Stone Cold

20

We pull into the driveway and I instantly get out.

"I'm going to grab a shower." I mutter then head inside. I run into Olivia on my way up and look at her.

"Damn, did you go through a glitter storm?" Olivia asks then sees my face.

"Not a good time, sorry." She says

"No, I'm sorry. We just didn't catch him."

"Damn that sucks." She says and I nod shrugging Shane's jacket off.

"Will you give that to Shane when he gets in here, I'm going to grab a shower." I say and she nods taking it from me.

"Thanks." I head upstairs and walk into my room. I flick on my lights and gasp finding Jason on my bed.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I hiss

"Did you ask them?"

"No, and I'm not going to. You chose evil, and I'm not falling down that same path as you. Get out." I hiss

"I'm not the bad guy here Neveah. Everything I'm doing and have been doing is for you. For your protection."

"I don't need you to protect me anymore."

"That's right, because you have the heartbreaking Ace and lying Shane to protect you." He says and I yank my knife from my shoe.

"They've done a hella great job so far." I hiss then chuck the knife at him. He vanishes before the knife can hit him and it slams into my bed. I breathe heavy spinning as my window slams shut.

"I'll always be protecting you Neveah. Believe me or don't, but I know what I'm doing." Jason whispers into my ear. I spin but he's already gone. A knock sounds on my bedroom door and when I don't reply it opens and Ace pokes his head in.

"Hey, do you have a minute for a quick debriefing?"

"Just go ahead and do it without me. I want to get this glitter off. You all know what happened." I say and he nods

"Alright." He says then shuts my bedroom door. I grab my towel off the bed then walk down to the bathroom. Turning on the shower water I strip well, whatever this is, then climb in. Instantly glitter falls from my body and I start wiping the rest of it off. About thirty minutes pass and I finally have the glitter all off of me, and I'm all clean. I climb out drying myself off, then pull on an oversized long sleeved Tshirt. Finally, I pull my hair back into a ponytail and rub my face. I hang up the towel then leave the bathroom. Heading down the hall I stop for a minute, then force myself to go down the stairs. They should be about done with the debriefing. I walk towards the kitchen and then stop as Shane starts to talk.

"General she needs to know the truth. Her brother is back now, I'm sure he's already trying to change her to his side."

"I understand Shane, but we can't risk it. It could be enough to send her dark."

"Because keeping it from her is so much better." He hisses

"You're not thinking as her Connection and watcher Shane, you're thinking as her friend and whatever else. I know you have feelings for her, but they cannot get in the way of this. Do you understand?"

"I can't lie to her anymore." He almost begs.

"And if you tell her, you will ruin her. Would you want to risk that?"

"It's better then keeping her in the dark. She deserves to know."

"No, not yet."

"Then when?"

"Not until Jason is in our captivity."

"How do we know he hasn't already told her?"

"She wouldn't believe him, not right now."

"You don't know Neveah like I do. Her brother is the most important thing to her. If it seems possible, she'll believe him. I don't want to keep lying to her."

"Stop letting your feelings get intertwined with your job. Shove them down and do what you're told to do or I will remove you from this case."

Case? I throw a block up so Shane can't hear my thoughts or feel my emotions. I shake my head completely lost at this point.

"No, that's not necessary."

"Then do what needs to be done." She says then I hear the click as the screen turns off. I look into the room and see Shane pushing his hair out of his face.

Footsteps sound on the stairs and I quickly make my way to the back door and push it open as Ace comes down the stairs. He walks into the kitchen and I hear Shane and him talk before I head outside and over to the swing.

The door opens a few moments later and I look up as Shane walks out.

"Hey." I say shoving everything down

He looks over at me quickly

"How long have you been out here?"

"A few minutes I guess." I say and he nods

"Why? Did I miss something?" I ask

"No, nothing."

"You look flustered." I say trying to see if he'll open up to me.

"General put me on the spot." He says rubbing his face.

"Oh, that must've been fun." I say scooting over so he can sit.

"Yeah, something like that." He mumbles and I nod.

"So what did the general say?" I ask and he looks over at me as if trying to see if I heard more then I'm letting on.

"About my brother?" I ask to clarify what I want him to think I mean.

"Oh, nothing really. We think we know where he's going to be next though."

"Where?" I ask

"Actually out of this town for once."

"Why does she think that?"

"We keep finding him here. And whoever he's working for is not too fond of it which means there's no way they're going to stay in town anymore."

"Where do you guys think they've gone?"

He holds out a brochure to me and I look down at it.

"Colorado? That's a seven hour flight." I say and he nods holding out three plane tickets.

"And according to security footage, they're flight left one hour ago." He says and I sigh.

"What about Layla and Olivia?"

"They are being moved to a secure location, we can't bring them with us. It's too dangerous."

"Do they know?"

"Yes, they know. Go get packed then say your goodbyes. Cause we leave in three hours." He says standing up and leaving.

~~~~~~