Etched

Part III

CHAPTER THREE

Changes

All of my bags were packed into a long, sleek limousine. David had had surgery to remove the bullets and he was sleeping now. He would be transported to Denver in an ambulance that would travel with us. I clutched my cell phone tightly in my hands and sent a text message that I believed I had sent at least two dozen times, but I felt like I couldn't send them enough.

'Jeanie, I <3 u, I miss u. I'll c u'

I needed that comfort, the comfort of Jeanie and David, now more than ever. However, this was the one time where neither one was an option. I curled into a ball on the wide seat, carefully belting one of the seatbelts around me. I spied some water bottles and fruit snacks that had been stowed under the seats across from me, so I felt under mine. Eureka! I pulled out a pouch of fruit snacks and began nibbling on them. It felt better to have something in my stomach, although something more simple and more solid would've been nice. I closed my eyes and splayed out flat on the seat. I pictured Jeanie's face in my head. The beautiful dark tones in her skin, the red in her hair, her wide cheekbones and big, comforting eyes that balanced them out nicely.

Whenever she was with me, she always had this fierce look in her eyes, like a lioness protecting her cubs. Sometimes it was more obvious than others. I clung to it though, I wanted to know that she was still there, caring for me, worrying about me, thinking about me...My thoughts then started down another path. What would've happened if I had been alone? Or, what if I had been at the hospital with Jeanie? Today had been a non-student day, which was why I had encouraged David to come over early. What if those goons had caught up with Leo? My heart was cold as ice as I realized the awful truth: he'd be dead by now. I then wondered what would've happened if we hadn't answered the door. Would he have gone to someone else's house and wreaked this havoc on another innocent life? No. No, he would've come and tried to find me, wherever I was.

I had a feeling that I was more central to whatever was going on than I had originally believed. I tried to relax on the long car ride to Denver, and I eventually fell asleep.

When I woke up, the car was waiting at a stoplight, and it was dark outside. The lack of light was a little disorienting, but I gathered my bearings and sat up. "Where are we?" I asked. My voice sounded dry, I tried to wet up my throat by swallowing, but it only hurt. "We're just outside of Denver, we'll get you to a proper bed and shower in the next twenty minutes or so." I was relieved. I then started thinking about David, and felt a little guilty that he hadn't been my first thought. "How's David?" I asked. "Oh, Mr. Havenport is just fine." David Havenport. Quite the name isn't it? I'd always loved it though. When we finally stopped, it was not in front of a police station or penitentiary as I had expected.

I had been briefly contemplating the poor status of prison food to distract myself, but when we drove up to a huge house, I wondered if I was actually going to be subjected to that. I got out of the car, surprised by the chilliness of the evening. I walked around to the trunk and pulled out my bags and big steamer trunk with my clothes. I staggered along behind Agent Bynes as she walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. I briefly considered the time. "Won't we wake up whoever lives here?" I wondered a little sympathetically. I felt bad for whoever owned this house. "Oh, he's awake, I called him about an hour ago, he's been waiting for us to arrive." The door opened and a man who looked to be in his late forties or early fifties, but who was reasonably good looking and in good shape, frowned up at Agent Bynes. "No." He said, shaking his head. "Of all the things..." He laughed a little tiredly and then rubbed his eyes for a moment.

"Bring them in I guess." He said, laughing again. I carefully stepped over the threshold first and deposited all of my bags in the first room, which was filled with sofas and big armchairs. I sat down on the closest chair to my bags and curled up into a ball again. "Alright Carol, who is that and why is she here?" Carol? They were obviously more than just colleagues or professional acquaintances. "She's a witness to a very important case and..." She lowered her voice but I still caught it. "...She's an Etcher, I'm positive that she is." I wondered if they knew I could still hear. "What's an Etcher?" I asked, a smirk on my face. I looked back at them and they had both stiffened and stared in my direction. Agent Bynes was staring in fear and surprise, the man...awe, but it was a pointed awe, like he was thinking of something else, something specific.

"It's someone with perfect memory and perfect recall." Bynes said too quickly. "I know there's more." I added a little impatiently. "We'll get into all that in the morning, after you've cleaned up and gotten a good night's sleep." I rolled my eyes, but I was too tired and too sore to argue, despite the fact that I had slept for most of the car ride to Denver. "I'm Victor Slade, but you can just call me Slade, everyone does." The owner said. I noticed then that he was dressed in a very expensive looking dark maroon nightgown. He had walked up beside me and offered me a hand to shake. I took it out of habit, shook it briefly and then yawned.

He picked up some of my bags without saying anything and started walking away. I picked up what was left and followed after him. "You learn quickly, that's good." He grunted as he started up the stairs. "What do you mean?" He laughed but didn't answer my question until we reached the second floor. He turned back to glance at me, and there was a little bit of a twinkle in his dark gray eyes. "You followed right after me, you trusted me enough and knew enough to follow without asking or hesitating. That's good.: I appreciated the compliments, but I was still confused. "What now?" I wondered as we walked over to a room and he set the bags on the floor by the bed. "Now, you get to bed, I'll go see to your friend downstairs and get him a room. You, Carol Bynes and I will talk in the morning." He then closed the door behind him.

I looked all around the room, wondering mildly and a little sleepily about the quality of the food again. I laughed to myself, found a T-shirt and some sweats in the suitcase, changed in a daze, and then collapsed onto the top of the covers, falling asleep almost instantly.