Lily nodded her head.

  “Do you like them?”

  Lily bit her lip and started to make another drawing, not answering the woman. The same went on as the old lady asked her questions about what she drew, and Lily gave barely anything in response.

  It was four drawings later when Lily heard James’ voice.

  “Hey, bumble bee, I know you can hear me, but I don’t want you to talk, okay?”

  Lily turned her head to the side and blinked, her hand stalling slightly against the paper. She noticed that the woman across from her didn’t move; the woman hadn’t heard James.

  “Everything is going to be all right. I’m going to come find you soon. Have they hurt you?”

  Lily shook her head.

  “Okay, that’s good. I’m going to go find Addy now. But I’ll be back real soon.”

  Lily felt calmed by the presence of James. She picked up the purple crayon and started in on another black sheet of paper. Her fist gripped the bulky utensil, and she drew. One letter appeared and then the next. The old woman was watching her carefully, but Lily didn’t mind. Lily shifted her feet as she stood against the table and finished her drawing. She turned and promptly showed it to the woman sitting across from her.

  “L-I-L-Y. Lily, that’s great sweetie!”

  The old woman’s hand rested on Lily’s head, and she patted the blonde curls. Lily scrunched her nose before grabbing the yellow and black colors to start on her next masterpiece. Jamsey would be so proud of the bumble bee she was going to make.

  #

  James left the tiny girl alone with the woman in the room, trusting that because she was a child little damage or harm would come to her. Either way, she would still keep half of her mind focused on Lily. She made it back to Addison, who was finally a little more awake.

  “Addison, I found a way out. Sort of.” The words were soft as they resounded through Addison’s mind.

  “That’s good.” Her speech was still slurred and slow, even though it was all in her head.

  James was starting to panic slightly. “They took Lily. I don’t know where they went with her, I hit my head again and was knocked unconscious. I wasn’t able to follow. I tried so hard to not let them take her.”

  “I’m sure you did.” Addison’s body was rustling slightly.

  “What’s happening?”

  “You don’t want to know. What’s your plan?” She was starting to react more quickly and was able to focus on James.

  James paused, debating whether or not to ask. Moving forward, she continued, “I have the key code to unlock the doors. I can unlock them, but beyond that I haven’t done much thinking. I’m fairly sure that Lily isn’t too far from where you are, maybe down the hall in the other direction.”

  “Ask her to set a fire.”

  “What?” James was trying to rethink what Addison had just told her.

  “You said she’s in a room… ask her to set a fire. It’ll help you find her.”

  “And you?”

  “You’ll have to leave me.”

  James puffed her cheeks out. “I’m not leaving you.”

  “There isn’t a choice. I’m tied to a chair, my hand and arm are broken, and I have drugs running through my system. I can’t think straight, I’m sure that I can’t walk straight. You have to leave me. Don’t worry, my brother will find me and even if he doesn’t, you can find him and tell him where I am.” Addison opened her eyes to see the old doctor standing in front of her.

  “Your brother?”

  “Rob. My brother’s name is Rob. I’m surprised he hasn’t found us already.” The doctor was checking over her vitals and asking her simple questions that she was answering.

  “What do you mean found us already?”

  “I have a tracking device on my person. Well, it’s under my skin; it’s sub-dermal. He should have found us with it already. Since he hasn’t, it means something went wrong.”

  “You have a tracking device? Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” James was angry, but it was the first emotion she had truly felt other than fear and trepidation in the last two days and she went with it. “Do you know what that could have meant for me to know that? Jesus, Addison. You can’t keep everything a secret.”

  Addison took a deep breath calming her own heart rate when the doctor scowled at her. “James—I’m sorry.” Breathing again, her green eyes locked with the doctors. “You have twenty minutes to do what you want. The crew is mostly out doing something or another and there is very limited security. If you are going to do this, you need to do it now.”

  “Addison—”

  “No complaints, James. You need to do this and get that kid out of here.” Addison broke the link and left James sitting in the tiny cell feeling very lonely and defeated. While James sat there and looked around, she realized that Addison was right. No matter what either of them did, all that mattered was that Lily was safe.

  Bringing her mind close to Lily, she watched through the little girl’s eyes as they took a vial of her blood and pressed a Scooby Doo band aid to her skin. She could hear the quiet disappointment that it wasn’t a princess band aid and it caused James to smirk lightly.

  “Lily? Lily, baby, I need you to do something for me.”

  The child nodded, which allowed James to know that she was listening.

  “I need you to start a fire. You remember? Like at your house, I need you to start one now.”

  James watched as Lily concentrated on the piece of paper that she’d drawn her family on. Slowly it started to burn, the red edges licked at the white and wax colored parts until it lit.

  “Amazing Lily, that’s wonderful. Now when they open the door, I want you to run out and keep running until you find me, okay?”

  Lily nodded and bit her lip, waiting.

  James took a deep breath and stood just to the side of the door to her own cell. Letting the air out of her lungs, her essence appeared on the other side of the door. Looking from side to side, she turned to the lock and pressed in the code. It opened. She pushed through and started running down the hall. She made to the end of the corridor before there was an old man with gray hair, standing there looking at her. She stopped.

  “I thought you could use these.” He handed her the clothes that she had been wearing when they’d brought her there, as well as Lily’s.

  “You’ll get in trouble.”

  “They’ll never know.”

  “Thank you.” She took them carefully and stepped away from him.

  The old man watched her move away before calling out, “Tell Norma-Jean that Erikson says hello and goodbye.”

  “Yeah. Will do.” James gave him a funny look before taking off at a full sprint to find the child. It didn’t take her long.

  Lily turned the corner and ran face first into James.

  “Hey, bumble bee.”

  “They coming,” Lily breathed out heavily.

  James took her hand, threw their clothes under her arm, and started to run toward the door that would lead to the stairs. Popping in the code, she heard the click and pulled it open, shoving the girl in front of her. Taking the stairs as quickly as possible, they made it up five flights and to a door. There was no other choice. Pushing it open, James and Lily stepped out into a hallway with shiny wooden floors and sunlight. James took Lily’s hand and took a right, making her way into the bathroom. Locking the stall door, she shoved the clothes at Lily, telling her to dress.

  She grasped Lily’s hand and left the bathroom just as the fire alarm went off and the entire building was evacuated. Hundreds of people emerged from shut rooms and elevators. James followed the flow and moved toward the three spinning doors at the front of the large lobby. She stepped out into the sweltering heat and humidity of a fully-blown summer. Letting out a breath, she scanned the area and started to walk in any which direction she could. She had no idea where she was. Most of the people made it a block before they stopped to wait for the fire and emergency crews to show up. James kept moving. She was practically dragging Lily with the speed that she was moving at, but she didn’t feel she could slow down any. She was running on adrenaline.

  Lily tugged hard on James’ arm. “My feet hurt.”

  James looked down at the girl. Her bare feet were on the cement and realized that the skin was probably burning from the heat. Ignoring her own pain, she picked Lily up and started to walk again. They made it four blocks when James saw a large cathedral-like church that was smashed between two large buildings with so many floors she couldn’t count them.

  “Well, when in doubt,” she muttered the words and made for the large double doors.

  Wrapping her fingers around the handle, she pressed down, and heard the door click open. She sighed and set Lily down just inside, making sure to shut the door quickly behind her. Lily was holding on tightly to her leg and James smoothed a hand over Lily’s hair.

  “We’re okay, bumble bee, we’re going to be fine.”

  They were standing in a large sanctuary, crosses and banners pressed against the walls, and rows and rows of pews stretched out before her. The lighting was dim and made it difficult to see, but the air was cool and the floor was gloriously freezing against her burned toes.

  James moved to the left side of the sanctuary and saw a door leading to a hallway that was brightly lit. She walked carefully and quietly until she found the front desk, which was unoccupied. It was long and circular and could seat about five people. Looking around it, she found a phone pressed next to a computer monitor. Glancing up and down the three hallways that she could see, she saw no one and picked up the head piece. Racking her mind for Max’s cell number, she couldn’t remember it and dialed the first and only number that came to mind. It rang twice before she was startled by a voice not in the phone receiver and she hung up.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Um… I just needed to use the phone. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s fine, it’s fine.” The man held his hands up, trying to calm her. “I’ve just never seen you around here before.” He looked them over, his chocolate eyes lingering on her in a way that set James on edge. “You can use the phone if you want. Do you need anything else?”

  “Um, where are we?”

  “New Fellowship Church, downtown.”

  “Right.” James let her eyes linger on him, her hands tight on Lily’s shoulders so she could move her in case anything went wrong.

  The man smiled comfortingly, “Are you sure there’s nothing else that I can help you with?”

  Lily stepped around and out of James’ grasp. She moved right in front of the man, her dark eyes staring straight. She stated, “I’m hungry.”

  He broke into a smile. “Well, I have some food in the kitchen, would you like to see what I have?” Lily nodded her head. James watched carefully. “Maybe we should wait until your mom can come with us.”

  “She has to call Max.”

  “Max?” His eyes flicked from the girl to the woman. “Well, how about we wait until she talks to him.”

  “No, that’s all right.” James’ brow was furrowed, her mind probing through the man’s. “I think she’d do well with some food. It’s been awhile since we ate last.”

  The man was sharp. He caught her and threw up his mental defenses, blocking her exploration of his mind. James took a breath. His face was sweet, and she had seen nothing detrimental or mean in what she had gleaned from him.

  “When’s the last time you ate?”

  “I—I don’t know.”

  Her golden eyes latched on his, and he nodded. “We’ll be just down that hall when you’re done here.” He pointed and she watched as Lily took his hand and started to walk away with him. Reaching down, she picked up the phone again, dialing the number and pressing it to her ear, waiting for the voice to answer.

  Chapter Twelve

  James pressed the headset down and sighed. There had been no answer and for the life of her, she couldn’t remember any other numbers. Her head started to pound again, and as she took a step forward she felt like the entire office around her was on a tilt-a-whirl. She grasped the desk and held on for dear life, hoping that the movement would stop. Drawing slow breaths, she tried to find any sort of stabilization that she could. Her sight started to fade in and out from black to shady to dark; it was as if someone had thrown a thin veil over her eyes and couldn’t decide how many layers to wrap around her head before tying it.

  Feeling her way around, she found the chair and rolled it out away from her. She had meant to sit in it, but the wheels kept moving and she heard a loud crash. It must have toppled over. There were footsteps a second later; she was sure that she could hear them, but they sounded so far away. However, it was only an instant later that she felt cool hands on her arms. She was guided down to the tile floor, and her head was gently pushed until she was flat on her back. The hand on her forehead was so cool and inviting, just like the floor was. James relaxed into it and closed her eyes, trying once again to take deep breaths.

  “Are you okay? Did you hurt anything?” She wasn’t sure that she could answer, but he was so insistent that she felt she must.

  Swallowing and taking a long breath, she said, “I’m fine, just dizzy.”

  Her own voice echoed in her ears and it sounded as though she was listening to a tin can attached to a string. It was such an odd sensation because she knew she was speaking, but it didn’t sound like her.

  “I’m…” She took another long breath and tried again. “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look fine,” he commented, but he was happy to see color return to her cheeks. They’d been such a ghostly pale gray that he feared for her life momentarily. “You almost fainted.”

  “Yup. Almost though. Thank you… for catching me.”

  Her voice was getting closer and louder, and she realized that she might have been yelling. Opening her eyes, she was glad when they locked on the minister that she’d seen earlier. The one that was supposed to be watching Lily.

  “Where’s Lily?”

  “She’s fine. She’s eating a sandwich. I heard the crash.”

  “What crash?” James looked around and saw the blue rolling chair overturned and against the wall. “Oh, that crash.”

  “Yeah.” His hand was still on her head, and she was seeing far more clearly than she had been seconds before. “Think you can sit up?”

  James nodded, and he helped her so that she was half erect and leaning against the desk drawers.

  “Better?”

  “A bit, yeah.”

  The man watched her carefully again; it was unnerving. “Care to tell me what’s going on now that Lily isn’t here?” He moved to a nearby water cooler and filled a small Dixie cup before handing it back to her. “Drink it up.”

  Sipping cautiously, James searched her mind for an answer to give him. Handing the empty cup back, she started.

  “I need to get Lily to a safe place. It was the only opportunity we had, and I couldn’t let it go.” The words sounded stilted even to herself; she couldn’t imagine how unemotional they sounded to him.

  “All right then, who are you running from?”

  “My husband,” the words were soft and she looked away from him, hoping her lie would stick.

  The man set a hand on her shoulder, and she turned her head to face him.

  “You don’t have a ring.”

  “Pawned it for money to help us hide. Didn’t get us very far, I only got a hundred for it.” She drank a new cup of water that he brought to her.

  He was fairly certain she was dehydrated. “And how far did it get you?”

  “It got us here.” She shrugged. “I don’t even know where here is. I just paid the guy in the truck to take us to the nearest city and he dropped us off. I uh… I fell asleep and didn’t see any of the road signs.”

  The corners of his eyes crinkled, and he gave her a sweet smile.

  “Well you’re in Kansas City, Missouri, just so you know. And you’re safe here. This is a safe house. We won’t let anyone come in that you don’t want.”

  James breathed a sigh of relief even though she was sure that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about the thugs that had taken them. She supposed some of that had to do with whether or not those thugs decided to try and find them.

  “Where’s Lily?”

  “I told you, she’s in the kitchen eating.”

  He cocked his head to the side and stared at her. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but it seemed it might be his only option to try to get information from her.

  “Right.” James wanted to twiddle her thumbs. She wanted to fidget with something, but she remained still and quiet.

  The man helped her to stand and fixed the chair as she leaned against the counter top. “I think you should eat something. Not a lot though, I don’t what you getting sick from eating too much.”

  She nodded and allowed herself to be led down the hallway to where Lily was seated at a small kitchenette. Lily ate what was left of a sandwich and drank a rather large glass of water. Her eyes flickered up to them, and James smiled.

  “Where’s Addy?”

  “She’s not here, bumble bee.”

  James sat down next to Lily and picked up a pickle that was set on the side of the plate Lily was eating from. Popping it in her mouth, she grinned when the girl pouted. “She couldn’t come with us, but hopefully we’ll see her again.” James leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Lily’s cheek.

  The girl rubbed her face against her shoulder, her dark eyes seeking out confirmation and truth in James’ own honeyed ones.

  The pastor set plate in front of James, sitting opposite of Lily with his own meal. “Hope you like it, it’s my specialty.”

  “I’m sure I’ll love it.”

  James carefully bit into the bread, the mustard and mayonnaise hitting her taste buds. She hadn’t eaten in so long that any food tasted wonderful. After swallowing, she looked at him.