The MORE Trilogy (24 page)

Caleb nodded stiffly.

“But, how did they find us?” she asked. “I thought they couldn’t see through the cloak.”

Caleb turned, grabbing her hand and dragging her through the house. “Get your things,” he ordered. “We’re leaving now.”

Audrey rushed after them up the stairs, digging through a desk drawer, and throwing items into a little bag. Ava raced into her room, adrenaline rushing through her, and her backpack flew into her hands.

“Easy,” Caleb said soothingly. “Don’t get too emotional.”

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered, reaching out to catch the toothbrush and toothpaste that sprang through the bathroom door.

Audrey met them in the hall. “Here,” she said, handing Caleb the bag. “Some money and R-cubes to help you get where you’re going.” She tossed him a set of keys. “We’ll keep them busy as long as we can, but you know they’ll be on your tail. You’ll probably have to ditch the car and shift.”

“We’ll be fine,” Caleb said as they hurried down the stairs. Shouting from the backyard made his hair stand on end. They were so close.

Gunfire.

More shouts.

“Caleb?” Ava asked weakly.

“Let’s go,” he growled, grabbing her hand as they ran to the garage.

Ava looked back to see Audrey watching them sadly before turning and heading toward the back of the house. “Audrey!” she shouted. She turned to Caleb. “She’s not going to try and fight them?”

“She’ll do what she has to,” he said grimly. “Audrey has a lot of power. She’ll hold her own.” He stopped at the door, listening for a moment before opening it. “Come on.”

Caleb grabbed Ava’s backpack, throwing it and his bag into the backseat as Ava got into the dark sedan. With a deep breath, he hit the garage door opener, throwing the car into gear and peeling out of the driveway at top speed.

Ava gripped the door handle, looking over her shoulder, desperate to catch a glimpse of Audrey. “Can you sense her?” she asked frantically. “Is Audrey all right?”

“I don’t know,” Caleb grunted, spinning around a corner. “There’s so much Race activity, it’s hard to pinpoint anyone. God, they’re everywhere,” he muttered under his breath as the pulled out onto the highway. A few moments later, a blue pickup appeared behind them. “Too late. They’ve found us,” he said grimly, pushing the speedometer to the limit. Ava watched the blue truck closing in.

“They’re too fast,” she shouted.

“Grab the bags,” Caleb ordered, his eyes scanning the road for any other traffic. He spied an empty field about a mile ahead. “Hurry.”

Ava did as she was told, holding them tight to her chest as she watched the blue truck grow larger in the back window. “What are we going to do?”

“Shift,” Caleb said. “Come closer.”

“Shift?” she gasped. “From a moving car?”

“We don’t have a choice,” he shouted, throwing an arm over her shoulder. “This is gonna be rough. Hold on tight and close your eyes.”

“Caleb—”

“There’s no time!” he shouted. “Just hold on!” He leaned forward, and Ava wrapped her arms around him. Caleb gunned the engine, steering for the empty field. “Here we go,” he warned.

The next moment, a jarring crack rang through the air, and they fell to the ground, the impact tearing her from Caleb’s grip. The world spun around them, then Caleb realized they actually w
ere
spinning, or rather rolling down a muddy hill in a dense forest. Ava shrieked then grunted as a thick tree root stopped her descent. Caleb’s body flew past her, finally coming to rest with a splash in an icy puddle at the bottom of the hill. He groaned, pushing himself up on his arms.

“Are you okay?” he called up to Ava.

She pushed herself to a sitting position, leaning against a mossy tree trunk. “I think so,” she said after a moment, breath still heaving. “Just got the wind knocked out of me. You?”

Caleb nodded, getting to his feet and frowning down at his wet and muddy clothes. He spotted his bag under a bush and hefted it up onto his shoulder before climbing up to Ava, holding out his hand. “We need to keep moving,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before they center in on us. We need to get to that train.” He swayed a little, dropping down on a knee.

“Caleb!” Ava exclaimed, holding him tightly to keep him from plummeting down the hill again.

“I’m okay,” he mumbled. “But I need . . . cubes.” He curled up on the frozen ground, and Ava scanned the area frantically for her backpack.

“Where is it?” she muttered, peeking under bushes as she followed the path of her descent down the hill. She’d been holding it when they shifted, she was sure of it—but who knew how far away it had been flung when they crashed?

Ava took a deep breath, closing her eyes and picturing the bag.

Caleb moaned, and she jolted slightly, her concentration lost for a moment.

“Hang on, Caleb,” she encouraged him, closing her eyes again. She held her hands out in front of her, working through the visualization as Audrey had taught her. But after nearly a minute with no result, she huffed in frustration. It had seemed so simple at the safe house. She thought back to when they were trying to leave, how things just flew into her hands. Caleb had said she needed to calm down, but it was as if the adrenaline only heightened her focus.

Maybe that was the key.

Ava closed her eyes again, but instead of trying to clear her mind, she tried to recapture those last moments . . . the panic . . . the fear.

The gunshots.

Audrey.

Caleb, eyes wide.

The blue truck closing in.

Her heartbeat increased as she pictured the battle they’d left behind. Bodies falling . . . shouts . . . screams . . .

Caleb moaned behind her again, and Ava threw her hands out in front of her.

The backpack landed in her arms with a soft whoosh.

She exhaled in relief, and hurried back over to Caleb, digging out the jar of cubes and popping two into his open mouth. When he didn’t immediately chew them up, she shook his shoulder, realizing he’d fallen asleep.

“Caleb, come on,” she said gruffly. “Chew and swallow. We’ve got to get out of here.”

Caleb blinked sleepily but obediently chewed up the cubes, and then two more, his eyes already gaining focus as he sat up, rubbing his head.

“You okay?” Ava asked.

He nodded, chasing the foul-tasting cubes with a drink from a water bottle before handing it to Ava. “Are you hurt?” he asked as she stowed the water bottle, picking up her bag and standing slowly.

“No, nothing serious,” she said. “Probably going to be a little sore, though.” She looked around. “Any idea where we are?”

Caleb pulled out his phone, checking the GPS. “A few miles from Sioux City,” he said. “We’ll need to walk until I can get my strength up to shift again.”

“I thought you said shifting would draw too much attention.”

Caleb shrugged. “We don’t have much choice now. Without a car, we’re sitting ducks.” He checked his phone again and pointed back up the hill. “There should be a road up that way. You ready?”

Ava frowned and followed behind him as they trudged up the hill, grabbing branches to keep from slipping along the way. They picked their way through a rough path between the trees and eventually came out at the side of a two-lane road and turned right.

“You feeling better now?” Ava asked.

Caleb nodded, popping another cube in his mouth as they walked down the center of the road. “Yeah. Few more of these and we should be able to try shifting again.”

Ava turned around, walking backward for a moment. “Maybe we can catch a ride,” she remarked. As if on cue, a semi came around the corner toward them. They hurried to the side of the road and threw up their thumbs, smiling widely.

“Show a little leg,” Caleb suggested.

Ava snorted. “
You
show a little leg.”

In the end, neither one needed to bare any skin, because the semi pulled over just ahead of them, the driver smiling widely as Caleb pulled open the passenger door.

“Need a lift?” he asked. “I’m going as far as Lennox.”

“That would be great,” Caleb replied, holding the door as Ava climbed in and settling down next to her.

“Looks like you had a bit of trouble,” the driver said, eyeing their muddy clothes.

“Yeah,” Caleb said. “Tried a shortcut and got a little turned around.”

The driver laughed. “That’ll happen around here.” He shifted gears, pulling back onto the road. “They call me T.J.,” he said.

“I’m Caleb. This is Ava.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, rolling down his window to spit.

Caleb pulled out his phone to check his e-mails. Spotting one from Bel, he opened it quickly, his jaw tightening as he read it.

“What is it?” Ava whispered.

With a surreptitious glance at T.J., he shook his head once. Ava frowned, grabbing the phone before he put it in his pocket. She read through the e-mail, her face blanching.

Caleb didn’t have to read the words again to see them in his mind.

Safe house compromised. Seized by Council. Reports of casualties, but no idea how many. No word from Audrey.

Ava looked up at him, blinking back tears. “No,” she whispered.

Caleb took the phone and tucked it back in his pocket, swallowing thickly. “Not now,” he said quietly.

“Everything okay?” T.J. asked, concern on his face.

“Just some bad news from back home,” Caleb lied, avoiding Ava’s eyes. “Sick family member.”

“Ah, too bad,” T.J. replied. “Always tough to be away at a time like that.”

“Yeah,” Caleb agreed. “Yeah, it is.”

Between three hitchhiked rides, six shifts, and a couple of handfuls of R-cubes, they made it to the border in a little less than four hours. The last driver left them in the parking lot of a truck stop as he went in to get something to eat. They offered some gas money, but he refused, wishing them luck and waving as he walked away.

Caleb turned to Ava cautiously. She’d been quiet ever since she’d seen Bel’s e-mail, and he’d been watching her while trying to mask his worried expression.

“You hungry?” he asked. “We could get a sandwich or something.”

Ava shook her head. “I’m fine.”

They walked toward the border crossing, and Ava shot him a curious glance. “So, what’s the plan for getting across the border?”

He smiled. “Keep walking.”

They got in line behind a group of people walking across the border, and Ava could see a couple of buses and taxis waiting on the other side to pick up whoever might need a ride. She hitched her backpack up higher on her shoulder, unsure how Caleb was going to deal with the whole passport issue, but when they reached the border guard, he pulled out a couple of passports from his back pocket and handed them over with a smile.

“How long are you going to be in the country?” the guard asked in a bored voice.

“Just a few days,” Caleb answered. “Sightseeing.”

The guard nodded. “I’ll need to look in your bags.”

“Of course,” Caleb replied, opening his messenger bag. Ava propped her backpack up on the table and unzipped it, wondering how she would explain the jar of gray Jell-O inside. She glanced at the contents and blinked at the very obvious butt of a gun tucked under her extra jeans. She shot a panicked look Caleb’s way, simultaneously shoving the gun deeper into the bag with a mental push.

The adrenaline really did help.

The guard looked through Caleb’s bag without saying a word, then reached for Ava’s backpack. She held her breath, but just as the man peeked through the gap in the top, Caleb brushed his fingers over his forehead and whispered, “You’ve already checked it. It’s fine.”

The guard blinked twice, then straightened and shoved the bag back toward Ava. “Enjoy your stay,” he said, stifling a yawn. “Next!”

They picked up their things, and Ava fought the urge to break into a run, instead matching Caleb’s easy gait.

“Well, that little trick certainly comes in handy,” she muttered as they approached a cab.

Caleb grinned, winking at her as he pulled open the door.