"Honesty, when is mom coming back?" Lane turned to his sister as the dinner table, tears in his eyes.
"Soon, she said she would only be gone for one night at the most." Honesty said looking at her brother.
"But I want her now." Lane said getting up from the table.
Both Alice and Cloe started to get up to go after him when Honesty stopped them.
"Paul and I will handle it." Honesty said, to all the mallrats she reminded them so much of Mackenzie at that moment.
When they were gone from the table Cloe let out a worried sigh. "I can't believe that she left them."
"I know, she and Ved used to never let those two out of their sight." Alice said pointing at Ved with her fork.
"Something must have happened to make her go back to the city without them." Jack offered.
"She wouldn't have left them here, even with Paul, if it was something bad." Ved said looking down at his plate.
"They just seem like spoiled brats to me." Gel commented. "Not eating, and doing that hand thing all the time. That Mackenzie girl must be a terrible parent, leaving her kids here for us to take care of, talk about selfish."
"They are not spoiled or brats." Ved shouted getting up from the table. He looked down at Gel, his eye tight with anger. "Don't talk about them, about Mackenzie."
Gel's mouth opened slightly as she looked up at Ved, unable to understand why he was getting to mad at her. She glared over at Cloe when she started to laugh, after Ved left the room.
"I think Ved has made it clear, you don't talk about people you don't know." Alice said getting up and taking the plate away that was sitting in front of her. "You can do the dishes tonight, it'll give you some time to think." She added before going through the kitchen door.
MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW
Ved came into the bedroom that Honesty, Lane and Paul were staying in. Lane was crying on his bed, and both Honesty and Paul were trying to calm him down, but it seemed like they were getting nowhere.
"Paul doesn't think you'll be of much help." Honesty said turning and looking at Ved.
"A little help is better than none, isn't it?" Ved asked.
"I guess." Honesty sighed and went to sit on the bed, while Paul signed that he'd bring water up.
"Hey." Ved said sitting down on Lane's bed.
Lane rolled over so he couldn't see Ved. "Go away."
"Lane," Honesty said, in a sharp voice, just like Mackenzie would use.
"I just want my mom." Lane sniffed.
"I know, trust me." Ved sighed leaning against the wall, moving over on the bed, closer to Lane. He put one hand on Lane's shoulder, and patted the empty space next to him for Honesty to come and sit on.
Honesty watched him for a second before making a move, she curled into Ved's side, just like she had done years ago when she was younger.
"What if I tell you a story, one that Mackenzie tells you?" Ved asked glancing at each child.
Honesty smiled at him, and Lane's crying softened.
"It's Green Eggs and Ham. There is this little old grumpy man that always sits in his house, until one day this mouse looking guy runs through his living room with a sign that says I am Sam." Ved started.
"Sam I am." Honesty laughed.
"Right, well Sam asks the guy if he likes green eggs and ham, and if he'd like them here or there." Ved smiled back at her. He couldn't remember all the words, but he had heard her read it to them every night. "Then he asked if he liked them in a house and with a mouse."
"That's not how it goes." Lane laughed turning around, and propping himself up on Ved. "I would not like them here or there, I would not like them anywhere, I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am." Lane recited. "That's what he says."
"Would you like them in a house, would you like them with a mouse?" Honesty asked looking over at her brother.
And their story continued until they were both laughing and yawning next to Ved. Ved sat there with them until Lane's eyes grew heavy and finally closed. He looked over at Honesty and she was still awake with a sad, scared look playing in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Ved whispered.
"She is coming back right, our mom, Mackenzie, she is going to come back for us?" she asked looking up at Ved.
"Of course she is going to come back for you, why would you think she wouldn't?" Ved asked looking down.
"Because of what she said to Paul, and what she told me." Honesty said as the tears broke free.
It hurt Ved's heart to watch her cry. "What did she say?"
"That is was dangerous, and that you're the only person that could protect us the way she can." Honesty said looking down at the blanket. "She left us here, what if she doesn't come back?"
"She is going to come back, you know she would never be able to be away from you." Ved reassured her. "She loves you and Lane more than her own life."
"More than you?" Honesty asked looking at him.
Ved watched the little girl for a moment. "Way more than she could have ever loved me."
"But we came back for you, that's what she told Paul." Honesty scooted down in the bed.
Ved didn't know what to tell her. He could tell that she was being serious, but his mind told him that she was only a little girl, and she didn't understand what had happened. "She is going to come back for you and Lane, no matter what, I promise."
MWMWMWMWMWMW
"Ebony you have to understand how crazy this sounds." Amber said shaking her head.
"She's right, I was there, I pushed him, I killed him." Lex said, shaking his head.
"Déjà vu?" Ebony asked, the memory of them sitting in the mall years before, talking about Zoot, flashed in her mind.
"That's what you told her, when she was telling us about Spike, the first time they took us." Bray said looking over at Ebony, he believed everything she was saying. He knew the look she had in her eyes when she was lying, and it wasn't there now.
"There is more to it," Mackenzie sighed.
"Just start from the beginning." Jay said. He knew that the story could be complicated.
"When we took the Techno's down, I found a map with all the other cities they had taken over. I was determined to stop them all together, revenge for taking Stephanie, for hurting so many people." Mackenzie explained.
"You told us that before you left." Bray said nodding, remembering the conversation.
"We went back, through all the cities, until we got to the first one, the one where they started." Mackenzie said glancing at Jay.
"The city I lived in." Jay told them. "Ebony and I travelled that way, settling outside of the city with a few people I still knew there. We knew that the city was no longer under Techno control, someone else came along, and knocked them down."
"I had encouraged tribes in all the other cities to rebel, telling them that the Techno's were on the run, they were over." Mackenzie explained.
"Where does Zoot come into this?" Lex asked.
"The last city. I was relieved to find out the Techno's were really over." Mackenzie said. "Paul and I decided that it would be a safe place to stay. We'd been on the move for almost a year and I didn't want that life for the kids. We were there for a few weeks, and I started to meet people, trading, like I used to. Much like the way I meet Ebony, he was someone of power, and found my services to be helpful." she explained. "I had only heard rumors of Zoot and his followers before. I wasn't in the city after the virus, during his time, so I couldn't make the connection."
"Are you trying to say he got a heart?" Lex asked with a laugh, leaning back in his chair.
"Lex, shut up and let her talk." Ebony said rolling her eyes at him.
"He was a great person, overly guarded, but sweet. He even seemed shy at first, it was easy to start a friendship with him, to be around him." Mackenzie sighed, feeling the nerves in her stomach, she warped her arms a little tighter around her waist. "He was great around Honesty."
"I'm sorry, where was Paul, wouldn't he have known?" Amber asked.
"Lane didn't want to meet him, he didn't want anything to do with the new life we were making, so Paul often stayed with him. It all happened so quickly, but I didn't know him as Zoot, he was Martin there." Mackenzie looked over at Jay for support, she knew it was okay when he smiled and nodded at her. "He was curious about my past, and it quickly became an obsession of his after he heard Honesty say something about the Phoenix Statue in the mall. When he realized what city I had come from, what tribes I knew, he lost it, he snapped and became someone, something else."
"I don't understand, he was Martin?" Bray asked.
"At first, he was gentle and kind around me and most everyone else. When I first meet him I didn't believe he was even a leader, let alone the one controlling the city." She told them. "He was shy, and it just didn't seem to fit, he didn't seem like a leader."
"So he placed a price on you, then you ran?" Amber asked.
"He had Honesty and I locked up for almost a week before we escaped, that's when he placed a price on me," Mackenzie said looking down at her hands. She didn't want to relive that, she didn't want to think about it.
"He had been controlling the Techno's from afar, picking out the cities, the people, everything. It was about a few months after the virus, after everything that he came into the picture. He had control over Ram, but when Ram came here, he went rouge. Zoot had given him orders to destroy this city, and all those in it." Jay explained.
"When Martin found out, when he realized my connection to the thing, the place that still made him Zoot, the people that had once whispered his name in terror, he snapped. He changed," she snapped her fingers, looking far away, "just like that."
"So you're saying that Zoot is alive and well and out to get you?" Lex wanted to make sure he understood it all.
"He wants me as his new Queen, or dead, he made it clear I had no other options." Mackenzie said.
"And Ebony's involvement in this?" Bray asked.
"He needs his old Queen in order to feel as though he is in control again." Mackenzie replied. "We've been running for months, but with Honesty's health, we couldn't keep running."
"We didn't want to involve any of you, but we felt like we had no other choice." Ebony said.
"What's wrong with Honesty?" Amber asked.
"We don't know, but she isn't well." Mackenzie said making herself smile. "We understand this is a lot to put on you, and don't feel as though you need to say yes."
"What are we going to say yes too?" Amber asked, she didn't know what they wanted from them.
"Protection for as long as you will offer it. We are putting everyone in risk being here, but he shows no signs of coming back here, I think he is more scared of this city, than the kids were of him." Mackenzie told them.
"We will keep you safe here forever if we need too." Bray said looking over at the girl. He could remember the way she looked when he first saw her. Younger, still worried, tired and pale, the only thing different around her now was the way she seemed to hold herself, in a position that would make it easy to watch behind you.
"We want as few people to know about this, we didn't even tell anyone at the farm." Jay said. "That's why we requested only speaking with you three."
"Bray you can't just offer that." Amber said looking over at him. "It's up to the city as a whole, not us."
"She is the Queen in their eyes, they aren't going to turn their backs on her, and neither am I." Bray said standing up from the table. "I can speak for the city when I say they will be safe here."
"Can you explain that?" Ebony asked looking up at him. "Queen?"
Lex gave a slight chuckle. "We took down the Techno's but we couldn't change everything they did."
"They think she's the Queen, of the city?" Mackenzie asked pointing at Ebony.
"The missing Queen." Amber sighed. "They believe that everything you two did when the Techno's were in control was the right thing to do, they believed the lies, and they still believe in the two of you."
"If the word travels that I'm back, that we're here, he will find out." Ebony said looking over at Mackenzie.
Mackenzie leaned back in her chair, trying to think of a new plan. She watched as ideas would come to others, ideas that they had thought of already, things that wouldn't work.
"Wait." Ebony said as something came to her, stopping Lex from coming up with another off the wall idea. "What if we can control the rumors that spread through the city, if we can control it, then we can control what information gets back to Zoot."
"You can't control a rumor, that's why it's a rumor." Jay said looking over at her.
"But we can change who he is looking for." Bray said smiling for the first time. "He is looking for you, long braids, red line, black clothes. If we change that, who's to say that there isn't more than one Ebony in the city?"
"That will work to confuse the hunters." Ebony nodded. "They haven't seen me, they have only been told what I look like."
"But Mackenzie?" Jay asked. "They know what she looks like, they have all seen her."
"I'll leave," Mackenzie said sitting up straight, offering the only idea that would keep everyone safe. "The kids are safe at the farm with Ved and Paul. You three are safer here in the city." She looked at them suddenly as though it was all so simple. "I can move faster, and I know this area well enough, I will be safe."
"You have been running like this for months, it's time to stop." Ebony said shaking her head. "We already told you, if you leave, then we're going with you."
"It's putting too many people in danger to stay here." Mackenzie said shaking her head at her. "We can't all stay here."
"We can protect you." Lex said looking at her.
"Mackenzie," Ebony said with pleading eyes. To the others it looked they there were having a silent conversation, one no one but them could understand.
"It's the only real way to protect everyone." Mackenzie gave one sad smile before her whole face changed back to her happy go lucky smile. "I think it's best that I go back to the farm,"
"Mackenzie." Jay said standing up in sync with her. "We made a promise."
"No." Mackenzie smiled at him. "Thank you for meeting with me, but I want to get back to the kids."
Everyone watched as she left.
"We'll follow her back to the farm." Ebony said standing up, "She won't be able to leave the kids there."
"You just got here, you can't leave already." Lex said looking shocked.
"Lex, we don't have time for games of catch up." Ebony snapped looking at him. "Zoot is alive, and I'm sure if he does come back here, he'll want to deal with you personally." With that she stormed out of the room.
"She's still got that temper." Bray laughed, smiling as he watched her.
"She's the same Ebony." Jay smiled at them. "I best follow them, from the reaction the city kids had before, I don't want her out there alone."
"I'll accompany you out of the city, it'll help to control rumors." Bray said standing up quickly. He wasn't ready for Ebony to leave, and he also wasn't ready to listen to the questions that he knew Amber had.
"Thank you." Jay said nodding his head. "It was nice to see you, and I hope we'll have time to catch up later, when I'm able to talk sense into both Ebony and Mackenzie."
MWMWMWMWMWMWM
"She has a baby." Amber said as Bray walked back into the hotel.
"It seems she does." Bray nodded, surprised to see Amber. He had taken him time, trying to sort things out, understand what was real and fake, what emotions were real.
"Did she say?" Amber asked, taking his hand as he passed.
Bray paused and looked at her. He wanted to be able to explain everything to her. She had been so patient with him over the years, she had been the woman he loved, the mother of his children, and his best friend, but this, this wasn't something he could easily explain to her. "She doesn't know."
"Oh." Amber nodded her head. She wanted to know, but at the same time, she thought it would be better not to hear.
"Right now, I think it's best if we think about the problem at hand." Bray smiled, kissing her cheek quickly, before continuing down the hall. "My brother is alive." He whispered.
"He is." Amber nodded. "Should we tell Trudy, I think Brady has the right to know?"
"I don't know." Bray told her. "I don't know what we're going to do."
"Maybe we should go check on the boys, and worry about this later, when we've had more time to process and think." Amber suggested.
"I think that's the best idea." Bray nodded in agreement. There were so many questions, ideas and thoughts running through his mind. His brother was alive, that thought seemed to take over any that Ebony, Amber, or Mackenzie had occupied just moments before. He tried to picture the way his brother looked the last time he had seen him, the last time he had smiled. But everything was fuzzy, every memory, every picture.