Marie's Path

Chapter 8

Volto set up the ghostblind invisible mirror in the shrubs near the side of the house. Getting behind it, he sat down to wait. It wasn't long before he saw his friend coming closer, hunched down staying near the ground. Volto chuckled as he went past not seeing him.

"Best purchase I ever made, you didn't see me and you even knew where to look."

"Jesus! Don't do that!" His friend exclaimed getting behind the blind.

"She still at the party? Did it look like she'd be there awhile?"

He smirked. "Yeah, she's still there. But I couldn't tell if she was having fun or not, Marie's not exactly a party girl." He reached into his backpack pulling out a laptop. The blind made it almost impossible to see the light from the laptop. But not wanting to take any chances they concealed themselves under a small dark sheet.

Volto watched his friend tap quickly on the keyboard. He pulled the backpack close to his feet, and reached inside finding a small headset and earpiece. 'Once I'm in, if you see anyone, let me know."

"Of course," his friend replied as his fingers moved quickly over the keys." Hah, I got the code. Once I'm in you'll have nine minutes, eleven if we're lucky."

Volto got into position and pulled a house key out of his pocket. "I won't need that long." He waited for his friend to give the word.

"I'm in, it's offloading, camera's are looped, go!"

Volto went swiftly and silently through the house. He had one destination in mind, Marie's bedroom. He doesn't like Marie, and is hoping he can get her unhinged enough to go after the Blackbourne team. The initial goal of taking down the entire Academy had fizzled. He'd finally accepted that something of that magnitude was out of his reach. Messing with Sang had been fun for awhile. But he genuinely liked her, and had ended up helping her instead of hurting the team. She caused him to lose his main focus. It infuriated him that she couldn't see how they were the cause of everything she had to endure. He wanted her away from the Academy and that team. And maybe by using Marie, he have better results.

He frowned and placed a gloved hand to his face. "If only they had stayed away. I could have lived in peaceful obscurity," he told himself as he stood beside Marie's bed.

Volto shook his arms out, dragging himself away from his thoughts. He reminded himself he was on a time limit. Reaching into his front pocket, he pulled out a small device, securing it to the underside of her headboard. Turning to leave the room, some papers on her dresser caught his eye. He smiled, as he looked at the bank statement from the new account Marie had opened. He got his phone out taking a few pictures.

"Two minutes." He heard in his ear. Volto hurried down the stairs, locking the back door behind him.

______________ 

When Jay pulled into his drive he saw only a few cars left at his house. The lights were all on, but it was quiet. "Fuck! I hope the party didn't get busted."

Inside, Rocky, holding a nearly full trash bag met him near back door, "Oh hey man, you're back." Jay's eyes scanned the trashed kitchen. His stomach turned when he stepped across the sticky kitchen floor. The smell of pot lingered in the air. He hated the thought of seeing the rest of his home. "Don't I have any pride?" he thought to himself as he surveyed the damage. "Everyone left early, what happened?" he asked Rocky leaving the kitchen

Rocky followed him into the living room where a few members of the football team had stayed behind to help to clean up. "Your uncle happened. He showed up and called a halt to the party," Rocky told him. "He's waiting for you in your dad's office. Me and some of the guys will get the worst of this cleaned up."

Jay nodded. "Thanks for that." He firmly clasped Rocky's shoulder as he stepped past. "Thanks for sticking around and helping out, I really appreciate it," he called to his friends as he left the room. He walked down the hall to his father's office. Standing in front of the door, he let out a long breath before going in to face his uncle.

"Uncle Hank," he said seeing his uncle seated behind the desk. He was his mother's uncle, and Jay had always felt close to him. His parents had limited contact with him, he always called them out on their parenting skills, or lack thereof. Plus, they didn't like his lifestyle. Uncle Hank was never one to follow traditional values.

The man stood, coming around to the front of the desk facing Jay. They were both about the same height, with broad shoulders. Whereas Jay sported a buzz cut, his uncle's dark hair was slicked back.

"Sit down Jay," he ordered as he leaned against the desk. Jay sat down on the couch facing him. His uncle looked down at him, his face stern. Jay leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest and stretching his legs out in front of him. He knew this ploy, his uncle was trying to make him feel intimidated by having to look up to meet his eyes. "That was quite the party I walked into tonight. Underage drinking and drugs. You're lucky it was me and not the cops. This needs to stop, Jay."

Jay shrugged his shoulders. "I like my parties."

Hank's dark eyebrows pinched together. "I don't believe you." Jay finally looked up meeting his uncles fixed stare. "You don't drink, don't do drugs, or for that matter, don't even stay at your own damn party and make sure your house isn't destroyed!" He slammed his hand against the desk making his point. "That guy out there," he waved his hand in the air, "Rocky, Stoney, whoever he is, said you took a girl home. Is she your girlfriend?"

"Rocky," Jay pauses, "and no, she's not."

"You're angry, that's what all this is about. I get that. Your parent's left, they're selling the house, your sister has been taken care of-"

Jay launched off the couch straight in his uncle's space. "I don't have a sister!" he lashed out, his voice cold. "That's only someone I share DNA with. And trust me, if I could do something about that I would."

"Stand down Jay." Hank raised himself to his full height staring down his nephew. "I'm not here to fight with you. I'm telling you I understand."

Out of respect, Jay backed away, his eyes concentrated on a painting across the room. "What do you want from me?"

"It's time, don't you think?"

Jay sighed looking down at his feet, he rubbed his hand across his shaved head. He knew what Hank was talking about. "It's been two years."

"They haven't forgotten you."

Jay closed his eyes thinking back to the warm feeling he had being with them, he was apart of something then. He missed them, and he knew he had made the wrong choice when he left.

Hank watched Jay, he looked at the scar on his nephew's face regretting he wasn't there at the time. "What's the second rule?" he asked Jay. He can tell Jay is uncomfortable, his face is flushed.

Jay met his uncle's eyes, his voice was barely a whisper as he answered him. "Family is a choice."

Hank smiled as he reached into his pocket pulling out his phone. "Hello? Yes, this is Henry." He looked at Jay as he listened to his caller."I can be there in 20," he said ending the call.

"I have to go." He nodded at Jay, playfully jabbing his arm on the way to the door. "Call him, Jay. He'd want you to."

"I'll think about it. Thanks, Uncle Hank." Jay watched his uncle leave. Making that initial contact would be hard. He didn't know if he could do it. Jay breathed out a heavy breath.The air felt thick in the room.