Awakening (Book 2 in the Original BOC Series) ✔

Chapter Seven

Mara tilted her head and stared curiously at what was Safe House Twenty-Four.

It wasn't very safe looking. If anything, it looked ready to fall apart.

The roof shingles were different shades of red, brown, and gray. Plus, there were small patches of shingles missing. What was left of the chimney poking out from the middle of the roof stood like a half a stump; pieces of itself clumped in a pile beside it and others that were seen to have slid down away from the crumbled brick stump.

The outside of the house shared its' roofed companion's crumble. The walls had lost its once crimson coloring; fading into a rusty shade with brownish moldy spots in multiple areas. Weeds sprouted from the earth and dangled in various directions. They created this dark golden sea of eeriness. A large spruce tree stood in front of the left side; its branches hovered high above the roof of the falling house. It shadowed that entire part, making the house look so much more... unwelcome.

What kind of safe house was this?

The longer she stared at it, the less she wanted to go near. Mara pulled her head to its proper position, still carefully eyeing the eerie scenery. She wouldn't say anything yet, but if asked to go in, she was going to downright refuse. There was no way she was going to step a toe inside this house. And she was not going to let the Henry's go in either. If she had to, Mara would have them placed in a hotel then here.

As if reading her thoughts, Adam was the one who voiced the deep concern. He had been taking Lily's hand and elbow to help her out of the bronco; releasing her and stepping three feet away once both her feet were planted on the ground. Adam then turned to look at the house in front of him and he scoffed.

Turning to Porcali and his team, Adam raised a brow, "What the hell is this?"

Porcali turned his head from staring happily at the house; the small smile gone from his face at the sight of Adam's frown. He shrugged, "What do you mean?" Adam raised both brows this time, leaning his head forward and then spun his body to face forward, after mocking Porcali, "What do I mean? What do you mean what do I mean?"

Gesturing to the house with his arms thrown in the same direction, Adam stared in disgust, "It's a shack! it's fucking falling apart!"

"It's not that bad."

"Not—not that bad?!" Adam threw his arms upward and turned away as Ben was making his way over to them. Adam looked at Ben, raising a brow and mockingly laughed, "It's not that bad, he says... sure. Because I want to be crushed to death while I'm sleeping!" He said this while giving Porcali and his team an angry look. Ben sighed, holding out his hand to Adam, nodding.

"Alright. I got it from here." Ben gestured for Adam to go watch the others who obliged, but not before throwing a nasty glare at the others. Ben watched him go and then looked away when Adam was at a safe distance. Ben glanced at the house and squinted.

"That's... not what we were expecting, Porcali. That place doesn't look like it will hold up in the next five minutes." Porcali stared at Ben who continued, "We thought maybe you had something more... livable?" He wasn't sure what the word he was looking for, but it suited the sentence considering that what he was staring at was the complete opposite of anything similar to 'living'.

"Mmm," Porcali nodded, looking back at the house. He grinned, "It's falling apart, but I assure you Ben that it is safe. Completely safe. We've been here countless times over the years and nothing bad has ever happened."

The two behind him nodded in reassurance to their leader's words and Ben glancing at each one of the two behind Porcali before looking at the main leader, sighed. He had a feeling that he was going to be doing a lot of that.