New Canada? The first thought I had was that this must be some kind of ridiculous joke. What the hell was “New Canada” anyways? Without really thinking I picked up the paper and crumpled it up in my palm, shoving it into the pocket of my jeans.

 My thoughts were racing frantically.  This was bad. This was really really bad. I was wanted. Like some type of common criminal. That meant Thanatos knew about me. He knew what I looked like. That meant Bruce knew who I was…or at least, that I was worth money to him. For a moment I had to brace myself with my palms on the dresser, wondering if I was going to be sick. The flashlight beam wobbled as the dresser shook. I couldn’t stop shaking.

The beam of light was resting on a framed picture. A snap shot of a younger, less haggard Bruce and his family. They were smiling at the camera, kneeling on a checkered blanket surrounded by green grass. The woman beside him was beautiful. Blonde curls spilled over both shoulders, and the little girl she was holding had the same huge blue eyes. A pang of sadness joined the terror.

That didn’t change things. It just made it worse.

Somewhere down the hall a door slammed, and I jumped. The flashlight dropped out of my numb fingers and hit the ground with a “crack”. The light flickered and then went out, and I felt myself freeze in panic.

Low voice were coming this way, and I darted out into the hall, slamming the door behind me, stopping when I came face to face with two hulking figures. It was too dark to really see their faces, but it had to be Horace and Bruce. The man nearest to me said, “Kali? Is that you?”

“Oh here,” Bruce said. A click, and then light flooded the hallway. He flicked the pen light over my face, making me squint against the sudden light. “Oops, sorry. You okay, girl?”

Girl? You know my name. You know all about me. I tried to keep my face blank, even though it felt like my heart had leapt up and crammed itself into my throat. “I’m just looking for the bathroom. You got one that still works?”

He laughed. “Yeah, that door there. There’s a bucket to pour in after.”

Not really wanting the details, I simply nodded and turned to the other door opposite the bedroom. It was a good thing I’d slammed the bedroom door shut instinctively, because Bruce shone the thin beam of light around the hallway, like he was checking that nothing was out of place.

“We got the carburetor,” Horace told me. “We’ll be leaving in a couple minutes.”

“Okay great,” I muttered. “I’ll be out in a sec.”

I slammed the door behind me, bracing my back against the wood, trying to breathe evenly so I could hear their footsteps recede. It was almost pitch black in the bathroom, except for a thin beam of light that slid in from the crack in the frosted glass of the window. I climbed up onto the toilet seat and wrenched the window open as much as I could, until I had more light. Then I dug into my pocket and pulled the paper out with shaking hands.

Crap. That’s so obviously me. Why did Bruce have this? The only explanation was that he was keeping an eye open for me because he wanted the reward. I squinted at the poster. New Canada, it was ridiculous, but it must be what Thanatos was calling his “government”. So he was setting himself up as ruler, that was obvious. He already had most of the army, and now he was putting up wanted posters and people were going to try to turn me in every time we stopped. Great, this kept getting better and better.

Bruce was probably going to try to call them when he had a spare second to turn me in. We hadn’t left him alone yet though. What the hell did I do now? I had to think of way to tell one of the guardians. I jammed the paper back into my pocket and hopped off the lid of the toilet, banging my elbow on the counter as I did.

A voice from outside the bathroom door made me jump. “Kali? Are you okay in there?”

Manda! My brain was working overtime now. I could use this.

I strode over and yanked the door open, mouth dry. I forced a smile at her, seeing the hallway was empty. Doing my best to make my voice sound normal, I said loud enough for the others to hear me, “I’m fine. It’s dark in there so I smacked my elbow.”

Manda rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I figured. Jai insisted I come check on you, you know, in case you fell in the toilet and drowned or something.” She started to walk back down the hallway, and I leapt to keep up with her, aware that I only had seconds to pull this off.

“Yeah,” I said loudly, “it would be okay. I’m a pretty good swimmer. “ While I was speaking I pulled the note from my pocket, grabbed her wrist and shoved the crumpled paper into her hand. She stopped abruptly and announced. “Hope you didn’t stink up the place for me. It’s been awhile since I had girly bathroom time.”

She turned and walked back into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I stared at the door for a moment, thinking with admiration, that she’d kept her tone perfectly flat and sarcastic. It was like I hadn’t even handed her the paper. What now?

I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders, resisting the urge to chew my nails, turning back towards the store front. I had to look like everything was normal or the guardians would ask me what was wrong. Jai especially would notice if I acted all jumpy and nervous. It wouldn’t take Bruce longer than a few seconds to guess I’d been in his bedroom. When I walked in  Jai was sitting at the table by himself. Alarmed, I started forward, looking around for Bruce and Horace.

“Where’s Bruce?”

Jai looked startled. “They went out to fix the jeep.”
“Oh.” I relaxed a little bit. “Does he have a radio around here? Did he use it while I was gone?”

“No.” Jai narrowed his eyes at me. “Why?”

Manda appeared at the end of the hallway suddenly. “Because of this.” She strode over and shoved the paper at him, then she was over by the window, picking up the shotgun that Bruce had leaned against the wall there. She placed her back against the wall and peered out the window.

Jai scanned the paper and shot to his feet. “Shit. I can’t believe this. How does he know we’re on the move? How does he even know what she looks like now?”

Manda shrugged. “Spies?” She frowned. “They really are fixing the car. I don’t know when he plans to call them.”

“Maybe he doesn’t.” I said, hopeful. “Maybe he just found this paper and he doesn’t actually want the reward.”

“Right.” Manda’s voice was clipped. “And maybe I’m going to turn into a magical Barbie princess and live happily ever after.”

“Maybe it had something to do with you yelling out ‘the guardians are back’ while you were shooting up those soldiers.” Jai said tersely. “You left one alive, remember?”

“And he remembered Kali perfectly and drew her in charcoal?” Manda scoffed. “It was ‘art lessons with Thanatos’ at the castle? Come on!”

“That’s the only way he would know.”

“Unless someone saw us at the bar, when we made a big scene with Horace. She was walking around with her hourglass and scythe then, that’s pretty damn obvious. Someone reported it back to him.”

I shrank in on myself. Was it my fault this was happening? I put us all in danger with my show boating? I thought I’d been clever, acting like “Lady Time” and all, I’d even been proud of myself. Jai placed a hand on my arm, as if he could tell what I was thinking just by looking at my face.

“It isn’t your fault. Thanatos is smart and he’s getting stronger every day.”

Manda looked out the window and frowned. “He’s still helping Horace fix the engine. He must be biding his time or something. What…”

“He’s waiting…” Jai turned away from me and walked the length of the room, pacing. Suddenly stopped just behind the counter, staring down at it. “Shit, I’m so stupid. There’s a silent alarm beneath the counter here. He must have rigged it….shit! Come on, we have to go!”

“Right.” Manda pumped the shotgun and strode for the door, barking at me, “Kali, get behind me. Stay between us.”

I did as I was told, following Manda outside, Jai on my heels. Our footsteps on the gravel made Horace look up, and when he saw Manda pointing the shotgun at Bruce he swung around with his fists up, knuckles completely black with engine oil.

Bruce hadn’t wasted any time either. He had a pistol in one hand, and now he stepped forward and pressed it into the side of Horace’s neck.

“Don’t move.”

I couldn’t see Manda’s face, but her shoulders tensed, and she kept the shotgun trained right between the man’s eyes. “You can’t win this fight, Bruce.”

“I need that money.” His blue eyes shone, and his expression was almost hungry. “You don’t understand…”

“Do you understand that Kali is only a girl?” Horace said. “And that Thanatos intends to kill her? You had a family once, Bruce. Think about it.”

Bruce grimaced. “They didn’t say he wants to kill her, they just said he wants her. Another girl for his collection…
“And that’s somehow better?” Manda asked. “Would you sell your daughter to that monster?”

The pistol wavered against Horace’s neck. “My daughter is gone. Everything I have is gone.”

“Don’t make your life worse.” Horace swallowed, looking down and sideways at the gun pressed to his neck. “You’ll only have to live with the guilt of what you did. I can tell you’re a good man, Bruce.”

My entire body was alive with fear, but I took a shaky step forward until I was standing beside Manda. I felt Jai’s hand close around my arm, trying to tug me back, but I held my ground. I could imagine Bruce turning the gun on me. Shooting me. The empty feeling in my guts.

Still, I forced myself to speak, even though the voice that came out was small and shaky, not the brave voice I’d intended. “Please don’t hurt him.”

This seemed to unravel something in Bruce, and for a second the gun came down. It must have been enough for Horace, because the guardian whirled around, moving so fast he was almost a blur. He caught hold of the man’s wrist and slammed his hand against the edge of the open hood. Bruce screamed and dropped the pistol. Then he stumbled backwards, landing heavily on his back, sending a spray of gravel up around him. Horace was quick to pin him to the ground, leaning on him heavily with one knee, and Manda jogged over and held barrel of the shotgun to his face.

“Please.” Bruce’s blue eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, I’m going to run out of food soon…”

Manda growled, pressing the barrel against his cheek. “I should blow your head off.”

“Manda.” Jai said.

She glared at him, and then we all became aware of the distant roar of traffic.

“We gotta go,” Jai said. “Everyone into the car now.”

Manda glowered at Bruce one last time before spinning around on her heel, sending a few rocks flying at the man’s face as she dug in and ran towards the jeep.

Jai grabbed my hand, pulling me forward so abruptly I nearly fell on my face, and Horace was already in the jeep. Jai pushed me onto the seat and jumped in afterwards. Manda threw herself into the front seat and slammed the door just as  the jeep roared to life and sent the gravel flying as we took off. She hung out the front window, the shotgun poking out over the edge of the door.

“Drive fast.”