There was something sinister about Joshua's powers that always gave Eli the heebie-jeebies. He felt his heart pound in his chest as Joshua threw open their hotel door.
Joshua drew the ice from within him and crafted it carefully into a dangerous weapon.
An FBI agent a few feet down the hall raised his gun. Joshua threw the icicle at his hand quicker than the agent could fire and the gun clattered to the floor. The other agent on guard ran to attack Joshua, his black trench-coat billowing around him. Joshua stood his guard, ice swirling around his hands.
It was like watching a ballerina dance in a snowstorm. Joshua's movements were both deadly and graceful. Joshua administered a sharp kick to the first agent's chest, bending low and swiping the other with his wrist. He threw a gust of ice at an agent running up the stairs at the end of the corridor and that agent went flying back against the wall, sinking to the floor. The two agents still standing fought Joshua with precise movement in the limited space, but Joshua was somehow more skilled. Eli made a mental note to ask Joshua who taught him martial arts, but for now, he and Jenny cowered in wonderment of their travelling companion as he formed another icicle and used it as a club. One took a hit to the gut, the other took a swipe across his jaw. Back and forth. Hit, hit, hit. In less than ten seconds, the agents were down and Eli had to snap his mouth shut before his tongue fell out.
Joshua turned back to them. Black strips of hair hung over his glacier-blue eyes. His veins were nearly white, throbbing under his skin. Eli had to admit that the man he knew as an awkward, lanky scientist suddenly looked scary-as-fuck.
Eli glanced at Jenny. She had a flushed look on her face.
"Let's move," said Joshua in a deep voice.
As Eli made to follow Jenny, he leaned in and whispered, "looks like the ice isn't the only thing that's wet."
Jenny scowled at him.
They managed to dodge the rest of the FBI agents, who had not been alerted to the fight upstairs. Joshua took them to the back streets, at which point Eli realized he was about to have a heart attack.
"Are you alright?" asked Jenny.
"Yeah," he said, bent over with his hands on his knees. "Thank God I don't have asthma anymore. I'd be dead."
The cab they caught smelled of pizza and leather boots. Eli sat squished between Jenny's small frame and Joshua's stiff, cold body, his heart pumping and his mind replaying the scene he'd just witnessed over and over again, hoping to permanently glue it there.
"That was ... pretty much the most awesome thing I've ever seen." Eli gazed at Joshua and the blue glow that still throbbed beneath the skin of his pale arms.
"Thank you Eli," said Joshua as he rolled down his sleeves. There was an almost invisible smugness on his face. Clearly he enjoyed outsmarting the FBI and escaping the hotel they'd been trapped in for so long. Eli had to admit, it was wonderful to finally be free again, even if he was stuck being the third wheel for the second time. "I just hope we find something useful at the cabin, or we'll be in worse trouble than we're already in."
"It's okay," said Eli with surprising cheer. "I'm prepared for jail."
Joshua and Jenny chuckled, turning their eyes to the blinking city lights.
The drive to the secret cabin was long. They listened to the radio, watched the traffic pass by and the sun kiss the top of the buildings before disappearing from sight. It reminded him of being on the road again.
Eli hadn't been to Seattle for a long time, and he'd forgotten how serene it was. The outskirts were just as picturesque, but before he could truly appreciate it, darkness settled and all they could really see was the shadowed dirt road in front of them.
Eli was just starting to nod off, the bumpy path putting him in a kind of trance, when Joshua tensed and sat up. The three of them became alert, watching the road as the cab slowed down and turned left onto a small driveway. They were shaded by tall pines and everything but the path of the headlights was pitch-black.
All of a sudden, there was a house.
Eli's father owned a cabin in upstate New York. It was one of those summer holiday cabins, very movie-esque, something you'd expect a serial killer to target for a bit of Friday the 13th fun.
This cabin was exactly like that, only it seemed as if no one had lived in it for years. The tall walls with dark windows stretched two stories high, with a roof that disappeared into the low-hanging pines squeezed tightly against the edges. As the headlights of the taxi cab swept over the outside, Eli swore he spotted a face in the upstairs window.
Fear started to bubble inside of him as he remembered the Agents who had come so close to killing him and Jenny. Eli tried to remain composed, but a familiar feeling of helplessness overcame him.
The cabbie parked right up against the porch in the small clearing before the house and turned to them with an uncertain expression. "This place yours?"
Eli glanced at Joshua, but he was gazing at the cabin. In his eyes, Eli saw a whirl of memories, whether good or bad he could not tell.
"H-haven't been here in years," said Eli with a falsely confident smile and gave the cab driver a pat on the shoulder. "Thanks."
"No problem," he shrugged.
The three of them stepped out of the cab. Eli shivered in the light breeze, the smell of pines engulfing him. He would have felt better about the place if it was at least a little sunny, and maybe if he knew what was inside. Whoever lived there, they were excellent at hiding themselves from the FBI, and maybe they'd stay hidden from the three of them as well.
"You sure this is it?" asked Jenny as she took her usual place beside Joshua.
"I'm positive."
The cab rolled away, leaving them with a small amount of light from the porch. The trees bent and creaked around them. Eli stayed well back as Joshua moved up the steps to the front door. A spider web ruffled in the light breeze as it clung to the upper left frame of the door. The welcome mat was frayed and crooked and there was a black iron knocker on the door. Eli noticed a plank of wood nailed to the wall that read 'THE CABIN' in artistic writing. Nothing at all moved inside the house.
"Whatever's in there, we're here for you," whispered Jenny.
Eli could confidently agree with her.
Joshua swallowed then turned the handle.
Almost immediately, he leapt back in surprise as if the handle had given him an electric shock. At the same time, Eli swore he heard someone hiss from inside the house. Oh shit, he thought instantly, it's inhabited by demons.
"What was that?" asked Jenny.
"I don't know," said Joshua warily, "it just ... zapped me."
"T-try the doorbell," said Eli. He couldn't remember feeling so petrified since ... well, since he woke up from Cryonics. Perhaps he was starting to finally get in touch with his old, timid self. Yay.
Joshua glared at him.
"What? It's probably some kind of robbery-proof door."
"That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard." But Joshua rang the bell anyway.
Inside, there was a scuffle. Eli's heart pounded in his chest and he felt Joshua become instantly alert. It seemed he didn't expect anyone to be there.
"Hello?" he shouted. "Hello, is anyone in there!?"
Again, the inside of the house creaked and there were whispers from behind the door. Horrible, murderous thoughts came into Eli's mind. If it weren't for the ass-kicking Joshua gave the FBI agents earlier, Eli probably would have run away into the woods or had some kind of panic attack.
It was almost a relief when they heard a chain link being unlatched. Then the door itself swung inwards.
Before them stood an old woman with gray, frazzled hair dressed in a pink nightgown and velvet slippers. She wobbled unsteadily, peering up at them in confusion.
"Can I help you?"
Eli looked at Joshua, but Joshua didn't move. Eli elbowed him and watched as his eyes fill with tears of disappointment. He didn't know her, which meant that Hunter wasn't there and this was all a waste of time.
"Is there ... an Albert Rosenthal here?" asked Joshua.
"I don't know that name, I'm sorry." She stepped back into the shadows of her dark home. The door started to close behind her.
"Wait, please!" Joshua put his hand on the door and the woman froze. "I'm looking for a girl. She's about nineteen with cherry-red hair. She's supposed to be here. Her name is Hunter."
The old woman's frown deepened. Eli caught a glimpse of a figure inside the house that moved slowly, a silhouette slinking in the darkness. Chills went down his spine.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Joshua," he said. "Joshua Harrison. Hunter is my daughter."
Instantly, the old woman's face brightened in wonder. Her wrinkly old hands let go of the door and she stepped further towards them, looking up into Joshua's face as though he were her long-lost son coming back from the dead.
"You're Joshua?"
"Yes ... I am."
"The Joshua?"
"Uh ... yes?"
"Well," she puffed a sigh and threw open the door. "Butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Guys, it's Joshua! "
A loud "HA!" fell from Eli's mouth and Jenny almost did the same, covering her face with her hands. He'd never before heard that phrase, let alone coming from the mouth of an eighty-something-year-old woman.
Joshua looked as if she'd slapped him across the face. "Who are you?"
"Oh," the woman smiled. "I'm Zac. We've kind of been waiting for you."
Then, she started to quiver.