Legend & Lace

11. One Of Things Doesn't Belong Here

Chapter 11

One Of Things Doesn't Belong Here

As soon as I burst through the door leading outside, I already had my hood up and my hands tightened on the straps of the now heavier backpack. I counted my strides, ten, twenty, thirty before I looked back at Antecedent, making sure I wasn't being followed. No alarms went off and no one was screaming for security, so I took that as I sign I was in the clear.

"Just keep walking, Hattie," Kenna said though the earpiece. "We're coming by to get you. Okay, so at the next street corner, pause before crossing...You see us?"

I was at the corner, looking down the road at the pair of headlights headed toward me. "Yep. Crossing now."

As soon as my foot touched the pavement, my eyes were back on the building. And in the window of the floor I was just on, there were five figures looking down and one held a tiny human in their arms, his hands up against the glass.

Kenna stopped the car just as I paused on the curb. Cruz was already in the front seat beside her and Drake was in the back. He threw open the door as I pulled the backpack around to my chest and slid in beside him.

"They're looking out," I told them. "Be careful so they don't see you..."

Since the car windows weren't tinted, Kenna and Cruz both leaned out of view as Kenna drove us past the building.

"Are you okay?" Drake asked as the four of us breathed a sigh of relief. "They didn't see you up there, did they? Not even a glimpse?"

I shook my head, situating the backpack on the seat between us. "No, they didn't. Eddie was the only one who caught me. He can say a few words, including my name, but I doubt he'll be able to tell them I was there."

"But he saw you."

"He did."

"And you gave him a note," Kenna snorted. "Hell of a risky move, Hattie."

"It's not like they saw me give him the note. And Eddie can't really tell them I gave it to him either. They'll probably just think that it was something he found in my office."

"Yeah, let's hope that's exactly it," Cruz sighed. "I swear, if John calls me in a little while, asking about where we are and what we're doing..."

Drake had been quiet through our exchange. So quiet, I had to look over at him. He looked almost...disappointed...that he hadn't been there with me to see him.

"He's perfect, just like I knew he would be," I told him. "He looks exactly light John, right down to the green eyes, but he's got Emmy's hair color."

Drake nodded, a slight smile on his face. "And hopefully it won't be too much longer until we can see him and everyone else again, right?"

"Right," I answered. "Now, let's get back to the hotel and go through everything to see what we've got."

Our hotel was on the other side of London, so my anticipation grew with every step we got closer to getting there. Drake was tempted to look inside, too, but I had to smack his hand away every time he reached for the zipper. That was all we needed, some street camera capturing a picture of the triumvirate's book. Even though our faces would be erased from its recordings, the book wouldn't be.

So as soon as we were back in the room, we all dropped down on to one of the beds and I unzipped the bag before emptying its contents in the center.