Defenders of Earth (Book 2 of the Keepers Trilogy)

Chapter 6

The snow keeps Dad and I out of school on Monday. We spend it decorating the plastic tree and filling Callie in on Christmas. At first, she seems a little skeptic, but as the day goes on, she forgets how ridiculous Christmas seemed to her and actually has fun. The stress of the past week-Callie's depression, the ETL-seem to go away. At least, until the phone rings.

"I'll get it," I offer, placing the wooden reindeer that I was just about to hang up on the coffee table. I pick up the cordless phone and look at the number. It's restricted. My gut screaming, This is bad! I answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Is this the Everett household?" a female voice asks.

I bite my lip. "Yes...?"

Dad mouths, Who is it?

I hold up one finger and repeat the question into the phone. "Who is this?"

"Dr. Eliza Casey from the ETL."

"Okay, um, I'm gonna put you on speaker."

"Don't!" the sharpness in her voice startles me. "Your house might be bugged."

"And the phone might not be?"

"When Dr. Wilson and Dr. Orbeck visited, they placed a device on your phone that blocks any bugs on it."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"I'm not here to give incriminating information over the phone, especially not to a child."

Do I really sound that young? "Then why are you calling?"

"We have new info on Callie's case. We'd like to arrange a visit at our laboratory."

"Um... I'm gonna give the phone to my mom because this isn't... I mean, I'm not in charge of this."

Mom gets up from the couch and holds out her hand. I give it to her and say, "It's them."

Mom goes pale and puts the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

She paces the living room as she listens to Dr. Casey. Then she says, "And why is there a case on her?"

I sit down next to Callie, who asks quietly, "Is it them? The ETL?"

I nod and whisper, "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"When though?" Mom asks into the phone. "Tomorrow Leo has work and Mark has school... no, they are coming along, they're her family!... Oh, come on... I can't just call the school and tell them that they have a doctor's appointment on the same day, the school needs a doctor's note...What?"

Mom blanches and sits in one of the chairs. "Wha...what do you mean?" she asks, her voice high-pitched. "If that's the case... of course, of course."

Callie's hands curl into fists on her lap and she looks at me. I know exactly what she's thinking: We're going to the ETL, aren't we?

I shrug, wishing I knew more.

Before, I was anxious to meet the ETL.

Now I'm scared.

I wish I really thought things through when I said I wanted to meet them. Do I really want to know who they are? What if they really do work for Simon?

Yes, a little voice in my head says. You want to know the truth.

Emily hangs up the phone and sits next to me. She takes one of my hands and wraps both of hers around it. "Sweetheart," she begins, then pauses, choosing her words carefully. Then she shakes her head and looks down at her lap. "I'm sorry, I should've asked you if... you wanted to go now...I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I say dully.

"You don't have to go," Emily says.

"No, it's about me. I have to go."

Emily wets her lips. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"What did they say?" Mark asks.

"Mark, can you go inside, please?" Go inside, I've learned, means go to another room. Believe me, when I first heard the phrase, I was beyond confused-and considering at the time, Emily and Leo were in a bit of an argument, my confusion was not met with nice words.

"Why?" Mark argues. "I'm a part of this family, too!"

"Mark," Leo says sternly. "This doesn't pertain to you. This has to do with Callie."

Mark glares at his father before storming off. I have a funny feeling he's going to my bedroom (which is right above the living room) to listen anyways.

"Callie, I'm so sorry that you have to go through this," Emily says.

"It's fine. Honestly."

"But you can't keep everything to yourself, sweetheart."

For the umpteenth time, I want to tell her everything. "I know."

Leo raises his eye brows but says only, "Oh?"

"You cannot force me into telling when I do fe-do not feel ready, though."

"And that's fine. But with this lab-"

"Which, for all we know, is run by conspiracy fanatics-" Leo mutters under his breath.

Emily glares at him for a second, then continues speaking. "Callie, you want help, you need to tell us your origin. Where you came from."

"I will."

Emily bites her lip. "Are you sure you're fine with this?"

"Positive. What did they say, Emily?"

"Well, they've got new info on your case that they wouldn't disclose on the phone, but they thinks its vital that they meet with you. They're coming to the house tomorrow."

"You invited them over?" Leo demands.

"They more or less invited themselves over, actually," Emily says.

"Seriously? Emily, do you really think this is a good idea?"

"I'm iffy on that, actually. I want to find out more before I make a decision."

She sounds like James, I realize. When we first met the twins. Actually, no. I sounded like her. I wanted to find out more before making a decision. James straight off the bat disliked them because he didn't know anything about them.

"Fine," Leo says, throwing up his hands. "Fine. Whatever happened to both of us making a decision together?"

"Leo..." Emily says exasperatedly.

"Emily, I have no say at all. I'm the father of this house, your husband, but with this, you're calling all the shots without hearing my input!"

"I am hearing your input," Emily says a tad bit icily. "But this has to do with Callie, and I'm only going by what she wants to do."

"So you're not gonna protect her?"

I've had enough at this point. I get up and leave the living room quietly, avoiding the creaky stairs (which is near impossible).

I go into my bedroom, where Mark says, "Hey, Cal-" before I grab his collar and drag him out of the bedroom. Then I shut the door and sit on the bed, breathing deeply, trying to get my emotions under control, something that I never had a hard time with until I came to Earth. Maybe it has to do with James's death. I don't know.

But I haven't been this scared, this angry, since then.

I want to agree with Leo-that the ETL are a bunch of conspiracy crackpots that Emily's looking into too much. But in the end, curiosity wins out. If they are who they say, I might have some allies when Simon comes.

I get up, take another deep breath, and go downstairs to inform Emily and Leo that it is okay, that I want to meet them.

I just hope everything else is okay.