“Ava,” I answered. “I know.”
“I am so in love with you,” he groaned against my lips, his forehead to mine. “Everything is going to be okay. You’re here for a reason. This is happening for a reason. Don’t be scared. I believe in you.”“I believe when you believe.” I gripped his neck hard with my arms. “I love you, too.”
He kissed me once more before setting my feet to the floor. “Let’s see the kiddos before we leave.”
I nodded and felt my eyes sting. “Don’t say anything to make me cry. I don’t want to upset her.”
He brushed my cheek with his thumb with a sad smile. “Okay.”
When we got downstairs, everyone was waiting. The rest of the family had gone to get ready and then brought their children back here so they were all together safely. I knelt in front of Ava and she looked up at me. “You’re leaving now, aren’t you?”
“Yes, baby. We’re going to help some people with some bad men.” I had a thought. “Ava, have you…have you had any weird dreams or anything lately?”
“No, mommy. Not unless us putting Rodney in an all-girls boarding school across the sea for always stealing my dolls and making them his GI Joe prisoners counts.”
Caleb snorted while Gran’s cackle held nothing back. I smiled at her. “Well, I think that’s probably valid.” I hugged her to my chest tightly and tried with everything in me not to cry. “Listen to Gran, okay? And be nice to Rodney. Y’all just play and wait for us to come home. We’ll be back before you know it.”
“Why are you crying? What’s wrong?”
I squeezed my eyes tight. My perceptive girl. I felt Caleb’s hand on my shoulder as he bent down next to me.
“Hey, give Daddy a hug.” He took her from me and I swiped my eyes discreetly. “Mommy just hates it when people hurt other people. We know that, right?” She nodded. “So Mommy and I are going to help somebody. You stay here and help Gran, okay?”
“Okay.” She looked down. “Will you be back before bedtime?”
“I hope so.”
“Will you sing to me now? In case you don’t make it back in time for bedtime?” Her big blue eyes that matched her daddy’s looked up at him and I knew he’d sing a hundred songs if that’s what she wanted.
He tucked her under his chin and rocked her a little, out of habit, as he leaned back with her and sang “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. They did the doo-doo-doo-doo’s together like they always did. I ached so much in my chest as I watched them. I turned away so she wouldn’t see me getting worked up. It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith in Caleb or myself or what we were or our people…it was just that she was our daughter.
Gran’s arms came around me from behind. I didn’t have to look to know it was her. I could smell her perfume. “It’s going to be all right, pretty girl.”
“Is it?” I glanced back at my little girl who Ashlyn told me was in danger somehow. “What if we’re playing right into their hands? What if by leaving her today, I’m abandoning her like my mother did me and she’ll be stuck without me forever?”
“You know that’s not what you saw.”
“I’ve changed my visions before,” I countered.
“For the good. For the better. You have your gift for a reason. Ashlyn wouldn’t have come to you and told you just to send you to an ambush.”
I nodded and breathed deeply through my nose. “You’re right.”
I turned and hugged her around her neck. The vision hit me when her cool skin touched mine. She gripped me tightly as we watched. Our Gran was older than she was now. She looked so happy—surrounded by her family, tears on her cheeks, her gray hair surrounding her head on the pillow in the upstairs bedroom. She touched Peter’s cheek, who tried to keep it together as he looked down at her.
“Oh, Peter,” she said and smiled. “Do you have any idea how happy a woman can be in a hundred years?”
He smiled through his tears. “No, Mama. Tell me.”
“So happy she’ll burst.”
He succumbed to his tears and hugged her gently as we all let our Gran go. She smiled all the way to the end. When her hand slowly fell from Peter’s head, we knew she was gone. I’d never felt such a peaceful vision before. It was all light and air around me. Gran’s goodness touched everything. She truly was the happiest creature that ever touched this earth and she shared it with us every day.
The vision left me and a sob choked in my throat. Gran gripped my cheeks, a smile on her face. “Don’t say anything. To anyone.”
“Gran—”
“That’s the way I would have always wanted to go. Peaceful, surrounded by the people I love. At least I know I won’t die by some Watson’s hand or in some stupid car. I’ll die the right way, the way God intended. Let me have this,” she said harder. “This is our secret, pretty girl.”
I nodded. What else could I do? She wiped under my eye with her knuckle. “Thank you. You know this family. They won’t let it go.”
I did know. They would drive themselves crazy with worry about it, though it was inevitable that everyone died of old age one day. I nodded again. “I promise.”
I tucked Gran’s vision away behind my walls and vowed to keep it there. I let my mind return to the matters of the day, to my Ava, which was pretty easy to do, and when Gran and I turned back to the room, they were getting ready to go.
“Mom,” Caleb called out, so busy and completely oblivious to my and Gran’s revelation. He shook his head. Hearing what he had in his mind, I sighed in relief. “I want you to stay.” Rachel’s mouth popped open in protest, but Caleb went on. “You’re one of the strongest here, your ability could protect the children if someone did come. I want someone to stay here with them, just in case. Don’t worry, I’ll watch out for Dad.”
Rachel was torn. She wanted to keep her grandkids safe, of course, but the significant in her didn’t want to send Peter off to fight without her there. Peter was at her side in an instant. He sighed, having heard it all in her mind. “It’ll be all right, Rae. Caleb’s right. If anyone could stay and protect the children, it would be you.”
She took his face in her small hands. “You better be careful.”
“Always am.” He pulled her up and we looked away as he kissed her.
I kissed Rodney’s forehead as he slept in Maria’s arms and hugged Ava tight before handing her off to Gran. Gran and I shared a look of understanding before I headed out. It was hard to keep it together for two reasons now. We were on our way before I felt like I even had time to get my bearings. I rode in the front, middle seat with Caleb’s hand stuck between my thighs the whole way there as he drove. Peter sat on the other side of me and reached over to squeeze my hand over now and then. It felt like the blink of an eye when we were parking near the woods. When we got out, I was a live wire. I was too worked up. I didn’t know what was up or down, what was what.“Maggie?”
“Huh?” I whispered and lifted just my eyes to find Caleb bending down to catch my gaze. “What?”
He leaned in and kissed my lips firmly, the tips of his fingers rubbing behind my ear. He pushed away from the truck and held his hand out. “Now let’s go get these bastards.”
It was what I needed. Exactly. I put my hand in his and let him lead me the short walk through the woods to the house. The Watson Compound. I had never seen this part of it when I was here. I could see the well on the cliff a little ways in the back. A shiver ran over me at the thought that we might find people down there today.
“No time like the present,” Caleb muttered and lifted his hand to let everyone know, from their various scattered positions across the estate, that we were moving in. There was a couple of cars in the driveway, but for the amount of people that supposedly lived there, it didn’t look right. We sneaked across the property line until we reached the main entrance. The massive gate was left cracked open…like they left in a rush. We made our way up the driveway to the house. Some of the family started to search the outlying buildings while we took the main house. Caleb and I took either side of the front door and listened. Not hearing anything, he started to grip the handle to turn it.
I got the worst feeling. I didn’t know why, but I hissed, “No.”
He stopped. I went to his side and he put me right behind him as he borrowed my ability and yanked the door from hinges with a wrench of his wrist in the air. We turned our heads, just in time it seemed, as a blast of noise and smoke came from the other side of the door. Caleb looked at what it was. “They rigged the door with a shotgun.” He looked back at me over his shoulder. “How did you know?”
“I don’t know.” I gulped.
He squeezed my fingers gently. “It’s okay. They rigged the place since they don’t have any powers to protect themselves.”
“And how is that supposed to make me feel better?”
He didn’t answer as he inched past the gun and looked around the room. “If they were here, they would have heard that. We need to move quickly.”
“The well,” I said. “And the bunker out on the hill.”