Deserted Highways

Truths Better Left Unsaid

 hall to his bedroom. He needed to sleep, or pretend he was. He paused at Kaelie's door, not sure if he wanted to talk to her, apologize, or if he just wanted to make sure she was still there. His knuckles hovered over the wood, poised to knock, and then he shook his head, walking into his own room and closing the door.

Kaelie woke with a start when she heard the front door close. She gripped at a knife pulled frantically from her bedside table, and crouched nimbly behind the door. She recognized the cadence of Jordan's careful footsteps coming down the hall. "Where the hell did he go?" she muttered to herself. Jordan never just left the apartment, he wasn't the type to go anywhere on a whim, especially now, knowing that everyone was searching for his face in the lines at the coffee shop every morning.

She held her breath as she heard his footsteps stop outside her door. She could feel the shift of the floor under his weight, even through the door, she could hear his breathing, his heartbeat, the rustle of his shirt sleeve as he raised his arm, to knock, she thought. She leaped back into her bed lightly, not in the mood for another fight. As quickly as he'd come, Jordan's footsteps passed her door and continued the few feet to his own door, and she heard it click shut.

Kaelie rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. Something felt off, she could feel something wrong in her bones, a deeper wrong than the feeling she'd had before stepping onto the roof with Serna, before blowing the lab in Paris. Jordan refused to explain anything, he ripped her up one side and down the other whenever she left the apartment, and now he's the one disappearing in the middle of the night?

Sometimes, she could hear him muttering to himself in his room, but he knew that she could hear him, and so it was never enough for he to make out what he said. The energy around him felt cold, calculated, like he knew he was showing her what he wanted her to see, and sometimes, she looked into his eyes and she couldn't see anything moving around behind them.

The hours passed slowly as she laid awake another night. After a while, she rose, dressing in tight black skirt, a black t-shirt with a band logo splashed across the bust, and tall socks. She pulled her wig and contacts on and then she stood for a while in the kitchen, wondering if Jordan would come out of his room, what she would say to him when he did.

She left after a while, leaving a note to Jordan on the counter, telling him she was fine, and she'd be back later. She could smell last night's rain on the grass as she made her way back to the college campus. She knew Jordan thought she was being reckless, dangerous, ridiculous even. But Jace had had two attempts on his life, and with Jordan's new information explaining the reasoning behind Jace's targeting, there was no way she could just let him walk around unprotected, to hell with Jordan's worries.

She knew she was being extreme, but she didn't care. "How can I help you?" a too chipper voice said, snapping her gum loudly. Kaelie fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"My name is Hera," she started brightly. "I'm a transfer. I need to register for my classes."

"Sure," the young secretary responded, her voice bored and business now. "I just have to go get some forms that you'll need to fill out. Please wait here.' The girl moved away, stepping into a small room and Kaelie was behind the counter and in her chair in a fraction of a second.

The girl had left her student records list pulled up and Kaelie scoffed. "Honestly, it's like they want me to break the law," she mumbled to herself. She tapped her fingers across the keyboard swiftly, pulling Jace's record up. She grinned to herself at his student photo, the uncomfortable smile turned grimace on his face. She'd barely finished scribbling down the names of his classes before she heard the door start to swing open and the secretary was walking back to the desk.