Rise [Bruno Mars]

Chapter twenty-six

Chapter twenty-six

I didn't know how I did it.

In a span of less than an hour.

But there it was, another house of wood, standing in the midst of frost that twinkled in the daylight. I could only see one wall of it, I parked ways away. I did not want whoever the owner was to see all of us. It was safer that way, since we'd been kidnapped last time. 

“Why do you keep stopping for safe houses? Why can't we just go straight to Canada and get this suspense over with?”

I winced at how loud Ryan was, glancing over to a sleeping Bruno, his head against the window, even breath fogging the glass. I bit my lip, forcing myself not to reach out and touch him. The empty medicine bag remained clutched in my fingers as I turned around to Ryan and Ris, putting a finger to my lips. I motioned them to follow me outside.

“What's going on?” Ryan asked suspiciously, he and Ris surrounding me.

“I don't want Bruno to be awake while we're doing this,” I explained, a little nervous to be in front of them. “When the animus is strong, you can start to see it in the form of a vein, and while I was driving I saw one on him.”

Ris' pale eyebrows furrowed in concern, and Ryan's Adam's apple bobbed. “That doesn't explain why you're letting him sleep.”

“He never took the medicine. He threw it away.” I showed him the empty bag. “He kept it in here. When the disease is strong he angers easily and doesn't want to take the medicine. I just want to be in and out. And while he's sleeping I can inject him.”

Ryan stared at the empty bag. “So he won't be able to fight back?” 

I nodded. I waited for him to argue. He never did.

“Can you stay with Bruno while Ris and I go inside?”

“No.” Strands of long hair blew over his firm, thin lips. “I want to go. Ris and I can go.”

I was about to dismiss this, but didn't quite know how. How could I tell him I wanted to know who lived here? If they were good or bad? Would that give too much away about my plans? I settled on the idea that he could be the one to tell me the details of the safe house. I opened my mouth to agree.

“Perhaps, I can be the one to go.”

All three of us whirled to the sound of the voice, cutting through the trees along the road and starting an uproar of surprise within me. Joseph emerged from them, unsmiling, dressed in a black robe attire, though simple-looking, it seemed to be made of an expensive and fine material, and it billowed about him like smoke. The way he surveyed the three of us, with an aura as cool and calm as the wind, made him look as though he were fit for a throne. Except, his hair was unruly, black strands waving every which way, smudges lingered beneath his eyes, and scars, white and pencil-thin, traced across his cheek, the sure signs of torture that did nothing to lessen his beauty. 

“How in the hell,” I heard Ryan whisper.

“Quomodo?” Ris exclaimed, her voice rasping with unuse.

Joseph held up a hand. “I will explain. Two women helped me here by putting me in a cargo van. You might know of the one named Shizuko? One of her duties is to collect shipment from suppliers. A girl named April sneaked me onto the vehicle, and Shizuko has left me about one mile from here, where as I walked, I guided Adrian to me.”