“So our bus leaves at two.” Mom said.
“Great, everything’s going to be fine Mama, you’ll see.”
Mom’s eyes darted from me to Matthias. “I sure hope so. I’m trusting you Matthias.”
Matthias came round the counter and pressed his lips against my forehead. The little four-year-old eyed us quizzically as she munched on bacon and held a fist full of eggs in the other hand.
“I won’t let anything happen to her. You need to get Maybelle safe.”
We chose not to tell Mama I had been kidnapped last night. Instead we told her about the keepers meeting happening this evening. She couldn’t attend even though she really wanted to. I wanted her and Maybelle gone as soon as possible I couldn’t let anyone else get hurt.
Matthias still hadn’t come to grips with his brother being a raider. Still we had to rule him out to prove his innocence so there was going to be a meeting at his house to discuss the raiders being in town. It’s a special meeting…
Matthias and I moved to the living room. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest. He placed his hand on my shoulder relaxed his head on the top of mine.
“This think this is going to work out? What if gathering is just turning all of us into sitting ducks?”
“I’ll have back up ready. Holden will help too. No one will die.”
I loosened my hold on him so I could look at his face. He looked so jaded almost broken. “I know you have doubts but—”
“It’s okay… we don’t have to talk about it.” He gave me a small smile and pressed his lips against my forehead.
He left me in the living room and walked off to the bathroom. I walked out to the front yard, needed some air was all it was until the squeaking of the garage door caught my attention. Comrade kept his truck in there, he didn’t use it often. I pushed the rickety door open and was hit by the scent of damp and rotting objects. I stumbled back.
“Geez, what the hell’s in there?”
I thought we were done with the cleaning, but there was more than needed to be unearthed. I wish I had a mask, but I went in anyway. Sucked that mama was leaving today, now I was stuck with this mess. I opened the door wide to let the smell out.
I ventured on, piles of boxes damaged by rain touched the ceiling. There were others that could be salvaged that were on the floor. The truck was okay whatever it needed I knew I could do myself. Sitting in the front seat I opened the glove compartment and unearthed dust bunnies and tiny spiders and…
“What is this?”
A bronze container about the size of a shoe box. It had the craving of a skull on it and two long keys sticking out behind it. It had an ominous feel to it. Maybe Matthias would know what it could be. I fumbled out of the truck another one was just pulling in as I headed for the front door.
Axel marched out of his truck. I hugged the box close to me, I had nowhere to hide it. He looked man as he stomped over.
“You’re not here to arrest me, are you?”
He shook his head, “No, but Swine is.”
“What?” My eye brows shot to my forehead. “For what? You know I didn’t do anything.”
“Double murder, Lexa and Comrade’s.”
I backed up. Every inch of me was on fire. Double homicide? I was done for now.
“That’s impossible! I would never—”
“Swine’s been bought Adele. He’s doing everything he can to please them. They’re dangerous people they can kill him too.”
“What do I do then?”
I looked back at the house where mama, Maybelle and the man I loved still were.
“We should get out of here.”
“Run!” I gasped. “Then people will be sure I’m guilty.”
“Trust me. It’s better you don’t hand yourself over.”
“What do you mean.”
He groaned, “Get in the car Adele. We don’t have time.”
Once upon a time I wouldn’t have doubted this man’s integrity, but this was a different time and my friends could be eating out of my enemies hands. Then I heard the siren blare in the distance.
“Oh my—”
“Are you going to trust me.”
I nodded, without thinking much. Axel grabbed my arm and rushed me to his truck. We drove off just as Swine’s personal dark blue pickup truck rocked onto my front yard. He didn’t even have any back up.
“He wasn’t going to take me to the station, was he?”
Axel’s forehead creased. “I don’t think so.”
I settled into the seat, though uncomfortably. Matthias would lose his head when he found out I was gone. I didn’t even have a phone on me.
“What you got there?” Axel gestured with his head at the box in my laps.
“Oh, I have no idea. I found it in Comrade’s truck.”
“Looks Blacksmith to me.”
“You mean a blacksmith made it?”
He chuckled, “No, I mean it was made by someone in the Blacksmith family.”
“Who are they?”
He let out a heavy breath. “They were heirloom keepers, expect they were different from your family and Hadley’s or the Hampton’s. They made heirlooms most with magic beaded in them.”
“Are you saying this has magic?” I gasped, swatting the box off my lap was an option, but what if it exploded?
“Looks like it.” He said, tightening his grip on the wheel. Something change in him, was it the box?
“Comrade mentioned something about another family, but he said they all died out.”
“They may have.”
My heart rate spiked. “Axel, how do you know all this? When you aren’t a keeper?”
He took a sharp turn that through me to the window. I rubbed my forehead. I hadn’t realized where Axel drove me. He parked the car and jumped out. We were in front of an old antebellum house. Axel stood in front of the car, staring at me. Suddenly, I feared for my life.