Althena Book 2

37. Rest For Now

The boys make me go back to school on Tuesday. I try to fake my own death to get out of it, but they don't care. Mike straps me in the helicopter and it takes off. I pout the whole way and Conner rubs my knee.

"Did you have your game Friday?"

"No. Everything was canceled. That flu hit the schools hard."

"It hit my belly hard."

"Yea, that didn't feel good. Let's be happy it's over."

"Maybe they'll give us nap time like during 1st grade."

He chuckles and kisses my head. "I might need it. I can take a nap in my office before I come back for practice though."

"Oh, is that what you do?"

He gives me his ornery smirk. "Some days."

I giggle and snuggle him. "You should take me with you for those."

"I will sometime. I have too much to catch up on today."

The helicopter lands and he walks me in. I get a kiss on my cheek before I go to class.

Akmae turns around when I sit down. "You coming to the party this weekend?"

"I think so. I have a lot going on. It's hard to keep track."

"I get that. Do anything fun this weekend?"

"I swam with dolphins, but I can't post pictures for a few days."

"Yea. The school would have a fit."

"You do anything?"

"No. Just tried not to get sick. I made it through somehow."

"Nice job. I think I got it the first day."

"Most people did. They shut down Friday to stop the spread, but the damage was already done."

"Clayton went to Darkmoon Headquarters Friday, since school was canceled. He didn't know he was sick though. He gave it to everybody. None of them got sick until Saturday. It was a horrible weekend."

"At least we made it."

"True."

"Today we are dissecting one of your plants. You can choose the plant. But it must have all parts of a flower. I want you to tack it onto your foam board and label each part."

One of the girls raise her hand. "As of yesterday, none of mine had any flowers."

"Draw a flower where it would be located and label it."

"Ok."

I make it through my morning classes and sit by Conner for lunch. He rubs my knee and I lay my head on his shoulder.

"You 2 are always so sweet." Amber sits across from us.

Conner nods.

"I threatened to feed him to a shark yesterday."

"What did he do?"

"He looked at me like he was going to ask me to go see a shark."

She cracks up laughing. "I guess you know better now, Conner."

He kisses my head. "No sharks. I know that now. You want some food, baby?"

"Yea, I better. It'll be a long day if I don't eat." I go get my normal tacos and come back.

"Our prizes will be here next week for the sales."

"I don't even remember what we got."

"When is that cheer camp?"

"It's usually scheduled for June."

"That'll be something to do."

Lauren looks around. "Did anyone other than Thena, Lila, and Amber get to 5,000 boxes?"

Lexi shakes her head. "Nope. They're the only 3 from the school. Good job, girls."

"Thank you, Conner." I kiss his cheek.

Amber laughs. "Thank you and I guess you're safe from sharks today."

Lila looks up from her phone. "The spring concert date was posted. It's in 5 weeks on Thursday. I don't know the date. It's on the door."

"Thank you. I'll get it before I leave."

I snuggle him. "You don't have to go. It's just the school choir."

"I want to go, baby. I like watching you do stuff."

I turn and hug him. "I love you."

"I love you too." He kisses my head.

"Don't make me put a chair between you." Lila smacks the table.

Amber nods. "Yea, Penn's pretty busy today. Might not want to push your luck."

Conner smirks and winks at me. "I'll push my luck later. I'm going to get out of here. I'll see you after school, babygirl."

"Have fun."

"No chance of that." He leaves in the direction of the choir door.

I spend the entire afternoon catching up on my homework and everything I missed. Mrs. Crew must know everything about every subject. She helps me no matter what it is. My brain is done by the time I walk out of that room.

I find Lila in the hallway and walk with her to the locker room. We change and I realize I lost my phone. "I left my phone in Mrs. Crews room. I'm going to run and get it before the room is locked."

"I'll meet you on the field."

I run out the side door and through the hallway. I get all the way there and a man comes in the door right beside her room.

"Is that the way to the office?"

"Yep. At the end of the hallway, turn right."

"Thank you."

I nod and reach for the door handle. He puts something over my mouth, and I am out. Everything turns black and that's it.

I wake up when I hit my head on something. I'm in some kind of box and it's black. We're moving though. I think I'm in a trunk. I feel around, but there's nothing to grab. There's nothing here. It's carpeted. That's all I feel. I wonder if they know I'm missing yet. Nothing hurts. I'm just groggy. My hands are tied together. We go over a big bump, and it lifts my whole body for a second. I try to feel around for the seam of the trunk, but I can't find it. I break 3 of my nails in the process.

Then we stop. I hold still and listen. I can hear men talking.

"That's what she said. We're handing the b***h off here."

I can't understand what another guy says.

"f**k if I know. She is to be unharmed at the hand off. What they do to her is not our business. We take the money and walk away. There they are."

I hear another car pull up.

"Give us the girl."

"Give us our money. We don't want the bitch."

"Show her to me. She had better not be harmed."

"Show us our money."

A minute passes, then I hear keys outside the trunk. It opens, and the light blinds me for a second, but I kick as hard as I can. I get someone right in the ribs.

"f**k. STUPID BITCH." He picks me up by my hair.

I try to bite his arm, and he throws me to the ground. Everything spins and I fall over. I roll to my back and try to stop spinning.

A man steps closer and stands over me. He's dressed in a fancy suit. "This is not unharmed."

A man in jeans and a t-shirt answers. "She's a little high. She's fine."

-BANG BANG-

I watch in what seems like slow motion as bullets go through their heads. They drop to the ground and blood pools around them. I don't make a noise. I'm not sure if I could if I had to.

The man standing over me puts his gun back on his hip, then picks me up. "Leave them lay with the car. Dump our car in the river. I'll get her from here. Report to the outpost within 24 hours."

"Yes, sir."

He carries me onto a plane without looking back.

I must pass out. When I open my eyes, I'm strapped into a seat, and we're in the air. I watch the man. He took his suit jacket off and is checking his phone. That's what my boys do too. He takes a drink of something. I bet it's coffee. "What happened? Who are you?"

He looks at me and nods. "My name isn't important. I work for Crossroads. Have you heard of them?"

"No."

"Everything happened before your time. I'm not surprised. Crossroads runs casinos. At one time, we had 10 in Darkburn. One day, the daughter of some rich i***t got taken. He paid a massive amount of money to get her back. Well, Darkmoon and the feds tracked that money. It was spent at one of our casinos. They blamed us and kicked us out of Darkburn. They shut down all our legitimate businesses because some criminals spent certain money at one of them. We didn't know the money was tracked or blood money. There was no way for us to know that."

"Why am I here?"

"We wanted to go back to Darkburn. We figured out when Winter took the throne, that will never happen. He refused all communication with us."

"So, you took the queen?"

"We're going to trade you for the money we've lost over the last 10 years."

"Well, they'll pay it."

"That's my thoughts too. You weren't supposed to be harmed. I am sorry about your knees. He shouldn't have thrown you down."

"I was more upset about the trunk."

He chuckles. "I could understand that. It's not like they could put you in the front seat and drive through town."

"I guess." I stare out the window. "So, who is she?"

"Who?"

"The lady they were talking about. The one who told them to get me and where to drop me off. They were talking about her when I was in the trunk. I never caught her name. Can I have something to drink?"

"Of course." He hands me a bottle of water. "I don't know of any females. I'm sorry. Maybe you miss heard them."

"Who were the guys who took me?"

"Hired criminals. They'll do anything for a dollar."

"I could have been killed."

"They were killed."

"They were dead the second they came for me. We both know that. You gave them a fast death." I glare at him and see him shiver. "They put me in the trunk."

"I promise not to put you in a trunk."

"Thank you."

"You're a lot like your father."

"You knew my dad?"

"Yea, I spoke to him a few times. He was a good guy until he started listening to his advisors."

"That seems to be a problem he acquired early in life."

"Nah. When s**t got real, that asshole wasn't afraid of anything. He would sit and talk to me like old friends. We'd help each other out when we could."

"Once that money surfaced, there was probably nothing he could do."

"There's always something else that can be done. He knew we hadn't taken that girl. That's not our business."

"But you took this one."

"Yea. I just wish your dad would be alive to come and get you. I'd love to see his face when I hand you over."

"Even if he were still alive, it wouldn't have been him that came."

"I bet he would have."

I crack up laughing. "His advisors would advise against it."

He laughs with me. "You're probably right. You can sleep some more. We won't land for another hour."

"What time is it?"

"6 in the morning."

"I slept for a long time."

"The drugs they used to knock you out take a while to sleep off."

"Does Drogon know I'm gone?"

"Yea, they know. They've put Darkburn on high alert. Opened up phone lines for reports of you."

"We're not in Darkburn are we?"

"No."

"Have you contacted them?"

"In a way. The money left with the criminals is the same money that was paid long ago."

"Can I talk to them?"

"Eventually. Rest for now."