He scraped his hand across his face. “I want you to be happy, Celia, I really do. But I’m concerned about your safety. You can’t stay—”
“I can make it work.”
Steely determination filled her eyes. He decided not to push it. Not now. Instead he placed his hand over his mouth as he yawned. “Honestly, I’m not sure how things got so off track.”
“Oh, really?” she said drily.
“Everything was going so well...but then you left, and it all just snowballed after that. I wish...” He couldn’t say how he wished everything could go back to the way it was before he screwed it all up. “I just don’t know how it all went so wrong,” he said finally.
She stared at him, her gaze hard. “I do. Scott started making noises—criticisms and complaints—and as his number of followers grew you got scared and made some really stupid decisions.”
He looked at her, his eyebrows raised.
“Hard to imagine, I know. But you’re not infallible, Malcolm. You’re not perfect.”
Frustration surged through his veins. “Why couldn’t Scott and the others see that bringing technology to the Colony—computers, telephone, TVs, the internet, all these fabulous changes the rest of the world takes for granted—has helped everyone? The economy in the Colony is thriving. People have opened online businesses—we know more now about the outside world than we ever have before. We had become stagnated and inflexible, but with my changes, my vision, all that has changed. Look how much we’ve grown in just the past year.”
“True, Malcolm. But the downside is people can now see what it’s like on the outside. They know what they’re missing—places they will never be able to visit, jobs they will never be able to have. What once was a sanctuary now feels like a prison. Our window to the outside world, the internet, the television, did that to us.”
“I’ve heard that before, but I don’t get it.” He pushed out a clipped breath. “I’ve been out here and I can’t wait to get back home. It’s dirty. There are people everywhere, and frankly, they’re rude with no respect for their surroundings or each other. How could you stand living with them? Living on the outside for so long?”
Finally she brightened. A sparkle entered her eyes and his insides twisted at the sight of it. “It was unbelievable, Malcolm. I loved it. The freedom. The energy. The artistic expression through everything from clothes to food. I saw things I’d never seen before, hell, never even imagined before. Movie theaters! They’re amazing and breathtaking. Giant TV screens with sound so loud it moves right through you.
“Foods like you’ve never dreamed of. And you should see some of the houses, boats and cars. Unbelievable. The excitement, innovation and enthusiasm are intoxicating. People can cut loose and let their guard down and do things they might not usually do when they’re at home because they can actually go out to a restaurant or nightclub and not see a single person they know. Can you imagine how freeing that is? To be able to go out to dinner with a friend and not have everyone in town know who that person was and what you were talking about.”
“No,” he said, and couldn’t help the bitterness in his voice. That was the one thing he hated about the Colony—the total and complete lack of privacy. Not only did everyone in town know who he was with and what he was doing, but hell, they were certain they knew what he was thinking. “I can’t imagine.”
“I really love it and I will go back. That, I can assure you.”
At that moment, he believed she would. And it scared the hell out of him. “But wasn’t it hard? Always hiding who you are? Never having anyone to run with, to talk to about...things with?”
She hesitated a moment, then looked him square in the eye. “Not at all.”
She was lying. He knew her well enough to see that. A yawn overtook him once more. His lack of sleep was finally catching up to him. “We should get going,” he said. “We’re going to need to drive in shifts so we can get back as soon as possible.”
“No problem.”
He handed her the keys and paid the bill. They left the restaurant. As they approached his truck, he climbed into the back and stretched out on the seat. “Wake me up in six hours,” he said as sleep reached for him. Had she really loved the outside world that much? Would she risk her life to stay out here? Jaya had warned her. He’d warned her. And if anything happened to her because he’d driven her away...
He shook off the thought. The Colony was not a prison. And it didn’t feel that way. Her words echoed through his fuzzy mind. Our window to the outside world, the internet, the television, did that to us. You did that to us. The words she did not say but meant. He honestly thought what he’d been doing for the Colony had been the best for all of them. Was it possible he’d been that wrong?
He thought of Jaya begging him not to bring the internet into the Colony. The people of the Colony, and especially Jaya, didn’t understand or appreciate that he’d done it all for them.
Only now Jaya was dead because of his feud with Scott—the man who had tried to boot him out and take over the leadership of the Pack for himself. They’d both gone too far and made mistakes that could never be undone.
* * *
Jade and Ruby dipped farther into the booth behind Celia, listening to their conversation, waiting until they both got up to go.
“Did you hear that?” Ruby asked.
“She is going to kill us,” Jade added.
“It was as though she knew we were here or something. It was creepy.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. She didn’t know. We should have announced ourselves.”
“What? And pop up like a demented jack-in-the-box stalker and say, ‘Surprise! We’ve been following you, spying on you, listening to you talk about how much you like going into restaurants and not seeing a single soul you know.’” Ruby covered her face with her hands.
“Okay, so now what?”
“Now we should go home. Leave them alone. You heard her. She’s going to come back to us.”
“Yeah, as soon as they find a Keeper, whatever the hell that is. We don’t even know where they’re going. What if she never comes back? How will we find her?”
Ruby sighed. “I don’t know. She never really said where ‘home’ was, did she?”
“The mountains.”
“Well, that narrows it down,” Ruby said, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.
“Okay, so again, what now?”
“Let’s just follow them a little farther. Just until we’re sure.”
“Sure of what?”
“I don’t know, but we’ve come so far already, and I still can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.”
Jade sighed. “All right. But let’s run into the gas station next door, use the facilities and grab some doughnuts.”
“Doughnuts?” Ruby said with a crinkled nose.
“Fine, you grab a whole-grain muffin. I’m grabbing doughnuts. I’m starving.”
“One day all that sugar is going to catch up with you and then you’ll be sorry.”
“Ha! Fine, I’ll deal with it then, but look how much enjoyment I’m getting in the meantime.”
Ten minutes later they were back in the car, loaded up with food, drinks, extra T-shirts, ball caps—everything they needed to keep an eye on their cousin. They tore out of the parking lot and down the highway looking for that old pickup truck. But before they could find it, Ruby’s phone rang.
“Ruby,