by Jes Drew
~~~
Twenty minutes later, Christopher and the others still haven’t returned.
I twist my hair around my fingers. What could be taking them so long? The Masters could walk into this car any moment now...
Every passing second grates on my nerves. I can't take it a moment longer. Gritting my teeth, I push myself to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”
“Emily-” Grandmother calls.
“Stay low,” I tell her, moving toward the door the others disappeared into.
“Bring me back a snack if you pass a vending machine,” Chase call.
“Me too,” Mary-Ann adds.
“Fine.” I push open the door and step into the next car.
My stress doesn't alleviate. What if the Masters find Grandmother while I'm gone? What if I miss Christopher and he relocates them and then something happens to our phones and we can't contact each other and I end up lost in a foreign country-
I shake the worries out of my head and focus on taking in my surroundings. This car is similar to ours, only emptier. I walk across it into the next car. This car is also like ours too; however, it has vending machines.
Praying the machine will take the euros Christopher gave me, I work on getting the snacks. Then I need to go back to Grandmother. I should never have left them. What was I thinking?
The machine spits out the snacks and I grab them before hurrying to the car adjourning ours and opening the door. Then I freeze.
Talking to my Grandmother are two of the Masters’ henchmen.
“Who do you think you are that you can come and accuse me of such nonsense?” Grandmother demands.
“We mean no disrespect, ma’am,” one henchman begins tentatively. “It’s just that you do resemble-”
Grandmother huffs. “Why, I never!”
What do I do? Should I leave them here and escape? Grandmother seems to have it under control.
“We’d just like to check your passport,” the other henchman orders harshly.
Oh. No. They'll recognize her name on the passport for sure.
What do I do? What do I do….
It's them or me. And it's not going to be them.
I know what I have to do.
Resolve surrounds my heart. Then I gasp loudly as I purposely drop the snacks.
The two henchmen turn around.
I make sure that they see me. Then I run across the car and swing open the door to the dining room before looking back. The henchmen are following me.
Good.
I jump through the door, run through the dining car, and then through the next car. The car after that is some sort of private car because I burst in on a marriage proposal. The woman stares past her suitor to me in confusion, who remains on his knees, looking unsure of what to do in this instance.
“Uh, sorry,” I say, still running to the opposite door. “But you should totally accept, sister!” With that, I charge into the next car.
Thankfully, this car is empty, but its next door has a window.
I slow slightly as I approach this door and peer through the window. Then I gasp for real.
On the other side are my parents, Uncle Gerald, and Aunt Donna, but no Mr. Williams. However, I do spot another henchman, who’s sleeping.
It's all but clear. This is my chance. Oh, God, please let this be my chance- please give me back my parents!
There's too much adrenaline coursing through my veins to keep me from stepping into the car my parents are in. The doors are mercifully unlocked.
“Mom! Dad!” I whisper loudly.
The henchman stirs.
“Come on,” I whisper more quietly, gesturing toward the door I've just come through. “We need to get you out of here.”
Dad shakes his head. “No. You need to get out of here. We can’t leave.”
I freeze. “Why?”
“It’s not enough for them just to have Mr. Williams,” Mom whispers, grasping Dad's hand with her own as her eyes plead with mine to understand. “Besides, they seem to have a different reason for keeping him than for keeping us. Anyway, they’ll tear the train apart searching for us again. There’s nowhere for us to run and there's nowhere to hide.”
“We’ll find away.” I step toward them and reach out my hand. “Come on.”
Aunt Donna looks up. “Are Chase and Mary-Ann here?”
I nod. “And Grandmother too. They'll want to see you-”
“We’ll only be putting them all in danger.”
“But-”
“Go, Emily,” Dad orders. “Hide until you can get off the train. Keep care of the others. And stop trying to rescue us. Stop endangering yourself.”
“But-”
“Even if we were to escape this train, where would we go?” Mom sighs and shakes her head. “Look, we’ll find some way to escape on our own. You just stay safe.”
“But don’t you get it?” I ask. “None of us will be safe whether you’re with us or not; not until the Masters are taken down!”
The sleeping henchman snorts.
“Then stop trying to rescue us and take it down,” Dad orders quietly. “Now go!”
“And stay as safe as possible,” Mom adds, nodding and squeezing some more.
“And keep your cousins out of trouble,” Aunt Donna adds.
Uncle Gerald nods himself.
The room seems to be closing in on me. The sleeping henchman stirs again and I turn in panic to see the two henchmen who had been following me through the window of the door I came through.
“Go now,” Dad orders.
“I love you,” I whisper to everyone before running into the next car, but I feel like my heart has been ripped out of me and left behind.
This car is empty like the other one adjoining the Masters car, but I don’t stop. I keep running and barge into the next car. This one isn’t so empty.
A teenage girl is sprawled out on a sofa- another private car. She looks up. “Emily?!”
I skid to a stop. “Mickey?!”
“But… how?” we ask in unison.
A mental list of extreme coincidences that have happened in my life:
(1) Literally bumping into this mean girl constantly my first day of junior high with painful consequences (though, come to think of it, those might not have been coincidences…)
(2) Figuratively bumping into Christopher all those times on the cruise ship;
(3) Meeting Mickey here;
“No time to explain,” I pant. “They’re right behind me.”
Mickey doesn’t ask any more questions. Instead, she jumps up and opens up her closet. Then she whirls around and points down at it. “Lie down.”
I'm not sure what she's planning, but I don't know what else to do, so I go to her closet. Mickey pushes me down before dumping clothes and scarves on me- a lot of scarves- until I’m completely buried.
“Don’t make a sound,” Mickey orders as she closes her closet door halfway.
I purse my lips together and try not to breathe as much as my aching soul demands.
Knock. Knock.
My whole body jerks, and just like that, my heart is pounding so loud I can only pray they don't hear it on the other side.
“Shh,” Mickey orders before walking away from me.
My heart refuses to listen.
In the distance, a door opens. “What is it?” Mickey asks in bored monotone- something I never thought I’d hear from her.
“Did a girl run through here?” a deep voice asks.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I think I’d know if a person ran through my room. That's kind of creepy.”
“Oh,” the deep voice says, sounding rather embarrassed.
“Uh-huh.” The door slams shut.
Mickey returns to her closet. “They’re gone, but you should probably stay here for a moment. I hate it when, in the movies, the people are too quick to get out of their hiding places and then they get caught. I mean, it’s better to be scared
and uncomfortable for a moment longer than to be caught, right?”
“I guess so,” I answer. Though, I’m not sure she hears me through the pile of clothes (and scarves- I mustn’t forget scarves).
After several seconds of hearing nothing but my own heartbeat, Mickey finally says, “Okay, I guess you’re safe.”
I burst out of the pile of garments like a caterpillar from a cocoon and take a deep breath of beautiful, fresh air.
“Alright,” Mickey says, “now you have to fess up.”
“Just a moment,” I answer, pulling out my phone. “I just need to text my grandmother and let her know I’m all right.”
Mickey is practically jumping around the room, but she waits until I finish my text. Then she bounces back at me and leans forward eagerly. “Well?”
I sigh. I guess I owe it to her.
In between taking gulping breaths and answering Mickey's many, many questions, I tell her a very abridged version of my tale.
Mickey’s eyes widen at the end of my story, making her look younger again. “Wow, that is so awesome- I mean, I’m so sorry about your parents. Is there some way I can help? My dad is an ambassador.”
I frown. “I don't know. How much power would an American ambassador to Belgium in convicting trusted business men in France for apparently kidnapping people in Britain?”
Mickey frowns, seeming older again. “Uh… I'll have to ask him about that. Here-” She grabs a scrap of paper and a pen from her pocket and scribbles something onto it before holding it out to me. “My number. In case there's any other way you need help. And even if you don’t need my help, call me anyway to tell me how it all works out.”
I nod and pocket it. “I will. Thanks for everything. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”
“Nah… unless you want to give my number to whichever boy in your group that you don’t have dibs on.” She grins.
I smirk. “Got it.”
Suddenly, the train comes to a screeching halt, about throwing me across the room. My heart begins racing all over again. “Is something wrong?”
Mickey goes to a window and pushes a curtain aside before shaking her head. “No- we've just arrived.”
“Oh. I need to rejoin my party then.” I turn to leave before pausing.
“Do you need help finding an exit?” Mickey asks.
“Uh, yes please.”
Mickey gets up and leads me to the opposite door I had entered. We pass through one more private car before reaching a car with an exit.
“Well, it was nice seeing you again,” Mickey says as I step up to the edge of the train.
“Same here.” I move to take a step down.
Just as a girl in a hoodie bumps into me.
I just barely grab hold of the doorpost before tumbling out. “Excuse me- I mean, excuse you.”
The girl ignores me and just disappears into the crowd. So I nod at Mickey one last time before climbing down and disappearing into the crowd myself.
~~~
Sitting on a bench in an out-of-the-way corner, I text Grandmother my location again. Then I glance up and smile to see her making her way through the crowd toward me. Mary-Ann and Chase are holding her hands.
Relief washes over me until concern takes over again. Where are the others?
Joseph steps out from behind Grandmother. He glances to his side just as Ata comes into view. Oto is right behind her. But where-?
Christopher comes out of a different part of the crowd, his gait as confident and determined as ever. My heart lurches. Have I ever noticed how a boy walks before? Because the way Christopher walks- so much manlier than I can imagine anyone else walking.
Not tearing my eyes away from Christopher, I get up and walk toward Grandmother.
But Christopher reaches me first. “I thought I told you to stay with them.”
Upset. He's upset with me. Here I am, admiring the way he walks, and he's busy being angry with me. “I did what I had to do.”
Grandmother swoops me into a bear hug just then. “I was so worried!”
I pull away and glance between them. “Well, as you can see, I’m perfectly fine. But we should probably move to a more secure area.”
Oto begins to nod but then stops. “But your parents?”
I bite my lip. “They don’t want us trying to rescue them anymore.”
Sighing, I take their hands in mine and squeeze them comfortingly. “They want us to take down the Masters once and for all.”
“How do you know?” Joseph asks. “Where have you been?”
“I’ll explain later- at a hotel or something.” I start to lead them away, but then I pause and hand Joseph a copy of Mickey’s phone number.
“What’s this?”
“Oh, nothing,” I answer, repressing a wry smile. “Now come on.”
~~~
“So, how do we go about bringing down the Masters?” Ata asks once we all retire to a hotel.
“Yeah,” Oto agrees. “Because I totally want in.”
Ata rolls her eyes. “You and your slang.”
“I don’t know how to take them down,” I admit. “But I guess it would help if we had some incriminating evidence against them. Then we could take it to Interpol or something.” We should stay up all night and talk about it. No need to sleep. No need...
Joseph looks up from where he's already fiddling with his laptop. “Well, they have plenty of that in their main data base.”
“Do you think you could download it or something?” Christopher asks, beginning to pace- and show off more of that exceptional walking.
“Theoretically, I could…”
“But this isn’t a theory,” Christopher finishes, frowning.
Joseph nods. “It would have been nearly impossible for me to get it back when I was at the café, but after my hacking and your break-in, there will certainly be even more external defenses. The only way I could possibly get that information would be if I were inside. The main building, that is.”
“But you just said there’s going to be more security,” Grandmother points out. “How could we possibly get you in?”
Christopher turns, mid-stride. “We could go in during the party. If Holly were to pull through-”
Oto laughs dryly. “Like that’s going to happen.”
My eyes widen as realization dawns. “It already has!”
“What?” Oto asks, spinning around to face me
I stuff my hands into my pockets. “I didn’t recognize her. See, she was wearing a hoodie instead of her leather jacket…” My hand touches paper and I pull it out. Then, carefully, I unfold the note and read it out loud, “I was only able to get four invites. Sorry. See you later. Love, Holly.”
“But where are the invites?” Mary-Ann asks.
I reach back into my pocket and pull out three embossed invitations. How did I miss those before?
Christopher raises an eyebrow and glances over to Oto.
“Of course she gave us the invites,” Oto mutters. “Her parents want us at the party. It’s obviously a trap.”
“Well, whatever her motives are, these are exactly what we need.”
Grandmother glances between them before turning to me. “So what are we going to do?”
Joseph grins. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m crashing a party.”
Chapter Ten
I wake up to the sound of crying.
The room is still dark, so it takes me a moment to identify the crier. Ata.
Ata?
Ata, who is always so careful to keep her emotions in check, is crying? Sure, she’s doing it quietly and it’s very early, but still….
I prepare to climb out of bed, but then I stop. What if I’m actually asleep and this is a play of my mind.
Biting my lip, I note the pain. Then again, it would probably have hurt me if I jumped…
No, I’m awake. And I should go to her. But… what if she doesn’t want comfort? Or, more specifically, what if she doesn’t want
anyone to know she's crying?
And even is she does want comfort, I wouldn’t be able to give it to her. I know why she’s crying. These last few days are beginning to weigh down on me too. We can’t continue this hunted lifestyle forever.
I hope she doesn’t want comfort; I hope she wants solitude. At least solitude I can give her.
And I do. I silently lie awake and try not to hear her quiet tears.
I try not to cry myself.
~~~
“So, the party’s the day after tomorrow, right?” Chase asks at breakfast.
I look up from my bowl of cereal and stare at him mutely.
“Yes,” Christopher answers, sitting down with a plate of eggs and looking as unfazed as ever.
Which only unfazes me more. I stare back down at my cereal.
“Then what do we do until then?”
“Well, I booked us flights back to France for tonight,” Christopher begins. “I guess we could sight-see until then.”
I glance up in surprise. How does he not spend every second obsessing over the fate of his father like I do?
“Hmm,” Grandmother says. “Which country are we in, exactly?”
“Milan. Milan, Italy.”
I stir my cereal harshly. “We could've been stuck in worse cities.”
“Well, hurry up and eat so we can test that comment,” Grandmother orders. “It's about time we take our minds of things.”
~~~
“We should split up,” I say, nodding my thanks to the waitress cleaning up our table. “We’ll be less recognizable then.”
Christopher stands up. “We'll also wear our disguises.”
“The ones I bought for us?” I ask, glancing up, something pathetic in me looking for praise of my preparedness.
He just raises an eyebrow at me. “What others do we have?”
I glance away.
And Oto steps up, looking between us, confused. “So, how do we split up?”
“I’ll take Chase and Mary-Ann to the park,” Grandmother offers. “Does anyone want to join me?”
Joseph opens his mouth, but then he notices that Ata doesn’t, so he just says, “Tempting, but I’ll stick with these bozos.”