All of them crowded around the old, deformed lump of metal and long bent wires. Reporters swarmed Michael Travis with questions regarding how the secret service could possibly lose such important children while he reminded them that they were only responsible for the loss of one child and assuring them that the agents whom had been appointed on Connor had been questioned and removed and his best were searching day and night until he returned. As the world was informed about this predicament, the temperature seemed to drop. No one would feel safe if they knew that even the secret service couldn't sufficiently protect the president's son. Their situation could be the cause of a US rebellion and it would be entirely the fault of the secret agency that was after them for one reason or another.
As his father spoke, Connor seemed to be growing increasingly uncomfortable. "You guys can go," Lielle urged warily, obviously sensing her concern and Connor's discomfort. "You probably should get some rest before I check to see how much you've both actually learned today. We need to move on to dodging attacks tomorrow so you should be well rested. I'll come get you soon."
Evie didn't want to leave Lielle alone either, even if the girl scared her quite a bit. She was, after all, only human. She had feelings somewhere behind that dark mask of secrets and responsibility.
Despite what she thought, Connor got up and headed to the stairs that would lead to his room. He dragged his feet up the stairs and without a glance back he disappeared around the bend.
"Are you actually evaluating us?" Evie wondered as she turned to face Lielle.
Her immediate response was, "Do you want to find out?"
So, the young girl jogged to the stairs to follow Connor. She looked back at her mentor for a brief moment who was now sitting, head between knees. She shouldn't be taking on all this responsibility, Evie told herself. That is why I am not leaving. She's not the only one who wants revenge anyway.
* * * * *
Evie slept soundly, dreamlessly, pulled into that state of mind from sheer exhaustion. Sitting in the training area in the cool morning air, she stared at the gorgeous sun rising in the horizon. Oh, what it might be like to rise anew every morning, Evie fantasized.
In the distance, a door slammed shut, snapping her out of her dreamland. She rose, turning to walk back to the flaking red house. As she moved closer, she realized that she was starting to feel at home living like this. Constantly around Connor who was always there to talk to. An older girl who would not force them to return to their humble abodes to work on speeches and sit at a desk all day. They were practically a family, though no one seemed to be sure what Lielle's intentions were for the secret agency or them, or what she thought of their predicament.
Two voices sounded from the house, one seemed rather hoarse, crying maybe. The other was a young soothing voice. This could not be Lielle and Connor. Connor never cried and Lielle's voice was guarded and serious.
"He's worried about you," the unfamiliar voice comforted the crying one as Evie entered the house and inched toward the sitting room where she, in fact, did find Connor and Lielle, sitting side by side on the couch. "You'll see him again," Lielle promised.
"It was so unexpected for him. I feel guilty that I left him and my mother alone. I feel guilty about my little sister," he wept. "I stayed with Jean all those long, boring days while Father and Mother were working. We sat together and made each other feel loved. She doesn't have someone like Evie. She's only eight. She must be worried sick."
Connor began to hyperventilate as Lielle wrapped her arms around him. "You'll see her soon, Connor," the girl who seemed to get younger by the minute assured him. "I won't let the agency touch her or your parents."
Evie began to feel guilty for eavesdropping, but she wanted to see what would happen, and that desire overtook her as she dropped to a crouch. She gazed around the bend as Lielle kissed Connor on the cheek and wiped away his tears. It was only a friendly gesture, but as she tilted his face up to meet her eyes, something inside her snapped.
"They'll be all right," Lielle said as Evie ran outside into the field, creaking the floorboards as she went.
Tall weeds scratched her legs as she ran farther into the field. Sneakers slapped the ground a few yards behind her, but she picked up her pace and got lost in the grass as the tall weed rose above her head. Tears streaked her face as she ran. Connor always knew when she was near. Was this girl corrupting her best friend? She sank to the ground and tucked her head between her knees. It was only when her elbows touched the ground did she realize she was sinking.
Eyes wide in terror, she struggled to free her legs from the mud that was slowly consuming her. The rain from the night before must have soaked the field through.
"Help," she cried, now waist deep in mud. "Connor, Lielle," she shrieked shrilly, "Help!"
After what felt like many minutes, footsteps cut through the pounding of her heart. "I'm here. Help," she sobbed.
As she began to pass out from panic, a figure blurred by her tears appeared out of the grass. It grabbed under her arms and yanked her so hard, she thought the mud pulling her the other way would rip her in half. There was a loud squish and Evie rolled over the ground.
Her savior plopped down on the damp ground beside her as Evie finally gave in to her fear.
"'Night," said the stranger.
* * * * *
Light poured in under her eyelids. Evie opened her eyes and turned her head to seek out the girl whom had saved her, but she was gone. There was a rustle in the grass behind her, but Evie had no time to register what she was doing because she was already dashing through the mud.
The kid was fast, but Evie was faster. Allowing her feet to carry her lighter weight, she was soon right behind the kid. She ran until her feet and legs were sore and she was breathing too heavily. With the last of her energy, she launched into a flying leap and hooked her arms around the kid's neck. They both lurched backward and hit solid ground, panting in a tangle of limbs and hair.
The girl's hair was light blonde and spotted with mud and specks of blood. They untangled and rose on unsteady feet, glaring at each other. Her deep blue eyes cut through her defenses like knives.
"Your Diana Hallman's daughter," she said pointedly. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question," Evie retorted.
With a roll of her eyes she thrust out her hand. "Cassidy Allen."
"Evie Hallman," she said as she took her hand. Her hand was tense, as if she wanted to flip her over but resisted. "You can come with me. I have a place to stay."
"I'll stay put once I find my brother," she scowled. "Left without warning one day and never came home."
"I know what loss feels like."
"How? How would you know miss prim and perfect, huh?"
The insult stung but she decided to let it slide. "My brother died right in front of my face."
Evie did not yet trust this girl, but she trusted her with the truth, so she told her how her brother was murdered right outside her window, how she was forced to watch it with no way to help but remembering him once he passed on.
They began to stroll back toward the farmhouse. As they pushed their way through the final bits of wheat, she was greeted by a full on bear hug from Connor.
"Never, and I mean never, do that again," he scolded, panting. Only then he seemed to realize that he had mud all over his front. He wiped it off with that cute face he made when something took him by surprise. Somewhere between a small frown and a scowl, but his eyes always lit up.
She stole a quick, shameful glance at Lielle, who stood with her arms crossed, stare intense. But Evie soon came to realize that her stare was not aimed at her, but rather at Cassidy. Cassidy stared at her run down green-blue converse high tops, attempting to avoid looking at Lielle's furious eyes.
"Lielle?" Connor asked.
With a bow of the head she mumbled something under her breath that wind carried away, then she stalked away in the direction of the training ground.
"Uh, she's usually really nice," Connor tried. "I'm Connor Travis." Cassidy didn't move. "And you're..." he tried again.
"Her name's Cassidy Allen," Evie supplied. "We should probably go wash up and change. Meet back here in thirty minutes."
Connor frowned but nodded and Cassidy followed him inside the house. Evie sighed. She could never understand some people.
* * * * *
Training was similar to the day before, but instead of offense they worked on defense. Lielle taught them quick versions of how to do flips and aerials and then left them to practice. Cassidy was a pro, but when asked how she learned so quickly, she just shrugged, then moved to a scarecrow for offense.
Evie landed on the ground or on top of Connor most of the time, but since she was small and light she managed to learn pretty fast. Connor, however, managed only to land on the soft dirt until Lielle came back out. She took Connor by the back to help him get more leverage on his backflip sending a shiver up Evie's spine. She knew it was only to help him but it could be so much more.
As Connor readied his jump, Lielle gave him a push that gave him enough momentum to land on his feet. She nodded and had him do it again and again and again, until he was able to do it alone.
Evie watched all of this in awe of how easily Lielle could explain something like a backflip in a few words and many hand motions. Connor seemed to understand, but Evie was just confused when Lielle began to give a scarecrow the Heimlich Maneuver.
Once Connor began getting the hang of the off-ground dodges, Lielle sauntered over to her. "Let's practice a little hands-on."
Lielle tossed a punch and Evie ducked throwing her hands in front of her face for protection. Evie kicked her leg out to sweep Lielle off her feet, but was met with her hands, strong and firm as they swung her aside.
Evie scrambled up with a look of determination on her face as she did an aerial to pass behind Lielle. She knew Lielle could have blocked it, but she allowed her to place a kick to encourage her.
They fought on for a while until Lielle and Evie were both sprawled on the floor, breathing heavy. Lielle brought two cups over from the water cooler and handed one to Evie as she congratulated her on a fight well done. As the fight went on, Evie had felt as if she had gotten better being in a real fight instead of using a dummy.
Evie watched as Lielle repeated this with Connor and then, begrudgingly, Cassidy. Cassidy battled her like a warrior. They knew each other's moves and prepared to block them. This was a tough fight. Not just practice, she quickly noticed, an actual one on one.
They could have gone on all day had she not yelled, "Break it up. Let's go back."
And so they did.
* * * * *
As Evie exited the shower, she overheard a heated conversation between Cassidy and Lielle.
"You already lost my trust all those years ago when you tried to spy on my family. You can't take that back. And who knows what you would have found had I not caught found you," Lielle scolded.
"Look, like I said, I'm sorry," she pleaded, "But I'm done with that. My father had me and my brother do that because that's what his father did, and his father before him and so on so forth. I did it out of respect to him, and I regret that night. It's the last night I saw my brother and the day I hurt a fair competitor and possible ally. We could have been friends, but I ruined that long ago. I don't expect you to forgive me or anything, it just had to be said."
Lielle heaved a sigh. "I'll let you with us under one condition."
"Anything," Cassidy pleaded.
"No one finds out about our past. They need to think that we only hate each other because we're both good competitors. Once they're curious... trust me, you don't want to know."
"All right then," Cassidy agreed.
"But," Lielle added, "If I find out you went behind my back again, this will be the end of you and your father, Cassidy Allen. I will make your lives miserable to your very last breaths."
* * * * *
Evie turned in for the night early. She lay on her bed thinking of what Lielle might think of her now that she brought an old enemy back to her. Maybe Lielle will hate me as much as she hates Cassidy, Evie fretted. I do not want that girl against me.
She allowed her thoughts to shift to her family once more. This was constantly on her mind. What would she tell them when she saw then again, if she saw them again? Lielle was trustworthy to get them home, but would they really go home if it would put their families in any sort of danger?
Another thought that kept crossing her mind was that they seemed to be after powerful families, but how would that apply to Lielle? Her family was as ordinary as they got. That also left the question of why not other Senators and Representatives? Why not the Queen of England, if anything?
Evie allowed these thoughts to put her into a dreamless sleep where her only worry was how they might be tortured in training the next morning. But that morning didn't come. At least not before she was shaken awake frantically by Lielle.
"We're going," she whispered, then they ran down the stairs to find an old blue Cadillac waiting on the dirt road.
They scrambled in and drove off, no questions asked as she found herself immediately drifting off again.