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“I told you he called the Coast Guard,” Odson grumbled.
“This was a close as anyone would allow me to get until you were found.” Despite the relief shining through, Jonathan’s face was tired, drawn, and uncharacteristically unshaven. His gaze turned toward Kymri and Marli, “Despite my hopes you never would, Odson said you found what you were looking for?”
Jori nodded.
“We need to talk.”
“I need to call an old friend,” Odson said, turning away from them toward Kymri and Marli, who followed suit.
“I can’t believe you left your office to venture out on a Coast Guard ship, Dad.”
Jonathan looked stung by the comment, “Jori, despite my limitations, you’re everything to me.”
His words hit Jori in the chest. When he responded, his voice was husky, “I uh... I thought I was a disappointment to you.”
Jonathan grunted, “No, you’re not. I was trying to steer you on a path that would keep you safe. And clearly I failed in that one thing your mother asked me to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“She asked me to keep you safe from them. She was terrified they would find you and take you back with them.”
Jori stared at his father, “The… male tribe?”
Jonathan nodded. Tears gathered in his eyes, “It was the last thing she made me promise her when she disappeared.”
“You thought by keeping me tied to the campus, they wouldn’t find me?”
It had been a good idea; he’d have blended in among all the thousands of students and faculty in the middle of a city of millions.
Jori put his hand on his father’s shoulder and squeezed, blowing out his breath. It explained a lot. Jonathan’s frustration when Jori pushed harder to go in other directions. It wasn’t Jonathan shutting down the relationship, now that he looked back with a different lens. Jori was the one putting distance between them.
Except when it came to talking about his mother. Jori had tried to talk about her with his father, and Jonathan did shut down the topic.
“Dad, what happened when mom disappeared?”
The expression on Jonathan’s face when he looked at Jori twisted his gut.
It was something he clearly still didn’t want to talk about. And for a long moment, Jori feared Jonathan would shut down the conversation again.
“She was taken, again.”
Chapter 16
It had been a long time since Kymri was in a car, and she remembered why she disliked them. They were confining. At least she wasn’t tall like Jori. Despite the shorter length of her legs, she still found she couldn’t get comfortable during the endless drive to Black River. She’d rather be flying. Glancing at Marli, she could see she felt the same.
Odson was behind the wheel of what Jori had mumbled was a ‘classic Mustang Shelby’ before getting in the front passenger seat.
Seated behind Odson, Kymri could see Jori’s profile when he turned his head away from the window. His gaze had been focused out of the side window most of the drive. Worry gnawed at her. The pressures of discovering the reality of her world, their child, the attacks, and now there was something more. Something Jonathan Mountainside had told him when they were alone aboard the Coast Guard ship.
He was in shock. She could feel it in the way he distanced himself from everyone in the wake of that conversation. Odson kept at him with concern and had gone to find out from Jonathan what had happened. Neither of the Mountainside men were saying anymore. Jonathan told Jori he would remain in Charleston rather than return home.
As the car wound its way through the mountains, Kymri hoped Jori would tell her what was troubling him. She ached to see him so… so burdened. The others felt it too; no one talked more than was necessary. Whatever it was, was heavy.
For now, they drove.
Odson’s contact was going to meet them at Black River. Apparently, he was on vacation with his companion and was willing to do this favor for Odson.
On reaching Black River, they went straight up to the Brandt house.
