A/N: First off, massive thanks to ObsessedwReading and WannabeeAussie for reviewing! Keep the reviews coming... something big is coming and I want to know what you think!
Enjoy! :)
"I can't believe she would do this." Cleo fumed whilst pacing back and forth in the café. "Of all the reckless things she's done, this tops them all. You guys seemed to be perfectly fine on your own." She turned to Lewis and Zane, waiting for them to confirm.
"Of course we were," Lewis assured. "Right, Zane?"
"As best as a disaster can get." Zane retorted but quickly changed the subject. "Shouldn't Rikki be back by now?"
"I'm sure she has a valid explanation for what she did. She was probably just worried." Bella tried to defend Rikki.
"She can't just make decisions by herself anymore. We have to stick together and be careful. Rikki could be taken like Emma." Cleo paused to take a deep breath. "I can't even deal with losing one friend, Bella. How am I supposed to deal with losing two?" She once again stopped now in the midst of choking up. "When she gets back here, I swear…"
"You need to take a deep breath for a minute." Lewis attempted to placate Cleo.
"She will be back here any minute." Will encouraged.
"She better or…" Cleo stopped at the sound of the rustling beaded curtain.
"Hey guys." Rikki entered casually as if nothing was wrong.
"Oh my god," Cleo placed her hand over her heart in relief. She ran over and hugged Rikki for a moment.
"Hello to you, too, Cleo," Rikki smirked as she awkwardly patted her friend on the back.
At Rikki's casual greeting, Cleo let go and glared at her friend in fury. "Are you kidding me? That's all you have to say to me?"
"I was just—"
"No!" Cleo shouted, cutting Rikki off. "You can't even try to defend yourself here. What were you thinking going out alone—to look for Denman no less?!"
"No need to jump to conclusions," Will stepped in. "She was probably just—"
"It's alright, Will." Rikki harshly stopped him short. "I can fight my own battles."
"Clearly!" Cleo exclaimed.
"Whoa. You were the one you told me to go out myself, remember?" Rikki retorted. "I believe you said that I should go look for her myself instead of sending Lewis and Zane."
Throwing her arms up in frustration, Cleo stared at Rikki. "I didn't mean for you to actually go out and do it!"
"Well we can't just sit back and let them do the work for us, can we?"
"It was your idea for Lewis to go in the first place!"
"Ladies," Lewis finally intervened and broke the two up. "Let's not get in a fight here. Zane and I handled ourselves fine, thank you very much."
"Ha!" Rikki said with a scoff. "Not from where I was. You believed every lie she told. You got played."
"It wasn't like that," Zane cut in.
"How do you mean?" Rikki snapped. "You two weren't even getting real answers. You did nothing but sit there all doe-eyed doing nothing! It was actually rather pathetic."
"It wasn't an entire loss," Lewis replied calmly. "She gave us this." He handed her the folder.
Flipping through it, Rikki continued to frown. "This is nothing but names and numbers put together." She slammed it onto the table next to her. "So congratulations, boys, you got nothing but a useless pile of papers." She shrugged her shoulders angrily.
Cleo picked it back up hoping to counter Rikki. She flipped through it and read it carefully. "It could be something."
"It definitely could be," Lewis began. "I mean, she has reputable contacts and resources here. She has Her Majesty's Coastguard and officials from Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agencies. Not to mention, she has contacts with the Australian water police and coastguards."
"Well," Bella admitted, "from what you and Zane told us, Denman may actually be genuine."
Looking back and forth astonished, Rikki's anger was simmering. "You guys seriously can't be falling for this! She is the enemy; Denman has always been the enemy. The woman wanted to expose and dissect us and suddenly you guys give her credibility based on a sheet of paper?!"
"Wouldn't we know if Denman had Emma? We'd be long gone if Denman knew the truth about us!" Cleo argued.
"But she does, Cleo! She knows everything! You heard for yourself!" Rikki shouted. "She knows that we got our powers back and she knows Bella is somehow involved with us. All she needs is one gram of our trust and then we're done for." Eyeing her friend closely, she realised that Cleo was not budging. Finally, she spoke again with a lowered tone. "You actually believe Denman, don't you?"
"Rikki, you know what, I don't know what to believe right now." Cleo snapped as she slumped back down into a chair. "All I know is that—somewhere— Emma is out there. So, call me crazy, but I'm willing to harness any help I can get to find her."
"We have to take this leap of faith. Whatever it takes to get Emma back, right?" Bella reentered the argument to try to lighten the mood.
"Oh sure. Let's take this leap of faith, which is more like a suicide mission. At this rate, we'll end up kidnapped like Emma." Rikki shouted insensitively.
With a horrified gasp, Cleo shot back up. "Take it back!"
"You know I'm right." Rikki turned her head the other way.
"You don't know anything about what's happened to Emma. Don't you dare—"
"STOP!" Bella broke them apart by standing between them with her arms outstretched. Her voice cracked in an attempt to hold back her emotions. "Please. Look at what you are doing to yourselves. This is exactly what we want to prevent."
"Then what do you propose?" Cleo asked as she continued to shoot daggers at Rikki.
"Well," Bella began and looked back at Rikki, who was not amused. "How about we have Lewis, Zane, and Will each call one number? That way, we can see if the numbers and contacts are real or not. If the three numbers prove to be legitimate, then we will have some reason to believe Denman is on our side and does not have Emma.
"However, if any one of the three numbers are disconnected or are directed to someone other than the contact name, then we know that Denman is lying." Bella looked back at her two friends. "Does that sound reasonable enough?" With neither girl answering, Bella proceeded. "Alright. Since nobody declined my proposal, I'm assuming you are for it."
"No." Rikki finally grumbled.
"Rikki…" Bella attempted to reason.
"You don't want to try, because you know that Denman could be on to something." Cleo accused.
"The only thing that Denman is on to is our tails." Rikki spat back. Picking up the folder, she began to flip through the contacts once again. "Denman is conning us by pretending to be nice. Think about it. She is the only one who would or could go to these lengths to take Emma. She has a motive." She paused before adding "And besides it doesn't take much to put papers together and make it look convincing. How do you think I passed high school?!"
"I always wondered how you did manage to pass…" Cleo said sarcastically.
"Well, let's not forget you were failing biology year 11, Cleo. No one can go from failing to winning some stupid science award without some sort of help."
"Maybe I actually put effort and thought into what I do instead of acting reckless!"
With Cleo and Rikki's continuous bickering, Bella finally gave up. In a huff, she backed over to the three guys who were amazed at the sight. "This is going rather well." She laughed to try to prevent herself from getting worked up. "I really don't know what else to do."
Lewis gaped at Cleo and Rikki and winced at a few of the remarks. "This is so… so…" He paused trying to find the right word. "Bizarre. It's not like them at all." He paused himself again. "Well, they've argued before but never at a scale as high as this."
Zane, too, was wincing at some of the words said between the two best friends. "I agree. This is too heated. They're going to maim each other."
"I'm really concerned." Lewis admitted. "I'd break it up but I don't want to see my face get ripped off."
"So what do we do?" Will looked at Bella for an answer.
Looking over at her two best friends who seemed ready to strangle one another, Bella scrambled for an answer. Then, suddenly, it occurred to her that "We can't do anything."
"What?" All three guys exclaimed in unison.
"That's crazy," Lewis said then added "and so is the language coming from Rikki…"
"I need to let it run its course," Bella realised. "They need to get all their feelings out. The two of them are just so distressed about Emma it's getting to the best of them." She paused. "You three should go."
"And leave them here?" Zane asked in bewilderment. "No way."
"In all honesty, you're doing nothing to help me here now. So it's best if you just go and I'll handle it from here." Bella spoke confidently.
"You sure?" Will raised an eyebrow.
"Absolutely," Bella nodded and pushed them through the door rather quickly. "Don't worry, Zane, I'll lock up."
"You should have been taken instead of Emma!"
"No you should have!"
"Emma would be way more reasonable than you are!"
"Emma wouldn't be as brash as you are!"
"Guys…" Bella intervened.
"At least I'm not stupid enough to believe Denman would ever help us!" Rikki sneered.
"At least I have faith that Emma is alive and I want to find her, unlike some people!" Cleo quipped back.
"Guys…" Bella tried again, slowly getting more impatient.
With Rikki's jaw dropped in disbelief, she glanced over at the folder that lay on the table. "Well, this is what I think of your pal Denman." She stuck out her hand and aimed toward the table. As she balled her fist, smoke began to arise from the papers. Soon, the folder was engulfed in flames.
"RIKKI!" Cleo shouted as her voice cracked with fury. "HOW COULD YOU?" But Rikki said nothing and simply looked at the fire with a satisfactory look plastered on her face.
"ENOUGH!" Bella roared, splashing a pitcher of water on the burning table to put off the flame. "I'm sick of watching you—" She looked at Rikki and splashed some water on her. "—and you!" Bella also splashed water on Cleo. "Fight like this!"
"BELLA!" Rikki and Cleo exclaimed as they fell to the ground and flicked their tails angrily. "What was that for?" They both looked up at Bella with dissatisfied looks.
"Would you look at that?" Bella smiled victoriously. "That seems to be the only thing you two have agreed on today." Rikki and Cleo exchanged looks. "You know I'm right."
"But she burned the papers! They could have helped us find Emma!" Cleo began.
"Oh stop whingeing," Rikki moaned. "I did us a favour."
"A favour? We could have called the numbers to find out any more information about Emma!"
"Why don't you just go ask Denman for information, since you two seem to be so chummy?"
"PLEASE!" Bella shouted, trying to regain attention. Cleo and Rikki stopped and focused back on Bella. "Thank you." She took a deep breath. "Listen to me. I know you guys are having a hard time coping with Emma being missing and Denman being back but we need each now more than ever. I understand we all have differing opinions and I respect that. But this isn't the time to make rash decisions. We need to stick together and find common ground again.
"Cleo," Bella looked over at her. "Rikki may be right in that we shouldn't go rushing back to Denman immediately for answers. And Rikki," She looked over at her other friend. "Cleo may have been right that the numbers and contacts Denman gave us weren't entirely false. We could have used them as assets. But even with them gone, we still have the DVD. That can be used as primary evidence against Denman if—" She quickly corrected herself. "When we find Emma and she returns home.
"Now you two have clearly said some pretty stupid things to each other today but we need to move past this. Whoever may have Emma may also be after us. So we need to stay levelheaded and smart. If any rift comes between us—which one nearly did—then we will be more vulnerable than ever before." Bella once again looked at her two friends. "We are stronger together and that's how we will stay." She finished with a smile.
"She's right, you know." Cleo admitted as she bumped her shoulder against Rikki's.
"I know," Rikki looked down ashamed.
"I'm sorry. I—"
"I should apologise first." Rikki initiated. "All of this was my fault in the first place. If I didn't go out and spy on Denman, we wouldn't even be in this mess."
"It's my fault too." Cleo added. "I overreacted as usual and I shouldn't have flipped out on you." She extended her hand. "Friends?"
"Friends." Rikki agreed and the two shook. With a smile, she balled her hand into a fist and began to steam dry her and Cleo off. Within minutes, they were standing once again.
"I'm so glad we got past this!" Bella celebrated. "I thought you were going to rip each other apart."
"Me too," Rikki said with a laugh. She then paused and thought about something. "You know, this is probably the worst argument we ever had."
Cleo pondered this too. "Yeah and it escalated rather quickly. We've never fought like this before and let's make sure we never do that again."
"Agreed." Rikki replied mid-yawn. "We can look further into this Emma mystery tomorrow and let's just call it a day."
"Agreed," Cleo said. "We had a long and eventful day."
"Aw, you guys are agreeing on everything now!" Bella smiled. "It took you long enough."
"Yeah, well, can we agree on meeting first thing tomorrow morning?" Cleo asked, looking doubtfully at Rikki.
"I didn't think I had a choice with that. But sure." Rikki smirked. "And will you be okay in the house by yourself?"
Cleo nodded. "I'll be okay. It's only two more nights."
"Where are they again?" Bella asked.
"Sam is on some business trip in Sydney and she thought it would be fun for Kim and dad to tag along." Cleo replied. "But I should be fine. I'll call if I need anything."
"Oh and don't forget the DVD." Bella reminded Cleo and handed it to her. "We can't lose that."
"Right!" Cleo took it from Bella as they headed out the door. "It'll be in safe hands."
Hours later, Cleo was wrapped in sleep. The house was silent and dark with the DVD placed within an arm's distance on the nightstand next to her. Every now and then, she stirred but remained in her deep slumber.
Whilst the Sertori house was still, a storm was brewing outside. Though the skies had indicated a thunderstorm would plague the land, they had not assumed it would come that day. Despite its deception, it proved to surprise with the level of its power and destruction. Rain was pouring down slanted and slammed into everything in its path. The wind blasted through trees and carried the rain with great might. Thunder rolled through with frequent claps that rumbled the ground below. Lightning lit up the sky with a shocking brightness, which casted shadows across the room.
As the storm grew, various creaks began to echo through the house. They started downstairs and quickly slithered up the stairs. As each board on the stairs screeched, the sound became louder as if creeping closer to Cleo's room. Suddenly, it stopped. An intense bolt of lightning flashed through the room.
A dark figure stood looming in Cleo's doorway.
Thunder once again boomed and rocked the house slightly. With the long rumbling, the figure entered the room and took careful steps. But when Cleo moved and turned over to the side facing the doorway, it silently jumped back. Realising it was a false alarm, the figure continued and quietly walked right up to Cleo.
Ominously, it hovered and casted a shadow over her. Simply watching, it remained there for a few minutes and reached for something, which caused a scratching sound. However, it was muffled out by the storm reaching its apex; a massive roar of thunder shook the room.
Cleo shot up from her bed now wide awake from the sound. With a strike of lightning, her room was illuminated. She gasped in fear when she saw a strange shadow dancing across her room. The figure darted and Cleo jolted out of bed to chase after it.
"HEY!" Cleo yelled as she ran down her hallway after the figure.
It jumped down the stairs, revealing a flash of blonde hair, and turned left toward Cleo's backdoor.
"HEY!" Cleo called again and raced after it. The figure opened the door but hesitated at the intensity of the storm waiting outside. With Cleo running behind it, the figure ran again and slammed the door shut.
"STOP!" Cleo yelled but jumped back when she saw the pouring rain. She scanned her entire yard but the figure had vanished. Standing there, Cleo shivered with fear piercing through her.
Somebody was in her house... if she was still alive, what could they possibly—
"Oh god." Cleo closed the door, locked it tight. Running upstairs, she went as fast as her legs could carry her. "Oh god." She ran down the hallway and turned on her bedroom light.
Cleo let out a cry. The DVD was gone.
