Sunrise

Chapter 16: Drive

Drive—Incubus

IMPORTANT AGAIN: Hey guys, since when this story is done I'll be doing outtakes and I would like you to tell me what you want to see. Who's POV you would like them to be in and what scenes. I may do a story of Matt's views of Sunrise, but that will take a while for me to get started with. So please, think about it, and tell me what you want. : )

OOO

"Your neck," Mads sputtered out as I walked over to her. She pointed largely. "That wasn't there before, Cara."

"Oh, that?" I asked, shifting Alex so he blocked it. "It's nothing. Chill. It's just a scratch."

She looked at me for a long time. "Vampires don't get scratches."

"Maddie," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Drop it. I promise it's not a big deal. It isn't going to murder me or anything."

"Was the guy that gave it to you going to?" she asked. I scowled. Damn her.

I thought for a moment about that fight. Now I only remembered it as images and pictures strung together to form a memory. But there was one part I remembered very clearly. The pale knife cutting through my skin. The torturous pain. Okay, so it wasn't just a scratch, and it was basically a scar, but other than that…

"I'll be fine," I told her. "But, I have to go all the way to New Hampshire, drop this Hamster off," I smiled, "and then chill with Jaime for a few days because he'll probably put me on house arrest, and then I have to go home. You know… see people…"

See Matt.

She read the double meaning in my words, but switched the subject. "So… Kayla became one of us, huh?" she asked after a moment.

"I guess so. You knew her?" Alex was still snoring on my shoulder. I tried to block it out.

Maddie nodded. "If Rob knew her, I knew her. Pity she went psycho… I always knew there was something up with her."

"Yeah."

"You think she's a threat?" Maddie looked past me at the bonfire. I shrugged, which was difficult because of my rock of a brother.

"You know/knew her better than I do/did." The sentence was confusing, and Maddie shook her head. "I don't know if she's going to come back all bitch-like, but you'd think she'd be happy, you know, no more restraints?"

"What if she goes after humans?" Maddie sighed.

I had worried about that myself. "The Volturi," I said, "at least if they ever find out, are going to be all over it. You could go after her and ask if she wants to be part of your coven?"

She blinked. "You're kidding, right?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not. She needs someplace to go or she's going to kill people. Jack, I could care less about. He wasn't even humane when he was human. He'll probably run into a burning building before we have to worry about him." I shifted Alex again, and Maddie eyed my scar disapprovingly. "But you know Kayla."

"Kayla just tried to rip my head off not twenty minutes ago, Cara!" Maddie reminded me. "Let her and Jack get it on. I'd die if I went after her."

"Madison," I tried to appear forceful. "Come on—you and I both know she can change. Please give it a try. If she attacks you, you can run and get the hell away. Please, Maddie?"

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Fine! I'll go talk to her. But if they're at it and I walk in…" She glared at me for a short moment. "I'll kill you."

I blinked. Why did she keep bringing that up? "You're paranoid."

"Damn straight I am." She took a deep breath before unleashing the glare again. "Remember: kill."

"Right," I agreed. "But only after I've returned Alex, seen Jaime, my family, and got back on my life with the love of my… existence."

Her eyes took on a knowing look. "Fair enough." She held out her hand and I shook it, and then we hugged. It was kind of awkward—Alex between us and all—but we managed, and then she said: "Take care, Cara. No more getting captured."

"Most definitely not." I grinned. "I'll see you later."

I was walking away—Spiderman duty finished—when Jared called out and yelled, "Bye Cara! Give Jaime my deepest and most sincere regards. And my sister, too!"

I just waved, hearing a "Shut up, son!" in the background.

Well, crap, I thought as I faced the forest. This was going to be a long walk.

OOO

Town wasn't hard to reach. I immediately went into the nearest super center and bought a turtle neck top and jeans. Then I bought Alex a change of clothes too. We changed in one of the bathrooms—Well, the women's. Alex was difficult because of his arm (thank god it was healing right) and he was drowsy and he had a strict privacy violation code. So I changed first and stood outside the stall as he peed and got into his new clothes.

"Did you kill that freak?" he asked, rubbing one eye. I smiled down at him as we walked out of the store.

"Heck yes," I told him, mussing his hair.

When we arrived at the train station, I waited in line with Alex on my hip. It must have been eight o' clock PM, because he was asleep… again. When I approach the ticket counter, I was deep in thought. I glanced up as the guy—"Steve" read his nametag—repeated "Ma'am?" for the fifth time. "Sorry," I said, trying to make it look like Alex was drawing away all my attention. "Kids. Can't live with them, can't live without them." I shrugged.

He smiled. Canadian people were so friendly. "Can I help you?" he asked. I nodded, pulling out the credit card from my duffle.

"I need the next one-way ticket to any train that can get me to Winnipeg in Manitoba. Scratch that, I need two. One child, one adult." I looked up at the Departures list and found what I knew would be there: Winnipeg—8:45 pm. Knowing things was extremely helpful. I slid my card through the hole in the glass and waited as he rung up my ticket.

He passed me back the credit card and the piece of paper that held my future. "Here you go, Ma'am. Your train leaves at eight forty-five and there will be several stops along the way. Thank you."

"Thank you," I mussed, walking over to one of the idiotic looking benches and sitting Alex next to me. He stirred as I placed my credit card back in my wallet and tucked it into the duffle.

He blinked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Where are we?"

"At a train station in… apparently Vancouver. We're taking the next train to Winnipeg and then we're flying to Hanover." He nodded, content, and I looked around. This was a train station I remembered. It often had brought me to new families, ones I wanted to forget.

I rubbed my eyes and sat back. It seemed like years ago that I had escaped, but it'd only been less than a day. Less than a day I'd hit the wall of the cell, unable to feel my legs. Less than a day I'd rescued Alex and Maddie, less than a day I'd confronted at least twenty newborns. Less than a day when I'd never been happier to see my werewolf family. Less than a day I'd faced my fate, my destiny. Less than a day I'd torn Lucas apart and watched him die, slowly and painfully. Less than a day all in all.

Across several rows, I noticed a tall figure with a tweed hat, facing away from me. He looked familiar, but I was too tired to figure out who he was. Tired because I'd changed back to my human form, afraid that if I was hungry enough, I'd cause a scene. But I kept staring at the figure, thinking I should know that hair color… it was such a strange hair color—one not noticed on many people—

"Cara!"

I looked back at Alex, who was wide awake and waving a hand in front of my eyes. "The train is boarding," he said once he had my attention. "You don't want to miss it, do you?"

"No, I don't." I grabbed his hand and lead him to the doors, the steam racing over our feet. I handed the boarder our ticket and grabbed a seat in the back. I didn't feel like chit-chatting with an old couple at the moment. I really did not.

The man with the tweed hat sat a couple rows ahead, and I glared at the back of his head. There was something familiar about the way he moved, how he didn't talk to anybody… Oh well, I thought, frustrated. I'll uncover him later.

The days passed, and were long. There were many stops on the way to Winnipeg, as Steve had said. But other than that, the ride was fine. I would sing to Alex when he'd sleep—he had a particular favorite he said Maddie had sung to him in the cell. "It's kinda depressing," he told me, all smiles, "but it's really pretty."

I could know the tune easily.

So I sang, softly, so no one could hear:

Green finch, and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?
How can you jubilate
sitting in cages
never taking wing?
Outside the sky waits
beckoning!
Beckoning!
Just beyond the bars...
How can you remain
staring at the rain
maddened by the stars?
How is it you sing
anything?
How is it you sing?
Green finch. and linnet bird,
nightingale, blackbird
How is it you sing?
Whence comes this melody
constantly floating?
Is it rejoicing or merely alarming?
Are you discussing?
Or fussing?
Or simply dreaming?
Are you crowing?
Are you screaming?
Ringdove and robinet
is it for wages?
Singing to be sold?
Have you decided it's safer in cages
singing when you're told?
My cage has many rooms
damask and dark...
Nothing there sings,
not even my lark.
Larks never will, you know,
when they're captive.
Teach me to be more
adaptive.
Green Finch, and Linnet Bird,
nightingale, blackbird,
teach me how to sing.
If I cannot fly...
Let me sing.

I watched Tweedy (the dude with the tweed hat) the whole ride. He was still as a statue, never getting up to use the bathroom or talk to other passengers. Not that I did, either, but that was what worried me.

"Green finch, and linnet bird…" I mussed as Alex fell asleep again. I'd repeated the words over and over again in my head. Maddie was trying to tell me something. I groaned at rubbed my temples. I was so sick of riddles it wasn't even funny anymore—it never had been.

Well you can tell Matt never to use riddles when you see him again, I told myself.

If you see him again, a voice rang unforgiving. Think of what you did, Cara. Think of how you left, raced to Alabama, got captured, and, God, you even killed his brother. Did you even feel anything afterwards?

He tortured me, I reasoned with myself, not at all weirded out by the fact that I was having a conversation with my very screwed up mind. It had happened a lot when I was hanging from a ceiling. I had a reason to kill him. If I hadn't, this could've ended very badly.

But did you feel any remorse? Any sorrow? I asked myself again. Maybe you're heartless, just like him.

I shut off my brain, blasting my iPod in my ears. Breathe, I commanded myself. My conscious was wrong for once.

When we finally reached Winnipeg, after several days, I grabbed my duffle and Alex's hand. We'd take the nearest flight to Hanover, New Hampshire, and then I'd get a rental car and head to Jaime's place. Easy.

As I was walking to the airport—rather close, actually—I had to pick up Alex again, and since it was morning and rather bright, I was human. He was heavy! Man, I must've lost mostly all of my muscle mass in seven months. I gasped shortly as I piggy-backed him to the airport and booked a flight, and then we were in the terminal. I fished my cell phone form the duffle and dialed Jaime's number from memory.

"Sup?" He'd picked up on the second ring. Impressive.

"Jaime?" I asked, glancing at the sleeping Alex. "It's Cara."

He was silent for a long time, but then the torrent of words rushed forth, angry, concerned, shocked… well, this might take a while.

"What?! Are you okay? My dad called and told me what went down, and man, Cara, am I sorry! If I'd known what letting you go with that leech meant then I'd never have let you disappear with him! I woulda told your family! I woulda tracked you down myself…"

I sat there, dialing down the volume. A few people were already glancing at me—I was surprised Alex hadn't woken yet. I let him prattle on for a while, rolling my eyes at his over-protectiveness. Yeah right it was his fault. Like he'd forced me to go to Alabama? Psh.

When he seemed to be getting out of breath, I began. "Yes, Jaime, before you ask I'm still here. And no, it's not your fault. I left the sanctuary of the Volturi, and I went to Alabama, about the least protected place on the planet, might I add, with no capability of my family getting to me. Wow, I sure am an idiot."

"You never answered my question: Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I answered automatically, then mentally cussed myself out. Jaime was impossible to lie to. "Well, I've lost most of my muscle mass and self-confidence, but other than that, I'm good. Not anything that can't be fixed."

"That's… good, I guess." I could picture his face, all rolled eyes and grimace. "What's up besides your liberation? You coming to visit?"

I pursed my lips, glancing at Alex again. "Yes…" I began hesitantly.

"Yes… what?" The skepticism was clear in his voice. I pondered how to break it to him, that I had his brother with a broken arm and who happened to be scarred for life.

"You know how Alex went missing… oh, roughly five or six months ago?" I asked, wincing. Way to go, Cara.

"Yes." His voice was heavy.

"Well, I saved him. He was in the same place I was—you're daddy didn't tell you that?" I sighed, "So, I got him out and I'm bringing him to you. But, I'm in Winnipeg, Canada at the moment, and I'm catching a flight to Hanover, so I was wondering… oh, if you could pick me up?"

Oh, that was just damn smooth.

It took him a moment to process what I'd said, what I meant. "What?" he asked, his voice faint. "You've got him? Oh, thank god, Cara! I thought he was dead. I mean, after I slipped up and accidentally told Freesia what happened, he kinda…well—"

"Freaked?" I supplied.

"That's the one."

"Be more careful, you idiot. I'm giving you the full guilt trip when I get to your house. Man, you don't even know." I didn't elaborate. I didn't want to go into the many ways I remembered Torture de Cara.

"I know you know. I mean, you knew what it was like to learn that your family wasn't real, or, hey! In your case they were vampires, who gave birth to a randomly sparkling child."

I frowned. "Not helping, bro."

"When does your flight get in?" He asked the question so casually. It was as if he was asking me if I wanted jelly on my bread or something.

"Two-ish," I told him. "And knowing you and your driving skills: Mr. I Never Go Over The Speed Limit, you should leave… now."

"Ha-ha. At least you retained your sense of humor."

"Aren't you glad?"

"Ecstatic."

"Two," I repeated. He echoed me and hung up. Well, that went well… I guess. I glanced at Alex. Oh, was Jaime gonna get it.

Movement raced at the corner of my eye. Tweedy was walking into the men's room. I glared after him, not really sure who he was or why he was here, but I did know he wasn't a threat, and that was good enough for me.

The flight was relatively short. Alex began to watch Shrek—one, two, or three? I wasn't sure. I was positive that we were in first class, complements of Rita Fowler. I'd have to thank her someday, which meant thanking Alice. Oh, Rita? She's old news! I imagined the pixie telling me, grabbing my hand and catapulting me into Victoria's Secret.

Jaime was actually there on time—which, no doubt, surprised me. He was at the baggage claim, and as soon as he saw Alex, he ran and hugged him, launching into a full out fatherly lecture (that only Jaime could pull off) about how Alex should never runaway again, gave him a heart-attack, thought he was dead… blah, blah-blah, blah…

At about the time Alex was being smushed like a football in Jaime's arms, I cleared my throat. Might as well save the poor kid for a third time. Jaime then launched into an apology, for Christ's sakes, and I had to hold up my hand to get him to lower the volume.

"God!" I exclaimed. "Will you shut up?" I cuffed him on the shoulder and the next thing I knew he was hugging me, and I was trying—unsuccessfully—to push the goddamn puppy off me. People were giving us aw-look-at-the-couple looks. Not what I had in mind when reuniting with my brother.

"Can't breathe," I said desperately. "Still human here."

Arm's length now. "What?"

"Power. Coolness, actually. Came in use for something." I picked up my bag and he tried to take it from me. I danced out of his way, nearly knocking into a couple college kids. "Jaime! Chill! I can carry my own crap. I'm not made of frikken glass."

He was taller than me, so he didn't have a hard time reaching down and tousling my hair. "Wow, it got longer," he observed. "I thought you said you didn't like your hair long."

"I don't."

It was silent then, and I pulled the ridiculously long hair into a bun. When I got a hold of knives, it was coming off. We walked to Jaime's car—wow, the dork actually had a car, not to mention it was nice—and I sat in the front with my brother. Alex was snoozing again within minutes, and as I glanced behind me, I sighed, loudly enough to make Jaime nearly crash into a car pulling out. I didn't flinch, but he was wired.

I didn't look at him. "No one's gonna jump out and crash the car to smithereens, Jaime. You can relax." Even as I said it, I winced. That was exactly what had gotten me into jail in the first place.

He checked the rearview mirror and muttered something like profanities under his breath. "I know. I'm just kinda freaked. My sister, who's been in some random colonial prison for more than half a year, and my brother, who's been there with her, just came from somewhere in Canada. I don't know what went down or how you got out. So, enlighten me."

"Okay, listen closely, because I'm only gonna say this once." I launched into nearly everything, and ended with, "So he burned and went to hell. Happy?"

"Um… sure."

"How long do we have until we're at your house?" I asked, not dwelling on the previous subject. I didn't intend on staying long, just long enough to slap some sense into my idiot of a brother (oh, don't worry—I loved him anyways) and make sure they were all safe.

"About thirty minutes. I live roughly off campus. Helps when I'm on break."

"Break?"

"Christmas Break." He didn't glance at me, kept his eyes on the road. I hesitantly glanced out the window. Once, twice. And, holy crap.

It had just dawned on me that it was snowing. Flurries of bits of white, the sky an overcast grey blanket. "You said it's December, then?" I asked, my voice wavering.

"That would be the meaning of Christmas Break, Cara." He made a left turn. "Did you lose any brain cells? Oops," he added at my set jaw. "Didn't mean it like that. Just in general—I swear."

I ignored the whole statement, launching into another question. "What's today's date?"

"The fourteenth."

"Shit."

"Why shit?" He made a turn onto the interstate. I leaned over in my seat and covered my face with my hands.

"Ten days," I choked out. Ten. Frikken. Days.

"Until what—Oh. Cara, I'm sure you'll find them before that. I mean, it's not like they've disappeared into thin air or something."

"Might as well have," I moaned. I didn't care that I knew things. Ten days. They could be across the continent, and I was sure my card was about to be denied at some point. I ran my hands over my face and sat up, letting out a gust of air.

I glanced at Alex again—still asleep. "You are still in so much trouble. I cannot believe you would even mention that in the same house as him, you dork." Jaime understood I was mad. He knew.

"Please don't rub it in, alright?" he said anyway. "I learned my lesson."

"It's not about learning lessons!" I whispered furiously, too enraged to look at him. "It's about knowing the damage you caused, Jaime! You didn't just let a kid know he was inherited, end of story. You created a whole new world for him—not necessarily a fantastic one—that keeps him up at night with questions. You only know slightly of the layers of his mind that you touched, on contact, not all the ones you affected. I grew up on that knowledge, alright? As far as you know, you've had it easy."

He didn't say anything. "I don't know how to tell him I'm sorry. I don't know how to tell him that I didn't even find out about everything until after I'd spent most of my time with him. I don't know how to tell him that he's just as much as my brother as he's always been. Nothing's changed."

I glanced in the side mirror and saw Alex's eye slowly open, and his eyes were red and teary. He quickly blinked rapidly, locked eyes with me, and I winked. He immediately faked sleeping again. Smart kid.

"I think he knows," I said mildly, and turned up the radio.

OOO

HAPPY CHAPTER! HUGS!

Oh, and the song was from Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It was more funny than scary, really. I swear.

Ohhhhh, btw, Cara wasn't mad at Jaime at all in this Chapter except for when she told him what it was like to be adopted and stuff. Cara was just being Cara.

Jamie