21. PHONE CALL

When I awoke, I sat straight up, catching my breath and bringing a hand to my chest. I could feel my heart pounding against it like a drum. Jessamine was beside me in one quick, invisible movement and she touched my shoulder. I was almost able to breathe normally again when she did that. Her eyes flicked in Archie's direction – his back was to us, and he was still sitting at the table by the drawn curtains with a pen and paper pad in hand ready to go. But then he gasped and Jessamine jumped up, flying to his side in an invisible movement. Their voices grew softer; their words quicker; so quiet and so fast that I couldn't keep up with them at all. I walked up behind them, but neither of them looked up, too engrossed in another picture Archie was now working on.

"What is it?" My voice came out in a rush as I reached for the drawing.

And then my stomach lurched.

Even in black ink I could see every detail; every color and every shape in perfect clarity. The tan stone fireplace. The dark-colored patterned carpet that looked outdated in a modern home. The pictures hanging on the second wall paneled in wood – three closest to the light brown bookshelves, two to the right below them, three a column down to the left. There was a large window on the south wall and an opening through the west wall that led into the living room. The TV and DVD player were all there, standing on the rickety old wooden stand. A round, glass coffee table was in front of it, the couch lay just behind.

"The phone goes right here." I whispered, pointing. Jessamine and Archie looked to me with wide eyes and I took another breath before answering their look. "That's my mom's house."

Archie rose from the chair and flew to the other side of the room in a blur and grabbed the small silver cell before it could even ring. As soon as he put the phone up to his ear, his voice was no more than a rapid buzzing sound, impossible for my human ears to decipher from here or anywhere. He was done in a matter of seconds.

"Beau, Edythe's coming." My breath caught in my throat at the mention of her name. "She, Carine, and Eleanor will take you somewhere safe for a little while; to hide you. At least until we get a few more things sorted out. They'll be taking the next flight out of Seattle. We're meeting them at the airport and you'll go with them from there, got it?" with that, he became nothing but a tall blur of white as he zoomed around the room and started packing, throwing all our things into the small backpack we'd brought along with us.

"Wait!" I cried out, lurching towards him. "My mom, Archie. What about my mom? The tracker, she… she wants my mom. That's why she's coming here, isn't it?" Jessamine touched me again, but it didn't make a difference; I could still feel the panic seizing up in my chest.

"Don't worry, Beau. Jess and I will watch over her-"

"No! You can't – you can't do that! You can't just keep watching over everyone I love forever and ever, can you? She'll hurt someone… someone I love. Don't you see what she's doing?" my voice rose with every word that fell from my lips. "She's not even tracking just me anymore, Archie. I can't – I can't-"

"We will catch her, Beau."

"No!" I slammed my hands down hard on the dining table, making it shake. "No, you don't get it – what, you think it's only my human family she can hurt me with, Archie? Huh? What if something happened to you? You think I'll be okay with that? You think I can live with myself if anything happened to you; your family-" my head spun round and round and then there was this invisible fog; an exhaustion pulling down at my eyelids with soft but forceful hands without my permission but I tried to fight against it; to stay awake. I forced my eyes open and looked straight at Jessamine.

"No, I don't need any more sleep, Jessamine." I snapped back at her. Turning away from them both, I marched into the other bedroom and slammed the door shut behind me, making the entire wall shudder. For what felt like hours I just stared at the cracks which had formed in the coat of peeling paint like vines snaking themselves up the walls as if they were part of an old, abandoned building lying dormant in the heart of a black wilderness; like I was lost in the woods and all I could do was stumble around blind with my hands out in front of me. I couldn't see the end of this dark tunnel I was rapidly losing myself in.

How many people will have to get hurt because of me?

The one single thought that kept me going was that I'd be seeing Edythe soon. Maybe if I could see her face again, I would be able to see a solution, too. Things were always clearer when we were together.

I heard Archie's silver cell ring in the main room and it was only then I ventured out. I felt pretty bad about lashing out earlier and I hoped Archie and Jessamine knew that I was nothing but grateful for everything they've done for me.

When he got off the phone, Archie turned to look at me. I was going to apologize to him and Jessamine, but was quickly cut off.

"They're just boarding their plane now. They should be here by 9:45 AM." I glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand; the red letters inset on the black screen read 5:30 AM.

Just a couple more hours until we'd be together again. She'll make me strong. I just had to hang on until then.

I looked around the room again and realized I couldn't find Jessamine.

"She just went to check out." Archie answered me when I hadn't even said a word. "We're going to be relocating somewhere closer to your mother's house."

The thought made my stomach tie itself into knots and I thought I would throw up. Just then, the small silver cell went off again. Archie looked at the number on the screen and handed it to me. My fingers were shaking as I took the phone from him and dashed it to my ear.

"Mom?" I fought against the rolls of panic slamming into all sides of my gut and tried to make my voice come out in as even a tone as I could muster.

"Beau? Beau?" I heard Mom's familiar, frantic voice, the one she always used whenever I strayed too far from her on a busy sidewalk or got too close to the edge of the road. It punched a hole right through my chest.

"Calm down, Mom. Don't worry about me, I'm okay; I'm safe." I tried to make my voice a calm, soothing sound. I threw a quick glance over my shoulder to where Archie was. He didn't see me. That was for the best, I thought – I wasn't sure if I could lie convincingly with him right there in the room with me and so, I hurried away into the other bedroom and closed the door softly behind me. "Everything's fine. Just give me a minute, I'll explain everything. I promise." I waited for what felt like too long without her saying anything back to me. I pulled the phone from my ear and quickly looked at the screen to make sure I was still on, which I was.

"Mom?" I asked again, a little louder this time.

"Be very careful not to say anything until I tell you to." The voice that answered me now was unfamiliar, but could I really say it was unexpected?

"Joss." I growled her name below my breath. I looked to the closed bedroom door and wondered if Archie and Jessamine could hear me now. A part of me wanted them to, but another made my voice lower its pitch into a furious, near-silent sound.

"Now you listen here, Joss-" I started through my teeth.

She tutted me, cutting off my words. "Oh, you don't want to do that, trust me Beau. I make the rules here, not you." I grit my teeth together with an audible clench.

"Now, I don't need to hurt your mother, so please do exactly as I say, and she'll be fine." Her voice was light; playful.

"Don't you touch her. Don't you dare touch her."

"What did I say, Beau?" I clamped my mouth shut and choked down the lump forming in my throat, silent again.

"There's a good boy." I could hear the vicious, smiling sneer in her voice. "Now repeat after me – please say, "No, Mom, stay where you are." And do at least try to make it sound natural - like your life depended on it."

"No, Mom, stay where you are." I let out in a trembling whisper.

"Oh, that's no good, not at all. I can see this isn't going to be very easy for you nor I, is it Beau? Try that again, would you? Loud enough for your little friends to hear." I threw a worried glance over my shoulder at the closed door.

"No, Mom, stay where you are." I said, louder this time; more forceful. I heard a vibrant chuckle on the other end of the line.

"There, much better. Now say, "Mom, please listen to me." Go on."

"Mom, please listen to me." It was like I was talking to the door now, but I couldn't hear any of them on the other side, which I knew was for the best.

"Good, good. Finally, I need you to say "Mom, trust me." Come now."

"Mom, trust me." I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed the palm of my other hand tight over them.

"Well done." She chuckled but then the sound was cut off midway and she let out a little gasp. "Oh, wait. I've another favor to ask of you, Beau. Silly me. I must have gotten too excited there. Now, don't you just love when everything works out so perfectly well? How lucky it was indeed to find you there in that field; to know your mother came home early from her little trip. Especially for me, don't you think? Just when I thought all my luck had but run out."

"Just spit it out, Joss."

"So it appears I've struck a nerve there, hm?" she laughed. "Oh, but no matter. It's just a tiny, tiny little thing – I just need you to get away from your friends. You can do that, I'm sure."

"No." my voice was hard.

"No? You disappoint me, Beau. Well, I'm sure with a little persuasion-" the way she said that last word sent a chill rocketing up and down my spine.

"Yes." I changed my answer before she could finish her sentence.

"Very good Beau, you've passed. Now, here's what you have to do – I'd like for you to go to your mother's house. Next to the phone on that glass table – certainly a nice touch, might I add – you'll find a phone number. You dial it up, and I'll tell you where to go from there. And please, let's try to keep this all before noon. I haven't all day, you know. Deal? Can you do that for me? Answer yes or no."

"Yes." I hissed.

"Excellent. Now, here's the real kicker though, my dear: It's important this stays between us, you understand. I can't have your little friends getting suspicious of me now, can I? It would really put a damper on all the fun we're going to have. When we're done talking here, I need you to go to your friends and tell them you've just got off the phone with your dear mother; that you talked her out of coming home for the time being. Now repeat after me – "Thank you, Mom. I love you, Mom, and I'll see you soon." Say it now just like that; like you really mean it."

"Thank you, Mom. I love you, Mom, and I'll see you soon." I choked out in a quivering voice. It was hard to understand all the words I was saying, my throat felt like it was closing up on me.

"Brilliant. I look forward to seeing you again very soon, Beau. And please, try not to keep me waiting." Then the line went dead. Still holding the phone to my ear, my knees buckled under my weight and I fell against the door and slid down it, crumpling into a heap of everything and nothing on the floor. Joss was going to win. I felt this crippling, crushing sense of defeat descending upon me; a gravity that pulled me down. I couldn't protect them, any of them – I failed. I would die, and then she'll go after everyone I love next if she didn't already get to them before she got to me and knowing that felt like the weight of the world was just sitting on my chest, suffocating me. It buried me, consumed me until there was nothing left and then I was numb. I knew how this would end, and there was nothing I could do about it.

But… maybe I didn't actually know - not for sure, at least. Because there was something I could still do. The only thing I could do, now.

If Joss wanted me, then that's exactly what she was going to get. And then maybe, just maybe, she'll let them live.

Slowly, my thoughts started to break past that brick wall of pain. To plan. Because I had no other choice now but one: to go to that mirrored room and die.

There was no way to bargain, nothing else I could offer or withhold that would influence her. But I knew I had to at least try.

Yes. It was so simple.

And when I die, this horrible nightmare might finally come to an end. I could save them. I could save them all.

Slowly, I rose from the ground, one foot then the other. My hands loosened around the phone and it clattered to the floor. I looked straight out in front of me at the blackness which surrounded me on all sides, but I felt like I've never seen clearer in my whole life. I took a breath and clenched my fists.

But then another roll of fear struck me down– if Archie would know; if he would figure it out. It was an impossible state to be in; like purgatory - I had to stay undecided. Hold it in. For Mom's sake. For Dad's. For Edythe's. Who knew the hunter was right? My life did depend on it, because without them, I was nothing anyways. Inhaling another deep, trembling breath, I closed my eyes and slowly pushed the door open with a long, low creaking sound that echoed back to me - it was an empty sound, a lonely sound. Slowly, I put one foot in front of the other as I made my way into the living room like a prisoner on death row awaiting his sentence to be carried out. My body was shaking all over and when I saw the back of Archie's head, my stomach lurched and I wanted to run to him; to fall on my knees and tell him everything. But something stopped me, and I caught myself on the wall almost falling forward and I swallowed another lump in my throat, forcing it down. Taking two slow, steady breaths I tried to compose myself. In, out. In, out. I advanced towards Archie again at a painfully slow, arduous pace until finally, I reached a shaking hand out to his shoulder. Right before it could land though, Archie gasped and threw the chair out behind him.

"Archie?" Jessamine's voice was frantic and she nearly shoved past me, but steadied me with one hand once she realized she'd done that. "Arch?" she tried again in an unnaturally calm, quiet tone of voice that still couldn't quite shake the shrill, panicked edge in it that was there not a moment earlier. She rested a hand on his back, leaning in close to him. "What did you see?"

"Beau." His voice was a low, grave whisper. I swallowed, hard.

"I'm right here."

His head twisted and his eyes locked on mine, their expression blank. It was only then I realized that he hadn't actually been talking to me – he was answering Jessamine's question instead.