But I couldn’t.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was doing something terribly wrong.
Even when Anna and I left the bank to arrange for my parents’ immediate transfer and I saw their puffed faces light up as they were carried out on enclosed stretchers, I could barely muster a smile back for them.
Because, even as I watched them being loaded into the aircraft that would take them to Beauchamp Hospital, Hayden’s warning echoed in my ears:
“Promise me you’ll trust your gut, not just her words.”
I’d finally gotten my parents out of that horrid place, which felt like a significant milestone.
But I wasn’t sure what I’d just gotten myself into.
For that matter, I still wasn’t sure what we hadallgotten ourselves into.
TWENTY-TWO
I staredat the aircraft transporting my sick parents until it rounded a mountain corner and disappeared.
That was it. They were gone.
I had finally gotten them off this tiny, crowded islet and now they would, hopefully, receive the medical attention they needed to recover.
I felt relief watching them fly toward Beauchamp Hospital, but it was tainted by a nervousness I couldn’t shake. Not helped by the fact that the cause of said nervousness still stood right next to me.
“Well, all’s well that ends well, right?” Anna said, rubbing her large hands together and flashing me her signature broad grin. Her greenish, feline eyes sparkled with an enthusiasm I simply couldn’t share, despite what I’d just accomplished for my parents.
Because this wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.
I turned away from Founders’ Isle to reluctantly face the burly woman. I wet my lower lip, trying to restore some of the moisture to my mouth.
“I guess so,” I said, my voice coming out croakier than intended.
She squeezed my shoulder. “Oh, come on, Tani. Give us a smile. You’ve just done a great thing for your parents.”
I grimaced internally but stretched my lips in an attempt to smile. It probably still came off as a grimace, though, because Anna shook her head and chuckled.
She brushed a finger against the small screen of her gold ring and brought up the time. “Hmm, 1:28 p.m.,” she mused, rolling her lips between her teeth. “The day’s still young.” She continued gazing at her ring for a moment longer, her expression thoughtful, and then her eyes returned to me.
“I suggest we take a break now for lunch. I’m happy to take you out for a meal, if you want, or perhaps you’d rather go back home to rest.”
My mind immediately latched onto the latter option. It felt like I’d spent one hour too many with Anna today.
“I’d rather go home now,” I replied. “I’ve got those waffles from earlier and I could do with some rest.”
“Alrighty then,” she replied. “I’ll fly you straight back to your island, in that case.” She turned around and walked swiftly toward the sleek aircraft parked at the border of the islet’s platform. It was the small, two-person jet she had used to bring us here. Her own private plane, which she kept on a bay near the foot of Founders’ Fortress.
I followed and she pressed a button on the craft’s exterior to open the pilot’s transparent compartment. I slipped into one of the seats. It reminded me a little of the two-seater submarine pod I had been in with Hayden a week ago—except this was silver and had wings.
When the glass casing sealed us into the cockpit, Anna added, “And then, this evening, I’d like you to come to visit me up at Founders’ Fortress again.”
I gripped my seat harder. My palms suddenly felt sweatier. I knew that could only mean one thing. She wanted to begin following up on my end of the bargain.
We hadn’t talked about the induction course since we visited the bank. After we’d dealt with the contract and set up the trust, we had immediately arranged for my parents’ transfer to Beauchamp Hospital. I’d hoped her silence on the subject would continue until at least tomorrow. But it seemed Anna was not going to give me that reprieve.
“The Course’s date is set for Tuesday, April the seventeenth,” Anna went on, lifting us into the air.
My stomach lurched, more from the fact that a date had already been set than from the movement of the aircraft. She had made no mention of that earlier. I didn’t even know what this induction course would entail yet.
