Chapter Thirteen
Seacouver, WA:

Rain pelted the window and lightning flashed in the distance. Amber pushed the bureau against the door… noting that Derrick was staring into the darkness… apparently unaware of her. Likely he was still upset.

It had begun innocently enough. As they'd finished up with the after-dinner crowd… Derrick moving among the transients and talking with them… Amber had been struck by the laughter about the place.

In the kitchen, she could hear Wingate telling jokes while washing dishes… while David was taking inventory of food supplies. Michelle was working on a shopping list. There was an easy camaraderie about the three of them.

In the hall… Burke had been pushing the broom about… and dancing with it occasionally… to the glee of the children. She could hear him sing out occasionally, "Do you love me? Do you love? Now… that I… can dance." Amber had joined in the laughter.

Most of the people who were still here at this time of night… were the ones who would spend the night. Derrick had waved goodbye to his chess buddies as they'd left and Amber had settled in next to him. "You have the gift of gab about ya."

He'd eyed her quizzically.

"Ya make people feel good about themselves. It's like ya were a priest."

The effect of her tease was unexpected.

Derrick had sobered… his eyes flitting back and forth as he held his breath. Then he shook his head… rose and had stomped off.

He'd returned to their room after a long walk in the night while she'd been in the shower. And in all the time since she'd entered, he'd stared out at the rain.

Amber shook her head. Crossing to his side, she laid one hand lightly on his damp arm. Absently he clasped her hand with his other hand and kissed it. He continued to stare out at the rain.

"What was wrong with what I said earlier? I didn't say ya were a priest… only that yar words to people are like ones a priest would say to give them comfort. Besides…" she'd slid both arms about him… feeling the rain damp of him and drinking in his musky smell. "I've known many a priest… and believe me… Ya're no priest."

Derrick chuckled. "Did you ever know Darius?"

Amber rolled her eyes. "I'd heard of him. He was a general who gave up the sword for the cloth. But I never met him." She tilted her head with a grin. "He died decades ago… Likely before ya were ever born."

Derrick nodded. "Yes… before I was born." She heard an odd tone in his voice.

"What do ya mean?"

He turned his back to the window and pulled her into an embrace. "It's hard to explain. When I was a boy… when I met people he'd known… or went to churches… I seemed to know things without being told."

"Ya're daft!" Amber laughed lifting her head from his chest and pulling back. "Ya're makin' that up."

"No." He reached out and pulled her close once more. "I'm not. I think I inherited some of his memories somehow. But… I don't really have them anymore. I still recall the people I met that he knew… and some of the things he told them… but I'm not him… I'm not." His voice trembled softly.

Amber heard an insistent denial in his tone. She wondered if he were trying to convince her or himself.

"Course not," she said lightly and tilted her face upwards. "Ya're you… and I like ya just as ya are."

Derrick kissed her forehead and pulled her close once more. But his mind was obviously still far away… on the people and events of his past.

Amber decided to let him be. "I'm off to bed." She pulled back and he let her go. As she turned out the light and climbed into bed… she could see him staring out into the darkness and the rain once more.

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He was gone by the time Amber awoke the next morning. She noted the bureau slid back to its proper place. Assuming he was downstairs, she'd dressed and tripped down to begin the preparations for the noon meal. They seldom served a real breakfast here… although there was coffee and donated pastries from a nearby bakery for the adults… and cereal with milk for the children who'd stayed the night.

Derrick was nowhere to be seen.

"Have ya seen Derrick?" Amber asked Michelle… but the other immortal shook her head. Amber stepped out into the still cloudy morning. Already she could feel the heat rising… and the humidity as pools of water began to evaporate. It would be another unusually hot and humid day for this part of the country.

His jet cycle was gone.

Amber stared about… suddenly fearful as to where he'd gone… Would he back? Why had he left? Did the others know? Racing back into the mission she found Wingate sipping coffee and staring intently at a day old cheese Danish.

"Did Derrick tell ya where he was headin'?" Wingate stared at her thoughtfully. Slowly he shook his head.

"He went to buy something," Burke said from behind her. "He told me it was a surprise." The red-bearded immortal nodded his head as if agreeing with himself. "Yep… said it was a surprise."

Amber looked around the mess hall with worry. "Don't be silly!" she tried to tell herself. "He's young… but he does know how to defend himself." Still… Amber felt a chill despite the heat. Michelle and David had commented that Seacouver seemed to be one of those places that immortals gathered for some reason. There had always been a number of them here… far more than in many larger cities.

"It's as if something always drew them here. Few come down to the Zone, though," David had explained shortly after they'd arrived, "but I see them about town. So far… no one's been too terribly interested in a challenge… but then… I just nod and pass by. I don't stop to talk."

But Derrick would stop to talk. If Amber knew nothing else about him… she knew that. He'd stop to talk… and there would be a challenge… and… Amber shuddered. He shouldn't be by himself. For some reason he still had this concept of immortals who lived and worked together… rather than striving to win the game. Despite everything… Amber had been unable to shake his innate belief in that. Perhaps being raised by immortals had given him a false sense of what they were truly like… and of the game. Amber feared Derrick was not long for this world.

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The Grand Canyon:

Methos shoved his hands deeply into his coat pockets and stared at the wide vista of the Canyon. Before him was one of the safety rails. Behind him… Jayne was snapping pictures with her camera. He wondered if she knew about his centuries old association with this place… and its almost mystical call to him.

With what he'd learned of the ancients via his bond with Eleanor… he wondered if this were one of the blasted places… where the old killings had gone on. In the aftermath… had the raging river waters finally eroded the land away… in an attempt to wash it clean? He shook his head. It was only a very large hole in the ground. To make more of it than it was… was ridiculous.

Looking around, he sighed. "There's no way to know if he was here. I could spend a year interviewing people here… and learn nothing." He sensed Eleanor's reluctant agreement. "If he came here… where would he go?"

Wind ruffled his dark hair. An eagle rose on the thermals, circled and then dove for its prey. Methos heard the keen on the wind.

"Would he go someplace familiar?" For a moment his mind tried to think like Derrick's might. If he'd come here and seen a place he'd always been curious about… would he go…

Methos turned with a snap and returned to the car.

"Where to, Boss?" asked Jayne.

"Just a hunch."

"Hunch?"

Methos smiled. "Ever been to Washington state?" he asked her.

"Seacouver?"

Methos nodded as he pulled out. "Seacouver."

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Checking into The Canyon Suites, Sarah Manning was curious as to this most recent destination on the part of Benjamin Adams. It made no sense to her. But as he was here… perhaps he and that mousy little thing accompanying him would remain a while.

Her hacking showed that he'd rented a suite here for a week. Well, it had been long enough since they'd seen one another that she felt she could surprise him again. After all, she didn't mind sharing… she never had.

Sarah surveyed her own suite, sensing that Benjamin was not in the one next door, yet. Not to worry, she thought as she laid out attire for dinner. She'd wow him this time.

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An hour later, she'd dawdled over a light dinner… but he'd yet to show up. Sarah decided he'd taken his friend to eat elsewhere… and while his sensing her in the suite next door was not preferable until she'd surprised him… she shrugged. Perhaps he'd knock on her door… curious as to who was there. Paying for her meal… Sarah sauntered through the hotel bar… and considered remaining there in the darkness for a while. But as she was tired… she passed on through it and entered the elevator.

Just as the doors had almost shut… a heavyset man in a cheap suit stuck his hand through the doors and entered when the doors re-opened. He mumbled apologies and Sarah noticed a fast food bag in his hands. She rolled her eyes. One thing she simply didn't care for was "fast food." It was tasteless, it was messy, and it was greasy… Sarah chuckled. In her day, food took all day to prepare and meals were an occasion. She supposed that was why she still preferred eating in better restaurants.

The man got off on the third floor. Sarah rode on up to the top floor. Immediately she knew Ben wasn't here. Sarah stood for a moment in the hall outside his door and fingered her keycard. Had he checked out? She entered her suite, flicked on the lights and tossed the keycard on the desk. Pulling out a chair she turned on her computer and began hacking into the hotel reservation system.

Adam Pierson… suite 802… confirmed and checked in. Sarah tapped her stylus against the side of the PPC. "Where are you?" she wondered. "Out for a late night with your little friend?" The suite had two bedrooms… the first time he'd rented a suite rather than two separate rooms. Sarah had assumed he'd just wanted convenience… or privacy. She turned off the lights and sat in the dark for several hours before finally crawling onto the bed in one of the rooms and falling asleep.

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Paris:

Duncan stood outside the building that hid the sacred grove. From here, he had no sense of Alisaunne… but then he'd never sensed immortals in there… not in all the years he'd ever wandered the Rue St. Jacques in his visits to St. Julien le Pauvre.

Amanda clasped his hand tightly.

"You're certain you want to do this?" she asked, as if hoping that he'd change his mind.

"I promised Methos and Ellie I'd check on her whenever I was in Paris. She's my student."

"But she's their child," Amanda insisted.

Duncan shook his head. "Maybe… but I think she responds better to me than to either of them. She knows me. They are just strangers who happen to be her parents. Despite all their best intentions… that hasn't changed."

Together they entered the covered archway and approached the wrought iron gate. Duncan fingered the key Ellie had given him a few years ago… not long after that last time here… with Methos. He offered Amanda a wink and a smile as he unlocked the gate and swung it open. Once more clasping her hand… they entered the magical quiet of the sacred grove. He let the gate close behind him and listened for the click of the latch to be certain the gate had re-locked. Satisfied, he pocketed the key once more.

"Alisaunne?" he called out.

There was no answer.

"Perhaps she's out?" suggested Amanda.

"Perhaps. Or maybe below the church." St. Julien was closed to the public these days. The explosion years ago that had given Alisaunne the Ancient Immortal's quickening had left it in bad shape. The local authorities considered the Twelfth Century building hazardous. Evidently the ruling body of the Catholic Church in France was still undecided as to the old church's future. Duncan tried to keep abreast of things with it. If the church were sold, as sometimes happened to old properties that were no longer needed, he wanted to be in a position to make the winning bid to purchase it. The secrets below the building had to be protected!

"Wait upstairs for me," Duncan suggested as he crossed to the secret door that led into the sewers.

"I am not leaving you alone with her," Amanda replied.

Duncan nodded and felt along the door. "Locked. And on this side." He looked about. "Maybe she's out? We can try her rooms over on Rue Monge."

"If you like." Amanda's voice had a brittle tone.

"Jealousy does not become you," Duncan chided as they left.

"Sorry… I just keep seeing her at her worst these days." Amanda's lip protruded slightly. Alisaunne made her uneasy and Duncan knew it. If Ian had survived, perhaps she wouldn't have been so confused and lost. But Ian was dead, and the girl had nothing else besides her obsessive research into the clues Darius had left behind. True she had the Ancient's power, but his memories were not a clear part of her mind. They were evidently much the way Darius' memories had once been a part of Derrick… unclear thoughts brought into focus for brief moments when they seemed to apply.

Whatever the Ancient and Darius had done at the time of his death… the two young people… had borne the brunt and weight of it. Neither of them was quite like any of the others. Alisaunne's differences were thought to have been because she was born and not found… and Derrick's because he recalled Darius' memories too early in his life. But it was evidently much more. Laws had been broken. Alisaunne had developed and been born in days not months… and as for Derrick? Duncan shook his head. He was an immortal created in the old way… whatever that was… and created because Darius had evidently felt something was unfinished, and the Ancients had agreed.

"Where are you?" Duncan whispered.

"Alisaunne?" Amanda replied, leaning close to him as they walked along the rue.

Duncan smiled. "No. Actually I was wondering about Derrick."

"Methos will find him," assured Amanda.

"I hope so," Duncan murmured. His last message from Methos had not been encouraging. "On way to Seacouver. No other clues." Evidently Ellie had agreed with Methos' reasoning. "Someplace safe. Someplace familiar." Trouble was, Duncan couldn't think of anyplace in the Washington city that had been safe for that boy during the brief time he'd lived there.

Upon reaching the Rue Monge… both Duncan and Amanda had felt an immortal presence. They glanced at one another and nodded. It had to be Alisaunne. Entering the building where she had rooms, Duncan led the way up the four flights of stairs… the presence growing stronger. Outside her door he paused. She… or someone was definitely inside. He fingered his katana beneath his leather jacket, making certain it was at hand and noted Amanda doing the same for her broadsword.

He knocked. "Alisaunne? It's Duncan," he called out, hoping she'd hear him… and that no one else would. He glanced up and down the empty hallway. There were four sets of rooms on each floor. He wasn't certain if the others on the top floor were currently occupied.

The door slowly opened and Duncan gasped.

A hollow-eyed and thin Alisaunne stared at him and then turned back into her room, leaving the door open.

Duncan's nose wrinkled at the smell of the place. Entering carefully, he quickly surveyed the papers strewn on the floor; the dirty dishes stacked almost everywhere, and a general disarray that spoke of slovenly living.

"Ali? Are you all right," Duncan asked again as he moved further into the rooms. His voice showed his concern. This was not the young woman he knew.

Alisaunne was crouched on the floor in the midst of the papers. She rocked back and forth as she crouched, her dirty fingers tapping her lips as she mumbled. On the papers were the strange writings of the cavern. She hit the side of her head and mumbled, "No… no… no… That's not right." She shuffled the papers.

Duncan circled around her, aware that Amanda was gazing about the place in confusion. He crouched next to Alisaunne and carefully reached to move one greasy lock from her face. "Ali?" he said again.

The girl's gray eyes looked at him without comprehension and then focused once more on her scribblings.

"Duncan… she needs help," offered Amanda softly and crouched next to the young woman. "Sweetie… you come with me. Come on now. It's all right."

Her voice seemed to make an impact where Duncan's had failed to do so. Alisaunne nodded and let Amanda pull her to her feet and lead her into the bath. "I'm going to help her, Duncan. See what you can do in here." With that… they disappeared into the bathroom and soon Duncan heard running water and saw steam from under the wood door.

The Highlander sighed and decided to attack the dirty dishes first. By the time he'd finished and begun picking up clothes and righting furniture… he was still hesitant about moving the sheets of paper… the bathroom door opened and Amanda led Alisaunne into the main room. Cooing into her ear… she settled the girl into a kitchen chair and then began to comb her wet hair.

Alisaunne's expression was blank… as if she were a puppet to be moved and positioned. Duncan was worried.

"I'm tired," the young woman finally said.

"Of course you are," Amanda agreed and led her into the bedroom to settle her on the unmade bed and pulled the covers up over her. She continued to speak softly to Alisaunne for some time.

Meanwhile Duncan continued the clean-up and trash and garbage disposal. An hour later… things looked pretty good and Amanda had tiptoed silently out of Alisaunne's bedroom.

"I've seen people in a fugue state before. This is similar. She's been so focused on those papers that she's lost all track of reality."

Duncan nodded and offered her some coffee he'd made. Amanda gratefully accepted it as she sat heavily in a chair.

"I take it this wasn't like any other time you've seen her?" Amanda murmured as she sipped the coffee. Unlike Duncan, she'd never visited the girl over the years for several reasons. One was her discomfort around Cassandra who evidently still held a fascination for Duncan. He'd stare at her with baited breath.

Methos and Eleanor had evidently made their peace with the psychic and had encouraged her to spend time with Alisaunne over the years in an attempt to help her understand the whirling images in her mind… and the divided nature of her being.

Another reason was the stories she'd heard about the girl… both as night stalking killer and as seductress. Amanda wasn't certain she wouldn't have shot the girl and taken her head if she'd been with MacLeod or Methos when Alisaunne had tried to bed them. Amanda shivered.

"Cold?"

"No… just worried. I was thinking about the last time you were here."

"I've told you Amanda. Nothing happened. Nothing will happen."

But Amanda wasn't so sure.

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