Venting

Chapter Ten

That night, I fell into a deep sleep. I was groggy, and everything felt fuzzy. I looked around the hotel room. I was sharing a bed with Tori, the bed next to us held Harper and Charlotte. Aunt Lauren was sleeping on a cot across the room. Everything seemed normal, just as it had been when I fell asleep. But the prickles on my arms and the throbbing in my head told me otherwise.

I knew I hadn't woken up on my own. Of that much I was sure. I sat up in bed and looked around the room, listening. I could just make out a faint whisper. A ghost. Great. I sighed, tossing the covers off of myself and standing up. Maybe I should take this outside…I thought a moment about waking up Derek, who was in the room next door with Simon, Kit, Micah, and Oliver. But I decided against it. After all, I've been dealing with ghosts for years now. I could handle this one…

The cold breeze ruffled my hair, sending goose bumps down my arms. I pulled my jacket tighter around me. Out here, the whispering grew louder.

"Show yourself." I stated, looking around, waiting for the figure to appear. But nothing happened. Go figure. Ghosts never seemed to want to show themselves. I had to force them.

"One last chance or I'm pulling you through." I sighed.

There was a giggling off to my left, but I ignored it. I wasn't going to let this ghost scare me. There was nothing to be afraid of.

I closed my eyes and as gently as I could, tugged at the ghost.

"Hey!" a little girl exclaimed. My eyes shot open, and there she was before me. She looked to be about eight, she had on a long pink nightgown. Her brown hair in braids.

"Who are you?" She asked. Her brown eyes puzzled.

"I'm Chloe. Who are you?" I asked her. I was already upset. She was so young! I couldn't help but wonder how she had died…

"Sarah." She smiled, twirling around a bit in her nightgown. When she stopped, she looked up at me. "Are you the girl I was supposed to find?" She asked.

"What-t?" I started, "What do you mean?"

"I was told to talk to a girl. He said her light would be bright, that I would have no problem finding her… Your light is very bright…" She reached out a small hand towards me, but her hand glided right through me.

"What were you supposed to talk to me about?" I asked, and took a seat down on the sidewalk. The ground was cold too, but down here the wind didn't seem quite as strong…

"He says to turn yourself in and he will spare your baby."

My hand flew to my stomach. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.

"Sarah…" I thought for a moment…what if she didn't know she was dead? When I had broken the news to Liz, she had been really upset…I didn't want to upset this little girl…

"Sarah…what happened to you?" I asked, cautiously.

Her brows pulled together as she folded herself down on the ground in front of me. "He said you would ask that." She sighed, her little fingers running through the grass but never making contact.

"Sarah?" I asked, pulling her from her thoughts. She peered up at me, "He said I failed."

I didn't realize how big of an impact those four words would have on me. My whole body shook. She was only eight and was considered a failure? I was fuming, I knew that the Edison Group had been cruel, not to mention psychotic. But an eight year old? Had it been the Edison Group or the Cabal that had terminated her?

"Sarah, who is this man you keep mentioning?"

"Oh, you mean Mr. Cloud?" She asked, her head tilted to the side.

I knew that name. That was the name of the Cabal leader that Kit had talked to us about years ago…

"Yes, uh…Sarah, when did Mr. Cloud say you failed?"

"Are you asking when I died?" She asked eyes wide. I nodded, not trusting my voice.

"Well, if I were living, I'd be about thirteen."

She had died five years ago…five years ago I had been fourteen…I hadn't even been taken to Lyle house yet…

She suddenly jumped to her feet. "I have to go. She's calling me."

"Wait…Sarah who is she? I thought it was Mr. Cloud that talked to you?" I asked, standing up with her.

Sarah giggled, "No, Mr. Cloud can't see me. He uses his friend, Miss Natalie to talk to me. But I have to go. She's calling. But don't forget the message…If you turn yourself in, he will spare your baby."

With those last words, she was gone.

I sat outside a little longer, so long actually that my body had become numb to the cold. I knew I needed to go in, I just wasn't sure if I could move. The Edison Group had terminated Sarah when she had only been eight…what type of supernatural was she? I should have asked her…But what was so bad about her that they thought they had to kill an eight year old? My blood ran cold. Tori, Derek, Liz and I, we had all been in our teens. Our powers hit us hard when we had hit puberty…obviously Sarah's powers must have come much earlier…

"Chloe? What are you doing out here?"

I turned to see Derek closing the door to his room, stepping out onto the sidewalk beside me.

I stared up at him. A look of worry crossed his face as he sat down beside me. But it wasn't until he had wrapped his arms around me that I realized I was crying.

"Chloe? Shh…" He whispered, pulling me into his lap, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my back while the other reached up to wipe away my tears.

"Chloe? What's wrong?" He asked, looking into my eyes.

I looked away, starring down at my hands. "I spoke with a ghost…a little girl…Derek she was only eight…"

Derek tilted my face back up to his. "You should have woken me."

I nodded. "I know…but I didn't think…Derek…she was an experiment, but was terminated a year before I even went to Lyle house."

"What?" Derek asked. His eyes flared.

"They…the Edison Group…they terminated an eight year old?" his lips formed the familiar thin line that meant that one, he was angry but that he was also considering all the options.

"If she was only eight that means she came into her powers much earlier than the rest of us had…She must have been part of project Phoenix, not Genesis. The majority of subjects in Genesis were like us, powers hit at puberty…but Phoenix…that's the same project as Oliver, Charlotte, Harper and Micah…according to Micah, his powers came when he was about six, and Oliver said his first change occurred when he was eight…"

"Derek…there's more…" I sighed. I knew I had to tell him. He would kill me if he found out and I hadn't told him.

Derek looked at me expectantly, waiting.

"Sarah, the little girl? She said that she had a message for me…to turn myself in, and they would spare the baby…"

Derek scoffed. "You don't believe that do you?" He growled. When I didn't say anything, Derek's hand clenched, his jaw tightening. "Chloe, you are NOT turning yourself over to them. They will not spare you or the baby. Deep down, you know that."

"I know…I just…I don't know…" I leaned my head down on his chest. Derek sighed, "They are desperate for each of us, but they really want the baby. They will say anything they can to get to you. So please, just don't listen to anything they say okay? If they send any more messengers, you come and get me. Got it?"

I nodded. I knew I should have woken him up from the very beginning. I wasn't fifteen anymore, but that didn't mean that I could handle everything that came my way. Derek was always there for me, and if I asked, the others would be there as well. I just had to remember to ask…

"Let's get you inside, your freezing…" Derek sighed, standing up and pulling me to my feet.

"How'd you know I was out here?" I asked.

He smiled, "I always keep tabs on you."

We were in the car again. This was beginning to feel all too familiar. Driving by day, and cheap motels by night.

Today, Derek drove the van and I sat up front beside him. Harper and Micah sat in the middle seat and Charlotte and Tori in the back.

In the other car, Kit drove, Aunt Lauren, Simon and Oliver riding with him.

In our car, everyone was asleep. We had been on the road for almost five hours now. I had offered to give Derek a break and I'd drive some. But he insisted that he was fine.

My stomach began to rumble about the same time as when we crossed the border into North Carolina. I turned to look over at Derek who had a smirk on his face.

"You're hungry aren't you?" he asked, his eyes sliding from the road over towards me.

I sighed. "Yesss…and I want something more than just fruit and crackers and stuff. I want a burger. And fries…Oh and a strawberry milkshake!" I smiled at the thought of food. Real food.

Derek chuckled beside me. "Maybe there will be a McDonald's or something up ahead. I'll call dad."

He reached for the cell phone that was sitting on the consul between us and called Kit.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, everyone's fine. Everyone's sleeping."

"Okay….Oh, we may need to stop soon for some food."

"Yeah…That will work."

"Okay, bye."

He hung up the phone and looked over at me. "We're going to get off at the next exit and stop for food."

I smiled, "Yes!"

Derek smiled, reaching over for my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine.

"Did you say we were stopping soon?" Harper asked from the back seat. She yawned and sat up from her sleeping position.

"Yes." I answered, "At the next exit."

"Thank god." Micah sighed, waking up as well.

When I glanced back at them, I noticed that Tori was still sound asleep. She had fallen asleep face pressed against the window, mouth open. How elegant, I thought, stiffling a laugh. Charlotte was still asleep as well, she was using Tori's shoulder as a pillow.

Harper glanced back at them as well, then turned to me grinning. "Cute." she mouthed.

I never thought I could be so thrilled to see an old diner. Especially one called The Happy Buns. But either way, I was thrilled when we parked and went inside. We grabbed two booths and sat down.

I didn't even bother looking at the menu. I knew exactly what I wanted, and considering it was a diner, I was sure they would have burgers.

The waitress came over and took our orders. The whole time she was giving us odd looks, especially Micah.

"When did you get all those tattoos?" Charlotte asked beside me.

"When I was six."

We all stared at him. I know I was shocked, but I'm sure the others were as well. Harper laughed. "Guys, he didn't go to a tattoo parlor or anything if that's what you're thinking. The tattoos are part of his race."

Micah laughed. "Trust me, I definitely didn't do this to myself. These tattoos, they began appearing when I was six. For my race, the tattoos appear as a symbol of you coming into your powers…but for me, my powers came to me really early, and really fast…which is why I'm pretty much covered now." he held out his arms, which were covered in the delicate tattoos as well.

"They are really neat looking though." Charlotte smiled.

"I want tattoos." Oliver piped up.

"Too young." Derek rumbled,and Oliver stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. Luckily he was distracted by his chicken fingers that were set down in front of him. The waitress gave me an odd look as she set the food down in front of me.

I looked at my cheese burger, french-fries, a side salad, because I had to eat something green, and my giant strawberry milkshake. "Ohh food, how I love you..." I muttered, popping a french fry in my mouth.

"You are definitely carrying a part werewolf baby…" Simon laughed. I rolled my eyes and dug into my food.