Page 112 of Captured Immune

“Now that I think about it, it was around that time when my parents started bringing me out to Julian, California. I remember because Victor had just started treating me like a plague-ridden toad. Whenever my parents brought me out there to stargaze, I’d wish on all the stars that my Uncle V would find another wife. I wanted him to be happy so he’d be nice to me again.”

All the emotions I had as a kid during those days come rushing back to me. Victor used to be my favorite person in the world. He was the one I’d beg my parents to let me call, so I could ask him to come play with me. He was the one I’d look forward to seeing every weekend. He was the one who taught me how to swim and to roller-skate.

We were so close that we had a secret word. Whenever either of us saidcrystal, it meant that whatever just happened stayed between us. It started one Christmas morning when Victor and I snuck downstairs to the decorated tree and opened one of my presents early.

In the midst of shooting Uncle V with my new Nerf guns, I bumped into the Christmas tree and one of my mom’s precious crystal angel ornaments fell. The wings broke off, and there was no fixing it. My mom never found out where her angel ornament went, because Victor and I made a pact to never tell anyone. From then on, whenever we had to keep something a secret, we’d saycrystal.

That was the last Christmas I ever spent with Victor. Suddenly, he stopped coming by to take me out for late-night ice cream and walks around the neighborhood. My loud nights filled with Victor and me wrestling on the carpet while I avoided Aunt Jodi’s glares became quiet nights with just my parents, asking them when Uncle V would come back to visit.

“Let me see if I’ve got this right.” Arella ticks off her points on each finger. “Victor was in love with your mom but was married to Jodi. After Jodi left him for another man, Victor’s so heartbroken that he dumps your mom. Then he starts treating his own son like trash?”

I purse my lips and nod. “Sounds about right.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. With Jodi gone, wouldn’t he have felt more free to be with your mom? What if your dad—or the person you thought was your dad—found out about the affair and threatened to hurt Victor if he kept seeing your mom?”

“That’s possible, I guess. Either way, I’m not gonna try to make it make sense. The only person who can tell us why he did what he did is Victor, and to say we’re not on the bestlet’s sit down and hash out the pastterms is putting it lightly.”

Arella and I talk for a bit longer before she eventually falls asleep.

When we finally arrive in Julian, California, it’s well past three in the morning. The sky is black, the roads are quiet, and the emotions coming to my head are mostly muted.

Arella’s eyes flutter open as I tap her awake.

“We’re here,” I say as I gesture toward the Y-shaped tree my parents always parked their car at. I shut the Lincoln off, then grab the backpack.

After locking the car, I take Arella’s hand and lead her through the woods.

“If we don’t find it,” I say as my fireball floats in front of us, “we could go to my cabin in Colorado. It’s not underground, but it can be a good transition place while we figure out our next steps.”

While the cabin property is under my name, I don’t think Victor knows I have it. I bought that cabin well after I moved out. Then again, he could easily look up properties I own and send his men there.Maybe my cabin isn’t a good idea.

“Wearegoing to find this safe house,” Arella says with a hell of a lot more confidence than I have. She’s gripping my hand pretty tight to ensure that her immunity works on me.

I’m not anywhere closer to understanding her magic more than I was on day one. From what she told me in the car before she fell asleep, she doesn’t even have to think that hard about projecting it anymore. She said it’s been coming pretty easily to her. This woman is truly extraordinary.

I step over a fallen tree, then help Arella over it too. “What makes you so sure we’ll find it?”

“Because we’re not leaving until we do.”

I’ve told myself that countless times. Every time, I’ve always left with dirt all over my jeans and no safe house. If Arella’s that confident, though, I’ll try to be too.

A while later, we arrive at the big rock.

“Thisis your secret rock?” Arella knocks on it with her knuckles. “It looks like any other big ol’ rock on the ground.”

“Because it is. I think my parents put this here to help my seven-year-old brain remember where Cheesy is.” I point toward the holey tree a few steps over.

Together, Arella and I take one hundred steps away from Cheesy. The whole time she counts, I expand my Empath power out to cover the woods. No one is nearby, which means we’re safe. I’ve never been so grateful for this gift until now.

“Ninety-nine,” Arella says. “One hundred.”

We reach the same area I’ve always come to. There’s nothing here but nature.

“Can I assume all these former holes in the ground are yours?” Arella gestures toward all the patches of dirt around us.

“What can I say? I was determined. Now as you can see, there’s nothing here. No safe house. No bunker. No trapdoor. No sign. No nothin’.”

“Let me look around for a bit. Keep holding my hand and move your fireball with me so I can see, please.”

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