Finding My Family **ON HOLD**

Ch 10: One Seed

Re-cap Chapter 6 Cody POV:

I clear my throat and continue the conversation, "I figure they should give us something to actually do to keep us calm. This nothingness is bound to drive even the sane crazy."

She laughs with me, but before she responds a nurse comes in and disrupts us, "Mr. Nasrin, you have a visitor."

CODY AKA VOLTO POV

Sitting before the man in the visitor's room I can't help but smile. "You know I didn't think I'd ever get any visitors in here, but if I had to guess...I knew it would be you."

He ignores my statement completely, "I heard you like to read newspapers." The smooth voice tells me.

"Where did you hear that from?" I ask him curiously.

"A little bird told me, or maybe it was two birds. I can't be sure." Yeah right, he probably has cameras in here and overheard my conversation with Chance and her roommate.

"You're talking in fucking riddles, that's my job." I grin at the stoic man before me. Listen to that...'man'. Ha! We are the same fucking age, but I don't wear suits like he does. I actually dress my age, well except for now.

I hold out my hand to receive the newspaper, but just as I go to grasp it, Owen pulls the rolled up paper just out of reach. "There's a catch." He says.

"Of course, there is. The Academy doesn't do something for nothing." I tell him as I cross my arms over my chest, "How many favors is this paper going to cost me?" I ask him sarcastically.

Owen sets the newspaper down on the table, "No favors, just a promise. I'll make sure you get a newspaper daily, but you must promise me you will never hurt Sang again."

My nostrils flare at hearing him mention her name, "I didn't hurt Sang." I tell him through gritted teeth.

He lifts a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and reminds me of the very thing I'm ashamed of, "She lived in fear for years."

"It wasn't my intention and you know that." I lean forward getting as close to him as I can, "Besides, do you think you won't hurt her? With the game your playing?"

"I don't play games like you." Owen says quickly, ready for my next move.

"It wasn't a game. It was a means to an end when my plan got interrupted; by you I might add." I'm getting irritated with this man before me. My foot is tapping out a rhythm on the tile floor and I just know he's analyzing the crap out of it. How dare he come in here and taunt me with a newspaper--a fucking newspaper and then he tries to weasel a promise out of me. I would never hurt Sang and he knows that.

"We won't hurt sang." He has the nerve to say. My mom would think different. She wanted two guys and one broke her heart. She never healed from that. If these guys can pull off the impossible then halleluyah! But it will be one hell of a road. And he's worried about me hurting her? What a prick.

I clear my throat to make sure I have his attention, "You know...I may not love her like that anymore, but I will always protect her and if you do hurt her you are going to be the one staring at these blue walls."

This time it's his turn to smirk at me. Just a small lift of the corner of his mouth, "You can't do anything from inside a padded room." Owen exits the visitor's room, leaving the newspaper in the middle of the table and me irritated by what he just said.

As I walk back to the lounge room I unfold the paper and stare at it, noticing a few headlines that pop out at me: "Drugs in School On the Rise Again", "Third Nursing Home Ransacked!", "BWK: Next Victim."

"I can't do anything inside a padded room." I whisper out loud.

"What?" Chance asks as she comes up behind me.

I stare at her violet eyes wondering if she likes me even just a little bit or does she think I'm just some crazy stalker. All those headlines nag at the back of my brain as I get lost in her stare, I have to do something. I can't stay locked up in this place forever or until the Academy forgets about me. People out there need help. I helped Sang, I can help these other people, but I can't do it within these walls. I need to get out, but I don't want to do it alone.

"Chance? Do you like being in here?" I ask her. I assume it's a relief to not have to worry about work, bills-- real stuff. She may like it here.

"Hell no! Do you really have to ask?" She says giving me a solid punch in the arm and it feels like a love tap.

I chuckle, "I guess not. It's not my favorite place either."

"You've been here two months. I've been here four years!" She shouts, twirling around in a circle before collapsing back into one of the bean bags.

"Then I guess a change of scenery is in order." I collapse into the same bean bag I was in earlier, "How does California sound?"

"Hollywood? I could be a completely different person! I've always wanted to be a star!!" I see Chance prepare herself like she's about to act, "Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere." She recites in a breathy voice with her hand over her heart, head tilted back likes she's already an old school Hollywood starlet.

"You'll get your big break, but you need to audition first." I lean forward so no one can overhear our whispers, "Here's what we need to do."

.....to be continued