Chapter 2: You reap what you sow
The Vikos-Aoos National Park was a place out of fairy-tales. The landscape seemed to have been taken from a painting by Monet or Gainsborough —the only two famous painters Diana could remember right now—: the sky was a cerulean blue; big mountains with steep slopes extended over the horizon and, no matter where one looked, you could see winding defiles. The trees' foliage, lush and high, were a shade of emerald green, casting shadows over the trails.
Diana shivered as an icy blast of wind struck her in the face; she pulled back a lock of brown hair from her face and started to make an improvised ponytail. The group had been travelling the same dirt path over the past few minutes even though, in theory, the ranger station shouldn't be too far from where the portal had left them. In different circumstances, she would've liked to stop and admire the scenery, but all she wanted right to solve the mystery of the disappearances and return to Torrington as soon as possible.
The young woman approached her stepbrother and unceremoniously pulled his left wrist and pressed a button on the u-watch.
"Uh, what the hell are you doing?" Martin asked.
"Checking the map, since it seems that your little brain hasn't thought about that. In case you haven't noticed it, I'm tired of walking in circles."
"Didn't Billy give you a copy of the map? I don't want you passing me your nerd bugs," Martin said with the obvious intent on getting a reaction from her. Diana continued examining the holographic map, without paying the slightest attention to that pathetic insult.
Don't stoop to his level, Diana.
"Okay, according to this map, we're currently north-east of the town ofPapingo. The ranger station is to the south, between Papingo and Monodendri," Diana sighed heavily. The ranger station was farther than she'd calculated at first. It seemed that they'd a very long walk ahead, especially if she had to put up with her stepbrother throughout the trip.
Martin frowned and abruptly withdrew his wrist.
"Billy could've at least 'dropped' us there since the beginning. What was he thinking? He couldn't even open the portal in the correct place!"
"He's obviously very busy," Diana said curtly, partly just to go against her brother; it was obvious that Billy should've sent them to that mission with adequate clothes for the local weather, or at least considered the problem of transportation. While it was true that right now his little friend was under a lot of pressure, that was no excuse.
MOM would never have been so careless, or incompetent.
"So what? What does he think we are?" Martin asked.
"Trained special agents who happen to be physically fit," Diana replied, arching an eyebrow. "Supposedly."
Diana had never been a particularly athletic person —perhaps she could be, if she devoted a little more time to the gym and less to books—, but neither considered herself weak; after all, there were different ways to solve a mission, and not all of them involved the use of brute force. In most cases, the u-watch was more than enough to solve the conundrums they found during missions
But they never gave her a u-watch. No, they never gave her this basic tool to carry out their missions, to fight against the supernatural and the paranormal; that privilege was reserved for her irresponsible stepbrother, for some reason that she still couldn't quite understand. Didn't she deserve the same tool and recognition? She'd also helped to save the world on several occasions, yet none of that mattered during her annual evaluation.
It was unfair.
"What are you doing? Hurry up, Diana!"
Her stepbrother's voice brought her back to reality. With her mind full of new revelations and old doubts, Diana quickened her pace.
After a long walk, which seemed eternal to Diana, the agents reached the ranger station. Martin tried to lighten the mood on a couple of occasions, either with a joke or with a sarcastic comment, so typical of him, but Java was the only one paying him any attention. Diana had decided that, if she wanted to "survive" this mission, she'd have to learn to ignore her brother as best as she could.
"Finally! I can feel the blisters growing on the soles of my feet," exclaimed Diana, leaning onto one of the many trees that adorned the path.
"You're really overreacting, Di. I doubt your feet are going to melt just because you walked a couple of kilometres." With complete shamelessness, Martin sat down on a big rock jutting on the edge of the path and then took off both shoes and socks. Java decided to do the same.
Diana grimaced and pinched the bridge of her nose; the smell was overwhelming.
"Please! It's not that bad," Martin said, although she noticed him wrinkling his own nose.
"Liar," Diana said in a nasal voice. "And you could at least have changed your socks."
"Java feet hurt."
"I know, buddy. I wouldn't mind a massage right now, and a cold soda." Martin crossed his legs and tilted his head back.
"Who's overreacting now? It's not like you ran a marathon o something," replied Diana, rolling her eyes. "Stop complaining, we're almost at the station. This isn't time for relaxing, Martin."
"Weren't you the one complaining about blisters?"
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop and… smell the roses. We've work to do, remember?"
"Oh, I see: you just like for people to hear you when you complain, but watch out if somebody else tries to do the same. That's called 'hypocrisy', sis."
Diana clenched her fists at her sides and proceeded to sit beside Java, trying to ignore the smell of his feet. She was too tired and thirsty, so she opted to save her snarky reply for another time.
Martin pulled out a chocolate bar from his pocket and began nibbling at it absently, not even bothering to offer some of it to his fellow agents.
He sure was inconsiderate.
"Well, that's all. Let's get to work, there's no time to lose, remember?" said Martin. He wiped his hands on his trousers, put on his shoes again, and rose to his feet with renewed energy, leaving the chocolate wrapper forgotten on the floor.
Diana's mouth went dry, and an acidic sensation ran down her throat. She picked up the wrapper and put it inside her backpack.
Insolent, disrespectful...
The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted the very unkind thoughts of Diana, and she turned her gaze towards the place where the voice came: a young woman a little shorter than Diana, with olive skin and long black hair woven into a braid; she was wearing a baggy ranger uniform and a thermal jacket; her big brown eyes were wide open, her gaze scrutinizing the three agents.
"Bonjour, parlez -vous français?" Diana asked kindly; when the woman didn't answer, she added, "Do you speak English?"
"Oh, I see, you are tourists. You'll have to excuse me, my French isn't very good," replied the girl in English. "I'm sorry, but at the moment the park remains closed until further notice."
"We're not tourists," added Martin.
"We're looking for the park ranger," Diana intervened, giving her brother a slight nudge in the ribs. "Perhaps, you'd know where we can find him?"
"Oh! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance! My name is Chloē Andreou, and I'm the local park ranger," the girl said extending her hand in a greeting.
One didn't need to be a genius to conclude that Chloē would soon become another of Martin's "conquests", Diana thought; after all, the only requirement was to be a young and slightly cute girl.
Just a second later, as it always happened, Martin was already dangerously close to the girl, holding her hand with feigned gentleness and charm.
"The pleasure is all mine, Chloē," Martin said seductively, or at least what passed as "seductive" inside his twisted little head. The girl smiled nervously and stared at the ground but didn't let go of Martin's hand.
"Martin!" Diana cried, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, trying to get him away from the girl. "Behave yourself, please."
"But I'm not doing anything wrong!" Martin pouted, releasing the girl's hand.
"You'll have to excuse my brother, Chloē, he's a bit..." Diana literally bit her tongue, stifling her wish to use the word "stupid" or "moron" to refer to her stepbrother. She considered it inappropriate for the situation, even when it was the truth. "He's a bit excitable."
"I-It's all right, Miss…"
"Lombard," Diana added. "I'm Diana Lombard, this is Java, and my obnoxious brother is called Martin Mystery. It's nice to meet you, Chloē."
Chloē shook hands with each of the agents; Diana couldn't help noticing that both Martin and the girl blushed furiously when their hand met.
Diana snorted. Typical. Nothing good could come out of that.
"I see, you must be agents sent by The Center. I'm glad you have arrived."
"Wait a second! How do you know we're agents? We haven't said anything about that," Martin exclaimed.
Chloē stared at him and then smirked. Was she making fun of them?
"It pains me to say this but it's something quite obvious. The u-watch isn't exactly an inconspicuous device," replied the girl, raising her left wrist and pointing to her own u-watch. "Frankly, I should have noticed since the beginning that you weren't tourists."
"Then, you must our contact from The Center, right?" Diana asked.
"Oh, you have a u-watch?" Martin stammered.
"Of course; I'm the only agent assigned to this sector. Surely you understand, agent Mystery, that this is our most basic tool."
Diana squinted, deep in thought. What the girl said was completely logical —despite the slightly condescending tone she'd used—, and something she'd considered before; until now, most of the agents they'd met possessed their own u-watch, even rookie agents like Marvin received one, no matter how effective they were in the field.
And yet there she was, without her own u-watch, being forced to rely on Martin, her contributions and victories ignored or undervalued.
It just wasn't fair.
"Great! Maybe you and I could team up, huh?" Martin's mischievous smile made Diana shiver. Did her stepbrother know no shame?
Attempting to make the situation less awkward for everyone, Diana asked, "It's this cold weather normal here during May?"
"Yes, it's normal, although the temperatures hadn't dropped this much before. If you wish, agent Lombard, I can lend you a jacket; I have several at the station.
"Thank you, really, you've no idea how-"
"One for me too, please!" Martin cried out.
"Of course, do you need anything else?" Chloē said.
"Shoes," Java said, pointing to his feet.
"Oh, I think I have some hiking boots, but I'm not sure if I have them in your size, Java," Chloē replied putting a hand to her cheek.
"Java understand," he said crestfallen.
Chloē guided the small group the rest of the journey, during several flights of stairs, up to the ranger station that rested on top of a hill. It seemed recently built, and the only human settlement one would find in several kilometres.
The cabin's interior was cosy and warm, decorated in a distinctive rustic style. Chloē led them to a small living room. As soon as she left the room, Martin plopped down on one of the leather sofas and put his feet on the coffee table.
"Martin! Stop doing that!" Diana protested. "And, please, try to behave like a decent person, even if it's only for this mission."
"Don't start, Di. Why do you always have to take everything so seriously?"
"I don't take everything 'seriously', it's just that you are incapable of acting with seriousness."
"Whatever you say, Di," Martin answered. "You're incapable of having fun; in fact, I bet you don't even know what that word means."
"It's obvious that I have a larger vocabulary than yours, you imb…" Diana discreetly cleared her throat before continuing, "knucklehead."
"'Knucklehead'? Are you too good to swear now?" Martin asked slyly.
Before Diana could answer to the taunts of her brother, Chloë entered the room; she carried a large cardboard box with her, which then she deposited on the living room's floor.
"Is everything alright?" she asked.
"Yes, of course, everything is fine; it's just a... squabbling between siblings, you know, the usual," Diana answered nervously as she glanced at Martin.
"Ah, I see." The young agent smiled from ear to ear. "It must be difficult having to work together for so long."
"You've no idea," said Martin under his breath. He rose from his seat and walked up to the young woman, with every intention of flirting with her. "Do you have siblings, Chloē?"
"Sisters. I'm the youngest."
"Oh, really? How many sisters do you have?"
"You're very kind, Chloē," interrupted Diana. "Thanks for helping us with our mission. By the way, don't worry about being so formal around us, it's unnecessary."
"It's really nothing, Agent Lombard. I'm only following the protocol," the young woman replied, blushed slightly. "Are you sure you want me to refer to you on a first-name basis?"
"Of course!" Diana hurriedly answered. The formal but cold way of the agent made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "All of this formality is unnecessary, I assure you."
"Very well," Chloē said smiling once again.
Martin sighed just like a lovesick fool. Perfect, just perfect, Diana thought; the last thing she needed was for her brother to be distracted by a pretty girl, just like he did in every mission.
Perhaps, at this point, she should already be used to his childish behaviour.
"What other information can you give us about the situation?" asked Diana, making sure to pronounce every word with clarity. She didn't want to appear overly casual in front of such a professional agent like Chloē.
"All I know about it is in the report I sent to the Center. I can tell you that these disappearances began a year ago."
"A year ago? Why didn't you send a report before?" Martin snapped.
Chloē shuddered at Martin's words, almost as if he'd slapped her. Diana gave her brother the sternest look she could find; she hated seeing Martin intimidate someone as harmless as this girl.
"I-I, that is... I did s-send the report three weeks ago but received no answer. I c-couldn't communicate with headquarters, at least not recently..."
"Didn't you hear about what happened? The Center was attacked," Martin asked with obvious surprise in his voice.
"Attacked? Agent Mystery, what are you talking about? What happened?
This time, Diana stomped lightly on her brother's foot. Dammit, why did he always have to open his mouth and make everything worse?
"A-ah, yes, but you don't have to worry. They already have everything under control," Diana stammered, and then turned to Martin, "Right, Martin?"
"Sure, everything is under control now," he said raising both eyebrows and crossing his arms over his chest.
"But, what happened? I haven't gotten any report on the matter."
"Oh, nothing serious, just 'occupational hazards', and all… that stuff, you know…" said Diana, trying to calm down the girl. God, why did she have to ask so many questions?
"Billy boss now," added Java.
"Billy? What happened to MOM? Is she okay? Where could I get a list of the casualties?" Chloē asked, she was getting out of breath and looked about to collapse.
Casualties. It was to be expected for her to care about fellow agents and the other Center workers, but hearing that word out loud made everything more real for Diana.
It wasn't my fault. It wasn't.
"She's... let's just say she took a 'sabbatical'," replied Diana. "Look, I promise to tell you everything in detail later, right we should focus on the mission, don't you think so?"
Chloë nodded, even though she still looked unconvinced by those explanations.
The four agents spent the next hour discussing the disappearances. According to Chloē, most of them had occurred in the core of the park, near the Vikos Gorge. Two major villages were located a few kilometres from the gorge: Monodendri and Vitsa; the young woman suggested both villages as a starting point for their investigation, arguing that some tourists and villagers had witnessed new disappearances only a week before, so their testimony could be useful for the agents. Martin insisted on going to investigate the heart of the matter. In the end, they opted to walk to the centre of Vikos Gorge, the place where the Centre's devices had registered the highest levels of paranormal activity.
"Too bad Chloē can't come with us," Martin said, settling over his shoulder the heavy backpack. After Chloē gave them a map, directions, and provisions, the three agents were on their way.
"You heard her, she says she hasn't got that much field experience," Diana retorted. "Although I admit that her u-watch would've been very useful."
"With or without experience, I would've loved to work with her. She was so cute and sweet..."
"Don't start, Martin," Diana snapped.
"Ah, well, let's start walking again." Martin snorted in disagreement. "With all this experience in walking, I think I could join Torrington's camping club."
Java nodded and chuckled. Diana continued deliberately ignoring Martin; it seemed her stepbrother was incapable of picking subtle hints because he kept trying to make conversation with her.
"Hey, Di, I don't get why you're still so mad at me," he said while "Isn't it better to leave all that in the past? At least that what everybody always says, 'The past is the past'. I mean, I already forgave you ... sort of."
Hearing these words Diana stopped in mid-step. She could feel the blood rushing to her head and an emptiness in the pit of her stomach.
"Leave 'that' in the past? Martin, how can you say that? Don't you feel guilty about what happened?"
Martin spun on his heels, cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Why do I have to feel 'guilty'? I didn't do anything wrong."
Out of the corner of her eye, Diana saw Java stopping at the edge of the roads, perhaps in an attempt to escape the arguing that was about to begin.
"Em-pa-thy. Remember, Martin? That's what you lack, empathy; or it's that a very advanced word for you?" Diana stared at the floor, and then murmured, "If you hadn't pushed me…"
"Hmp! Now you want to blame me for your mistakes?"
"You pushed me to that! Did you actually think I was going to tolerate your mockery?"
"Stop playing the victim, Di! I'm the one who should be angry! You're the one who betrayed us!"
The girls pressed her lips together in a thin line.
"I know! Don't you think I know? Every day you make sure I never forget! I've had enough! I'm not the only one who makes mistakes!"
Besides, it wasn't my fault.
"Don't compare my 'mistakes' to yours. At least I accept my 'mistakes'," Martin replied defensively.
"Please! You always do something stupid during and after the missions, you get into trouble, you make Java and me get you out of said trouble," Diana retorted, pointing a finger to her caveman friend, "and then you pretend you learned a 'lesson' from everything, but the next week you're making the same mistake. And I'm supposed to believe you're the better agent of the two of us?"
"Aha! So, that's what this is all about," he exclaimed raising his index finger in a sign of triumph. "I can't believe you're still jealous because I got a better score than you, even though the Center's mainframe ending up downgrading my evaluation anyway." Martin narrowed his eyes and looked at the girl with outright hostility. "It's never enough, is it, Di? You always need to be perfect, you always need to be the best; you don't care about anything or anyone else."
I'm better than you, Diana thought. Determined to end the conversation, she began walking again over the dirt path.
"You know what? You're pathetic," Martin muttered. He took a couple of steps back as if he was expecting Diana's slap. Rather than stoop to his level, the girl spun around. "Where are you going?" he asked curtly.
"To Monodendri, to interview the witnesses. Something that is your job, but apparently, you forgot how to do it."
"By yourself?" Martin pondered, his smirk waning for the first time ever since they'd left Torrington behind.
"I don't need you to take care of me, Martin. Not now, nor ever."
"Diana…" murmured Java.
"I'll be fine, Java. You better stay with Martin; who knows what he'll do if we leave him alone."
The girl walked away with steady steps. She'd had enough of the childish and arrogant attitude of her stepbrother. She didn't need him, or anyone. She'd solve this mission by herself, and then she'd have the pleasure of rubbing it on his face.
"Fine! Do whatever you want! I couldn't care less if something happens to you!" Martin shouted. "By the way, you're going in the opposite direction, dummy."
Diana was certain she'd seen that oak tree before. Even though she carried a map with her, it was still a difficult task to decipher exactly at which point in the forest she was, especially when the mountains of Vikos Gorge were her only point of reference, and that all the annotations in her map were written in Greek.
Relax, Diana, take a deep breath, the girl thought as she placed the map on the floor to examine it more closely. Berating herself for never having learned Greek, she tried to decipher the route she should follow.
Dammed Martin, damned the moment he got that u-watch, damn...
Diana screamed in horror. Something was crawling up her ankle.
She sprang to her feet, trying to break free from the roots that held her leg. A thick fog blanketed the entire area; yes, this was definitely a supernatural event. She hastily picked up the map from the ground and began to run.
She ran without looking back and without knowing where to go. The sharp tree branches tore at her jacket and her cheeks; a searing pain burned at her lungs and at the soles of her feet.
What are you doing? Stop and think! Analyse the situation!
She spotted a stone bridge in the distance and under it a shallow river —or what seemed to be a shallow river from her height, considering the almost vertical slope of the hills. She accelerated her run —not hoping to make it to bridge— when something held her by the ponytail, and she fell backward to the ground.
"Let me go! Don't touch me!"
With an almost inhuman effort, she managed to escape from the thick root that held her arms and legs. Exhausted and panting, she leaned against an oak tree to keep her balance. As soon as her hand met the tree trunk its thick branches wrapped tightly around her arms. She kicked and scratched at the trunk with all the strength and brutality she could muster until it decided to release her-
Perfect, now she was talking about a tree as if it were a person. She was losing her sanity, without a doubt.
Blinded by the fog and by the blood dripping from her forehead, the girl tripped over the gravel that now adorned the road; she rolled down the hill, slamming into the rocks, scraping elbows and knees. She tried futilely to protect her head with her arms.
Her eyelids were heavy, but Diana finally managed to open her eyes. She was surprised to see the sky, which has now turned a dark grey.
She hadn't expected to wake up again.
She fought backs the tears, tried to save what little pride she had left. The blood began sprouting copiously from her nose and from the wound on her right arm; she caught a glimpse of the something whitish going through her skin. Her arm had been twisted in such way that the humerus perforated her elbow.
Just how much time had she spent rolling down that hill and at what velocity?
She tried to analyse the situation in which she was. It was the only thing distracting her from the pain.
She recalled her first aid training: the most important thing to do right now was to stay motionless, she especially needed to keep her arm still, and put pressure on the wound to stop the blood loss. If she screamed for help she risked herself to be found by those creatures but unless she received immediate medical care, her wound could become infected, and she could even lose her arm.
Don't move your arm. Whatever you do, don't move your arm, she thought desperately, biting inside her cheek to stifle her cries of pain.
Unable to contain herself anymore, she let her tears flow freely from her eyes. She sobbed and tried to wipe her face with her right arm, and it was then she'd an epiphany: if she'd her own u-watch she wouldn't be in this precarious situation. She'd have been able to defend herself from that supernatural attack.
Diana thought about those few weeks when she worked for the CIHL, and in how she managed to capture all the monsters without needing to be saved by her brother on any occasion. She'd done it alone, proving that she was more than capable of being an agent on her own, if only she'd the right tools. She was more than capable of becoming the best agent.
Why did he get a u-watch and she didn't? That was something she always wondered, ever since she began working for the Center; however, with all the distractions of the missions and her school work, she'd stopped questioning it, storing her doubts in the depths of her mind. Now, lying there on the wet grass, with a broken arm and wounds that bled profusely, she could see everything clearly.
She had the potential to outperform Martin. She was certain of it.
She heard footsteps, somebody or something was approaching; then she fainted.
Author's notes:
Hello! This is the new version of chapter two, for those that had read this before. I only modified some scenes related to Chloë and her interactions with our agents, but these changes were minimal. I hope you like them.