Changed Time

Chapter Twenty-Five

It wasn't that I had a gun pointed at my face, though that was pretty unnerving, it was the fact that a thirteen year old was holding it. Paige's thirteen year old sister. That was the worst part.

Mia held the gun firmly in her grip, not willing to put it down. "Take me to my sister," she said again.

I raised my hands in surrender, trying to get her to understand I wasn't going to hurt her, but she just gripped the gun harder. "Mia, you can keep the gun, okay. But you need to stop pointing it at me. I'm not the enemy, here." I looked at my watch, I was late. Which means Paige and Sophie were either on their way here, or they're waiting for me. "Hey, look, I can call your sister." That perked her attention. "Can I just look up her name in my phone?"

Mia's dull blue eyes, so close to gray, filled with suspicion. "How do I know you aren't one of them, and you're going to call your buddies?"

I couldn't help but give an irritated sigh. But I had to remind myself that she was just scared. "How 'bout I give you the phone and tell you what to do?"

She still looked suspicious, but she nodded. "Throw it to me."

I lowered my hands, my flashlight was still on, but it was too dark to turn it off. "Please don't drop it, it's the one thing I have that's worth something." I tossed it to her and she thankfully caught it. "Okay, we're calling a girl named Sophie."

Mia looked up at me, her eyes angry. "I thought we were calling my sister! Who the hell is Sophie?"

Irritation set in again, and again, I forced myself to push it down. "Your sister doesn't have a phone, the kidnappers‒"

"Murderers." Mia corrected me. "They're murderers."

I nodded. "Okay, well the murderers took your sister's phone when they took her. She's with my friend Sophie," she didn't look convinced. "Mia, I swear. You can trust me."

She hesitated, but I guess from the look on my face and the sound of my voice, she decided to trust me. She scrolled through my contacts, occasionally making sure I wasn't about to try to kill her, and then she put the phone to her ear.

"I need to talk to Paige." Pause. "Her sister, now put her on the phone." Pause. And suddenly Mia was bursting into tears. "Paige!" Pause. "I'm fine, I'm fine." She lowered the gun immediately and I could exhale in relief. "Yeah, Drew's here," her blue eyes set on me. "Okay, okay. I love you, Paige." Pause. "Yeah, see you soon." And she hung up. She looked at me, her eyes red and full of tears and suddenly she was in my arms. Her small arms around my waist, her head pressed against my chest. "Thank you, thank you."

I nodded, though she couldn't see it.

She pulled away and looked up at me with her eyes that were so different, yet so similar to Paige's.

"Let's get you to your sister," I said.

She nodded happily.

***

"Sorry 'bout pointing the gun at you," Mia said while we were walking back to the Charger. "I just had to make sure."

I nodded. "Yeah, don't sweat it. If I were you, I would have done the same thing." We're about three minutes to the Charge and I can tell Mia is trying not to start running.

"I wasn't going to shoot you," she said.

I nodded again. "Yeah, I know."

"I wasn't."

"Yeah, I know." She's definitely younger than me.

We turned the corner, and the Charger was in sight. I could spot out Paige pacing, and Sophie pointing us out. Paige stopped and started sprinting. Mia left my side and was sprinting toward her sister.

Within seconds they were in each other's arms, embracing the other as if they would fall out of existence if they were to let go. They were both crying, though they were happy tears.

Sophie walked up to me and we watched as the two sister reunite. I turned to Sophie and there were tears in her eyes, though the tears were different than Paige and Mia's.

Suddenly I got it.

I grabbed her hand and I pulled her toward the Charger, away from the scene. I led her to the trunk, opened it and rummaged through my bag, pulling out my handkerchief. I handed it to her. "It's clean."

She smiled and took it, wiping her eyes of her tears. She laughed slightly as she looked at the handkerchief. "You're the first person I know that carries around a handkerchief."

I laughed. "Well, it's one of my many ways to get the ladies." I glanced over at Paige and Mia. "What are we going to do with her? We still need to catch the murderers, and now we have to take care of a thirteen year old." I turned to Sophie.

Her blue eyes looked up at me. "A thirteen year old who managed to track down her sister and her sister's kidnappers and not get caught. I think Mia can take care of herself."

I nodded, agreeing with her. "Yeah, but the thing I'm afraid of is that she'll want to get involved. And she's only a kid. She shouldn't have to go through all of this."

"She's already going through it, Drew," Sophie said sadly. "And she's already involved."

I turned toward her, watching her as she watched Paige and Mia, probably wishing she could be doing the same thing with Jamie. A tear slowly started falling down her cheek and I was so tempted to reach out and wipe it from her face, but before I could do so, I was interrupted by Paige's voice.

"You have a gun!"

"We should go," I said. "We should go!" I yelled to Paige. Mia turned to us with a relieved look on her face.

I sent her a smile and she nods a thank you.