Realising that The Command was getting closer to her son Keith, Beth pulled herself together and decided to head to the farmhouse in Dapoli. 

Rest of the team was to join her in a couple of days while Daphne volunteered to stay back and look after Grace. 

“Relax, I will come over too and stay with Grace. But who is Daphne? Why haven’t I heard of her before?” Cassie agreed to help even though she and Beth had not spoken in months.

Ratnagiri district’s coastal hill station Dapoli was a six-hour drive away but A Minute had an idea – she could shrink time for the One Minuters the way she could stretch it; Beth reached Dapoli in a minute.

“Really? You left Grace back home with a stranger and Cassie? What was so important?” Rohit was not happy with Beth’s unannounced arrival but Keith was elated.

Revelations were long overdue and it was about time Rohit and Beth told each other everything they knew.

Right after Keith hit the bed, Beth told Rohit about her superpowers, the One Minuters, The Voice, A Minute and The Command.

Rohit was shocked to know that even Beth had powers and confessed that, on Grace’s second birthday, he had learnt about The Command who had a parasitic relationship with Quincy.

Relocation to a place away from the city was necessary to keep Beth and Grace safe just in case Keith did become The Command’s next target as hinted by Quincy.

“Really, Quincy did everything possible, she is a loving mom. She sacrificed her family for the sake of her son’s life and let The Command take total control over her. She was promised that if she agreed to leave them, let her body be the host to The Command and follow its orders, Keith would not be touched and no one would be killed. It had earlier declared that it would use Keith as a host once he turned seven, but Quincy had convinced it to leave him alone,” Rohit had tears in his eyes.

“Rohit, I have huge respect for you and Quincy. I can’t imagine what she might have endured. Having a superpower scares me but letting someone force you to do evil things… I wish I could help Quincy. The Command is not to be trusted, it is waiting for Keith’s seventh birthday. I am here now, I will not let it come near Keith,” Beth had to let Rohit know.

Right at that moment, they heard a wailing sound from Keith’s room and rushed to him.

The story continues tomorrow in the next post. Did you notice that I managed to start each sentence of this chapter of the story with the letterR (I have managed to do the same from the B letter post)! This is my 18th post for this year’s A to Z Challenge (#atozchallenge). Head to my previous posts to read the entire story.
Read all my posts for the challenge in the A to Z links below:
A ➡ B ➡ C ➡ D ➡ E ➡ F ➡ G ➡ H ➡ I ➡ J ➡ K ➡ L ➡ M ➡ N ➡ O ➡ P ➡ Q ➡ R ➡ S ➡ T ➡ U ➡ V ➡ W ➡ X ➡ Y ➡ Z