Emily buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
Tristan took a halting step in her direction then another. And then he was there beside his sister, wrapping his arms around her and resting his cheek on the top of her head. "I'm sorry, sis. I shouldn't have said that stuff. I didn't know."
"Like I would really let our mother be killed?"
"I know. I was dumb. I shouldn't have said that."
"You shouldn't have even thought it!" She wrapped her arms around him, her crying muff led against his shirt.
"She's gone, Tris," Emily whispered. "She's really gone. They both are."
I wanted to go to Tristan, try to comfort him as I had in our connected dream the night his father died. But for the first time in a long time, I was on the outside. My dad and I might have lost our home tonight. But Tristan and his sister had lost their mother. And there was nothing I could say or do to lessen their pain.
My mother might not have been up for any mother of the year awards. But she'd always made sure I knew she loved me. And she was still alive. I could call or text her anytime I needed to, and I knew she would answer.
And now she was on the way to pick us up. But in doing so, Mom was putting herself in a huge amount of danger from multiple fronts. Mom had turned away from her Clann abilities and allowed them to atrophy years ago. She had no magic to call upon for even her own protection, much less mine or anyone else's if the Clann tracked us down.
And then there was the added problem of her being around Dad, Tristan and me. Just because she had been cast out of the Clann and never used her abilities didn't change the nature of her genetics. Her Clann blood would still be every bit as tempting to vampires as any other descendant's.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to turn to him. "You sure it's a good idea getting Mom involved in this?"
Dad sighed. "Believe me, I wish we did not have to. But she is your mother and therefore already involved. If she is not with us, the Clann could very well try to seek her out and use her as bait to lure us to them. Besides, her RV will be the best and most expedient way for all of us to get out of Clann territory and hide somewhere safe for a while."
I wished I could argue that the Clann would never do that. But after tonight and seeing how they had ruthlessly killed their own leader, I knew they were entirely capable of doing anything that would help them take over the Clann.
Not that all of them had known the full plan.
I remembered the shock and horror on Dylan's face when he'd discovered Mrs. Coleman's body, and how he'd assumed at first that I'd killed her. He definitely hadn't been fully in on his dad's plans for tonight.
I saw again how Tristan had grabbed and thrown him across the room even as Dylan tried to tell Tristan the truth.
Shuddering, I pushed that memory away for now as my stomach knotted painfully. I glanced at my feet and got a peek of the contents of the bags Dad had given me to carry. The shopping bags were filled with plastic bags of blood. "You risked getting killed for blood?"
"Of course," Dad said, his face blank. "We do not know when we will be able to restock. Especially once war breaks out. Blood suppliers have a habit of going into hiding during such times to avoid the Clann's retribution. If that happens again, we must be prepared."
Well, at least we had the comfort of knowing we wouldn't go hungry for a while.
"We must stay on the move until we meet up with your mother," Dad muttered, glancing around us uneasily. "The Clann will send the Keepers to search for us soon. When they do, these woods will not be safe."
The Keepers. Oh, crap. "Can I borrow your phone for a second?"
Dad frowned. "Now is not the time to engage in a long chat with your human friends."
"Not a chat, a warning. Ron's a Keeper, remember?"
He held out the phone. "Keep it brief."
With a nod, I dialed Anne's number by memory. Thankfully she picked up instead of her mother.
"Anne, listen to me because I don't have much time. Mr. Williams is staging a takeover of the Clann tonight. He killed Mrs. Coleman and tried to kill Emily and Tristan. He set it all up to look like Tristan and I killed her."
"Are you freaking kidding me?" Anne gasped.
"I wish. They burned down my house, too." Before she could ask, I added, "We're all okay, Emily and Dad, too. But we're going to be in hiding till we can find a way to set the Clann straight on what really happened. Dad says Mr. Williams is probably still going to become the new leader, though. And that means Ron and all the rest of the Keepers are going to have to obey his every order."
"Like h-"
"Don't start, Anne," I growled, needing her to listen to me for once. "Please don't encourage him to try to stand up to Mr. Williams. If they can kill Tristan's mother, their own leader, how hard do you think it'll be for them to take out one rebel Keeper?"
A second of silence, then she mumbled, "Okay. So what do you want us to do?"
"Tell Ron to be a good Keeper and do whatever he's told. Even if that means hunting for Tristan and me. Tell him I said he can't disobey them no matter what. These people aren't messing around." Remembering Dad's warning about my mom, I closed my eyes and said, "They could hurt Ron's family if he doesn't obey them."
She growled under her breath but thankfully didn't argue with me. "How will I know you guys are okay?"
"We'll get some disposable phones eventually, I guess. If Dad thinks it's safe to, I'll call or text you on one of them." Thinking fast, I said, "What if you call me Cousin Sally or something like that?"
"Good idea! You know I've got tons of cousins spread all over the country. In fact, I'll start calling and texting them all more. Then if the Clann checks my phone records, your long-distance calls will blend right in with everyone else's."
I couldn't help but smile. Trust Anne to find a way to get even a little excited about this situation. "That's a great plan. It might be a few days before I can call again. But I promise I will check in on you guys, okay? In the meantime, try really hard not to think about us."
"Oh, crap, I forgot, they can read our minds. How the heck am I-"
"They won't be able to hear your mind unless they're in the room with you or if you're outside. The danger zones will be when you're at school or around town. Which reminds me..."