Chapter 47Where She Ponders

I kept staring at the screen with mixed emotions. A message from my mom. It was unreal, I'd almost forgotten about the first message, an eternity ago. I slowly got my mind in gear as I read the sentence again. 'Broken Path' what did that mean?

"Kai" I said softly, the rest had stayed quiet for me. "What is 'Broken Path'?"

Kai smiled. "I already looked it up. It's a small hotel near the main street. I got the address for you here." He handed me a piece of paper from his desk which even had the streets roughly drawn on it.

"Kai, you're an angel!" I jumped and hugged him warmly. It felt as if he had given me the best present he possibly could. "Thanks!" A little kiss on his cheek to complete it made him blush so much I was almost afraid I'd broken him. It was so cute!

He was becoming more of a brother to me, they all were my new family I guess. Khuna, Valerie and Kai. I felt a brotherly love for them and that made me smile and feel warm again despite all of tonight.

Khuna giggled. "You're going to break him, you know, if you keep hugging him that strongly."

I let go, blushing. "Eh... Sorry Kai!"

Kai laughed. "It's alright. I'm sure you meant it nicely." He winked playfully.

Khuna poked me for attention and leaned back on my shoulders. "So Kai, who's Janus?"

Kai immediately lost his blush and looked seriously. "He's very good. I don't like to admit it but he managed to get past a lot of security here. Though not easily it seemed. One thing is strange though..." He let it hang in the air.

"Just tell us."

"Well... eh... Though I had to look really deep. I have a feeling I was supposed to discover his trail. I mean, it was a strange kind of mistake, the one where you doubt if it was on purpose. Like a beautiful lady dropping something to pick it up." He looked thoughtful, as if still not entirely sure of this.

I nodded. "It's a crazy thought, but would it be possible he wanted it to be found only by you?"

Kai suddenly smiled. "That's not that crazy. It was very well hidden. And only someone who really knew about my security would be able to find it before it was removed." He smiled even more. "In fact, that might very well be the reason. Hmm... So they were counting on me tracing it all." He started mumbling to himself as he sat back down behind his screens, thinking for a few moments more before he started typing.

Khuna pulled me back with a wink. "He's busy now."

"But we haven't told him about you and Isabel and what happened today?"

Khuna giggled. "That'll come later. I know Kai well enough to know he can't resist finding out if it's all true. So... eh... where exactly did you find Isabel?"

I forgot we'd only told her about today, not about everything from yesterday. "Valerie took me with her to a church with a graveyard, showed me something important and we noticed light in the church. So we went in and saw some weird cult stuff where they had Isabel. "

I told her as much of the details as I could weave in a story. It took me quite some time as Khuna asked me more details until finally she was satisfied. We hung in front of the television on the sofa's, hearing Kai working in the background. It felt nice to be here again. For a moment all seemed well, as long as I didn't look at her arms. Though as I glanced (damn my thoughts!) I noticed they were faded already. Tomorrow they'd be gone.

"I'm alright." Khuna smiled and kissed my cheek, making me blush.

I suddenly remembered something else. "I read in the book."

She looked up at me with interest.

"It was about the Silver Abbey and what happened to it. Kai found out my school's headmaster wrote a lot of it."

Khuna smiled but looked slightly sad. "I want to be alone tonight. I hope you understand."

I smiled and kissed her back on her cheeks. "It's alright. I'm going to bed now anyway. I don't think I'm going to read, there's just so much I have to think about."

She nodded and smiled.

"Goodnight Kai!" He vaguely waved me goodnight as well, engrossed in his world as I went down to my room. It felt cold because of the harsh walls, no windows and almost nothing personal. But it felt warm too, it was mine, safe and welcome. I closed the door behind me and undressed. The sheets were cold as I climbed in between them but warmed up in due time. I knew it was still slightly over an hour before dawn but I didn't want to do anything. My thoughts were still going crazy with everything. So many people were part of my life suddenly and I still felt as if I was but a pawn in a greater game. As if someone somewhere was holding all the cards and just waiting for the right moment.

Thoughts kept swirling through my head until dawn finally came and released me in the welcome sleep. The thing that did keep a smile on my face was that one echoing thought.

I'm seeing my mom again.