Since splitting up has never been in our favor, we decided to travel together to search for the devil's children. We rented a plane, a private jet, and were flying to Italy. Mason wouldn't tell me how he'd afforded it; it was probably better that I didn't know. None of us knew if any of them were there—we just wanted to get away from Sheen McAllister. We could have traveled faster by teleporting, but this gave us the chance to form a plan without worrying if the enemy was nearby.
"Will you tell me the story again?" Felix sat between Dawn and the window, eyes half open.
"When I was an outcast," she began, "I was supposed to take over Avril's body. Shelly was the alternative choice. She was Mason's outcast. As you already know Mason cannot be killed, and that made Shelly nothing. That's why it was easy to kill her, except I had to do it because, well, you know."
"My brothers," Mason added, "and possibly sisters, brought the older, or some of the older, outcasts to earth when they were born." He looked at me and smiled. "It's weird to think that all the outcasts in Alabama belong to my family. Most of them are probably older than a century." He gestured at himself and his brothers. "You see, we age differently than humans. We could stop growing at age three if that's what Father wanted. Over time we learned tricks, but they've been here much longer than us and probably have more tricks and abilities than us. For them, they may be able to kill their outcasts."
Felix pursed his lips and twirled his fingers. I knew what he was thinking. "Don't worry, Felix. They won't hurt your family. They're off limits." He peeked through his bangs and grinned slightly.
Dawn yawned. "We should get some sleep. I am exhausted, and we need our strength for what's coming."
She was right. War was just days away and we needed to be ready. Sleep was the only thing we could use. No weapon would stand a chance against them. And if we didn't find any of Mason's family by then we definitely wouldn't stand a chance.
Skylar was sitting by himself in the back seat. His head was leaned against the window, and he was asleep. I unzipped my jacket and laid it over him. His eyes cracked open when I tucked it in around him.
"Mommy, I'm hungry," he said softly.
"Do you want a snack?"
He nodded.
I walked to the mini fridge and pulled out a zip lock bag full of tiny red worms. I removed three of them and fought the urge to shudder as I carried them back to him.
He put them in his mouth and swallowed, licking his lips. "Worms are so good," he said. "You should try them."
I smiled. "I'll think about it. And listen. I love you more than anything else in this world. You know that, right?"
"Mm-hmm. I love you, too." He turned his head and started shouting out "I love you's" to everyone. "I love you, Daddy. I love you, Uncle Shane. And Uncle Scott. And Uncle Michel. And Uncle Chase. And Aunt Dawn." He smiled, showing his teeth. "And cousin Felix."
"We love you, too," Felix muttered. His elbow was perched on the armrest and propped his head up on his hand. His eyes were closed, and his breathing evened out.
"Yep," Dawn whispered. She was barely awake. She snuggled into her seat and snored softly.
I kissed Skylar's forehead. "You're a good boy. Now go back to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."
He closed his eyes and soon soft snores escaped his parted lips.
I tried to watch him sleep, but my mind wouldn't focus. It was in so many places that it was hard to concentrate on anything. We had to find Mason's brothers and sisters, but none of us knew where to begin to look. The only information we knew was that the outcasts were a year older than their carriers. If we only knew how old they were...
