‘Yes, actually, you could,’ Declan scolded. ‘But he’s here now. Unless we throw him overboard, there’s not much we can do.’
Scott took a step backwards and gulped.
‘You must be freezing. Get out of the cold, and go and get warmed up. In fact, why don’t you make yourself useful and go make us all a cup of tea.’
Relieved at not being thrown into the freezing cold North Sea, Scott attempted a weak smile before disappearing below deck.
‘I’ll call his mother. I’m sure I can reassure her he’ll be fine with the girls.’
‘What will you tell her, Dad?’ asked Lana.
‘Not much I can tell her, really, except for the fact he’s going to be spending a few days away with us.’
‘It’ll be alright, mate,’ Declan interrupted. ‘You’re the Chief of Police. That boy could move in permanently with you and she’d be okay with it.’
Patrick smiled and went inside to make the call.
‘That was a stupid thing you’ve just done, you two. Now we’ve got another person to worry about.’
Both girls hung their heads down. They were unused to being told off by Declan. Usually, he was the cool guy.
But his mood didn’t last. When Scott re-appeared, trying hard not to spill the tea he was carrying in both hands, Declan shook his head with a cheeky grin as he took the first cup.
Taking a sip, he nodded appreciatively. ‘Well, at the least we’ve got ourselves a decent tea boy.’
oOo
It seemed like they’d been travelling for ages when the captain began to slow the vessel down.
‘There.’ He pointed far off into the distance. ‘That’s the rig you’re looking for.’
‘I guess it’s over to me, then,’ grinned Emma as she hurried inside to put on the wetsuit Patrick insisted she wear.
‘Whoa, not so fast, Em,’ Declan said as they followed her indoors. ‘We need to talk about—’
‘No we don’t. Just let me go and find out where he’s hiding her and then—’
‘No,’ Patrick and Declan said at the same time.
‘You’re not going in there until we’ve discussed how we’re going to handle this. It could be a trap. We don’t want him taking you hostage too.’ Patrick’s brow furrowed.
Sighing, Emma plonked herself down on the uncomfortable sofa and waited as the two men discussed the best way to handle the situation.
Both Lana and Scott said nothing.
Nobody noticed, after twenty minutes of discussion, that Emma was no longer sitting in the room with them.
oOo
Finally, she thought, as she swam through the water, feeling a little guilty at just disappearing like that. But she couldn’t wait any longer. Lucy Jo was so close. She couldn’t just sit and wait for them to finish talking. She had to do something.
Sooner or later she’d be swimming anyway; it may as well be sooner.
As she approached the now defunct oil rig, Emma was careful to remain below the waterline. For all she knew, this Stan character could be waiting for her. Did they know about her power? She had no idea. But at this point, she didn’t care. All she cared about was little Lucy Jo.
Slowly surfacing for air almost directly beneath the rig, she was careful to keep herself hidden beneath the structure. Scouring above her, she waited patiently, listening, straining her ears for any sound other than the soft swishing of the sea.
But there was little more than the faint clanging of steel above. Slowly emerging from the cold water, Emma stretched, reaching for a low hanging pipe which she grabbed and used to pull herself upwards. Climbing, she didn’t stop until she was safely standing beside the only door in sight. Shivering, she looked around. Not a sound and no sign of anyone, so she slowly concentrated on her inner warmth, allowing her light to emanate upwards from her core, the heat beginning to dry her. When she’d stopped shivering, she opened the door and walked through, careful not to make a sound. But she couldn’t shake the bad feeling creeping into her mind. The thought that she wasn’t going to find her little sister. The thought that this was just some crazy ruse by a mad man, trying to drive the Watchers insane. It was working, just a bit.
Unable to shake the sensation, Emma began running down the corridor, pushing open every door. But behind each one was nothing. No sign of her sister, no sign of any kind of life. What was going on? They were so sure this was where she would be. The rig belonged to the Sophokles clan, didn’t it?
Moving faster than she ever thought possible, Emma soon found herself in front of the last door. Taking a deep breath, she slowly pushed it open. But before she could see anything, she knew. She knew Lucy Jo wouldn’t be there.
CHAPTER NINE
‘I can’t believe you did that,’ Lana shrieked, as Emma climbed back on board the fishing boat, rushing towards her with a towel. Emma took it gratefully.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing? You could have been killed,’ yelled her father as he climbed the steps from the lower deck.
‘I…I’m sorry, Dad, but I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing.’
Roughly towel drying her hair, she looked guilty as he continued to berate her.
‘Yes, you could. We’re handling this. Me and Declan. Don’t ever pull a stunt like that again, do you hear me?’
‘But Dad,’ she almost wailed.
‘No,’ he interrupted. ‘I’ve already lost one daughter, I’m not losing another.’
‘Patrick, come on. I think that’s enough. As much as you don’t want to hear it, you have to rely on the Watchers sometimes. Emma, what happened?’
She shook her head.
‘Nothing at all?’
Standing looking down, she slowly lifted her arm. Everyone looked down as she opened the palm of her hand.
‘That’s,…that’s Lucy’s bracelet,’ cried Lana, falling into her dad’s arms and sobbing.
‘So we were right. They did bring her here.’
Nodding, Emma looked towards Declan. ‘There was nothing else there. Just this, on a chair in the middle of the last room I looked in.’
‘But when did they get away?’ Lana whispered. Scott gently placed his hand on her shoulder as her father walked away from them and stood silently looking towards the rig.
‘It’s all been a ruse. This whole thing. Nothing but a ruse to bring us here. But why?’ he asked, turning around to face them all. ‘What does he want with us?’
Declan shook his head. ‘Some kind of revenge, maybe. Or he just wants to play.’
‘Play? This is a game to him?’ Anger clouded Patrick’s face.
Declan nodded. ‘I think so, mate. I’m sorry we haven’t found her, but we will. We’re going to get Lucy Jo back.’
oOo
Emerging from the tiny cabin wearing dry clothes, Emma caught her breath when Lana appeared out of nowhere and headed towards her.
‘I still can’t believe you did that. It’s so unlike you,’ she smiled.
‘What?’
‘Disregarding what Dad said and diving into the water to try and rescue Lucy Jo all on your own. It’s more like something I would do.’
‘If only you could swim like me,’ Emma joked as she took her sister’s hand and they walked back up to where the rest of the gang were.
Declan was on the phone as the boat trawled through the water at its fastest speed – which really wasn’t very fast at all.
‘…yep, nothing. Huh? Where? Are you sure about that? We’re on our way.’
He turned to the others who stood eagerly awaiting news.
‘Well?’ asked Patrick.
‘There’s been a sighting.’
Lana’s eyes opened wide. ‘Of Lucy Jo? Where?’
‘Of Stan… in Portugal.’
‘Portugal? What the heck is he doing in Portugal? And does he have my daughter?’ Patrick asked.
‘The reports suggest he might be holding someone captive there,’ Declan added. ‘But we don’t know for sure that it is
Lucy Jo.’
‘But it’s our best shot. We must go.’
‘I agree, and so does Eleanor. She’s organised a small plane to take us there from the mainland.’
Patrick nodded and looked at his other daughters and Scott. ‘It’s going to be a long night. Why don’t you go and try and get some sleep? We’ll wake you when we arrive.’
Lana and Emma both scurried into his arms and gave him a long hug.
‘We’ll find her, Dad. Don’t worry,’ Emma assured him.
Patrick, careful to not let them see the tears collecting in his eyes, merely nodded and pushed them in the direction of the door. ‘Go and sleep. You too, Scott.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Scott replied as he led the girls out to the bunk beds.
‘So what really happened over there?’ asked Scott when they were all lying in their berths and trying, but failing, to get some shuteye.
‘Nothing,’ murmured Emma.
‘Didn’t you see anything?’
‘Nope.’
There must have been something.’
‘Scott, listen to what she’s saying. She said nothing else happened. Now stop asking stupid questions.’
‘Sorry,’ he mumbled, turning on his side to face the wall. ‘It’s just that, well, you know. I’m not a Watcher, so I don’t really understand anything, and I’d like to know details to try and get my head around all this stuff.’
Emma turned around and held her hand into the middle of the room, tapping him gently on his shoulder. When he turned back over to face her, she smiled. ‘Honestly, there really isn’t much to tell. I dived into the water and swam to the rig, where I climbed up and scoured the area until I found Lucy’s bracelet on that chair. I had another good look around to see if I’d missed anything, but there was nothing there at all. It was almost like it was staged for us.’
‘I think that’s exactly what it was,’ Lana whispered. ‘They wanted to get us away from the island so they could disappear without being seen.’
‘And go to Portugal,’ Scott said.
‘Do you really think that’s where they’ve taken her?’ asked Lana.
Emma nodded. ‘Far away from London, far away from Andilyse Island. Yep, sounds about right.’
‘But why Portugal? Of all places, why there?’
Emma shrugged. ‘That’s something we’re just going to have to figure out, isn’t it?’ she said, as she leaned forward and looked at her sister who was lying face upwards on the bottom bunk.
‘Absolutely.’ Lana grinned.
‘Do you think your dad’s going to let me go with you?’ whispered Scott, after a few minutes of silence.
‘Honestly?’ Emma said and he nodded. ‘No way.’
Sighing heavily, Scott turned onto his stomach and closed his eyes. ‘That sucks.’
oOo
‘Please, Mr. Morgan, sir. I want to do everything I can to help you find Lucy Jo. Please let me come with you. I won’t get in your way. I’ll do everything you tell me to. Just please, please let me come with you.’
Patrick shook his head and placed both of his hands on Scott’s shoulders as he looked down into the teenager’s eyes. ‘Scott, son, you know I can’t do that. I can’t let you come and put yourself in danger. I’m sorry, but no. This time, you have to stay here.’
Scott cursed silently under his breath and turned away.
‘And there’s no creeping onto the plane, this time, either.’ Declan smiled. ‘Trust me, mate. You’re much better off staying here. If anything happened to you, the girls would be heartbroken. Stay and wait for us to come back with little Lucy Jo. Just support them, Scott. That’s all we can ask you to do. And most importantly, don’t tell a soul about what you know. Okay?’
Scott nodded silently as both Lana and Emma approached him, each taking one of his hands in theirs and pulling him across the tarmac to the little cafe beside the runway.
Emma let go as she went and ordered herself a cup of green tea, a coffee for Lana and a hot chocolate for Scott.
Returning with the drinks, she carefully placed the tray on the table and sat down. Nobody said a word as they sipped quietly.
After ten minutes, Lana sighed loudly.
‘I know,’ Emma agreed.
‘It just sucks,’ Scott said, slamming his drink down so hard that some of the dark liquid sloshed out of the top and dripped down the side, leaving a ring on the table.
‘But it’s probably for the best,’ sighed Emma as she wiped it with a paper napkin.
‘You can’t possibly mean that.’
‘I do, Scott. We don’t know what’s out there. You can’t…’ she sighed and looked around before continuing, ‘fight like we can. You don’t have our… skills.’
‘She’s right, you know,’ Lana agreed.
Scott looked forlorn.
‘But that doesn’t mean we don’t want you to come. Of course we do. It’s just that, well, you can’t, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m sorry, Scott. I really am.’
‘I know,’ he sighed, looking across the runway at Patrick and Declan. The soft sound of an aircraft in the distance made him look away. ‘That must be your plane.’
Looking up, the girls nodded, watching as it made its way towards them, slowly descending out of the sky. Soon, it was approaching the runway and within a few more minutes had touched down. Turning, it eventually came to a halt just a few hundred metres away.
‘Have you got everything ready, girls?’ Declan asked.
They nodded, standing.
Reaching for Scott’s hand, Declan smiled. ‘We’ll see you soon, mate. Take care of yourself.’
Shaking his hand, Scott attempted to smile as Patrick put his hand on his shoulder. ‘We’ll keep you updated about what’s going on. Hopefully we’ll be back in no time at all. Girls, you’ve got a couple of minutes,’ he said as he picked up their heavier bags and headed towards the plane.
‘So,’ Scott said as he kicked the tarmac with the front of his shoe.
‘So,’ Emma smiled. ‘I guess we’ll see you soon?’
‘Guess so.’
‘Oh, come here,’ Lana said as she pulled him towards her into a big hug.
‘Lana!’ yelled a voice from the plane as the door opened.
Letting Scott go, Lana looked up in surprise. Her gaze followed the sounds and a grin appeared on her face. ‘Barber?’ she shouted. ‘Barber!’ she squealed as she ran towards him, and he ran down the steps of the private plane.
Before she reached him, though, she stopped and turned back to look at Scott. ‘I’ll call you, Scott!’ she waved before rushing into her boyfriend’s arms and climbing the steps, disappearing inside.
‘Well, I didn’t expect that,’ Scott mumbled.
‘Yeah, me neither. Sorry.’
‘For what?’
‘You know.’
‘Huh?’
Emma smiled and said nothing.
‘What?’ he asked again.
‘Never mind.’
‘I guess you should go too.’
‘Yeah, we have to go find my sister. I’m sorry you can’t come, Scott. I really am. But we’ll call you all the time to let you know what’s going on.’
‘Yeah, I know. It’s cool,’ he said, unconvincingly.
Pulling him into a hug, Emma sighed when Patrick called out her name. ‘I guess it’s time.’
‘Be careful, Emma.’
‘I will, I promise. Speak soon, Scott.’
He smiled and pushed her gently away. Walking backwards, she grinned at him before turning and running towards the plane.
oOo
‘He’s a what?’ yelled Patrick as he stood up and turned to glare at his daughter and the incredibly handsome young man sitting beside her.
‘Calm down, mate,’ Declan said, trying to pull his friend back down but he was having none of it as he stormed over to Lana who was looking increasingly worried.
‘Take your hands off my daughter.’
Barber immedia
tely removed his hand from Lana’s and looked over at Declan, who was trying to calm the situation down before it got out of hand.
‘Dad?’ Lana whispered.
‘You’re dating a…a...vampire?’
Lana shook her head before slowly turning the movement into a nod.
‘I don’t believe this,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘Declan, how could you let this happen? This is preposterous.’
‘Mate, look, you’re blowing things way out of proportion, here.’
‘You just told me he’s a vampire,’ Patrick said, pointing a finger at Barber, who was still sitting calmly, yet looking a little concerned.
‘Dad, he’s not like your everyday vampire. You’ve got nothing to worry about,’ Lana tried to reassure him.
‘Stand up,’ Patrick said.
Turning to look at Lana, who let out a deep sigh, Barber stood.
‘Get away from my daughter, you beast.’
Barber looked down and shook his head. ‘Sir, you’ve got this all wrong.’
‘So you’re telling me you’re not a vampire?’
‘Erm, well no. I am.’
‘Then get the hell away from my little girl.’
‘That’s enough, Dad. And I’m not a little girl. Not anymore. I’m a Watcher, I’m supernatural, just like Barber is. There’s no difference between us,’ she cried.
‘Really, you should know better than this, Lana Beth. I said step away from my daughter.’
Barber stepped away from his girlfriend and just stood, looking at Declan as he approached.
‘Patrick,’ Declan placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘Lana is safer with Barber than any other young lad. He may be a vampire, but he’s one of us,’ he said, putting his hand on his heart. ‘He would never do anything to harm your girl. In fact, he would die for her. I know that for a fact.’
Barber nodded as Lana stood up and grabbed his hand.
‘It’s true, sir. She means the world to me. I’m sorry that I’m not an ordinary boy. I wish I was, but I’m not, and there’s nothing I can do to change that. But Lana means more to me than anyone ever has. Please, I know it’s hard to accept, but we want to be together. ‘