Traveller (27 page)

“And whose idea was it for Margaret and Sean to go out alone to help a Dweller?” Mavin’s lips twisted in disgust when she spat out the word “Dweller.”

“It was my idea, but we thought Leo was just a Dweller, too. Like Brooke.” I glanced at Michael. “Now we are fairly certain he’s actually a Moktar.”

“The man who attacked you?” My grandmother’s voice rose an octave higher than usual. “How can that be?”

Several members of the council gasped. One old lady clutched a hand to her heart. Even Mavin looked shocked. Her bony hands fluttered to her throat.

Michael nodded. “One of the creatures told Emerson, in his dying breath, about a Moktar who can walk in the sun. I think one of them now has enough Traveller blood that he looks human. It might be Leo.”

One of the older council members put his head in his hands, like he might weep. Several of them acted shell shocked. So much happened at once, they couldn’t quite process it. I understood how they felt.

The head councilman, Monroe, spoke. “Moktar cannot take human form. It isn’t possible.” He shook his head. “I understand what you’re trying to do, but it comes down to one thing. The lass has broken our laws, Michael.”

Every member of the council turned and looked at me, and my cheeks grew hot. Michael’s body tensed next to mine.

“You think I’d make up a lie to protect her?”

He gave Michael a sad little smile. “I think you’d do anything to protect her. It’s obvious how you feel about her.”

Michael’s jaw clenched, displaying his fury. “It’s irrelevant. She fought in self-defense. That’s not forbidden.”

Monroe’s face turned cold. “She chased a Moktar down the street and climbed a wall to catch him. That’s not self-defense. It’s madness. And if we let her stay, her madness may infect other girls. She’s not even a real Traveller anyway. There is really no need for such a fuss.”

My grandmother’s hand tightened on mine, like she would hold me there by sheer will alone. “She’s our granddaughter, Monroe. All we have left. If you exile her, you send her to certain death.”

“She’s given us no choice.”

It ended very quickly. The council voted and only my grandmother and Sampson thought I should be allowed to stay. There was no hope.

Monroe stood, and I saw something odd flash through his eyes. If I hadn’t known better, I would have said he looked pleased. A second later, his expression turned somber, like he’d suddenly remembered to act like he felt bad about his actions, but I knew the truth. He wanted me gone.

“Pack your things, Emerson. The Ceannfort will escort you back to your home.”

Further protests would not change their minds, so Michael and my grandmother walked me back to her caravan. Anselina helped me pack, her face tense with the effort it took not to cry.

“I wish Matthew were here. He’d want to see you. He’s away for the morning on Traveller business, of all the terrible luck. I’m so sorry, child…” she began, but I stopped her by gently squeezing her arm.

“It isn’t your fault. I’ll call you, okay?”

She shook her head, her lips trembling. “It’s forbidden, dearest. Once you’re exiled, we have to pretend you never existed.”

I sank down onto the bed. My knees had given out on me. “Even Michael?”

She nodded, putting her arms around my shoulders. “But I shan’t forget you. Ever.” Her words were a soft whisper in my ear. “And he won’t, either.”

I walked back to my apartment in a daze. Michael was inches away from me, but neither of us spoke until we reached the door of my building. He turned to me, his face tense and pale.

“You’ll have to talk to Lucinda and Poppy. They need to know the truth. It’s the only way to keep them safe.”

“What should I tell them?”

“Everything. I give you my permission to tell them everything.” His voice cracked, and he pulled me into his arms. I realized it might be my last memory of Michael Nightingale, and I clung to him. “I’ll figure this out, Emerson. I’ll find a way to fix it.”

I shook my head. “Some things just can’t be fixed.”

He leaned forward, touching his forehead against mine. “Stay safe. Don’t be foolish. Don’t take any chances. Please, Emerson. For my sake, promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I’m always careful, Michael,” I said, and gave him one last kiss before slipping out of his arms and into my building. The door closed behind me with a thud, but I didn’t look back. If I had, I never would have been able to keep going.

Poppy and Lucinda were upstairs. When they saw my face and the suitcases in my hands, they knew something was very wrong. After setting me up with a cup of warm tea on the couch, Poppy started the inquisition.

“Tell us what is going on.”

When I didn’t answer immediately, she let out an impressively long string of curse words. Normally, I loved to hear Poppy swear. She even said the “f” word in a cute way, making it sound more like
fooook.
I didn’t find it so cute today, although her outfit was adorable. She wore tiny shorts, black lacy tights, and Doc Marten’s. She’d added a hot pink cardigan with feathered fringe that nearly reached her knees to further enhance the look.

I swallowed hard. “I don’t know where to start.”

The fact I refrained from weeping was pretty amazing. I really deserved a medal for holding back the tears. Eventually, it would to hit me, and I’d cry like never before, but for now I was too numb. In shock.

“The beginning,” said Lucinda.

“You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“We
know
you’re crazy, and we love you for it, but something is terribly wrong. You need to tell us what’s going on. Now.”

Poppy was as stubborn as a mule when she set her mind to something. I sighed.

“I guess I’ll start with the day I saw Michael outside the library and followed him through York.”

I told them about seeing Tad’s body and the Moktar and everything else that happened that night. It felt good to get it off my chest. I’d hated lying to Lucinda and Poppy.

Their expressions went from shock to disbelief to confusion and finally something that looked a whole lot like acceptance. When I got to the part about how the Travellers had unusual abilities, my cheeks got a little hot. I was sure they wouldn’t believe me. I was wrong.

“I knew it.” Poppy slammed her hand down on our kitchen table. “I just knew it.”

Lucinda raised one dark eyebrow at her. “You knew Emerson was part of a secret race of gypsies with special powers?”

Poppy shook her head so hard the blue spikes in her hair wiggled. “Of course not, but I knew there was something strange about her. Her reflexes were too fast, and she always seemed to sense when something was about to happen.”

Lucinda huffed, and I held up a hand to stop them because I knew they would go on forever. “Look, ladies. I had to tell you everything because I wanted to keep you safe. I’m putting both of you in terrible danger just by being here. I’ll move into a hotel tonight.”

Lucinda rolled her eyes. “Nonsense. We’ll lock the door, and we won’t go out at night until this is all over. We’ll be fine.”

“If anything ever happened to either of you…” The tears I’d held in threatened to fall. I kept them in check by sheer willpower alone. “And because of me, Brooke is in very serious trouble, too. She’ll die if I don’t help her. She might be dead already.”

“None of this is your fault,” said Lucinda. “But I think I can help you.”

“How?”

“You know I studied computer science as my undergrad major, right?” I nodded, confused. “Well, in all honesty, I had some skill as a hacker. I was being recruited to find new ways to track people using their cell phones and laptops, but I preferred sex to spying, and got away from it.”

“Really?” I asked. A tiny glimmer of hope bloomed in my chest.

Lucinda nodded. “If they used Brooke’s phone to contact you, I just might be able to track it.”

I pulled my phone out of my backpack and handed it to her. “Thank you, Luce. I owe you one.”

She didn’t look up, intent on finding Brooke’s number, but I heard the smile in her voice when she spoke. “I happen to be in an exceptionally good mood. I got laid last night. At last.” She glanced up from the phone and gave me a saucy grin.

“You conquered Antarctica,” I said, and Lucinda grinned.

Poppy squealed. “
Finally
.”

Lucinda winked at us, and then grabbed her laptop to work on finding Brooke’s location. I curled up next to her on the couch. “Can you do it, Lucinda?”

She put on her glasses, black and sexy with rhinestones dotting the edges, and started typing. “This is child’s play.”

A few minutes later, she gave me an address. I wrote it down quickly, committing it to memory. “I can’t believe I have an actual physical address for a Moktar nest. I want to go and kill them all right now.”

“But you promised Michael you’d be careful,” said Poppy. “Shouldn’t you call the police instead?”

“And tell them what? My friend was kidnapped by a bunch of brain-eating monsters? I’m sure that would go over well.”

“Then what exactly do you plan to do?” asked Lucinda.

I opened my mouth to answer her when I heard a knock at the door. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and made Poppy and Lucinda stand back while I opened it. The sun remained above the horizon, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I looked through the peephole and stepped back in surprise before opening the door. Margaret and Audrey stood there, grinning at me, obviously very pleased with themselves.

“What are you doing here?” I pulled them into my apartment, giving each of them a big hug. “You shouldn’t have come.”

Lucinda and Poppy decided to leave to pick up groceries and supplies. It looked like we were going to spend a lot of time locked in the apartment. I sat down with Margaret and Audrey and poured them some tea.

“What’s going on? You’ll be in so much trouble if the council finds out you came here,” I said.

“We had to come. Right after the council meeting, Mavin disappeared,” said Margaret. “She’s not in the compound.”

I frowned. “So?”

“She left this behind.” Margaret handed me a small leather journal. Inside were dates and names.

“What is this?”

“A list of all the Travellers who’ve been taken. Look at the first name on the list,” said Margaret. “It’s Roseanne.”

“Michael’s mother?”

She nodded. “And look at the last name.”

I flipped through the pages, and my eyes widened in shock. “Me?”

Margaret nodded. “I told you one girl is taken every year, but now it seems like it was planned, like those girls are chosen as some sort of sacrifice. And you’re next.”

“Someone is betraying you,” I said.

“Us, Emerson. They are betraying
us
.” Margaret reached out and squeezed my arm. I swallowed hard.

“I think you’re right. The Moktar are too aware of everything going on inside the compound. They knew I was a Traveller before we did.”

“They did that by smell.”

“But how did they know so much about Michael? They called him the Ceannfort. And how did they know Tad would be alone the night he was killed? He was set up. I’m sure of it.”

Audrey flinched when I said Tad’s name. “They may have just wandered across him…”

I shook my head. “It felt wrong, like it had been planned.”

“You think Mavin is a traitor?” asked Audrey.

I flipped through the book until I found something that made my heart drop in my chest. Written in the back was an address I’d seen before. I compared it to the one given to me by Lucinda only minutes before.

“Well, this is pretty incriminating.”

“What is it?” asked Audrey.

“This is the address of the Moktar nest. Mavin knew where they were, and yet she did nothing.”

Margaret put her head in her hands. “What should we do?”

I gave them a sad little smile. “Both of you need to go back to the compound and tell Michael what you’ve discovered.”

“We couldn’t. He wasn’t there.”

He probably couldn’t face going back there right away, but Michael would never desert his people. He was a leader, through and through. “He’ll be back, and it isn’t safe here for you. I can’t believe you came on your own.”

Audrey giggled. “We didn’t. Sean is downstairs standing guard. If anyone asks, he’ll say he never saw you and it’ll be the truth.”

“You really do have him wrapped around your little finger, don’t you?”

She grinned. “Yes, I do, but this isn’t about me. You saved his life, and he owes you a debt.”

Margaret patted my hand. “I know the council members didn’t stand up for you. They do whatever Monroe Skinner wants. But many of us were absolutely outraged about what happened, and we plan to fight it.”

They got up to leave. “Just stay safe, okay?”

Margaret gave me a steady look. “I finally understand what my dream meant, Emerson.”

“The dream you had when you first met me?”

“Yes.” She took a deep slow breath. “It wasn’t about a funeral. When I saw those candles in my dream, it came true the night you killed those Moktar and saved Sean and I. You aren’t here to hurt us. You’re going to save us all.”

I swallowed hard. “I’m a former Junior Miss Kentucky who picked up a few martial arts skills. Please don’t make me out to be more than I actually am, Margaret.”

“You don’t know what you are yet, dear little Emerson, but eventually you’ll figure it out.” She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “Can you promise me you won’t go to that nest and save Brooke on your own?”

“I can’t do that. I’d be lying. But I do have a plan.”

“What kind of plan?” asked Margaret.

I bit my lip. “Let me just begin by saying, ‘All warfare is based on deception.’ It’s a fundamental truth.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Says whom?”

“Sun Tzu, of course. I think it’s time to practice a little deception of my own.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ain’t nobody going to mess on me and call it apple butter.

~Grandma Sugar

Margaret and Audrey returned to the compound, but not before giving me a precious gift. A belt loaded with knifes, and a large duffle filled to the brim with other weapons. After they left, I opened the bag and went through the weapons one by one. Better than Christmas.