Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews, guys! The reaction I'm getting for this story is great, and I'm so grateful that you're all sticking with it! Here is chapter nine! I hope you all like it!

Chapter Nine
Dispersal

When I reenter our house in the last hours before early morning breaks, everything is quiet. I walk through the foyer cautiously, following the low murmur of the TV into the living room. There, I find Griffin lying on the couch, a bag of pretzels cradled at his side, a glass of water on the floor, and the remote clenched in his hands. He's fast asleep, snoring ever so slightly, his mouth lolling open. I roll my eyes, silently noting the fact that his shoes are still on and that the look about him is still smug- even though he's out cold. Sitting on the adjacent armchair is David, staring at the TV pensively, hands folded under his chin in a tense manner. Upon seeing me enter, he jumps up and all but pounces on me- grabbing my arms in his hands.

"You didn't call!" he scolds loudly, causing Griffin to grumble awake. "What happened? Did you find anything?"

I nod.

David demands, "What did you find?"

"What are you yammering about?" Griffin asks, his voice drugged with sleep.

We both ignore him.

"Did you find anything about Mom?" David asks, not waiting for me to say anything.

This makes Griffin sit up and stretch, joining us where we stand near the doorway of the living room. "Oh, girlie's returned."

Only giving him one cold glance, I turn to David and say, "I think I found the address for the Paladin headquarters."

This wakes Griffin up, and he demands, "Where is it?" at the same time David does.

"In Washington, D.C."

They're both ready to leave- right now- and I can see the adrenaline and challenge gleaming in their eyes.

"Let's go- let's go so we can get Mom-"

I cut him off, saying, "Actually, I think I need to do this alone."

Both of them stare at me for a good minute. Griffin is the first one to speak, and he angrily says, "Excuse me?"

"Sophie, you're not doing this alone," David says, his voice low and serious. "This is our mom- we're doing this together."

I bite my lip and shake my head, saying, "Neither of you can go with me."

"Why not? Suddenly you don't need our help anymore?" Griffin demands. "'ey, girlie, if you don't recall you were begging me for my help not twenty-four hours ago."

Sighing, I say, "I know, and I'm not saying I don't need your help anymore-"

"Then what are you saying, Sophie?" David asks, slowly losing his patience. "Because I don't get it."

I'm about to respond, but Griffin cuts me off. "You said if I helped you find your mum than you would let me have Knox. Don't tell me you're turning back on your word."

Running a hand through my hair, I try to search for the right words. "I'm not going back on anything." I look at David pleadingly and say, "Listen, I can't take either of you with me. If I take him to the headquarters he'll go nuts and kill everyone in the building- and I'm not having that on my conscious, no matter what the Paladins do for a living. And you're already too well-known in the Paladin world for me to go with you."

"How do you know I'm known in the Paladin world?" David asks.

"Mom had a file on you in her office," I reply plainly. "You're a Jumper."

He looks away, troubled by this turn of events.

Griffin- who's begun pacing angrily- says, "You're not going to let me come with you because you don't want me to kill the Paladins?!"

I stare at him.

"They're Paladins, you twit!" he roars, getting close to my face, clearly pissed off that the address for the headquarters is so close and I'm snatching it out of his reach. "They kill people- not kindly either- and you're going to save their arses?!"

I narrow my eyes at him and say, "Two wrongs don't make a right."

"Sophie," David says, turning around impatiently, rubbing his face.

"Get off your fucking high-horse, girlie!" Griffin shouts, still close to my face. "This isn't a game."

I glare at him. Doesn't he think I'm aware of that by now?

He shakes his head, glancing at David angrily. "They're killers. You're saving a lot of killers!"

"My mom was one of them," I finally shout back- right in his face too. "They could have families and friends and lives, Griffin! I'm not allowing you to kill people for your own selfish vendetta."

His eyes are bugging out of his head- like he can't believe what I'm saying so much that it's going to drive him out of his mind. "You're fucking joking. You've got to be fucking joking!"

Except I'm not?

"They don't care if Jumpers have friends or family- they just kill them anyway," he tells me, his breath rushing at my face- warm and pretzel-scented. "Mummy dearest doesn't give a flying fuck if I have parents or friends or a girlfriend or even kids. Mummy dearest will kill me anyway-"

SMACK!

The slap is loud, and it echoes in the suddenly silent room, making me realize how harshly I'm breathing- how much I'm shaking with adrenaline and anger. I don't know why I did it either. Slapped Griffin, I mean. His words, his energy, his attitude, his beliefs- they all got to me. And the fact that he keeps saying my mom kills- that she would kill him despite him having a life of his own- it makes me nauseous and angry and it makes my head spin. My gut reaction was to hit him, but now I wish I hadn't done it.

He stares at me silently- shocked- his face slowly turning red.

"I'm sorry," I say plainly, my voice devoid of much regret.

He puts a hand to his cheek, looks at it, and then drops it to his side. "I'm not dealing with this shit," he says.

"No!" I say quickly, because I know he's going to jump away. "Look, I'm sorry- I wasn't thinking."

He stares at me, and I feel David's eyes on me too.

"I understand these people kill- that they'll kill you- but I can't be responsible for leading you to them," I tell him, my voice sincere and pure. "I couldn't live with that."

He clenches his jaw.

"Let me go by myself," I say, looking at David, and then back to Griffin. "I'll go- I'll find out where our mom is, and then you can have Knox all to yourself."

Griffin's voice is deep and raw when he asks, "What if that's not good enough for me anymore?"

My heart thuds in my chest. "I'm sorry-"

"What if I don't care about Knox as much as I care about wiping out every fucking Paladin I find?"

I swallow, softly saying, "I can't keep you here."

He stares at me.

"If you won't let me go to Washington alone, then I won't ask you to stay," I say, knowing this is a losing bet.

Griffin shakes his head subtly, glancing at David, then looking back at me, saying, "See ya," before he jumps away.

"Sophie," David voices. I look at him, waiting for him to say something more, but he doesn't.

I shake my head, "I couldn't listen to him talk about Mom like that- not when she could be...." I trail off.

The end of the sentence hangs in the air.

Not when she could be dead.

Suddenly, my eyes are burning and my throat is tightening. I blink furiously, but the onslaught of tears is too much to push back. I'm tired and I'm wrought with every kind of anxiety and pressure there is, and it's finally getting to me. I need to break a little.

David sees my eyes fill up and he looks panicked. "She's fine. We're going to find her and she's going to be fine."

I shake my head, unable to say anything with my throat so tight. Lowering myself onto the now vacated couch, I press my hand to my mouth and suck back a sob.

After a moment, David sits down beside me, hesitantly putting an arm around me. I crumple into his embrace, my body heaving with sobs of exhaustion and fear.

"I'm scared," I manage to say.

And I know David feels the same way, because he holds me tighter and says nothing.

I wake up on the couch, with one of Mom's throw blankets over me. For a moment I don't know where I am, or how I got here. I wonder why I'm sleeping on the couch at all- why my mom put the blanket over me. And then I feel my face, stiff with dried tears, and I remember falling asleep in David's- my brother's- arms, crying, unsure if we would be able to find our kidnapped mother. It might be too late, I remember thinking. As the realization hits me, I sit up quickly and look around. Someone's in the kitchen- David. I can hear him moving around, opening and closing the refrigerator and different cabinets, putting a pot down or picking a pan up. Looking towards the clock on the mantelpiece, I see that it's a little after eight o'clock, and I leap off the couch.

Running into the kitchen and stopping at the doorway, I glare at David and demand, "Why did you let me sleep?!"

He looks at me calmly, gathering bread and cheese and other things on the counter. "We've both kind of had a crazy couple of days. You needed it."

"Yeah, but we don't have time-"

"You're going to be useless if you're dead on your feet," he tells me.

I glare at him angrily.

Rolling his eyes a little, with a rueful smile playing against his lips, he says, "We have plenty of time."

No we don't. I have so many things to plan and figure out-

"Your train leaves at ten."

This makes me look at him sharply. "What?"

"That train station in the next town over," he says, going to the refrigerator and taking out some butter. "There's a train leaving for Penn Station at ten, from there there'll be a train for D.C."

He's- He's done all the planning for me. I stare at him, my mouth hanging open. I want to say something- to make some kind of sound- but I find that I'm incapable of this. I just manage to stare at him as he moves around the kitchen.

Finally, I manage to close my mouth and swallow, saying, "You- You figured everything out?"

He looks back at me and smiles. "We don't have much time," he replies, practically feeding me my own words. "Now go shower and change or whatever you have to do. I'll have breakfast ready when you get out and then we can get everything together that you need."

A wave of relief and gratefulness washes over me and I pull at the hem of my shirt, suddenly feeling awkward. "Thank you," I say finally. "I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here."

He smiles over at me, shrugging and saying, "That's what family's for." After another beat, he says, "Go get ready- short on time, remember?"

"Right," I say, and flee the kitchen.

David parks along the sidewalk outside of the old-fashioned, small town train station. He turns the car off, but neither of us moves to get out. While David plays with his keys, I cough and look out the window. My stomach is knotting uncomfortably, and I feel unsteady- as if I'm balancing on the edge of something. Suddenly, I'm terrified of getting on that train- terrified and completely unprepared to face a world and force that I can't even comprehend- and my body is glued to the passenger's seat.

Lifting his head, David peers out of his window. He sighs a little and then turns to me, saying, "It's not too late for me to get a ticket and go with you."

Numbly, I shake my head.

"You don't understand what you're dealing with," he says, turning toward me further, suddenly passionate. "I've dealt with these people before- I can help-"

Before he can finish his thought though, I'm climbing out of the car, slinging my bag over my shoulder, and starting toward the station. I'm afraid that if I listen to David for a moment longer, I'll surrender this whole thing over to him, and I refuse to allow myself to abandon my mother and risk my brother's (this complete stranger's) life like that. And he will definitely be killed or imprisoned or- God knows what!- if I even let him go with me. So I cross the sidewalk and bound up the two steps that lead to the station.

"Sophie!" David's calling, and I hear him rushing up behind me as I walk around the building, to the platform raised above the tracks in the back.

I stop and wait, ignoring the people seated on benches and standing along the platform, waiting for the same train as I am.

"Sophie," David says, and he finally reaches me, standing in front of me so I have to look at him. "What was that about?"

I shake my head, rubbing my face and looking away from him. "I'm just nervous and- frustrated." He nods and looks down the tracks. "It's not that I don't want you to come with me to Washington- I definitely want help- but," I lower my voice, "You're a Jumper- Paladins kill Jumpers, and I'm not going to get you killed because I showed up at your house two days ago and unloaded all of this on you."

"It's not like that-"

"Either way? You're safer not coming with me. And I'll need your help when I get out of Washington- when I find out where Mom could be," I tell him.

He nods again and then thinks for a minute. He screws up his face a little as he says, "It's just dangerous stuff- I know that for a fact- and I don't want you to have to go at it alone."

"Thanks, but I think I'll be fine," I tell him, though I'm not entirely sure about that.

"You sure you don't want me to just jump you to D.C.? I could hang out at the Washington Memorial and wait for a call," he suggests with a rueful smile.

I shake my head and smile too, saying, "Really, I'd rather you stayed out of the capital at all."

He rolls his eyes a little.

"Go back to Millie and your little beach house," I tease him. "Tell her I'm sorry for stampeding into your like this- and keep your phone on."

Suddenly everyone's standing and moving closer to the edge of the platform, and I hear the train coming.

"Call me if you need anything- anything- you got that?"

I nod.

"I can be anywhere in a second," he reminds me, smiling.

"I know."

We stare at each other awkwardly as the train screeches into the station.

David takes a step forward and gives me a hug, saying, "Be careful, will you? I always wanted a sibling and I'd like to enjoy it a little longer."

I pull away and laugh, saying, "I'll try."

As people begin boarding the train I pull out my ticket and begin walking over.

Just before I get on- as an afterthought- I turn and call, "I'm sorry I slapped Griffin."

He laughs, "Don't worry about it- he can be a jerk."

"But he was our help-"

David waves my words away with a look of slightly forced nonchalance, and I'm being pushed onto the train before I can reply.