"Ever since I picked up her scent,
I've been trying to find her.
And when I did, my father told me
I had to hunt, destroy her.
All the while, I knew could not, felt I should not
But stolen moments neither of us forgot
Drive me to balance beliefs an...
"Get out of here?" I frowned. "Dad, we just got here! What do you mean--what's going on--"
"There isn't much time," Dad said quickly. "Moonrise will be here soon."
Moonrise? "You mean sunset?"
"Maybe we should go," Didi said softly.
"No!" I hit the steering wheel. "I want answers, Dad!" I was distracted by my side rear view mirror, the waning sun reflecting off my eyes in a glow. I shook my head and closed my eyes to get better control of my emotions and refocused on him. My questions were doubling.
"Leilani--" Suddenly, we heard some howling. "Damn it, Lani!"
"What?" Didi looked worried. "What is it?"
"Just wolves," I said quickly. "Dad--"
"Inside--" He looked at us both. "Now!"
We slid out.
"Bring your gear--all of it!"
Didi and I looked at each other for a second. This was bad. He wanted to be sure we brought our packs?
"Are fugitives after you?" I asked as we followed.
"You could say that." He said over his shoulder. "And you're not staying long."
"I'm not going anywhere," I said under my breath.
"Oh, yes you will."
We went into the cabin. It looked the same as the last time I saw it. I saw nothing out of place, nothing wrong. But I felt so much unrest.
"Hungry?" He asked, gesturing for us to sit.
"No thanks, we stopped off," Didi answered.
"Dad," I said warningly. "What's going on? Why didn't we meet and come here--"
He folded his hands, leaning forward. "It's not safe, not anymore."
"Fugitives?" I asked.
"No."
I suddenly felt dread. "Tell me."
"Not a whole lot of time here," Dad shrugged. "Let's just do what we can, and I'll explain--"
"Dad--"
"Later." He got up. "Please?"
I looked at Didi. She looked sad. "What do you want us to do?"
"Remember when we talked about barricading the house for a storm?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"Home alone?"
"Yeah."
It took hours. We turned off the power, and turned on the generator. We closed and bolted the ground floor, using lights from the upstairs window to help. The only things we used on the generator was our laptops and cell phones. LED Candles were used every place else.
"Any food around here?" Didi asked.
"Yeah, in your new truck." He said to me.
"What?" I asked.
"Follow me," he said. We went outside. "I have a plan." We followed him outside to see a white SUV. "Here." He lifted the back door.
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"Whoa," I breathed.
"Your clothes and what not go under the bed," he said. "Got one electric burner, small sink, fridge holds a six pack, mini microwave. Two plug outlet." He turned to Didi. "It's your birthday, Didi. The jeep is yours."
Didi suddenly became serious. "You're staying to fight alone?"
"Yes," he said. "Go straight to my parents' house, someone will be there--"
"Your parents?" I repeated. "Thought they were dead."
"The house is still there, but I'm talking about the time share," he told me. "I'm getting out on my truck."
"Where will we meet up?" I asked. "And who are we getting ready for? Which fugitive?"
"We're not getting ready for a fugitive, Lani."
I looked at him and then at Didi, who looked sad. "Why do I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't know what's going on here?"
"We are getting ready for Kyros." Didi said sadly. "Kyros of the Kincaid Clan."
"Kyros?" I shook my head at both of them. "Who's Kyros?"
"Come on," Dad said, leading us to the library. "We need to talk."
