Chapter Nine: Runaways
When I woke up, my whole body was sore. Salem had fallen asleep with his back against the wall and I had my head on his lap. His hand was in my hair. Whenever I started to move around a bit, he suppressed a yawn and spoke. "It's 7. So what's the plan? Asa is certainly out of beast mode, but you and I are going to be in a lot of trouble." He said slowly.
"So? Can't you just manipulate their minds or whatever it is you do so they leave us alone?" I sat up and attempted to stretch out my limbs, but I didn't have much room. My whole body was sore and I had a dull headache.
"I tried, and I think my grandfather did something to me too. I can't do anything that I used to be able to do. I can barely even read your thoughts and you're right in front of my face. My grandfather is a magician. He's exactly what you don't want to become, but he's proof that you hold great power. That kind of power shouldn't be given to someone like him. It's also proof that bad magic can make you incredibly haggard and ugly. He's 102 but looks much older than that, doesn't he?"
"Seriously?" I shuddered. I never planned using my magic for evil, but that was a nice reminder. "So, what are we going to do? You can't change my mind, and he's not going to stop until he gets what he wants, no matter if we get hurt in the process." I stared at the splintered door. The slight glow it had last night was fading. "Whatever I did to this door isn't going to hold much longer."
"Let's just get out of here and go somewhere they can't find us for a little while, at least until we can find a good solution." He smiled at me, grabbed my hand and opened the door. We gasped at what we saw when the door opened. A trail of blood lead down the hallway away from us. That must have been where Asa ran the night before. "Holy shit." Salem whispered, gently tugging me away from the trail. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."
"There!" We heard a shout from down the hallway. Manfred and Asa stood, both out for blood. Most of Asa's face and arm was bruised and caked with dry blood. Manfred's hands were in the same condition. They had tried to open the door and failed.
"I have my car keys. Let's go." He gripped my hand even tighter and dragged me down the hall. We ran through the hallways and straight out the door to his car. We were already driving away by the time they caught up with us. I could see the exasperated frustration on Manfred's face as he realized that he didn't have his keys on him. We laughed and laughed as we put the academy behind us.
We drove as far as we could out of the city. We blared the radio and sang to each other, I rolled down the windows and rested my feet on the dashboard. We ate drive thru food and stopped only to use the bathroom. We drove until the sky went dark and we didn't know where we were. We stopped at the first inn we saw and picked up supplies at the closest general store. We bought cheap, plain clothes, toiletries, and some food. I was happy that Salem had money on him and that we wouldn't starve. "I withdrew as much money from the ATM as I could at one time before they got the chance to freeze my cards. That's what took me so long at the gas station." He explained. "We need to take the battery out of our phones too, just so they can't track us that way. At least we'll be safe until we can figure out what to do. Or at least until my powers get back to how they were." He grabbed a towel off of the rack and piled some clothes on top of it before sauntering into the bathroom. He shut the door and I heard him turn on the shower. I popped some microwave popcorn, sprawled out on my stomach on the bed and turned on the television. I flipped through channel after channel hoping to find something good and finally settled on the late night news.
It was all typical evening news stuff. There was a robbery at the bank, a fire at the paper factory, someone got into a drunken fight outside of a pub. Then the news got interesting. The reporter issued an amber alert. My face was plastered on the screen next to Salem's. "Salem! Get out here right now!" I yelled, turning up the volume. He rushed out of the bathroom thinking that I was in possible danger with the towel wrapped lazily around his hips and his hair dripping wet.
"Are you alright? What's going on?!" He looked around the room frantically until he noticed our pictures up on the television.
"16 year old Infinity Jones went missing from Timoken yesterday. She was reported missing by her aunt and grandmother, whom she lives with. She is about five foot four with long, straight blonde hair and hazel eyes. Finding her is high priority because of health issues. She was last seen by witnesses at Redwood Park around 6pm. She was said to be wearing a pair of light denim shorts, a yellow tank top and white tennis shoes." Salem's picture flashed back onto the screen. "Also missing from Timoken, is 18 year old Salem Bloor, son of millionaire and headmaster of Bloor's academy, Harold Bloor and retired orchestra violinist Dorothy Bloor. Reported missing by his father, Salem was last seen a little over 24 hours ago in their family home. He is six foot two and has black hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, black basket ball shorts and a pair of black slippers. The two teens are assumed to be together. Finding Salem is also high priority for health reasons as well. They were both last seen in a silver two door car with license plate DR45 LMJ. A press conference was issued by his twin brother, Manfred Bloor." Recorded footage appeared on the screen. "My brother is prone to act on impulse and none of us are sure why he ran off with the girl. A very generous reward will be issued to whoever finds him. It would be a shame if anything bad were to happen because neither of them thought their actions through." His words were ominous with a hidden meaning behind them. I knew what he meant. If I got a hold of Charlie and told him what I knew, someone in my family would be killed.
"What a dirty little liar." Salem murmured under his breath. "You should probably call your mother and let her know you're safe. We have a lot to do to ensure than you and I don't get caught. I know a lot of people will be after that money." He rummaged through a bag and pulled out scissors and hair dye. "Luckily, I was one step ahead."
I cut his hair and he cut mine. He just simply put my long hair in a ponytail and cut it straight across so my hair was to my chin. I dyed it black and hoped that would be enough. I actually cringed a little bit when I cut Salem's hair much shorter. He had confided in me that it had taken him a long time to grow that hair back after chemotherapy. "I'm so sorry." I frowned at him when I had finished.
"It's okay." He pulled me into a hug and laughed. "It'll grow back. I guess I can let my facial hair grow too. It seems that I'm the only one in my family that can grow both a mustache and a beard." When he let me go, he held his hands on my shoulders and looked at me. "With your hair like that, you actually kind of look a little like your father."
"Do you think so?" I looked at myself in the mirror and ran my fingers through my hair. "I've never dyed my hair before. This is all weird for me."
"You'll get used to it." He pulled the phone off of the bedside table and dialed a number quickly before handing it to me. "Now, call your mother before she thinks you're dead. I need to go do something about the car, and possibly pay off the guy who checked us in."