Seth and her dad were sitting out on the deck when they pulled into the driveway. They both had on their serious faces. She jumped out and walked toward them. “I hope you two aren’t waiting for me to go out vampire hunting. I’m exhausted. I think that flu bug yesterday took it out of me.”
Her dad stood up and pulled her into a hug. “Not tonight, kiddo. We have some serious things to discuss.”
Her mom hesitated at the bottom of the steps, eyes darting between the two men. “Now what?”
Jesse held out a hand, she hurried up the steps and he pulled her close. “It’ll be all right, honey. I promise.” He nodded toward the door. “Let’s go inside.”
Jael noticed Seth turn to look around the property before following them in. He was always a little paranoid but it was still broad daylight. Vampires couldn’t boldly walk about in the scorching afternoon sun, could they?
“Jael, please come sit down.” Her dad was already in the kitchen leaning against the pantry door, his arms crossed. “Seth has some bad news.”
“I knew it,” her mom said. “They’ve found us, haven’t they?”
“They who, Mom?”
Seth moved past her to sit at the table. His gaze burned into hers, as though he knew she’d withheld important information. But he didn’t know about Shadow and all the rest, did he? She turned away to get a soda out of the refrigerator. Her fingers shook as she pulled the top.
He flipped open his ever present laptop and clicked open his email. “Trackers. I received an email today from a shunned one in Minnesota. He heard that the Bishop sent out a hit team this morning. They could be here anytime.”
Her mom gasped and pushed her face against her husband’s chest. Jesse wrapped his arms around her, his face remaining stoic. He met Jael’s eyes. “I’m sorry we didn’t explain this before. The Bishop controls many lives, even people we still love and care for. His reach is long and he’s been searching for you since before you were born. He’ll stop at nothing.”
“He knows you will be much harder to beat once you turn sixteen,” Seth continued. “That’s why he’s willing to go to such lengths to find you now. Even sending his people out of their territory. Usually the Amish Bloodsuckers keep to themselves. They don’t associate with outsiders.”
“Do they know my name and where we live?” she asked, wondering just how much information Shadow gave his grandfather before changing sides. Maybe that’s what he wanted to talk about later.
“I’m not sure.” Seth glanced up from the screen. “But the message that was intercepted named the town of Sunburn. So once they get here, it won’t be long before they figure out the rest. They’ll set the tracker on you.”
“You don’t look very surprised, Jael,” her father said softly from across the room.
She licked her lips and glanced away, setting her can of cola on the counter. “Seth told me about trackers.”
Her mom straightened, eyes narrowed and piercingly suspicious. She approached Jael and lifting her chin with one finger, looked directly into her eyes. “Honey, what aren’t you telling us?”
She suddenly felt like a traitor to her own family. But all she’d wanted was to have a normal life, to be left alone to grow up, have friends, date, and maybe fall in love someday. How could that be such a bad thing? “That boy you asked about at school,” she began, hesitantly, “is a tracker.”
“What?” Seth nearly yelled the word. He was on his feet in a split second, his chair fell backwards and hit the floor with a crash. “You’ve had contact with a tracker and didn’t tell us? Are you suicidal?”
The anger in his eyes was probably justified but Jael’s temper rose at his outburst. “Yes! I kept something from you. How crazy is that?” She threw up her hands. “You three have kept secrets from me my whole life. So deal with it!” She was shouting now too. She turned away from them all, gripping the edge of the porcelain sink with both hands, and stared blindly out the kitchen window.
Her mom touched her shoulder and turned her around. She looked terrified. She pressed her lips together and shook her head. When she spoke her voice was soft but firm. “Jael, how could you? You’ve put yourself at risk and that endangers us all.”
“Shadow isn’t like that,” she argued. “His grandfather is the one who sent the message.” All three of them stared at her as if she’d just announced the end of the world or something. The disappointment in their faces was unnerving. She threw up her hands. “It’s not as if I could have stopped this from happening. You drop this whole Chosen thing in my lap and then don’t even think I’m adult enough to know the details. You didn’t fill me in on trackers or the Bishop or anything until now. If it weren’t for Shad I wouldn’t know squat. At least he had sense enough to warn me that I might be in danger.”
“If that’s true, then why didn’t you have sense enough to warn us?” Her dad asked. He ran a hand slowly over the late afternoon stubble on his jaw and sighed. “This is getting us no where. We need to pack. Get out of here tonight.”
“No! I’m not leaving. If I’m the Chosen One then I should have a say.” Jael crossed her arms.
“There’s no other choice, Jael,” her dad said, gripping the back of a kitchen chair and leaning over it. “Even if we stay out of town, eventually the tracker will find us – with or without your friend’s help.”
“Shadow changed sides. He won’t help his grandfather.”
Seth expelled a short mirthless laugh. “Like we can trust a tracker to tell the truth. That’s like expecting to find jellybeans in a baby’s diaper on Easter morning.”
“Enough!” Jesse shook the chair in his hands, banging it against the edge of the table. “This is getting us no where fast. Seth, get the trailer attached to the truck. Miriam, pack only the necessities. We don’t have time to take everything. If we can, we’ll come back for it later. I’ll pack the weapons down in the Dojo.”
“Dad – don’t do this!” She stepped in front of him when he moved to leave the kitchen. “Let me talk to Shadow first. Find out what he knows.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, exasperation deepening the lines around his mouth, then released a heavy sigh as though letting go of anger. When he opened them again, they were filled with determination. He gripped her upper arms. “You listen to me, Jael. We have been protecting you since before you were born. We will continue to protect you until our dying breath. But you need to understand something. This isn’t just about us. This is about our people. You were chosen to lead the charge, to fight for those held captive, for the weak sacrificed on a regular basis so the undead can continue to unleash their evil upon an unsuspecting world. You are the only thing standing between the Amish bloodsuckers and our family.”
She raised her brows. “Isn’t that a lot to expect from a teenage girl?”
“Maybe,” he said, releasing her. He brushed a lock of hair back from her face, “but I have confidence in you as the chosen one – and as my daughter.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“No time to be sorry,” he said, turning away, “help your mother pack.”
He and Seth hurried out. She heard the slam of the screen door.
Her mom leaned heavily against the refrigerator, both hands covering her face. She slowly slid down the length of the shiny stainless steel, coming to rest on the floor, and curled into a ball, arms clutching her middle, shoulders shaking. Her grief was silent and painful to watch. Jael wanted to turn and run. She’d never seen her mother this distraught, unable to cope with circumstances – or so frightened.
“Mom,” she said, inching forward, unsure how to help or even where to begin. “Do you want me to pack the stuff in the drawers?”
Her shoulders continued to shake and she curled tighter emitting a low moan as though she were in physical pain.
Jael bent down and touched her back. “Mom,” she whispered, “please. I’m sorry.”
She went still, drew a shaky breath and wiped the tears from her face. Slowly she sat up. Jael held
out her hand. Her mother clasped it and she pulled her to her feet. Jael waited for her mom to pull her into a hug but it never came. Instead, she turned away and started rummaging through the drawers of the kitchen, pulling out items and laying them on the table.
“Go out to the shed and get those cardboard boxes we’ve been saving,” she said, not turning around. “Then find the packing tape. I think it’s in the hall closet.”
More than anything Jael wanted to turn back time. If she could just rewind to the moment Shadow announced that his grandfather had let the cat out of the bag, or better yet, to the day she’d argued with her parents about going to public school. If she’d just continued her home schooling the way her mom thought she should when they moved to Sunburn, all this would be moot. But no, she wanted to have friends, accumulate average grades, eat lunch out of a paper sack in a school cafeteria – do things other kids did.
“What are you waiting for, Jael,” her mother asked, her voice cracking under pressure, “the Bishop’s men to come and drag us out of our own house?”
She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to…” she hung her head, tears welling in her eyes. She was supposed to be a slayer, not a crybaby.
Suddenly her mom was there, pulling her in and hugging her close. “It’s not your fault,” she said against her hair. “It’s mine. I convinced your father and Seth that you deserved a childhood free from the stress and responsibility of being the Chosen. They wanted to tell you everything a long time ago, to prepare you for your destiny. I just wanted to love and enjoy you as my baby daughter – not a future vampire slayer.” She drew back and looked into her eyes, her own damp and bloodshot. “I was wrong.”
“No, you weren’t.” Jael cupped her mother’s face between her palms. “You knew I needed those years of freedom because once I turned sixteen everything would change. I love you and I’m grateful you let me have a childhood.”
“Okay.” Her mom drew a shaky breath and nodded. “You’ve had your childhood, now it’s time to grow up. Get the boxes and let’s get out of here before all hell breaks loose.”
Jael hesitated. “Isn’t that what I’ve been trained for?”
“You heard your uncle. You aren’t fully ready to enter into battle with the Bishop.”
“But my birthday’s in a week and a half. How will that little bit of time make any difference?”
“No more questions, Jael. Trust that we know more than you do. Just get the boxes.”
Chapter 19
The Exodus