Gifted Ones

Chapter 30 Haven

We end up landing somewhere in Massachusetts just before 10 o'clock at night. Everything was dark, so we don't  even have to stay very high up to get to the mainland. For miles around all I see is trees, fields, and scattered houses. No one is out to see us anyway. As soon as we get cell service all three of our phones start to buzz with missed calls from the Anderson's. Anne drops down in a cluster of trees to call them back. I pace back and forth anxiously as she talks to Garret. The darkness seems to press in on all sides, concealing every horror imaginable. I feel like more of Gabriel's men could fly out from among the trees at any second.

Finally Anne gets off the phone and walks back towards us.

"What did he say?" I ask.

"We're going to a safe house in Virginia. It's near headquarters," she says. "Right now we're too close to Gabriel's base, and they would expect us to go to DC cause that's where the plane was going. We can't go to HQ itself, either. He knows where it is now cause of Glen Hunter. That traitor!"

"What about after that?" Chase asks. "Have they found the island?"

"Yeah, it's about 1,000 miles away from shore. They want us to meet them in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina tomorrow. Then we're going to leave for the Carmine Isle from there."

No one speaks for a second. We all know that Carmine Isle will be the end, whether we find the Amulet or die on the way. Somehow, once we get there our fates will be decided.

"We should go then," Chase says, breaking the silence. Anne nods, and a little while later we're back in the air, this time heading South to Virginia.

I'm half asleep for the rest of the way there, not really aware of what's going on around me. The land moves slowly below us, trees giving way to cities and cities to fields before fading back to trees again. I might have actually lost consciousness at some point, because the next thing I know Anne is telling me that we've just crossed into Virginia and we're nearing the site. I blink a couple of times before focusing on the area around me.

The safe house ends up being a small wooden cabin a few miles outside of Charlottesville. It's so remote that Anne passes over it a few times before Chase spotted it through the trees. The entire thing is just one main room with two beds and a wood stove as well as a loft upstairs containing the third bed. There's also a chest filled with extra clothes in varying sizes and a ton of canned food, rations, and bottled water. That's it. It doesn't look like anyone's been here in years. There's no running water and no electricity, either. Chase snaps his fingers and creates a ball of fire in the air, big enough for light but small enough that the wood of the walls isn't at risk.

"This is it?" I ask, closing the door behind us and looking around. "This is the safe house?"

"It was built just in case Gabriel ever attacked HQ," Chase tells me. "There are about six in Virginia currently. There's a couple of apartments in Norfolk and one in Richmond. I think we have a fishing shack by the bay and a townhouse in Roanoke. We also let Gifted who are on the run from Gabriel stay here, if they need it."

"Here," Anne starts, walking over to the chest in the corner. "We can get some new clothes to replace the burnt ones here." She starts rummaging through the chest, pulling out items when she thinks that they'll fit us. I come over to her and help her sort through, pushing away the mammoth sized jackets and pants. Eventually we come up with three outfits that look like they'd fit us.