The Truth

Chapter 18

-Cindy-

"He's been gone for three hours!!" I cry, and I can feel the tears coming. He left us; he must have overheard Blake and my argument. "This is all your fault!" I yell. Blake laughs and rolls his eyes.

"No it isn't. We'll be fine without him." He says. "We've been waiting here too long. The longer we wait, the closer we get to losing your brother forever." he points out. I hesitate.He's right, of course. We have to leave. But Jack....

"I guess we should go." I sob.

"Leaving so soon? I just got back." I hear a familiar voice from behind. I whirl around and there he is, like an angel from above, his gorgeous face serious as always. Surrounding him are three little girls. I don't even question why he has children following him around; I just run up and throw my arms around him.

"You're okay! I was so worried about you! Where have you been?" I ask. He hugs me back and I can't help but smile at his touch.

He tells us the story of the girls and they run up to me and give me a hug. I can't stop an immediate feeling of love for these kids.

"What are your names?" I ask them. The girl who looks to be about seven says her name is Olivia.

"And these are my twin sisters, Alana and Alex. They're five." she says. I nod and turn to Jack.

"So..what's the plan?" I ask, which really means 'What are we going to do with three kids?'

"They're coming with us." he says like he's already figured it out.

"That would be a no." Blake says. I turn to him my hands on my hips.

"Do you have a better idea?" I ask. He hesitates and shakes his head.

"We can keep them safe." Jack assures.

"Speak for yourself." Blake growls. The kids hide behind Jack.

"Don't scare them. They're counting on us." Jack snarls and I smile. He's overprotective of these kids he just met as if they're his own. I know there's no where safer on earth for them then by Jack's side.

"They're going to slow us down! We're endangering them by taking them with us!" Blake protests, but Jack and I are already walking away.

-Jack-

I knew taking kids with us would be a huge risk. Blake was right about them slowing us down, and by us endangering them. The farther we got the more I realized it wasn't such a good idea.

Don't get me wrong, they were great kids. They didn't complain once about being tired or hungry, and Cindy and I kept them entertained with fun games. But soon we would run into trouble and they could be killed.

While Blake took the them into a shop to get some candy, I expressed my concerns to Cindy.

"I've been thinking the same thing. If the man who kidnapped them is looking for you, we're putting them back in his line of range." she says and I realize I hadn't even thought about that yet.

"We have to find somewhere safe for them."

"We could take them back to their aunts." she suggests but I say that's out of the question. Then Cindy smiles.

"I know someone who will take care of them." she says. I look at her questioningly as she takes out her phone.

"Mom! Hey, I have a favor to ask...."