Feared

Forty-Three: A Residual Feeling

"Wallace's idea. She could read they were following you, we just needed to stay far enough away that they wouldn't detect us. We actually thought we were too late".

His gaze was pulled to Charlotte again. He frowned. Harris was appraising her. James wondered what the medic among them saw there. What injuries she had sustained since they had been ripped from the campsite? He gritted his teeth, reminding himself he didn't care. His concern was just residual feelings from before, just like his hatred for Desmarais. They belonged to the old James. He cleared his throat, looking at the ground.

"Eh... so did you have trouble with these guys?" he asked, looking back to O'Connell and Kiya.

"These guys? Are you kidding? They were easy pickings," O'Connell said. "No match for us, but we're just glad you weren't their reinforcements. Charlotte was ready to destroy you. Lucky escape mate – usually when she's on the hunt there's no hope, but I guess there's one person that would make her hesitate".

James gritted his teeth, not wanting to consider what O'Connell was eluding to.

"She wouldn't have hurt you," Kiya said in a reassuring voice, but James wasn't listening anymore. His gaze had drifted back to Charlotte yet again, her conversation with Ethan catching his attention.

"They're at Nicholls'?" Ethan frowned. "That... would make sense".

"But it's not The Mimic like we thought..." Charlotte shifted under Ethan's gaze, her fists balled. James joined the others gathering around them, their group reunited, strong.

"Elmhirst is dead," Wallace interjected without a prompt, as she stood between Charlotte and Matt.

"What?" Ethan's brow puckered. "What has Elmhirst got to do with any of this?"

Kiya pointed to the captives. "I searched their minds". She moved closer to Ian as if knowing the weight of the words she spoke. "I saw this man... I..."

Ian nodded, encouraging her. She reached out her slender brown fingers towards Ethan, who returned the gesture, his milky fingers grazing hers. He paused, his mouth stretching into a thin line. His face darkened as he mulled over what she had shown him.

"He can't be alive?" Charlotte's whisper broke the silence that had descended on the group. "I saw him die. James shot him. He fell into the water".

James frowned. He had shot this person? He cracked his knuckles, a silent panic washing over him as he realised yet again that he was two people. He was the before and the after. He was the person everybody else knew and had loved and this new person, an outsider, a ghost of their past, too new and green to know what was going on, or what he had been capable of in his past life.

Charlotte turned in his direction as he waves of panic crashed against his insides. She could sense it, he knew. She could feel his panic, his fear of himself. His cheeks began to burn, his mouth dry. He met her blue-eyed gaze, but saw nothing he recognised there.

"I don't... like this," Ethan finally said drawing Charlotte's attention back.

"You think it's him?"

"No. Charlotte, trust what you know. Elmhirst is dead. That much we can be certain of".

"You think this is a trap?" Wallace's voice echoed through the clearing. James exhaled, reminding himself to be careful of his thoughts. He didn't like how with her there was no privacy.

"Yes – this, whatever it was..." Ethan waved his hand to Kiya, "was just an illusion, but we have our destination at least".

"If it's a trap, they want us to go there. Whoever sent the trackers..." Charlotte frowned.