“Let's go to our room and talk about this fucking call you want to make. We need to get this over and done with so you can concentrate on coming off your medicines, as that's our priority now.”
I stood up and glanced at the girl on the phone.
“It's okay Eliza, Karen knows you're supposed to come with me."
He signalled something to her and she smiled and nodded.
“Are you okay? What did Markus want? You're not in trouble I hope?”
I tried to read his face, but it gave nothing away. He ignored me anyway.
“Are all these people working on my father's disappearance?" I dared ask after a few minutes of silence.
“The majority is." Zack said, but didn't seem to want to expand any further on that.
I persevered though.
“So, are they any closer to locating him?" I continued.
He looked at me and sighed.
“For fuck sake. You are a curious pup, aren't you? We'll fill you in with all the details later, when you're ready. First, we need to see how you deal with coming off your meds. And if you...”
He stopped, but I knew what he was going to say.
“If I really do have the gift?" I finished the sentence for him.
“Yeah, and that." he reluctantly admitted.
“But I am fairly sure you have. We just need to be careful.”
“And what happens if I haven't?" I genuinely wanted to know, but Zack just grunted.
“Really Eliza, focus on what we're about to do and stop wondering about the 'what ifs' and so on. Think about what you will tell Kasper and Bella.”
God, he was annoying. Why does he have to be so evasive!
“Zack, I can deal with the truth, just tell me what would happen if it turns out I can't help you.”
He just looked at me and wouldn't budge.
I had to concentrate now on what I was going to say to Kasper and Bella. This wasn't going to be easy.
Once I had 'explained' what happened, or rather told our fabricated story to Bella, under the careful eye of Zack, she was really supportive and said she would visit my mum to keep an eye on her. She didn't understand why I couldn't keep in contact, but seemed to accept it. Kas, on the other hand, wasn't having any of it. He wouldn't drop it and urged me to at least send him a text. I mumbled something about my phone playing up but in the end I had to say I would definitely try again, suffering a disapproving scowl from Zack.
It was going to be hard for Kas. He didn't like to be away from me for long, and I wouldn't put it past him to try and contact me or even try and find me. I wasn't going to tell Zack that, as it would worry him and I feared they would take some extreme measures to prevent him from doing that. I didn't think they would hurt him, but with the grim look on Laura's face still lingering in my brain, I couldn't be absolutely sure either. I didn't want my choice to help these people to have a negative impact on the people I loved.
“Done?" Zack broke my thoughts.
I wanted to know what all the stress was about with Laura as Markus seemed to have taken my request quite calmly as opposed to her.
“Hmmm..., yeah." I stalled.
“What is Laura's story? Why was she so uptight? She seemed so kind, but turned quite ferociously towards us. It felt a bit weird.”
I fully expected Zack to deflect my question again, but to my surprise he didn't. Instead he sighed and explained.
“Laura's just careful; she's been through a lot and is extremely protective over us. She can't help but overreact sometimes when she feels we are threatened, but it's all born out of a deep caring for our kind. She's an amazing organiser and leader and will do anything to protect us. And I do mean anything.”
He spoke with absolute reverence in his voice.
“She'll probably come and find you later and explain."
That filled me with dread, as no matter what Zack had said, I was scared of her. Zack took me by the hand and reassured me.
“Don't worry about it. You need to fully concentrate on your 'detox' now. Let's grab some food and then look at the paperwork about what to expect.”
Food sounded great, I suddenly remembered how hungry I was! I hadn't exactly eaten much since Zack and Markus had burst into my life.
CHAPTER 10
Eliza was reading through the notes and occasionally asking me for some clarification, but seemed to take it all in, not particularly phased. I really liked her for that. So down to earth and ready to try anything she needed to. Her apprehensive feelings about the Laura incident had dissipated as she was concentrating on the task in hand. I could really feel her worry about Laura earlier, but she wouldn't have anything to fear from her as long as she didn't endanger us.
“So, everywhere it says to reduce the withdrawal symptoms of Risperdal you need to taper off usage slowly over a period of months. I take it that's not what we're doing?”
She didn't look at me and I knew she wasn't looking for an answer.
“It's going to be a tough time Eliza. You're going to feel ill, possibly vomit, feel hot and sweaty or cold and shivery. Basically, flu like symptoms, which will last for about five days maximum.”
I tried to make it sound as if it was something that she's experienced and conquered before, not to worry her unnecessarily.
“What about the delusions and hallucination and a possible return to psychotic illness? That scares me.”
Now, she did look at me, unsure about what to make of that.
“As you probably are not suffering from a mental illness, that won't happen. You'll be confused and overwhelmed with the return of your gift, though. It may feel like you are
