Grounded

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Head throbbing, I break from my endless cycle of dead-end thoughts and decide to take a bath. I ache to shed my clothes, as if I can shed my uncertainty with them. The only items in the closet are exercise clothes, stretchy pants, and shirts labeled to shed sweat. I snag a gray set and find the bathroom. The controls are similar to the ones at the Stuarts'. I fill the tub with water, as hot as I can stand it, and slip in, one inch at a time, closing my eyes and leaning my neck against the cold porcelain. "Lord, help me," I pray aloud.

 "Lydia," comes a muffled voice. "Is that you?"

I sit up, splashing water over the edge of the tub. "Jeremiah?"

"I'm here. We're locked in the apartment next door."

I press my hands against the tiled wall. "Are you okay? Have they hurt you?"

"We're fine. Your father is here with me. He's fine too. And you?"

"I'm well." My voice cracks.

"You don't sound well."

I press my forehead against the tile and begin to weep. Great gulps of air enter my throat in noisy rattles.

"Stay there. I have an idea," he says. Minutes tick by. Then I hear footsteps.

"Jeremiah?" I say toward the tile.

"There's a door, Lydia. I think our suites are connected. It's locked, but I bet you could open it."

I push myself to my feet and wrap the white robe from the hook around my body. Following Jeremiah's knocks and whispers, I find the door to the left of the kitchen. It isn't hidden in any way but it doesn't even have a knob, just a Biolock. I have a nagging suspicion I'm meant to find it. Why else would they have me next door?

"I'm going to try to open it, but it might not work. They told me the front door is wired to drain off energy if you don't have the bio-key."

"Will it hurt you if it does?" Jeremiah asks.

"I don't know for sure."

"Then wait—"

A tiny pulse of electricity from my hand opens the mechanism. On the other side, Jeremiah smiles at me from an apartment very much like the one I am in. Behind him, my father rests in a recliner. I can't stop the tears.

"I guess it wasn't that kind of lock," I say. I throw my arms around Jeremiah's neck and kiss his cheek hard enough to nearly leave a bruise. Then I hurry to my father's side.

"Dad, are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?" I rub his hand between my own.

"Not yet." The corners of his mouth tug down.

Jeremiah takes the seat next to me. "They don't believe us about where we're from."

"You mean Hem—"

My father hugs me, forcing my mouth into his shoulder.

Jeremiah moves closer. "They questioned us for an hour. Of course, we told them the truth—that we came from Willow's Province."

I notice my father's eyes dart up to the light fixture. They're watching us. That's what David was trying to tell me. "Of course. What else would you say?"

"But you see, they're checking with Willow's Province local government because they can't believe you grew up there and they never knew about you," Jeremiah adds.

"They're angry that your abilities weren't reported immediately," my father says. "I explained to them that your talents didn't blossom until this year, but they found that hard to believe."