Runaway ~ TUA (Book 3)

Chapter 8

Taya had decided to tag along on the small road trip; she, Viktor, Sloane and Luther all stood in a large empty parking lot. It was dark and cold out there, police sirens wailed in the distance as Taya shivered slightly, regretting not bringing a sweater or jacket even though all three of the adults with her kept pestering her to do so. Taya sat on the hood of the car, watching as another car pulled up. Fei and Ben climbed out, Chris just floated out of the door. Ben, Fei and Chris all stood in front of the Umbrellas for a few seconds, everyone staring at each other in silence before Taya began to help Luther load Jayme and Alphonso's bodies into Ben's car while Sloane reunited with her siblings.

It felt strange for Taya to help load two bodies into a car, she went back to where Viktor was standing and stood to the left of him, still slightly shivering.

"Well, this is it. This is the end of it," Viktor said as the Sparrows looked at the group in front of them. Ben shook his head, tilting it slightly.

"No," he said, "We want the old man too." Fei turned to him and a small conversation arose between the two siblings, though Taya couldn't really make out what they were saying to each other.

"He isn't a part of the deal," Taya spoke up, hoping this wouldn't cause even more conflict between the families. She was tired of this and just wanted this to be over.

"He is now," Ben replied simply.

"Ben, they aren't with him," Sloane defended, "They had nothing to do with the attacks –"

"Then they won't mind finding him and handing him over," Ben interrupted, turning his gaze back to Taya and her two uncles. "It's simple. Bring us the man who killed our siblings, and this will all be over. If not..." Ben just smirked before he and the rest of his siblings turned away and climbed into the car, Taya, Luther and Viktor looked at each other with shocked expressions.

The car ride home was dead silent, Taya had fallen asleep in the backseat of the car. Viktor had noticed her shivering and placed his jacket over her as a makeshift blanket until they got back to the hotel. He worried for his niece, he had noticed Allison and Taya had rarely been speaking since what happened with Claire, he'd noticed how emotionally separated the mother and daughter have been lately, and it worried him slightly.

~~~

By the time they had gotten back to the hotel Taya was awake, she climbed out of the car and gave Viktor his jacket back with a small smile before she walked into the hotel, deciding to go check up on Stanley and Klaus, hoping they hadn't set anything on fire, again.

The teen wandered to halls, searching for any sign of her uncle and younger cousin, she came across an open room that had Stanley's cart sitting just outside the door. She could hear Stanley panicking, which caused her heart rate to pick up slightly as she entered the room, it took her a second to process what was in front of her.

There, on a white rug lay Klaus, dead, Stanley must've heard her come in because he looked up at her. He seemed terrified and genuinely had no idea what to do.

"What the fuck did you do?," Taya asked slowly but loudly, panic setting in for her as well.

How did this happen? She had only been gone for about an hour or two.

"I– I don't know– I– I'm sorry I didn't mean to it was an accident!," Stanley rambled, his words almost being too quick and fast for Taya to understand what he was saying.

"We– we need to tell someone," Taya stammered, approaching her cousin who was standing by Klaus' body. "We need to get your dad!" Stanley looked at her like she had just said the worst thing on Earth.

"No! No we can't! Because then he'll hate me, and then I'd go to juvie and have to join a gang for protection and then I'll end up in a hole!," he cried, just as clueless of what to do. But the one thing he didn't want to do was tell Diego. Taya took in a shaky breath as she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to figure out what to do.