Page 58 of Infinity Chronicles 2
“Anyway, after a few weeks with no word from Amanda, Will and I tried to get ahold of Leon to see if we could get the girls together, for a visit or something. Leon took our call, but he was… dodgy.” Mal looks over at William who nods in agreement.
“He said it wasn’t a good time, that Amanda had a lot going on with setting up their new house and getting to know everyone out there. We didn’t like it, but we accepted it. We knew it would make Rosa sad, but what could we do?”
“Time passed, and I made new friends, Linda and Carolyn were new to the area, so I lost track of my old friend.” Rosa’s wordsare edged with guilt and I can hear the regret in her voice. She turns to face me then, her eyes wide, and she twists her hands together. “I should have known something was wrong.”
In the next second, Mal is up from the couch with his arms wrapped around Rosa’s shoulders. William watches them, longing in his eyes, but instead he turns to face me. He’s letting Mal comfort Rosa so he can tell me more of the story. Voice pitched low, like he might spare Rosa from hearing, he says, “What we didn’t know, was that Leon had tried to get his and Amanda’s information removed from the directory. He didn’t want to have a pair, but it was too late. There was another man, Wyatt, who had already found the information.” I squeezeAres’s hand as I sit forward on my seat.
Rosa pulls away from Mal. “Let me,” she tells William, returning to the couch. “Only Amanda and Leon know the whole story, and she never told me the details. But we know something happened between thethree of them. Leon did something to Wyatt, something thatwas intended to take his abilities and get rid of him.”
“I don’t understand, why would he want to do that?” I look at Dante, and then Milo and Ollie who are not far away on the couch. “I thought you said it was different, that pairs don’t feel jealousy toward each other?” I don’t mean for my words to come out like an accusation, but they do.
“We don’t Laura, I’ve never met another pair that has ever felt that way,” Ares tells me, his eyes searching mine to see if I believe him.
“Laura, it was Leon. I can promise you, nothing like that has ever happened before, or since,” William adds.
“So, he was like, crazy or something?”
“That’s all we can assume.” Rosa lifts her hands at a loss for more answers. “I know Amanda called me one night, frantic about something that Leon had done. I could barely understand her she was so upset.” She looks at the fireplace, her eyes glazing over with the sheen of tears.
Taking a few moments to compose herself, Rosa wipes a delicate finger under eye and takes a deep breath. “She cameto mefor help, but there was only so much she would let me do. She was afraid of what Leon would do if he found out I was the one to help her. She wouldn’t tell me where she was, or even what Leon had done, Ijustknew she was desperate to get away from him.”
I sit forward on the chair, eager for any information she can give me. “So, what happened? Did she come back here? How did you help her?”
“Not much.” Rosa looks over at William and he gives her an encouraging nod. “I gave her money, but she would only take cash. I gave her everything I had and she wouldn’t stay until I could get more. I begged herto stay with us. I promised we would protect her, but she wouldn’t.She was terrified of Leon by the time she ran away from him.”
“So, she came back here then?” I mutter, almost to myself. Thinking back on how my mom saidthis was where we belonged, was she really ready to stop running?
“She did, she was only an hour away when she called, that’s why I didn’t have much time to gather anything for her, she wouldn’t even stay the night with us.” Rosa tips her head up to the ceiling before meeting me eyes again. “It was dark, but she looked horrible. She was too thin. She had dark circles under her eyes. I knew something bad had happened, but she only told me that Leon was dangerous, and made me promise I wouldn’t ever go near him. I begged her to go home to her family, to stay with us, but she wouldn’t. She said if she stayed, she would only put us in danger.”
“Did she have a plan, or tell you where she was going?” Ares questions, running his palm over my back, reminding he’s here with me, and so are the others.
Rosa is shaking her head before he can even finish the question. “No, if she hadn’t been desperate for the cash, she wouldn’t even have come to me. I told her I would get more money, that when she was safe to get ahold of me, and I would get it to her, but I never heard from her, and then, your grandparents…” Rosa covers her mouth and buries her face against Mal’s chest.
William pinches the bridge of his nose, a heavy sigh falling from him. “After Amanda disappeared, it was like nothing happened. We didn’t hear from her again. Leon was still out west, I know because I checked up on him.”
“It wasn’t until the fire two years later that we learned what had really happened.” William places his hand on Rosa’s leg.“Leon had somehowmanaged to strip Wyatt of his abilities. Apparently, it killed Wyatt in the process and Leonwas injured as well, that was when Amanda came to us.” The information isn’t exactly new,but it’s still shocking to hear.
“Leon hadn’t given up looking for Amanda, he went to her family, your grandparents.” He pauses, and then cautiously continues, “They think it was an accident, that things got out of hand, but no one knows for certain. There was a fire, but it wasn’t any normal fire, it was elemental fire. All we know is when the fire finally stopped burning, there wasn’t anything left of your family home, nothing, just ash.”
“How did you know it was Leon?” My voice is flat. Some unnamed emotion is simmering under the surface of my calm.
“The fire was unnatural, had tobe investigated. Leon didn’t make it a secret he was coming to visit the Carmichaels. Everything unraveled as soon as the counsel looked into him. He had several norms working for him,”
Dante interrupts his father and informs me, “Norms, normal people like Mia.” I figured, but it was nice of him to clarify
“Leon had isolated himself from any other Infinities. No one had any idea Amanda was missing, or that Leon had already killed Wyatt. It was a simple matter of having someone with the right abilities questioning his employees, you can’t keep secrets from someone that can get inside your head.” William glances at Ares but looks away quickly.
“That’s crazy,” Ollie mutters from the floor near my legs.
Rosa’s eyes are rimmed in red and she sniffles a few times before clearing her throat to speak. “Mal works with the counsel, that’s the only reason we know so much, and she was… is my friend. We looked for her after they presumed Leon was dead, but…”
“Presumed dead. You mean no one knows if he’sactuallydead?” I blurt before Rosa can finish.
William shakes his head slowly. “No one could have made it out of that fire Laura. No bodies were recovered, but everyone involved is confident that Leon is dead.” He eyes lower, and what he’s not adding is that my grandparents died with him.
I let my back fall against the chair behind me, feeling tired even though it’s not even noon yet. “My mom never stopped running.” The words juststart tofall from my lips. “She either didn’t believeLeon was dead, or she didn’t know.” I drop my elbows to my knees, cradling my head in my hands. “She never once mentioned her family,she didn’t talk about the past at all, not even my dad.” I look over a Rosa, and William has his arm around her while Mal has both of her hands folded in his. She doesn’t look weak for taking their support, theylook stronger together, a united front. “Was Leon my dad?”
Rosa flinches, but that’s the only sign of discomfort she shows. “It had to be him or Wyatt. There are no other possibilities.”
