"Hey, what's..." Leea begins when I get to the library. She has gotten there faster than me.
"No time," I simply say and pull her after me in through the doors.
"Hi," I say to the girl at the borrowing desk, "Have you seen a girl, looks a few years older than me and has a scar on her face? And a huge scary looking guy with her?"
"Hmm.... I think I saw some people like that back at the ancient creatures section," the girl says and points us to the right direction.
"Thank you," I say and rush towards the end of the huge room filled with shelves.
"A girl with a scar and a huge man?" Leea whispers as she hurries after me, "That's..."
"Rachel and Wasp, yes," I say, "Although Wasp's not here any more. We ran into him in the woods."
"We?"
"Me and Cecil and Flame. I'll explain later."
"Wait... Does that mean Wasp knows about Flame?"
"Yes. Like I said, no time now. I'll explain it all once we find Rachel."
"Rachel's still here?"
"I don't know. Wasp apparently attacked him. No. Time."
Leea finally understands and shuts up.
We reach the ancient creatures section at the very back of the hall. There's no one there. I curse loudly in my mind. Leea checks the rows between the shelves and shakes her head. Nothing.
"Where is she?" I'm mostly thinking out loud, but Leea as an answer either way.
"Isn't there a rarely used hallway or a janitor's closet or something behind that door," she points at a door in the corner, "Or at least I haven't seen anyone ever go through there. So why is it open?"
She's right. The door isn't exactly open, but it's not properly closed. Like someone had left in a hurry. I nod and we move to the door carefully. Leea pulls it slowly more open, so she can see through the crack. She pulls the door full open and hurries in. I go in after her.
Rachel is on the floor, unconscious. She's tied from the ankles and wrists (why did Wasp have rope with him in a library?). Leea is already kneeling next to her.
"She's breathing," she says, "So that's good, at least. I'll try to wake her up."
She's shaking her gently and slapping her on the face carefully to see if that would wake her up.
"I have to call Cecil and tell him we found her," I say and dig my phone from my pocket. I dial Cecil's number and wait. The beeping sounds have never sounded as scary. By every beep it becomes less likely he'll pick up.
I almost get scared out of my pants when something moves in my side. Then I realise it's Flame, pushing her way out of my bag and jumping to Rachel's stomach. She's worried too.
I hear Cecil's voice from the phone and my heart leaps to my throat.
It's voice mail. I hang up and almost throw my phone to the wall in frustration. Instead I take a breath. Then I write a text to Cecil.
Found her. She's...
I'm interrupted by Rachel's moan from behind me. I twist around. Leea's helping Rachel sit up.
She's ok.
I'm thinking of adding something, but I figure Cecil's busy enough as it is. That's all that will be relevant at the moment. I hit send and kneel down to the girls.
"Are you ok?" I ask Rachel. She moans. I look at Leea. She shrugs, then nods.
"We need to get her out of here," she says. I look around me.
"We can't go out through the front door. The girl at the desk is going to call the police and an ambulance and then we'll be stuck with official business until way too late," I say, "do you think we could get out through these stairs?"
"I'll go see," Leea says and gets up. I take her place beside Rachel as she heads down the stairs.
"I'm okay," Rachel whispers, "I'm okay. Just get me away from here somewhere. Leea's already untied her, so I try to help her sit up properly against the wall. Leea comes back in a minute.
"We can get out through here," Leea says, kneeling back next to us, "You think you can walk?"
"I... don't know," Rachel says weakly, "Maybe in a bit."
"How are we going to get out of here anyway?" I ask, suddenly realising it, "We can go to our place, mom and Tony are gone and won't be back until tomorrow evening, so there's no one there, but how are we going to get there with a person who can barely walk?"
Leea thinks about this for a moment.
"My sister," she says, "She'll come pick us up. She won't tell anyone. Not if I'll ask her not to."
I nod and Leea pulls her phone out.
"Hey, I need a favour," Leea begins into the phone after a moment, "And you can't ask what's going on. And you can't tell anyone. Could you do that. Please? Come pick me and some friends up at the library. From the back door. Oh, great. I'll see you in a few minutes. She'll be here," Leea turns to us as she tucks the phone back away, "She's at a friends place near here, she said she can come now from there. Now let's get Rachel down from here."
We pulls Rachel to her feet and start half walking half carrying her down the stairs. We wait inside the outdoor until Leea waves us out and into her sister's car.
We sit in the car as Leea's sister rides us home. I'm scared. I'm more scared than I've been in my whole life. I'm scared for myself and I'm scared for Flame and I'm scared for my friends. I have a feeling Wasp will suddenly appear out of nowhere and stop thee car, and beat us all up and take Flame.
It's dark before we're in front of our house. Though at this time of the year it's always dark. I hop out and together we help Rachel into the house. I almost drop my keys trying to fumble for the right one because my hands are shaking so much. Leea goes to say something to her sister, and she waves to us, with a little smile, and drives away. Leea walks back to us and helps me get Rachel to the couch in the living room.
Once we're in, doors locked and drapes drawn shut I dare to let Flame out of the bag. She immediately jumps to Rachel, who scratches the elemental weakly on the head. Flame lets out a happy purr. I can't help but think it doesn't realise how bad things are.
Rachel's hand goes limp and slides off Flame's head.
Me and Leea panic. Rachel's breaths are too shallow. But at least she's breathing. We try to figure out what's wrong with her. We fail. I explain Leea everything that has happened during the last twenty-four hours. We get hungry and have to eat something. Flame gets restless. I try to call Cecil. He doesn't pick up. He hasn't answered the text. I send him another one, telling him where we are.
I start at every noise I hear outside. I'm sure it's Wasp, coming for us. It never is. Or at least he doesn't get in. We're camping out in the living room with only a small light on, so it looks like no one is home.
We browse the Internet, trying to find out a spell that Wasp might have used on Rachel.
We fail.
I'm sure I'm going insane. Flame gets increasingly restless. I get increasingly sure Wasp is stalking us outside, trying to find a way to sneak into the house.
Leea keeps her calm. Her presence helps me keep myself together.
And then, after a night that lasts for an eternity, Cecil returns in the twilight of dawn.
_______________________________________________________________
So that turned out to be long.
But that's ok.
We're going to be in a hurry with finishing this up, though.
But you seem to have a solid plan.
So we'll probably be all right.
Your topic for tomorrow is Green.
~matu
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