Our winter break started the week before Christmas. Elle and I spent every moment together, making it easier to guard her from any threat. Chase spent almost as much time with Cora that week as I did with Elle. She had turned down his marriage proposal, but in true Dr. Chase Letterby fashion, he told her that she was right to say no because he needed more time before he could make such a commitment to her. Cora couldn’t exactly kick him out, because that would definitely make him wonder what was going on and possibly tip off Ester Theasing, if she didn’t already know. We couldn’t afford for the Council to find out any more than they already knew. Keeping Bryce and Elle safe was almost a 24-hour job. Cora was left at home with Chase. Genevieve and Riley took turns together watching Bryce, and I continued watching over Elle.
“Elle, could you please come up here,” Elle’s father yelled down to her halfway through a movie we were watching. A couple of minutes after Elle had gone up there, Mr. Canan raised his voice and Elle loudly answered back. She came stomping down the stairs.
“You have to go.”
“Why?”
“My dad would like to watch TV. And yes, I already told him there are three other TVs in the house.”
“No problem, Elle, I can see you tomorrow.”
It was a problem, because I wanted to spend time with her in here, not sitting out in my truck watching her house. Over the last week my sickness had come back with a vengeance from the stress of protecting her. I was so worried about her. Once again, I was personally making the owners of Tic Tacs wealthy.
“Yes, you can see me tomorrow, but I am coming with you now,” she said.
“What’s your father going to say?” I asked.
“I don’t care. I’ll meet you at the truck.”
I put my jacket on and walked out into the cold, brisk air, which stung my lungs. I started up the truck, leaving the lights off just in case I had to make a quick getaway. I stuck my hands under my legs, trying to keep them warm. The only bad thing about my dad’s old truck was it was drafty, letting the cold air come right in. I could feel an icy breeze working through the truck. My breath was fogging the windows so I could only just see the blurry outline of her house. Then a figure started to get bigger and bigger. It walked to the passenger-side of the truck. Before I could get out, Elle hopped in.
“Sorry I didn’t get the door for you.”
“It’s fine, Nicholas, just go.”
I put the truck in reverse, turned on the defrost and pulled out. Elle had put her seat belt on, but put a lot of slack in it so she could lay her head on my shoulder.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
“No, not really.” She sat back up in her seat. “Nicholas, pull in that driveway up ahead.”
The driveway belonged to Winsor Presbyterian, a local church close to her house. I drove around to the back of the church and put the truck in park. My truck was finally putting out some heat.
“Nicholas, don’t you wish we could just run away?”
Elle was taking off her jacket. She left on her scarf and her bright, woven yellow hat. She looked adorable.
“What do you mean, run away?” I turned the truck off because it was getting too hot.
“You know, just you and me. We could be together forever, with no cares or worries.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“It’s my dad. He wants us to break up. He wants me to start concentrating on colleges. He thinks you’re a distraction.”
I put my hand on her knee. She closed her eyes and sighed at the touch.
“You see, that’s what he means, but I don’t care. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. You’re the best distraction ever.”
I wanted to tell her how I felt, but I couldn’t. I was afraid—afraid about what the future would hold for us. Her soft hand was under my chin, forcing me to look deep into her eyes.
“Nicholas, I know you have had to be careful over the years not to get deeply involved with anyone, but you and I are meant to be together no matter what you are thinking right now. I know you love me because you said so, and that is something I cherish more than anything. I know how difficult this is for you.” She thought my past was holding me back.
She leaned forward and kissed me. Her warm breath was intoxicating. She pulled me close to her, taking both of her hands and putting them behind my head. I was lost, spinning out of control. In this moment of weakness, I wanted to confess all of my secrets, but our kiss, thankfully, was preventing me from talking.
The sound of knuckles tapping on my driver-side window pulled me out of my state of bliss. We both looked shocked that someone was outside the truck. All of the windows had fogged up completely. There was absolutely no way to see through the glass. Elle and I were both in the passenger seat now, which was shocking because I didn’t remember moving over there.
The fire in me lit. I was fearful that it was a Seeker, or worse, Xavier. What was I thinking? I couldn’t afford to make mistakes like this. I decided to get out of the passenger-side door, so if I needed to I could grab Elle. I opened the door quickly and got out, shutting it most of the way. Everything around me stopped. I had one hand on Elle’s arm ready to go. Standing in front of me was a police officer. I sized him up and saw his squad car back farther. The flashing lights on the car were red and blue. With time stopped, the lights combined to create a glowing purple color in the middle. He was still looking down at the driver-side door. He could be trouble, but I felt a little better about him and the situation.
Time went back to normal.
“Yes, sir?” I said.
He looked shocked that I was standing outside the passenger-side door so quickly.
“What are you doing here?” he questioned.
“We . . . well, my girlfriend and I were just . . . talking.” After it came out of my mouth, I knew he didn’t believe me. It was laughable. The windows were glazed over. Sure, we were “talking.”
“Listen here, Mr. Keller. You and Ms. Canan should get on home, and tell Coach Miller he owes me another one for letting you off.”
“Okay, sir, we’ll be on our way. But why does Coach Miller owe you in the first place?”
What was I doing? He could take us to the station if he wanted to.
“Mr. Keller, I think you should be more concerned with getting your date home, don’t you?”
He was right. I nodded. I don’t know why I asked him that. I walked around the truck and got into the driver-side door and started it up. I used my sleeve to clear the windshield and I backed out, avoiding the squad car and driving slowly through the parking lot.
“How did he know who we were?” Elle asked, putting her jacket back on.
“Elle, it seems like everyone knows who we are.”
“What were you talking about with him?” she asked, trying to wipe some of the fog off the passenger-side window.
“He told me to tell Coach Miller that he owes him another one for letting me off. Do you know what he’s talking about?” I asked.
“Maybe, I think that police officer helped Oliver,” she replied. I was shocked to hear her say his name. “Oliver was supposed to stay in jail after he got out of the hospital. I think he helped him so he didn’t have to stay there long. I’m not sure, but that’s what my dad said.”
Why would Coach Miller do that, I thought? How could he help Oliver after everything he had done? Sure, it was Xavier’s fault, but none of them knew that. The idea of Coach Miller helping him made me angry.
“But Nicholas, let’s not think about that. Because we should really be laughing about how we just got caught in a church parking lot making out.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. I took her hand and raised it up, slowly rubbing my lips over her hand. She was right. I laughed.
“Nicholas, I can’t wait for Christmas. Don’t forget, I will be over at your house around 5:00 p.m. tomorrow for Christmas Eve.”
“For what?”
“Didn’t Cora and Genevieve tell you?”
&n
bsp; “Of course,” I played along.
“Well great, I’ll see you at five.”
I gave Elle one final kiss goodnight when we got to her house. She bounced down the sidewalk and in the front door of her darkened house. She flicked the light off and on. With two honks of my horn, I was on my way home.
Why couldn’t I just have a night with Elle that wasn’t consumed by thoughts of Thusians, Oliver, or her dad trying to break us up (which was a new one, but one I expected at some point)?
The next morning brought Christmas Eve. I was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Chase was snoring loudly on the couch in the family room. Riley and Genevieve hadn’t been over to the house with Chase here. I was starting to miss them a little bit. Genevieve did pop in from time to time, just so we could talk about who got what shift for watching Elle and Bryce. But besides that, they were absent.
Cora was at the kitchen counter with hundreds of ingredients spread out everywhere. She was busy cooking.
“So how long is Sleeping Beauty going to be staying?” I whispered.
“He is leaving tonight after our dinner.”
“When were you going to tell me about dinner? Elle told me she was coming over, but I had no idea what she was talking about.”
“Actually, it was Genevieve’s idea. I told her that we never do anything special for Christmas Eve, but she insisted that this year we would do a family Christmas Eve dinner. Before I could talk to you about it, she invited Chase and Elle.”
“Why dinner?”
“She said she wanted everyone to have their loved ones close to them for Christmas this year. Because who knows what next year might bring?”
Chase started to stir. It was time for me to get out of the house. I slipped on my jacket and hurried out the front door.
I saw Riley pull into their long driveway. He must have just been getting back from the night shift watching Bryce. With only three of us able to watch them it was beginning to wear on us. Riley had volunteered to take the shifts watching Bryce. Genevieve and I now divided up the duties watching Elle. We all agreed that in the morning, they would be the safest. So from 9:00 a.m. to noon we would all try to get some sleep. With Chase occupying Cora’s time at the house, Riley guarded Bryce all by himself, running on just a couple hours of sleep a day. We were all hoping Chase would leave soon so we could then split up the responsibility four ways. We were really supposed to watch in pairs, but we had to do what we could right now.
I walked over to his car. He looked sick. His eyes had large dark rings around them and his face was a sick grey color with a little green mixed in.
“Riley, are you feeling okay?” I asked, opening his door.
“Of course. Just a little tired. Let’s get out of the cold, then we can talk.”
Once inside his house, he started to look better. He coughed a couple of times, then said, “I had a long night, but an interesting one.”
He started to make himself some tea in the kitchen. I stood there waiting for him to finish his thought. Once he got his hot tea, he put both hands around the mug and sipped out of it. The color returned to his face, but the dark circles remained.
“Bryce is the one. I know it for sure.” He took another sip.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I was sitting in my car, parked in the large empty lot across from his apartment building. His dad came home around 1:00 a.m. He was carrying a suitcase. I assumed that he had come home to spend the holidays with Bryce. The lights in the apartment went on one at a time. Then Bryce’s bedroom light came on. His dad was standing in the living room. Bryce entered the room. I could see everything because the curtains were open just enough. They got into some sort of heated argument, right away. His dad cocked back to hit Bryce. But then everything slowed down for me, because Bryce was in danger of getting hit by his dad. Bryce moved to the side, escaping his dad’s blurred arms and fists. Then Bryce shoved him into the window, causing a crack that slowly spider webbed out from the impact. Time then went back to normal. I couldn’t see what happened next, but his dad carried his suitcase out with him a few minutes later and left. Thirty minutes after he left, each one of the lights in their apartment went off slowly. The way Bryce moved to the side and avoided his dad’s punch makes him, without any doubt, the 4th. He will complete The 7.”
I sat there not knowing how I felt. I should be happy, relieved because the search was over, but instead I felt bad for Bryce. Who knows how long his dad had been hitting him? That must have been how he got that bruise around his eye. I was glad it was him so he could escape that life and start a new one with us, even though his new life would be filled with more horrible things. At least now he could fight back.
“So what’s next?” I asked.
“We need to start protecting him around the clock, no more breaks until we tell him the truth. Also we can ease up on protecting Elle.” I didn’t like the sound of that, but before I could object, he continued. “Nicholas, don’t worry. We still need to watch Elle because of Xavier trying to kill her last year. But I think she is safe at her home at night with her parents.”
“Cora said we should wait until spring to tell him, because that will be the best time,” I said, reminding him, because I was sure he wanted to go over there now.
“I know what she said, but I saw what he did with my own two eyes. He is it.”
“Okay, but still we are not going to tell him anything until the time is right,” I said, reinforcing that point. “We can’t just tell him something like this and expect that he will be fine with it.”
“He needs to know right now, so we can finally take on the Seekers, and Bryce can help me kill the Council members who were responsible for my parents’ deaths.” Riley’s eyes widened.
“What did you just say, Riley?” I stared at him, not sure if I heard him correctly. “Kill the Council members?”
“Nicholas, I meant to say, ‘Kill the Seekers.’”
“That’s not what you said. You said, ‘Kill the Council members who were responsible for your parents’ deaths.’ Is that why you were showing Bryce off to Ester? You were introducing her to her possible executioner? If I didn’t know better, I would think you were working with—”
He interrupted me before I could say Xavier’s name. “The 4th will be able to help us eliminate the Council.”
“But you said Bryce will help you kill the Council members responsible for your parents’ deaths. What did you mean?” I asked angrily.
“My parents were two of the last true Thusian historians,” his Irish accent returned, “and the Council felt threatened by them, so they killed my da and ma.” He was now gritting his teeth. The muscles in his jaw were twitching. He looked like he was going to explode.
“Do you even know what putting together The 7 means?” I asked, not sure of anything he told us.
“No, not exactly. No one does. But it’s the only way to restore things to the way they should be.”
“So this whole thing is about revenge for you? How could you not tell us this? I knew you had more secrets. You’re trying to use us as your own personal weapon to get revenge on the Council, just like how the Council used the Seekers. Breaking them up is one thing, but killing them is another. You know that’s not right. We can’t be like the Seekers.” He wasn’t looking at me anymore.
“Look at me,” I demanded.
He slowly looked at me.
“We are going to wait until spring to tell Bryce, like Cora said. This will give you enough time to tell Cora and Genevieve your secret agenda. And I suggest you do it soon so I don’t have to. No one will approach Bryce, Riley. This is not about your revenge; this is about our survival.”