When Jarod groaned and opened his eyes, the sun was bright and he had to squint his eyes shut. His hands and feet were bound together, and he was on a boulder, surrounded by unfamiliar rocks. He couldn't be far from the path, because he could see the edge of the forest that had enclosed one side of it; he must be on the other side of the trees, on the mountain slopes.

"Hello, Jarod," a voice to his left said.

He felt his stomach sink even before he turned his head to see the speaker. "Mr. Cox," he said curtly.

"Jarod, Jarod, Jarod," Mr. Cox said, smiling. "Who knew I would run into you while I was out here looking for you mother?"

Jarod sneered at him, pulling against his binding. "What did she ever do to you?" he snarled.

"It's not that she did anything," Mr. Cox's grin widened. "In fact, if you hadn't escaped, she could be living a peaceful life right now."

"Why?" Jarod asked. "Why do you people ruin families?"

"We don't ruin families, Jarod," Mr. Cox said, shaking his head as if what Jarod had just said hurt and offended him. "No, we wouldn't do that. We simply put gifted children to good use. We're doing it for the greater good of the world."

"The greater good for the world, or for yourselves?" Jarod growled. "Power – that's all you people have ever cared about."

Mr. Cox raised one shoulder lightly. "Well, it's certainly put us in a good position. Better than yours, anyway." He drew a gun from under his navy jacket and pointed it towards Jarod.

"You wouldn't shoot me," Jarod snapped, though he fought against his constraints a little harder. "What good am I to you dead?"

"To me? To me, you're no good in any way, shape, or form. My job, my orders, were to kill your mother. And I won't have anyone standing in the way of that."

Jarod couldn't get his wrists out of the ropes, and his feet were trapped under him; for the first time ever, there was absolutely nothing he could do. Mr. Cox undid the safety on his gun, a crooked half-smile on his face. "Goodbye Jarod."

A gun fired, Jarod squeezed his eyes shut – but nothing happened. He opened his eyes, and, there in front of him, Mr. Cox lay dead.

"Jarod!" Jarod's quaking head turned towards the tree line, and from behind a large pine tree stepped Emily. "Are you all right?" his sister asked, running forward to free Jarod.

"I'm fine," Jarod nodded, holding out his hands so she could undo the ropes around his wrists. He was breathless, and his heart still pounded, but he smiled."Thank you."

Emily smiled back, finally freeing his hands, and they both began to pull at the bindings around his ankles. "Dad went after Mom, but we both figured you'd be safer if I came to look for you."

"Well," Jarod said, taking her hand to help himself to his feet, "I'm glad you did."

"Come on," she said, taking his hand. "Let's go find Mom."

Hours later, they had caught up with his father, traveled a short distance together, and then his father had insisted they all stop and rest. Though his father had begged him to sleep, Jarod was acting as self-appointed look-out while they rested. But as time wore on, he was struggling to keep his weary eyes open. They had found a patch of grass free from snow, and, though a little wet and entirely frozen through, it served as an acceptably comfortable place to rest their exhausted bodies.

To help himself stay awake, Jarod got to his feet and shined his flashlight up at the cliffs enclosing him on the path. There was about 500 yards of dense deciduous forest on either side of him, then a steep, almost completely vertical jagged rock wall, reaching easily seventy feet until they began to smooth into a less severe slope. Jarod could vividly picture The Centre's helicopters appearing from behind a mountainside, descending on him while the roar of ATVs closed in from either side of the path to rob him of his family yet again. He shook his head to try to lose the image.

He didn't like the enclosed feeling of this path, it reminded him of his childhood in The Centre. Just the thought of it made him fidget and squirm uncomfortably, and he had to walk into the trees to stretch his legs and feel free again.

Suddenly, something behind him cracked and Jarod jumped. He held his breath for a minute, listening for any other sound. And then again, over his father's gentle snore, was another crack. It was in the woods with him. He stepped deeper into the forest, looking around, shining his flashlight in random directions, looking for the source of the loud crackling. He desperately hoped it was a very large squirrel; he weighed out ravenous grizzly bear versus sweeper team in his head. He'd take the bear.

He took a few steps farther into his sylvan surroundings. The sound was steady now – crack, crack, crack…it didn't sound like footsteps, it was too steady and loud. It was coming from right it front of him – but what was it?

Jarod jumped as the ground beneath him began to tremble…not like an earthquake, more of a lifting, as if there was something under the ground trying to get up. He looked down and gasped. The ground was lifting beneath him! He followed it along the ground till his eyes hit a gigantic tree truck. Horrified realization suddenly dawned on him. The tree he was staring at, easily over a hundred feet tall, was leaning dangerously, swaying further at every crackle that it's uplifting roots caused from under his feet.

Jarod sprinted back to his father and Emily, the crackling getting louder by the second. "Wake up!" he shouted, shining the flashlight at his family. "Wake up!"

His father sat bolt upright; Emily slowly pushed herself to her feet.

"What? What is it?" they asked, looking around, still dazed.

"Quick," Jarod cried, "run! Just run!"

His father stared at him a second, then must have heard the sounds of the beginning of the avalanche and started to run. Emily stared at Jarod, her eyes wide, shaking her head.

"GO EMILY!" Jarod yelled. "I'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU, JUST RUN!"

With one last glance she did as he said and started running away from the danger. As Jarod quickly knelt down to pick up one pack of water, he heard a ear-splitting ripping, then a crash.

He could just see his father and Emily running around a corner in front of him, and just behind them a wave of rocks started to fall.

He had no choice but to go backwards, back towards the small town they had departed. Right towards where The Centre may very well be waiting for him. He began running; it didn't matter right now. The only other option was to stay and get crushed.

He ran as fast as he ever had until his legs went numb, and then pushed through the searing pain in his sides. He ran even though his lungs were burning, and his throat was so dry it was about to crack. He knew he had to run until the crashing behind him stopped.

He didn't know how long he'd been running – maybe it was thirty seconds, maybe it was thirty minute – before the last rumbles ended with a few roaring echos. He collapsed onto the ground, panting. He was nearly sure the avalanche was over, although his heart was pounding so loudly in his ear, it was hard to tell. What would he do now? His father and Emily could still find his mother, but he would have to go back to the town and take a boat and maybe a plane to wherever his mother was headed.

He hadn't anticipated any backtracking on his trip. Had he really been traveling for less than twenty-four hours? His usually perfect timing was screwed up now, and he dreaded the consequences.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Miss Parker had only been walking for about two hours, and she was still on the path, but already she felt as though she was lost in the middle of the woods with no hope of ever getting out. She had stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the first signs of the avalanche, listening to the vicious rumble every tense second it lasted. If that truly was an avalanche - and she didn't know what else it would be - it was an exceptionally large one, which would make the road ahead more difficult to traverse.

Once all had quieted, she sat despairingly down on a tree stump and dumped dirt out of her shoe. Jarod had led her here, why couldn't he have left her a better pair of walking shoes? She closed her eyes for a second and took a steadying breath. She was going to need to hurry if she wanted to catch Jarod. Grudgingly standing up, she stretched, and then continued on her way.

Even when she caught up to Jarod, then what? Jarod was her only hope of getting answers right now. But all she knew with Jarod - at least, now as an adult - was hunt and chase. What was she to do? Propose the idea of going with him to find the answers they had been seeking for years; the answers that would shut down every last inkling of hope for going back to The Centre, the only life she'd ever known. Somehow, she doubted that any of it would sit right with him coming from her. He would suspect that she would just bring him back to The Centre. If she did catch him, she supposed that was what she should do. But what then? She didn't believe Mr. Rains' promise that the one who brought in Jarod would have a future at The Centre. But what other future did she have?

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Jarod had been hearing the footsteps for a while. He had turned his flashlight off when he saw the glow of someone else's and had darted behind some brush. He had a pretty good idea of who it was, but wasn't keen on being found by the wrong people.

As the figure in the light became clearer, he gave himself a slightly satisfied grin. He put his finger on the knob of his flashlight and stepped out onto the path

"Miss Parker," he said in the singsong voice he loved to taunt her with. His finger slid the know and turned the light's blinding beam on her.

Miss Parker gave a startled jump at his appearance and the sudden light. She tossed the flashlight to the side and whipped out her gun, squinting. Jarod blinked at the gun in her hand. "Put your gun down," he said casually, as if asking her to pass the mashed potatoes over a holiday supper. "It's never worked with me before. And besides, returning – with or without me – to The Centre isn't really you best option anymore, is it?"

"Listen Jarod, I just want to talk to you," she said, her voice shaking. "I just want some answers."

Jarod sighed and stepped forward. "So do I. You know I don't have any answers to give you. And waving a gun in my face wouldn't be the best way to get them if I did."

Her hand faltered, but then the gun lowered. "Jarod, you have to tell me everything you know," she said, stowing it away in her coat and crouching to pick up her tossed flashlight.

Jarod gave a nervous look behind him. "Let's walk while we talk," he said, motioning to her to follow.

"Not that way," Miss Parker said, shining her flashlight at Jarod. He didn't usually make mistakes like that. "That's the way we came from," she added when he didn't turn around.

"We can't go the other way," Jarod said . "There was an avalanche, it's completely blocked. We have to go back the way we came."

"We can't!" she said, panic infused in her tone as she realized what that meant. "The Centre's been tracing my calls; they might be right behind us!"

Jarod sighed, irritated but not disheartened. This was nothing new; he'd certainly had his fair share of near-run-ins since his escape. He turned around to meet Miss Parker's gaze with a glint of daring confidence in his eyes. "I'm good at avoiding them." He couldn't resist a teasing wink. "Just keep up with me and we'll be fine."

Miss Parker blinked, and when her eyes opened again, all she could see of Jarod was a blur of shadow disappearing down the path. She took off after him, barely able to keep up, let alone catch up. No wonder she hadn't caught him in six years…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After what felt like hours of running, Jarod stopped. Miss Parker ran up to meet him and collapsed, panting, onto her knees, her long-numb legs immediately turning off and flopping limply under her. Jarod sat on a rock, taking some water out of his backpack.

"When it gets bright out," he panted when he finally took the bottle away from his lips, "we'll have to go through the woods. Just in case, we should go at least fifty feet or so in now."

Miss Parker snatched the water away from him and took a sip. Wiping her brow, she chucked it back at him, and he tucked it back into his bag. For a moment, he felt like resting for five minutes. He leaned back and looked up at the sky, filled with stars. It was beautiful and open and free. He wanted to be able to look at that sky for the rest of his life.

"Well, then," he said, standing and tightening his backpack straps. "Let's go."

"What – now?" Miss Parker said, not even bothering to try standing. "I need a minute, I can't keep running!"

Jarod looked at her warily. "Welcome to the hell you put me in for six years."

He took a few steps into the woods, and Miss Parker heard cracking twigs getting softer and softer, a sign that he really was walking away.

"Jarod!" she called, holding onto a branch and getting to her feet. "Come back here! Now!" And when no reply came, "Come on Jarod, I just need a minute! Please Jarod!" She hated the whiny, immature tone in her voice but was becoming desperate as her legs began stiffening. She couldn't hear the cracking of Jarod's footsteps anymore. She was alone and lost. "Damn it, Jarod!" she shouted, feeling around in the dark for anything to tell her the direction; she wasn't even sure of up and down anymore.

She sat down again and thought about what Jarod had said – "Welcome to the hell you put me in for six years." With a fleeting thought of pity for Jarod, she sat down again on the rock and folded her arms. His life was still better than hers, so what was he complaining about? He would come back - he was Jarod.

As Jarod stepped through the trees, his natural instinct was to feel bad for leaving Miss Parker stranded with no flashlight, but he forced himself to think of how miserable she'd made his life since he broke out of The Centre. She certainly hadn't felt bad when she'd barged in whenever he came close to making a discovery, or when she'd shot at him, or when…

But she wasn't trying to bring him to The Centre now, he reminded himself. She was in the same position he was – on the run from The Centre, looking for answers to many of the questions he asked day after day, night after night. And if they could work together to find the clues, Jarod figured everything would be a bit easier.

He stopped jogging and placed a hand on a tree to steady himself. Sydney had always made him very in touch with his emotions, and, more importantly, where they stemmed from. Why was he especially bitter right now? He supposed it stemmed from the rejection he had faced when they left Carthis. He had imagined them working together then…being together…having each other. That was in the past. If Miss Parker was willing to work with him now, that was all that mattered.

He remembered speaking with her on the phone several days after he had crash landed the plane and escaped yet again. "Whoever finds the answers... lives." That was what he had said. But that didn't need to be the case. If they could get their answers and destroy the Triumvirate along with The Centre, neither of them would end up paying in the end. Before, if she brought him in, it spared her life (or whatever she had clung onto as a life for so many years) and ruined his. And, likewise, if he had found the answers, he would have destroyed The Center, and though he would have tried to avoid it, possibly her, Sydney, and Broots as well.

But now they might be able to destroy both the Triumvirate and The Centre twice as fast, with a higher chance of all four of them surviving. Miss Parker was the only one who had ever come remotely close to catching him in all these years. If they put their minds together...the thought made him smile. Maybe something was finally working out. With a contented sigh, he turned around and headed back to Miss Parker, his genius mind thinking of a plan all the way.