"Well, I'm not sure if ours is the same, but I know that I worry about the other pair a lot. It tears me up to think of them in the hands of that monster," Sam said, looking at Mark apologetically.
"Me too," Lynn added. "It makes me sad thinking about them. I never thought of them like a missing puzzle piece, but now that you've put it that way, that’s exactly what it feels like," she went on thoughtfully. "Do you guys feel the same?"
"I do," I said. "I've felt that way for a while. Especially once I saw them on the monitor. At first I thought it was because I felt bad that they were being subjected to evil day in and day out, but I think it goes beyond that. My heart aches on a constant basis for them, I've just worked hard at keeping it at bay."
"And you have no idea where they can be?" one of the guys asked. I think his name was Thomas.
I cringed at his question, not entirely sure how Mark would react to it. Mark surprised me, though, by answering calmly. "No, my father was absentee at best, he was never around, and I always felt like he was more of a stranger than anything else. I wish I would have pried more, but I always assumed I was some kind of freak of nature that was stronger than normal and dreamt about some hot girl every night," he said ruefully. "Not that I ever confided any of that to him."
I smiled at his words. Hot girl. Sure, he was biased, but it still made me feel special.
"We are grieved that he destroyed the others. They were a special, loyal band and we will miss them greatly. We will stop him before he can harm any more of us," John said, clearly the leader of their group. "Usually, bands receive more knowledge and training than your mismatched group has received, and yet you have shown tenacity and skills that leave me in awe. Your parents would have been proud. I remember meeting them when I was twelve, and they loved you all greatly."
A knot formed in my throat at his words. My adoptive parents had always treated me as their own, but hearing that my real parents loved me too, made the loss more acutely painful.
"Your mother included," he said, addressing Mark. "I remember her playing in the ocean with you at the beach they all frequented. She laughed every time you squealed when the water came close to you."
I gripped Mark's hand in my own as I watched him swallow a lump. Knowing he had at least one parent that actually cared about him, I was sure was a welcome change after dealing with his father.
"Do all the bands get together often?" Sam asked curiously.
"Once every couple years or so," Kieran, John's spouse said. "It usually takes some creative scheduling to work around our assignments. Of course, after your parents' tragic deaths, we missed several reunions. My parents grieved deeply and pleaded with Haniel to tell them your whereabouts, but he would never give them the information they sought," she said, sounding slightly bitter as she threw a glare toward Haniel.
I glanced at Haniel, surprised. Why had he left us scattered when he could have given us to others like us?
Haniel met my stare dead on, but remained stubbornly silent.
"My mother took it the hardest. She worried endlessly about all of you," Kieran continued.
"And does she know about us now?" Lynn asked.
"No, she and my father passed away several years ago on an assignment. They died in the line of duty, as true Links," she said.
"Links?" Sam asked puzzled.
"It's a term we use to describe our bonds. It becomes tedious to always say Guides and Protectors all the time, so instead we nicknamed ourselves Links. It fits the best since we are linked together."
Links, I ran the word through my head, liking the way it sounded.
Several conversations popped up after that as the guys discussed strategies, while us girls discussed our parents more. It was nice to hear the more personal stories about my real parents, versus the distorted version given by Mark’s father. I really liked the four older Guides. It was like getting a glimpse of what we would all grow up to be. Our personalities seemed to mesh with our counterparts. Sam and Kieran were so similar it was almost eerie. Lynn and Jenna also shared identical traits, while Amelia and I were the quieter ones of our bands, which meant that Grace must have the traits of our missing Guide. Once I came to this conclusion, I found myself studying Grace more intently. She was by far the sweetest of the other group, not that they all weren’t nice, but there was just something special about her. She seemed genuinely happy and listened to every word you uttered with rapt attention. Chatting with all of them and comparing our bands made me believe that we were indeed predestined. God obviously knew what traits would mesh and flourish, and he created his bands accordingly.
The morning drifted into afternoon and eventually we sent the guys out to get all the fixings for a barbeque. By mid-afternoon, the last band arrived, adding to the noisy chaos. They were older than the rest of us and were missing the two members Haniel had mentioned.
Their outward appearance was imposing, but their unity seemed off-kilter, like a tire on a bicycle that has gone askew on the rim, making the bike wobble back and forth. For obvious reasons, they were more somber than the first band, and I felt my own heart pinch at what their loss must feel like. Looking around at my own friends, I could not imagine what it would feel like to lose any of them. It was painful enough missing the two that had been stripped from us.
Introductions were made by Haniel again, and this time it was easier to remember the girls' names because I instantly matched them up to their counterparts. Kim matched up with Kieran and Sam, Jaime was the exact replica of Lynn and Jenna, and Grace and Faith came from the exact mold. The similarities of Grace and Faith's names did not slip past me, and once again I wondered about our own missing "sunshine" member. Amelia and my counterpart was missing and it became glaringly obvious she was the one the band had recently lost, which left me feeling oddly bereft, like I was missing something that had belonged to me.
The guys’ names were harder to remember, since I was yet to study the male dynamics and make my matches. I knew their names were Paul, Jacob, and Michael, but matching their names to the faces was a little tougher.
Dinner was a noisy event on Mark's back patio, filled with talking and laughter as the second band let some of their grief go for the night. Haniel was the only silent one, as he studied our large group with his usual somber expression. I couldn't help wondering if he was already calculating our odds for survival or if he already knew our destiny. I yearned to chat with him and find out what he was thinking, but the opportunity never presented itself. Before I knew it, the first sets of sleepers were off to bed, leaving the first shift to stand guard. Haniel had disappeared again, presumably to check on the other bands, thus eliminating my opportunity to talk to him.
It was decided that our band would take the first watch, since the others had spent the day traveling. I was perfectly fine taking the first shift. My mind was going in a million different directions after all that we had learned that day.
Laying on the chaise lounge on the patio, I couldn’t help my thoughts from straying to what I had gleaned about my parents. I wondered if they would be proud of how I had turned out. It was hard to imagine what course my life would have taken if Mark's dad wasn't some Devil incarnate. Mark and I wouldn’t have needed to search for each other. My stomach clenched slightly at the thought, the discovery of each other was one of my best memories of my life.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Mark asked, trying to be cute. Blocking my thoughts from him was automatic now, and hearing him offer to buy them was kind of funny.
"I was just thinking about my parents," I answered honestly.