Chapter One
Kaitlyn was restless.
It wasn't unusual, not for the 13-year-old daughter of an FBI agent, not for the daughter of a father who left his family in shambles, and not for the sister of a rebellious teenager, her big brother Tyler.
There was a lot to keep her awake these days.
It was morning, early. The sun was beginning to intrude through her curtains, daring her with another day. She let out a whimper of a groan and rolled over, away from the sun, wishing she could just fall back asleep. It was far too early for a Saturday morning.
Kaitlyn closed her eyes, began to feel the comforting heaviness of sleep overtake her, when she felt the first shake.
It woke her, feeling her bed shaking beneath her, if only for a second. At first, she thought she was imaginging it, an after-effect of coming out of a dazed half-sleep, but then the shaking began again, a little more this time, and Kaitlyn immediately thought it was a small earthquake, but then it stopped again.
Kaitlyn closed her eyes, wondering if maybe the whole thing was a dream. She was so in and out of sleep, most of the time, she wasn't sure where dreams began and reality ended.
But she heard her mother's bedroom door open slightly, the gentle patter of her feet walking past Kaitlyn's door toward the end of the hall. Her mother, Erica, was probably getting up for work. Kaitlyn rolled over.
She heard the knock, and then her brother's door opening.
"Tyler," Erica called, no doubt entering his room. "Did you feel that?"
Kaitlyn's eyes popped open.
Her body froze.
Tyler.
He wasn't in his room.
In fact, he wasn't even in the house.
"Tyler!" Erica yelled, coming out of her son's bedroom, and storming down the hall.
Kaitlyn recalled the previous night, when she was sitting at the kitchen nook with a bowl of cereal, her midnight snack, though it was nowhere near midnight.
Erica was working late, again. It wasn't any surprise, not to Tyler and Kaitlyn, who were used to their mother's demanding schedule.
Tyler had come downstairs, donning his leather jacket and a smug expression. Kaitlyn picked up on his plan instinctively. He was taking off on his bike, that stupid death-trap he insisted on buying last year, and still insisted on riding, even after his accident. Sometimes, Kaitlyn wondered what was going through his thick skull.
Anyway, he snuck out last night, made Kaitlyn swear on her life and all that was good and holy that she wouldn't rat him out.
That was how it always with with Kaitlyn. Trapped in the middle between her rebellious brother, whom she loved like crazy, and her busy mother, who she looked up to with a fierce passion. It was a vicious cycle; Tyler would disobey the rules, engage in rebellious acts and swear Kaitlyn to secrecy, just in time for Erica to come along and ask Kaitlyn what was going on with her brother.
She couldn't win either way; she couldn't have both their trusts.
It sucked!
But now Erica was calling Tyler's name throughout the house, which meant he hadn't come home last night.
He was in such huge trouble!
Kaitlyn closed her eyes.
It didn't take long before her own bedroom door opened and in a few short strides, Erica was sitting on her daughter's bed, shaking her, thinking she was still asleep.
"Kait, wake up sweetie!" she said shortly, sounding out of breath. Kaitlyn moaned as she pretended to squint her eyes like she'd been sleeping this whole time.
"Mom, it's Saturday, lemme sleep in," Kaitlyn whined, rolling over, hoping her mom would leave her alone, let her try and find some sleep.
"No, Kait, this is important, come on, wake up for me, please," Erica said a little irritably, continuing to shake Kaitlyn.
Well, there was no getting out of this one. She was caught up in the web that was the animosity between mother and son once again.
Kaitlyn opened her eyes and rolled over to stare up into her mother's fierce blue eyes, eyes that held pain Kaitlyn could only begin to understand. Her mother, her best friend, her role model, hadn't taken the divorce well, and Kaitlyn knew that. Erica might be good at working hard, putting on a happy face for the kids, but Kaitlyn wasn't like all the other 13-year-old girls, who were only concerned with boys, dances and bras. Kaitlyn was a little more intuitive than most, and far more emotional. She could read her mom like a book, and Tyler too.
And the two of them weren't getting along. At all.
Erica's long blonde hair fell over her shoulders as she stared at Kaitlyn, worried. Kaitlyn often wondered if it hurt Erica to look at her dark-haired children, a daily reminder of their father.
Kaitlyn sighed.
"Hi mom," she said quietly, managing a small smile that wasn't returned.
"Where's Tyler?" Erica asked with a sense of urgency. Kaitlyn felt her heart in her throat. Now for the lying, the lying she hated so much, but felt so obligated to do at times.
"Isn't he in bed?" Kaitlyn asked as inquisitively as she could, yawning a little.
Erica shook her head.
"No, he's not," she said with a sigh. "Come on Kait, this is important, where is your brother?"
Kaitlyn felt her defenses rising.
She sat up.
"Mom, what makes you think I would know where he is anyway?" she asked, narrowing her eyebrows defiantly.
It hardly ever worked, and this time was no exception.
"Kaitlyn, you always know where your brother is because he always tells you." Erica let out a sigh. "The two of you are close, and that makes me so happy, but right now, I want you to break whatever confidence you have with him and tell me where your brother is."
Erica stared at her daughter hard, knowing how greatly it was conflicting it was for her, but needing to know where her eldest had snuck out to, and why.
Kaitlyn sighed, feeling her body tensing up, knowing if she kept it a secret, she would probably end up either grounded, or dealing with an irritated mother for the rest of the day, but if she told her mother, Tyler would freak out on her later.
Both options weren't fun.
But the sheer worry glazing her mother's eyes made the decision easy for Kaitlyn, at least for now.
"I'm sorry mom," she replied, "I honestly don't know where he is."
"Do you know how long he's been gone?" Erica asked, sensing the truth in what her daughter was saying.
Kaitlyn bit her lip, her way of showing how much she didn't want to snitch.
Her mother's warning glance left her no choice.
"He snuck out last night." Kaitlyn swallowed. "An hour before I headed to bed. You came home later. I...I guess you thought Tyler was in bed, like me."
Erica was silent as she considered her daughter, mulled it all over in her mind, and then, with the blankest of faces, Erica got up and left.
Kaitlyn hated it, when she couldn't read her mother. Sometimes, she could just freeze her face up so good that Kaitlyn had to wonder if she felt anything at all.
But then, that was how Erica dealt with things, sometimes, by pretending she didn't feel. Kaitlyn figured she was doing it to be strong for her kids, but Kaitlyn could see right through it.
Kaitlyn was left in bed, struggling with the inner turmoil that churned inside her. She was tired of this family feud, she was tired of being in the middle. Tyler and Erica seemed to be fighting or disagreeing all the time, and since Kaitlyn was seen as a neutral party, she was always in the middle.
She heard the sounds of low beeping off in the distance; Erica was calling Tyler.
Kaitlyn threw back her covers, jumped out of bed and headed downstairs where she found Erica pacing back and forth. Kaitlyn stopped on the seventh stair, and waited, listened.
"Tyler?" Erica said into the phone. Her voice was laced with edge; panic and anger, Kaitlyn couldn't pick out which was heaviest. "Where are you?"
Kaitlyn waited while Erica listened. Erica closed her eyes, and again, Kaitlyn couldn't figure out if she was annoyed or relieved.
"A fight. You got into a fight."
Kaitlyn sighed. Ty was going to get it now.
"What do you mean you're at the hospital?" Erica asked as her voice went up an octave.
The hospital.
Kaitlyn still had the vivid memories of the hospital from when Tyler had his motorcycle accident last year. Was he okay this time too?
"You won't be fine when I'm through with you, Tyler Evans!" Erica shouted into the telephone. Another empty threat. That was their mother. Sure, she meant well, but she would never actually hurt either of them, punishing them was hard enough, since she was hardly ever at home. It was fine with Kaitlyn, who never did anything wrong, was the apple of her mother's eye, but Tyler, Tyler went out of his way to piss their mother off, it seemed, especially since the divorce.
Kaitlyn sighed, dreading the fight that would ensue between mother and son whenever Tyler got home.
That was when the house started shaking.
Really hard, this time.
Kaitlyn clung to the railing, eyes wide, staring all around her as pictures fell from the wall. She distantly heard her mother yelling into the telephone, "Stay where you are, I'm coming for you."
And then Erica was up the stairs, grabbing a hold of Kaitlyn's hand, leading her up to her bedroom.
"Get dressed quickly, sweetie, we have to get your brother," Erica said with a sense of urgency, as she jogged toward her own bedroom. Kaitlyn followed her to the door, having to hold the sides of it to keep from falling over.
"Mom, what's going on?" Kaitlyn asked, gazing after her mother for the answers.
Erica could only offer an agitated shrug.
"I know as much as you do, Kait."