Chapter 218

“Chelsea-” “Hey dad you want to go get pizza?” I hear Chelsea asking in the background and the video ends right there. I take another stack of papers, and see different pictures of a woman and the file calls her Norine Williams – but if this is the Norine that was Chelsea’s mother she is nothing like I remembered the woman. Putting all the papers back I rubbed my face roughly, my plans already changing, my anger building. “This woman had other children? And she what just forgot about Chelsea and Audrey? God all the pain Chelsea went through and she was living in some small town, with a population of…” I looked at the documents laughing mechanically, “less than one thousand.” “So basically Anya is Norine… or maybe she’s her sister…” I paced just looking at all the boxes wondering what kinds of information they held and where Jack, Casey, Mikael and Logan went right now. While Remy glanced at the picture that I saw of the woman that doesn’t look like the Anya I remembered, her eyes widened stopping my pace mid step. “What?” “Chelsea drew this woman and asked me to do a facial recognition for her, but I was so busy we had other things going on… I didn’t think it was all that important. I mean she drew her differently… in a way that had restrictions and wouldn’t have given me results that would be useful, but it’s the woman…” Remy says with complete sureness, even showing me the picture of the link, I collapse into my uncomfortable chair. Right now I just wanted Chelsea to wake up, I didn’t want to have to do this without her, deciding and then making the wrong decisions. “Don’t second guess yourself Boss…” Remy said softly, but I just wanted to hear those things from Chelsea. . . . My mind was in overload, Remy and I started in order of the boxes. The first set of documents we would were old bonds/shares bought under different aliases however, the signature according to Kai – my computer system – they were signed by the same person. Then I thought of Chelsea’s dream, Jason saying that he became human, however I doubt that it was true based on the dates. In 1943, he purchased an Island sixty miles from Isla San Jose, a total of 110 miles from Panama, nearly 2000 acres of tropical land. Immediately, Remy began searching maps, checking out the coordinates and all we see on Google Map is ocean. Resting back, I tilt my head to the side confused, “These look official…” Remy points to the pages before us, “but… its not?” she finished confused. While researching neither she nor I speak again, just checking out dates, facts on what we were finding, moving quickly. The only sound around us is the beeping from the machines Chelsea is up too, and us shuffling papers. One full box in, the guys return startling us, and they come with a black 16 by 16 square solid box and ten books that look like the spellbook that Chelsea bound to our safe. Their expressions worrisome – grim. Like we need more drama? “What?” “Chelsea is going to be furious… hell I’m – I’m – I don’t even know what… the shit that she went through, that suffering… all those tests,” Casey who’s normally the jokester of the group was fuming. He dropped his share of books on the linoleum floor like they burned him. “The Elders knew the whole time where Chelsea was…” he says but with a hurt and uncertainty. I observe him, eyeing him, his face, trying to read his body language hoping that he wasn’t saying what I think he was. “Jason knew where Chelsea was the whole time?” I asked appalled. In her dream he said they lost track of her but was that even the truth after everything we’ve found out? He held so much back from her, I’m amazed she’s able to even let me in after the blows she’s taken in that department. So many secrets, I was just happy that with us… everything was out in the open, Chelsea knew all my dirt and then some. “Inside the old estate – after going to a storage facility I might add – we found these,” he opened one of the ancient looking books, “there are notes just like what you received in the car signed by Elder Ethel but not all of these are signed by her some are signed by E.B.” The ones signed by E.E. match the print from my own card delivered to my truck. Reaching for the book Jack holds, I start flipping through the pages, small pieces of paper with different information, no pattern but I do see reoccurring themes; coordinates, dates, named locations and people. ‘I’ve been researching and tracking areas that the Elders have sent people, known names and that led me to Middleburg, Virginia.’ The notes… he had someone on the inside. “Were they in any particular order?” I point to the different stacks, “Yeah, I had the last three from the shelf, in the hidden room, nearly two levels down on their old estate…” Logan deadpans. With speed I take the one from the stop and begin scanning the pages, looking for a name and when I find it I stare down at the page, laying the book between Remy and I on the side table. December 14th 2013 Oakley Savanna Lawson There in the same print as the note left in my car was the date and name of the girl Jason said, ran DNA tests and proved was Chelsea’s little sister. Pushing her hair behind her ears Remy looks at what has be stunned, “this is what Jason meant by keeping tabs on the Elders…” I nod; the others confused glance between to the two of us looking for answers. This – all of it – is just so much more than I was ever anticipating, eyeballing Chelsea so many questions come to mind and not just about her really. About, Angel, and Rainy, the struggles they’ve had, how much of all of it could have been avoided. With what I’m seeing here, the boxes and books, and secrets… I could see why her third wolf said we weren’t ready. There was just so much that she – we – didn’t know and now mid problem the only solution I could think of was run and hide for a while. Get the hell out. Then trust your gut! This was supposed to be easy but so far nothing had been, not even close. “Boss…” Remy pulled me from my thoughts, I sighed deliberating, literally finding holes in each plan, each option that I came up with, finding the best path so we had no loses… we’ve had too many already and this was just the beginning. The truth was I needed to regroup, find out what every other fucker knew that I didn’t, that was the only way to be on top, crawl and sweat my way up there and then, work twice as hard to stay on top. “Look… I have a plan but we need to go through all this and make sense of it all as well, I’d prefer that Chelsea was awake but we leave in three days and I want to make the right decision leave things stable before I hand them over. Everyone Chelsea and I trust is in this room right now-” Remy snorted, biting her lip. Between the two of them… five people… the thought humorous and in another time or place I’d laugh. Billions of people in the world… only five in the room. Ha. Ha.  I sent over the link, letting her know I was listening, “Three days?” Mikael pushed on, “Nonno wants to bury Nona in Italy, we go but after – we're gone.” “To where?” and right there was the million dollar questions. Looking at the documents we already searched, the maps Remy printed, I pointed to the spot in blue. The ocean where an Island – according to documents – was supposed to be, “We go here,” I smirk.