Something Peculiar

11

Taking a deep breath, I finally managed to stop crying. Even though Lisa had retracted her arms, she was still close to me in the front seat of her car. When I looked at her, she seemed to become aware of this and moved her arm further away.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Who were those people? Why did we have to run away?"

Lisa looked at me for a Moment,then took a breath. "That is a very long answer, one that is best explained by your mother."

"My mother?" I had spent so long thinking of Tae-yeon as my mother and I didn't understand what more she would know about this, then I realized she meant my real mother.

"We're going to see her? Where is she? Where are we going?"

"Förening," Lisa explained. "It's where I lived and where you'll live." She gave a small smile, meant to ease my concerns, and it did, a little. "Unfortunately, it's about a seven-hour drive."

"Where is it?"

"Its in Minnesota, along the Mississippi River in a very secluded area," Lisa said.

"So what is this Förening place we're going to?" I asked, watching her.

"It's a town, sort of," Lisa said. "They consider it to be more of a compound, but in the way the Kennedy's have a compound. It's just a glorified gated community, really."

"So do people live there too?" I asked, already wondering if I could bring Tae and Jessie along with me.

"Not in the sense you're talking about." She hesitated before he continued and glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. "It's entirely Trylle, trackers, and mänsklig. There's about five thousand that live there in total, and we have gas stations, a small grocery store, and a school. Its just a very small, quiet community."

"Holy hell." My eyes widened. "You mean there's just a whole town of ... Trolls? In Minnesota? And nobody ever noticed?"

"We live very quietly," Lisa reiterated. "And there are ways to make people not notice."

"You sound like you're in the mafia," I commented, and Lisa smiled crookedly. "Do you guys make people sleep with the fishes or something?"

"Persuasion is a very powerful ability," she said, and her smile disappeared.

"So you have persuasion?" I asked carefully. Something about it seemed to upset her, and as I expected, she shook her head. "Why not?"

"I'm a tracker. Our abilities are different." She glanced over at me and sensing that I would just ask more questions, he went on. "They're more suited for tracking, obviously. Persuasion isn't that useful in that arena."

"What is useful?" I pressed and she sighed wearily.

"It's hard to explain. They're not even real abilities in the sense of the word." She stared out the windshield and shifted in her seat. "It's more instinct and intuition. Like the way a bloodhound follow a scent, except its not actually something I can smell. Its just something I know." She looked over to see if I was getting it, but I just stared at her blankly.

"For example, when you went to visit that woman the other night" (that woman being someone who I had thought was my mother my entire life) "-I knew you were far away, and I knew something was distressing you."

"You can tell when I'm upset even when you're not around me?" I asked.

"As long as I'm tracking you, yes." Lisa nodded.

"I thought you said you weren't psychic," I muttered.

"No, I said I couldn't read minds, and I can't." Then with an exasperated sigh. she added, "I never have any idea what you're thinking. I cant tell everything you're feeling." She noticed my discomfort. So she continued "Just distress and fear. I need to be alert to situations she you're in danger so I can help you. My job is to keep you safe and bring you home."