THE PHOTO TRAVELER (THE PHOTO TRAVELER SERIES - BOOK 1)

CHAPTER 17

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Back in my room, I’m soaked and shivering and still. I start tearing off my remaining clothes but when I turn around to take out my fury by slamming them against the wall, Estelle and Bud are standing at my door watching me.

            I can tell from her expression—she looks eager but also apprehensive—what question she’s about to ask.

            I nod. “I found them.” My voice is more somber than jubilant, but it doesn’t seem to register on either of them. She throws her arms around Bud, who looks equally happy. “What did they say?” she says. “Tell us everything!”

            I tell them everything from meeting Martin to what my parents told me about the fire, but I can’t quite bring myself to tell them about the Peace Hunters because I don’t want to worry them.

            When I tell them about saying goodbye to my mom and dad, Estelle tears up. Bud hugs her and tries to console her, assuring her that their children were safe. She nods, but I can tell how much she wants to have been the one to have said goodbye, to have held my dad one last time. I feel guilty. Maybe I should have asked them both to come with me. But who knows what the cold and snow could have done to them. That would have been worse.

            I’m still not sure whether to tell them about the Peace Hunters, but as I pull my soggy sweater over my head, I decide that what we all need is the truth. It’s the only way we can be prepared.

            So I tell them.

            “They gave me a message. Actually, more of a warning.” I recount exactly what my parents told me and even tell them about my own run-in with Naima and Axel. I even tell them about Naima’s call to me the day after the Salem Trials travel.

            They’re stunned. I can see it in their faces. But I don’t let them talk. “And now,” I announce, “I need you to tell me everything you know about who’s after us. I’m tired of the lies already. I know that the last time you guys were with me, I was only four years old. Well, I’m not anymore. And if we have any chance of getting through this, I need you to tell me everything you know!”

            “You’re right,” Estelle sighs. “All we’ve wanted was to protect you, but I think we’ve only made things worse.”

            Then they sit down on my bed. Bud speaks first and confirms everything my parents told me.

            “And you guys just went along with it? Like some moral superheroes? I thought we weren’t gods?”

            Estelle adds, “At first we thought it was wonderful. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of something so world-changing? But when Norrek killed Bower, we realized that he would stop at nothing. And although we don’t condone what he did, nor would we ever, he did pretty much save the world from a nuclear catastrophe.

             “But who was he to decide who he could murder?” I lash out.

            Bud shakes his head. “We’re not saying that we agree with murder, obviously. But we can’t deny that our world is better because Bower’s policies died with him. The world we were supposed to encounter in 1990 never happened. We lived through it, and you didn’t. It was a pretty frightening time.”

            “This is insane. Don’t you think maybe he’s the one who started the fire? I mean, if he’d kill a president, who’s to say he wouldn’t kill anyone else? My dad said he knows it wasn’t the Peace Hunters, but to me that seems like the most likely explanation.”

            They look uncomfortable. They’re still hiding something from me. I know it. I can smell it. And if they’re not going to tell me, I’ll figure it out on my own.

            “I’m sure he just meant there’s always the Hoytts family. There’s no singling them out.” Estelle quickly adds.

            I give up. I know they’re not going to tell me anything more, at least not right now. For a few moments we sit on my bed in silence.

            “So,” I finally say. “It looks like we’re all we have left. The only ones who are going to take care of one another.”

            They look at each other, then nod.

            “Okay, then,” I continue. “No more lies. If anything around us starts feeling off or out of the ordinary, we tell one another right away—because it could be life and death. Right?”

            “You got it, buddy,” Bud agrees.

            “Yes sir, sweetheart,” Estelle says with a reluctant smile.

            They agree, but I know that from here on out, I’m the one who’s going to have to protect them. And I will. If it’s the last thing I do for my parents, I will protect them.