Elevation

'I think the biggest problem in the world is that we have a generation of young people, and maybe two, who don't think it's going to get any better.' - John Denver

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"Northwood won't be safe for us until dawn, we need to find a place to wait until then," Reed told her plainly, as if it should have been obvious.

Harlyn ground her teeth, eyes narrowing dangerously at the man who was still trying to make as little eye-contact with her as possible. "Either take me home now or stop the fucking car so I can walk!" she demanded.

"I understand that you're scared, Harlyn, but if I take you home tonight, the very bad thing that you suspect happened to your friend might very well happen to you."

---

"I'm not going in there with you," Harlyn announced defiantly when they pulled up in front of a dingy hotel.

Having spent the last hour and a half being shouted at about human rights violations, Reed could have cuffed her to the steering wheel and made her sleep in the car at that point.

"You kidnapped me and took me to Denver for fuck sake! Do you have any idea how long it would take a normal person doing the speed limit to get here? You could have gotten us killed driving like that!" she harped, glaring at him. "You honestly can't expect me to go willingly."

Unbuckling his seat belt, he turned his hazel eyes on hers in a hard stare and said, "Whether you want to admit it or not, I saved your life tonight. You can choose to either have a little faith in the fact that I'm telling you I'm not going to hurt you and give me a couple minutes to make a phone call while you wait in the hotel room, after which I will tell you everything, or I can cuff you to the steering wheel and you can spend the night in the car."

Harlyn sighed in defeat, he had a point. There was definitely a connection between 'Watcher' and the thing that had attacked the car and 'Watcher' knew where she lived. He'd repeated the significance of such a connection several times on the ride to Denver.

"Why can't you just tell me what's going on now?" she asked, frowning, "and how exactly are you involved in this whole ordeal, anyway? You definitely know more about what's going on than I do, you didn't even freak out when that guy jumped on the top of your car!"

"I told you that I'll explain everything I know after I make a phone call, first you need to act like a normal human being and come in with me and we need to get a room." There was a note of finality in his tone and she knew he was serious. "Now, it's your choice; are you going to come in or sleep in the car?"

She scoffed and opened the passenger door as her answer.

Getting out of the car and making his way to the front of the vehicle to her side, he kept his eyes trained on her, afraid that she would make a stupid decision and bolt. The thought crossed her mind, but curiosity won out.

She wanted to know whatever he had to tell her about 'Watcher' and the thing that had attacked the car, especially if they had anything to do with Amber's disappearance. She needed to know that she wasn't crazy for thinking they were even possibly creatures that reality dictated shouldn't exist.

Even if all he could tell her was that they were escaped government experiments gone wrong, it would be better than running off and never knowing.

His arm squeezed its way through the crook in her elbow and he stuck his hand in his pocket, mimicking her stance as they reached the check-in counter.

A balding man peaked out of the back room through beady eyes. "Ah, it's rather late for check-in, don't you think?" he laughed nervously, coming up to meet them at the counter.

Harlyn couldn't make herself smile back at the man, too disgusted to look away from his black-toothed grin.

"We just made it in to town and need a room," he said casually, smiling with no qualms about the stranger's appearance.

The inn-keeper turned and grabbed a key with a big red key-chain off the wall of hooks behind him and deposited it on the counter in front of them. "Our rates go by the night and by the hour." His beady gaze traced up and down Harlyn's form, stopping at her chest with a nasty smirk.

She glared at him, wrenching her arm from Reed's and fleeing to wait at the door, her arms crossed and scowl on her face.

"We'll take a night out of your pocket for offending the lady," Reed growled dangerously, his hazel eyes flashing a strange gold color as they kept the stare of the bewildered in-keeper.

"Like hell, you will!" he shouted, grabbing the key back up off the counter.

Reed's arm shot up and he lunged forward, pulling the inn-keeper across the counter by his collar. "You will give us the room," he growled again, his golden eyes narrowing into thin slits.

Defiance left the inn-keeper's face and a strange calm came over him as Reed released him. "I apologize for offending your friend, let me repay the two of you by paying for your room," he whispered quietly, hardly processing what he was saying.

Grinning triumphantly, Reed took the key from him and met up with Harlyn at the door, hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her towards room twenty-seven.

"Go ahead and get comfortable," he told her, dropping his duffel bag onto the bed and unzipping it. He produced a man's t-shirt and a pair of boxers that he handed her, "Watch the television or something, I'm pretty sure this place doesn't have room service. I'll be back in a couple minutes."

Without giving her a chance to reply or delay him, he was out the door with the international number dialed and his cell pressed against his ear.