Chapter 2
I don't know how long I sat in that attic for, surrounded by dust and memories long forgotten by time. By the time I rose, the shadows behind me had grown a foot. I placed all the articles and clippings back in the box…well, almost all of them. I took one with me. It was a picture of the original Animorphs standing together in front of a fighter that resembled scrap medal more than a ship. According to the date and by-line, it was taken just after the final battle. It showed all the people whose names I'd once had to memorize for history class. My mother, Rachel, was standing on the left end, with a large hawk perched on her shoulder. I folded that picture up and stuffed it into the first notebook. I took all three notebooks with me. Then arranged the boxes and bags to look like I had never been back there, and then I climbed down from that tomb of forgotten lives.
I had decided not to confront my mother until I knew more about why she'd kept it from me in the first place. I'd stuffed her journals in the one place I knew she'd never find them: between my mattress and my box spring, tucked under the sheets. I out them next to my own journal…well, sketchbook really. I wasn't a very good artist, but I found it relaxing, so I took the classes in school. It wasn't until then that I realized how hungry I was. I put the mattress back in place and got up to leave my room, when something caught my eye. It was a picture of my mother and I at an amusement park near our home. We had decided to have a chili dog apiece and then see who could ride this one coaster the longest. Well, neither of us would admit defeat, so we called it a tie at 9 rides. Anyway, we were sitting next to each other on a bench and the sun was going down behind us. It really was a pretty shot. I'd never realized how similar my mom and I looked. Same blonde hair, though mine was longer. Same face structure. In fact, the most noticeable difference was in the eyes. Her's were ice blue whereas mine were a deep brown/gold. I had my father's eyes. For some reason, that picture just depressed me. Gently, I took it off the wall and laid it face down on my bed. Then I went downstairs.
By 3, I started to get worried. Depositions never ran this long, and even if they did, mom would have called me during a recess or something. It wasn't like her. As I dialed her cell number, I felt the slight tingle of fear on the back of my neck. What if something had happened to her? Her cell connected me to her voice-mail, so it was either off or the battery was dead.
"That means nothing," I told myself, "she always turns it off." It wasn't until I called her office, and they said she hadn't been in all day, that I got seriously freaked. I was on the phone with information, getting the numbers of local hospitals, when the call waiting beeped in. I checked the caller I.D. It was my dad's number at the base. I clicked over to him. Maybe he knew something.
"Dad? Do you know…?" I had started to ask about mom, when he cut me off.
"Kit, honey, no time for that now. I need you to listen to me and listen good. Alright?" He did ask a question, but the tone of his voice prevented me from answering. My dad sounded…well, scared, nervous, angry? Either way, it wasn't an inflection I'd heard him speak with before.
"What's going on-?"
"No time for questions now. Listen, you know the step in the basement that squeaks? The one you jump when you sneak in?" I slapped my forehead. So, he knew about that, huh?
"Yeah, the fourth from the bottom. What about it?" I questioned, staring to think that my father had gone nuts.
"Okay, go down there, pry the top off the step, and pull out everything in there," he ordered me.
"Then what?" I demanded. What the hell was going on?!?!
"Put it all in a bag or something and then, now listen close, get out of the house. Don't take anything with you and don't go out the front door. Hurry, okay. Take the next train down here and-," he stopped short and I heard someone yell in the background.
"Terry, you need to take a look at this!"
"Okay!" he called back. "Don't ask why sweetheart, just do what I said. It's all gonna be alright, I promise."
"Terry! Now!"
"Dad?" I…I don't know what I was going to ask, but I just wanted to hear him speak.
"Go! Quickly Honey! There's no time left!"
"Daddy?" But the only sound was the dial tone. He was gone. I sat there, dumbfounded, for several seconds. And then, it was like I had been plugged into an electric socket. I was up and racing about the house. I darted up to my room and grabbed a few things, despite what my father had told me. I shoved in my cell phone and a flashlight and my wallet. As an afterthought, I went back and got the journals as well. Then I tore down the step, taking them three at a time. I practically flew into the basement. I grabbed a hammer off my dad's tool bench and pried up the step. Inside was an ordinary shoe box and what looked like a really sophisticated pistol. I shove the box into my backpack, but I tucked the pistol into the back of my blue jeans, like they did in the movies. I had a feeling I'd be needing it. I decided to go out the same way I snuck it. See, I had loosened the latch that covered the one of the window well, and with some careful movement, I could just barely squeeze through the tiny decorative window that it covered.
I was halfway through the window when I heard someone pounding on the front door. It would seem that my father had called me just in time. I hauled myself through the window and clambered out of the well, when I heard the terrific CRASH that could only be the door being broken down. I emerged behind the large evergreen bushes on the side of the house. Carefully, I duck-walked behind them and peeked around the corner. There were two black SUV's parked in the drive and a third on the street. There was only one guy outside the house. He was dressed in black and was sporting a weapon similar to mine. Quietly, I crawled around to the back of the house, darted into my neighbor's bushes, and fled down the block, running through the backyards.
It took me a good twenty minutes to get to the train station on foot. I was utterly exhausted by the time I got there, both physically and mentally. But I was pretty sure I'd lost whoever was after me. Or…al least I though so until I spotted 2 similar SUV's parked in the main lot, right in front of the station door. My blood froze in my veins.
"I'm in such deep shit!" I cursed to myself. I was in way over my head. And I didn't even know what was going on! Then a sudden idea hit me, and it made me want to be sick. I pulled out my cell phone and scrolled through it until I came to my cousin's phone number. Second cousin actually, but our families are really close. Yesterday, it would have been the number of my Aunt Cassidy and Uncle Jared. Today, it was the number of Aunt Cassie and Uncle Jake, the former heroes of the entire world. The phone rang once, twice, a third time before I was directed to an answering machine. I was leaving a message when someone answered the phone.
"Kit? Is that you?" a tiny voice asked me. It was the youngest girl, Lauren, who was about eight. Then I heard someone else pick up another extension.
"Lauren, get off the phone," they told the youngster. I breathed a huge sigh of relied. It was Daniel, the eldest son, who was a year my senior.
"Dan? It's Kit? Listen, I need to ask yo-," I started to say, but he cut me off.
"Kit? Good. Listen, have you heard from my folks. My dad's office called to say he didn't come in."
"They did?" My heart skipped about 10 beats. "Daniel, get out of the house right now! Don't ask why, but something is up and you're not safe there. Go stay with a neighbor or something and don't tell anyone where you're going." I don't usually bark orders like that, but I had no time to explain, and Danny could be a real pain in the ass sometimes
"What? Now Kit, what are you trying to-," he started to ask.
"Just DO IT!" I screamed, and hung up the phone. He'd be more likely to listen that way. Aside from that, there wasn't much I could do. They live over a hundred miles away. Then, putting my phone away, I blended in carefully with a crowd crossing the street, and headed away from the station.
Not really knowing what to do, and with it going on 6, I walked about three miles back and went to this park I'd played at when I was little. I sat down in one of the swings, dragging my feet through the dirt as different thoughts and ideas flashed through my mind. Truth be told, I was alone, I was confused, my family was missing, and I…I was scarred beyond my wildest dreams.