Last chapter, I thanked my friends in Hungary. To my increasing visitors from Romania thank you for your interest. And you U.S. guys, stay strong.
Chapter 21
A day of reckoning approaches
Xander runs the length of the beach screaming the name of his best friend and Ryn's daughter. As he uses his radio to call for additional help in the search, he casts his eyes on the disturbance offshore. The previous calm surface erupts again with Ryn's twisting form. Glistening black hair whips about her as she hurls the transformed body into the air, as sharp eyes scan the water. A method used by her people to search the surface before diving into the deep.
The reflection of a starlit moon does little for the pair looking desperately for the two people they care about.
As Ryn zooms through the undercurrents, her palm spreads the length of her chest. Hope's heartbeat is faint meaning she is some distance from her.
Xander continues his search still calling in an almost frenzied tone for the pair, unaware of their present location.
Twenty miles north from the beach
The sixteen wheeler pulls over a few yards after seeing the hitchhiker.
As the blond haired young teenager wearing an oversized T-shirt and blue jean cutoffs climbs into the cab of the vehicle, she sits in silence.
"Ok, young lady. I have a daughter about your age. It's two in the morning. How the hell are you out here?" The trucker's eyes squint at the quiet passenger.
"This is a damn dead backroad. I know you're no hooker." Using one hand he reaches for a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket. "Nobody uses this road but the locals. You'd starve to death if you were one, young lady." Placing the unfiltered Camel in his mouth, "and how old are you, thirteen, fourteen. And where are your shoes?"
Her only motions are stares at her hands and bear legs. She rubs her thighs, then touches her chest. "Daddy Ben hurt. I feel heart.
"Oh, no!" He bellows, catching her attention. "Are you hurt? Did something happen? Oh, no!" The dark skinned complexion of the driver takes on a fierce expression. "Did someone hurt you?"
"No, nothing happen, me." She answers. "Daddy…Daddy Ben," her voice begins to break. "Bad men, woman…take, Daddy Ben." She turns toward the trucker. "I find him." She holds her right hand over the upper part of her chest. "He up there." She takes her hand and points to the small road.
"I'm callin' the cops." He reaches for his cell phone.
"No!" Hope grabs his wrist.
"God! What dah hell!" The shocked man uses his free hand to control the swerve of his vehicle after she grabs his hand, "my wrist. The pain…"
"Sorry, sorry, nice man. But we go alone. Can't trust any government people." She takes a breath, her lips press against each other. Hope is visibly upset over what she had done.
"Please, forgive, Hope. Daddy Ben say only trust Xander. No other police."
The trucker's bushy eyebrows raise as a slight grin begins to form on his two day old stubble.
"Well, I've kinda heard that before," shaking his head. "But not someone that looks like you. Does Daddy Ben look like me. I mean color wise?"
"No, Daddy Ben like me, mama."
"Who is Xander?" He asks.
"He good policeman. He look like you. Maddie too."
"Oh, and this Maddie." He puffs the cigarette, the puts it out in the ashtray under the radio.
"She friend. Can sleep with Mama and Daddy Ben, but not family like Mama, Daddy Ben, Hope and baby brother."
"Ok," again the Good Samaritan's dark eyes enlarge from this new information.
The trucker cringes as he needs to straighten the steering wheel.
"My friggin wrist, it still hurts. What dah hell you eat, little girl."
"I not little girl. Look at me. I grow lot since morning. My legs grew in water. Maybe when baby brother come, I will teach him to fight and hunt." She needs to inhale, as her words were non-stop to the attentive listener. "Mama still teach Daddy Ben to hunt and fight like us. So I can help baby brother." She nods her head.
"Well, I guess your name is Hope. I'm Sean."
"Yes, good man. Good man Sean."
"My daughter told me the same thing. Well," sighing as a wrinkled brow and strained cheeks show his embarrassment. "I mean my wife said some girls just grow overnight."
"Mama tells me more time in water, I grow, soon…" Her words halt as a slender palm clutches her chest.
"Here, go." Hope's facial muscles tense. "Good Sean, go."
"This road is a cut-off. I don't think my truck can…"
A loud hiss and fingers stretched apart taking on the look of claws stop his words.
"Good Lord, what dah hell have I gotten into?"
As the sixteen-wheeler begins to pass the turn, a screech raises form Hope's throat and fills the cab. The massive vehicle slows down.
Using his two huge palms Sean covers his ears.
"Ok, I can turn here, get back on this little path." He inhales, holding his right wrist. "No more tricks. I'll take you there."
"Daddy Ben close. Bad people have guns. I kill them." Her words are direct and unflinching.
"I see some lights up ahead. It's an opening to another town." He shoots side glances at Hope, staring straight ahead. "It looks like a diner."
The small road splits into paved lanes that join a two way route.
Biting his lips, he realizes this girl is someone special. Hoping among her powers is not the ability to read minds, he formulates a plan.
I don't know what this child's story is but it is something serious. I'll drop her off and maybe get the hell outta here."
"He there." She points to the Motel. "Go here."
"I'll turn into the back of it. This way we can park like regular truckers. His nervous smile forms hoping to cover his thoughts.
They got guns, but I can't leave her here, no matter if she got super powers or not.
"I go." Hope opens the door.
"No, I'll talk to the clerk. I'll go first." He reaches into the glove box. "We got guns too," he takes the semi-automatic handgun and checks the magazine. "Well, at least one."
"Ben is hurt. My daddy is hurt. He is in that room." She begins to sob as her finger points to the last room on their left.
"Honey, I got an idea."