Chapter Text
“When I have to take phone calls, I start to sweat and panic. Being on the phone is so weird - hearing a voice without seeing the face so you can't really know the intention behind the voice.”
― Christine and the Queens
Kara could feel it was too early again when she woke, and she knew she was getting the schedule of her days and nights slowly reversed. She laid in her bed and listened to the quiet voices of Sam and William in the other room. She rolled off the bed, her feet hovering an inch above the ground as she floated her was into the living room. Sam and William were sitting together on the sofa, Sam sketching again while Willaim looked over her shoulder. They didn’t look up when Kara entered, softly landing on the floor, too engrossed in Sam’s work.
She crept to William’s side to peek.
“Did she see something more?” she inquired quietly.
“Yes. Something’s brought him back to the room with the VCR, but it’s light now.”
Kara watched as Sam drew a square room with dark beams across its low ceiling. The walls were paneled in wood, a little too dark, out of date. The floor had a dark carpet with a pattern in it. There was a large window against the south wall, and an opening through the west wall led to the living room. One side of that entrance was stone—a large tan stone fireplace that was open to both rooms. The focus of the room from this perspective, the TV and VCR, balanced on a too-small wooden stand, were in the southwest corner of the room. An aged sectional sofa curved around in front of the TV, a round coffee table in front of it.
“The phone goes there,” Kara whispered, pointing.
Two pairs of eternal eyes stared at her.
“That’s my mother’s house in Midvale Heights.”
Sam was already off the couch, phone in hand, dialing. Kara stared at the precise rendering of Eliza’s family room. Uncharacteristically, William slid closer to Kara. He lightly touched his hand to her shoulder, and the physical contact seemed to make his calming influence stronger. The panic stayed dull, unfocused.
Sam’s lips were trembling with the speed of her words, the low buzzing impossible to decipher for Kara’s stricken mind; she couldn’t concentrate.
“Kara,” Sam called. She looked at her numbly. “Kara, Lena is coming to get you. She and Jack and Lionel are going to take you somewhere, to hide you for a while.”
“Lena is coming?” The words were like a life vest, holding her head above the flood.
“Yes, she’s catching the first flight out of Seattle. We’ll meet her at the airport, and you’ll leave with her.”
“But my sister… he came here for my sister, Sam!” Despite William, Kara’s hysteria bubbled up in her voice. She couldn’t lose a second family.
“William and I will stay till she’s safe.”
“I can’t win, Sam. You can’t guard everyone I know forever. Don’t you see what he’s doing? He’s not tracking me at all. He’ll find someone, he’ll hurt someone I love… Sam, I can’t—I have to do something—”
“We’ll catch him, Kara,” she assured, but it fell on deaf ears.
“And what if you get hurt, Sam? Do you think that’s okay with me? Do you think it’s only my human family he can hurt me with?” Sam looked meaningfully at William. A deep heavy fog of lethargy washed over Kara, and her eyes closed without her permission. Her mind struggled against the fog, realizing what was happening. Kara forced her eyes open and stood up, stepping away from William’s hand.
“I don’t want to go back to sleep,” she snapped, heat vision flaring up brightly behind her eyes.
She walked to her room and shut the door, slammed it really—a tight line between shaking the walls and ripping the door off its hinges—so she could be free to go to pieces privately. This time Sam didn’t follow her. For three and a half hours she stared at the wall, curled in a ball, rocking. Her mind went around in circles at a rapid speed, trying to come up with some way out of this nightmare. There was no escape, no reprieve. She could see only one possible end looming darkly in her future. The only question was how many other people would be hurt before Kara reached it.
The only solace, the only hope Kara had left in that moment, was knowing that she would see Lena soon. Maybe, if she could just see Lena’s face again, she would also be able to see the solution that eluded her now.
When the phone rang, Kara returned to the front room, a little ashamed of her behavior. She hoped she hadn’t offended either vampire, that they would know how grateful she was for the sacrifices they were making on her account. Sam was talking as rapidly as ever, but what caught Kara’s attention was that, for the first time, William was not in the room. Kara looked at the clock—it was five-thirty in the morning.
“They’re just boarding their plane,” Sam told her. “They’ll land at eight-thirty-five.” Just a few more hours to keep breathing until she was here.
“Where’s William?”
“He went to check out.”
“You aren’t staying here?”
“No, were relocating closer to Eliza’s home here.” Kara’s stomach twisted uneasily at her words.
But the phone rang again, distracting her. Sam looked surprised, but was already walking forward, reaching hopefully for the phone.
“Hello?” Sam asked. “No, she’s right here.” She held the phone out to Kara. Your sister, she mouthed.
“Hello?”
“Kara? Kara?” It was her sister’s voice, in a familiar tone Kara had heard a thousand times in the past few years, anytime she’d used her powers in public, did something too unexplainable. It was the sound of panic.
But something else was there too. Something tinny, something electronic—something not quite natural that her super-hearing picked up on.
It hit her then.
It’s not her, she mouthed back to Sam who frowned before motioning for Kara to play into it.
“Calm down, Alex,” she said in her most convincing voice, walking slowly, starting to pace. “Everything’s fine, okay? Just give me a minute and I’ll explain everything, I promise.”
Kara paused, moving the phone from her ear and putting it on speaker.
“Alex?”
“Be very careful not to say anything until I tell you to.” The voice she heard now was as unfamiliar as it was unexpected. It was a man’s tenor voice, a pleasant, generic voice—the kind of voice that you heard in the background of luxury car commercials. He spoke very quickly.
“Now, I don’t need to hurt you sister, so please do exactly as I say, and she’ll be fine.” He paused for a minute while Kara listened in mute boredom. She knew he didn’t have Alex. “That’s very good,” he congratulated. “Now repeat after me, and do try to sound natural. Please say, ‘No, Alex, stay where you are.’”
Sam rolled her eyes, momentarily amused as she crossed her arms. Despite sounding ‘natural’, a scowl was etched into Kara’s face. “No, Alex, stay where you are.”
“Good. Now say, ‘Alex, please listen to me.’ Say it now.”
“Alex, please listen to me,” her voice pleaded. Alex might even be impressed with her acting.
“Are you alone? Just answer yes or no.”
“Yes.” Kara lied easily.
“But they can still hear you, I’m sure.”
“Yes.”
“All right, then,” the agreeable voice continued, “say, ‘Alex, trust me.’”
“Alex, trust me.”
“This worked out rather better than I expected. I was prepared to wait, but your sister arrived ahead of schedule. It’s easier this way, isn’t it? Less suspense, less anxiety for you.”
Kara waited, fingers digging into the sofa’s arm and tearing through the fabric as if it was paper mache.
“Now, I want you to listen very carefully. I’m going to need you to get away from your friends; do you think you can do that? Answer yes or no.”
Kara glanced at Sam, who shook her head.
“No.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I was hoping you would be a little more creative than that. Do you think you could get away from them if your sister’s life depended on it? Answer yes or no.”
Kara debated. The airport. Simmons International Airport: crowded, confusingly laid out… Lena would be pissed.
Trust me, she mouthed to Sam who looked rather perplexed.
“Yes.”
“That’s better. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but if I get the slightest hint that you have any company, well, that would be very bad for your sister,” the friendly voice promised. “You must know enough about us by now to realize how quickly I would know if you tried to bring anyone along with you. And how little time I would need to deal with your sister if that was the case. Do you understand? Answer yes or no.”
“Yes.” Her voice was a double-edged sword.
“Very good, Kara. Now this is what you have to do. I want you to go to your sister’s house. Next to the phone there will be a number. Call it, and I’ll tell you where to go from there.” Kara already knew where she would go, and where this would end. But she would follow his instructions exactly. “Can you do that? Answer yes or no.”
“Yes.”
“Before noon, please, Kara. I haven’t got all day,” he said politely—conversationally.
“It’s important, now, that you don’t make your friends suspicious when you go back to them. Tell them that your sister called, and that you talked her out of coming home for the time being. Now repeat after me, ‘Thank you, Alex.’ Say it now.”
“Thank you, Alex.”
“Say, ‘I love you, Alex, I’ll see you soon.’ Say it now.”
“I love you, Alex.” Her voice was convincingly thick. “I’ll see you soon,”
“Goodbye, Kara. I look forward to seeing you again.” He hung up.
“How are you sure he doesn’t have your sister?” Was Sam’s immediate questions as she moved to stand beside Kara.
“I could hear this sort of electronic buzzing—it was a recording of Alex. Not her. It didn’t sound human to me.” Sam nodded before moving to her next question.
“What’s your plan?”
“Do as he said.” Sam moved to speak but Kara cut her off. “He doesn’t know that I know he doesn’t have Alex. It works in our favor. I can’t tell you the rest.”
“Why not?” Her gaze was firm but not critical.
“Because Lena will hear your thoughts. I need it to be believable, and I need to buy time.”
“What if you get hurt? Lena would never—”
“Lena can’t get it through her stubborn skull that I’m invincible on this planet.” Kara smiled at the affectionate jab, and Sam let out a small breezy laugh. “And that’s an element of surprise. Ben thinks I’m a fragile human to be broken. He doesn’t know I’m unbreakable.”
Sam seemed to be genuinely considering it. “I need to write a letter… for Alex.” Sam raised an eyebrow, signaling that she didn’t believe Kara, but was allowing it for the sake of Kara’s crazed plan. “I need you to give it to her—leave it at the house, I mean.”
“Sure, Kara.” She shook her head, fetching Kara a piece of paper and a pen.
Lena, she wrote, I love you. I am so sorry. He has my sister, and I have to try. I know it may not work. I am so very, very sorry.
Don’t be angry with Sam and William. If I get away from them it will be a miracle. Tell them thank you for me. Sam, especially, please. And please, please, don’t come after him. That’s what he wants. I think. I can’t bear it if anyone has to be hurt because of me, especially you. Please, this is the only thing I can ask you now. For me. Zhao khuhp ripp. Forgive me.
Kara Zor-El
She folded the letter carefully, and sealed it in the envelope Sam had provided. Eventually she would find it. She only hoped Lena wasn’t too angry over her lying—over the whole situation really. She hoped Lena would listen to her just this once, but Lena was the most stubborn vampire she knew.
Kara knew she wouldn’t listen.