Restored (The Missing: Book 9) [Formerly Titled Rescued]

Chapter Seventeen

The woman vanished from the screen, leaving nothing for Jonah and the others to stare at but Alexander. He rubbed his hands across his eyes and sniffled. He looked helplessly out at the group, and his eyes landed on Jonah. Alexander opened his mouth, but no words came out and he turned so he didn't have to face everybody.

Jonah didn't know how to respond. Although he'd only known him for a short time, it was clear that Alexander's actions were very unlike him. Is he going to be okay?

Jonah, Katherine, JB, and Al exchanged looks.

"Do you know what happened between him and his parents?" Katherine whispered to JB.

"Not exactly," JB replied quietly, "but I do recognize him. In my time period, his family last name is Princeton, and his adoptive parent are- well, government officials. I've heard some... concerning rumors about them."

"Alexander or his parents?" Katherine asked.

"Both," JB replied. "Alexander hangs out with a bad crowd, and gets into trouble pretty frequently. And his parents aren't any more respectable."

"What do you mean?" Jonah asked.

"The rumors I've heard about them pretty bad. They were never convicted, but everyone knows that they were suspected of embezzling- no, I really shouldn't be telling you that," JB said, shaking his head. "Anyway, back to Alexander. He's only ever gotten in trouble for minor things, like vandalism. But he's never really faced any official repercussions, because his parents always 'take care' of it. I'm not sure what he could have done that was so bad that even his parents couldn't do anything."

"I'm right here!" Alexander snapped, cutting off whatever JB was going to say next. "But if you're going to talk about me, you might as well get the facts straight." He turned to face them. His eyes were red and puffy, but he wasn't crying anymore.

"Alexander," Katherine said softly, "what did you do?"

"It's not as straightforward as it seems," he started, his voice pleading with them. "It wasn't like the other times I've gotten in trouble. We always knew what were doing, and we never did anything that would hurt someone."

"Who is 'we'?" Jonah asked.

"My friends and I," Alexander replied before continuing, "but then one day, somebody dared us to break into one of my parent's coworker's office and take something, as a joke. He promised he'd reward us big time. The office was under tight security, but he took a couple of the restrictions off of my Elucidator and showed me how to breach it."

"Who?" Katherine asked at the same time JB questioned, "What were you stealing?" and Jonah shouted, "You had an Elucidator? Is it with you?"

"All of your questions would be answered if you'd just let me finish!" Alexander snapped. He took a breath and continued. "I couldn't tell what it was we were stealing at the time because it was in a small box that we couldn't open. And as soon as we delivered it to the guy, he vanished. I don't know who he was. He was probably wearing a disguise. I'm not even sure it was a guy, honestly. For all I know, it could have been her," he said, pointing to the wall.

The thought that the mysterious woman could have been behind Alexander's trouble made Jonah very uncomfortable. If she was always so thorough and had everything that intricately planned, he knew it was only a matter of time before they were outsmarted.

"Anyway, the item was reported missing and the investigators traced the crime back to my Elucidator, which was confiscated. And you'll never guess what was in the box."