Chapter Ten

My eyes slowly opens and closes a couple of times, groggily, before they decide to stay open. My body suddenly feels heavy as if I'm weighed down by invisible object and not a thick cover. My mouth is dry as I swallow and my lips are chapped and I lick them. I feel super weak as my eyes looks around the familiar room.

I would know because I was in this room seven months ago. My eyes goes to the open door when I see a figure step inside. She gives me a small smile the same one she gave me almost a year ago when she came to visit me in the hospital after the car accident.

"Hey, Aud." She greets me coming to sit on the bed, right beside me. "How are you feeling?"

"Extremely weak." I reply with a hoarse voice.

She nods. "He said you would be and I should give you this when you wake up." She reaches over to the nightstand and grabs the glass of water and banana.

I frown. "He?"

"Yeah, Hayes." She says, holding the water and banana in her hands waiting for me to take them.

I try to sit up in the bed but the most I can do is raise my head up a little more on the pillow.

"Where is he?" I ask. "We have to go."

"Woah, woah." Teri puts the water and banana down on the nightstand. "You're not going anywhere—neither is he." She adds. "You just woke up."

"How long have I been out?"

"Two days."

Two days? I'm off my schedule and Hayes and I have a lot of ground to make up for. We need to leave right now.

"Where's Hayes?" I repeat, trying once more to get up. "We have to go. You don't understand."

"No, you don't understand." She responds the kindness fading from her voice. "Do you know how scared and worried I was when Hayes showed up out of the blues, carrying your unconscious body? I was absolutely petrified. I didn't know what had happened and when I suggested we go to the hospital, Hayes flat out refused. He said you would be fine, all you needed was to rest and he did too." She explains. "Rest! He looked half dead, blood covered the majority of his shirt but when he collapsed on the couch and didn't move, I was really tempted to call 911."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because for some strange reason, I have a feeling whatever you guys are involved in isn't something the police should know about."

"Is he still knocked out?"

She shakes her head. "No, he's been up since yesterday, worried about you. We've both been."

I don't know why Hayes come back to California. Teri doesn't need to be involved in this. She shouldn't need to worry about us after we disappeared from her life seven months ago.

"Are you the only one who knows we're here?"

"Yeah. I haven't had time to tell anyone else but I'm sure they'll be glad to know you guys are back."

I shake my head. "No. No, don't tell anyone we're here."

"What? Why? They're your friends. They deserve to know you and Hayes are here." She says.

"It's better if they don't." I finally get the strength to sit up and reach for the water. I take a drink and it soothe my dry throat.

"Audrey, if you don't tell me what you've gotten yourself in, I will-"

"My name isn't Audrey." I interrupt her. "It's Millie."

"What the hell? When did you change your name and why?" She rolls her eyes. "Probably the same reason why you left unexpectedly."

"I didn't have a choice." I tell her, I pull the cover off my as I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, getting to my feet.

"What are you doing?" She asks, getting up as well. "You aren't seriously thinking I'm gonna let you leave."

"No, I'm not." I ease her mind. "But since you don't want me to leave, can you at least help me to the shower?"

She nods. "I can do that."

She slings my arm around her shoulders and leads me to the bathroom that's across the room. Once inside, she sits me down on the closed toilet.

"I'll let Hayes know you're awake."

"He left?"

"Yeah." She says, nodding. "He said he had a call to make."

I wonder who he would be calling but to Teri I just nod and she leaves me to myself. I turn on the shower and step into the water. I let the water run down my body for awhile before reaching over to grab Teri's scented body wash and cleaning my body and along with washing my hair.

I wrap a towel around my dripping body and squeeze the excess water from my hair. I walk out the bathroom and head back to the bedroom that belonged to me. I raid my old closet from fresh clothes. Once I'm fully clothed, I head to the living room where Hayes and Teri are. Hayes stands when he sees me and in two strides he gathers me into his arms, holding the back of my head with his hand.

"I'm sorry, Boo." He whispers. "Please forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive." I mumble already feeling better now that I'm in his arms again.

"Now that you lovebirds are reunited and fully awake, does anyone want to tell me what the hell is actually going on?" Teri's voice interrupts our moment.

I pull away from Hayes as I look at my cousin. "I told you, Teri; it's better if you don't know."

She rolls her eyes. "To hell with that. You can't come barging into my apartment, looking like you survived the apocalypse, and not expect me to know what's going on."

"Actually, we do." I reply. "I appreciate you letting us stay here but we have to go."

"Go where?" She exclaims. "You can't even walk normal, much less keep your eyes open." She turns on Hayes. "And you, seriously can't do anything with the big ass wound you have on your body."

"He's fine." I say. "We're both fine."

"You guys aren't leaving until I get some answers." She crosses her arms over her chest. "Things have been really crazy even since you two leave and recently it got crazier."

I exchange looks with Hayes before looking at Teri.

"What do you mean?" Hayes asks her.

"No." She shakes her head. "No. I'm not telling you anything until you two confess up."

She's not going to let up and she's not going to let us leave without giving her something.

I sigh, heavily. "You really want to know?" She nods. "Okay. Fine." I can feel Hayes' eyes staring at me. "Hayes and I got involved with a drug gang. The loss of my family put me into a dark place. I know you and the others thought I was getting better but I was faking it. Hayes found out I was using drugs behind everyone's back and I begged him not to tell anyone and I would stop using it." I continue with my lie. "He agree to not tell you or anyone what I was doing only if we left the city. That's why we left and for awhile I was clean before I relapsed." I shrug. "Things got out of hands and I took something I shouldn't have and you see how well that turned out. That's why we need to leave before they find us and I don't want them to hurt you."

She seems to believe me as her eyes softens. "I'm sorry, Audrey. I didn't know." She pause and the softens disappears. "How terrible of an actress you can be. Do you really think I was gonna fall for that bullshit?" She thinks about it. "Well, I might've but that's beside the point. I know you're lying because that doesn't explain how Hayes' bruises and wounds suddenly vanished." She puts her hands on her hips. "I checked on you guys all night and I noticed Hayes was healing. How are you gonna explain that? Oh let me guess, it was the 'drugs' you stole."

Why couldn't things just go my way just once? Lying to Teri would've been easy if I could've compelled her into believe anything I wanted her to believe.

"Audrey." Teri speaks. "I'm your family. Why don't you trust me enough to tell me what's going on?"

It isn't because I don't trust her. My refusal to allow her to know about my life, my mission, is solely because of her not finding out what's going to happen if I don't accomplish what I set out to do. If I fail, the world as she knows it will be over and if I succeed, there's a chance I will die and I would rather her believe I'm still alive somewhere in the world. I want her to continue to live her simple, normal life without thinking about what lurks in the darkness.

"I can't tell you, Teri." I reply. "It's not something I want you to know because I want to keep you safe."

"Safe from what? The people that are constantly following me every time I leave the apartment and think I don't notice them?"

"Who's following you?" Hayes asks, concerned. "Are they here now?"

She shakes her head. "No. They have my schedule down. Right now, they think I'm sleeping for another three hours before I grab lunch with Shawn or hang with Gina and Chris."

"Were they here last night or whatever time we've got here?" I question. I turn to Hayes. "How did we get here anyway?"

"I flew."

In Teri's mind, she thought of flying as in an airplane but I know what Hayes meant. He flown as in with his ability to grow wings on his back.

"To answer your question, no they weren't here. It was midnight when you guys got here." She informs us. "I doubt they know you two are here."

Hayes nods. "If they did, they would've stormed into the apartments by now."

"Do you think it's Abe's men?" I ask him.

"It's them or the government."

"Hold the fuck up." Teri says. "Why are the government following me? And who's Abe?"

"Look, Teri, I will tell you everything you want to know but first we need to leave now before your friends show up." I tell her. "Are you the only one they've been following?"

"Shawn made a joke about feeling as if someone was following him but I can't be sure. They follow me so they might as well follow him."

I glance at Hayes. "We have to get out here. It isn't safe."

"I figure that part out." He responds. "Call Shawn, Gina and Chris and tell them to get over here now."

Teri frowns. "Why?"

"Because if they're following you, they're following them and I don't have a clue why. It's better if you come with us and we'll figure it out."

"What about Daire?" I ask.

I don't like Daire but if the government is following her, she needs to come as well.

"No one has seen her since the beginning of the year." Teri informs me as she grabs her phone to make the calls.

While she's on the phone, I talk to Hayes.

"What's our next step?"

"I don't know. Once everyone is here, we'll go from there."

I'm a big fan of winging it and creating plans as I go on but in this moment, it sounds risky and I'm not going to jeopardize my mission. We needed to come up with something solid and see it through without any mistakes.

"They're not too thrilled about being awake this earlier but they're coming." Teri says as she walks back into the living room.

I glance at the clock. "It's nine-thirty." I point out.

"Hey, we, as a group, love sleeping in late." Teri says, defensively. "Now are you gonna tell me your secret?"

"Not now but I will later after we get everything sorted."

"I guess that's better than nothing." She mutters. "I'll start packing."

"Pack lightly." I tell her. "You don't need thirty pairs of shoes or a hundred different clothing articles. And you most definitely don't need ten accessories."

"I don't know where I'm going so I'm gonna pack a little of everything." She replies before heading to her room.

I sit in the couch with a sigh as I put my head in my hands. I feel Hayes sit beside as he pulls me into his side. I didn't know how exhausting and frustrating this mission was going to be when I left the mansion a week and a half ago.

In my mind it seemed so simple and so easy. Track down Ramadi and destroy him. How naive I was?

"What happened back in New Orleans?" I ask.

"I'm not sure." He says, truthfully. "One moment, I'm seconds away from death and then the next you're saving my life with this massive energy spurge that instantly turned the Morches into ashes." He looks at me. "What was that?"

I shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine. It's a shame that Dante got away and Yuma died before they saw it."

He frowns. "Yuma isn't dead."

"No, I'm pretty sure she is. I saw her lifeless body on the street with her neck broken. Thanks to you."

He chuckles. "Boo, I didn't kill her."

"You didn't?" I say in a confused tone.

He shakes his head. "No. She's alive."

"How is that possible?"

At this point in my life, nothing should be a surprise to me anymore. I should be immune to this.

"Morches can be killed by the sun, which as we know no longer affects them, fire, wound to the heart or decapitation."

"Okay, I packed as lightly as I could." Teri's voice is heard before we can see her.

She comes dragging a huge ass suitcase behind her and what makes it worse is she's smiling proudly at what she thinks she has accomplished.

"What did you bring? Your whole bedroom?" I ask, eyeing her suitcase. "You can't bring that?"

She stomps her foot like a kid. "And why not? I really tried to pack lightly but I couldn't help but think what if I need this or that."

The knock on the door, stops me from speaking as all heads towards to it. Teri leaves her suitcase as she heads to the door. She looks through the peephole before unlocking the door. Shawn, Chris and Gina walks into the apartment.

"This better be good, Teri or—" Chris starts but stops when he sees Hayes and me sitting on the couch. "Audrey? Hayes?"

Without any warning, he comes running at us, pulling us both in a big hug, crushing me.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" He asks, letting us go. "You've been gone for seven months."

"We're only still here because you guys aren't safe." I say.

"What do you mean not safe?" Gina asks, frowning.

"Guys, I told them about the people following us." Teri says.

"Wait, there's actually people following us?" Chris says. "I thought you said it was a joke?" He says turning to Shawn.

"I thought it was."

"Why are we being followed?" Gina says.

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Hayes says. "But we can't be here when we do. We have to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere." Gina replies. "You guys can't just show up back in our lives after seven long months and expect us to do whatever you say."

I narrow my eyes. "You don't have a choice." I reply. "You either come willingly or we'll drag your ass out through the door."

"I'll like to see you try." She challenges me.

"Gina," Teri says. "You know things have been crazy lately and they have the answers we need but we have to go with them. Whatever's been going on with us, what if the people that's been following us, knows about it? At least we can trust Hayes and Audrey."

Gina bites her lower lips. "I don't wanna leave." She says, dropping the tough act. "I'm scared. I feel like I'm losing my mind."

"Aren't we all?" I say. "Gina, the best way to help you and everyone else, is if we leave today."

She slowly nods her head. "Okay. Fine but I'm all going with you because I've missed you like crazy." She comes to hug me. "And I guess I missed you too, Hayes." She hugs him as he gives her a small smiles.

"What's in the suitcase?" Shawn asks.

"What's not in the suitcase?" I reply.

"Before we leave California," Teri says. "wouldn't it be good idea to figure out where we're going."

"I have a few places in mind." Hayes says. "The only problem is, Millie and I can't travel on any planes and it'll take too long to drive there."

"Who the hell is Millie?" Chris asks. "Why can't you travel on the plane?"

"We have a lot of people after us." I respond. "Half of them wants us dead."

"Sounds stressful." Chris says.

"If we travel by plane, how are you guys gonna get there?" Gina questions.

"I have a way but it's gonna require us to travel by night."

Shawn crosses his arms. "Why's that?"

"The way we're going to be traveling is unbelievable. Go home and pack. Once we figure out what place we're going, we'll let you guys know." I tell them.

They nod.

"And don't be like Teri." I call out as they head out the door. "Don't bring a huge suitcase!"

Hayes stands up and I watch as he picks up the newly purchase untraceable phone. He dials a number and I arch an eyebrow.

"Who are calling?" I ask.

"Reid." He responds. "Again."

"Why?"

Reid left the day before the funeral and I don't think he planned on ever returning. He was out there somewhere in the world probably still grieving. I know he blames himself for Lily's death but it had nothing to do with him. He didn't fail her.

If Hayes is reaching out to him, it has to be greatly important and I know Reid will help us even when he isn't fully healed himself.

"To tell him to meet us at Emerald Isle."