they come by to get Shilah, he’s conveniently visiting a friend or our aunt? It’ll give you a head start, and if I do in fact develop any symptoms over the next two days, I’ll meet up with you at the cabin.” There’s a long silence, so I clarify. “I’m just trying to think rationally. We can meet you out there in maybe a month.”
“I’m glad someone has their head screwed on,” Dad says, relaxing in his chair.
I don’t know whether he’s pleased because I actually make sense or because I’m not going to be shacked up with my boyfriend in the woods.
“What happens when they come back for Shilah? He can’t be permanently at a friend’s house?” Drew asks.
He has a point. I just need a moment to think. We can work something out. I know I can. There has to be a way.
“We’ll report him missing the day after they come for him,” Dad says. “As far as they’re aware, we have no idea where he is, who he’s with. He told us he was going to see a friend and never returned.” He turns to Shilah, and there’s a sudden tone of hope in his voice that wasn’t there before, as if he thought the plan of them escaping wasn’t really going to work, but now he sounds optimistic that it could. “We’ll have to lay low for a while, maybe even a few months, but we can come and see you when things quieten down around here. I know you don’t want to, son. But it’s your best option.”
Shilah stands up, storming off in the direction of his bedroom.
“We’ll leave the day after tomorrow, kiddo, so pack as much as you can tonight, and we can finish tomorrow,” Drew shouts after him. “Try not to pack too much. It’s a bit of a hike to the cabin.”
I’m having a hard time believing everything that’s happened. My brother is leaving. My boyfriend is leaving. How can I stay here and pretend everything is normal? How am I meant to lead a normal life when two of the most important people in my life are not here with me? Three if you include Ebbodine.
Drew puts his arm around me. “It will get easier, Allira.”
“How did you … oh right, Empath.”
Now that it’s been pointed out to me, I feel rather stupid not picking up on it before. The reason everything is so easy for Drew and me is because he can read my mind. Maybe not literally, but he certainly seems to know what I want so he gives it to me to make me happy. Suddenly our whole relationship feels like a fraud. If you could even call it a relationship.
Of course, it was too good to be true. We were moving way too fast for it to be real.
I pull away from him.