Chapter 9
"Are you sure he was a shifter?" Sam asked at the breakfast table as Sookie worked the bacon over the frying pan.
"Definitely" Sookie said shaking her head "I could feel it. Sam...that poor boy was under the influence, you could just tell."
"You told me his eyes were pretty dilated" Sam said scraping butter on his toast "Was he shaking at all?"
"Like a rattle" she said as she put the bacon on a plate for them. Adele was still fast asleep upstairs, her snores heard from even outside the door.
"I don't know what's going on Sookie" Sam said sighing "It could have something to do with those disappearances in Kentucky."
"Should we go to Kentucky then?" Sookie said popping a piece of bacon into her mouth.
"I wouldn't go that far" Sam said "We don't need to go looking for trouble, especially in an area we are not familiar with. We could talk to Eric, see if he knows anyone there that could do some investigating."
"True" Sookie said "But Eric usually wants something in return."
"He hasn't asked for anything yet" Sam said a little bewildered.
"I know that vampire" Sookie said "He'll want something eventually. And it usually involves something about me."
Sam studied Sookie for a minute before returning to his own bacon.
"Do you still want to be with Eric?" Sam said not looking at her.
"Damn it Sam" Sookie said pushing herself from the table "I don't want to be with anybody right now! Why is it I'm constantly fighting between you, Eric, Bill and Alcide?"
"I'm sorry" Sam said shaking his head "I shouldn't have brought it up."
Sookie huffed and knew she was being ridiculous. She missed Eric in some ways, and she would always love him, but she couldn't trust him anymore. Sam was here now, and she wanted Sam to stay, but her heart would always love Eric and Bill, and even Alcide in their own way. She could be with all of them, and with none of them all at the same time.
The creaking of the stairs shook Sookie out of her thoughts as Adele walked in still half asleep with her golden locks tangled and messy against her head.
"Morning sunshine" Sam said looking back at her with a side grin.
Adele yawned and scratched at her head as she looked around "It's too bright..." she mumbled.
Sookie giggled and went over to her daughter, giving her a big hug and a kiss "I made some bacon and Sam fixed some toast if you want any."
"Alright" Adele mumbled as she shuffled over to the chair and slumped against the table. Slowly she buttered her toast and dabbed her bacon in some syrup while she munched like a camel, her sleepy stare not looking at either of them.
"How you feelin baby?" Sookie said watching her daughter with concern.
"Tired" Adele said "Last night wore me out."
"I bet" Sam said looking through the newspaper.
"Adele" Sookie said sitting down in a chair "Did that boy say anything to you?"
Adele seemed to perk up a bit and looked over at Sookie "He said he was sorry he had to do it. But someone was going to hurt some people."
"Did he tell you who was going to get hurt?" Sookie said leaning in.
"No" Adele said shaking her head "But I saw" she said tapping her head "There were a bunch of kids. They were like daddy, and they were scared."
"Adele" Sam said "Did you see who took them?"
Adele scrunched up her face as if concentrating "It's like rewinding a movie, I'm trying to stop at the exact moment but it's hard."
"Just try honey" Sam said watching Adele.
Adele closed her eyes and tried to relax. She had seen the flashes of the boys memory, but she had been so scared she didn't really get a good look at anything. She had seen the big hungry sad eyes of the children, saw their dirty faces and clumpy hair. They looked so lost, so desperate, it made her want to cry. She had seen a big florescent light, like the ones in Merlottes, and big bars that were keeping the kids caged...
"The kids were being given something" she said quietly "Something that made their heads feel funny, that's why the boy...his name was Daniel...that's why he did what he did. He couldn't think straight, like his mind was underwater."
"Drugged" Sam said to Sookie.
"A big man was giving it to them...no...he was making them take it. He said they could go home if they took the funny liquid stuff...and then he told them to come and get me or the others would be hurt. He's...big and he's got" Adele tried to slow the image down of the scary man Daniel had been so scared of "He's got a scar" she said pointing at her nose "It goes across his nose like this" she said making a diagonal line down her nose and cheek "He's bald and has really bad teeth. They don't know his name, they just call him Sir."
"That's something to go on" Sookie said "Good job Adele."
Adele opened her eyes and took a deep breathe, exhausted from trying to dive into her mind. She finished her breakfast and started on some milk as she walked around the house examining things she hadn't seen before due to her height. She heard her mother cleaning up in the kitchen and talking to Sam and decided now was a good time to test out her body. Adele sat down on the couch with the milk and took a good long look at her feet, wiggling each toe separately to make sure they worked right. She then rolled her ankles, hearing a little pop every now and then, but nothing to severe. Her knees went back and forth just fine and as far as Adele could tell her upper limbs worked perfectly.
Adele sat down the glass of milk on the end table and watched in carefully. She could feel her mind probing it, feeling the glass and the milk inside as she tried to push her mind farther. The glass tilted a little on the table, making the milk wobble inside.
"Push" Adele said quietly "Push the milk."
She strained her eyes and felt her head pumping, nervous about trying to control her power. She knew what she had done to that boy, had felt his pain, and in her panic she had blown him up.
"I can't hurt people" Adele whispered "I can't hurt anyone anymore..."
And then, like magic, the glass of milk slid from one side of the end table to the next.
Adele let out a sigh and smiled, happy to have accomplished something for today.
"Whatcha up to in their sweety?" Sam said coming into the living room.
"Just moving the milk around" Adele said testing her powers again as she slid the cup back and forth over the table. Sam stood there shocked for a moment but then quickly shook himself out of it. Adele had floated around a room before, a little cup of milk sliding back and forth shouldn't scare him.
"I'm getting better Dad" Adele said lifting the cup into the air.
"Well just don't spill it" Sam said watching the floating milk "Your mom will have a cow."
Adele giggled and put the cup back safely on the table before getting up and stretching.
"Am I going to see anyone tonight?" she said following Sam down the hallway.
"Probably" Sam said smiling at her "I'm sure Bill and Eric will want to see how big you've gotten."
"Right!" Adele said fist pumping.
Sam laughed and wondered where she had gotten that from, but he didn't question her right then and there.
Adele went upstairs to her room and began pulling out clothes to wear for the day when Sookie knocked on the door quietly.
Adele turned and saw her mother, and wondered why she looked so sad.
"Mom?" Adele said titling her head "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry baby" Sookie said coming over to her "I should have protected you better."
"Oh Mom" Adele said giving her mother a big hug "I'm okay I promise. It won't happen again I swear."
"No I swear" Sookie said getting down to Adele's level "I will never put you in harms way again. Your my baby, and I want you to be my baby for as long as I can get you to" she said stroking her daughters hair "Promise me you won't go wandering off again?"
"I promise Mom" the little girl said, vowing to herself she would not change again.
At least, she would try.
