Life Lines

39: Light Dinner Conversation

Chapter Thirty-Nine

"Kells?"

He was walking rather quickly down the street and I was sure, if anyone looked out their living room window, they would think he was kidnapping me. He still had a hold of my arm, not in a death grip but firm enough that I couldn't break the hold. He was extremely pissed off and with each step we took, I was worried he was angry with me.

"Kells..."

"They weren't supposed to tell you. When an Elite decides they don't want anything to do with..." He trailed off and I didn't know if it was because he couldn't tell me or if he was just too mad to finish his thought.

"Kells, hey, stop for a second."

"No. We're getting as far away from those people as possible. You are never to go back there or talk to them again. Do you understand?"

I tried to stop walking but he just pulled me along like I was a misbehaving child. "Kells..."

"Do you understand?"

"The cat is already out of the bag. There's nothing else..."

He stopped and I bumped into him, bouncing back just a little. He grabbed a hold of my other arm and stared at me with a really scary expression on his face.

"There is so much more. More that you don't need to know about. Now, promise me you'll never go back there."

"They're Cecil's parents..."

"Cyrus doesn't talk to them anymore. You should follow his lead."

"What do you mean he doesn't talk to them anymore? They just said..."

"They may see him, they may hear him say something, but it's not directed to them. He doesn't even live there, Epiphany. He moved out six months after he turned Elite."

"What! Why?" I already knew why but I wanted to see if he did. "Why would Cecil move out of his house and stop talking to his parents? You're not making much sense and you're scaring me."

His eyes flashed at me. Oh this wasn't going to go well. The grip he had on my arms tightened a little more and he stepped closer. "Stay away from them, Epiphany. If Cyrus was here..."

"Well he's not." I fumed at him, not really understand everything I'd been told in the past ten minutes. "I'll talk to him about it when I see him again. Now let go of me."

"I'm telling you..."

"You're hurting me." I stared at him with wide, stern eyes. "So let go."

This would be a good time for any of my white knights to come swooping in but as I continued to stand there, deadlocked with Kells in the middle of the street, I knew no one was going to save me. This one was on me. I took a quick gander at the future, just to see if I needed to do anything significant. I wasn't someone who was ok with being manhandled but if he was going to let go in a few seconds, I really didn't want to do anything...regrettable.

"This is your last warning," I said in a low voice. "Let me go."

He blinked and then released me. The breath I'd been holding suddenly rushed out of my lungs and I closed my eyes, trying to calm down my heartbeat.

"I'm sorry," he said softly and I opened my eyes to look at him. "I just...don't want to see you get hurt."

"Finding out the truth about my mother wouldn't..."

"Yes," he said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Yes, it would. Your mother...let's just say the skeletons she hid in her closet need to stay that way. So promise me you won't go looking."