“You said you smelled her blood. Why after all this time was there signs of a struggle and her blood?”
Creed’s face went pale. He hadn’t thought past pushing Alik to use his gift of retro-cognition.
“Let’s get Farrow in here,” Alik said logically. “She’ll want to be a part of this, too.”
Minutes later, the three metahumans stood in the room bracing themselves for what they were about to learn.
“Should we call your mom before we do this?” Farrow asked thoughtfully.
Alik shook his head. “We don’t know enough yet. I don’t want to worry her unless we have to.”
“Creed,” Alik turned to look into the eyes of a desperate man. “You are going to have to try to maintain yourself while I’m working. I can’t worry about you freaking the hell out or running off while I’ve got memories floating in front of my eyes. Agreed?”
Creed nodded once and locked his jaw as though containing his terror by sheer will.
“Farrow, I’m putting you in charge of driving.” He passed her the keys to the rental. She nodded once and pocketed them.
“Here it goes,” he mumbled and stared at the curtains, concentrating.
Minutes passed and Creed was barely able to contain his nerves. Just when he was about to scream at Alik to hurry the hell up, Alik inhaled sharply, turned around and looked at the sheet covered bed.
“This was Chaunders’ room. Meg can barely walk. Wait. Let me back up.”
“Chaunders?” Creed and Farrow said at the same time.
Alik went bolting back out of the room and into the hallway watching his reenactment in a ghostlike version where there was no sound, only visuals.
“She started back here,” he said running back down the hallway and opening the door to another room.
The scent of Meg was even stronger in this room. Tears rushed to Creed’s eyes at the first blast of her lilies and strawberries. All he could think about was her large, dark eyes and the way they would crinkle up when she smiled at him. He felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest with a rusted Army spoon.
“She woke from some kind of sedation and could barely move. She yanked out all her tubes,” Alik cringed at the visuals he was seeing, “and made her way to the bottom of the bed right here.” He pointed to the exact spot. “She can barely stand. What did they do to you Meggie?” the protective brother in him asked his sister’s echo.
“She managed to get into the hallway and,” Alik hurried ahead of her echo to watch. “She comes into this room to find a knife.” Creed and Sloan keep watching Alik’s facial expression through the glow of their flashlights. Alik didn’t seem to need the light as his indigo eyes were showing him the energy prints left there. “Atta girl Meggie,” he quietly cheered his sister on as he watched her arm herself and hug the wall as she shuffled painfully.
“Okay, this is how she ended up here,” Alik explains as he walks back into the room with the broken window. “She’s holding the knife to Chaunders’ throat. They’re talking, but I…wait, two soldiers are in the room now. They’re threatening Meg. Meg can barely hold herself up, but she’s fighting to…oh, my God, one of the soldiers just shot the other soldier with his taser gun. Meg is crawling away on the floor over there, she stands, struggles, but throws a chair out the window. The soldier just tased Chaunders. He’s talking to Meg. She…” Alik grimaced, “passed out, cutting her arm on the glass before he caught her.”
“He touched her?” Creed growled.
“He caught her,” Alik calmly repeated.
“What’s happening now?” Farrow asked, riveted to Alik’s retelling.
“He’s carrying her out,” Alik hurried back out the door and gave chase to the echo of his sister hanging limp in the arms of the nameless blonde soldier holding her.
“He’s laying her down in the back seat of a car and covering her with a blanket. Now he’s backing out of the driveway. Let’s get to the car. I can track them from here,” Alik turned and sprinted back to the spot across the street from the front of the chateau where they’d parked.
Creed ran ahead yanking the keys from Farrow’s hands, and gave her a look that could kill, challenging her to argue with him.
Farrow just kept running and took the back seat when they got to the car. Alik didn’t even seem to notice who was driving as he clambered into the passenger side. Creed shoved the keys in the ignition, shifted into first gear and gave it too much gas. The tires squealed in response before catching in the gravel and responding to his demands of speed.
“He’s driving pretty fast,” Alik watched the dark street before them like it was a movie he was translating to the blind. “Keep going straight.”
“What did she look like? Was she healthy?” Creed asked, his huge fists gripping the steering wheel making it look like a toy in his hands.
“She looked, frail, way too skinny. Her hair was wild and long. She looked like she’d been drugged.” Alik added remembering her dark eyes blinking slowly and heavy.