I leaned up over the steering wheel to see a man waving his arms, his face flushed and sweaty. I glanced over at Killian as everyone piled into the front, grumbling and whining about the sudden stop.
"Hey, what's the big idea," Julian snapped, leaning against the wall, obviously annoyed.
Killian waved a hand behind her and leapt out from the seat, and I followed in suit, rushing out of the RV to meet the man who was panting in front of the vehicle.
He lifted up a finger, putting his hands on his knees, sucking in breaths. After a few minutes of him catching his breath, he stood up straight and took his hands in ours. "Thank you ladies for stopping, it means the world to me." he took another breath, his eyes flicked to the three boys behind us in surprise. "I wanted to ask you, all of you, to help find my son. His name is Nick! I don't know what happened, we were having a fight and then I woke up the next morning to see that he wasn't in his room anymore." he explained, obviously panicked.
I opened my mouth to reply but was cut off by Julian's scoff.
"Shouldn't have let him go then." he snorted, eyeing the sweaty man in disgust.
The man shrunk under Julian's scrutinizing gaze, and he kicked at the ground in shame, lowering his head.
Anger boiled inside of me, but I let it go and took a breath, trying to calm myself. "Sir, uh,"
"My name's Merlin." he said quickly, giving me a quick nod, relief in his eyes at my voice.
"Merlin. We'll help you, of course." I say happily, giving Julian a warning glare.
He growled and grabbed my shoulder, making me jump as his grip tightened.
Killian glanced worriedly at me, tensing up.
"We'll help, of course. How rude I was." he mocked, dropping his grip as I rolled my shoulder. "If we're payed."
Merlin's face went pale, before swallowing and nodded fretfully, patting at his pants for his wallet. "O-of course! H-how stupid I was--"
Dustin reached out a hand and put it on his shoulder, shaking his head. "We don't need to be payed, Julian was just kidding, aren't you?" He asked, gritting his teeth.
Julian opened his mouth, but quickly closed it and nodded instead when Killian elbowed his ribs, making him jerk to the right.
Merlin raised an eyebrow at his behavior, but relief was soon on his face once he saw that Julian had agreed. "T-thank you all so much!" he cried out, grabbing mine and Killian's hands again, shaking them rapidly.
I glanced to Killian, and her expression was exactly how I felt, creeped out.
"Okay, so, where have you not looked?" I asked the man once he let our hands go. I rubbed mine slightly, stepping back a few steps.
Merlin scratched at his neck, thinking for a few moments. "The only place I haven't checked yet is Oakriver, where his grandparents live." he explained to us. "I wouldn't have thought that he could have gone that far, but I may be wrong, so I started running, but, caught you guys just a few miles before Oakriver." he explained cheerfully, as if his son weren't missing and he just stopped us to ask how we were doing.
I nodded, listening to him intently. "I see, well, you're lucky you caught us, since we're on our way to Oakriver--but how did you get in front of us?" I asked him, eyeing him with slight caution.
He looked confused at first before bursting into high-pitched laughter. "There's a fork up the road, one leads to Rose Central, and the other leads to Oakriver. Didn't you guys know they changed the layouts of the roads?"
I shot an accusing glance at Killian, and she held up her hands, giving me her famous 'oops' face.
"Sorry, Lu, not my fault I can't memorize stuff." she said.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the man, watching him for a few seconds. "Alright, everyone let Merlin in, we're gonna use him to make sure we go the right way first." I tell him confidently, motioning to Merlin to follow me onto the RV.
He followed close behind, looking nervous as Killian, Talon, Dustin, and Julian eyed him as he walked past.
As everyone filed on, I shut the door and grinned, motioning Killian to sit in the driver's seat, Merlin soon catching on to what we were doing and sat in the passenger's seat. I gave a nod to Merlin as he smoothed out his brown hair fretfully, giving me a worried look. "We'll find him, Merlin, we promise." I said confidently, though in the back of my mind I worried for the child. What could have caused him to run off?
Killian thumped Merlin's back, shooting him a grin. "Don't worry! How old is he?" she asked, starting the RV.
"H-he's 12." he answered, trying to ignore the stares of Julian.
Talon and Dustin had already left to go into the main room, though Julian stayed behind, as if not trusting the man.
"What does he look like?" I urged him, shooting glances at Julian as if that would keep him from doing the man any harm.
"He's like, um," he paused, as if thinking.
I shot him a concerned glance, grabbing my shirt. What kind of father didn't even know what his son looked like?
"He has orange, shaggy-like hair, he has freckles, um, he has green eyes, and he's about 5'5." he says quickly, snapping me out of my worries. His eyes glanced up from the mirror, meeting mine before flicking away nervously.
I nodded, making sure to remember how tall he is for a 12 year old boy. "Alright should be easy enough to find him." I remarked, mostly to myself.
In just about under an hour, with the ridiculously high speeds Killian was going, along with Merlin's pushing to find the 12 year old boy, we got to Oakriver.
I raised an eyebrow as I heard groaning coming from inside the main room, peeking my head in when I saw Dustin laying on the floor in a ball. "What the--"
"Fun fact I forgot to say, when things are going high speeds he gets motion sick," Talon explained, giving me a sheepish smile.
I nodded, turning around to see Killian staring inside the room, looking worried. "He's fine, just a bit of motion sickness from speed driver." I remarked dryly.
Killian frowned, tugging at her black hair before shrugging and turned to face Merlin and gave him a small smile.
"Let's get going," I say, pausing for a second to looking back at the two on the floor. "You guys coming? Or no?"
Talon waved me off. "I'll stay here taking care of Dusty for a bit."
I nodded, motioning for Killian, Julian, and Merlin to follow me off the RV. As I stepped off, I stared at the little town, surprised how nice it looked.
Oak trees lined each of the few houses and stores that were there, and even though it was a smaller town, there were many kids outside talking and sitting under the shade of the oak trees around the area.
"So, Merlin," I started, turning to face him as he tugged at his collar nervously. "Where's your parents house at?" I said, snapping him out of his daze.
He looked around, as if trying to jog his memory. "Follow me, please," he said softly, as if trying not to offend Julian.
I nodded, glancing at the kids sitting under the oak trees as we made our ways past a few groups of them. Soon enough we came to a house, just about the same type as the other houses, and Merlin quickly raced to the front door, knocking wildly.
"M-Merlin! Wait up!" I said, hurrying after Merlin, Julian and Killian following after me.
As I got closer, I heard him frantically explain to his parents why his son was there. "..Kyle didn't like us fighting again about money, so he ran off," he said, pleading with the grandparents to let him in.
They looked at him before raising their eyes to use. "Who are these three kids, Merlin?"
I squirmed a bit, not used to being so sized up by such an older woman. Granted, she was intimidating, even for her size.
"These? These are three of the five kids who were kind enough to get me here faster. They're helping me find Nick." he said sending us a grateful smile, which I returned.
The older lady smiled at us kindly, nodding, "It seems some kids are still good these days," she said, almost sadly. "Follow me, I'll get Nick." she said cheerfully.
The grandfather, I assumed, cast us a long stare before following his wife into the house. He grumbled something about not trusting one of us as he turned his back.
I tugged at the hem of my shirt nervously, standing near Killian, not used to Talon and Dustin not being there instead. As I stood there awkwardly, Julian scrutinized the room, avoiding the older man's line of sight, and Killian was currently staring at the floor.
"Nick!"
I jerk my head up to see Merlin run towards his son and push him into embrace, though the son harshly pushing him away, a look of disbelief and hatred on his face at the sight of his father. Behind him, the grandmother was clutching her husband's shoulder tightly, looking worried.
"Nick?" Merlin asked softly, looking hurt as he knelt down to the boy in worry. "What's wrong?"
"I don't wanna talk about it." he snapped, turning his back to his father stubbornly.
I frowned, feeling a bubble of anger grow inside me. How dare this kid take his father, who probably ran for hours, looking for him, for granted. "Excuse me," I speak up, causing everyone to look at me in surprise. "You're Nick, right?" I say, stepping over to stand by his father.
He nodded, glaring at me. "Yeah, what about it?" he harshly replied, crossing his arms.
"You listen here," I say sharply, squatting down to face the boy. "Your father loves you very, very much." I said, looking at him. "He was running on the road and almost got hit by us to find you, and you do this to him?" I asked him in disbelief, and I saw his glare waiver for a few moments.
The young boy took a breath and shook his head, opening his mouth, "All him and mom do is fight about money! S-so I thought that if I left then they could have more money.." he whispered, dropping his head.
I stared at him in shock, all anger drained and replaced with sympathy. I looked up at the grandparents, and the grandfather nodded, giving me a weak smile. Wrapping my arms around the boy I hugged him, patting his back. "It's okay," I murmured as the boy nodded into my shoulder.
As the boy seemed to be feeling better, I unwrapped my arms from around him and stood up, glancing over to Merlin quickly.
"Nick," he whispered, dropping to his knees and embraced his son. "Don't ever run away again. Robin and I love you very much, our lives would be worse if we never had you,"
I stepped back from the two, giving the grandparents a small smile as I ushered Killian and Julian out of the house, shutting the door.
"Let's go," I said quickly, feeling a bit jealous at how Nick has known his father and still will for a long time.
"Wait--We never got our money," Julian complains as he follows me and Killian.
I turn around halfway to the RV to glare at him. "We don't need money, Julian," I scold, continuing to walk once he nodded, grumbling under his breath.
Killian laughs slightly, going silent as Julian lets out a growl from his throat. "That was a lovely reunion, though." she said softly, giving me a weak smile.
I stopped in my tracks, remembering why we were really here for. "Killian, Julian, we have to turn around and go get some food, remember?"
Killian widened her eyes and nodded, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back to one of the stores we passed, Julian following us.
We entered the store, cool air brushing over us. "I didn't really make a list, so, just get the stuff we actually need, not want, alright?" I hand Killian and Julian a basket, picking up one for myself.
Killian nods, rushing off to the baking supplies, and I quickly follow her, giving Julian an awkward wave.
"Killi, why are you so jumpy?" I ask her as she picks boxes and bottles of items, throwing them into her arm basket.
She shrugged, avoiding my eyes for a few moments before looking over my shoulder. "Keep walking and don't look behind you," she whispered, going back to furiously picking up and dropping items into her basket.
As I heard her say that, I froze, wanting to look behind me but stop myself, ignoring the prickling sensation of someone staring at me. I walk up and down the aisles of food, picking up some fruit, trying to fill my basket as fast as I can to get out of the store.
I place the basket onto the conveyor, wiping my hands on my shirt nervously.
"Thank you, have a nice day," the boy tells me with a smile, handing me the bag. "That'll be $14.60, please,"
I hand over the money, giving him a weary smile as I walk out of the store. My eyes find Killian and I run over to her as she watches over my shoulder, yanking me away. "What about Julian--"
"Shush, keep walking, quickly. I think it was Julian who was following you." she remarks into my ear as we pick up our pace.
Hearing this, I trip over my feet, falling to the ground along with the fruit I had picked up. "Shit," I curse under my breath, picking up the unscathed fruit, and Killian helps me up, almost dragging me to the RV.
I enter the RV, slamming the door. "A-are you sure it was him?" I ask her hesitantly, and she nods, continuing to peer out the RV's front windshield to look for Julian.
"Lu, listen, please stay away from Julian. He's dangerous, we can keep him in the group but he's a bit obsessed with you," she pleads, grabbing my hands.
I nodded, stepping away from the door when I heard a knock. "Alright. We should get moving once he's on."
"Here," she hands me her bag, shoving me out of the front. "Go set those down in the kitchen and find Tal or Dusty or something. I'll deal with Julian."
I grab the bags, setting them onto the kitchen counter, turning to see Talon and Dustin watching me worriedly. "What?" I ask, my voice a bit higher than usual.
"Are you okay?"
I wave them off, nodding. "Yeah, of course, I just need to rest."
"Come sit by us then," Talon says, glancing towards the front when he hears Julian and Killian arguing. He sends me a questioning look, as if he knew what was really going on, but instead of mentioning anything, he leans back and shuts his eyes.
I accept his offer and sit next to the two on the floor, a sense of security coming back once the RV starts up, the familiar sound giving me peace. It'll be fine, Lucy. It wasn't Julian, probably just paranoia.
A/N : Wow, I am so sorry I haven't posted in like two months or so. I guess I took the summer off and I should of told you guys but I'll be getting back into the swing of things soon enough, I promise. Hopefully I'll start uploading every Friday/Saturday once again like I did before summer started.