Disclaimer: Logan, Max, Zack, Lydecker, Bren, and Cindy aren't mine. Mike, Hannah, Aren, Kerry, Laila, Dane, Broodus, Marie and other little people are mine so don't use them without asking me first (I'll say yes, just ask). Also in part two of Manticore Kid I forgot to tell you that the song The Rose is not mine, I don't know whose it is but it's not mine.
A/N: Kysaria is a real book or at least I hope it will be, it's a novel that I'm writing so if you see that in originals read it. My friends tell me it's pretty good, but I'm not sure. Thanx for reading MK, if you review it I'll love you forever!! Thanx!!
THREE DAYS LATER BY A HIGHWAY
Hannah and the others crouched by the road waiting for the truck to come in range. Finally Aren gave the signal and they all jumped onto the back, the truck driver, impervious to the fact that they had climbed aboard, kept driving and it wasn't long before they were miles from the cabin. It was night when they pulled into the lot of a dingy, run down motel and stopped. When the truck was slow enough they jumped off one at a time and slunk into the shadows and to the back of the motel. Aren told the others to stay there, pressed against hard wood of the building while he slunk around looking for an empty room to break into. He came back a half an hour later and signaled that there was an empty room on this level and he had broken the lock on the sliding glass door so that they could get in. They all made their way to the place where he signed and found that he had indeed found them a place to stay. Laila and Dane, exhausted from the day, fell onto one of the king sized beds and Kerry walked over to the bathroom to freshen up while Hannah went to the tiny mini kitchen (apparently this was a nicer room than most) she scouted for some bowls so that she could make up a can of the soup they had brought from the cabin. She found some small plastic bowls and cups in a cupboard above the sink and some plastic spoons and forks in a small drawer to the side of the sink. She found a small beat up pot under the sink and set about making up a can of Veggies and Stars soup.
By the time the soup was done Kerry had fallen asleep on the large couch in the corner, Laila and Dane had fallen asleep in the one bed together and Aren was writing something on a piece of paper at the small table. She took him a bowl of soup and a spoon and he nodded thanks without looking up. Hannah sat and ate her own soup silently. When she had finished her soup she walked over to the one remaining bed and crawled in quietly. It was a few minutes later when Aren too finished his soup and the next thing she knew, there he was in bed with her. He held up his arm and she scooted closer to him, burying her face in his hard, firmly muscled chest. He held her to him smoothing her back and it wasn't more than three minutes later that Hannah fell asleep in his arms.
It was morning when she woke and found everyone already up and awake and she too quickly got up and carefully made the bed. Everyone was eating fresh bananas and she had the feeling that Aren had been out "scouting" that morning. Aren handed her a banana and she couldn't help smiling when she saw the huge grin on his face, he was so like a brother, only more.
They finished their breakfast quickly and made their way out the back door this time with a pot and some plastic bowls and spoons added to their pack and Kerry carrying it. They walked along the highway for a long time before finally coming to a Check Point. Hannah looked at Aren as though to say ~What now genius?~. But she didn't saw anything out loud. Aren led them off into the thin crop of trees by the highway's side and before long they were so far in that they couldn't see the highway meaning the people on the highway couldn't see them. They walked in the trees for a half hour and then Aren turned them back toward where the highway should be. They broke out on it far from the Check Point and the most challenging thing they'd had to do was climb over a ten foot fence topped with barbed wire, a piece of cake for them all, even Laila. Hannah looked around and spotted a sign, Seattle 20 miles away, it read. Hannah looked over at Aren and smiled nervously before turning toward the sign and starting to walk with everyone else following. It was around four in the afternoon when they arrived in Seattle. It was run down and dirty, nothing like they had thought it would be, but it was still magnificent. There were people everywhere and they were doing everything imaginable. There were carts with produce being sold and women talking animatedly to men, there were men fixing the side of a tall building and children running through all of them laughing and throwing around an old worn out, once red, ball. Hannah pulled a piece of paper from her right pocket and glanced at the address written on it. She glanced at the street sign and gave a sigh of relief as she realized that they were on the street that he lived on. She looked at the nearest building number and again at her paper.
"It should be right down the street." Hannah commented looking around.
She started off down the street and again they all followed her. They walked for about a half an hour before Hannah finally spotted the building that they wanted. She quickly assessed the situation and found that the door had a code to it. She didn't feel like figuring out the code, who knew how long it would take for someone to come along and type it in, so she counted the number of floors on the building. She looked at her paper and decided that the apartment must be on the top floor.
~Damn it!~ She thought. ~I don't want to have to climb that.~
She decided that she had to though. So she walked around to the back where there were small balconies and started climbing, her clothes blended well with the building. She made her way from balcony to balcony resting on one every now and then. Finally she made it to the top and looked in. There wasn't anyone in the room but as she looked at the mantle place she noticed a picture that caught her eye. It was the same picture that she carried, of her, her mother, and her father. Hannah quietly opened the glass door and slipped into the room. She made her way to the mantle place and picked up the large framed picture. She noticed several other pictures also, one was of a small little girl around the age of one, her hair fell in tiny ringlets down her back already long enough to cascade like a waterfall. She turned as the sound of a door opening caught her attention. She slunk behind another door and peered around the side a few moments before a man in a wheelchair wheeled into the room. He stopped in front of the mantel and then looked around with a scared look in his eyes.
"Lydecker come out. I don't have Hannah but you can kill me anyway." The man spoke loudly and with conviction, but he caught her by surprise when he used her's and Lydecker's names. She stumbled a bit and he turned to look at the doorway where she hid. "Come out." He said slowly, and she did.
"Didn't think you'd be in a wheelchair." She said as she stepped from behind the door into his view. "So you're Logan."
"Hannah! Oh my god, Hannah! Is it really you?" He asked quietly after he finished screaming her name.
"Yah. So how did you know Max and Zack and I?"
"Call them Mom and Dad." He said kindly but there was an edge in his voice when he said dad.
"Okay, how did you know my mom, dad and I?" She asked again.
"I was a close friend of your mom's and I..." He paused and then shook his head. "You're not going to want to hear this standing up. Come on over here and sit down." He motioned to the couch and when she sat he wheeled himself over to in front of her.
For a moment he just sat and looked at her, but she shifted quickly and he realized he was making her uncomfortable. He averted his gaze to the couch cushion for a moment and when he looked back at her there were tears in his eyes.
"I adopted you after Lydecker killed your parents." He told her. "That's why I have your picture, and you still have mine." But he more asked her about his picture.
"Yah, I still have them both. When did they die?"
"You were five months old at the time."
"How did you adopt me so fast?"
"I have lots of connections." He replied and then he looked past her. "Friends of yours?" He asked and she looked behind her to see Aren, Kerry, Dane and Laila hovering in the doorway. "Come in, come in." Logan told them. "Sit I'll get you something to eat and drink." He said and then seeing Aren's alarm. "Or you can raid the fridge yourself." He offered. Aren seemed to be okay with this, so Logan directed him to the kitchen and left Hannah sitting on the couch alone while he made sure everyone got something to eat or drink.
He came back while everyone looked around his apartment and parked his chair in front of her again.
"Hannah I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but you had to be told." He offered as an explanation.
"No it's okay. So what do I call you? Logan? Dad? Daddy?" She asked with the sound of tears in her voice.
"You used to call me Lodan." He smiled slightly as he said this and then frowned. "Before I let you down."
"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.
"I was there when Lydecker took you back to Manticore, he shot me to get you from me."
"But you're still alive. And how did Lydecker 'get' me?" Hannah asked confused.
"Yes I'm still alive, but my life from then on has been miserable. Answer your other question he came with lots of his men and took you, then he shot me. Thank god that Bling found me here an hour or so later and I hadn't lost 'too much blood' as the doctor told me. I was paralyzed before but after wards for a long time I was too weak to even wheel myself around. Hannah I missed you so much, after they took you..." But he stopped there afraid he was going to cry. She looked up at Logan and was suddenly dying to ask him all about her parents.
"Can you tell me about my parents? Were they nice?" She asked.
"Your mother, Max, was so sweet, but she had an edge to her that just gave off this magical essence. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it. Your dad was, well he was... I can't say anything nice about your dad." Logan finished.
"Why?" Hannah asked.
"Well you see..." Logan was at a loss for words. "When your mom was still alive, before Zack came along, I had..." He stopped again.
"You liked my mom didn't you?"
'Well I suppose that would be one way to put it." Logan replied. "Anyway you'll need to get some sleep and then we'll get you out of here. Lydecker will be after you and this will be one of the first places he'll look."
"Oh, about Lydecker." Hannah eased out. "I killed him." Logan looked at her in amazement and then laughed.
"Well then no need for you to leave. You can stay here. All of you." He waved his arm around to mean Aren, Kerry, Dane and Laila also.
"Well, I wouldn't go that far." Hannah cut. "See, he's got this nephew Broodus, who's kind of gonna take over for him. We figured we'd have about two weeks to disappear before he re organizes everyone."
"Well then I guess I will have to find a place for you to stay." Logan said glumly as he started wheeling himself over to the phone.
Hannah watched as he dialed a number and then they both waited as it rang.
"Hey, it's Logan." There was a pause. "Yah its great to hear your voice, listen I have some friends who need a place to stay." This was followed by another pause. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But there are five of them, three girls and two boys." This was followed by another short pause and then Logan spoke again. "Well talk it over with Mark and then get back to me. Ok Cindy? Okay I'll talk to you then." Logan finished and hung up. He turned to face Hannah who had turned around and placed her right arm on the back of the couch. "Cindy's going to call me back in about a half hour. If Mark says you can stay with them we'll fly you to D.C. tomorrow and you'll stay there for a while. If that works out, who knows, maybe they'll even adopt one or two of you." Logan finished with pretended enthusiasm. "Well come on this way and I'll set you all up with rooms. Will a girls' room and a boys' room do?" Logan asked as they moved along the hallway.
"That should work okay but do you think that instead of me being in a room I could just sleep on the couch?" Hannah asked. "I don't exactly want to share a room with Kerry. She'll just yell and taunt me."
"What? Why?" Logan asked with a fatherly edge in his voice.
"She just doesn't like me much. That's all." Hannah told him.
"How old is Kerry?" Logan asked Hannah.
"Fifteen." Hannah answered. "Then Aren is fourteen, I'm thirteen, Dane is twelve and Laila is eleven." Hannah added in case he had been wondering.
"I think I know who their parents are." Logan told her. "We'll set you up in rooms and then we'll all meet in the living room, where you'll sleep." He added with a tint of distress mixed into his voice at the thought of Hannah sleeping on the couch.
They walked down the hall passing two doors before coming to the last door on the left and turning in to find everyone in a circle on the floor with Aren signing to them. Hannah didn't catch any of it but she could tell that Aren must have been standing up for her or something like that because Kerry's face was even more clouded over than usual.
"Okay first off I'm Logan." Logan announced when he had their attention. "Second I need your names, but let me guess first." He looked at Kerry and then around at Laila and Dane and Aren. "You're Kerry, you're Laila, you're Dane and you're Aren." He guessed them all correct, pointing at each person in turn. They all nodded in turn seemingly amazed that he could guess who they were, apparently they had been eavesdropping for part of the conversation and hadn't heard her describe them so they knew he was for real. Aren looked at Logan for another moment before speaking as though he were the leader of the group.
"We'll stay for the night." Aren announced.
"Okay if you all agree." Logan replied fairly taken aback by Aren's attitude. "We'll set Laila and Kerry up in this room and if Aren and Dane will follow me we'll put you in the room down the hall." Logan declared.
Aren and Dane followed him out of the room and Kerry turned on Hannah.
"What's he up to?" She spat.
"Up to?" Hannah asked.
"Yah, I mean he can't want something for nothing. Can he?" But she didn't really ask this last bit, she kind of laid it out there like it were a cold, hard fact.
"He's my father." Hannah defended.
"No he's the guy who adopted you after your parents died." Kerry shot back.
"At least I had a father and mother who loved me. And then on top of that I had another guy willing to adopt me." Hannah retorted hoping to freeze Kerry's tongue. It didn't work.
"In other words you were a charity case!" Kerry screeched.
"No I wasn't! Anyway we have to get to the living room. Logan thinks he can find out who our parents are." Hannah turned on her heal and headed out the door with Laila trailing her quietly and Kerry storming behind them both like a cyclone in movement.
They arrived in the living room and found Logan already there typing on the computer. Hannah went over and stood behind him bending down and leaning on the back of his chair placing her head on his right shoulder so that she could peer at the screen. Logan glanced at her from the corner of his eye and smiled.
"I can't wait until your hair grows out again." He told her with cheer in his voice. He was very glad to have her back, he was overwhelmed with happiness that he had a second chance. This time he wouldn't let her down, he hoped.
Logan finished what he had been typing just as Aren and Dane came into the room. Logan patted Hannah's arm to tell her he was going to move and she stood back up and walked over to the couch where she plopped down. A few moments later Laila and Dane sat down side by side next to her. Aren plopped into a large black armchair across from Hannah and stared at her coldly for a moment as though to say ~ I'm supposed to sit by you, you're mine. ~ And then there was a slight edge to his look, something that sent out a different message, a message more along the lines of. ~ How the hell do I protect you if you're all the way over there?!? ~ She held his gaze for a moment and then broke it off before guilt at leaving him in a chair secluded from them all decided to completely clutch her by the throat. Kerry stood in the doorway, too reluctant to sit down but not rude enough to walk away completely, besides she was fairly dependant on Logan now too. Logan scooted his chair back so that he could see them all and they could all see his face and then he looked down at the print outs he had in his lap.
"Well Kerry. Do you want to know who your parents are and when your birthday is?" Logan asked Kerry as he realized she was still hovering in the doorway.
"If you feel like telling me." She told him coldly.
"Well then I'll do you last, when you finally sit down." Logan murmured the last part under his breath.
"Fine I'll come back later." And with that Kerry took off down the hall towards the "girls" room.
"Nice girl." Logan spoke up.
"Oh well. Logan can you tell me my parents and birthday?" Laila asked.
"Laila right?" Logan asked.
"Yes."
"Number?"
"41551-71222." Laila told him somewhat gloomily. Hannah knew that Laila most out of all of them wanted to forget all about Manticore and have a normal life.
"Your parents are Bren and Evan and your birthday is April tenth." Logan told her. "I remember the time that Max and Zack had to save Bren from Lydecker. Only they had to let Lydecker take her back if they wanted Bren to live, I'm glad they made that decision or else we wouldn't have known you." He said it as sweetly as possible. He really wanted them to all feel special and if he could do that by telling a small story to go along with the parent he would.
"Really?" Laila asked him sounding like she was amazed that anyone would think that.
"Really. You seem like a sweet girl." Apparently Logan had been dong some eavesdropping himself.
"Thanks." Laila said happily. "Now do Dane's." She told him blushing and obviously trying to get the attention off of her.
"Okay lets see number 41551-71221 right?" Logan asked Dane.
"Yep." Was Dane's simple reply.
"Lets see your parents are Kaitlin and Leigh." Logan told him. "I never met your father but he had to be a good guy for Max and Zack to want to save him."
"Oh Logan that's right they were going to get Leigh on the night when..." Here she stopped herself as she realized that there were tears in Logan's eyes. "Oh Logan I'm sorry I didn't mean to."
"No. Oh Hannah honey, no. Don't be sorry, there's nothing to be sorry about. What happened, happened and we can't change it."
"I'm still sorry. There've just been so many problems." Hannah told him.
"In life there are problems. Problems make a life. Life and problems go hand in hand." Logan told her.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Hannah asked him.
"No I just thought you deserved to know the absolute truth." He replied smiling.
"Thanks Logan now about Aren's parents and Dane's birthday." Hannah very unsubtly changed the subject.
"Let's see, Dane's birthday is February thirteenth. Number 41551-71219 is Aren right?" He stopped and then saw Aren nod so went on. "You and Laila are full fledged brother and sister." Logan actually seemed amazed by this as though he were finding it out for the first time too.
"You're not serious about that are you? We look nothing alike at all." Aren cut in.
"It says you are right here." Logan calmly told Aren wheeling his chair over to him and showing the paper to Aren.
"I believe you." Aren pushed the paper away angrily, but Hannah saw his eyes take mental note of the paper before he did so that he could dredge it up later from memory.
"Good to know." Logan laughed quietly. "And in case you care your birthday is March fourth."
"When's my birthday?" Hannah asked to get the tension out of the air.
"July twenty fourth." Logan told her without looking down at the paper. Then he lifted his head and looked around. "Kerry." He called. In a moment they heard footsteps coming down the hall. She appeared in the doorway again and he motioned to the armchair on his right that was vacant. "I'll tell you your information as soon as you sit down."
"Alright." She muttered gloomily crossing the room to the large, black leather chair. She flopped down in it glaring and waited for Logan to tell her the information that she wanted.
"Well maybe if we could get at least a trace of a smile on that face." He murmured trying to get her to open up. She grimaced and he decided to just tell her, she obviously took after her parents whether she knew it or not. "Your parents are Gina and Zack." He announced without looking down at the paper and then he glanced down at it. "Your birthday is January twenty eighth. You and Hannah are half sisters." He tried to sound cheery but was he was having a hard time believing that his Hannah and this Kerry girl were related. He looked around the room. "Now down to some serious business. While you were in your rooms Cindy called me back. Mike says its fine with him if you stay with them for a few weeks and if that works out they might even adopt one or two of you." He smiled around at them all and was pleased to see both Laila and Dane's faces lit up.
~Hopefully. ~ He thought. ~I haven't just raised their hopes for nothing. ~ He looked around at everyone again.
"Hannah honey could you hand me my cell?" He asked Hannah pointing to the end table beside her where his cell phone was resting by a picture of Hannah as a baby. Hannah noticed that the frame it was in was the same color as her eyes and smiled as she picked up the phone. She leaned forward and handed it to him. He took it with a smile and dialed a number.
"Hello, yes." He spoke after a moment or two of awkward silence as the phone rang. "I'm interested in an early afternoon flight to D.C. for tomorrow." He told the person on the other end. "Yes that will do. I'll need five tickets." He added.
"Six!" Hannah whispered furiously. Logan looked at her and shook his head, but Hannah nodded hers vigorously. Again Logan shook his head and went back to the phone conversation.
"Yes so tomorrow afternoon at one. We'll see you then. Thank you, yes goodbye." Logan looked up to find that Hannah and Aren were gone, but Laila, Dane and Kerry were still there and they were all looking at him.
"You're not coming?" Laila asked.
"I can't. It'll be too obvious if I disappear that I know something about you." Logan explained.
"I just think that Hannah would like it if you'd come. After all you're the only family she has left, not to mention the only family she's ever known." Laila laid it all down on the table.
"And." Dane added. "Broodus won't hesitate to kill you. He doesn't have the training and resolve that Lydecker had. Even if Lydecker was getting old he knew what he was doing. He might have hurt you but he wouldn't kill you in case we came back, which we might have to do. Broodus doesn't think that far ahead he'll shoot you in a heartbeat when he finds out you don't have us. Plus you know where we are. He'll be able to get it out of you." Logan looked at Dane curiously.
"No offense." Kerry barged into the conversation. "I'm sure you mean well, but you're weak. I mean Lydecker got Hannah from you with no problem."
"I'm crippled!" Logan shouted. "What did you expect me to do, knock them all out with my hands as I wheeled around in circles?" Logan asked them incredulously.
"No, but now you have a second chance. Come with us. It'll make Hannah feel safer." Laila tried to send him on a guilt trip, she knew it meant a lot to Hannah to have Logan come with them, plus he seemed like a nice man and it would be really bad for them if Broodus did kill him, for more than one reason.
"I can't go with you, but I will get out of Seattle. I'll go to Boston. My friend Marie lives there. It'll get me away from Broodus, but also from you. So I won't be in danger, but I also won't put you in danger." He tried to compromise.
"That'll work." Hannah spoke coming around the corner back into the living room, her eyes were all red and puffy and he knew right away that she had been crying. Aren turned the corner also and placed his arm around Hannah's waist. Logan felt a tinge of fatherly concern, this boy had his arm around his daughter's, no excuse me, his adopted daughter's waist.
"If you want to use the computer or watch the TV feel free. I'll be out on the deck." Logan said this with false confidence so that they all knew that he wasn't coming with them to D.C. He rolled himself out onto the deck where just about an hour before Hannah had crept up and seen the telltale picture that had led her to Logan.
He parked by the edge and looked out over the broken city. Over twenty years in the depression and things weren't even close to being at poverty level. He jerked his attention from the busted skyline as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He turned to see if Hannah had followed him and saw Max. She shook her head at him before he could say or do anything.
"Logan I miss you." She said and it even sounded like Max. "You know you're doing the right thing. You would have done the same thing if it were me who had shown up and not Hannah." Max reassured him.
"Max, I wouldn't have. That's just the thing. I was selfish when Hannah was a baby, if I had let her go Lydecker wouldn't have gotten her. And if I hadn't kept you here that time in the hospital, then you wouldn't be..." Logan trailed off as tears filled his dark brown eyes and Max bent down and kissed him. It was better than the time at the cabin, it was as though the heavens were opening up and raining stars down around them. Logan didn't want to let go but Max pulled away. Max started to move her lips to talk but Logan cut in.
"Just go." His gaze fell back onto the broken buildings around his apartment as the hand left his shoulder. He heard footsteps and then there was a slight shaking of his shoulder.
"Max, just go." He repeated sadly.
"Logan?" But it wasn't Max's voice it was Hannah's.
He turned, startled back into reality. He looked into the concerned lavender eyes of his daughter. He figured Max would have wanted him to call her his daughter.
"Oh, I'm sorry Han. I was just daydreaming." He explained to her as she drew her face back.
"About my Mom?" She asked in a small voice.
"Yes. I really did love her, and I like to believe that she loved me too. Hannah." He said seriously.
"Yes, Logan."
"Would you mind if I tell people you're my daughter?"
"No, I'd like that. But Logan I'm not ready to call you dad." She countered.
"That's alright, you just met me and for years you've thought of Zack as your dad. And really he is if you think about it. I think he really did love you, but Han, so do I."
"I know Logan, but I'll need some time. You understand. Logan are you sure you can't come with us to D.C?"
"Yes Han, I've got to make sure I don't let Broodus get you. And I can't do that when I'm with you. I need to be emotionally unattached until you're safe."
"But what if I do get killed? I won't have gotten to know you!"
"Hannah you will not get killed! None of you will get killed! I promise you!" Logan told her passionately.
"You couldn't promise my Mom and Dad!" She threw back at him and then she stormed off the deck back into the...
"Empty apartment?" Logan asked himself out loud. He shut his eyes and counted to ten and when he opened them he realized that he had been dreaming, again. He turned his chair around to see Hannah in one of the big, leather chairs reading a book. Aren was on the sofa watching TV, Laila and Dane were dancing around the room and even Kerry looked happy as she watched Dane swing Laila around. He saw Aren yell something at Dane and Dane and Laila collapsed on the floor laughing. Aren yelled something else and Logan saw Hannah start laughing uncontrollably. Kerry stood up and jumped on Dane and Laila, she started tickling them and before Logan knew it Hannah and Aren had joined in. They were a big squirming mass as he opened the door and then shut it quickly behind him. He laughed with them as he listened to their shrieks as someone scored on them. He rolled himself into the kitchen with their small screams following after him. He started getting things out of the fridge getting ready to whip up one of his "culinary miracles" like he used to do for Max. He remembered the night when Max had stayed at his house, there had been a brown out and then she had started having her seizures worse than ever. He had stayed with her and fretted al night, her seizures had almost killed her that night and he shuttered to think what would have happened if she had been out on the street when they had started. He wondered for a moment if she was happy looking down on them from heaven as he knew she was, but there had been times in her life that had been problem riddled, but as he had told Hannah. Life and problems go hand in hand. So he guessed Max got what she had wanted all along, a normal life.
THE NEXT MORNING AT THE AIRPORT
Logan looked at Hannah as they walked up to the ticket counter. He had run to the store and gotten them all new clothes for the trip and Hannah and the others looked completely normal, they all had on turtlenecks and all the girls were all wearing canvas hats.
"Hello sir. May I help you?" Asked a tall blond haired woman with a toothy smile from behind the ticket counter.
"Yes, I believe you can. My name is Logan, Logan Kayle. I'm here for my tickets, six to D.C. and one to Boston." He smiled up at her.
"May I see some ID please sir?" She asked him politely. Logan reached into his pocket and drew out an old wallet, from it he pulled out his ID and as he did something fell from behind it, Hannah stooped to grab it and found that it was a picture. She didn't know why but she seemed to learn a lot from pictures, now she was learned that Logan and her Mother had really been more than friends. This picture had been taken in one of those really old photo booths that you used to find at malls or amusement parks, it had a border of roses with a banner at the bottom that read in large white on pink letters, THE PERFECT COUPLE, and in the picture itself Max and Logan were kissing apparently oblivious to the fact that the picture was being taken at all, and Hannah thought she saw a faint rose tinted glow in her Mother's cheeks.
"That's from when your Mother and I dated." Logan supplied quickly. "You can take it with you if you want." He added, but it sounded forced, none the less Hannah slipped the picture into her small carry on bag's small pocket. Meanwhile the lady was looking over his ID card and when she found it satisfactory she handed it back to him along with a small packet of tickets. Logan picked them up and smiled at the woman who smiled back unenthusiastically. Logan rolled a little ways away from the counter and pulled out the tickets.
"Well let's see, you're at gate twenty three and you'll be leaving in about twenty minutes and I'm at gate twenty five and I'll be leaving in fifteen or so. You'll just have to board without me." He smiled crookedly and he looked like he was covering his real feelings up. Hannah just smiled and then she bent down and hugged him impulsively, he hugged her back, surprised that she was hugging him after only one day. Then she did something even more amazing. He handed her the tickets and she took Aren's hand and they all started walking toward their gate but before they disappeared she turned around and called over her shoulder. "Bye Dad, I'll see you in a bit." She didn't know how he had felt about her calling him dad but it made her feel better to have someone that she could call dad.
The next hour or so on the plane she spent brooding and sleeping curled up in her seat facing the window. They were in first class and she was woken up mid flight or so to eat the food that now in first class was as bad as it used to be in coach. She choked it down without knowing the difference and noticed that Kerry was listening to some CDs on a Discman that Logan had given her (he had gotten one for each of them) to take on the flight. Laila had curled up with a book, it looked like a mystery, Dane was listening to more CDs on his Discman, and Aren was reading a Goosebumps book. Hannah sighed quietly and then reached into her bag. She pulled out her Discman and a CD by someone named Dido. She put it in and listened to the rhythmic beat, it made her feel calmer and she loved the words to the first song. "Oh I am what I am, I'll do what I want, but I can't hide." The music pulsed placidly and she leaned back and listened to the words for a while, then she reached into her bag again and pulled out a book, Kysaria, stated the title in large gold letters that turned silver part way through. She opened it and started reading and suddenly she was sucked into the world of Dawn and Eve. Before she knew it they were in DC and it was time to shut off her music, she had changed the CD three times, to Jewel and Alanis Morrisette and then to Jars of Clay. She packed her things away and got off the plane with the others.
When they got to the terminal gate though the woman wouldn't let them leave without a "legal guardian" as she put it. So they sat and waited, Hannah listened to Dido again and finished another chapter in Kysaria before they saw a woman rushing toward them. For a brief moment she was scared that this was one of Broodus' people coming to capture them, but then she relaxed as the woman called out as she ran.
"Don't worry Original Cindy's here." She came to a quick stop beside them.
"Are you their legal guardian?" The stewardess looked skeptical.
"No I'm an axe murderer here to kill them all off one by one. Of course I'm their legal guardian." She snapped and Hannah took an instant liking to her. "We'll be going now." And before the stewardess could ask for ID she turned on her heal and walked away leading them behind her. Hannah hurried to catch up to her.
"Were you a friend of my Mom's?" She asked.
"Her best." Cindy answered shortly.
"Oh by the way about our bags," Hannah eased out and Cindy looked over at her. "We don't' have any. Dad sent money for clothes instead." Hannah informed her.
"That works too, it'll give us an outing." Cindy replied passing over the dad in Hannah's sentence. "We'll go grab Mike in the car out front and head home."
"Cindy."
"Yes hon?"
"Was my Mom nice?" Hannah asked quietly.
"Yah, babe, your mom was great. She really knew how to live, she never even slept. I loved her to death, I mean." Cindy realized her slip.
"It's okay I understand what you mean." Hannah assured her as they walked to the car that was waiting out front. It was slightly old and beat up but it was running and Cindy seemed amazed that it still was.
They all got in and Cindy turned to face the man in the drivers seat.
"Hit it big bro." She told him.
"Sis I can't hit it, this car is delicate. It's just like a woman." Her brother replied calmly and nothing like Cindy, Hannah could tell they would be the perfect people to stay with.
FIVE WEEKS LATER AT CINDY'S
Hannah sat looking out the small window in her and Laila's homey blue and white bedroom. The house had been made to look like it was old, from back when DC was still the young nation's capital and it had four levels, the attic even had a slanted roof. She loved how it looked especially at night when the moonlight streamed in and over her bed through the same circular window that she was staring out now. She watched the busy people dashing about on the streets and wished that she was part of them. Her hair had already grown to just above shoulder length, she decided it must be in her genes, after all they had used to give them hair cuts once a week at Manticore. Now it was a wavy mass twisting over and under itself and shining in whatever light was present at the time. She sighed as she came back to the real world and decided to go down to dinner, already the sun was sagging in the red gold sky.
She heaved herself up from the bed and slipped over to the hatch that led to the small stairway that led into the back of the upstairs hall. She poked her head into Dane and Aren's black and mahogany room and found it empty. She looked across the hall and saw Kerry's room, the door was open and she could see most of the yellow and green interior although Kerry was on her bed hidden from the view of the doorway. Hannah tentatively stuck her head into the room and found Kerry as she had suspected sprawled on her bed reading a book. Her checkered bedspread was mussed and the pillow had fallen to the floor beside the bed. There were books of all shapes, sizes and colors strew through the room and her dresser was littered with cosmetics and CDs that sat by her Discman, which looked as though it had just been dropped there haphazardly. Hannah frowned at the mess and then noticed clothes strewn around also, she knocked on the door frame quickly before she screamed at the mess, her own room was neat as a pin and she even resorted to cleaning Laila's side when so much as a hair tie was out of place. Kerry jumped startled and turned to glare at Hannah.
"Whatcha reading?" Hannah asked innocently.
Kerry spoke in a clipped and icy tone. "Little Women."
"Oh well it's time for dinner." Hannah warned.
"I'm not hungry." Kerry stated crisply.
"But you might be later, remember Mike's rule, if you don't eat with the family you don't eat at all." Hannah cautioned.
"I'm well aware of Mike's fucked up rules!" Kerry's voice cut through Hannah's bones like a chain saw.
"Okay. Would you like me to bring you up anything?" Hannah tried to be hospitable.
"You don't think I don't know you guys don't like me?" Kerry burst out suddenly. "I know you think I'm a bitch!" Hannah just stood for a moment wondering what to say. Finally she broke the awkward silence that had risen to choke them after Kerry's comment.
"Kerry we don't think you're a bitch, you just aren't a people person. You're aloof is all." Hannah tried to sound convincing but inside she was dying to scream 'Yes you are a bitch, now come down to dinner damn it!' Instead she looked at Kerry complacently and spoke evenly. "These dinners mean a lot to Mike and Cindy and you want to make a good impression if you want to be adopted."
"I don't want to be adopted. I want to live out in the world on my own without having to worry about anybody or have anyone else having to worry about me. I want to live free!" Kerry snapped.
"Oh." Hannah replied and then her mind went blank, she didn't know how to respond to that, all she had ever wanted was a family. She wanted people to worry about her, people to worry about. "Well I'll see you after dinner." Hannah told Kerry. "I'll stop in and we can talk, after all we're half sisters."
"Don't bother. We don't have to be friends just because we're sisters." Kerry told her condescendingly while turning back to her book. Hannah shrugged it off and walked down the hall to the main steps, but she was about ready to hit Kerry.
THE NEXT DAY STILL AT CINDY AND MIKE'S
Hannah sat in the bright and cheery kitchen watching Mike shell some peas that he had grown in a small garden outback. Kerry was in a generous sized armchair near the front door in the living room and Cindy was on the couch yelling at the man on the TV game show. Kerry was as usual engrossed in a book, this time a fantasy, A Spell For Chameleon by Piers Anthony, and didn't even look up as the front door burst open. Of course neither did Cindy, she had apparently thought it was just Dane, Laila and Aren coming back from the store with the chicken broth that Mike had sent them to get.
But it wasn't sweet little Laila or innocent little Dane that burst in the door, it wasn't even the hot but cynical Aren, instead it was huge men dressed in all black and the leader was none other than Broodus. The men moved in on Kerry quickly and before she could fight they had hit her with a stun gun, well Hannah wasn't about to go out that way, she and Mike dashed out the back door, they rushed down the street toward the P&C the store that they had sent Aren and the others to. Hannah sprinted easily through the aisles in a blind panic trying to find them, where were they , could Brodus have gotten them. They had been gone for a while, but no there they were in the magazine aisle reading MAD. She grabbed Aren's arm and tried to talk but all that came out was a garble of sheer panic. He looked at her face and read most of her message, or at least the most important part of it.
"Broodus?" Was all he asked and Hannah nodded her head quickly. Mike came up behind them.
"Come on you guys, we have to get out of here." He told them in a remarkably calm voice.
"I don't understand, we were so careful. How could he have found us after all our precautions?" Aren mused out loud.
"I don't know, but let's go out the back, I used to work here, they'll let us." Mike suggested.
"That sounds good." Hannah finally found her voice and made her way to the back of the store surrounded by the others. Her hair swung out behind her and her headband had become crooked. She wished that she had never been born, but no then she wouldn't have gotten to know the happiness that she had felt these past few weeks. After things had settled down at Mike and Cindy's they had all gotten along fairly well, with the exception of Kerry and now Kerry was gone. Taken by Broodus' men. Hannah bit her bottom lip so hard that it bled and Aren looked at her curiously before handing her an old fashioned handkerchief to stop it. Hannah pushed open the abnormally large doors to the back storage rooms and found herself met by more of Broodus' men. She tried to turn around but Mike was blocking them from getting out. And then there were hands trying to grab her, but she wasn't going out without a fight. She turned around and bitch-slapped the man who was holding her.
"Can we say sexual harassment?" She asked him curtly before she flipped him over. "I don't have to take this." She quoted the line from a commercial that she had seen the other night while watching "Cooper Restivo in The Curse of the Mirror" on TV. Then she turned to the next guy in line. He looked her over warily and she stood her ground waiting for him to spring, she noticed his eyes seemed to be hovering over her shoulder and she quickly kicked behind her to hear Mike cry out in pain, she had obviously scored below the belt and above the knees. The man in front of her decided that with "back up" gone he'd have to fight her off now. He reached to pull out a stunner from his holder on his right hip, but she grabbed his arm and twisted it so that she was using him as a human shield. She took the stunner casually from him and pointed it out from behind him. There were only five more guys, one of which appeared to be Broodus, and another who was sitting in the driver's seat of a "get away/take away" car. Hannah shot three of them before they knew what hit them, but when she focused her attention to finding Broodus he had vanished, the car and driver with him. She turned again after snapping the neck of her "hostage" to find that Mike was still laying in agony on the concrete floor of the store, Aren, Laila and Dane had been knocked unconscious before they had even seen what was happening.
"You dirty little rat!" She screamed at Mike. "You turned us in didn't you? You even helped them corner us, but you see I have a natural fight or flight instinct that you didn't know about, after all they did spice me up with some feline DNA. Speaking of feline DNA lets toy with you a little, she started stomping on his fingers, arms or whatever else was in range. He squirmed in agony and tried to roll away from her, but she just stopped him with her foot and went on kicking the shit out of him. She kicked him once more in the crotch and then focused on Aren and the others. Dane was already conscious again and she saw Laila stir gently as she walked over to sit beside them.
"Normally I'd tell you to take it easy but right now we have to get the hell out of here!" She told Dane as he sat up slowly, groggily.
"What happened? All I remember is coming in and having you turn around to go back out. Why'd you stop?" He asked curiously as though he were trying to put together a puzzle and couldn't find the last piece.
"Mike turned us in to Broodus." She told him hoping the hurt didn't show in her voice as she feared it did. She tugged her turtle necked sweater up self-consciously making sure it covered all of her neck that her hair didn't. She didn't know what to do now. They'd have to wait for Aren to wake up before they could go anywhere and they still had to find out if Cindy and Kerry were okay. Just as she thought this Cindy burst into the back room with a guy who looked like the store manager.
"Oh thank God you're okay!" Cindy cried falling down onto the ground beside Hannah and Dane and throwing her arms around Hannah. Hannah hugged her back.
"Like wise." She told the near hysterical woman. Cindy held her at arms length and smiled at her for a moment and then she saw Laila and Aren lying on the hard floor as well as Mike.
"Oh my goodness what happened? Why would Broodus just come and fight you and not take you? And why'd he torture Mike?" Cindy asked her in an extremely confused way that made Hannah tremendously sure that she wasn't part of the plan. Hannah shook her head and murmured sadly.
"I'll tell you later, when we're actually safe." She added. "Mike's gotta go! Just trust me." She added at the puzzled look on Cindy's face. "Where's Kerry?" She added to detour the woman's questions.
"Broodus' men took her and left they apparently didn't think I was worth taking." She threw in the last part with disdain.
They heard a groan behind them and turned to see Aren coming back to reality. Laila and Dane were already standing up and better and even as Aren sat up the color was coming back to his face. Hannah scooted over to him quickly and threw her arms around his neck.
"Thank God! We've got to get out of here. Mike turned us in to Broodus." Hannah was glad that the manager had moved directly to the back door and was expecting the damage with no regard for their health, it also helped that she didn't think he could speak much more English than "hi" or "bye" or "have a nice day". That was fine with her. Aren hugged her back and then let go quickly and started to get up. She got up too and they both moved into the clump of the others that had formed.
"Lets go!" Hannah screeched at them as she and Aren merged with them.
"Wait!" Cindy spoke authoritatively, stopping Hannah in her tracks. "Honey we are not rushin' out to get ourselves killed here! We've got to call Logan and find out where the hell to go, but for now we're going over to my boos house."
"Your what?" Laila asked.
"My girlfriend." She responded as she walked away quickly giving them no other choice than to follow or be left fairly helpless in a shop with a man who could barely speak English.
"Okay then." Hannah whispered to Aren as they trotted after Cindy.
"My thoughts exactly." He replied laughing and at that moment it was the best sound Hannah had ever heard.
A/N: Kysaria is a real book or at least I hope it will be, it's a novel that I'm writing so if you see that in originals read it. My friends tell me it's pretty good, but I'm not sure. Thanx for reading MK, if you review it I'll love you forever!! Thanx!!
THREE DAYS LATER BY A HIGHWAY
Hannah and the others crouched by the road waiting for the truck to come in range. Finally Aren gave the signal and they all jumped onto the back, the truck driver, impervious to the fact that they had climbed aboard, kept driving and it wasn't long before they were miles from the cabin. It was night when they pulled into the lot of a dingy, run down motel and stopped. When the truck was slow enough they jumped off one at a time and slunk into the shadows and to the back of the motel. Aren told the others to stay there, pressed against hard wood of the building while he slunk around looking for an empty room to break into. He came back a half an hour later and signaled that there was an empty room on this level and he had broken the lock on the sliding glass door so that they could get in. They all made their way to the place where he signed and found that he had indeed found them a place to stay. Laila and Dane, exhausted from the day, fell onto one of the king sized beds and Kerry walked over to the bathroom to freshen up while Hannah went to the tiny mini kitchen (apparently this was a nicer room than most) she scouted for some bowls so that she could make up a can of the soup they had brought from the cabin. She found some small plastic bowls and cups in a cupboard above the sink and some plastic spoons and forks in a small drawer to the side of the sink. She found a small beat up pot under the sink and set about making up a can of Veggies and Stars soup.
By the time the soup was done Kerry had fallen asleep on the large couch in the corner, Laila and Dane had fallen asleep in the one bed together and Aren was writing something on a piece of paper at the small table. She took him a bowl of soup and a spoon and he nodded thanks without looking up. Hannah sat and ate her own soup silently. When she had finished her soup she walked over to the one remaining bed and crawled in quietly. It was a few minutes later when Aren too finished his soup and the next thing she knew, there he was in bed with her. He held up his arm and she scooted closer to him, burying her face in his hard, firmly muscled chest. He held her to him smoothing her back and it wasn't more than three minutes later that Hannah fell asleep in his arms.
It was morning when she woke and found everyone already up and awake and she too quickly got up and carefully made the bed. Everyone was eating fresh bananas and she had the feeling that Aren had been out "scouting" that morning. Aren handed her a banana and she couldn't help smiling when she saw the huge grin on his face, he was so like a brother, only more.
They finished their breakfast quickly and made their way out the back door this time with a pot and some plastic bowls and spoons added to their pack and Kerry carrying it. They walked along the highway for a long time before finally coming to a Check Point. Hannah looked at Aren as though to say ~What now genius?~. But she didn't saw anything out loud. Aren led them off into the thin crop of trees by the highway's side and before long they were so far in that they couldn't see the highway meaning the people on the highway couldn't see them. They walked in the trees for a half hour and then Aren turned them back toward where the highway should be. They broke out on it far from the Check Point and the most challenging thing they'd had to do was climb over a ten foot fence topped with barbed wire, a piece of cake for them all, even Laila. Hannah looked around and spotted a sign, Seattle 20 miles away, it read. Hannah looked over at Aren and smiled nervously before turning toward the sign and starting to walk with everyone else following. It was around four in the afternoon when they arrived in Seattle. It was run down and dirty, nothing like they had thought it would be, but it was still magnificent. There were people everywhere and they were doing everything imaginable. There were carts with produce being sold and women talking animatedly to men, there were men fixing the side of a tall building and children running through all of them laughing and throwing around an old worn out, once red, ball. Hannah pulled a piece of paper from her right pocket and glanced at the address written on it. She glanced at the street sign and gave a sigh of relief as she realized that they were on the street that he lived on. She looked at the nearest building number and again at her paper.
"It should be right down the street." Hannah commented looking around.
She started off down the street and again they all followed her. They walked for about a half an hour before Hannah finally spotted the building that they wanted. She quickly assessed the situation and found that the door had a code to it. She didn't feel like figuring out the code, who knew how long it would take for someone to come along and type it in, so she counted the number of floors on the building. She looked at her paper and decided that the apartment must be on the top floor.
~Damn it!~ She thought. ~I don't want to have to climb that.~
She decided that she had to though. So she walked around to the back where there were small balconies and started climbing, her clothes blended well with the building. She made her way from balcony to balcony resting on one every now and then. Finally she made it to the top and looked in. There wasn't anyone in the room but as she looked at the mantle place she noticed a picture that caught her eye. It was the same picture that she carried, of her, her mother, and her father. Hannah quietly opened the glass door and slipped into the room. She made her way to the mantle place and picked up the large framed picture. She noticed several other pictures also, one was of a small little girl around the age of one, her hair fell in tiny ringlets down her back already long enough to cascade like a waterfall. She turned as the sound of a door opening caught her attention. She slunk behind another door and peered around the side a few moments before a man in a wheelchair wheeled into the room. He stopped in front of the mantel and then looked around with a scared look in his eyes.
"Lydecker come out. I don't have Hannah but you can kill me anyway." The man spoke loudly and with conviction, but he caught her by surprise when he used her's and Lydecker's names. She stumbled a bit and he turned to look at the doorway where she hid. "Come out." He said slowly, and she did.
"Didn't think you'd be in a wheelchair." She said as she stepped from behind the door into his view. "So you're Logan."
"Hannah! Oh my god, Hannah! Is it really you?" He asked quietly after he finished screaming her name.
"Yah. So how did you know Max and Zack and I?"
"Call them Mom and Dad." He said kindly but there was an edge in his voice when he said dad.
"Okay, how did you know my mom, dad and I?" She asked again.
"I was a close friend of your mom's and I..." He paused and then shook his head. "You're not going to want to hear this standing up. Come on over here and sit down." He motioned to the couch and when she sat he wheeled himself over to in front of her.
For a moment he just sat and looked at her, but she shifted quickly and he realized he was making her uncomfortable. He averted his gaze to the couch cushion for a moment and when he looked back at her there were tears in his eyes.
"I adopted you after Lydecker killed your parents." He told her. "That's why I have your picture, and you still have mine." But he more asked her about his picture.
"Yah, I still have them both. When did they die?"
"You were five months old at the time."
"How did you adopt me so fast?"
"I have lots of connections." He replied and then he looked past her. "Friends of yours?" He asked and she looked behind her to see Aren, Kerry, Dane and Laila hovering in the doorway. "Come in, come in." Logan told them. "Sit I'll get you something to eat and drink." He said and then seeing Aren's alarm. "Or you can raid the fridge yourself." He offered. Aren seemed to be okay with this, so Logan directed him to the kitchen and left Hannah sitting on the couch alone while he made sure everyone got something to eat or drink.
He came back while everyone looked around his apartment and parked his chair in front of her again.
"Hannah I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but you had to be told." He offered as an explanation.
"No it's okay. So what do I call you? Logan? Dad? Daddy?" She asked with the sound of tears in her voice.
"You used to call me Lodan." He smiled slightly as he said this and then frowned. "Before I let you down."
"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.
"I was there when Lydecker took you back to Manticore, he shot me to get you from me."
"But you're still alive. And how did Lydecker 'get' me?" Hannah asked confused.
"Yes I'm still alive, but my life from then on has been miserable. Answer your other question he came with lots of his men and took you, then he shot me. Thank god that Bling found me here an hour or so later and I hadn't lost 'too much blood' as the doctor told me. I was paralyzed before but after wards for a long time I was too weak to even wheel myself around. Hannah I missed you so much, after they took you..." But he stopped there afraid he was going to cry. She looked up at Logan and was suddenly dying to ask him all about her parents.
"Can you tell me about my parents? Were they nice?" She asked.
"Your mother, Max, was so sweet, but she had an edge to her that just gave off this magical essence. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it. Your dad was, well he was... I can't say anything nice about your dad." Logan finished.
"Why?" Hannah asked.
"Well you see..." Logan was at a loss for words. "When your mom was still alive, before Zack came along, I had..." He stopped again.
"You liked my mom didn't you?"
'Well I suppose that would be one way to put it." Logan replied. "Anyway you'll need to get some sleep and then we'll get you out of here. Lydecker will be after you and this will be one of the first places he'll look."
"Oh, about Lydecker." Hannah eased out. "I killed him." Logan looked at her in amazement and then laughed.
"Well then no need for you to leave. You can stay here. All of you." He waved his arm around to mean Aren, Kerry, Dane and Laila also.
"Well, I wouldn't go that far." Hannah cut. "See, he's got this nephew Broodus, who's kind of gonna take over for him. We figured we'd have about two weeks to disappear before he re organizes everyone."
"Well then I guess I will have to find a place for you to stay." Logan said glumly as he started wheeling himself over to the phone.
Hannah watched as he dialed a number and then they both waited as it rang.
"Hey, it's Logan." There was a pause. "Yah its great to hear your voice, listen I have some friends who need a place to stay." This was followed by another pause. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But there are five of them, three girls and two boys." This was followed by another short pause and then Logan spoke again. "Well talk it over with Mark and then get back to me. Ok Cindy? Okay I'll talk to you then." Logan finished and hung up. He turned to face Hannah who had turned around and placed her right arm on the back of the couch. "Cindy's going to call me back in about a half hour. If Mark says you can stay with them we'll fly you to D.C. tomorrow and you'll stay there for a while. If that works out, who knows, maybe they'll even adopt one or two of you." Logan finished with pretended enthusiasm. "Well come on this way and I'll set you all up with rooms. Will a girls' room and a boys' room do?" Logan asked as they moved along the hallway.
"That should work okay but do you think that instead of me being in a room I could just sleep on the couch?" Hannah asked. "I don't exactly want to share a room with Kerry. She'll just yell and taunt me."
"What? Why?" Logan asked with a fatherly edge in his voice.
"She just doesn't like me much. That's all." Hannah told him.
"How old is Kerry?" Logan asked Hannah.
"Fifteen." Hannah answered. "Then Aren is fourteen, I'm thirteen, Dane is twelve and Laila is eleven." Hannah added in case he had been wondering.
"I think I know who their parents are." Logan told her. "We'll set you up in rooms and then we'll all meet in the living room, where you'll sleep." He added with a tint of distress mixed into his voice at the thought of Hannah sleeping on the couch.
They walked down the hall passing two doors before coming to the last door on the left and turning in to find everyone in a circle on the floor with Aren signing to them. Hannah didn't catch any of it but she could tell that Aren must have been standing up for her or something like that because Kerry's face was even more clouded over than usual.
"Okay first off I'm Logan." Logan announced when he had their attention. "Second I need your names, but let me guess first." He looked at Kerry and then around at Laila and Dane and Aren. "You're Kerry, you're Laila, you're Dane and you're Aren." He guessed them all correct, pointing at each person in turn. They all nodded in turn seemingly amazed that he could guess who they were, apparently they had been eavesdropping for part of the conversation and hadn't heard her describe them so they knew he was for real. Aren looked at Logan for another moment before speaking as though he were the leader of the group.
"We'll stay for the night." Aren announced.
"Okay if you all agree." Logan replied fairly taken aback by Aren's attitude. "We'll set Laila and Kerry up in this room and if Aren and Dane will follow me we'll put you in the room down the hall." Logan declared.
Aren and Dane followed him out of the room and Kerry turned on Hannah.
"What's he up to?" She spat.
"Up to?" Hannah asked.
"Yah, I mean he can't want something for nothing. Can he?" But she didn't really ask this last bit, she kind of laid it out there like it were a cold, hard fact.
"He's my father." Hannah defended.
"No he's the guy who adopted you after your parents died." Kerry shot back.
"At least I had a father and mother who loved me. And then on top of that I had another guy willing to adopt me." Hannah retorted hoping to freeze Kerry's tongue. It didn't work.
"In other words you were a charity case!" Kerry screeched.
"No I wasn't! Anyway we have to get to the living room. Logan thinks he can find out who our parents are." Hannah turned on her heal and headed out the door with Laila trailing her quietly and Kerry storming behind them both like a cyclone in movement.
They arrived in the living room and found Logan already there typing on the computer. Hannah went over and stood behind him bending down and leaning on the back of his chair placing her head on his right shoulder so that she could peer at the screen. Logan glanced at her from the corner of his eye and smiled.
"I can't wait until your hair grows out again." He told her with cheer in his voice. He was very glad to have her back, he was overwhelmed with happiness that he had a second chance. This time he wouldn't let her down, he hoped.
Logan finished what he had been typing just as Aren and Dane came into the room. Logan patted Hannah's arm to tell her he was going to move and she stood back up and walked over to the couch where she plopped down. A few moments later Laila and Dane sat down side by side next to her. Aren plopped into a large black armchair across from Hannah and stared at her coldly for a moment as though to say ~ I'm supposed to sit by you, you're mine. ~ And then there was a slight edge to his look, something that sent out a different message, a message more along the lines of. ~ How the hell do I protect you if you're all the way over there?!? ~ She held his gaze for a moment and then broke it off before guilt at leaving him in a chair secluded from them all decided to completely clutch her by the throat. Kerry stood in the doorway, too reluctant to sit down but not rude enough to walk away completely, besides she was fairly dependant on Logan now too. Logan scooted his chair back so that he could see them all and they could all see his face and then he looked down at the print outs he had in his lap.
"Well Kerry. Do you want to know who your parents are and when your birthday is?" Logan asked Kerry as he realized she was still hovering in the doorway.
"If you feel like telling me." She told him coldly.
"Well then I'll do you last, when you finally sit down." Logan murmured the last part under his breath.
"Fine I'll come back later." And with that Kerry took off down the hall towards the "girls" room.
"Nice girl." Logan spoke up.
"Oh well. Logan can you tell me my parents and birthday?" Laila asked.
"Laila right?" Logan asked.
"Yes."
"Number?"
"41551-71222." Laila told him somewhat gloomily. Hannah knew that Laila most out of all of them wanted to forget all about Manticore and have a normal life.
"Your parents are Bren and Evan and your birthday is April tenth." Logan told her. "I remember the time that Max and Zack had to save Bren from Lydecker. Only they had to let Lydecker take her back if they wanted Bren to live, I'm glad they made that decision or else we wouldn't have known you." He said it as sweetly as possible. He really wanted them to all feel special and if he could do that by telling a small story to go along with the parent he would.
"Really?" Laila asked him sounding like she was amazed that anyone would think that.
"Really. You seem like a sweet girl." Apparently Logan had been dong some eavesdropping himself.
"Thanks." Laila said happily. "Now do Dane's." She told him blushing and obviously trying to get the attention off of her.
"Okay lets see number 41551-71221 right?" Logan asked Dane.
"Yep." Was Dane's simple reply.
"Lets see your parents are Kaitlin and Leigh." Logan told him. "I never met your father but he had to be a good guy for Max and Zack to want to save him."
"Oh Logan that's right they were going to get Leigh on the night when..." Here she stopped herself as she realized that there were tears in Logan's eyes. "Oh Logan I'm sorry I didn't mean to."
"No. Oh Hannah honey, no. Don't be sorry, there's nothing to be sorry about. What happened, happened and we can't change it."
"I'm still sorry. There've just been so many problems." Hannah told him.
"In life there are problems. Problems make a life. Life and problems go hand in hand." Logan told her.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Hannah asked him.
"No I just thought you deserved to know the absolute truth." He replied smiling.
"Thanks Logan now about Aren's parents and Dane's birthday." Hannah very unsubtly changed the subject.
"Let's see, Dane's birthday is February thirteenth. Number 41551-71219 is Aren right?" He stopped and then saw Aren nod so went on. "You and Laila are full fledged brother and sister." Logan actually seemed amazed by this as though he were finding it out for the first time too.
"You're not serious about that are you? We look nothing alike at all." Aren cut in.
"It says you are right here." Logan calmly told Aren wheeling his chair over to him and showing the paper to Aren.
"I believe you." Aren pushed the paper away angrily, but Hannah saw his eyes take mental note of the paper before he did so that he could dredge it up later from memory.
"Good to know." Logan laughed quietly. "And in case you care your birthday is March fourth."
"When's my birthday?" Hannah asked to get the tension out of the air.
"July twenty fourth." Logan told her without looking down at the paper. Then he lifted his head and looked around. "Kerry." He called. In a moment they heard footsteps coming down the hall. She appeared in the doorway again and he motioned to the armchair on his right that was vacant. "I'll tell you your information as soon as you sit down."
"Alright." She muttered gloomily crossing the room to the large, black leather chair. She flopped down in it glaring and waited for Logan to tell her the information that she wanted.
"Well maybe if we could get at least a trace of a smile on that face." He murmured trying to get her to open up. She grimaced and he decided to just tell her, she obviously took after her parents whether she knew it or not. "Your parents are Gina and Zack." He announced without looking down at the paper and then he glanced down at it. "Your birthday is January twenty eighth. You and Hannah are half sisters." He tried to sound cheery but was he was having a hard time believing that his Hannah and this Kerry girl were related. He looked around the room. "Now down to some serious business. While you were in your rooms Cindy called me back. Mike says its fine with him if you stay with them for a few weeks and if that works out they might even adopt one or two of you." He smiled around at them all and was pleased to see both Laila and Dane's faces lit up.
~Hopefully. ~ He thought. ~I haven't just raised their hopes for nothing. ~ He looked around at everyone again.
"Hannah honey could you hand me my cell?" He asked Hannah pointing to the end table beside her where his cell phone was resting by a picture of Hannah as a baby. Hannah noticed that the frame it was in was the same color as her eyes and smiled as she picked up the phone. She leaned forward and handed it to him. He took it with a smile and dialed a number.
"Hello, yes." He spoke after a moment or two of awkward silence as the phone rang. "I'm interested in an early afternoon flight to D.C. for tomorrow." He told the person on the other end. "Yes that will do. I'll need five tickets." He added.
"Six!" Hannah whispered furiously. Logan looked at her and shook his head, but Hannah nodded hers vigorously. Again Logan shook his head and went back to the phone conversation.
"Yes so tomorrow afternoon at one. We'll see you then. Thank you, yes goodbye." Logan looked up to find that Hannah and Aren were gone, but Laila, Dane and Kerry were still there and they were all looking at him.
"You're not coming?" Laila asked.
"I can't. It'll be too obvious if I disappear that I know something about you." Logan explained.
"I just think that Hannah would like it if you'd come. After all you're the only family she has left, not to mention the only family she's ever known." Laila laid it all down on the table.
"And." Dane added. "Broodus won't hesitate to kill you. He doesn't have the training and resolve that Lydecker had. Even if Lydecker was getting old he knew what he was doing. He might have hurt you but he wouldn't kill you in case we came back, which we might have to do. Broodus doesn't think that far ahead he'll shoot you in a heartbeat when he finds out you don't have us. Plus you know where we are. He'll be able to get it out of you." Logan looked at Dane curiously.
"No offense." Kerry barged into the conversation. "I'm sure you mean well, but you're weak. I mean Lydecker got Hannah from you with no problem."
"I'm crippled!" Logan shouted. "What did you expect me to do, knock them all out with my hands as I wheeled around in circles?" Logan asked them incredulously.
"No, but now you have a second chance. Come with us. It'll make Hannah feel safer." Laila tried to send him on a guilt trip, she knew it meant a lot to Hannah to have Logan come with them, plus he seemed like a nice man and it would be really bad for them if Broodus did kill him, for more than one reason.
"I can't go with you, but I will get out of Seattle. I'll go to Boston. My friend Marie lives there. It'll get me away from Broodus, but also from you. So I won't be in danger, but I also won't put you in danger." He tried to compromise.
"That'll work." Hannah spoke coming around the corner back into the living room, her eyes were all red and puffy and he knew right away that she had been crying. Aren turned the corner also and placed his arm around Hannah's waist. Logan felt a tinge of fatherly concern, this boy had his arm around his daughter's, no excuse me, his adopted daughter's waist.
"If you want to use the computer or watch the TV feel free. I'll be out on the deck." Logan said this with false confidence so that they all knew that he wasn't coming with them to D.C. He rolled himself out onto the deck where just about an hour before Hannah had crept up and seen the telltale picture that had led her to Logan.
He parked by the edge and looked out over the broken city. Over twenty years in the depression and things weren't even close to being at poverty level. He jerked his attention from the busted skyline as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He turned to see if Hannah had followed him and saw Max. She shook her head at him before he could say or do anything.
"Logan I miss you." She said and it even sounded like Max. "You know you're doing the right thing. You would have done the same thing if it were me who had shown up and not Hannah." Max reassured him.
"Max, I wouldn't have. That's just the thing. I was selfish when Hannah was a baby, if I had let her go Lydecker wouldn't have gotten her. And if I hadn't kept you here that time in the hospital, then you wouldn't be..." Logan trailed off as tears filled his dark brown eyes and Max bent down and kissed him. It was better than the time at the cabin, it was as though the heavens were opening up and raining stars down around them. Logan didn't want to let go but Max pulled away. Max started to move her lips to talk but Logan cut in.
"Just go." His gaze fell back onto the broken buildings around his apartment as the hand left his shoulder. He heard footsteps and then there was a slight shaking of his shoulder.
"Max, just go." He repeated sadly.
"Logan?" But it wasn't Max's voice it was Hannah's.
He turned, startled back into reality. He looked into the concerned lavender eyes of his daughter. He figured Max would have wanted him to call her his daughter.
"Oh, I'm sorry Han. I was just daydreaming." He explained to her as she drew her face back.
"About my Mom?" She asked in a small voice.
"Yes. I really did love her, and I like to believe that she loved me too. Hannah." He said seriously.
"Yes, Logan."
"Would you mind if I tell people you're my daughter?"
"No, I'd like that. But Logan I'm not ready to call you dad." She countered.
"That's alright, you just met me and for years you've thought of Zack as your dad. And really he is if you think about it. I think he really did love you, but Han, so do I."
"I know Logan, but I'll need some time. You understand. Logan are you sure you can't come with us to D.C?"
"Yes Han, I've got to make sure I don't let Broodus get you. And I can't do that when I'm with you. I need to be emotionally unattached until you're safe."
"But what if I do get killed? I won't have gotten to know you!"
"Hannah you will not get killed! None of you will get killed! I promise you!" Logan told her passionately.
"You couldn't promise my Mom and Dad!" She threw back at him and then she stormed off the deck back into the...
"Empty apartment?" Logan asked himself out loud. He shut his eyes and counted to ten and when he opened them he realized that he had been dreaming, again. He turned his chair around to see Hannah in one of the big, leather chairs reading a book. Aren was on the sofa watching TV, Laila and Dane were dancing around the room and even Kerry looked happy as she watched Dane swing Laila around. He saw Aren yell something at Dane and Dane and Laila collapsed on the floor laughing. Aren yelled something else and Logan saw Hannah start laughing uncontrollably. Kerry stood up and jumped on Dane and Laila, she started tickling them and before Logan knew it Hannah and Aren had joined in. They were a big squirming mass as he opened the door and then shut it quickly behind him. He laughed with them as he listened to their shrieks as someone scored on them. He rolled himself into the kitchen with their small screams following after him. He started getting things out of the fridge getting ready to whip up one of his "culinary miracles" like he used to do for Max. He remembered the night when Max had stayed at his house, there had been a brown out and then she had started having her seizures worse than ever. He had stayed with her and fretted al night, her seizures had almost killed her that night and he shuttered to think what would have happened if she had been out on the street when they had started. He wondered for a moment if she was happy looking down on them from heaven as he knew she was, but there had been times in her life that had been problem riddled, but as he had told Hannah. Life and problems go hand in hand. So he guessed Max got what she had wanted all along, a normal life.
THE NEXT MORNING AT THE AIRPORT
Logan looked at Hannah as they walked up to the ticket counter. He had run to the store and gotten them all new clothes for the trip and Hannah and the others looked completely normal, they all had on turtlenecks and all the girls were all wearing canvas hats.
"Hello sir. May I help you?" Asked a tall blond haired woman with a toothy smile from behind the ticket counter.
"Yes, I believe you can. My name is Logan, Logan Kayle. I'm here for my tickets, six to D.C. and one to Boston." He smiled up at her.
"May I see some ID please sir?" She asked him politely. Logan reached into his pocket and drew out an old wallet, from it he pulled out his ID and as he did something fell from behind it, Hannah stooped to grab it and found that it was a picture. She didn't know why but she seemed to learn a lot from pictures, now she was learned that Logan and her Mother had really been more than friends. This picture had been taken in one of those really old photo booths that you used to find at malls or amusement parks, it had a border of roses with a banner at the bottom that read in large white on pink letters, THE PERFECT COUPLE, and in the picture itself Max and Logan were kissing apparently oblivious to the fact that the picture was being taken at all, and Hannah thought she saw a faint rose tinted glow in her Mother's cheeks.
"That's from when your Mother and I dated." Logan supplied quickly. "You can take it with you if you want." He added, but it sounded forced, none the less Hannah slipped the picture into her small carry on bag's small pocket. Meanwhile the lady was looking over his ID card and when she found it satisfactory she handed it back to him along with a small packet of tickets. Logan picked them up and smiled at the woman who smiled back unenthusiastically. Logan rolled a little ways away from the counter and pulled out the tickets.
"Well let's see, you're at gate twenty three and you'll be leaving in about twenty minutes and I'm at gate twenty five and I'll be leaving in fifteen or so. You'll just have to board without me." He smiled crookedly and he looked like he was covering his real feelings up. Hannah just smiled and then she bent down and hugged him impulsively, he hugged her back, surprised that she was hugging him after only one day. Then she did something even more amazing. He handed her the tickets and she took Aren's hand and they all started walking toward their gate but before they disappeared she turned around and called over her shoulder. "Bye Dad, I'll see you in a bit." She didn't know how he had felt about her calling him dad but it made her feel better to have someone that she could call dad.
The next hour or so on the plane she spent brooding and sleeping curled up in her seat facing the window. They were in first class and she was woken up mid flight or so to eat the food that now in first class was as bad as it used to be in coach. She choked it down without knowing the difference and noticed that Kerry was listening to some CDs on a Discman that Logan had given her (he had gotten one for each of them) to take on the flight. Laila had curled up with a book, it looked like a mystery, Dane was listening to more CDs on his Discman, and Aren was reading a Goosebumps book. Hannah sighed quietly and then reached into her bag. She pulled out her Discman and a CD by someone named Dido. She put it in and listened to the rhythmic beat, it made her feel calmer and she loved the words to the first song. "Oh I am what I am, I'll do what I want, but I can't hide." The music pulsed placidly and she leaned back and listened to the words for a while, then she reached into her bag again and pulled out a book, Kysaria, stated the title in large gold letters that turned silver part way through. She opened it and started reading and suddenly she was sucked into the world of Dawn and Eve. Before she knew it they were in DC and it was time to shut off her music, she had changed the CD three times, to Jewel and Alanis Morrisette and then to Jars of Clay. She packed her things away and got off the plane with the others.
When they got to the terminal gate though the woman wouldn't let them leave without a "legal guardian" as she put it. So they sat and waited, Hannah listened to Dido again and finished another chapter in Kysaria before they saw a woman rushing toward them. For a brief moment she was scared that this was one of Broodus' people coming to capture them, but then she relaxed as the woman called out as she ran.
"Don't worry Original Cindy's here." She came to a quick stop beside them.
"Are you their legal guardian?" The stewardess looked skeptical.
"No I'm an axe murderer here to kill them all off one by one. Of course I'm their legal guardian." She snapped and Hannah took an instant liking to her. "We'll be going now." And before the stewardess could ask for ID she turned on her heal and walked away leading them behind her. Hannah hurried to catch up to her.
"Were you a friend of my Mom's?" She asked.
"Her best." Cindy answered shortly.
"Oh by the way about our bags," Hannah eased out and Cindy looked over at her. "We don't' have any. Dad sent money for clothes instead." Hannah informed her.
"That works too, it'll give us an outing." Cindy replied passing over the dad in Hannah's sentence. "We'll go grab Mike in the car out front and head home."
"Cindy."
"Yes hon?"
"Was my Mom nice?" Hannah asked quietly.
"Yah, babe, your mom was great. She really knew how to live, she never even slept. I loved her to death, I mean." Cindy realized her slip.
"It's okay I understand what you mean." Hannah assured her as they walked to the car that was waiting out front. It was slightly old and beat up but it was running and Cindy seemed amazed that it still was.
They all got in and Cindy turned to face the man in the drivers seat.
"Hit it big bro." She told him.
"Sis I can't hit it, this car is delicate. It's just like a woman." Her brother replied calmly and nothing like Cindy, Hannah could tell they would be the perfect people to stay with.
FIVE WEEKS LATER AT CINDY'S
Hannah sat looking out the small window in her and Laila's homey blue and white bedroom. The house had been made to look like it was old, from back when DC was still the young nation's capital and it had four levels, the attic even had a slanted roof. She loved how it looked especially at night when the moonlight streamed in and over her bed through the same circular window that she was staring out now. She watched the busy people dashing about on the streets and wished that she was part of them. Her hair had already grown to just above shoulder length, she decided it must be in her genes, after all they had used to give them hair cuts once a week at Manticore. Now it was a wavy mass twisting over and under itself and shining in whatever light was present at the time. She sighed as she came back to the real world and decided to go down to dinner, already the sun was sagging in the red gold sky.
She heaved herself up from the bed and slipped over to the hatch that led to the small stairway that led into the back of the upstairs hall. She poked her head into Dane and Aren's black and mahogany room and found it empty. She looked across the hall and saw Kerry's room, the door was open and she could see most of the yellow and green interior although Kerry was on her bed hidden from the view of the doorway. Hannah tentatively stuck her head into the room and found Kerry as she had suspected sprawled on her bed reading a book. Her checkered bedspread was mussed and the pillow had fallen to the floor beside the bed. There were books of all shapes, sizes and colors strew through the room and her dresser was littered with cosmetics and CDs that sat by her Discman, which looked as though it had just been dropped there haphazardly. Hannah frowned at the mess and then noticed clothes strewn around also, she knocked on the door frame quickly before she screamed at the mess, her own room was neat as a pin and she even resorted to cleaning Laila's side when so much as a hair tie was out of place. Kerry jumped startled and turned to glare at Hannah.
"Whatcha reading?" Hannah asked innocently.
Kerry spoke in a clipped and icy tone. "Little Women."
"Oh well it's time for dinner." Hannah warned.
"I'm not hungry." Kerry stated crisply.
"But you might be later, remember Mike's rule, if you don't eat with the family you don't eat at all." Hannah cautioned.
"I'm well aware of Mike's fucked up rules!" Kerry's voice cut through Hannah's bones like a chain saw.
"Okay. Would you like me to bring you up anything?" Hannah tried to be hospitable.
"You don't think I don't know you guys don't like me?" Kerry burst out suddenly. "I know you think I'm a bitch!" Hannah just stood for a moment wondering what to say. Finally she broke the awkward silence that had risen to choke them after Kerry's comment.
"Kerry we don't think you're a bitch, you just aren't a people person. You're aloof is all." Hannah tried to sound convincing but inside she was dying to scream 'Yes you are a bitch, now come down to dinner damn it!' Instead she looked at Kerry complacently and spoke evenly. "These dinners mean a lot to Mike and Cindy and you want to make a good impression if you want to be adopted."
"I don't want to be adopted. I want to live out in the world on my own without having to worry about anybody or have anyone else having to worry about me. I want to live free!" Kerry snapped.
"Oh." Hannah replied and then her mind went blank, she didn't know how to respond to that, all she had ever wanted was a family. She wanted people to worry about her, people to worry about. "Well I'll see you after dinner." Hannah told Kerry. "I'll stop in and we can talk, after all we're half sisters."
"Don't bother. We don't have to be friends just because we're sisters." Kerry told her condescendingly while turning back to her book. Hannah shrugged it off and walked down the hall to the main steps, but she was about ready to hit Kerry.
THE NEXT DAY STILL AT CINDY AND MIKE'S
Hannah sat in the bright and cheery kitchen watching Mike shell some peas that he had grown in a small garden outback. Kerry was in a generous sized armchair near the front door in the living room and Cindy was on the couch yelling at the man on the TV game show. Kerry was as usual engrossed in a book, this time a fantasy, A Spell For Chameleon by Piers Anthony, and didn't even look up as the front door burst open. Of course neither did Cindy, she had apparently thought it was just Dane, Laila and Aren coming back from the store with the chicken broth that Mike had sent them to get.
But it wasn't sweet little Laila or innocent little Dane that burst in the door, it wasn't even the hot but cynical Aren, instead it was huge men dressed in all black and the leader was none other than Broodus. The men moved in on Kerry quickly and before she could fight they had hit her with a stun gun, well Hannah wasn't about to go out that way, she and Mike dashed out the back door, they rushed down the street toward the P&C the store that they had sent Aren and the others to. Hannah sprinted easily through the aisles in a blind panic trying to find them, where were they , could Brodus have gotten them. They had been gone for a while, but no there they were in the magazine aisle reading MAD. She grabbed Aren's arm and tried to talk but all that came out was a garble of sheer panic. He looked at her face and read most of her message, or at least the most important part of it.
"Broodus?" Was all he asked and Hannah nodded her head quickly. Mike came up behind them.
"Come on you guys, we have to get out of here." He told them in a remarkably calm voice.
"I don't understand, we were so careful. How could he have found us after all our precautions?" Aren mused out loud.
"I don't know, but let's go out the back, I used to work here, they'll let us." Mike suggested.
"That sounds good." Hannah finally found her voice and made her way to the back of the store surrounded by the others. Her hair swung out behind her and her headband had become crooked. She wished that she had never been born, but no then she wouldn't have gotten to know the happiness that she had felt these past few weeks. After things had settled down at Mike and Cindy's they had all gotten along fairly well, with the exception of Kerry and now Kerry was gone. Taken by Broodus' men. Hannah bit her bottom lip so hard that it bled and Aren looked at her curiously before handing her an old fashioned handkerchief to stop it. Hannah pushed open the abnormally large doors to the back storage rooms and found herself met by more of Broodus' men. She tried to turn around but Mike was blocking them from getting out. And then there were hands trying to grab her, but she wasn't going out without a fight. She turned around and bitch-slapped the man who was holding her.
"Can we say sexual harassment?" She asked him curtly before she flipped him over. "I don't have to take this." She quoted the line from a commercial that she had seen the other night while watching "Cooper Restivo in The Curse of the Mirror" on TV. Then she turned to the next guy in line. He looked her over warily and she stood her ground waiting for him to spring, she noticed his eyes seemed to be hovering over her shoulder and she quickly kicked behind her to hear Mike cry out in pain, she had obviously scored below the belt and above the knees. The man in front of her decided that with "back up" gone he'd have to fight her off now. He reached to pull out a stunner from his holder on his right hip, but she grabbed his arm and twisted it so that she was using him as a human shield. She took the stunner casually from him and pointed it out from behind him. There were only five more guys, one of which appeared to be Broodus, and another who was sitting in the driver's seat of a "get away/take away" car. Hannah shot three of them before they knew what hit them, but when she focused her attention to finding Broodus he had vanished, the car and driver with him. She turned again after snapping the neck of her "hostage" to find that Mike was still laying in agony on the concrete floor of the store, Aren, Laila and Dane had been knocked unconscious before they had even seen what was happening.
"You dirty little rat!" She screamed at Mike. "You turned us in didn't you? You even helped them corner us, but you see I have a natural fight or flight instinct that you didn't know about, after all they did spice me up with some feline DNA. Speaking of feline DNA lets toy with you a little, she started stomping on his fingers, arms or whatever else was in range. He squirmed in agony and tried to roll away from her, but she just stopped him with her foot and went on kicking the shit out of him. She kicked him once more in the crotch and then focused on Aren and the others. Dane was already conscious again and she saw Laila stir gently as she walked over to sit beside them.
"Normally I'd tell you to take it easy but right now we have to get the hell out of here!" She told Dane as he sat up slowly, groggily.
"What happened? All I remember is coming in and having you turn around to go back out. Why'd you stop?" He asked curiously as though he were trying to put together a puzzle and couldn't find the last piece.
"Mike turned us in to Broodus." She told him hoping the hurt didn't show in her voice as she feared it did. She tugged her turtle necked sweater up self-consciously making sure it covered all of her neck that her hair didn't. She didn't know what to do now. They'd have to wait for Aren to wake up before they could go anywhere and they still had to find out if Cindy and Kerry were okay. Just as she thought this Cindy burst into the back room with a guy who looked like the store manager.
"Oh thank God you're okay!" Cindy cried falling down onto the ground beside Hannah and Dane and throwing her arms around Hannah. Hannah hugged her back.
"Like wise." She told the near hysterical woman. Cindy held her at arms length and smiled at her for a moment and then she saw Laila and Aren lying on the hard floor as well as Mike.
"Oh my goodness what happened? Why would Broodus just come and fight you and not take you? And why'd he torture Mike?" Cindy asked her in an extremely confused way that made Hannah tremendously sure that she wasn't part of the plan. Hannah shook her head and murmured sadly.
"I'll tell you later, when we're actually safe." She added. "Mike's gotta go! Just trust me." She added at the puzzled look on Cindy's face. "Where's Kerry?" She added to detour the woman's questions.
"Broodus' men took her and left they apparently didn't think I was worth taking." She threw in the last part with disdain.
They heard a groan behind them and turned to see Aren coming back to reality. Laila and Dane were already standing up and better and even as Aren sat up the color was coming back to his face. Hannah scooted over to him quickly and threw her arms around his neck.
"Thank God! We've got to get out of here. Mike turned us in to Broodus." Hannah was glad that the manager had moved directly to the back door and was expecting the damage with no regard for their health, it also helped that she didn't think he could speak much more English than "hi" or "bye" or "have a nice day". That was fine with her. Aren hugged her back and then let go quickly and started to get up. She got up too and they both moved into the clump of the others that had formed.
"Lets go!" Hannah screeched at them as she and Aren merged with them.
"Wait!" Cindy spoke authoritatively, stopping Hannah in her tracks. "Honey we are not rushin' out to get ourselves killed here! We've got to call Logan and find out where the hell to go, but for now we're going over to my boos house."
"Your what?" Laila asked.
"My girlfriend." She responded as she walked away quickly giving them no other choice than to follow or be left fairly helpless in a shop with a man who could barely speak English.
"Okay then." Hannah whispered to Aren as they trotted after Cindy.
"My thoughts exactly." He replied laughing and at that moment it was the best sound Hannah had ever heard.