Rules of Fate

Chapter 14 - Weird stuff

'How did you...?' I managed to ask when I had regained some of my voice. Scott didn't answer me straight away, he was too busy glancing in the rear view mirror.

Finally he replied laconically, 'Elementary my dear Watson,' giving me a sideways smile.

I looked out of the window, my brain finally catching up with events. The main question was, did the Society know he was a Fatelist? And if they did, why was I asked to babysit him? Maybe he was in danger after all, I mused. A small voice whispered another question that irritated the rationality of the situation even more. Why? He had enough power to thwart any attack from pretty much anyone. I couldn't match that, so why was I in the role of bodyguard? He could look after himself.

I really wanted to call Ethan and ask him what was going on. He would have to tell me now right? I suddenly wasn't so sure. Ethan could be extremely tight-lipped when he wanted to be. There was one advantage to all this though, at least now I could talk to my companion.

I cleared my throat and then stopped. What did a Fatelist say to a target? Hi, I would ask you about yourself except I know everything already? I sighed, it was definitely a lot easier when he couldn't see me. Which brought another thought to the forefront; one which wasn't exactly pleasant.

'Have you been able to see me for a while?'

Scott glanced at me and nodded. 'Yup.'

Great, this was getting better and better. 'Since when?'

'Oh, almost from the beginning,' he drawled, overtaking a station wagon filled to the brim with junk. I settled back, determined not to dwell too long on what he had said, it would only irritate me. I was a good Fatelist, not great, but I definitely had the cloak down to a T, or so I had thought. But if he had seen me so quickly, then maybe I wasn't as good as I thought I was. I was still mulling over my lack of skills when Scott cleared his throat.

'I wouldn't worry about the invisibility thing. I had to work pretty hard to uncover you, plus I've had a lot of practice recently.'

'Really?' I thought for a second. 'Why is that?'

He didn't answer at once in fact, he looked extremely reluctant to divulge anything. Finally he shrugged. 'All part of the job, I guess.'

'I see.' I didn't see at all. 'So why was I asked to follow you?"

Again he shrugged. If I was honest with myself it was starting to irritate me. 'Who knows? The Society is quite secretive of its motives.'

That at least was true and I sympathised. Well I'd just have to wait for answers until I called Ethan. I told Scott as much and he glanced quickly at me before pointing out that cell phone reception in this area was pretty dire and I would probably be better off using a pay phone at our next pit stop. He wasn't wrong. Having determined that my cell phone stubbornly refused to pick up more than one bar on its network, I put it away and settled down to enjoy the rest of the drive in Scott's relatively silent company.

+++

We didn't stop...in fact I almost had to beg Scott to pull into a gas station so that I could use the facilities. Plus, I'd spotted an old beat up pay phone barely hanging onto the wall outside. I dealt with my pressing problem first and then made a bee-line for the phone. Lifting the receiver I tried not to look at the caked filth around it, and dialled Ethan's office. The insistent ringing suddenly died and I frowned. Had the phone just died on me? Oh please, please, I begged silently lifting the receiver again and listened for the dialling tone. It never came. Silent as the grave. I swallowed my frustration along with the dryness in my throat and stomped into the convenience store to see Scott paying for the gas.