The Survivors

Chapter Seven: Road Trip, pt. 1

7

ROAD TRIP

Spending time with the Winters had been a relaxing reprieve. It was hard to believe that I had come to the tiny town on a tiny peninsula on the Monterey Bay only four days before-fearing capture or torture, or worse. Instead, I had been met with a large family who had opened their arms to me, and brought me in as their own, displaying the most positive attributes of human hospitality.

We had at least one big meal together every day. All of them slept with regularity. Anthony and Patrick had jobs of some kind. It made them very human. Adelaide had explained that they determined long ago that if they kept up with typical mortal habits and schedules, it was easier to pass as humans.

  Ginny and I had become fast friends, spending the majority of our time together exploring the Monterey Peninsula. She helped me do a few errands I wanted to accomplish before we got on the road to Montana. We spoke little of the strange circumstances that had brought us together, or of our lives as Survivors. I still wasn't sure what her powers were, but I was leaning toward mind reading. There were many questions I wanted to ask her, but I felt I should follow her lead.

  I was disappointed not to have spent one moment alone with Everett. I knew his thoughts were not quite as syrupy as mine-until I smiled. Then he cracked. I was having an effect on him.

  Every night, I studied his features as he sat in the family living room, reading a book while his siblings gathered around-Mark and Ginny battling each other on a Wii, Patrick and Madeline usually playing games of some kind. He read books at a human pace, which I discovered he did to enjoy them. Inconveniently, he was never the last to go to sleep. If he had been, I would have had time alone with him. But inevitably Ginny or Mark stayed up playing a video game or watching a movie until after Everett had gone to bed. He would kiss every member of his family on the cheek-they all did this-and nod in my direction. "Sadie," he'd say coolly. I'd smile.

"Sleep well, Everett," I'd reply. Then he'd rub his face and run his hand through his hair nervously. He wanted to say more. I did too. But it never progressed.

We discussed the best way for us all to get to Montana. Only four could fit in my car, so that wouldn't work. The Winters-more seasoned car enthusiasts even than I was-had amazing cars. There was, of course, Anthony's Bentley Continental GTC, and Everett's beautiful Maserati, which was perhaps the sexiest car I'd ever seen, and I never describe things as sexy. Adelaide drove a midnight blue Lexus SC-430 her sons had bought for her. Mark drove a powerful black Audi R8, and Patrick and Madeline had matching silver Mercedes CLK-55 AMGs. Ginny, whose fabulous albeit outlandish attitude didn't end with her platinum blonde hair or fondness of Christian Louboutin stilettos, drove a candy apple red Lotus. But none of those seven fantastic cars had a useful backseat, so we'd have to take at least three cars to Montana, which I thought was ridiculous. I had been toying with the idea of buying my family a car, and this made my decision. A few of my family members knew how to drive, and if their readiness to approach the Winters was the first step in letting the family come and go with more liberty, I wanted them to have a normal form of transportation. Mark and Everett went with me to select a nice but subtle Range Rover-it was a hybrid of my taste and a more practical car for the Montana weather. So we'd only have to take my car and the Range Rover.

When it came time to buy the Range Rover, I pulled my checkbook from the giant Spy bag I carried with me everywhere and wrote a check for the full amount. The boys were stunned; I read their thoughts easily.

What the hell? I thought she just dropped into this world three years ago, Mark thought.

She's got to be brilliant to have mastered every intricacy of her life in such a short amount of time, Everett thought as he watched me write the check.