CHAPTER 5 – A Life

"'I'll be away for a few days,'" Kirsten repeated, glaring at her phone. She'd read the text a thousand times and could still make no sense of it. It wasn't like Joanna to do something like this. Kirsten looked up at Alex. "Did you know anything about this?" she asked accusingly.

"No," he said, frowning as he reached out to take her phone and look at the text. "She didn't say anything to me."

That only made the feeling in Kirsten's stomach worse. People walked down the hall, talking and laughing loudly, which made Kirsten want to scream. If Jo didn't tell her, then she would tell Alex to tell her. And for Joanna, Kirsten knew being gone for a few days – especially missing school for a few days – was a big deal. Jo was nerdy like that and Kirsten loved to tease her for it.

"Stop over-reacting," Alex said, giving her a knowing look. It was true; Kirsten was prone to letting her emotions get the best of her most of the time. She took a breath.

"Maybe her mom came back early and took her somewhere," Alex speculated. "She might not have had time to text much." Kirsten relaxed a bit. That had happened before, and despite being happy that her mom was home, Kirsten knew Joanna had been furious about it.

"Does she think I don't have a life? That I don't have things to do?" Joanna said.

"What life?" Kirsten joked, leaning back in the desk chair. They were lounging in Joanna's room on a Saturday night. She grinned. "You spend all your time studying."

"Kirsten," Joanna intoned with annoyance, and Kirsten quickly sobered, sitting up. This was a rare moment of anger for Jo. Usually she was the calm one, like Alex but a little more introverted and bookwormish. That's how Kirsten knew this thing with her mom really bothered Joanna.

"I know, Jo, but she's your mom," Kirsten said. "She wants to spend time with you."

"I know," Joanna replied with sigh. "I know. I just wish… I just wish it didn't have to be like this, little snatches of time in between working so much."

Joanna never talked about it again, and Kirsten sensed she was trying not to dwell on it. Jo never held a grudge.

"Yeah, that could be it," Kirsten said to Alex. "I'll just ask…" She trailed off, typing rapidly on the tiny keyboard on her phone. How long will you be gone? She hit send and slid her phone shut.

"There," Kirsten said, looking down at her phone in her hand. "I hope she's okay," she added quietly. Alex's hand on her arm made Kirsten jump and look up quickly.

"I'm sure she's fine," he said softly, reassuringly. Kirsten felt a flash of gratitude along with the explosion of tingles in her stomach and the hyper-awareness of his touch. She nodded.

But when they split for class, Kirsten found herself murmuring, "I hope so. I hope so."

"Your training will begin immediately, as we have a lot of ground to cover. Asher will be helping out, because obviously, we're short-staffed right now. Tomorrow morning we'll cover some of the basics in class…"

Joanna had stayed in her room until the sun was casting slanted shadows across the floor and burning gold as it disappeared below the waves. It was then that she got up and grabbed her backpack. She leaned out the door, and when she was certain no one was watching, she stepped out into the hall and started walking away as quietly as she could.

"Joanna?" It was Remington. She turned. He smiled broadly, and it was difficult to think of him as a crazy demon-cult captor. "I was just about to call you for dinner!" She swallowed her escape plans and followed him down the hall. It was then that she found out that Remington could cook. He could cook marvellously.

She sat at the table with Asher as Remington brought over a pot of something that smelled delicious. She couldn't remember when she'd eaten last but she ate slowly anyway as Remington continued to talk to her, telling her more and more. She was burning with questions that she was too shy to ask.

"At the moment, it's just Asher and I at the Institute," Remington said. She looked at Asher, who was eating quietly. "His mother shipped him over here to get some experience outside of the Calgary Institute. That and he wasn't being a very good boy," he said, not without affection as he looked at Asher.

"Uncle Rem," Asher said in annoyance. "I was doing fine in my classes."

"I know, but you still have to go to them," Remington said sternly. Asher very nearly rolled his eyes. Joanna looked between them, realizing with a blink that they were related. They were family. Asher had called him uncle.

"You're awfully quiet," Remington said, turning to Joanna with one last look at his nephew. He softened his voice. "I'm sorry it had to be this way. I'm sure once your mother returns, all your questions will be answered and you'll feel much more comfortable."

Considering how much her mother had hid from her, Joanna wasn't entirely sure that was true. But as she looked at Remington and Asher, she knew they weren't bad people, whatever they believed. And until her mother got back, there wasn't much she could do. Even if she did escape, how would she get back onto the mainland without a car?

So at the Institute she would stay. She would just have to go with it.

Soooo... More action soon! I'm just setting the scene right now for a wild ride later ;)