Vagabonds

Chapter Twenty: Gone

The cavernous basement of the Eckelson mansion was in chaos.

"What the —?"

Eliza let the door slam shut behind them as she and Joe stepped into the huge chamber, both of them gaping at the scene. Ian Eckelson was hovering behind Tero, who was bent over a keyboard, Moose flitting about nervously behind them. Aquila and Otto were shouting, standing on opposite sides of the skate park.

"Why can't you think about what you're saying for once?"

"Well why does he have to be such a fucking wuss!"

"Why do you have to be such an asshole?"

"Fuck you!"

Daisy was nowhere to be seen.

Eliza made to move forward, to help, and then remembered Joe. If things looked strange to her, she couldn't even begin to imagine how he was taking it. She touched his arm, tried to snag his huge, round eyes.

"It's okay. They're the guys I told you about. They're friends."

Joe's mouth still hung open, but he managed to meet her gaze. She reached up, tapping the bottom of his jaw to close it.

"Just... follow my lead," she whispered.

"Eliza!"

Aquila's voice filled the cavern and she swung around to meet him, shielding Joe with her body and holding her hands wide.

"Look, I can explain —"

"Have you seen Daisy?"

Eliza balked. "No, what happened?"

His eyes were wild, frantic, as if Eliza's fear from moments ago had been injected into him instead.

Aquila ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end.

"He ran off earlier today and we have no idea where he went."

A new voice rolled over her response, rumbling with disapproval.

"Aquila, what is the meaning of this?"

Aquila winced and Eliza fought the urge to reach up and wipe away the crease between his eyebrows. He hunched his shoulders, shifting aside as Ian Eckelson marched up to them, radiating with much more power than she remembered from the tottering old man.

"You again," Eckelson said, eyes sweeping up and down Eliza's strong frame.

"Dad, she's —"

"A mistake," Eckelson interrupted, folding his arms.

"Please sir, I promise," Eliza cut in. "I'm only here to help."

"And your friend?"

"He's...." Eliza glanced back, grimacing at the shell-shocked expression on Joe's face. "Safe."

"I doubt that. You should have taken my advice, child."

Eliza straightened at the word, clenching her fists at her sides as she struggled to keep her response civil.

"Look, the military knows about them. They were questioning me today at school."

"So you led them here?" Eckelson said, gaze flinty and terrifying.

"I came to warn you," Eliza snarled. "Your... sons are in danger."

"They're always in danger."

"Not like this."

Eckelson's eyes narrowed.

"What would you know about this? You come here once and suddenly think you understand everything? You have no idea the situation you seem so determined to nose into."

Eliza glared at him, unblinking.

"And you have no idea what I'm capable of."

"I have an inkling."

It didn't sound like a compliment.

Aquila stepped between them, fingers splayed wide.

"Look, can we deal with this later? We need to find Daisy. If what Eliza's saying is true, then we don't have much time."

"Especially with that idiot looking like a fucking tree trunk," Otto muttered.

"Will you shut up," Aquila spat, rounding on his brother.

"Moose," Eckelson said, his deep voice cutting through the air. "You and Aquila go find him. We'll try and track his phone."

"Of course, yes, yeah, we'll do that," Moose said, moving so fast he seemed to shimmer.

"H-his c-cell is still o-off, but I-I think I-I can turn it on r-remotely," Tero said, fingers flying over the Braille keyboard, a single headphone dangling from one ear.

"We can help," Eliza said, side-stepping Aquila's bulk and facing Eckelson. "Listen, I know you have no reason to trust me. And maybe I never should have climbed that fence."

"Among other things..."

"But," Eliza said, talking over him. "I'm here now. Joe has a truck. We can scout on the ground while your sons look from the sky, see what we can find. He can't have gone far, right?"

She looked to Aquila, suddenly struck by the ludicrous thought that maybe Daisy could have gone far. Maybe he had some crazy speed or teleporting ability that she didn't know about.

"No, he's got to be close," Aquila said, nodding. "With your help, we can cover twice the ground."

"And maybe he's in town. We can search there, try to find him before someone else does."

"I think people might notice his fucking spines," muttered Otto.

"You will stay here," Aquila snapped. "I'll take Moose."

"At your service," said Moose, appearing at Aquila's elbow. His usually bright face was marred with worry, but he vibrated with the same frenetic energy Eliza remembered from before. "Hi, Eliza. Who's the guy? Did he follow you here? Do you need me to deal with him?"

Eliza winced.

She'd almost forgotten about poor Joe, thrust into an adventure he hadn't asked for and, unlike her, probably didn't want. Turning, she found him frozen and wearing a silent scream of an expression. She reached out, squeezed his hand, and felt a smidgen of relief when he snapped his mouth shut.

"This is Joe. He's a friend. No need to, er, deal with him."

"Hi," Joe wheezed, eyes fixed on Otto's glistening skin.

"We'll do introductions later," Aquila said, eyes dropping to Eliza's hand on Joe's and then snapping back to her face. "Right now, we've got someone to find."

"Be careful," Eckelson said, but he wasn't looking at his sons. He was staring at Eliza, his expression etched with all the concern of a worried parent.

And Eliza had the distinct impression that she was the very thing he was worried about.