Page 66 of Unwanted

Harper was quiet, but he could see her teeth grinding. She was mad for him. It made a warm feeling in his chest. “Okay,” he finally said. What else could he say?

“I have some other news for you,” Agent Gallagher said. “And it’s good. Or, at least, I hope you’ll see it that way. You have a grandfather, and he wants you to come live with him.”

“A grandfather?”

“Yes. Your father’s father. Unfortunately, your father passed away many years ago.”

Jak felt a tightening in his chest. But he hadn’t known that man. “My father’s father,” he repeated, trying to picture unknown people who were somehow part of him.

“Yes. He knows how you’ve been living, knows about Isaac Driscoll. He’d like to offer you a home with him for as long as you want to stay.”

Jak didn’t know if he should trust this. He kept trying to tell himself that there was no war, no enemy, and then he had to tell himself that not everyone was lying to him. If he couldn’t, how would he ever make it through the world?

“Who is he?” Jak asked. “My…grandfather?”

“Turns out your family is very successful. They live outside Missoula and own the Fairbanks Lumber Company.”

“The Fairbanks Lumber Company?” Harper repeated, surprise in her voice. “That’s…that’s huge. Wait, Jak’s father was a…Fairbanks?” She looked at Jak. “So that means you are too?”

“A Fairbanks?” Jak asked. “Lumber company?” He frowned, his head spinning. “I don’t want to live with strangers. I don’t know them.”

“You’ll get to know them. And…if you don’t enjoy their company, you can move out.” The agent paused. “Jak, I think this is a really good opportunity. I think…well, having family on your side—especially a family like the Fairbanks—is going to open a lot of doors for you.”

Enjoy their company.

And open doors? What doors?

Harper was chewing at her lip, a small wrinkle between her eyes. “You don’t think I should move in with them, Harper?”

Her eyes met his. “What? No. I mean…I think Agent Gallagher is right. I…I know what it’s like to move into a house with strangers, that’s all. But Jak, you’re an adult, and Agent Gallagher is right. If you don’t like it there, you can leave.”

He felt sad for her. When she was a little girl, Harper had to move into a house of people she didn’t know. She had been scared. But she was a little girl. Like I was a little boy when I lost my baka. That reminded him of how scared he’d been. He wanted to go back in time and protect her. He wanted to rip the throat out of the man who had done bad things to her. If you don’t like it there, you can leave. Harper hadn’t been able to leave.

There were so many words he hadn’t understood from Agent Gallagher, and his heart felt like it was beating too fast. He needed air. To see the sky. He wanted to watch as the sun went behind the mountains and the stars came out, one by two, by ten, by a hundred, then a thousand, and an endless number he could never count to even if he learned them all. He wanted to empty his mind and figure out what might be waiting for him out in the world. A family, his heart whispered. Your own pack. No, people to call my own. Could he learn how to trust them? Could he learn how to be one of them? Would they want him to?

“Jak, listen, take tonight to think about it. I’ve laid a lot at your feet, and you’ve given me some more leads I need to follow up on. However, I recommend that you take your grandfather up on his offer.” He glanced at Harper. “Were you planning on staying or—”

“No. I need to get back. I can give you a ride. I think the ice has melted enough that it’s safe to drive.” She looked at Jak, her cheeks going pink. “How about I come back first thing in the morning and we can drive to Helena Springs? I can show you around. Maybe you’ll have made a decision and we can call Agent Gallagher.”

Jak nodded. He didn’t want her to go, but he needed time alone. He needed to think. He needed to decide. About his life. A life he had never known was possible for him.

“There’s one more thing,” Harper said, and then she told the agent about the helicopters, about Jak seeing them the morning after he’d been dropped off on the cliff.

Agent Gallagher frowned, looking confused. “That can’t be a coincidence,” he murmured. “Two mysteries beginning on the same night? In the same wilderness?”

“Well,” Harper said, standing up and getting the map she’d marked up with Jak, “they occurred quite a ways from each other, but yes.” She set the map in front of him, and he looked at it for a few minutes. “Can I take this with me?”

Harper nodded. “Of course. I drew it up hoping it’d be helpful.”

“It is,” he said, “if for no other reason than it helps me picture where everything occurred. Thank you.”

Agent Gallagher looked between them for a minute and then put his hands on the table in front of him, his eyes on Jak. “Is there anything else you need to tell me? Anything that might help with the investigation?”

Jak’s heart quickened. He looked away, shaking his head. There were things he couldn’t…wouldn’t tell. If he did, who would ever want him as part of their family? Part of society? They’d lock him up. They’d call him an animal. A beast. And maybe he was. Or at least, he could be. And that had to be his secret. That was all.

The agent nodded. “All right. All of this, it’s a lot,” he said. “Are you okay?”

Okay? Right then he was. “Yes. I’m okay.”

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