☽

"What's wrong?" a dark-haired girl asked a woman who was examining a worn notebook closely.

"They know," the woman responded as she turned to look at the girl, a frown on her red lips. "They know when it's coming."

The girl's eyes widened at this information, and she pondered it for a few moments. "This could work out to our advantage, it might actually be better if they came. We need testing subjects for the serum, and it will be good to have some first prototypes to experiment on."

"Good point," the woman nodded, tossing the notebook into a corner. "They are already curious, and all it will take is some reverse psychology to get them to want to be there even more."

The girl grinned mischievously, pushing her dark curls out of her face as she followed the woman out of the room. "So, what's the plan?"

☽

" G O O D M O R N I N G!" River greets me with a smile. It's Monday again, which means I've just walked into botany class. I smile when I notice that she's already layed everything out and dated and titled her page.

"Hey, you. Ready for today I see," I reply, sitting down in the desk next to her.

"Of course. Didn't you bring your rare flower project today?" She asks, fondling her chocolate cosmos flower, her fingers tracing it's reddish-hued petals.

"Oh no," I cover my face with my hands. I've been so wrapped up with figuring this weapon thing out that I forgot all about the project. "I...didn't."

"Don't worry about it," River winks after looking at the schedule."There's supposed to be 15 presenting this week and 15 next week. Since I'm the 14th for today and you're the 15th, I know what to do."

During River's presentation, she covers so much information that the profesor is forced to let me present next week because of time constraints.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver," I wipe my brow in relief as we pack up our books. River doesn't reply, only smiles a little. I can sense a sort of longing from her, and a small sigh escapes her lips. "What is it?" I ask gently.

"It's nothing, really,"she laughs lightly,"just a silly dream I have. Sometimes I wish I could be a real lifesaver, like you."

Her eyes meet mine, and my heart drops in my chest. Little does she know that my mark is not a hero, and that I am not telling her everything. But I can't. She is too precious to me now. I know she expects an answer, maybe a comforting word, but I just stare at her for several moments. The room is empty now, and I step closer, pulling her into my arms. No words are exchanged, but we stay like that; her head on my my shoulder, for a long time.

Finally she pulls away to look up at me, her eyes a bit watery. She opens her mouth to speak, but my phone suddenly begins to vibrate and I pull it out of my front pocket, answering before I even read the caller-ID. "Hello?"

"Information travels fast, but usually in a circle. We know you know about Project Omnis. We're not going to warn you again," a strangely garbled voice replied. "Stay away." The line clicked dead.

River was close enough to hear every word, and something told me whoever called knew that. It was a scary feeling, that someone was watching you and was threatening you.

I feel her cold hand slip into mine, her slender fingers gripping mine tightly. Through our intertwined limbs, I can feel her racing heartbeat. I run my thumb over her knuckles, in an effort to calm her down and myself.

"Check the number and see if you recognize it. We can at least get the area code," River tells me, snapping out of the initial shock.

I open my phone again and read the two words on the screen at the top of my recent calls list: unknown number. "Well that's helpful," I say sarcastically, a bit disappointed. "It was a good idea though."

"Do you think we should really stop? Just give up?" River shoves a hand through her blond hair in worry. "What do you think they'll do to us?"

"If this is my mother we're talking about as head of the operation, then that means she knows it's me. Her son," I widen my eyes, staring at her. "If she knows that I know that it's her, why would she try to disguise her voice? And if she knows that I know that she knows that it's me, why wouldn't she just talk to me in person?"

"This is hurting my brain," River complains, dragging her hands over her eyes. "We need to document this information."

I nod, reaching into my backpack to get out my notebook, but I don't feel it. An awful feeling settles into my stomach. "Oh no. My notebook...I left it at home, on the bed. She must have found it!"

Now I can feel panic flaring in my chest, and my sense of control begins to lessen. My scars turn blue, and I see River's face pale a bit. I ball my hands into fists, suppressing the electricity, and hoist my backpack on my back. "We need to go. Now."

"Where?" She links her elbow through mine. "We can't go to your house."

I don't want to sleep at my house anymore. I don't want to even look at my mother knowing she would threaten us like this while ignoring us in person.

"..But we can go to mine," River finishes."We'll be safe there."

"Alright, but not for the night. I'll rent a hotel room," I decide, not wanting to burden her.

I can tell she wants to protest, and I can read the worry and concern that surrounds her like a cloud. However, she keeps silent and nods in acknowledgement.

Now my grandfather told me something when I was very young: the strongest desire of a man's heart is to be respected, and the strongest desire of a woman's heart is to be loved. I can tell this is what he meant by respect. River is smart, probably smarter than I am. She knows when to use her intelligence, and when to keep silent. She doesn't argue with me even if she probably has a better idea. She uses her smarts to help me in anyway she can, but looks to me to lead. I know my grandfather would approve of her, and I finally admit to myself that I have deep feelings for her. This wonderful girl who encourages and helps me so much, but who also needs me.

Her family is very happy to see us, and I relax for a few hours as I play with Peter and laugh along with them. After we clean up dinner, River places a hand on my shoulder. "The shipment comes in tomorrow. What is the plan?"

I look up at her and see a gentle smile on her face. "I know you probably have one already. But I was thinking...if my mother tried to scare us off, shouldn't we go anyways? They won't expect it."

She sits next to me at the table, look sober. "I was thinking that too. But...we have to be prepared in case she really is expecting us after all. You never know with villains."

I sigh."You're right, as always. I'm hoping it won't come to that."

"Wait..." River looks up at me suddenly. I can tell this is going to be important." What time is the shipment coming in? We didn't hear that part. I'd expect either after dark or early in the morning, but how can we find that out?"

"Julie," I reply, snapping my fingers. "She'll have a schedule. I have an idea." I pull out my phone and make a call to my Julie, mother's secretary. By now it's after hours, but I know her quite well. I ask her to pull up my mother's schedule for the next day.

"It says here that she's scheduled to meet a shipment of new products at 6am at the docks in Verville," Julie tells me. I thank her and hang up, then tell River.

"Sounds like we have a big day tomorrow," River responds."Verville is at least forty minutes away, so that means we'll have to get up at five. You better get going."

"Okay, okay! I can take a hint!" I chuckle, standing up and stretching.

"You know what I meant. I don't want to deal with Mr. Grumpyface tomorrow if you don't get enough sleep," River teases, lightly shoving me. "But...how are you going to explain to your parents why you are at a hotel? Your 'state of the art' security cameras are going to hold proof you didn't go home."

"Yeah..." I shrug, pulling on my jacket. "I'm not the best at thinking of excuses, as you've probably noticed. I'll think of something."

She stands as well, gazing at me with a faraway look in her brown eyes. Then she sighs and gives me a quick hug. "Stay safe, please. I don't like the idea of you being all alone."

The smell of her perfume is a comforting, familiar scent. "Don't worry," I cup her chin in my hand. "I'll try my best not to die."

"Thank you," she laughs. "Because if you do, I'll kill you."

I am still smiling when I pull up to the hotel, feeling calmed. I will have to swing by my house tomorrow to get new clothes, but at least I don't have to sleep in fear.

I drift off to sleep slowly, trying to rest in the knowledge that we are in this together, and not what we'll actually be doing tomorrow. Because even though I am upset and slightly afraid of my mother, I may lose her forever tomorrow.

a u t h o r ' s n o t e
hey everyone! so I got my wifi back, here's the chapter! (only a day late, too) I can't believe there's only two chapters left of this book to write!

Next Update | Friday, October 5