Chapter Twenty-Seven
The next morning we woke to trouble. The news had drawings on every channel, of four women that slightly resembled us. It seems the guards at the museum had gotten a good look at us when we were stealing the painting. Though the sketches weren’t exact, it wasn’t hard to deny that they were almost close to our identity. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal to us if the news hadn’t revealed that some of the hostages had been killed, and they blamed us for it. Now not only were the police looking for us as thieves, but we were now murders as well. The news were callings us “The Bonnies.” Already there were several stories and talk shows covering the madness.
“Okay, exactly how did we get blamed for this?” Taylor yelled. She stood in the middle of the living room dressed in a pair of cow pajamas. Her black ponytails had fallen loose from her rough sleeping. “We didn’t kill anybody. Well at least none of the hostages.”
“Autumn what’s going on?” Kerry said turning to me. Her voice held fear.
“And what about the Queen!” Taylor said cutting me off before I could even say anything. “Shouldn’t she be taking some responsibility for this since she was the one who helped us to steal the damn painting in the first place?”
“I don’t think she can help us too much right now Taylor. She can’t cover up the fact that the guards saw us in the museum stealing the painting.”
“Well she could at least tell people that we’re not murderers.”
I sighed. I had no clue on what to do in this situation. Taylor was right. While the Queen couldn’t do too much about us being down in the vault, the least she could do was stand up for us against the rumor that we killed the hostages. I didn’t understand any of this.
‘Let’s not panic.” Yuri said from her seat on the sofa. “Autumn and I have been on the news before. Those drawings won’t help them to find us unless they end up getting a hold of some more evidence. We’ll just stay inside until thanksgiving break is over, and then we’ll head back to school like normal.”
Yuri spoke in a calm voice that seemed to calm the rest of us down. We realized that we were being ridiculous. The guards couldn’t have gotten a good look at our faces because we had already reached the opening in the ceiling that was way across the room away from the door that they had entered. I found it also weird how they seemed to know that four women were involved when I was the only one on the rope when they entered. I wondered if maybe the Invisible Spider had dropped a hint. I also wondered just how much we could trust the Queen.
The rest of the days of our break, we spent inside the house. When we weren’t trying to brainstorm about the hidden treasure and The Invisible Spider, we were relaxing by my pool or enjoying movies in my family’s home theater. The girls and I had even made up for the fact that we missed thanksgiving by having our own dinner. Granted Kerry burned the ham, but I made up for it with the turkey. Throughout it all, Yuri kept a distance from us. At first Taylor and Kerry seemed to understand, but now they were getting downright annoyed. They felt that Yuri was being a baby. She wasn’t the only one going through hard times.
In the past couple of days, more powers had begun to manifest. One day while swimming in the pool, Kerry had managed to manipulate the water. It had sent downright chills through my spine as we watched the water part to the side, and hover above her. Kerry had been so freaked out by what she was doing, that she lost control, and the water came down on her knocking her unconscious. After we got her out, she was in a complete state of hydration. Later on that day we tried the same thing she did, and was able to manipulate water. The next thing you know we had insane strength, quick reflexes, and our senses were more enhanced than they ever had been. Throughout it all, only Yuri still showed signs of dark powers, and it depressed her even more.
Thanksgiving break was finally over. The four of us packed up our bags and I tucked the painting in one of my suitcases. Taylor promised to give me the tube for it once we got back on campus. Since we didn’t want to chance anyone seeing us arriving together, Kerry and Taylor took separate cabs back to school.
“Yuri our cab is here.” I said placing my purse on my shoulder. She was taking forever to come downstairs. I needed to be gone before James arrived and decide to question me. Already I had a feeling he was going to want to know who Taylor and Kerry were. “Yuri!”
I turned around to go find her when I jumped. She had been standing behind me the whole time. I tried to ignore the slight wave of fear I felt. “Jesus you didn’t have to scare me. Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah.” She had dark circles under her eyes, and her skin could have used some treatment. She hadn’t got much sleep this break, no matter how many sleep enhancing pills she took. I wanted her to see a doctor but she kept saying that she was fine.
We headed out the house as I locked up behind us. Getting in the cab, we headed down the roads and back to school. The cab pulled up in the school’s parking lot, as several arriving students turned to see who was getting out. Placing the shades on my face, I stepped out of the cab and gave them all a wave of my fingers. Seeing me exiting the cab seemed to put them into shock. Their mouths dropped even more once Yuri stepped out behind me. I thanked God she was normal enough to put on an act in front of the school. A couple of guys came over to help us with our bags and we thanked them. We signed into the school as the guards at the gate handed us some new packets for this year.
Once I was clear of the gate, I tossed my packet in a nearby trash can. I didn’t understand why Headmaster Blake continued to try and force her rules on us as soon as we entered the campus, when we knew we would find the same thing in our mailbox—or thanks to Karen, taped to our room door.
Yuri and I thanked the boys for helping us with our bags and entered the dorms. I didn’t spot Karen anywhere which made me happy. We headed upstairs to our room only to see the blue packet taped to our door. Karen never seems to disappoint. I ripped the packet down as Yuri unlocked the room door and we entered.
I tossed my bags on the bed along with the packet. Digging in my suitcase, I removed the painting from my suitcase. Walking over to the vent at the top of the wall, I grabbed a chair and stood on it. Removing the screws, I took the frame off and slid the painting into the vent. Screwing it back, I hopped down off the chair and dusted off my hands. Hiding the painting here would have to do until Taylor got the chance to bring me the tube.
I turned to Yuri who had climbed onto her bed and was staring at the ceiling. “Hey, are you still going with me to question some of Mark’s friends.”
“No, you go ahead.”
“What about his dorm room? You said you would help me search it.”
“I don’t feel good. His key card is in my desk drawer.” Yuri said turning her back to me ending all conversation.
Sighing, I walked over to the desk and searched through it until I found the key card. I tucked it in the pocket of my jeans and headed over to the door, grabbing my own key card and my phone. “I’ll be back. Try not to leave the painting alone.” Yuri didn’t respond.
I walked out into the hallway that was littered with girls gushing over their new spends they’d gotten over thanksgiving break. I was so busy doing the mission that I wasn’t able to shop like I usually did. It didn’t matter. I had more than enough new clothes in my closet. I was okay.
I made my way down the hall and out of the girl’s dorm.
For an hour, I questioned any and every person that might have known Mark. According to his close buddies, Mark had called and told them that his family was moving to Canada, and that he would be attending school there. I even asked Simon, Yuri’s new boyfriend. He hadn’t heard anything from Mark since their fight. But he did tell me that Mark used to receive a bunch of phone calls all throughout the day. He claimed Mark was very secretive about the phone calls and often went to the restroom to take them. Whenever Simon t
ried to ask him about them, he would get mad, or sometimes he would just go emotionless. Simon said he had stopped asking because he believed the calls to be from other females that weren’t Yuri. Talking about Yuri, he then asked what was going on with her and why she hadn’t returned his calls. I told him that Yuri had caught a bug over break, and had been spending most of her time in bed. He wanted to go see her but I told him that she was sleeping. After promising to tell her to call him, I headed inside the boys dorm to Mark’s room.
Mark’s room was located on the first floor of the dorm right next to the food lounge. I stared at the tacky pictures of swimsuit babes on their door before knocking on it. The door opened, as Jeremy Hunter stood in front of me with his shirt off.
“Autumn Falls.” He said calling me by his usual nickname he’d created just for me. “What good things have I done in my previous life to get you to arrive here?”
“I’m sure you might have saved a virgin. Then again you were probably the one she was running from.”
Jeremy laughed as his blond hair fell over his eyes. If he didn’t have that loud goat laugh, I would have found him cute. “So what can I do for you?”
“I heard that Mark won’t be coming back to school.”
“Yeah, it’s really sad.” By his tone, I could tell he felt the exact opposite. “Why are you so concern with Mark? You hate him.”
“I know. But it seems that Yuri let Mark hold some of my favorite movies and I didn’t know whether or not if he took them home with him. I wanted to check his things to see.”
“Bad timing sweetheart. Mark took everything with him.”
“Everything?” I asked.
Steeping back, Jeremy opened the door wide so I could see into his room. Mark side of the room had been completely stripped. There was nothing on the walls, dressers, or the assigned student desk. Even the bed was stripped of sheets. “I came back from break to see everything gone. I guess he did it over the break.”
I sighed. I spent a few more minutes questioning Jeremy on Mark. He like Simon, had noticed the strange phone calls he would get, but he didn’t ask him about it. He said it was Mark’s business. He also said that Mark used to receive a lot of packages through the mail. He never opened them in front of him however. He always waited until he was out of the room.
Giving up, I made my way out of the boy’s dorm. As I made my way down the steps, I spotted Micah. I froze as he finally glanced up and saw me. He had a smile on his face, but after seeing the frown on mine, his dropped.
Taking a deep breath, I headed down the stairs. One problem out of the way, now to attack another one.