I sighed and began attempting to pick Brock up. I paused and looked up at Megan, who was still staring at me. I raised my eyebrows and said, "Are you coming or what? I haven't got all night." She continued to stare at me open-mouthed. I slid my arms underneath Brock's upper back and knees. I took a deep breath and slowly picked him up. I looked back to Megan and asked in a rushed tone, "If you're just going to gape at me could you at least open the stupid door?" She shook herself out of her reverie and opened the door. I struggled out the door and then ran, or what the equivalent was for the part jog part stagger I was doing, to the minivan. The others saw me coming, and they threw the car door open in time for me to shove Brock inside. My muscles felt as though they were on fire. Megan started to climb in the minivan as well until Logan stopped her. "I will not leave my brother." She said fiercely.
I climbed into the front seat on the passenger's side. My friends and I had an agreement. I would drive to the location. I would go inside and get the child or children. If I needed backup, I could call Logan and Kyerra for help. Then Crystal would take us back to the institute so that we could rest.
About five minutes after we started to drive back, Megan started asking questions.
"Where are we going?" she asked. Kyerra was the one who answered. "Well, we're not exactly going to a location per se, it's more like a place where time and space meet." she said, both answering and not answering the question at the same time. It was a hobby of hers that annoyed the hell out of people. Megan scrunched up her face and said, "That's not wha... never mind. When do you think we'll get there?" I looked back at Kyerra, who in turn wiggled her eyebrows up and down. "We will arrive at the destination in No Time" she said while holding back a snicker. Megan still looked a little confused. "Umm... Ok?" she said. Her eyes drifted over from the back of Kyerra's head to me, still watching Kyerra struggle to hold back a laugh. Megan and I locked eyes. I forced my gaze away from Megan's, hoping against hope that she would get the message. She did, but she still had a question.
"Is there a radio in here? I'm bored." I let out the breath that I had apparently been holding. I reached out a hand and pressed the button. The station 103.5 blared out an old favourite of mine. Tears almost came to my eyes. I wished that I could sing along to it, but I couldn't if I wanted to keep my secret. My expression turned sour as I remembered how Apollo and Ares had tricked me and Logan.
Logan and I had been invited to Olympus by Apollo and Ares. We were excited because we would get to meet our fathers for the very first time (Apollo was my dad, Ares was his). When we got there we had lunch and chatted. Until they offered us something. We had stupidly accepted right away because , well, who doesn't accept something from a god? But what we didn't know then came back to hurt us later. It had caused... things to happen when I sang or Logan insulted people. So we made a pact to only do those things in times of greatest need.
"Emma... EMMA!" Megan shouted. "WHAT???" I screamed back. I turned around again. Megan looked taken aback. "I was just wondering where you got that scar on the back of your neck..." she muttered, "Gosh, can't a girl just ask a question?" I noticed that everyone else was looking at me like I was a ticking bomb, ready to explode. Then I realised that I was. I could feel my face heating up and in my head thoughts like, 'How dare she?' and, 'Why does the world despise me?' were going through my mind. I reached up and felt the scar. It was about two inches in length. "None of your business." I growled. Somehow that encouraged her to ask more questions. "Why won't you tell me? What's going on here? Are you hiding something? And why didn't you sing along to that last song? You always used to, so why not today? What's with the marking on the back`C of all of your heads? Why isn't anybody giving me a straight answer?" That's when she asked the question I had been dreading. "Why were you so eager to change everything about yourself? Why did you leave?" she asked. She was crying now. I must have looked even redder because everyone seemed to sink a little lower in their seats. I started to say something rude but thought better of it. I decided to just not answer at all, as it probably wasn't best for me to speak at the moment. This only made Megan cry even harder. "Give Me An Answer!" she yelled, "Please. Somebody. Just Give Me An Answer!" I had had enough. "YOU WANT AN ANSWER? FINE! I'M NOT TELLING YOU BECAUSE IT'S NONE OF YOUR FRICKING BUSINESS! THOSE MARKINGS ON THE BACKS OF OUR HEADS? THEY MARK US AS USELESS PEOPLE WHO WILL DIE BEFORE WE MAKE IT TO OUR TWENTIES! NO ONE'S GIVING YOU ANSWERS BECAUSE THEY WERE TRYING TO SPARE YOU THE HARSH REALITY! BUT NOT ME! AND I'M NOT SINGING BECAUSE OF A STUPID FREAKING CURSE, OKAY? IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!?" I screamed.
Everyone was staring in horror at me. "You forgot a few questions." a voice said blandly. Brock had apparently been awake for the whole conversation. He was smirking slightly. If it was at all possible, I got even redder. Kyerra shrieked and disappeared with a pop. Logan felt the need to say, "It's okay everyone, Kyerra does that sometimes when she's really scared. She's probably back at the institute, or at a Krispy Kreme place. Emma did not explode her. I repeat. Emma did NOT explode Kyerra!" I gave him an intense glare. "Goodnight, folks!" he said before popping himself out of the car. Crystal looked around nervously before saying, "I'm out too! Sorry Emma! Bye!" She also disappeared with a pop. I swore and dove into the driver's seat. I steadied the car into a lane. At least there weren't a lot of cars on the road.
I could feel the remaining two passenger's vision focused on me. 'Well this is going to be awkward' I thought. Megan was still drying her tears, but was looking at me angrily. Brock was humming softly and casually kept glancing at me. We drove in silence for a while. Brock finally said, "Well... are you going to answer the questions or not?" I grimaced. I really didn't want to answer the questions. "Not" I said quietly. When I looked in the rear-view mirror he looked concerned. "What happened, Emma? You used to be so funny and caring and... and just so you. Now it's like you're an entirely different person. Why?" I sighed and said, "It's because I am an entirely different person. I'm not the same person that you played games with or laughed with. This me has secrets and never shows emotion. It's just not possible for me to laugh anymore. I rarely even smile." Brock looked crestfallen. "Why did you change everything about yourself? I mean, why did you change your hair, the way you dress, your attitude? The only thing I recognised you with was your voice back at the house. Well, that and your eyes." I almost drove into another car when he said the last part. He smiled again. "Remember that date we went on?" My throat went dry. "Excuse me?" I choked. Brock rolled his eyes. "Don't play dumb. I know why you invited me to your thirteenth birthday party at White Spot. It was actually well planned. But didn't you notice me looking at you the entire time?" I gulped. I hadn't realised that he was staring at me at the time. I thought that he had just been bored to death. "No" I squeaked. Brock's smile grew even wider. "How long have you had a crush on me?" he inquired. "What makes you think I had a crush on you?" I asked defiantly. "Well for starters, it would have been way less obvious if you had written, 'I love you Brock' on your forehead. You were constantly trying to prove yourself to me. You tried to make me jealous on countless occasions. And that one time you put on makeup..." he said trailing off. "Did you mean it when you said that you would die before you turned twenty? Is that why you're taking us somewhere? Am I going to die?" he asked. I hesitated then glanced back at Megan. "Megan, will you look at the back of your brother's head? Does he have the mark yet?" She rolled her eyes visibly. She twisted around in her seat and looked. Her eyes went wide and she nodded. "On a scale of one to ten, how white does it look?" She thought for a moment. "Seven maybe?" I sped up a little.
We were silent again for a while. "I... Umm... I didn't get a choice when I had to leave. I would've died. I didn't get the mark until a week or two after my birthday. It might've been fatal if they didn't take me away." I said quietly and slowly. I ran a hand slowly through my short hair. "I didn't exactly get a choice in this matter either." I said softly, pulling at it slightly. "I guess I just decided to give up and start over" I said, finally answering their question. Megan started crying a bit again. Brock sat up a little straighter and said, "The Emma I know would have never given up. You really aren't our Emma then, are you?" My eyes teared up again. "No, I guess I'm not." I whispered.