Emerald Flight: Homecoming: The Worst of Both Worlds (continued)

Elizabeth remained seated, her eyes fixed on the spot where her phone still rested on the table. After a moment, her eyes lifted, glancing briefly at her brother and sister. She rose slowly, reached for the phone, and headed purposefully down the hallway.

Once inside her room, she removed the soft-sided luggage from beneath the bed and began placing her clothing and other belongings into it. She heard a soft sound at the doorway and paused for only a moment before continuing. She ignored it; it was the wrong sound to be her father.

Liz?” Bryant asked in desperate whisper. “What are you doing?”

“Getting out of here.”

Although she whispered back in kind, her voice held a fierce determination.

“Where will you go?”

Elizabeth paused before answering, performing another quick visual check around the room.

“I can go back to the base,” she responded with a calm that surprised her. “Or return to the station.”

Her brother’s expression was awash with dread and—was that envy? Elizabeth wondered. Was he jealous that I have somewhere else to go, that I have other options than to remain here and be subject to her father’s raging whims?

Elizabeth stared at her brother’s face. “Come with me,” she urged him in an insistent whisper. “Get Tessa and come with me,” she went on. “You can visit the station while I’m there.”

Her brother gazed back at her in defeat. “And after you’ve gone?”

Elizabeth met his eyes, but knew that there was nothing that she could say.

From further down the hallway, from the direction of her parents’ bedroom, she thought she heard the sound of a muffled whimper. A few moments later, she heard it again, slightly louder. There was no mistaking that time there had been a sound.

A look of panic and resignation now filled her brother’s eyes. He seemed ready to cry, but she knew that he would not—at least not in her presence.

“Come with me,” she repeated, a hissed command through clenched teeth.

Her brother shook his head slowly, his eyes revealing all of the despair that he shared with his other sister.

Elizabeth slammed the cover of the suitcase, but its thick fabric made little noise.

There was the sound of something from the master bedroom. Pain shot through Elizabeth’s stomach like cramps. Memories that she had long tried to forget rose to the surface. Her eyes searched for her brother’s, silently pleading for him to bring Tessa and come with her.

He refused to meet her gaze, standing numbly as Elizabeth lifted the bags and moved toward him in the doorway.