Runaways (Orphans 5)

"Look at this sweet little face," she said and hu: ed her. "If I were twenty years younger, I'd adopt you myself. I'd adopt all of you," she told us before continuing her cooking.

We would miss her, I thought sadly. She was practically the only person we would miss. I wanted to walk up to her and hug her, too, and then say, "Good-bye, Grandma Kelly. This is the last time we'll be in the kitchen helping you Thanks for liking us, for caring about us, for treating us as you would treat your very own grandchildren. Now take my advice and get out of here right after we go."

Of course, I said nothing. We couldn't give anything away and we didn't want to burden her with any of our secrets. We served the meal, ate and cleaned up as quickly as we could. Megan noticed how hard we were working and remained behind to tease us.

"Boy, you're all working like little eager beavers tonight. What are you trying to do, get on Gordon's good side?" she taunted.

"He doesn't have a good side," Raven quipped.

"How would you like me to tell him you said that?" Megan replied. Crystal glanced at me fearfully.

"Just leave us alone, Megan," I warned.

She stared a moment, deciding whether or not to challenge me. She was still smarting from what we had done and from suffering room restriction for an entire weekend.

"I'm watching you all," she said. "I'll get my chance. You can bet on that."

She turned and left us.

"If she ever figured out what we were planning . ." Crystal said.

"She won't. We'll be long gone before she does," I promised.

We said good night to Grandma Kelly and just as she had a hundred times before, she thanked us for being good helpers. We quietly made our way up to our rooms along with the others who had to study for the final day of exams. The young children went to the recreation room to watch television. After we settled in, Raven and I joined Crystal and Butterfly in their room. I closed the door softly behind me. Finally, we were getting down to it. The air was so thick, I felt like I was moving through a room filled with cobwebs.

"Where are the maps?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Crystal turned and produced them side by side at her desk.

"This is the northern and this is mid-country," she said. "There is also a southern route. I found out that it could still snow and be nasty in the Rockies," she continued, "so we might want to avoid that. We take 17 East to the Jersey Turnpike for starters," she said.

"How long does it take to get all the way to California?" Butterfly asked.

"It depends on the route we eventually follow, but if someone traveled all day, every day and didn't sightsee, probably four days," Crystal replied. Then she turned to me.

"All right, Brooke, I did what you asked. Now, tell me just how you intend to get us all across the United States of America," she said and sat back with her amts folded across her chest.

"I'm driving us," I said, shrugging as if it were the most obvious thing.

"You don't have a license," she quickly pointed out. "You never went for your test."

"You need a license to be legal, not to drive. Don't forget, I took drivers' education."

"Okay, but you need something to drive," she countered. It was as if we were playing chess with words.

"We have it."

"We have it?" She looked at Raven, who shrugged, and then at Butterfly, whose eyes widened with surprise. "Where is it?"

"Right out there," I said, grinning and nodding at the window, "waiting for us."

Crystal started to smile, thinking I was joking, and then stopped as she realized what I meant. She rose and went to the window. Butterfly and Raven joined her and they all looked down at Gordon's station wagon.

"You want to take his car?" Raven asked first.

"Why not? He takes from us, doesn't he?"

They were all quiet, staring at me as if I had gone completely bonkers. Then Crystal gathered her wits and put on her teacher's face.