by Elle, Leen
Sophie realized where he was going with his request. She reached out her hand for the phone, and stubbornly nudged him until he handed it to her.
"She's not listening to me." He whispered in frustration.
"Diana?" Sophie asked in the phone, silencing the woman mid-rant. "Robert's not being unreasonable. I've been here before...to this town, I mean. My grandparent's used to bring me here when I was a child." Sophie fell silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts for her next argument. "Look, I always thought it was strange that my parents would just abandon me. What if my grandparent's brought me here to see them? My parents wouldn't risk contacting us. Since they were in hiding, this would've been the only way they could've checked up on me. The last time I came here was when I was nine, just a year before they were killed. There has to be some significance to all this!"
"That's a lovely story, Sophie, but it doesn't tell me anything. Remember, you don't have any proof to support any of this." Diana was obviously confused and annoyed by their theorizing.
"I need you to help me with the proof part. Rob may be on to something. My parents lived here a love time ago, when they were just kids. They could know of a dozen places not mentioned on the updated map. All we need is for you to dig up an older map. This is just a hunch, but maybe there's a significant difference."
"You think Slavsky wouldn't have thought about that?" Diana asked, though the fight had gone from her voice.
"I don't know what Slavsky was thinking when he was searching for my parents. All I know is this is the only shot we've got. We're running out of safe places to hide, and this is the last thing we have to cling on to." Sophie didn't mask her desperation.
"Fine. It shouldn't take me long at all." Diana fell silent, though Sophie could hear the unmistakeable sound of keys clicking in the background.
"Thank you." Sophie sighed, and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she couldn't ignore Robert's obvious surprise that she'd broken through to Diana. She stuck out her tongue at him for doubting her.
"Well, look at that." Diana said, sounding genuinely shocked.
"What?" Sophie straightened her back, her heart clenching with suppressed hope.
"You were right!" Diana nearly shouted, laughter mixing with her voice. "I can't believe it."
"Really?" She gripped the phone tightly in her hand. "There are buildings not on the map? Where?"
"I hacked into the towns' records and dug up a map from fifty years ago. Turns out there's three storage buildings hidden maybe four miles north of the park. They used to be old warehouses for repairing machines, but I'm guessing they must be abandoned now." Diana paused, letting the information sink in. "The towns' park is bordered by a forest, which I'm assuming has hiking trails that will take you directly to the buildings."
"You think Slavsky missed them?"
"The town saves one map from every decade for their records. I just checked, and this is the last one to show the buildings on it. They must've been abandoned for years." Diana's voice was filled with awe. "This really might be where they hid them."
"Send us the directions. We're on our way now." Sophie kept herself calm.
"Call me when you arrive." Diana hung up immediately, and Sophie took a moment to take everything in.
"Four miles north of the park." She whispered, her eyes widening in shock. "There's no guarantee the paintings are there..."
"Well, no use worrying about that now." Robert's eyes were bright and hopeful again. "Ready for a hike?" He reached out for her hand.
"Are you sure?" She asked as they quickly made their way into the shadowed park. "You don't want to take a break so we can rest?"
Robert grinned, and waved away her comment. "We can rest when we're dead." He paused momentarily after registering what he'd said. "Which, coincidentally, might be soon if we don't find those paintings."
Sophie's smile faded as well as another chill raced up her arms. She was the closest she'd ever been to finding her parent's paintings, but their troubles were far from over.
As they rushed into the pitch-black park, Sophie wondered what would be waiting for them.
* * *
Four miles was less daunting when they were spurred on by adrenaline and hope. However, it didn't take long before Robert and Sophie were struggling to continue.
The map Cleo sent them wasn't hard to follow, and the compass built in to Robert's smart-phone was more than useful. The terrain, on the other hand, was an obstacle they couldn't overcome easily.
Sophie had never been this exhausted in her life. She was driven by her excitement and fear, though that wasn't enough to make up for the hours of sleep she was lacking. Even Robert wasn't able to mask his fading energy. Neither of them were thinking clearly, which gradually began to worry her.
Worry, however, was too much for her. She decided while fighting through branches and stumbling across tree roots that her only concern would be to take one challenge at a time.
"We have to be getting close." Robert muttered, staring at his phone in confusion. Bags were forming under his eyes and Sophie knew he was struggling to stay active. "My phone's telling me we're already here."
Sophie paused, taking in her shadowed surroundings. They'd come this far with only the light of Rob's cell phone, and that alone had gotten her more than a few scars from tripping over unknown objects. She took a few steps forward into the blackness, away from her only source of light.
She broke through two bushes, ignoring the small pain of branches scratching her skin. Squinting in the darkness she took another two steps and paused. Glancing down at her legs she found that she was no longer standing in the middle of a forest. She took another hesitant step and found that the area ahead of her was no longer the same as the jungle-like forest she'd been walking through.
"Rob, I think I found it." She shouted, and he immediately followed after her.
Using his cell phone he lit the way ahead of them, which only illuminated a few feet. However, the distinct outline of buildings against the skyline was enough to send hope surging through Sophie's chest.
"This is it!" She whispered, grabbing on to his hand tightly. "Is it weird that I'm completely terrified right now?"
Robert smirked, squeezing her hand tightly. "Pitch-black forest, creepy old buildings, and dangerous men on our trail? I'd think you're weird if you weren't scared."
"Thanks for putting it into perspective like that. Now or never, right?"
He stared down at her pointedly, though she could barely see his eyes in the darkness. "With or without those paintings we're going to be okay. No matter what."
She tried to smile, but she knew she was too nervous for it to appear natural. "Let's go." She whispered, leading him towards the outline of the buildings.
Robert used his phone to help her find a path to the massive doors. Sophie suspected the doors had been used for unloading large pieces of equipment into the warehouses, but there was no way they could get them open tonight. Both doors were locked by a long rusty chain.
"Let's try around the side." Robert offered, carefully helping her around the corner of the building. Just like he'd expected there was a small doorway located on the side of the warehouse.
Now that they were closer to the building, they could distinctly make out the other two warehouses located a few yards away from one another. They'd chosen the building in the middle, which was the largest of the three.
"Split up?" Robert offered jokingly, and Sophie elbowed him in response. "Okay, if you insist." He reached for the side door, and unsurprisingly found that it was locked.
"Of course it is." Sophie hissed.
"Calm down, I've got this." Robert reached into his pocket and pulled out a long silver needle. "I always have one on me in case of emergencies." He bent down to fiddle with the lock, and in less than a minute he had the door creaking open. "Ladies first." He made a show of bowing for her to go ahead, and she scowled as she accepted his challenge.
She tr
ied to convince herself that she wasn't scared of what laid ahead. She stubbornly took her first step into the darkness, ignoring all sense of danger.
________________________________________
The room ahead of them was both spacious and foreboding. The only light they had came from Robert's cell phone.
Sophie walked slowly through the doorway, her breath catching as she took in the unfamiliar space. The light around her was so faint she had no idea what was around her.
"Is there a light-switch anywhere?" Robert asked from behind her. His steps were brisk and purposeful in comparison to her hesitant movements. He released her hand so that he could explore the room, leaving Sophie shivering alone in the darkness.
Even though her heartbeat soared in fear, she didn't' ask for him to stay close. Her pride was too stubborn for that. Instead, she stared into the blackness, as if she could see something in the middle of all the nothingness.
"Here we go." Robert paused, glancing up at a long cord that stood before him. He was a few yards away from her, and she could clearly see him pull on the cord without hesitation. His movement caused one large light in the center of the room to flicker on.
Sophie froze as she saw what was being illuminated. Standing alone underneath the light was a canvas. A single, blank canvas.
The rest of the warehouse was empty except for the object in the center of the room.
She began walking towards it, her eyes focused and serious. Before she could draw any closer, Robert grabbed her hand, pulling her back.
"Wait." He warned, motioning to the black dust lying on the floor surrounding the canvas. Sophie had been so focused on the painting, she hadn't noticed the piles of black dust.
"It looks like ashes..." Sophie walked forward, clinging on to Robert tightly. She released him to bend down to confirm her suspicions. "I'm right." She glanced up at him, her brow furrowed in confusion.
She found him staring at the canvas, which was standing silently in front of them. She followed his gaze, realizing now that the canvas wasn't blank at all. There were three distinct shapes on the white background, all in the same shade of green paint.
"Handprints?" Sophie asked herself, standing up abruptly. "Why?" She took two steps forward, reaching out to touch it.
Robert had returned his attention to the ashes beneath them. "It can't be." He whispered under his breath, his expression turning horrified.
"What?" Sophie asked, growing irritated now that she again had no idea what was going on.
"The paintings...they couldn't have..." His hand covered his open mouth, while his eyes roved over the scene before them. "That would be insane...no one would..."
"You think they burned the paintings?" Sophie asked, reading his expression. "All of them?"
"It makes sense." He whispered. "It would've made the loudest statement."
Sophie clenched her fists as a memory came flying back to her. Luke had said something a while back that reminded her of this scene. His words were still as clear as the night he'd said them.
"If I were your parents, I would've burned them. All of them. Show Cleo and Max that they can't have everything they want."
"No." Sophie shook her head. "This doesn't make any sense! Burning them doesn't solve anything!" She kicked up the ashes with her feet as tears streamed down her face. "We came all this way for nothing. They've destroyed any chance we have of escaping. How could they be so stupid?"
Even before she'd begun to break down, Robert had already been by her side. He took her in his arms and rocked back and forth. He remained silent for a long time as she cried, as if he were also coming to terms with his own disappointments.
"We were so close!" Sophie shouted in his chest. "Everything would've been fine."
"No, you don't know that." Robert soothed.
"We could've given the paintings to the police...or used them as leverage...or done something with them! Now all we have is ashes."
"They didn't leave us nothing." He turned her towards the canvas, and she glared at it in rage.
"That is worthless." Sophie replied angrily, knowing if there was something of value she would have spotted it.
The three handprints were placed on the center of the canvas. The largest one was to the left, the smallest in the middle, and next to largest on the right. It was obvious that the two outer handprints belonged to a man and a woman, and Sophie suspected the middle print came from a child.
As she continued to examine it, she suddenly remembered a scene from her past. The memory was of Rylan and Gwyn, pressing their handprints onto her bedroom wall. It was such a simple memory, but the significance of that moment hit Sophie like lightning.
Her anger vanished instantly, having been replaced by surprise.
"A family." She stated as she ran her hands over the painting. "The handprints belong to a family..." That much was obvious, but her memory had given her another suspicion. "My...family?"
Turning back to Robert, her eyes widened in shock. "Do you think these handprints belong to my parents?"
His dark blue eyes flashed with understanding. "I'd be shocked if they didn't."
"So this is for me?" Sophie asked, feeling confused again. "Out of all the paintings they stole from Cleo and Max, they leave me this? A canvas with handprints and ashes?"
Robert reached out to grab her hand, his expression turning cold. "This hunt was made for Max and Cleo, not you. If these are the ashes of the burnt paintings...it all makes sense. If I had to guess, I would put my money on the fact that this is your parents' last act of revenge."
"How is this revenge? My mother said she was going to end Cleo..."
"It's hard to end someone when even the police can't do anything to help. Imagine the situation your parents were in. Your mother made it clear in her letter that she didn't expect to live for much longer. They knew the people they were up against, and they must've thought this was the only way to get back at them." Robert glanced down at the piles of ashes that coated the floor of the warehouse. "It was an effective move. I don't know if I'd ever have the guts to do something like this."
"I still don't understand what they got out of burning the paintings. Now, Cleo and Max will just have another reason to want us dead. This changes nothing." Sophie squeezed Robert's hand.
"Don't be disappointed." Robert lifted her chin with his free hand. "It might not seem like they changed anything, but they made a difference."
He turned towards the empty room and laughed. His expression was so amused Sophie couldn't help but feel herself relax. "How can you tell?" She asked.
"Tell me what you know about Max and Cleo." Robert's eyes were sparkling. Sophie scowled, realizing he wasn't just going to tell her the answer she was looking for. "More importantly, what they care about."
"They have everything in the world. They're rich, influential, and bored." Sophie was reciting everything Luke had told her on the day when he'd formally introduced himself. "Their boredom led them into starting this game of stealing from the public, as well as each other. They don't care about money, but they do care about pride...in the form of their art."
"Stealing might have begun as a game, but it's become something they're obsessed with...to the point of ruining lives." Robert's smile turned soft. "Cleo thought she could control your parents through money...and she was right, your parents did need money in the beginning. Though, something changed. Even your parents, who grew up with nothing, knew that money wasn't everything. There are some things in this world that are more important."
"If my parents only wanted money, they could've sold the paintings off. By burning them..." Sophie felt a wave of understanding and pride overwhelm her. "They proved that money doesn't always win." It was a simple lesson, but one which Sophie had had to struggle with herself.
"It may seem reckless for them to burn the paintings, but they got their point across. If Cleo and Max ever saw this, they would go insane." He laughed again. "This might be the only time the two of them ha
ve ever been challenged."
"My parents really know how to make me feel awful." Sophie muttered, sadness creeping in on her heart. "Knowing they were so strong, makes me feel even weaker."
Robert's smile faded as well. "Cleo and Max might be who they were aiming at, but doesn't it feel like they hit us too?"
"For a while, we were just as blinded by money." Sophie scowled down at the ground, feeling disgusted with herself. "My dreams were so stupid. I really thought I would do anything for the money Cleo offered me."
"Our dreams weren't stupid. We just mistakingly thought money was the only way to realize our goals." Robert's crooked smile returned as he turned back towards her. "You know, even if we didn't recover all of those priceless paintings, at least we learned something. That counts, right?"