"Ok Lexi what do we know? We have three guys over in that house that really need us to get them out. But how in the heck do we go about doing something like that? Jake is the one who knows about this kind of stuff not me."
"We will work with what we have. Kenna if you can control the elements that is a huge advantage."
"But they only know I can control air, they don't know I am the one with all four. If they find that out they are going to be even more determined to destroy me, because if you get rid of me our line is done. I am the continuation of our heritage, I carry the line in me. Or at least that is what our history says. So revealing my other elements could make matters worse."
"Ok that totally sounds like Jake talking, you don't give a rat's ass what it does to you as long as we get those boys out of there." Oh she knows me so well. "So quit with the only using air thing, there are 6 of them and only 2 of us we…"
"Three." Aidan's mom said as she stepped into the room.
"What?" Was Lexi's only response to that.
"There are three of us."
"Mrs. Clark I appreciate it but…" She didn't even let me finish what I was saying.
"Do not but me young lady! That is my son and husband over there and I will not sit idly by while they are being tortured or worse. I am here to help you girls and that is what I am going to do. Three is always better against six than two is."
Aidan is gonna kill me but what choice do I have. We don't have a lot of resources at our disposal right now. "Ok you're in, but you have to do everything we tell you once we figure out exactly what we are going to do. You cannot deviate from the plan, it could cost people their lives."
"I understand."
Now all I have to do is come up with a plan, we can't storm the damn house and the only thing we have that they want is me. But would Michael do another trade? And if he would what would entice him to take me for two people? I know he would never give me Aidan, but maybe I can get him to give me Jake and Mr. Clark for me. But there is no way anyone is going to go for that, they are going to try and keep me safe while Aidan is in harm's way. And who's to say I can get Michael to trade me for both of them? Aidan couldn't trade himself for two. If he knew who I was he would, but that is losing a really big advantage. Oh, I need Jake, I don't know how to do this kind of stuff!
"Ok, we really have to figure something out. I know we can do this, we are three smart women, we are always taking care of men, it is time we take care of them again." We tried for hours to come up with a plan but nothing was working. There is really no way for us to rescue the boys without putting ourselves in extreme danger, and as much as I want to save Aidan, Jake, & Mr. Clark I can't put Lexi and Mrs. Clark in that kind of danger.
"Wait Kenna, why don't we try the simplest thing. You have been watching the house, and they are all back in there, why don't we just have the cops go in and get them out for us? It is my house after all, and all I have to do is go to the cops."
"I wish that would work, but what is to keep them from killing the hostages the moment the cops show up? They have been functioning this way for centuries, don't ever doubt they will resort to violence, and there are more of them out there. Ok, break time. We have come up with every hair brained idea there is out there to get the boys back. I think we need to take a minute and try to relax."
"Right Kenna, like any of us can really relax" Lexi did have a point, but we have to do something different because what we are doing isn't working.
"No Lexi she is right, we aren't necessarily going to relax, but let's each go find a room to ourselves and give ourselves some time to mull things over. I know there is a way to get the boys back, we just haven't thought of it yet, and taking a little break is a great idea."
"Thank you Mrs. Clark." So we all went and found a quiet place to rest and think. I went into one of the bedrooms and laid down on the bed. What am I going to do?
Mrs. Clark is right, there is a way to get the boys back, but no one is going to let me do it. But I don't really have a choice, there is no other way to get them back, but what can I trade to get both Jake and Mr. Clark? If I tell him who I am he would give me both, having me would insure Michael would stop our blood lines, but that truly has to be a last resort.
"Knock Knock." What, we are suppose to be resting.
"Come in? Lexi? What are you doing in here?"
"Kenna I have known you our entire lives, I know what you are doing."
"What are you talking about."
"Kenna, we haven't come up with anything solid to get the guys back, and I know you will put your own life at risk if there is a chance you can get at least one of them back, so let's be honest, let me help you."
"Lexi, I just don't really see any other way."
"I am not arguing with you Kenna, we just have to plan this very carefully, and try everything possible to make sure everyone gets out alive."
"I know, and I will truly try to keep Aidan and myself that way for as long as possible, and there is always the chance they will stop hunting Aidan once they have me. I am the one they are really looking for."
"Hey, we will worry about that later, we haven't check the video feed in a while, there has to be something going on over at that house, maybe we can get an idea what our time frame is."
"That is a great idea, how could we have forgotten about that." Lexi ran downstairs and got our computer with the video feed. "Great let's see what we missed." The great thing about the video feed is it records as well as gave us a live feed, so if we missed anything we could still go back and check it out.
"Lexi stop there, that is Michael and Julie, we need to see what is going on with them."
"JULIE, you do not walk away from me young lady!" He actually grabbed her arm hard enough he probably cause bruising. "You will listen to me."
"Why, why should I listen to you father? I love him, can't you understand that? I didn't mean to fall for one of them, but I fell before he told me and he is a good man, no matter what abilities he has!"
"Listen to yourself child. Of course I understand, but you were not suppose to follow in my footsteps." What follow in his footsteps?
"How did you do it? How did you sentence the woman you loved to death? My own mother, how did your heart let you do that or do you even have a heart?!"
SMACK Dang, he just knocked her on the floor with that one. "Don't you ever question my love for your mother, but she was an abomination, and she kept that secret from me until after you were born. I did not have a choice but to turn her over to the council."
"What about me, how is it you managed to keep them from killing me too?"
"We have followed these lines for years, and we know how they work. If the mother or father only has one of the gifts and the spouse has no tie to the line the child is born without the taint, that is how I knew you were safe, I do not carry the abomination in my blood line, but now you do."
"What does that mean that I do what?"
"If Aidan hadn't told you who he was and you had married and had children with him, your child would have manifested the curse within your womb."
"What? My child will have their gifts?"
"They are not gifts child! They are demon born, and cannot continue in this world."
"Would you have killed my child father?"
"Yes, we would not have had a choice, how do you think there are random people with this curse that seem to have no tie to the original line? If you trace it far enough back it all leads back to the original five. There is always a connection."
"You mean I…"
"Yes Julie you, your heritage leads back to the fateful day that the demons took that innocent women, and we are still trying to restore the balance that day caused."
"What about Aidan's dad and that guy Steve?"
"I already told you his father made the choice when he kept the boy, as for this Steve fellow, we will see, collateral damage is part of this war when you are cleaning up the devils mess."
"What? Father wait, no you can't father…" Oh my God, they left the kitchen but Jake and Mr. Clark don't have much time.
"Lexi we have to think fast." Did Lexi catch when Julie said her child WILL be like us? Was that a slip or is she carrying Aidan's child? Store that away Kenna, if she is carrying his child is she going to protect it.
"Tell me what you have come up with so far, and we will go from there."
"I am pretty sure I can trade myself for Mr. Clark, but to get Jake I have to give Michael something more, but I don't want him to know who I am, so I figured I would give him the family file."
"What? You can't give him that."
"Lexi come on, there really isn't much of anything in it anyway, and I am going to take out the information as to where the other three were placed, and then he doesn't even know where they went."
"All he will have to do is check the court records that were filed."
"Yes, but that would give us a head start, and we just have to be really good at finding the rest of them. And it isn't going to be easy anyway, even with where they were placed."
"Your right, and this is the best plan we have so far. Ok, let's see what you can work out with that crazy man."
"Hello? Who is this?"
Well here goes nothing. "That is a horrible way to answer a phone, didn't your parents ever teach you any manners?"
"Excuse me!" Not the best way to get on his good side, but I have an extreme dislike for this man, and who wants to be on his good side anyway.
"If you haven't guessed this is Kenna."
"I know, what are you ready to turn yourself over?"
"In a way yes, but for a price."
"Of course, I will give you the same deal I gave Aidan, your life for one of the lives I have in my hands, and of course Aidan is out of the question."
"Well, what if Aidan is the only one I want?"
"I guess we are at a standstill and you will just have to wait until I find you."
"I want Aidan's dad and Aidan's friend."
"How do you know about the friend? This Steve guy really isn't who he seems to be is he?"
"You read a lot into things don't you. Mrs. Clark happened to catch the girl friend, Janis, on her way to the Clark's house, probably to ask about Steve, and I put two and two together and figured you had him. Which you just confirmed, thank you."
"Interesting, regardless, what makes you think I would trade you for two people anyway? You can have the same deal as before, so choose wisely, which one do you want?"
"I figured you would say that, so I have one other bargaining chip to get both Mr. Clark and Steve."
"Really and what could that possibly be?"
Oh this is going to be harder than I thought. "I will trade myself for Mr. Clark and I will trade Halaina's personal journal to you for Steve." I just came up with that on the fly! Now if this works I don't have to give him any of the information on my siblings, but I have to give up Halaina's journal, and I have only read a little of it, maybe they have a copier in this house, at least then we still have a copy.
"You lie, you do not have her journal!"
"Did you honestly think it just vanished? This journal is from the original mother of the five. I am sure the Restorers would be very happy to have this in their possession." Silence, maybe that means he is really considering it!!
"K? Hey K?" Ok talking to Lexi is pretty much out of the question right now, so hopefully she can understand these stupid hand signals and the running my finger across my neck as a no talking sign!! Wait I need to know if there is a copier in this house, well Michael is still silent, so whispering it is.
"Lexi I need to know if there is copier in this house, I can't lose everything we have from Halaina, can you check on that for me?" Lexi shook her head yes and quietly walked out of the room. God I hope these people have a copier!
"Ok Kenna, how can I guarantee that the journal is the real thing?"
"I guess you are just going to have to trust me and hope I am not lying to you "
"That is not going to work for me, unless you can guarantee the journal is real, I am not trading anyone for it."
Crap, I hadn't thought of that, how to prove it's real? "This is an old journal, the best I can do is take a picture of it with my phone or something and send it to you, but I have a feeling that will not work for you."
"You are right it won't. I will agree to exchange you for one of the men we have. And once you decide on a place to do this exchange I will bring someone who will authenticate the age of the journal, and once that is determined I will either give you the other man or I will have my men shoot him. So you better be very sure as to the authenticity of that journal."
"I am, so you will exchange both Steve and Mr. Clark?"
"If the journal proves to be real, yes I will."
Wow, I really didn't expect that to work, now where the hell am I going to do this exchange? The school is out, can't do that place again wouldn't be safe. But I really don't know this area it is Aidan's home not mine. Aidan that is it!! I will ask Aidan. "Ok, I will call you back within the hour for a time and a place to do the exchange."
"Now tell me when and where now, I don't need any surprises from you girl!"
"If you want me then you will wait. This is not my home town and I do not trust you as far as I can throw you which wouldn't be very far if at all, and I will not throw out a random place to meet you without doing a little research first!"
"Ha ha, you are getting to understand me more and more girl. Fine I will give you your hour, but no longer than that or I will kill Mr. Clark."
Oh my God, ok I have to make sure to get this all figured out within the next hour. "will speak in less than and hour."
"I look forward to hearing from you." Yeah I am sure he does, crazy ass man!
"Lexi! Lexi, did you find one? Please tell me you found one!!" We almost ran into each other as I came running out of the room.
"Yes, yes they have one. It isn't very big, but they have one."
"Great, we need to start copying the journal right now. Can you start that for me?"
"Yeah, I can do that." Thank God for best friends, now to contact Aidan.
"Aidan, hey are you there?"
"Yeah, I am here Kenna."
"How are you guys?"
"Still hanging in there, haven't seen my father yet though, I hope he, he can't, he has to be."
"He is Aidan, but I need to know where the best place to meet Michael is."
"What! Kenna no, not a chance."
"Aidan I just need you to answer the question, what I do with that information is my business!"
"Do you really think I am going to tell you where to meet Michael so you can trade yourself for Jake or my father, no Kenna you are my sister and I can't do that!"
"Aidan I don't have a choice, Michael will kill them, this is our family we are talking about, and I will not stand by and let that man kill them!"
"I can't let him have you Kenna, I can't do it."
"Aidan I don't have time for this, either you tell me the best place or I pick one myself! You do not get to tell me I can't and cannot risk my life! This is my choice, just like it was your choice to trade yourself."
"Fine, if I can't stop you I should give you the best place to meet him. And I suppose I will be seeing you soon."
"Yes I am afraid you will."
"Meet him at the library. There will be kids around and hopefully that will keep you safe. Please, please be careful Kenna, I know you and I are domed to be here with Michael, but keep the others safe."
"I will do my best Aidan, but once we are both there, I have no idea what they might try to do themselves, and I am more worried about that than anything. Oh and I need you to warn Jake, he isn't going to like me doing this, but it is going to happen, and if he says anything when I do the exchange he could get us all killed."
"I will tell him, but he is going to wonder how I know, and he is going to have a shit fit."
"Just tell him if I decide to exchange myself for him he needs to be ready for that and not do anything that will put us in danger. He will believe that if he knows me as well as he claims to. ."
"Ok, I will tell him, and we can't worry about what they are going to do once they are free, we can only do what we can do I love you Kenna and will see you soon unfortunately."
"I love you to Aidan." And if I have any say in it you will not be seeing me again, not anytime soon anyway.
Ok so the library, now I need to figure out where the dang library is. Can't very well ask Mrs. Clark she would get suspicions. To the internet to Google it, I need to go see how Lexi is going on copying that journal anyway.
"Hey Lexi how is it going in here?"
"It's going, I hope we get this done before you have to give it to Michael."
"We will I just have to call him within an hour, I am setting the time to meet and I sure as hell am not going to meet him in the middle of the night, I was thinking about 9 in the morning in three days, if he wants the journal the way I think he does he will agree, what do you think?"
"It's as good a time as any, any idea where you are going to do this?"
"I will meet him at the Library, should be people around and kids, so hopefully he won't try anything there."
"Not a bad idea, so Kenna what is your plan once everyone but you and Aidan are free? You can't just sit back and let them kill you both."
"I am hoping Aidan won't be there once I do the exchange."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know if I am right, but I have to try and get Julie to help get him out."
"Julie is with them, Kenna you can't."
"It is a feeling Lexi, I have to try. If it works everyone could get away."
"Not everyone Kenna, no matter what you won't get away."
"I know and I am working on that one, and as you said my advantage is that they don't know all that I can do. I just hope the Clarks will be ok with whatever damage I do to their house."
"I am pretty sure they won't be going back to that house anyway, so don't worry about that."
"There is another thing Lexi, I know once Jake is free he is going to try and do something to get me out, but I need you to stop him."
"Kenna I can't do that, I plan on trying to get you back, I can't sit back and let some psycho kill my best friend and her brother."
"I realize that, but if I am going to use my gifts then I can't worry about hurting one of you guys while I am. None of you guys would survive a fire or flood. If I have the chance to use my powers I will and I can't worry about you guys too."
"I will try Kenna, but if I don't see or hear anything within 24 hours I can't promise anything. You have 24 hours to get out of there or we are coming in." She is right I can't ask her to keep Jake from trying something forever, 24 hours it is.
"Ok, 24 hours, I am going to go call Michael and give him time and place, but we have to figure out how to keep Mrs. Clark away from there."
"Don't worry about Mrs. Clark I will keep her here, but that means you have no back up out there with you, so be very careful."
"I still have to figure out how to get Julie out of the house so I can talk to her."
"You better be very careful about that to, I know you think it is the right thing to do, but remember she is one of them, has been since she was born."
"I will, let me go call Michael." This really is something I have to do on my own. It is just hitting me, I hope I don't let anyone down on this. There are a lot of lives that hang in the balance of what I end up doing and if I can make it all work.
Well Michael is called he doesn't like it but he did agree to three days. "Aidan I have set up the exchange with Michael."
"Kenna please don't do this. Just take my mom and you and Lexi and get out of here!"
"Aidan I can't do that anymore than you could have. I have to do whatever I can to save who I can, your dad doesn't deserve this and Jake doesn't either." "They are not your responsibility Kenna."
"They are Aidan as much as you are."
"They will never trade me, please this is the second time they have gotten me, Kenna I am just a liability to you anymore."
"Nice try Aidan that isn't going to work either. I am trading myself and the journal for Jake and your father, then once you and I are together we can work out a way to get us both out."
"Kenna NO!"
"This is my choice, just like it was your choice to trade yourself. You really don't have a say in this at all, I just wanted to let you know what was going to happen."
"Kenna please."
"Goodnight Aidan."
"Kenna wait."
"I will see you in a few days. I love you."
"Kenna don't" I will get him out, I have to. Well, now that my brother is royally mad at me I may as well go lay down and see if I can have some awesome nightmares tonight. Don't know how I am functioning on the little amount of sleep I am getting, but I guess that just gets to be part of my wonderful gifts!