A Little Bit Impossible

 

Chapter Five

 

“So, the Adapter…” Brody starts, giving me a sideward glance. “We need to find him.”

Logan and Chase nod and I feel my body stiffen slightly. Chase, whose hand is still holding mine, turns to look at me.

“What’s wrong?” He asks me, noticing my slight change in demeanor. I frown.

“Well, I mean…is it really necessary to find this guy?” I ask, really hoping one of the brothers will say no. But of course, none of them do.

Logan tries reasoning with me. “We need to find him before he gets back to the Company—before he tells them where we are.”

It sounds so….reasonable when it’s put like that. But honestly, it’s dangerous, creepy, and just a little bit impossible, so in my defense it’s not that reasonable.

“I just…” I pause, shaking my head as a wavy curl of my hair falls into my eye. I brush it away impatiently. “Never mind.”

Chase stops walking and due to my hand being held by his, so do I. He mentions for his brothers to keep walking. “We’ll catch up.” He tells them.

I look at Chase, confused. “What’s wrong?” I ask him. He looks at me with those sparkling blue eyes of his.

“Why don’t you want us to find the Adapter?” Chase asks me, his eyes on me calculatingly.

I shrug, looking away from the pull of his eyes. “He’s kind of an a-hole.” I explain.

Chase says nothing, and I make the mistake of looking at him again. His eyes tell me to spill my guts. And surprise, surprise: I do.

“He scares me.” I admit, my voice quiet. I don’t say anything for a minute but I take a couple steps closer to Chase. “I thought he was you, Chase. And when he was you…it scared me. The things he said…the way he acted…I thought it was you. And it scared me. He scares me.” I repeat, looking away from Chase.

I feel Chase’s arms wrap around me, pulling me in for a hug and I press my face into his broad shoulder, hiding my face in his soft t-shirt.

His hand cradling my cheek, Chase smiles softly at me, looking at me tenderly. “I’m not going to let him scare you anymore, Skye.” Chase says with conviction.

I nod against his chest. “I know.” I say. “I just…wish we didn’t have to find him.”

Chase smiles at me softly. “You can stay at the beach house while Logan, Brody and I find him.” Chase tells me. I smile.

“Deal,” I say with a nod, not wanting to deal with the Adapter if not necessary.

Chase kisses me lightly and we catch up to Logan and Brody, our hands still intertwined.

 

 

*       *   *    *

 

“You’ll be okay?” Chase asks me, for the millionth time. Him, Body and Logan are going out to look for the Adapter—God only knows how.

They probably are going to use some sort of dark magic to find them (that’s a joke…sort of).

“More than.” I tell Chase, rolling my eyes at him with a grin. Chase sighs, walking over to the couch where I’m currently sitting, reading a book. You see, normally Chase wouldn’t be so worried, but I’m alone in the house tonight. Bruce had some “work thing” to deal with, and Maggie had begged him two nights earlier to spend that night at her friend Vicki’s house, so that was that. Me alone in the house.

“I’ll probably have a bubble bath and hopefully finish this book.” I tell Chase, trying to ease his worries of leaving me (with the Company after us) alone at a house that may or may not be safe.

“A bubble bath?” Chase asks me, with a mischievous grin. I laugh and roll my eyes again.

“Go! Leave!” I shout, grinning. I push him, Brody and Logan out the door, waving my cell phone for them to see. “I’ll call you if there are any problems.” I promise. Chase wearily nods and finally leaves. I smile at their retreating figures, watching as Chase looks back several times before getting into the car.

When the car disappears from sight into the dark of the night, I then turn around, lock the door, and wander back to the couch, plunking myself down.

I’m partway through a chapter where Judy and Gary are mad at each other for God knows what reason, when I hear a knock at the door. Confused, I think I’m imagining things.

Bruce and Maggie have keys. So does Brody, Logan and Chase.

Still…someone could’ve lost theirs. Right?

I get up with a sigh, wandering over to the door. Unfortunately, with no peep hole, I have to unlock the door to see who it is. But I’m not that stupid, don’t worry.

“Who is it?” I call out, door closed.

I hear another knock and feel my heartbeat quicken. “Who is it?” I repeat.

No answer. I walk over to the window next to the door and pull back the curtain. When I see an unfamiliar face staring at me, I scream and let the curtain fall back into place. I make sure the door is locked and race over to the couch, taking deep breaths. I debate whether or not to call Chase. But, I’m a fairly independent woman; I can take care of myself. I don’t need to be a damsel anymore.

I take another deep breath and pick up my book, thinking with each passing second that I may have imagined the face.

I start reading about the unfolding drama between Judy and Gary when I hear what sounds like a lock being picked. And I can’t help it—I freak out. “I’m calling the police!” I call out.

The lock picking sounds stop and I breath a sigh of relief, my heart still racing. I think I’m going to go back to reading when another sound reaches my ears: the sound of glass breaking. A quick glance to the kitchen confirms my fears—somebody has broken in. I feel my pulse thumping and grab my cell phone, running up the stairs as quickly as I can—not that the burglar doesn’t know I’m here. I run into my room, close the door and race over to my dresser, pushing it with some effort to block my door. I pull over my desk, my night side table, a chair, and some boxes to block the door and am suddenly very grateful that there isn’t a window in my room.

Breathing heavily, I pick up my phone and hit my speed dial number one, calling Chase.

A few rings and he still hasn’t picked up. I hear things banging around downstairs.

“Pick up!” I murmur into the phone.

“This is Chase.” Chase finally answers. I breathe out quickly in a sigh of relief.

“Chase! It’s me. Somebody’s here.” I say quickly, my voice panicked.

Some noise—voices—on the other end and then Chase, “Whose there, Skye?”

I hear somebody walking up the stairs. “I don’t know…maybe the Adapter? Maybe a burglar. What do I do, Chase?” I ask, my voice rising in panic. I hear footsteps coming down the hall.

“Get in a room and barricade the door with whatever you can. Get under your bed.” Chase tells me, and I hear a car starting in the background.

“Done.” I respond, crawling underneath of my bed. I keep the phone pressed to my ear as doors slam in the hallway.

“We’ll be there in five minutes. You’ll be okay, Skye, I promise.” Chase says roughly. I take a deep breath.

“Chase?” I whisper into my cell phone as the door handle jiggles in my room. My breathing quickens.

“What’s happening?” He asks, voice filled with worry. The door handle jiggles again and I hear pounding on the door. Tears drop down my face. Envious life? I think so.

“I love you, Chase.” I whisper into the phone as—somehow—the door budges open.

I hear Chase curse loudly as he hears the door being thrown open, the fear in my voice. “You’re going to be okay, Skye.” He repeats, voice strained.

 I listen to Chase’s voice until a hand reaches under the bed, grabbing my hair and yanking. I honestly can’t help it—I scream. “Drive faster!” Chase yells at either Logan or Brody, which I can hear from my cell phone. To me he says, “We’re almost th—“ until the hand that had just ripped at my hair ends the call. I whimper, pulling myself back under the bed until those same hands grab my arms and pull me out from under the bed.

What doesn’t surprise me is that it’s not a burglar. It’s the Adapter. In his original form, not someone else’s. Middle aged guy, average height and build, average looking. Average average average.

His hands crawl from my wrists to my throat, encircling my neck in a strangle. I kick at him, punch and twist away, but nothing seems to work.

His hands squeeze tighter around my throat as I try my best to keep getting air. When suddenly it gets too hard, I wheeze a final breath and watch as black spots blur my vision.

And when I think I have no hope, I hear a crash, a yell, a fist connecting with skull, another crash, me falling, and then finally the pressure on my throat is released. I cough and wheeze— gasping for breath as Logan picks me up from the floor in his arms, walking me out of the room where the Adapter is.

“Found ‘im.” I rasp, joking. Logan frowns at me.

“Shhh, Skye. Don’t talk yet.” He says, walking me down the stairs, across the main floor, and out the front door. He opens the door to his car and lays me down on the backseat of his car.

I rub at my neck, still gasping. “Chase?” I ask, blinking rapidly. Logan runs a hand through his blonde hair and his blue eyes look at me.

“Will be fine.” Logan answers. “It’s the Adapter I’m worried about.” He murmurs.

I nod my agreement. Chase is not going to like the fact that the Adapter almost just killed me. My guess is that the Adapter is currently getting the crap kicked out of him.

“Should someone maybe, um, stop Chase?” I ask. Logan shrugs.

“Brody is there. Although…I’m not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing.” He says with a hint of a smile.

I rasp out a laugh.

Logan reaches down to the front seat of his car, grabbing something and tossing it back at me: a water bottle. I nod my thanks at Logan, who is standing outside the car, keeping a watchful eye over me. He nods back and I chug down the water—my throat is incredibly sore. My voice is going to be raspy for days. Great. I always wanted to sound like a smoker.

I close my eyes, breathing better now, and I must doze off because when I wake up, I’m in the front of the car, and the vehicle is moving. I blink my eyes open, my heart going into a panic—where am I going, whose taking me?—when I see Chase in the driver’s seat and my heart calms, fluttering with happiness.

“How are you feeling?” Chase asks me, glancing over at me worriedly. I smile.

“Fine, good. Great.” I mumble, my eyes dancing over him. When I hear a throat being cleared in the back seat of the car my stomach drops, and I turn around, confirming my suspicions. “What the hell?” I ask, finding myself looking at the Adapter.

I note his handcuffs—where did they get handcuffs?—and look, incredulous, at Chase.

“Logan and Brody are meeting us at home.” Chase tells me, looking over at me and noting my expression. “In Pennsylvania, Skye. Where our house is.”

I nod wearily. “Where your house is.”

Chase shrugs. “Mine, ours. Same thing.”

I shake my head. “Why is he here?” I ask, panicked, referring to the man that tried to kill me who is not sitting in the back seat of the vehicle I’m in.

Chase smiles kind of evilly at the Adapter through the rear view mirror. “Because I’m the only one he can’t change forms around.”

I blink, confused. “Why not?” I ask Chase, edging to the corner of my seat, away from the man in the back.

“I’ve Controlled his mind into a state where he can’t change into someone else when he’s around me.” Chase explains, giving the Adapter a superior look.

I don’t say anything for a few minutes until the Adapter speaks up. “How can you stand to look at him?” He asks, his voice dark and cruel.

I take a deep, controlling breath. “Who?” I ask, for reasons I’m unsure of.

“Your boyfriend—husband—whatever.” The Adapter says.

“I don’t know what you mean.” I say, my voice quiet. I hear a cackle and blink wearily.

This is going to be a long drive.

“When you thought that I was him and I said all those things to you—thing that were true—you were so…hurt.” The Adapter says, amusement in his voice. I feel my stomach fold, remembering the day when the Adapter took Chase’s form and tricked me into thinking it was actually Chase saying those awful things to me.

“Ignore him, Skye.” Chase tells me, glancing over at me. His hand grabs mine comfortingly.

I nod at him, smiling softly, but I know Chase can see that the smile doesn’t reach my eyes.

“I’ve never seen a human being look so sad, so…destroyed as you did when I was saying those things to you.” The Adapter says, laughing cruelly.  

“Enough.” Chase snaps, silencing the Adapter for a few minutes.

“You looked like your whole world was crashing, like you couldn’t live without your beloved boyfriend thinking the world of you.” The Adapter continues. I look out the window of the car, trying to ignore him.

“I said that’s enough.” Chase snarls, lurching the car so that the Adapter’s head smacks into the front of the seat, hurting him.

 “Do you want to know what’s really sad, though?” the Adapter asks, continuing with a sick smile.

“Shut the hell up.” Chase growls, speeding the car up down the dark, winding road.

The Adapter continues though. “Your boyfriend was the only form I could Adapt too. And do you know why? Because everyone else you love is dead. And that, my dear, is what’s really sad.”

I press my lips together so hard that they start to go numb. I open my mouth to say something when suddenly; the car comes to a lurching stop.

Chase cuts the engine and swings open his door, pulling the Adapter out of the car. We’re on the side of a dark street, in the middle of the woods maybe.

The Adapter grins at me while Chase pulls him from the car. “You better hope your boyfriend here doesn’t end up dead like your parents did.” The Adapter says, winking at me.

My stomach lurches and I turn my head away. I hear Chase growl something and then a fist is connecting with a face, and the Adapter falls—hard—to the ground.

Chase pulls back his foot and kicks him in the stomach multiple times. I finally get out of the car just in time for Chase to pull the Adapter, bloody, to his feet only to punch him to the ground again.

The look of pure hate is naked on Chase’s face, and the Adapter, bloody and beaten, really stands no chance against him.

“Chase.” I say softly, avoiding eye contact with the Adapter. Chase gives another kick and the man moans out a sound of pain.

“Chase.” I repeat, touching Chase’s muscular forearm gently. Chase finally breaks his hateful gaze from the Adapter and looks at me, his face momentarily softening when he sees me. “Please stop.” I say quietly. Chase’s face softens slightly when he sees my expression and he nods shortly at me before turning back to the Adapter. He crouches down on the ground and snarls something to the beaten man before shoving him to his feet and shoving the Adapter into the backseat of the car once more.

The Adapter, bleeding from several different cuts on his face, sits in the backseat of Chase’s car with his head lowered. I stand outside of the car next to Chase, breathing deeply, steadying myself.

Chase stays standing next to me, staring with unblinking eyes at the disturbed gravel where the Adapter had been laying minutes before. Neither of us say anything for a couple of minutes, our minds in different places.

“I don’t want to get back into the car.” I tell Chase quietly, my voice steady. Chase finally blinks, his head rising.

“He won’t bother you anymore,” Chase reassures me. And although I believe him, it’s kind of hard to ignore the fact that the man who tried to kill me will be sitting a foot away from me. I shrug slightly.

“I don’t trust myself not to react around him.” I tell Chase, leveling my gaze with the Adapter inside of his car.

“What do you mean?” Chase asks me.

I take a breath. “I could reach back and poke him in the leg and he would die.”

Chase takes a step towards me. “You’re not a killer, Skye.” He says in his rough but silky voice.

I meet Chase’s eyes, my gaze solid. “I could be.”

I grab Chase’s hand, squeezing it gently, and open the passenger’s door to the car, climbing inside. Turning around in my seat, I fix my gaze on the Adapter’s. He smiles cockily, as if he’s won somehow.

“If you so much as utter a single syllable,” I mutter forebodingly, “I will make you wish you were never born.”

The smirk slips off of the Adapter’s face, and he lowers his head just as Chase gets in the car. I look in the rearview mirror, meeting the Adapters wary eyes, and raise an eyebrow—a dare.

The Adapter, however, stays quiet. I smirk, keeping my eyes on his, and mumble quietly to myself. Chase looks at me, confused, and then catches in the rearview mirror the Adapter falling sideways in his seat, as if the life force has been sucked from him.

Now, don’t go freaking out on me. I didn’t kill the man! I just…Persuaded him to go unconscious. However, he does look quite…deceased.

Chase glances over at me. “He did look kind of tired.” He says, understanding that I didn’t kill the Adapter, but rather just knocked him unconscious.

I laugh quietly. “You sure the bags under his eyes weren’t just the makings of a black eye?” I joke. Chase smiles.

“You have a point.” He responds. Chase speeds the car up, edging past ninety five. I gasp loudly and Chase looks over at me, worried. “What’s wrong?” He asks me. My eyes, wide, blink incredulously and then he realizes what my problem is, and chuckles. “Oh, sorry.” He apologizes, slowing the car down a little.

“One of these days…” I mumble, “You’re going to get a speeding ticket.” Instead of being concerned with my statement, Chase laughs carelessly as if the idea is absurd.

“My mind is alert, Skye. Every cop within a ten mile radius is conveniently ignoring the speeding Porsche.” Chase says, grinning.

“You can Control minds within a ten mile radius?” I ask Chase, shocked. I thought they had to be near for him to be able to Control their minds. Chase shrugs.

“Further than that. But it’s harder the farther away it is. I’ve gotten to seventy miles before my mind shut down.” Chase explains, as if this is no big deal. I stare at him, my mouth open in amazement.

“You’re amazing.” I say honestly. Chase grins and rolls his eyes at me.

“Says the girl who could, at any given moment, Persuade me that my Talents don’t even exist.” Chase says, still grinning. I tilt my head, thinking about it.

“Yeah, but sooner or later you’d remember what you can do.” I object. Chase thinks about it for a second.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” He says. I shrug, glancing at the unconscious man in the back seat.

“What are you going to do with him?” I ask Chase, my voice straining on ‘him’. Chase looks in the back seat quickly before returning his focus to the road.

“Squeeze as much information out of him as we can.” Chase tells me. “He can lead us to the Company’s headquarters and tell us their weaknesses, tell us ways to get around they’re security. Because when we attack the Company, we’ll need to be prepared. And he can help us with that.” Chase explains, nodding his head toward the Adapter.

I yawn widely, rubbing my eyes subconsciously. Chase looks at me and smiles warmly.

“You should get some sleep.” He tells me. I nod, knowing its true, but wanting to spend more time with Chase. Whatever time I do have with him never seems like enough.

“You’re okay to drive?” I ask Chase, knowing we have more than two full days in the car ahead of us.

“More than.” Chase says, and picks up my hand, holding it in his. I recline my chair and lean my head back, closing my eyes. I listen to the wind outside of the car and the hum of the engine.

I open my eyes, watching Chase silently as he drives. His face is relaxed, his hair slightly tousled. His eyes are awake and alert, his bow-shaped lips slightly parted. Sensing my eyes on him, he looks down at me, smiling.

“Sing something.” I tell him and Chase laughs.

“What do you want me to sing?” He asks me, his thumb tracing back and forth on the back of my hand. I shrug.

“I dunno…” I murmur, sleep enclosing around me. My eyelids grow heavy. Chase hums quietly the song that I am constantly playing on my iPod—a slow love song. I smile softly. “’Night Chase.” I mumble as my eyelids drop closed. I hear Chase’s low chuckle.

“Goodnight, love.”

 

 

 

When I wake up several hours later, the Adapter is still unconscious in the backseat, and Chase is driving, still wide awake. I see a few empty coffee cups stacked on top of each other. Chase glances over at me, grinning. “How’d you sleep?” He asks.

I yawn. “Good, good. But let me drive, Chase—you need to rest.” I insist.

Chase shakes his head. “No, no. I’m fine.”

I’m about to say disagree when, without warning, Chase stops the car. I glance at him, nervously, and then look outside. Logan’s car is parked in front of ours, blocking the road. I feel my nose wrinkle in confusion.

Brody, Logan, Maggie and Bruce stand beside Logan’s car, waiting for Chase and I. I climb out of the car and walk towards them. “Hey!” I say to Maggie and Bruce. They smile at me, but look uncomfortable. “What’s going on?” I ask the four of them as Chase joins us at my side.

Bruce, surprisingly, is the first to talk. “There’s something you need to know.” He says to Chase and I, his eyes only on Chase. I frown, looking at Logan and Brody, who are looking away nervously.

I take a deep breath. “What?” I ask, because nobody else is saying anything. It’s like they are group of mutes or something. I debate whether or not to begin doing charades, but decide against it when I realize I have no idea how to act out the word “what”.

Bruce takes a deep, unsteady breath, his eyes still on Chase.

“Chase…” He starts, rubbing his eyes nervously. “Look at me.” Chase’s eyes grow uncertain as he stares at Bruce…and as Bruce disappears, being replaced by a taller, good-looking man who bears a startling resemblance to Chase. I blink, unbelieving, recognizing the man.

Chase’s father.

The man who Chase saw die at the hands of the Company.

The man who, for eight years, has been missing from the Davenport’s life due to the fact that he was dead.

I blink. I blink again.

Chase’s breathing becomes uneven beside me and I grab his hand, if only to let him know I’m here.

“My father is dead.” Chase says, staring levelly at the man who was Bruce…and now isn’t.

“No, son, I’m not. As far as the Company knows, however, I am.” Bruce—Mr. Davenport?—says. “The Company wanted me dead, Chase. If they had found out I was alive…they would’ve come after you and your brothers. I couldn’t…risk that.” He says, sighing wearily. “So, as an Adapter, I assumed the identity of a man who has long been dead, and used to work for the Company: Bruce Matthews.”

I blink unsteadily and grip Chase’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Chase asks quietly, his voice cool.

The look in Mr. Davenport’s eyes—regret, sorrow—is evident. “I didn’t know how to.” Mr. Davenport says.

I gather my thoughts. Bruce Matthews—the man I had thought to be a fellow Extinguisher but is really an Adapter—is really not Bruce Matthews at all but Chase, Brody, and Logan’s father.

“Well.” I say, clearing my throat. Bruce—Mr. Davenports—gaze falls on me and he smiles warmly. “Ho-ly crap.”

And for some reason, this statement seems to break the tension, because Chase starts to chuckle, and then Mr. Davenport starts to chuckle, and then soon enough we’re all laughing.

“I’ve missed you, son.” Mr. Davenport says to Chase, walking up to him and hugging him affectionately. I can see the emotions flitter across Chase’s face as he hugs his father—finally, after eight years, hugs his father—back.

This, my dear audience, is when things start to get interesting. Because my life? Yeah, it’s like the Hills. Filled with nonstop drama, heartbreak, and the occasional attempted murder. So, okay. Maybe it’s not like the Hills. But really. You have to admit it’s complicated.

 

 

Reviews

[Anya]

Wowieee... I had to read the last part a couple times over, i couldn't believe it! :)
This is one absolutely awesome story. I can feel the emotions and moments that pass between Chase and Skye. This whole world that you have created seems wonderfully real and seems to merge with reality so easily so that having a 'talent' really could exist.

""There's something you need to know." He says to Chase and I..." I know it will sound weird but it should be "Chase and me". hope you dont mind me pointing it out :) If you take away the other person then you're left with "He says to I" which doesn't make sense so it's Chase and me...

The twist at the end is a true stroke of genius-ity. It's like the whole story just got a zap! hehe. Loving every moment of it and can't wait to read more :)

[Aimee]

Haha, I love this chapter.
:D

The ending was great. [:

Can't wait to read more.

[Rusty]

Nice twist!!!!! Love the excitement and anticipation!!!