Final Cross

Chapter Four

All was fine until they got to the end of the street. Then someone poked her head out of her door and said, "Hey, what're you doing?"

Zavior looked around. It appeared to be the mom of Davis, one of the kids who went to his school.

"Going out with my Aunt and Uncle. Why?" He attempted a nervous smile.

"You didn't tell me you had an Aunt and Uncle visiting," she said, with suspicious surprise.

"Yeah. They came up for the week. It's almost Christmas, didn't you know?"

"Well how about you introduce them to me?"

Rosalina, Khak, and Jake all looked at her. None of them liked the delay, at all.

"Well you'll get to see them at the Christmas School Party. They'll be there. But I'd like to go to the park. Do you mind if we go now?"

"No, honey, of course not," she answered, with a devilish smile. She shut the door.

"I don't like this at all," Rose said. Khak held her hand reassuringly.

"Let's go. Keep a close eye out, in case there's trouble," Khak said.

Zavior's eyes began to strain, he was so tense. He noticed that the muscles in Jack's neck were standing out, and Rosalina's eyes were wide open. They finally reached the exit of the neighborhood. Almost there-Khak pushed them behind a row of trimmed box bushes between the stone wall and the rest of the town section. He put a finger to his lips.

Zavior could hear the rustle of leaves behind the wall. Had Khak just saved them from a trap?

What'll we do? Zavior mouthed at him. Rosalina was pale and her pupils were wide. Jack's hands were clenched.

Khak shook his head. He put up four fingers. Four? He then split the four to two fingers on each hand. Rosalina nodded. She jerked her head back to where they had come from. Khak shook his head.

This silent conversation between the two went on for another minute. Then Rosalina took Zavior's hand, and murmured so quietly in his ear that he almost couldn't hear: "We have do go oud. Id id modt liley a drap. We will dry do agt normally and hope they don'd nodid. If dey do you and I mudt run. Dey will handle id and join ud lader. We mudt dell Cap."

It took Zavior a second to understand why she was speaking as though with a head cold. Then he realized-'t's, 'c's, and 's's could be more easily heard through silence than any other letter. She was trying to keep anyone from hearing their conversation.

Jake was getting a similar debrief from Khak. Khak seemed to have to go more in-depth though; probably for fighting maneuvers. They waited another minute, then they crouched back out of the bush, and walked further back down the road. They brushed any dirt and leaves off of each other, and attempted to look normal. Zavior pulled his hat further down his head. They then began to walk down the street.

"So what do you guys want to do after we go to the park? Anywhere special for dinner?" Rosalina said. Talking might help their cover. If not, it wouldn't matter either way.

Zavior couldn't speak. Jake looked at him, but answered.

"Maybe we could go watch a movie," he suggested. "I heard there was a certain new one coming out today..." he winked at Rose and laughed slightly.

"No, not that one," she said reprovingly. "You know Randley can't watch those movies. They're not good for you, either." Randley? Oh. His spy name.

"Well there goes my plan for popcorn," Jake said with a laugh.

"We can still have popcorn. I have a recipe at home we can use. Do you want to do that? We could watch an Old Western."