Aftermath

Ch 140: Call to Action

Kota

As time passed, the theory that Mr. Sorenson was planning to take everything out of the house had abandoned. However, it was clear that he planned to take the girls just as he had told them; both Marie and Sang had boxes and suitcases in their rooms. We just needed to know when and why. Why now? And did we have a reason to stop them?

Sean and Luke had started the long drive back to Summerville, and they were on speakerphone as Nathan, Victor, and Gabriel filled them in on what little we knew, along with the occasional aside from Silas.

Muttering an excuse, I slid open the glass door and went outside to the patio. My brothers weren't much louder than usual, but the combination of their voices was a little much for me to take. The vise was back, tightening around my skull, and the relative quiet of the outside was a relief. I sat down at the table outside and put my phone down before fishing out a bottle from my front pocket and dryswallowed a couple of pills, hoping they would work soon.

Then I sat back and closed my eyes, letting the warmth of the sun shine down on me for the second time that day. It was good to be warm; it felt like I had been cold more than not lately, usually aided by the rain. Despite the today's warmth, I shivered at the memory of walking the miles from Stanton's bunker to the ranch, soaked through to my skin as the rain fell, and then after the second bombing, I had been pelted with rain as I had stood in front of the ruins of the school, grandstanding so that Sang could get away without notice.

And yet, though no one knew Sang had been there, the bombing had brought Sang's father back to Summerville anyway. Or so he had said. Correlation or causation? More importantly, why did he suddenly feel the fatherly duty of protecting Sang?

Mentally, I went over what we had discovered, but I came up with nothing to prove that Mr. Sorenson was doing anything that would harm Sang.

No danger meant we didn't have reason to intervene.

However, my instincts were telling me otherwise, and I knew without asking that the same was true of my brothers. But were we getting our emotions mixed with instincts? I had learned the hard way to trust my instincts instead of doubt them, but we had to move carefully when Sang was involved or we could make things worse. 

For a moment, I thought about marrying her. That would take away Mr. Sorenson's rights; it would also take away Sang's ghost status though. However, if it kept her out of danger... Still, I would hate to take away Sang's ghost status before she even knew about it, but I was certain she didn't want to go with her father anymore than I wanted her to go. 

With nothing else to do, I googled marriage laws in South Carolina, disappointed to find that she could get married at the age of sixteen only with parental permission. Well, dammit. I knew Mr. Sorenson wouldn't agree, and Sang's stepmother was pretending she didn't exist. Besides, I had a feeling she wouldn't be considered to be of sound mind anyway in her current condition. 

My phone went off, and I seized it immediately. Marie. I never would have thought I'd be happy to take a call from Marie, but the day had arrived. "Marie, I'm glad—"

"Hold on," Marie whispered.

Rustling came over the line, and in the distance, she yelled, "I said, I'm working on it!"

Then Marie was back. "I've only got a minute until Dad comes in," she said, her volume low. "He wants us to pack our stuff and go with him. But I can't leave my mother—not right now—"

"It's okay." I hoped I was right. "Has he said where he wants you to go?" We had heard as much, but verification was good, and Marie might find it suspicious if I already knew.