The Skylar Experiment : Dead Ending (second draft)

Chapter Sixty-Three - Cover Blown

LUC

I JOINED RAYMOND UPSTAIRS after taking a minute outside. I didn't know how to process what Riley said. Somehow, her words rang in my ears repeatedly. But we had work to set straight, and this concerned my family.

Raymond opened his laptop on the coffee table, surrounded by everyone else, and began typing away from my couch. His eyes were focused on the screen while his fingers glided over the keyboard. By the looks of it, meeting Lauren hadn't jarred him like I anticipated it would. He recovered his spirits like it never happened, all balls to the wall.

I walked up to Ben, who had plunked down on the stuffed chair, and sat on the arm. Devin automatically brought snacks from the kitchen and now sat by Raymond's side, on the edge of her spot. Riley was the only one keeping her distance in the corner of the living room, sulking over the window seat with her lip chewed.

"It's searching for the signal," Raymond informed. He leaned back, eyes still riveted on the screen. "It shouldn't take—" Movement under the table seized his attention. He cut himself off to stare at his ankle, and I spied a shaggy, thick tail rubbing up his leg.

He gasped.

"Holy shit, she got huge!"

I forced a smile. Together with my sister, they were the ones to find Waffle stranded and took it home. I was counting on him to convince Lauren we should give it for adoption since she didn't listen to me, but the idiot bought kitty items at the pet store, instead. They couldn't stop playing and spoiling her with toys. Just like that, this damn ball of fur came to stay.

Waffle seemed to recognize him. Her purring filled the room and Raymond scooped her up to rest on his lap, grinning fondly. She let him scratch her chin and stretched her neck. The purr intensified.

"Wow, you took good care of her." He looked over at me. "I thought you... set her free or sold her on eBay."

"They're not so bad after all."

He stroked Waffle mindfully. His face softened, then the grin faded. I knew he'd grown to love this cat as much as Lauren did, and they sort of bonded over her; acted like proud new parents. 

That memory was far back now. Raymond picked his separate journey and never thought to visit or give news, just disappeared right before my sister was gone. I was left with the cat, the one thing she adored the most.

The room became uncomfortably strained. Ben knocked my knee, to which I shrugged in return. Devin monitored the screen and waited for the signal to catch up. Riley crossed her arms over her chest, gazing at the sunny treeline. Her newly shifted eyes reflected the light until they shone like gems. I wanted to sit next to her, to touch her again, to make her talk to me. What we did in the car and everything that followed wouldn't leave my head.

I didn't mean to humiliate her.

Devin wiggled. "Guys, it's up."

We all jumped and converged towards the couch. I ended up squished between Raymond and Ben, ogling at the laptop. It showed a map to the road I drove on while I stalked my sister, and a red dot was blinking, slithering along the mountains.

"She didn't rip it off," Ben said.

"Merry fucking Christmas to us sorry shits, it's working," Raymond murmured, entranced with that dot. A brief smile twitched across his face. "She's heading to a remote spot."

"Wow, Captain Obvious," I shot.

He passed me a side glare and—to my surprise—ignored it. The dot progressed farther north, negotiating long curves and hills. It rolled past the point where I stopped Lauren, then I couldn't tear my eyes off the satellite map. We were so close to finding it out... so close to getting a bloody answer.

Everyone held their breath while watching the screen for ongoing minutes, frozen in dread. The clock ticked on the wall and Waffle kneaded her paws into Raymond's pants, curling up against his stomach. 

My legs jiggled off the floor. I felt like I would burst, because we were so close it seemed unreal. Something will crash the tracking system, or she'll find the device and remove it, or an armada of soldiers might ransack this place before the signal halted.

Riley pulled her hair away from her face and scooted near to see better. Her eyes flicked to me, and they blinked quickly when she realized I caught her. But she held my stare rather than averting hers.

She gave a smile. It looked genuine, but worn, then I understood it had nothing to do with what just happened between us. She thought I was worried. Fuck.

I really was a massive shithead.

Gibberish broke across the sofa. My attention snapped back and my head whipped towards the screen, preparing to ask what changed when I saw with my own eyes.

The red dot stopped.

"It's in the middle of the forest," Devin pointed out. "It'd be like searching for a needle in a haystack."

"Or not," I said.

Reaching for the keyboard, I displaced the cursor in the surroundings, then zoomed the screen in to reveal a square black roof cut out among the trees. There it was, her hide-out. It was isolated and far off the road, rendering it impossible for hikers to stumble upon the location. It would also take a fuckton of determination to cover hundreds of square miles out of town and narrow the search.

Except I knew people who were the type to own property there.

My jaw clenched and I zoomed out. I glanced at Raymond. He glanced back at the monitor with a subtle shake of the head.

"So... what does this mean?" Riley chimed in, brows slanted upwards.

"It means our man Michael has been sheltering her this whole time and never had the kindness to warn us." Raymond smiled sweetly and rubbed the cat harder.

Devin rose from the couch and pulled out her phone, muttering, "The hell does he think he's doing..."

"Wait." I sprang up and plucked her phone away before she pressed call. "He can deny it. We have no proof and he'll just lie. If he kept this from us this long, it's because he was never going to tell us."

"Then what? I suppose you have a better idea?"

"I do, actually."

Riley, Ben and Raymond all tensed on the couch.

❃ ❃ ❃

Sorry for the short chapter, but at least it's readable. I'll also take this opportunity to chat, because chapters were always too long in my opinion to strain you with my own blabber. 

We are moving onto the crunchier part of the book, and I'm grinning like an idiot writing this because oh man... 

What are your thoughts on character evolution so far? Got a favourite? Or did it change?