Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Friendship Runs Thicker than Blood ❯ Runaways ( Chapter 5 )

CHAPTER FIVE: RUNAWAYS

“What happened?” Sira demanded immediately.

“Nothing,” said Leo.

“Really,” said Sira sarcastically. “That's why her face was all red, and you were staring at her.” Leo flinched.

“Fine. All that happened was that she cried and I gave her a hug. She was stressed out and she needed it,” he defended himself, seeing Sira's incredulous look.

“Sure, let's just go with that,” she smirked. Then, in a stage whisper, she added, “You like her.”

“I do not!” Leo protested, mentally cursing Sira's powers of observation. “Seriously. I don't. And even if I did I wouldn't try anything now, with the way things are, us being on the run from the FBI and all.”

Whatever Sira was going to say next was cut off by a loud crash coming from the room Seda was in. The two in the living room looked at each other, then leapt up and opened the door.

“Seda, are you all—” the question died in Sira's mouth as she saw a broken lamp on the floor. Seda had a large piece in her hand and had it poised over her wrist. Sira cursed and threw herself across the room to wrestle the ceramic shard from Seda. Both girls' hands were cut rather badly, but after a minute of wrestling and swearing Sira pulled away, the ceramic in her hand, and Seda lay back on the floor, panting.

“Don't do that!” Sira ordered fiercely. Leo was still frozen in the doorway. Seda slowly sat up.

“Sorry,” she said. “It's passed now, I swear.” Sira examined her own injuries. Seda got to her feet and put her hand over her friend's cuts. They healed instantly. She gave her own gashes the same treatment.

“Let's pretend that never happened, shall we?” she asked. “I have an idea, but it involves a certain amount of activity that's not exactly legal. Are you sure you'd rather break the law to live with me than go back home to your families?”

“Well, we're on the run from the Feds already. What's a little more?” Leo responded, ignoring Seda's question. He had the feeling he was forgetting something, but he couldn't say what. Seda was staring at him intently.

“My thoughts exactly,” she said. She'd wiped Sira and Leo's memories of the incident. “Okay, so here's my plan. We go to some random city and find ourselves a place to stay. Wherever it is, I'll manipulate the mind of whoever owns it so that he or she will never know we're there. Or, if it's a house, I'll make people forget that it exists. Depending on the extent of the FBI search, we can live pretty normal lives. It's probably too late to enroll in school—” she smiled a bit at her friends' relieved expressions “—but we can live well of the radar for as long as it takes.” There was a long pause as Leo and Sira considered Seda's solution.

“It's a good plan,” said Sira at last. “Definitely not legal, but it's pretty good.”

“Yeah,” said Leo. “So where do we look?”

“We pick a city, and I teleport there to get a real estate book. I come back, we pick a house, I take us there and do funny things with my powers so we live in utmost secrecy,” Seda explained.

“What about money?” asked Sira. “We need money for food and stuff.”

“I can hotwire an ATM so we can always get money from it,” Seda said. “It's an advantage of being super-smart. I think I'm actually using my entire brain.” She didn't sound at all happy about it.

“More extralegal activities, but it works,” said Leo.

“Let's live in Canada,” said Sira.

“Can we please stay in the U.S.?” Seda requested. “I was thinking Philadelphia.”

“Why?” asked Leo.

Sira mumbled, “What's wrong with Canada, eh?”

“It's a big city where it's easy to blend in,” Seda responded, ignoring the other girl. “Plus I know a little about it, and what I don't know I can just lift from my dad's memory. He went to Penn and lived in Philly for years.”

“Isn't that a little close to home, though?” asked Sira. “We should go somewhere where none of us has any connections. Like Williamsburg, or something.”

“Yeah,” Leo agreed. “It's not too close, and they have no reason to look for us there. I mean, it's not exactly the biggest destination for runaways.”

“Okay. Williamsburg it is,” said Seda. “Back in a moment.” She was gone barely five minutes before returning with a glossy real estate book. She went back out to the living room and sat at the table. The others took seats on either side of her. She started flipping pages.

They settled on a small suburban house near Busch Gardens. Once they had decided, Seda teleported them and their luggage to it. She then sat on the floor for several minutes in deep concentration. Sira took a bag of chips out of her suitcase and split it with Leo, both watching her.

Finally, Seda opened her eyes. She looked very tired for a fleeting second but a second later, returned to normal before Leo or Sira could really be sure they'd seen her exhaustion.

“There. No one in a hundred-mile radius knows about this house or knows we're here,” she announced. She sensed Leo and Sira's surprise and apprehension that she could read the minds of people a hundred miles away. “I never read your minds intentionally, I promise,” she said seriously. “I will never do anything in your minds that you don't want me to do.” Something about her sincere brown eyes convinced her two friends, and they relaxed.

Sira finally looked around. All her attention had been focused on Seda while she had been mind-reading; now she allowed herself to examine their new home. “Cool, it came with furniture,” she said. “And a TV!” She flopped down on the couch and began looking for the remote.

“Let's get settled in before watching TV,” Seda suggested. “Dibs on the master bedroom.” She ran upstairs playfully. Leo and Sira looked at each other, taken aback by her abrupt change in mood, then raced after her. There were two other bedrooms on the top floor, besides the master. Seda's stuff was already in the master, and she was sprawled protectively on the bed. Leo wasted time looking at her room while Sira nabbed the better of the two other rooms. When Leo saw the only remaining room, he cursed. The walls were painted bright pink.

“Asshole,” he threw at Sira. She leapt up and was about to attack him when Seda appeared in between them and grabbed each of their arms. They were instantly in the basement. Leo and Sira were startled by the sudden change of location and took a moment for their brains to adjust to the shift.

“Look,” said Seda, pointing. The other two shook off their shock and did as she bid. There was another room down there, with its own bathroom. It was not pink. “Better?”
“Much,” said Leo. “Thanks.” Seda nodded.

“You all start unpacking,” she told the other two. “I'll be back in a little while.” She vanished without telling them where she was going.

“I wish she'd stop doing that,” commented Sira. Leo shrugged.

“You're telling me that you wouldn't vanish every chance you got, if you could?” he asked. Sira made a face.

“Good point,” she allowed. “But we must be content with walking places. I'm going to go watch TV.” She walked out of Leo's room and caught sight of the four game tables and a bigger TV than was upstairs.

“Awesome,” said Leo, looking over her shoulder.

“So not fair. Wanna trade rooms?” Sira offered.

“Now way,” said Leo. “TV, ping-pong, foosball, pool and air hockey? No, I'll stay down here, thanks.”

“Dumbass,” she told him, and sprawled on the couch.

Seda was gone for over an hour. She came back very suddenly and called out to her friends from upstairs. Leo and Sira were still watching TV, having not unpacked or even moved since Seda left.

“Get up here and help!” she ordered loudly.

“With what?” Sira demanded. Leo was already up and heading for the stairs.

“Groceries, what else?” Seda yelled. Sira followed Leo upstairs.

“Exactly how long are we staying?” Leo asked when he saw the counter covered with bulging plastic bags.

“Indefinitely, now help me put the stuff away,” Seda said briskly. If there was anything good to be said about their hiding and breaking dozens of laws, it was that independent living brought out the mature, responsible adult in Seda. The grocery bags were full of actual food, not just junk, although there was more candy and other dessert items than was strictly necessary.

“Do I want to know how you paid for this?” wondered Leo.

“I rigged the ATM in the 7-Eleven down the street,” Seda replied casually. “Which reminds me—” She dug her wallet out of her purse and handed several bills each to Leo and Sira. “All you have to do is type in `2010,' then the amount you want, any multiple of twenty,” she explained.

“We are so getting busted for this,” Sira remarked, but she tucked the money in her wallet all the same.

“No, we're not. It's untraceable,” said Seda. Her voice was full of confidence, but Leo caught a flash of doubt and fear in her brown eyes. She caught his eyes on her and hurriedly went back to shelving groceries. Apparently, she did not want to talk about her apprehension.

I'll let her be strong for us, thought Leo. I won't say anything.

Once everything was put away where it was supposed to be, Seda went upstairs to unpack. Leo and Sira decided to do the same. As Sira was passing Seda's room, she heard her friend crying. She hesitated, then continued on to her own room. Seda had a right to cry by herself if she wanted to.

After an hour, Sira was unpacked and all her stuff was put away. On her way back downstairs, she listened for any sounds from Seda's room, but it was silent. She went to the basement, where Leo was occupied watching TV. She joined him on the sofa, considering whether to say anything about Seda. She decided against it. There was no harm in Seda's crying, and her closed door indicated that she wanted to be left alone. Sira didn't think her friend would thank her for barging in. All of this reasoning was so that Sira wouldn't have to deal with her friend's tears, but Sira ignored that truth and resolved to keep her mouth shut.

Three hours and no conversation later, Leo said, “I'm hungry. Let's see what we've got for dinner.” The two of them went upstairs to look for food. They got microwavable meals from the freezer and sat down in front of the TV on the ground floor to eat, rather than go back down to the basement.

“Where's Seda?” asked Leo. He had not seen her since they had finished putting away the groceries, and he was starting to get a little worried again.

“She was in her room when I came down, but she might have gone elsewhere,” Sira replied.

“Should I go get her?” Leo offered. She shrugged.

“Maybe wait a little longer,” she grunted. She wasn't disposed to tell him about Seda's crying jag, and didn't want him to barge in if Seda was still in tears.

By the time they had finished eating, Seda had still not come down. Leo went upstairs to look for her. Her door was still closed. He knocked.

“What?” demanded Seda's voice from inside, sounding a little choked.

“Sira and I just had dinner. Do you want anything?”

“No thanks,” said Seda. There was a sniff.

“Can I come in?” he asked. The door opened and he went in. Seda was curled up on the bed, her hair obscuring her face. Leo hesitated, then went over to sit next to her on the bed. “Would `Are you all right?' be a stupid question?” he asked. She made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

“I suppose so,” she said in a quiet, somewhat strangled voice. “I just broke the law in so many ways, I had to run away from home, the Feds are chasing me, and I dragged two of my best friends into it.” She brushed her hair away from her face and looked at Leo with tear-reddened eyes. “I'm really sorry about that. You could turn me in, and put yourself and Sira in the clear. Tell them that I kept you as hostages, or something. You could go home and not have to worry about being caught by the Feds ever again.”

“Would we do that?” Leo demanded, outraged. “Of course we're not going to turn you in. We're going to stay here with you for as long as it takes.” Seda laughed hollowly.

“Even if that's until we die of old age?” she asked. “I think not. I won't have you throw away your lives for me. I should send you and Sira back with no memory of what happened to me.” Despite her words, she didn't seem very determined to follow through.

“The Feds would remember us, though,” Leo pointed out. “Besides, you need someone to boss around, someone to make sure you don't wallow all day and forget to eat.” He was teasing her, but the sentiment behind the words was sincere. She smiled weakly, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

“Thanks doesn't even begin to cover it,” she said, leaning forward to give him a brief hug. “I'll be down in a minute.” Leo knew a dismissal when he heard one. He stood and left; the door closed behind him. He fervently hoped that she had abandoned all notions of leaving him and Sira.

 

Meanwhile: Part One

Agent Zenel stood in front of a sofa, on which sat the parents of Seda Volind. They were looking at the Federal agent with expressions of utmost attention.

“Your daughter was just seen at the Mall of Columbia,” the agent told them. “She was in the company of two other teenagers, neither of whom has been identified yet. Can you tell me who your daughter would go to among her friends if she needed help?”

“Davin?” Mr. Volind asked his wife.

“No, if it was Davin they wouldn't be at the Columbia mall,” Mrs. Volind said. To Zenel she added, “If one of her friends at the mall was a girl, I would guess her to be Nasira Heath, called Sira.”

“Yes, one of her companions was a girl,” said Zenel. “Shorter than your daughter, with honey-colored hair?”

“That's Sira,” said Mrs. Volind. “What did the other one look like?”

“A boy, tall, with longish brown hair,” the agent responded.

“That could be any number of her friends,” said Mrs. Volind. “Can you give us any other details?”

“He punched one of our agents quite ferociously,” Zenel said wryly. “Do any of Seda's friends have fighting skills?”

“Leo Jemp, I think,” said Mrs. Volind. “Seda told me once that he was good at fighting.”

“We'll get in contact with the Heath and Jemp families right away,” said Zenel. “Oh, there's one more thing. The boy was shot by one of our agents.” Seda's parents gasped. “He was able to keep running, so it might not be too serious. And all three children vanished by the time our agents got to them.” Leaving Mr. and Mrs. Volind to ponder this information, Zenel went to his car to order a search for Nasira Heath and Leo Jemp.