The Sadian Chronicles: Book 3: Deeds of the Unforgiven

On the Road Again: Part 3

Mike waited peeking around the corner every few seconds. Just because he didn't want Marianna to see him didn't mean the he wasn't doing to take the opportunity to sneak a peek at her. He wondered if he was afraid he would forget what she looked like, but there was no way that would ever happen. Since they parted almost five years ago, he dreamed of her every night. Her image was etched into his brain, and there she would remain.

Once Julia reached the door she lifted her fisted hand and was about to knock, but oddly she stopped. She looked back and motioned for Mike to join her. Something odd was afoot, but Mike was curious to find out what.

"What's going on?" he asked as he surveyed the scene.

"The door is open," Julia said looking at him with a worried look on her face. "I can't sense anyone inside."

"Sense?" he asked. Then he realized something, Julia was a Sadian after all, but what kind. "I knew there was something familiar about you," he said, looking annoyed at the fact that he didn't figure it out before. "So you sense people?"

"Yes, in a way. It's my power," she admitted looking guilty that she had not told him before now. "I can sense the powers of others."

"So, that's why Marty hired you," he said finally putting the pieces together.

"Actually, that's not the reason Martin Drell sought out my services," Julia said as they cautiously entered the apartment. "He hired me because I'm a shrink, but he didn't find out about my powers until recently."

He just rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses, and began his inspection of the place. It was true. He couldn't smell anything in the apartment, nothing that detected a Sadian being anyway.

"She's gone," he heard a female voice call from the doorway. He knew it wasn't Julia's voice, so he turned around to see a beautiful blonde woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties standing in the doorway.

"I know you," Mike said, studying the face of the pretty young woman. He had seen her in the park that day with Marianna, but he swore that he had seen her before.

"My name is Hillary," she said as she walked into the apartment. "I live down the hall." She seemed nervous as she looked from Mike to Julia. "If you're looking for Marianna Faigon she left about an hour ago."

"Damn!" Mike said out of frustration. "Did she say where she was going?"

"No, not really," Hillary said trying to think if Marianna gave any clue to her final destination. "She just said east."

"I know," came the voice of a child from the hallway. Hillary turned around and Mike could the face of a little boy who looked very much like her. He couldn't have been any more than five years old. He was wearing a red and white baseball t-shirt and a pair of red shorts. "Reese told me."

"What did he tell you, honey?" Hillary asked him swatting down to look at the boy eye to eye. "He said he was going to bite the apple."

"Bite the apple?" Hillary asked, confused by her son's words. "Denny what does that mean?"

"That's what he said," Denny said. "Reese said that his mom and him were going to bite the big apple."

"The big apple?" Julia said and had a smile on her face. "I think he means they're going to New York."

"Well, if they only left an hour ago, we can still catch them," Mike said and headed straight for the door. He looked down at Denny who smiled up at him. "You did good, kid."

Julia followed Mike down to the parking garage, but when they reached the car he handed her the keys. "Can you still sense her?"

Julia thought for a moment. "Yes, but it's getting fainter," she said with a bit of anxiety on her face.

"Then you better hurry," he said and took a few steps away from her.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked in astonishment.

He turned back and took off his glasses slowing his cat-like eyes. "This is your gig," he said. "I trust you to do it right. As for me, I have another mission."

He put his glasses back on and headed out of the parking garage on foot. The mysterious man with the green cat eyes disappeared as mysteriously as he came, but Julia had a feeling that it wouldn't be the last time.