Runaway ~ TUA (Book 3)

Chapter 4

Taya sat in the hotel bar while her mom, Diego and Viktor sat at a table nearby, Taya couldn't bring herself to sit at the table with them. Not after what had happened between her and Allison earlier that day. She had zoned out, staring at the empty cup of water in her hand. The teenager was brought back to reality when her family gathered around where she was sitting, all except for Luther.

"Where's Luther?," Five questions as he looked around with a confused glance, everybody shrugged.

"You know what? We've got bigger things to worry about," Five sighed as he placed a book on the table, opening it as Taya moved closer to him in order to see the contents of the book.

"Like what?," Allison asked sarcastically.

"This." Taya looked at the open book, the page that had been opened was littered with newspaper articles, all about unusual deaths of women from all around the world.

"What are they?," Viktor questioned.

"These are our mothers," Five explained as he continued to flip through the book. He came to a page with an image of an Amish lady and Klaus put his hands on the book, looking at the picture before looking back at his brother.

"That one's mine."

"They're all dead," Five continued, "They all died on the exact same day, October 1st, 1989." Taya felt her blood run cold, that was her uncles and mother's birthdays.

"That's your birthdays," Taya breathed.

"Not anymore, it isn't," Five told her, "They all died before we were born."

"That's dumb. If we weren't born, how can we exist?," Diego asked.

"Exactly," Five confirmed.

"What're you saying?"

"I'm saying, when we jumped here, we created a time paradox. All right? Not just any paradox. This is the grandfather paradox," Five explained.

"The fuck is a grandfather paradox?," Taya said aloud.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Taya sat on a pool table by Stanley as he held onto the pool stick while he practiced his karate. Diego, Five, Viktor and Allison were talking a couple of feet away. Taya watched her cousin with an un-amused look as he practiced.

"Stanley!," Diego called, using his dad voice. "Now is not the time to be doing karate!" The kid looked at him with a frustrated expression as Taya took a sip of the soda she had taken from the hotel bar.

"Mom said I need to practice," Stanley argued.

"She's not wrong," Taya muttered as she laughed a bit.

"You're very bad," Diego agreed.

"Well, I saved your pathetic ass," Stanley hissed, causing Taya the chuckle, shaking her head as the adults began talking again and Stanley went back to his karate. Taya got up to throw the soda can away, getting hit in the back by the stick Stan had. She turned and looked at him with a glare, Stanley glared back, blowing a raspberry at the older girl.

Taya turned around when she heard a loud clatter, only to see that Stanley had knocked something over. She felt herself pinch the bridge of her nose, sighing to herself as she walked back to where she was sitting.

"That's it! I'm telling your mom," Diego threatened.

"Ooh!," Stanley mocked, causing Taya to snort. She was beginning to take a liking to Stanley.

"Wait, where's Lila?," Five asked.

"Shower. I told her she could stay with us," Stan replied like it was obvious.

"Wait, wait, wait. When did Lila get back?," Taya questioned, interjecting into the conversation, only to be ignored as Five began to walk away.

"Five, where you going?"

"To talk to someone who only has half her head up her ass."

And with that, Five left to go talk to Lila as Stanley continued to practice, doing the famous Crane Kick from the Karate Kid movie while saying 'Cobra Kai.' Taya sighed to herself, slumping onto a nearby couch as she stared off into space, she wasn't really sure what she was thinking about, though.

The teenager was pulled out of her daze when she heard a vase being smashed, she didn't even have to look over to know Stanley was guilty of that.

"It was the wind," Stanley lied.

"Who's the kid?," Luther asked as Taya smiled and waved at him, welcoming him back.

"That's Stanley, Diego's kid," Taya told him. Luther looked at Diego with a surprised look, Diego sighed and told him that he'd explain later.

~~~~~~~~~~

Diego was walking down one of the hallways with Stanley as Taya walked behind them, only half-listening to the lecture Diego was giving to Stanley.

"Right. Is that why you wear those tight pants?," Stanley snarked as the group stopped. Taya stifled a laugh at the younger boy's remark, holding a hand over her mouth in order to keep herself together.

Lila came into view, only wearing a towel over her body. She had bleached her hair and she looked at Diego with a blank stare as he walked up to her, pointing at Stanley.

"You need to take this kid with you." Five walked out of the room, holding two briefcases as Taya leaned against the wall with an amused smile as she watched the scene play out in front of her.

"Bathing," Lila snarked.

"Together?" Five rolled his eyes and sighed, he didn't have time for this. Him and Lila began to walk off, weaving past Stan and Taya.

"I love your hair by the way!," Taya called to Lila, she smiled slightly and messed up Taya's hair.

"Not too bad yourself, Red." Lila and FIve continued to walk away, Diego followed them as Stanley trailed behind with a bored look on his face. Taya sighed as she continued to watch what was happening, listening in on the conversation between Diego and Lila before she walked into the elevator with Five.

"How many is 'many people'?," Diego questioned as he stared at the elevator.

"Way more than you, Papi," Stanley laughed. Diego shot him a glare before he began to chase him, Stanley ran off. Both of them leaving Taya alone in the empty hallway. She sighed, throwing her head back in annoyance before she began to make her way to her uncle's room. She had been staying with them in their room ever since that morning with her mom, she couldn't bring herself to go back to her old room with her mom and Viktor. Taya wasn't even sure if Viktor knew about the argument, or if anyone did.