Fragility Unearthed

  Seconds felt like hours. The night wasn’t going to end, ever. I couldn’t text Victoria. She had a baby she needed to be with and a husband who wouldn’t appreciate hearing from me every second of every day because I got a little anxious.

  Television got really dull. There was nothing to watch, nothing to do. All kinds of eventualities filled my imagination. The ghosts. The demons. The shadows. Death.

  By the time morning came, I’d taken up permanent residence on the end of the bed. And still no Malcolm.

  By 9 a.m., I was sitting outside of his house looking for any signs of life inside. If he was being an ass and not talking to me for some reason, I’d deal. I’d even throw something at him. Anything to calm the utter terror.

  His car wasn’t in the driveway. I walked toward the house, like it could provide some answers. A glance through a window elicited no results. No signs of life seemed visible. I made my way around back. Nothing in the backyard either. The dirt was a little bit dug up and covered up where he’d retrieved and then hid the phoenix again.

  The phoenix must be below my feet. We had to keep it underground and away from the shadows. If they couldn’t see it, they couldn’t take it.

  I ran my hands over the dirt.

  My stomach tingled, the new skin not liking the squatting. I returned to my car. I had one more place I could try before giving into panic fully and phoning hospitals.

  I’d been to Block’s house exactly once. He and I had been close when we’d lived in the Other space. He was quiet and didn’t tend to deal in drama. We’d spent a lot of time together reading the great works of literature. Or, at least what the Others deemed them to be. In this world, he and Malcolm were business partners.

  If Malcolm couldn’t or wouldn’t get in touch with me, he would reach out to Block. Of that I was certain. I rang the doorbell. It took a minute, but Block arrived wearing nothing but his pajama pants. He stared at me, and I looked away. I’d never been really comfortable with seeing people half-dressed. Keith, Block’s real name, wasn’t what I’d have called a traditionally handsome man. He had blond hair, almost as white as my own; his eyes were the lightest blue possible before they wouldn’t be a color at all. He had pale skin and high cheekbones. He was also covered in burn scars. I didn’t know why. If anyone knew, no one talked about it, and I didn’t have the guts to ask.

  “Hi. Sorry to drop by.”

  “The burns are pretty bad to look at. I’ll go get a shirt.”

  I grabbed his arm. “I’m not looking at you because I’m horribly embarrassed to see my friends half naked. Not because of the burns. So, yes, put on your shirt. I’m a prude. But not because you think I care about the scars.”

  He snickered. “Okay. I’ll get on a shirt.”

  I walked into his foyer. The last time I’d been here, I’d been half out of it, having first nearly died carrying light around all day and then exorcising a demon from Victoria. Now that I was only terrified and not undone by the paranormal world, I could see how his home was decorated in a cozy way.

  “To what do I owe the early visit?”

  I took a deep breath. “I guess I could have texted, but this seemed like the kind of thing I should come over to talk about.”

  “Which is what?” He sipped from a grey cup. “Want something to drink? Eat? This is a protein shake.”

  “No, the idea of food makes me want to throw up.” I took his arm. “Have you heard from Malcolm?”

  He raised his eyebrows, his forehead wrinkling. “No. Last I heard he was going with Chase to make first contact with Troy. Then back here to you. Did something happen?”

  My last chance at getting an answer from someone who knew something blew away with the wind. I wanted to collapse even as I kept my back straight. If something was wrong again, I had to be strong, not pathetic.

  “He never came back. I can’t get him or Chase on the phone. I thought maybe he was angry with me. Maybe I’d done something to piss him off. You’d know for sure.”

  He hugged me, which shocked and steadied me at the same time. “There’s nothing you could do that would ever make him stop talking to you. He’d scream and yell at you. When he first came to America, we ran into each other. No coincidences when it comes to us, right?” I laughed. Yes, he was right.

  I pulled back, taking a steadying breath and nodding. “That must have been startling.”

  “Actually, it was an incredible relief. I had all my memories. I knew what we were supposed to be doing but for eight years, nothing. No one. You were all gone, like you’d never existed. Then Malcolm was there. We stared at each other across this awful restaurant and … I finally felt like I could breathe again.”

  I could almost picture it as he spoke. “What did you do?”

  “He walked up to me, sat down across the table, and asked me what the hell had happened to me.” He held up his hand. “Don’t worry, Kendall. Most people are too polite to ask about the burns. Malcolm doesn’t have the keep-quiet gene. My parents were so angry at me for disappearing and reappearing that, until I was eighteen and ran away, they systematically burned me.”

  I gasped, utter horror rending me speechless. I touched the side of his face, and he nodded, sadly. “Malcolm offered to take care of my parents for me. He’s good like that. I declined, but the offer was nice. Anyway, he’d spent his whole time in Egypt thinking you were here wondering where he was. He couldn’t find you. I heard about you nearly every day after, even when we knew where you were and you didn’t know us. He’s not going silent by choice, I can guarantee.”

  Block pulled out his phone and dialed. Finally, he spoke, presumably to the voice mail. “Hey man, it’s me. I’m with Kendall. Whatever’s happened, we’re going to fix it.”

  I believed him.

  Chapter Two

  Block got dressed in leaving-the-house-clothes while I waited in his living room, admiring the Hill Country view. I chewed on my fingernail. If Malcolm and Chase were hiding, I’d find them. We’d trained over and over again in hide and seek. At the time, the Others making us play the game had seemed really stupid. Lately, it was more useful than anything else they’d taught me.

  I ran down the stairs, my friend and Malcolm’s business partner started speaking. “Hate to say this, but first things first. You and I have to start calling hospitals.”

  We’d lost Chelsea to a car accident. Despite our paranormal abilities to fight evil, we could still die from human means. If Malcolm hadn’t saved me using the phoenix, I’d be dead from the bullet wound. I gripped my cell phone tightly in my hand.

  “I’d like to think if he were hurt, I’d somehow know. Corny, huh?”

  Block nodded. “It’s really sweet but, yeah, not likely. He only knew you got shot because he heard the gun go off. When you were nearly killing yourself with the light before the battle, he didn’t know. You guys are connected but in a human, in-love kind of a way. Not the fairytale, feel-your-soul-mate-die way. Let’s eliminate the human stuff, and then we’ll move on from there.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Block pulled up his computer and typed a few keywords. His day job was in technology. He made the apps Malcolm used to run his business. “All right, I’ve got every hospital they could have been taken to between here and Fredericksburg listed on the screen. You start at the top, I’ll start at the bottom, and we’ll go from there.”

  “Okay.” I was glad he could think clearly. I couldn’t. What if Malcolm was dead? Or lying hurt somewhere, waiting for me to get to him? What if …

  Block shook my arm. “Wherever you’re going in your head, it’s not helpful. You don’t get to fall apart. Not yet. If they’re dead, I’ll weep at their funeral with you.”

  “If they’re dead, I’m using the phoenix to bring them back.” I had the power, and I was using it if I had to.

  He nodded. “There is that.”

  We started dialing. An hour later, we hadn’t found them. No patients under either Malcolm’s or Chase’s names had b
een admitted. While I made us some eggs, Block got busy hacking into the local police stations here and in Fredericksburg to see if they’d been arrested. As far as we could tell, they weren’t sitting in a jail.

  “If we go to the police, they’re going to tell us they haven’t been gone long enough.” Block paced the room. “I see no choice but for us to go to Fredericksburg and check things out.”

  I agreed. “I have to be back Monday afternoon to get my kids.”

  “We’ll drive there and back again today. If something requires staying overnight, I’ll send you back in my car and rent one to get home if need be. They went after Troy. He lives so close. No coincidences. Troy Peterson. That was his last name, right?”

  In the Other space the use of last names had been really pointless. There were twelve of us total. First names had been enough. “I think that sounds right.”

  Block was back at his computer. “He’s a doctor. I’ve got his office number and telephone. A pediatrician. No home number listed. He’s not likely to be at the office on a Sunday. We may have to wait until tomorrow.”

  “Malcolm and Chase went yesterday. That means they had his home info. Chase must have found it. Maybe he has something about it in his home office.”

  Block pushed his chair back from the table. “Do you have a key to Chase’s place?”

  “No, but I’m willing to break in. I think he’ll forgive me. I’ll even offer to pay for any damage I might do.”

  My declaration earned me a nod, and I followed him out the door. We were doing something. Somehow, I would retrace their steps and figure out what happened to them. Hide and seek … I was seeking.

  A car was parked in Chase’s driveway. I didn’t recognize it as one I’d seen Chase in before. Still, he kept a lot of vehicles because, in his line of work, it was important he not be recognized by anyone he tailed.

  Block shrugged. “We’ll ring the doorbell first. If Chase answers and the two of them are in there being assholes, I’ll help you kick their asses.”

  I laughed despite the horror of the idea. “At the very least, getting to spend the morning with you has been a drop of light in the otherwise darkness of this. You never talk this much.”

  “You all talk enough. Someone has to listen.”

  We walked together to the door. Passing the vehicle, I made a quick note that it was a tan sedan with a Texas license plate. A small dent marred the back bumper, and on the front side of the car was a sticker with a barcode which would probably open some kind of gate. The damaged bumper didn’t seem very Chase to me. The cars he drove were always in immaculate condition.

  Block rang the doorbell, and we waited. Footsteps approached, and the door unlocked slowly. It took me a moment to recognize the person on the other side, but it quickly dawned on me that Annika stared at us from the crack through the door.

  “Kendall?” She opened the door fully. “You’re the one who introduced us.”

  “Ah, yes,” I grinned at her. “You’re here.”

  I shouldn’t have sounded so surprised. Chase had said things were going well with them. Still, she was in his house, and they’d known each other less than a week. Not that I was in a position to judge how fast or slow anything moved for anyone else. My own life was way too complicated.

  “Have you seen Chase? Has he been in touch?” Her brown eyes pleaded with me for some answers. She’d been sitting here worrying, and we’d had no idea she even knew anything about it.

  I shook my head. “We’re worried too. Can we come in? This is Block-ah, Keith. He’s a friend.”

  “Oh, yes.” She swung open the door to let us in. “Sorry, I shouldn’t leave you on the stoop. I’m not used to this. I don’t generally hang out in the house of a guy I’ve known for so little amount of time. Chase is … special. I’d assume he was blowing me off if he was anyone else who left me here in his place and told me he’d come back. It’s not like he’s just not calling.”

  Annika was lovely. I’d thought so the first time I’d seen her on the street. Chase had been taken with her, and I’d liked the idea of giving him some fun before we all died. We’d not died, and things had blossomed a lot faster than even I knew. He’d told me he’d told her all about our powers and she hadn’t run away screaming.

  “You can call me Block. Everyone does. I hardly even answer to Keith anymore.” He extended his hand, and she shook it. “You’re the woman Chase has been talking about. Yeah, he’s not ditching you.”

  “I’m Annika Lovelace.” She shook her head. “I should be running from Chase. The things he says are nuts. Only, I work in a pediatric emergency room. Lately, things have been even worse than usual. Young children screaming about shadows. It almost felt like an aha moment when he told me. I’d never dream I could believe people could come back from the dead. He doesn’t seem crazy; he’s kind.”

  I don’t know that I would ever call Chase kind. My friend could be rough, sarcastic, and difficult. Still, I supposed he had his moments, and if he shared that side of himself with the woman in front of me, more power to him. Everyone should have that person in their life. Annika was petite with brown hair, brown eyes, a long face, and a curvy physique. Today she wore jeans and a tank top, although the first time I’d seen her she’d been in her scrubs from work.

  “I’m glad I acted so weird and introduced you two.” I squeezed her shoulder. “Malcolm is also missing. He’s my …” How did I define him? “Boyfriend.” The word seemed too inadequate. It would have to do. “Did Chase mention them going anywhere else other than to find Troy?”

  She shook her head, and I followed her further into the house, Block right behind me. Chase had once said his house was a bed, a sofa, and his office, nothing more. He hadn’t been lying or over exaggerating at all. The man had no furniture. Annika really must like him to wait in his empty house for him, particularly when he didn’t turn back up on time.

  “I’ve been texting him. I finally had to stop. He’s not answering, and I don’t want to be that girl.” Her thinking lined up with my own so perfectly; I shifted my feet uncomfortably. When did we decide as women we couldn’t bother the people we cared about for fear of being labeled crazy? I’d ponder male-female relationships another time. “He said he’d be back to take me to dinner. Then nothing. I called the hospitals.”

  Block and I shared a look. “We did, too. Now we want to head to Fredericksburg. But we only have Troy’s office information. Block can’t find his home information. We were hoping maybe Chase had it somewhere in his office.”

  “What would you have done if I wasn’t here?” She looked between us. “Oh, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. I can guess. I’d have done the same thing. His office is there. I’ve never been in it. I’m trying to behave respectfully while alone in his house for much longer than he expected.”

  Block walked past us in the direction she pointed and disappeared behind the door. It was probably best that he looked. I could use my computer well enough. If this required breaking into some kind of password or anything sophisticated, Block would be much better equipped.

  “I even thought about trying to find his car. I have a friend who might be able to activate the GPS system in his SUV. Except Malcolm picked him up. All of Chase’s cars are in the garage.”

  “Maybe we could still do that. If I can get Malcolm’s car information, could your friend check his GPS?”

  She nodded. “Sure. I mean, I could ask. I’ve never needed his help before, and I’ve bailed him out of a few jams. I’m sure he’d do it.”

  “If it comes to it, that’s what we’ll do.”

  Block exited the office. “Got it. Chase really didn’t expect any problems with this. He wrote an address under Troy’s name. There’s nothing to indicate he really didn’t expect to be right back.”

  “Then let’s go.” Time was ticking, and they needed us. I would find them. I wouldn’t fail.

  Annika touched my arm. “Can I give you my number? When you find them or if you f
igure something else out, can you text me? I have to work tonight.”

  “Sure.” I handed her my phone and let her put her number in it. Then I texted her mine. We could be in touch easily now. “Listen.” I shared two numbers with her quickly. “If you don’t hear from me, could you get in touch with those two people? The first one is my ex-husband, Levi. He’s going to need to know I’m missing. The next is my friend Victoria. She’s in this with us. They have to know if I also disappear.”

  “I will.” She hugged me, and I stiffened for a second before I hugged her back. When had hugging become a thing everyone just did? Block hugged. Annika hugged. I didn’t regularly hug anyone who wasn’t related to me except for Malcolm and Victoria.

  Had hugging somehow become the shaking hands of today?

  I got into Block’s car and buckled my seatbelt. He sat in the drivers’ seat, not starting the vehicle.

  I needed to check on him. “You okay?”

  “I’m thinking I should take you home. You have three kids. You can’t be risking yourself …”

  I interrupted him. “I risk myself constantly. I do it for them. Forgetting my feelings for Malcolm and my friendship with Chase, the world needs them. Finding them is also for my children. I won’t step in front of a bullet.” Again. Not that the first time had exactly been my choice …

  “If I think things are out of hand, I’m going to insist you leave. Malcolm’s my best friend. I don’t want him kicking my ass for risking you.”

  Block pulled the car out of the driveway, and we went on our way. “For what it’s worth, Malcolm respects me to make my own decisions. He doesn’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”

  “That doesn’t mean he won’t come down on me with the force of a thousand tornados if you get hurt. Don’t overestimate his ability to stay cool and non-Alpha when it comes to you. One day, when he was watching you to figure out if you knew who we were, you got slammed into on the street. You probably don’t even remember it. A whoops moment because the guy walked and texted at the same time. It was everything I could do to talk Malcolm off the beating-the-guy-up ledge.”