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Chapter Twenty Four
Anna climbed into Austin’s SUV and recounted everything she'd learned from the brothers. When she got to the part about dormant abilities she looked meaningfully at Jenna.
"So you think I'm from this Faerian line too?" she was excited about the new info, unlike Austin who just looked skeptical.
"I would say it stands to reason."
"So what now?" Austin put in.
"I'm gonna call this Richard guy." She dialed the number and a gruff male voice with a slight southern accent answered on the third ring.
"Hello?"
"Richard?"
"Who's this?"
She took a breath. "Josh gave me your number and said to say Dämonischer Jäger."
There was a moment of silence. "You've seen Josh?"
"I'm at the jail."
"I see. What can I do for you Miss...?"
"Anna. Um, I'm not sure exactly." She told him about her conversations with the brothers. When she was greeted with more silence she added, "I guess Josh thought that if I talked to you I might be more comfortable with the decision to spend a half a million dollars on their...escape."
"I'm not sure what I could tell you that would make that any easier except to confirm what you believe. Those they kill are not human anymore. They've given themselves over to a demon, and there's no going back from there. They're not only dangerous because of the evil in them, or the fact that they live to deal out pain and misery, they're also able to sway others that are on the fence. You've seen the shadow men as you put it, how they seem to be attached to a person. Well eventually they get inside their minds enough to persuade their hosts to "share" themselves. It's not really sharing though, the demon takes over once the person gives them permission to enter."
"Why? What's their purpose?"
His laugh was humorless. "To have a corporeal form. Without humans giving over their wills they can do nothin' but influence them on a subconscious and very minor level. They want the ability to, well live for lack of a better word I guess. There's a lot more to it, of course, but it would take a much longer face to face for that...Look Miss Anna, us seers have been fightin' the war against their possession since a time before time. Unfortunately our numbers have dwindled and it seems that the demon numbers are increasin', as well as the amount of people they are able to persuade. Will and Josh are crusaders, unrecognized heroes. I myself don't have the kind of resources to get them out of this particular fix, nor does their father. In fact our people as a whole tend to get by on rather little. If you have the ability to help them you can rest assured it is money well spent."
She smiled into the phone. "Thank you for talking to me Richard, I think I'd already made up my mind, but every little bit helps."
"No problem. Oh, and by the way, have you ever healed somebody?"
Anna frowned. "Healed someone?"
"I take that as a no. Doesn't mean you don't have the ability though, generally female seers do in different capacities. You might try it out, we could sure use a healer on our side."
"Okay, I'll do that."
"Hope to meet you sometime Anna."
"Yes, I'd like that."
She hung up the phone and saw that Jenna looked as convinced as she felt, though Austin was still chewing on doubt.
"You know if you bail them out and they run, which they're going to, then you could be held accountable if the authorities have reason to believe you knew they would.....
Anna held up her hand. "First of all, I think our justice system sucks. I always have. Second of all, how do you propose they catch me if I don't want to be caught?"
"You wouldn't be able to go home." He pointed out.
She nodded. "I know, which is why I'm thinking that maybe I could break them out instead of bailing them."
"What? Oh...but you haven't perfected that skill! And you're talking about getting by everyone and snatching keys or something, and then how exactly would you explain it to your new friends without letting them know what you are? Or more importantly, how do they waltz out without getting caught? Your ability didn't extend to any of us when you tried it."
She sighed. "I know, but it seems like it would be worth a try. I could get into their cells and they could plan their escape. Maybe I could take the guards guns..."
"And you get caught in the act when your dimmer “fizzles” out." He huffed a laugh. "Besides they have you on camera from tonight's visit, you'd be implicated in the escape, still presenting yourself with the problem of going home."
"Okay, but with this plan I keep the money in my pocket, which I'm not even sure how to go about getting in the first place." She thought about her dry financial manager and shook her head.
They decided to continue their debate down the road at a restaurant. Anna continued to eat real food, although she still wondered whether or not she had to since the only hunger pains she ever felt were in association to blood.
She wiped her mouth with the scratchy napkin after she'd downed a chicken sandwich and some fries, still waffling on which way she wanted to go with the boy's rescue.
Jenna finally put in her two cents, making the decision for her. "I say you attempt to get into their cells. You can just tell them you have the ability to make people not take notice of you, and then go from there."
Austin frowned hard at Jenna.
"Sorry but what good are the things Anna can do if she doesn't put them to use? And besides…I see you coming out of the jail without getting caught." Her blue-violet eyes went far away for a second then she blinked and nodded.
"Right. So at midnight you guys drop me off down the road then go park somewhere you can watch for us." Anna nibbled her lip hoping she was doing the right thing.
"This is insane, you know that right? The chances of it working are slim to none." Austin scowled tossing his napkin on the table.
Anna sighed gustily. "Don't be so hasty to bet against Jenna's intuition. Besides, if it doesn't work I'll just move to plan B and pay the bail."
"Uh huh, that will be easy when you're wanted for attempting to break out two murder suspects."
She smiled sweetly, "Well that's where my friends would come in then, isn't it?"
At precisely midnight Anna slunk across the parking lot with her heart in her throat. Imagining doing something and actually doing it?Two distinctly different things, she decided. She concentrated every part of herself on being invisible as she walked through the front doors. She had removed anything that might cause the metal detector to go off and made it through the archway without a problem. Once inside however, all the doors that led anywhere were locked, controlled by a woman behind a wall of bulletproof glass. It would be a waiting game. She'd have to slip by the next person who came in or out.
Fortunately it was only about fifteen minutes later when two guards came through the door she'd been taken through earlier. She caught the door with her foot, slipping through it as gently as possible. So far so good, no one could see her.
She made her way down the hallway and came upon a guard sitting behind a large desk surrounded by monitors. The screens sported all different areas of the jail, and a couple of them were devoted to the cells, blinking through each one. She caught a glimpse of the brothers who were in separate cells, though at least it didn’t appear they had cell mates.
The room she was in had another electronically operated door, so unless the guy got up she was stuck. She moved silently around the desk and saw there was a circuit board with numbered buttons and wondered if they operated the cell doors. She’d been thinking keys, but she realized in this modern age only backwoods facilities were likely to still use them.
The guard was playing Solitaire on the computer that most likely contained the information she required.
It was completely unnerving to be standing there practically on top of him, she kept thinking he would look up and see her, but the static around her body assured her she was still covered. She located the button that operated the door and wished she could press it without him noticing…then realized she would also have to find a way of keeping the door from shutting all the way so they could get back out. She chewed on that one for a moment before pulling off her shoes and socks replacing her shoes.
I'm going to orchestrate a break out with ankle socks, she grinned.
After over an hour the guard finally stood. He seemed to look at her for a second, causing her heart to pound thunderously. Then he looked away and moved around the desk. He went down a short hall that depicted restrooms and Anna hurried into the cubicle. She minimized the Solitaire screen and saw folders on the main window. One was conveniently labeled Prisoner Information. She clicked on it and quickly scanned finding Will's info, continued to scan...Bingo! Cell number 213. She found Josh's next, 215, then glanced up nervously praying the guard was doing number two. She pulled Solitaire back up and took a deep breath hoping the locks wouldn't make too much noise when they disengaged. She pressed the button for the inner door first, heard a click and saw a light above it turn green.
She hurried over to the door and opened it a little wedging her socks in at the bottom. It held, so she hurried back once more and pressed both cell numbers at the same time. There was a buzzing sound as she rushed back to the door and she froze for a second, expecting the guard to come running out. He didn't. Must be number two, she thought, silently thanking the man's bowels.
She eased through the door and secured her socks, hoping they'd go unnoticed. As long as he didn't walk over to it, she'd be okay, otherwise...she shook her head and hurried down the hall.
When she got to their cells they were both standing up and staring at the bars in confusion. Obviously they'd heard the locks disengage. Will’s brows shot up as she approached. She put her finger to her lips and opened the door slipping in.
"Okay, not much time," she whispered speaking rapidly, "I have the outer door propped open with my socks, there's only one guard in that room and he's unsuspecting at the moment, so here's the plan," she drew in a breath, "he can't see me, I'll explain that later, but for now I thought I could distract him while you get through the other door, maybe grab something of his and throw it over by the restroom while I buzz you out, and then we just have to run for it, I have friends waiting for us outside."
She finished breathlessly and to his immense credit he didn't remain dumbstruck, he seemed to be considering.
"The rush being that he might notice the socks?" He raised a brow and smirked, obviously trying to picture her makeshift prop.
She nodded vigorously.
He moved to walk out and she followed. Josh was standing at his cell door and looked astounded when Will slid it open.
He motioned for them to follow him and they crept along the wall until they were just outside the door.
"Okay, this is the plan," Will whispered, "There’s another door down a different corridor that leads to the back of the building, and it isn't electronically operated, so we just have to get there unnoticed. There's an exit that we should be able to leave through without an issue, so…" he depressed his lip with his tongue, eyeing Anna. “Do you think you can get the guard out of the room? Otherwise it would make more sense for Josh and I to overtake him. If he sees us run the entire place will be on top of us in minutes.”
She frowned a little as she thought about what she could do, than indicated for them to wait while she inched the door open and slid through it. The guard was sitting at his desk eating a TV dinner and flipping electronic cards.
The dinner offered inspiration and she crept up to the desk and slid around it then flipped his tray of food along with a fountain soda into his lap.
He jerked backwards and stared at the contents of his dinner, his eyes blinking rapidly. "Well that just fuckin’ figures!" he said aloud. He brushed the fried chicken and fake potatoes into the waste bin by his feet then stood up and strode towards the restroom. As soon as the door closed behind him she motioned the guys in. Josh retrieved her socks and they ran for it.
Will led them down a series of empty hallways and they found the exit that led to the back parking lot which was nearly deserted, just a few cruisers parked here and there.
"My friends are supposed to be sitting somewhere looking out for us," she whispered.
They made their way carefully through the lot, keeping to the shadows, than circled around through a grove of trees on the far lawn. Anna came out onto the sidewalk motioning for the brothers to stay back. She walked into the middle of the street and let her "dimmer" go for a few seconds and headlights immediately popped on down the road. She walked back to the sidewalk and waited.
Austin's SUV came slowly down the road and when he reached her she motioned for the guys. She opened the back door and they all piled in, shutting it quickly, then Austin continued down the road and turned as quickly as possible.
"Are we being chased?" he asked looking at Anna in the rearview.
"I don't think so. Pretty sure no one knows we left."
"Oh my God that's awesome!" Jenna exclaimed leaning through the middle from the passenger seat, grinning widely. "I can't believe you did it, despite my good feeling I half expected the alarms to go off and a swat team to show up!"
"Okay," Will interjected, his eyes on Anna. "Can you explain to me about the invisibility thing?"
She looked at the two guys and chewed on her lip. "Umm, well it's complicated. Could you see me the whole time?"
They both nodded. Then Josh spoke up. "There's only one thing I know of that has that ability. I didn't think humans were capable of it."
"Well, you learn something new every day, right?" Austin’s tone was sharp and filled with warning. He didn't want Anna to fess up just yet.
"Did you talk to Richard?" Josh asked and Will swung his gaze at him.
"You gave her Richard's number?" His tone held serious disapproval.
"Yeah, what's the harm?"
"Yes I did talk to him," Anna put in before Will could continue. "He seems like a really good guy and he's very fond of you two."
Will shook his head, and Josh shrugged a little at him. "It obviously worked out for the best, right?" he defended.
Will cleared his throat. "All right, so where are we headed?"
"I thought we could get a hotel," Austin answered, "Anna can ask you her questions there and you guys can be on your way."
Anna gave Austin a look and turned towards the brothers. "What would you say to heading to my house?"
Austin glanced at her sharply, "What? No way.”
He was really starting to wear on her nerves.
"If you're tired I can drive from here," Jenna offered.
"It's not that, I just don't think we should bring two strangers back to where we live. I know you're both convinced they're fighters for truth, justice, and the human race, but I still think we should err on the side of caution."
"Where do you live?" Josh asked.
"In Olin Falls about three hours from here."
Austin made a disgusted sound and she glared at him.
"I'm game for whatever," Will voiced, "We need to lie low for a bit then get away from NY." He looked at Anna, "Look, no matter what, we can't thank you enough. Even if they couldn't make all the charges stick they had us for that guy in the park. I'm glad you didn't have to shell out all that dough to accomplish this though."
"I would have if there were no other choice, and really there's no need to thank me, it was the right thing to do," she shot a pointed look at Austin.
