Chapter 3: On the Run

I run to you,

Call out your name…

I see you there,

Farther away.

Farther Away, Evanescence

So maybe this could have been better planned. Kat coughed. She was standing in the gas station on the far side of town, having asked if anyone who worked there had seen a guy with white-blond hair and a fancy car. No one had, and, as she was now realizing, she had no idea what to do next. Tracking someone over ground was one thing. Tracking someone with a car heading God knows where?

Entirely different.

"Hey, girl, need a ride somewhere?"

"I doubt it, as I don't accept rides from anyone with an IQ of less than 75," she replied on a turn, expecting to see the stereotypical trucker with a tattoo and a beer belly. Instead, Kat found a young man with long reddish brown hair and a crookedly sheepish smile watching her from the drink case.

"Damn, I leveled at 70," he answered, before clearing his throat. "Um, I'm gonna write up a contract saying I didn't just say that, and have you sign it." Kat pursed her lips, amused despite herself.

"Don't worry about it." He held out a hand.

"Leks Smythe." Kat shook it quickly, scrambling for a fake name.

"Isabelle Lindt," she said after a moment, her eyes lingering on the bowl of chocolate truffles on the counter behind him.

"Nice to meet you, Isabelle."

"Yeah," she agreed a bit absently. Her mind was still on ways to track Reid, and the frustration that came with cluelessness.

"So, you sure you don't need a ride? I promise I'm not a psycho." She laughed involuntarily.

"With my luck," Kat began, and then stopped herself. "Anyway, I'm-" She stopped when her pocket vibrated, and jumped about a foot in the air. Pulling out Caleb's cell phone, she stared at it for an instant before answering it hesitantly. How the hell did he slip that in my pocket?

"Hello?" Leks took a few steps backwards, giving her a funny little bow.

"Kat. It's Caleb."

"How the-"

"Doesn't matter. Listen, I think I know where he's going. I can… feel it, a bit."

"Where?" She saw Leks glance up at the tense note in her voice, and ignored him.

"California. He's going to California. He's driving, so it'll take him a week or so."

"Ok. Thanks."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll fly. I have money."

"Kat, plane tickets can be tracked!"

"I don't care if they can track me. My dad will take care of it."

"You can't know that."

"Yes, I can."

"How? How can you possibly-"

"I trust him, Caleb. He'll do what he can to protect me. I have to get to Reid, and soon. I have no chance following him by car; I don't know his route. Do you know where exactly he's trying to go?"

"I think he's trying to find the priestesses, the ones who came for Mary."

"Ok. I'll go there, then. Maybe they can help me." She hung up before he could say anything more, and stuck the borrowed phone back in her pocket. Looking up at Leks, Kat bit her lower lip. "If you're still offering, I could use a ride to the airport," she said quietly.

"Yeah," Leks replied slowly. "Sounds like you really could."

"So?" He studied her face for a moment, and in the slanted mirror above the long fridge filled with beer, she saw what he saw.

White skin, very pale. Dark hair, spilling around slender shoulders, one white streak twisting down the back. Large, secretive eyes, shadowed with exhaustion and anxiety. Everything about this girl screams help me

Everything about this girl screams run away

Leks gave her another crooked smile.

"What the hell. I've always wanted to help a damsel in distress."

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When they reached the airport, Kat climbed out of the old-fashioned pickup truck and waved at Leks through the passenger-side window.

"Thanks," she called. She heard a bang, and spun around to see him locking the door and coming around the side of the truck.

"Let me walk you to your flight, at least," he said kindly. The mild flirtation was out of his voice now, replaced with sympathy and curiosity. Kat shrugged.

"Sure." They strode across the parking lot, past a shuttle and a few stragglers, and into the airport.

"Where are you headed?"

"California," she answered after a moment's thought. "Sunny California." After buying her ticket with the credit card her father had given her for her seventeenth birthday, Kat turned to Leks.

"Thanks again," she told him. "I mean it."

"No problem," he said, rocking back on his heels. "Not like I had anything better to do. I mean, you're a hell of a lot more interesting than X-Box." She laughed.

"Believe me, if you only knew…" Suddenly, a hand flew out of the crowd of people heading for the plane gates and slammed into Kat's throat. She stumbled backward, pressed into the wall by a middle-aged man with a long beard and an abandoned suitcase. His hands went to her throat, his face twisted with a terrifying kind of blankness.

"Die, bitch," he hissed at her. Kat choked, clawing at his fingers. They didn't budge. Her vision was going spotty, her ears ringing. She vaguely saw Leks ramming the stranger from behind, trying to knock him away from her. Someone was yelling. Kat's survival instincts were taking over. She could feel herself tingle with the Change, and gasped desperately for air as she struggled to push it down. Her fingernails thickened into claws, ripping trails of crimson across the man's hands and wrists. She was beginning to black out, her lungs screaming for air. There was a scream. Drawing on all the strength she had left, Kat slammed her knee into the man's groin. He let her go, falling backwards to the ground and sitting there like an overgrown baby with a horrible expression of agony mixed with pure confusion as she slid to the ground.

Kat coughed painfully, taking in huge gulps of air. Beside her, Leks wrapped an arm around her shoulders and helped her stand. A crowd of people had gathered around, and soon an airport cop appeared on the scene. Kat ducked her head, letting her dark hair cover the one white streak as well as her face. She let Leks lead her away, ignoring the cried from the cop and the crowd. As soon as they were out of sight, Kat rubbed the rising bruises on her neck and leaned against the wall, still breathing deeply.

"What the hell was that," Leks asked fervently, no hint of a smile remaining on his face.

"I have no idea," Kat replied softly, her throat aching. "I have no idea."

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So, what do y'all think of Leks? Good or evil? Let me know what you think is going on with the random attack in the airport, too… Cake and soda to anyone who gets it right…