Hidden in the Immortals (Book #1)

Chapter 12

Even though dad and I weren't the best of friends right now, he wanted us all to be together when he told us the results of Andres's autopsy. It was early the next morning; before Jana and I went to school and mom went to work. I had been up for a total of ten minutes, so I was half asleep and in my pajamas; along with Jana. Mom on the other hand was dressed and ready for work and cradling her car keys. Dad studied the coffee cup he held in his hands intently. He set it down, then made eye contact with each of us individually.

"When they performed the autopsy, Andres had been dead for about two weeks." He started.

I sat up straight in my chair and my eyes widened in shock and my brow furrowed in confusion. "I thought he was gone for a month?" 

Dad nodded. "He was missing for a month," He told me. "He's been dead for about two weeks. They think maybe around eleven or twelve days by the state of his body."

Jana hung her head and I heard her sniffle. She wiped her cheek with the palm of her hand, then lifted her head and met dad's eyes. "So, he really did try to run away."

He shook his head once. "No one can say what was going on with him for sure, sweetheart." I let out a subtle huff. If that wasn't the truth.

She nodded, seeming to accept this. She sat up straight. "So, what were his injuries?" Her voice was firm and serious.

He let out a small sigh. "He had a puncture wound on the back of his leg and in his back, which they have determined to be an arrow," He began. "He was also stuck with an arrow twice in his stomach, which damaged his internal organs badly, and then a stab to the heart with another weapon."

Jana held up a finger. "Wait," She started in an astonished, yet angry tone. "Andres was chased down and shot with an arrow like a deer?"

I huffed and looked at her. "Ain't it crazy how people think it's okay to hunt and kill other people?" She nodded in agreement. I looked over at dad. "I can't even imagine the mindset of someone so evil and heartless to literally hunt another person."

He didn't add anything to that topic and cleared his throat. "Another thing was, around the arrow wounds, Andres had this red, poison ivy like rash all up and down the area, but it wasn't poison ivy. They have no idea what to make of it, but they do think it is plant based."

I knew that he was in on whatever the hunters used to shock Immortals. I felt it when I tried to enter the Shipley's backyard, and I felt it again when Andres was hit by the arrows. Dad knew about whatever that stuff was and I'm sure he's seen the 'rash' before on Immortal bodies. But he didn't suspect Andres of being an Immortal so I'm sure that possibility didn't even cross his mind. I would have to ask Chad if he knew anything about it. "Did you see a picture of the rash?"

He shook his head. "No, but Romeo did."

I gestured for him to go on. "And?"

He looked at me irritably. "And what?"

"Does he have any idea what it was?"

"No, Julianna." He replied blankly, then grabbed his coffee and took a sip. "His funeral is Sunday." He added a moment later.

I blinked. "Sunday?" He nodded. "Where are they having it?"

He stood up, walked over to the sink and dumped the remainder of the coffee in it. He looked out the window with his back to us. "Here. In Old Brook." He turned back around. "We knew it's what he would've wanted." Without another word, he turned and walked up the stairs.