Another chapter, another disclaimer. Melissa de la Cruz owns Blue Bloods. Title comes from Dylan Thomas's poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.
"They didn't have a car." Bliss said.
"What's that now?" Schuyler asked, holding aside a tree branch so her sister could duck under. They'd been following Mimi for the better part of an hour, tramping all over this damn forest. As a child, Schuyler had dreamed of leaving behind the chrome and steel of Manhattan and exploring the world—the Sahara desert, the Arctic tundra, the jungles of the Amazon. Now she realized wryly just how foolish her dreams had been. When—if—they got out of this, she'd be perfectly content with the carefully groomed lawns of Central Park as her only exposure to the wilderness.
"The Silver Bloods. They didn't have a car."
Schuyler waited until they cleared the top of a small hill before responding, saving her breath for the climb. Mimi had been leading them on a relentless march through the forest, following some scent only she could detect. Unfortunately, last night's snow had melted, meaning they weren't cold, but they were covered in mud. Every three steps Schuyler had to stop and pull her cheap sneakers out of the gloppy mess. This was absolutely the last time she left home without a fully packed suitcase.
"What's your point—oh!" she said suddenly.
Bliss gave her a tired smile. Her curly red hair was currently playing host to a number of twigs and pine needles. At least there were no bugs, given the cold weather. (It was rather depressing, Bliss thought dryly, that the current highlight of her existence was 'lack of insects.') "Exactly. If they don't have a car, they can't be too far away. Even vampire stamina has limits."
"Mimi, did you catch that?" Schuyler asked. "The Silver Bloods don't have a car, so—"
"We already knew that." Mimi said impatiently. She didn't even bother to turn and look at the other girls. She turned sharply from side to side, eyes narrowed as she examined the mud under their feet. "They poked a hole in the gas tank, remember? They wanted us to stop there so they could ambush us and—" she broke off suddenly, spinning in a circle.
"Mimi?" Bliss asked. "What's wrong?"
"I can't…" Mimi said faintly, talking more to herself than the others. "Those assholes!" she said suddenly. Bliss and Schuyler looked at her nervously. "They took different routes." Mimi said, whacking aside a tree branch in frustration. The other girls looked blank.
"They took different routes to get wherever they were going. It makes tracking them almost impossible." Mimi scowled and sat down on a log, absently biting her nail as she thought. Kingsley was more prepared than she would have given him credit for. For the tenth time that hour, Bliss's question danced through her mind, haunting her. Why were they alive? Why would Kingsley leave them essentially intact, and not even take the jewel? She'd thought it was a set up, but if they couldn't even follow the boys, how were they supposed to walk into his trap?
"We can't just follow one trail, no matter how convoluted, to wherever they are?" Bliss asked. She leaned back against a pine and brushed a fallen branch against her jeans in a mostly futile attempt to remove the three-inch thick layer of mud.
"No." Mimi said, mouth working on autopilot while she wracked her brains. "They'll have doubled back on themselves and deliberately crossed paths. We'll have to come up with another plan."
They all lapsed into silent thought, and Schuyler steeled herself to ask Mimi a question that had occurred to her several minutes ago. She'd refrained both because she was afraid of the answer and afraid of Mimi's reaction, but now it seemed she had no choice.
"Mimi…" she said hesitantly, waiting until the older girl looked up before continuing. "Mimi, is there some reason you can't just follow them using your bond with Jack?"
Bliss looked up, startled and hopeful, but the expression on Mimi's face stopped her dead. "I can't." Mimi said quietly.
"What?" Bliss whispered.
"I said I can't!" Mimi yelled, standing and pacing in a furious circle. "I can't track him, because I can't feel him." She scowled fiercely. She'd been avoiding thinking about that, but of course Schuyler couldn't leave well enough alone.
"But what does that mean?" Bliss asked. Schuyler raised an eyebrow. Clearly, Bliss either hadn't followed that thought to its logical conclusion like she had, or else her sister was simply refusing to accept the awful truth.
"It means…I don't know what it means." Mimi mumbled. She bent her head, her long blond hair tumbling in front of her face like a curtain.
Schuyler gulped, then took the plunge. "Mimi, is Jack…"
"No." Mimi hissed. She stood up and pushed her hair impatiently out of her face. Her green eyes glowed as she glared at Schuyler. "No. I'd, I'd know, I'd sense it, if he was…"
"Then where does that leave us?" Schuyler asked quietly. "If we can't follow the trail, and Mimi can't sense Jack, then how do we follow them?" She closed her eyes and sank down on the log that Mimi had vacated, rubbing her hands over her face. Calculating in the time they'd been unconscious, Oliver had been gone for almost six hours now. She didn't want to bet on his chances of surviving amidst a bunch of hungry vampires.
"Should we?" Bliss asked.
"What do you mean, Bliss?" Mimi said.
"I mean, are you sure we should follow them?" Bliss said. She sat down on a rock and tugged off her shoe, shaking out the dirt with distaste. When she looked up, the other girls were staring at her like she was crazy. "Look, I don't want to leave the boys anymore than you do, but we have no way of knowing where they are! Shouldn't we get Charles or someone who's got experience with this kind of thing and—"
"Absolutely not." Mimi said firmly. "My father is the whole reason we're in this mess in the first place. If he'd just listened and taken the threat seriously instead of pretending nothing was wrong, we wouldn't be here. Plus…" she hesitated, then plunged forward. "he doesn't have a reason to save any of the boys."
Bliss and Schuyler stared at her, shocked. "What do you mean?" Bliss asked. "Your brother...Jack's his son!"
Mimi snorted. "An illusion played out for the Red Bloods' benefit. Trust me, nothing would thrill my father more than having Jack out of the way. Not that he wants him turned into a Silver Blood," she explained, "but he's not going to take any risks just to save Jack, let alone a Red Blood and a wanted fugitive."
"But why—"
"Trust me, Schuyler, you don't want to know." Mimi said darkly, turning away. On the other hand…she paused and almost turned back. If she told Schuyler that Jack had been attracted to her mother, would that make Schuyler back off? Mimi shook her head, silently scolding herself. That didn't matter now. All that mattered was getting her twin back. A small part of her whispered that she also didn't want to hurt Schuyler's feelings, but Mimi resolutely ignored that.
"So what do we do?" Bliss asked. "We can't just wander around forever, hoping we'll find the boys."
"Maybe you're right." Mimi said with a sigh. "Not about going to my father." she added hastily. "Maybe you're right about following this trail, no matter where it goes. I mean, it must lead back to them eventually."
"And you've got lots of experience tracking Silver Bloods." Schuyler chimed in. "I bet you'll be able to follow the trail…Mimi?" She broke off as she realized her cousin wasn't listening. In the middle of turning to face them, Mimi had frozen, her back unnaturally straight and her eyes wide as she stared at something Bliss and Schuyler couldn't see.
"Mimi what's wrong?" Bliss said, noticing the same thing as Schuyler and moving towards her friend. "Are you hurt, or—"
"No." Mimi said hoarsely. "No!" she said again, and Schuyler suddenly realized she wasn't talking to them. "NO! Don't do this!" Mimi said, and Bliss and Schuyler exchanged alarmed glances. "There has to be another way! You don't have to—" She stopped suddenly, gasping for breath as she lowered herself to the ground. Bliss grabbed her arm and helped her perch on a rock.
"Mimi, what is it?" she said, crouching in front of her. Schuyler came over and sat next to Mimi, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. With a shock, she realized Mimi was fighting tears.
"Mimi, talk to us." Schuyler said, trying to get the other girl to look at her. "Whatever it is—"
Mimi pulled away and abruptly stood up, facing away from them. She wiped her face, then looked at them dully. "I can track the boys." she said. "I can take you to where they are."
"That's great!" Bliss said, but Schuyler kept her eyes locked on Mimi.
"How? Why can you track them now when you couldn't two minutes ago? Mimi, what happened?"
"Jack's in pain." Mimi said, eyes blank and empty. "Kingsley's deliberately hurting him so I'll feel it. He wants us to know they're out here without being able to find them. I can't—I won't—go anywhere knowing that I'm leaving Jack behind. I'll be able to take us in the general direction they headed, but it's not like our bond. I'll feel his pain more sharply the closer we get, but I won't be able to pinpoint the exact location."
"Mimi…" Schuyler didn't know what to say. She could see the other girl trembling, her thin hands shaking as she tried to control herself. A horrible thought occurred to Schuyler. "Are you in pain too?" she demanded. "Is he hurting you as well?"
Mimi glared at her, but Schuyler knew it wasn't her Mimi was mad at. "It doesn't matter if I feel it physically or not." she said bitterly. "The knowledge of what they're doing to him because of me is what's meant to hurt."
"Is there…is there anything we can do?" Bliss asked, feeling woefully ineffective. Her friend was hurting and she couldn't help.
"Yes." Mimi said, biting out the word. "You can follow me and help rip that son of a bitch's heart out of his chest." She stalked away quickly through the trees, and this time Schuyler and Bliss didn't hesitate at all before following.
Two chapters in one week? Is the apocalypse coming, you say? Well, yes it is, actually. At least in this story. Thanks to all readers/reviewers. Another chapter should be up in a few days.