Cheating Death – Chapter 14
By MyNameIsCAL
I was glad Max was occupied by Mom. In fact, it seemed like a saving grace in all the mess we were in. It took a lot out of me to lie to Max every day. She knew something was up, and if she wasn't occupied, then she would have beaten it out of me a long time ago. Angel kept nagging me, telling me not to tell Max, but I knew we had to. It was inevitable, but I needed to tell her the right.
At the end of every day, I just felt so drained getting into bed. All my energy was gone. I felt like giving up, and I might have if it weren't for Max, as selfish as it seemed, but if you've got the ability to save or get the people you love most killed, it gets hard. We had been through enough already and there were days I just couldn't take it. I wanted to fall apart, but there wouldn't be anyone to comfort me since Max didn't know.
Even the others agreed that Max needed to know soon. Angel was going to fight me until the bitter end. I didn't understand why she had nothing to tell me over the past few days. It bothered me, but it also made me feel relieved that I didn't have to go running after everyone. When Max was away with Mom at the hospital, I spent most of my time around Gazzy.
"So we can't tell her because you're afraid she'll go get herself killed to save us?" Gazzy asked.
"Yeah," I sighed. "That's basically it."
He frowned, taking a seat across the table from me. "You know, I've been looking at that school. There's a professor there. His name is Doctor Jerry Batchelder. I mean, that's Jeb's last name. It can't just be a coincidence!"
"And what are you suggesting we do?"
"We pay the doctor a visit."
I looked at the clock. We still had a good four hours before Max got home.
"Alright, let's go."
We landed on the roof of the building the doctor was apparently in. Gazzy and I wasted no time dealing with campus security. I mean, if these guys were really Itex people, we'd be dead in seconds. After squeezing through a window, we found ourselves in a small office filled with papers. A man sat at the desk, his back turned to us, facing the window.
"It's about time you show up."
The man turned around. There stood the biggest traitor we ever knew. Jeb Batchelder. I wanted to throw myself at him, blame him for all our trouble, but something held me back, and even deep down inside I knew we had to listen to him before I decided to let anger get the best of me.
"Well, it's good to see the two of you," Jeb began. "But obviously, that's not why you're here. I know why you're here. And I want to tell you, I'm trying to help."
"Help?" I wanted to laugh in his face. "If you want to help us, then tell me how we can stop all of this!"
"I'll help you get there," Jeb hushed. "But you need to listen to me. The only reason you know what's coming is because I told Angel what she needed to do. You need to listen to her, to keep Max safe. This place is exactly what you think it is. It's Itex in disguise and they're getting sloppy. They just want to kill Max because they believe that she's the only threat to them. I'm here, pretending to be part of them, to help Angel tell you what's going to happen."
"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked.
"You're just going to have to. I mean, Angel trusts me."
Fang, you know I can't read his thoughts. But you have to trust him. He's our only chance in surviving this. I saw that we were all going to die before he came to me offering help. He knows what they're doing, Angel urged. He's found a way to channel things to me which I can tell you. I would have told you about Jeb, but I knew you'd get mad. You needed to find out on your own.
That was all I had to run on? It wasn't good enough for me, but if he had gotten us this far, then maybe Angel was right. If Jeb had been helping her this time and except for my stupidity of not recognizing Ella, everyone was still safe.
"Alright," I agreed. "So now what?"
"Well, you listen to Angel. There's not much more I can tell you, Fang." Jeb seemed the same. I wanted to punch him in the face, but I knew that definitely wasn't a good idea.
"If we get through this, will Angel be okay?" Gazzy asked, more calm than I expected.
"Yes, she will be," Jeb nodded. "Now you two need to get out of here."
But I still felt like there was so much more he owed us, more that he needed to explain. I hesitated, and then led the way out. As I flew back home, I felt more lost than before.