“No, not at all. You must understand that we were kept in cages at the compound. Anything that doesn’t have wide open windows and an open door will feel like a cage to her. And I won’t do that to her.”
Hunter nodded. “I get that. But she’s also a link to a group of people who are hurting gifted people like us,” he said. “I can’t live with that. We have to do something.”
“And do you think there’s no other way to do it but with her help?” Celina asked the two men nervously.
“Easier with her help, I would presume,” Hunter said reluctantly.
“I think she’s pulling the electricity from my field around her,” Stefan said, with a sigh. “If I drop it, we’re in danger of having somebody up in the hills fire back at us, and, if I keep it up, it’s something that she can continue to pull on and to use to hide from us.”
“Then keep it up,” Hunter said immediately. “I’ll let you know when I find something.”
And, with that, he disappeared into the force field.
*
Celina placed her hand in Stefan’s. “If that’s the case, how can he go through it?”
“He’s an energy hunter, so he can move through almost all mediums. Energy was one that took him the longest to figure out, but he can use it to track her.”
“Is that wise?”
“Hunter appears to be on a mission,” Stefan said, quietly sliding an arm around his wife’s shoulders and pulling her up close.
“I like her,” she murmured.
“I do too,” Stefan said. “She was very young when I was there. I think only five, maybe six, but just a child, barely more than a toddler. She had no idea what was going on, but she never once cried for her mommy and daddy. I remember that. I tried to befriend her and did for a time, but there was only so much I could do as a prisoner myself. But I did try to comfort her, you know, help her sleep and ease her fear when she was locked up.”
“Did she even have parents at the time?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured. “I don’t remember.”
“But she remembered you, and, even after all these years, she found you. That’s what I find stunning.”
“I think she experienced a shock wave, almost like a slice of her memory returned to her. Maybe because of all the fragmenting happening to her system. Regardless she somehow remembered me and managed to find me, which I don’t understand either. I’m not sure she understands any better.”
“Do you think she’ll be okay?”
He squeezed Celina’s shoulders gently. “Well, I can’t tell you what tomorrow will bring, but, for the moment, she’s okay.”
“Why wouldn’t she stay?” she asked, with a note of urgency, turning to look up at him. “We could have helped her.”
“We are helping her,” he said thoughtfully, still staring out the front door. “And I think Hunter will be the best thing for her.”
“Why is that?”
“Because of the energy they share,” he said, his lips twitching. “Hunter doesn’t know it, but he’ll get the shock of a lifetime when he figures this out.”
“Figures what out?” she demanded.
He looked down at her, gently kissed Celina’s forehead, and said, “They have a connection. A big one.”
“What kind?”
“The best kind,” he said.
She glared at him, and he shook his head. “I’m not being difficult. I’m asking, is a big surprise coming for Hunter?”
“Well, he has to find her first.”
“Very true.”
“And let’s hope he finds her quickly.”
“Why? What do you see?”
He stared off in the distance and shrugged. “Trouble. She’s had a lot of it in her life, and it won’t stop anytime soon.”
“There’s got to be something we can do to help her,” she said urgently.
“We’re working on it,” he reminded her. He motioned her back into the house. “It’s time to go inside.”
“At least that bullet hole of hers healed.”
“Dr. Maddy and I are both quite surprised by her ability to heal. It’s phenomenal.”
“I wondered when I saw it,” she said. “It had only been two days, and it looked like it had already healed for several weeks. Almost closed over.”
“If she’d rest longer, even another day, it probably would have been.”
“Do you know what they did to her?”
He hesitated and then slowly nodded. “I saw bits and pieces in visions,” he said, “and I saw enough when I was there with her to have a good idea.”
“Well, … will you tell me?”
He looked down at her and, with a serious tone, asked, “Do you want to have nightmares for the rest of your life?”
She winced. “That bad?”
“That bad,” he said, with a nod. “Absolutely that bad.”
“Why are people like that?” she asked softly. “That poor woman doesn’t deserve this.”
“No, she doesn’t, not at all,” he murmured. “And we’ve got to do what we can to help her, so they can’t capture her again. I think they kept her as a tool—as a weapon—and now they want that weapon back.”
“You don’t think they did before?”
“Oh, I think they did, but I also think that they have a use for her again. Perhaps she took off at a time when they had no particular use for her, and now they do, and they’re angry. I don’t know. It’s hard to say.”
“Do you think that they let her come here specifically to lead them to you?”
He stopped, looked at her, and said, “I was hoping you wouldn’t guess that option.”
“I’m not a fool,” she said, steadily looking at him. “When people come here, it’s usually because you let them.”
“Very much so,” he said. “I always put that beacon out there, in case people need help, but that doesn’t always mean I know what’s coming.”
“And that’s the concern,” she said quietly. “Because you don’t know if maybe this woman didn’t lead some other element here.”
“Well, it’s not another element that she had any control over,” he said quietly, as he locked the front door.
“And then you lock the front door,” she said, almost laughing in dismay. “What good will that do?”
He said, “We have people who can walk through walls. We have people who can walk through doors, but still, if you put up an energy message that says, ‘Keep out,’ it’s one more lock they have to figure out.”
She nodded. “I know that. It just seems so pointless.”
“It’s not pointless,” he said. “Let’s go have tea.”
“Tea doesn’t solve everything either,” she said in a wry tone.
“Nope, it doesn’t, but it sure does make us feel better.”
And, with that, she laughed and let herself be led to the kitchen.
Chapter 5