Oh dear, this one's shorter than normal. I'm sorry. It's mostly a filler, and nothing was happening, and I wanted to get on to the next chapter which will be hilarious. Once again, I'm sorry. The next one will be longer.

Hanaakarii, the professor was not Mario. Mario doesn't wear a green jumpsuit. And the whole unnecessary plumber was an ungotten joke to one of my friends: "Do you need a plumber?"

Enjoy!

Chapter Eight: Radio Waves

That morning had started with the cheerful question of if Flora wanted to come with Rhonda, Claire, and Mysti to work that day and see what they were doing. She had immediately agreed, as it was better than sitting around for another day.

It had been two days since she'd been brought to Rhonda's house, and currently no one had any idea of what had happened to the professor. They'd scouted his house, but apparently there'd been no signs of activity at all. No one had come to the house.

Which pretty much meant that they had no clue where the professor was.

Which was bad.

"So, what exactly do you guys do here?" Flora asked as Rhonda let the four of them into her office. Claire and Mystery had led her through a path without cameras, simply because the popularity of the Shadow Sisters was picking up, and there was a huge contest going on to discover their identities.

"I told you I have a radio show," Rhonda answered. "I do the recording here. I think I'm going to have to get equipment to record Claire and Mysti at my house soon, because it's getting harder and harder to sneak in here."

"Stupid fans," Mysti muttered. "How can I be a popular musician? Last week, you had to explain the use of a microphone to me."

"I think it's a bit more important that I had to explain the use of a toilet, but whatever you think. And apparently you can be a popular musician."

Flora smiled at the banter. "So I get to witness your amazing recording today?"

"Like I said, it's getting harder and harder to sneak the Shadow Sisters in here. So today, we're going to record Friday's music. The show's live on Friday, but I don't want people breaking in to speak with the famed Shadow Sisters."

"You said people call in?" Flora asked. "What if someone calls in to speak with the Shadow Sisters?"

"Ah." Rhonda grinned. "That's the wonder of speaker phones."

Mysti laughed at this. "Come on, Rhonda, we've been practicing this song for too long. I can't wait to start the recording."

"I just hope he hears it," Claire muttered.

Rhonda ushered the two of them into a sound proof room with microphones and headphones. "Right, just do it like we usually do. You have your music, right?"

"Memorized," Claire answered happily. "This is the best song ever written."

"Well, I don't know about that…" Rhonda mumbled, embarrassed. "It is pretty good, though, isn't it?"

"He better figure it out," Mysti muttered.

"He will," Claire promised, entering the room. "Let's just get started."

Rhonda shut them in and showed Flora where she was working. "See, I need to work the equipment to get a good sound from them, and then layer it over the accompaniment I recorded awhile ago."

"That sounds hard," Flora admitted, taking a seat and sliding on a pair of headphones so she could hear them recording. "How do you do that?"

"Oh, I already have the accompaniment, so I just play it over the speakers in there. That way, Mysti and Claire just have to sing along." Rhonda took her seat in front of the many buttons, dials, and switches. She leaned forward to a microphone, pressing a red button near her. "Alright, we're about to start. You two ready?"

The vocalists both gave her a thumbs up through the glass.

"Right," Rhonda muttered, leaning back and flipping another switch. "You'll enjoy this, Flora. There are… maybe five people in London who would get this—six if you count me. And that includes you. So I think this is a message we're pretty safe sending out."

"A message?" Flora asked in confusion as the singing began. Claire started alone.

"Did you know… I'm still waiting for you…

"At that place by the riverside…

"Where we met… Once before…

"When there was something to hide…"

Mysti joined in on the second verse.

"Because I'm sure that you remember…

"That little riverside place…

"Where we met when the answer to everything lie

"In the Old Father's Embrace,

"That riverside place!"

Flora started laughing as she realized the message they were sending. "I thought I recognized the location of that house! It's where Clive built the Thames Arms in Future London, isn't it?"

Rhonda nodded. "You see, Claire and Clive are cousins. Clive remembered this place from his childhood and opted for that location as the Family's hideout. Claire noticed this, and passed the message of 'the Old Father's Embrace'. I think she only noticed it because of the fact that she went to check it out as her house originally stood there. And it comes full circle."

"…We're really lucky, aren't we?" Flora asked.

Rhonda nodded, turning her attention back to the song as it began to wrap up.

"A little haven of safety, little cave of protection

"Just a little place to hide…

"So I wait, and I wait, and I wait, and I wait for you

"Down by the riverside!"

Claire held out the last note with Mystery harmonizing as the song reached its end. The last chord sent a chill down Flora's spine—it was minor and sounded eerie.

Flora jumped to her feet, applauding. Rhonda flipped a switch to stop the recording and joined in the applause before suddenly stopping.

"What is it?" Flora asked as Rhonda facepalmed.

"Soundproof. They can't hear the applause…" She removed her headphones as Flora stopped clapping and Claire and Mysti left the recording room. They appeared a second later through the door Flora and Rhonda had come through.

"Did we do it?" Mysti asked eagerly.

"It was perfect," Rhonda answered. "On the first time through, too! Now, who wants to hear the recording?"

xXx

They had lost her.

That was the only thought going through everyone's head.

They had lost her.

Emmy and the professor managed to keep up a cheerful appearance, mostly for Luke's benefit. Luke was upset, but not nearly as much as before. Before he'd had no one—now he had both the professor and Emmy.

He told them what had happened to him and why he was there. It was hard to believe, but the adults both accepted it as fact.

But, more importantly, Flora was gone.

They had kept up surveillance on Hawk's house, but there'd been no sign of Flora, even after two days.

Finally, Emmy delivered the verdict they'd all been worried for.

"She's not there, and Hawks doesn't have her."

This worried them all, for if Hawks didn't have Flora, who did?

xXx

"What's your necklace?" Clive asked, dunking another dish into the soapy water.

Mystery froze. "I… I don't know what you're talking about."

"I saw you wearing it earlier, and I was wondering why you didn't want me to see it," he explained.

Mystery was silent for a long moment, but soon returned to helping him wash the dishes. They had been assigned dinner-clean-up duty that night. The schedule rotated, but since they were alone and he'd remembered, he'd taken the chance to ask her about her necklace.

"I think my father gave it to me. It used to be my mother's," Mysti finally said quietly. "I think it might be family crest or something. No one knows I have it, not even Jon. Maybe after this is all over, I can use it to find my family."

Clive smiled. "Hey, I wish I could get my family back as easily as that."

Mysti snorted. "Easily? You've got to be kidding me. How many people actually have a family crest, let alone know of others?"

"Really? That sounds awfully accurate for someone who spent her entire life in a cell. Who gave you that tidbit?"

"Claire."

Clive nodded thoughtfully. "But at least you will be able to track them down. You will have a family. Mine's dead."

"Ours might be too," Mysti pointed out. "We've got no clue. Though I may have been exaggerating the difficulty. Claire said she recognized it, and could help me find a relative she swears is still living."

"I hope you find them," Clive told her honestly. "I think you'll like having a family."

Mystery smiled and put away the last dish. "Hey, Rhonda's show is on, if you're interested."

"Are you kidding me? They've been talking about that song all week!"

xXx

Friday morning was uneventful. Breakfast was made, eaten, and cleaned up. Books were read.

At ten, like she did every Friday, Emmy went to turn on the radio.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, neither the professor nor Luke was listening to the live showing. Ten minutes into the show, Emmy made her weekly call, pointing out all the grammar mistakes made in the last ten minutes, which she knew was something her sister's audience loved.

But the song went unnoticed.

*sighs* Yes, they missed it. Of course they did. But that's okay, because they'll eventually hear it. Just not until I feel like enough disaster has struck…