"Lewis!" Cleo squealed, reaching out blindly.
"I'm still here," He murmured, grabbing for her hand.
"Where are we? Surely you can tell me!" She insisted.
"Surely I can tell you?" Lewis laughed, "Come on Cleo, what do you think the blindfold's for?" He asked.
"Well... I dunno, you are kinda weird." Cleo grinned sheepishly.
"Just keep walking..."
Cleo let out a loud shriek as she stumbled over another rock. Lewis caught her just before she toppled, holding her securely in his arms.
"See? I told you I shouldn't be blindfolded!" Cleo cried playfully.
"Do you want to ruin the surprise?" Lewis asked.
Cleo thought for a moment, almost stumbling over a tree root as she did so. "No, but I do wish you'd tell me. How much longer?"
"It's not far. Man you're impatient," Lewis muttered.
"I may be blindfolded but I can still hear!"
"Okay, okay... I'm sorry, you're not impatient." He paused. "No, that's lying. I can't do that."
She shoved him hard in the shoulder, causing him to lose his hold on her and herself to quite nearly fall flat on her face again.
"I've warned you not to do that," Lewis chided with a hint of amusement in his voice as his hand gripped her shoulder again.
"Is there any water nearby?"
"No; why?" Lewis asked, puzzled.
"Because you're about to get a tsunami."
Lewis laughed. "You have to be the funniest person I've ever encountered," He said sarcastically.
"I know, right?"
Lewis rolled his eyes, but the action was lost, seeing as his girlfriend was blindfolded. "You ever heard of sarcasm, Cleo? Or modesty for that matter?"
"That's rich, coming from Mr. Self Indulged." Cleo snorted.
"What? What? I wasn't aware Zane was following us!"
Cleo burst into giggles. "Okay," She said, recovering, "That may have been a little funny. No getting a big head now," She chided.
Lewis grinned. "I'll try not to,"
"I thought you said it wasn't that much longer?"
"I did; you just haven't realised the feats of your impatience." Lewis remarked.
"You're so mean!" Cleo pouted.
"Brilliant comeback, Cleo." He said sarcastically.
"I stand by my remark." She said huffily.
Lewis laughed. "Okay, we're almost there..."
"Ooh! What's my surprise? Can I know now?" Cleo asked happily, forgetting the irritation she had felt towards Lewis only seconds ago.
"No you can't. Wouldn't that defeat all the secrecy?" Lewis laughed, "You really are absurd."
"Am not!" Cleo retorted.
"Are too." Lewis answered just as childishly.
"You know, you –"
Lewis cut Cleo off. "Okay, just a few more steps..." Cleo did as she was told and Lewis pulled off the blindfold covering her hazel green eyes.
Cleo gasped as she took in the clearing. It was gorgeous in itself, but in the middle of it was the most beautiful crystal clear water Cleo had ever laid eyes on.
She turned to him, her hazel green eyes glistening with tears. "You were lying about the water."
Lewis rolled his eyes. "Come on, that's what you're gonna focus on now? You really are –"
She silenced him with a kiss.
Cleo awoke with a jolt. For just a moment, she didn't know where she was; until she registered that she was in her cave and the mid morning light was spilling over her huddled figure. Cleo pressed her hand to her temples, letting everything come into focus. It had been a few days since she had been caught at Sovereign Street, on her nineteenth birthday, and since then she had gotten little information.
Cleo stood up and tripped over her bag in the process. She groaned and dusted off the dirt from her hands, throwing her bag into the corner of the cave. She opened up Lewis's laptop, planning on doing a little more research on this 74th Sovereign Street.
She strummed her fingers against the keyboard as she waited for the machine to start up. She sighed. She knew that it would be so much harder to rescue Lewis now that they knew who she was and what she looked like. She just shook her head and opened up the Internet, typing what she wanted into the search browser. What was done was done. She couldn't change it now.
Cleo peered at the screen with interest. Apparently 74th Sovereign Street had been some sort of warehouse, but had been shut down many years earlier. That would explain the faded numbers. Cleo searched for records of new management, but couldn't find any. Huh. Whoever these people are, they must have wanted to keep their purchase secret. I can't find anything anywhere.
The inside of the building, when she had been there the other day, had been rather done up. Maybe someone wanted it to make it look run down from the outside so it wouldn't look suspicious. Then they made a sort of headquarters on the inside, maybe? She speculated. Whoa. I'm thinking through this a little fast. Maybe I should slow down.
She ran her fingers through her hair and let out a long sigh. Okay, she thought. I should just review what I do know.
They know who I am and what I look like. They have some sort of mermaid tranquilliser. Now that I've been there and know where Lewis is they'll have undoubtedly changed his room... oh dear, that doesn't sound very positive... she thought unhappily.
She ran her fingers through her hair and walked out of her cave, deciding that she probably wasn't going to find out much about this fortress without actually going there herself. She walked out onto the beach, the sand shining like a brilliant golden floor in the intense sunlight.
Stray joggers and families were scattered across the sand, or just the odd wanderer. Cleo ventured into town, rubbing her eyes. Oh how good it would be to have a bed again... she thought, for a moment envious of her friends back home.
She received a sudden burst of clarity and raced into a nearby store. She walked out with a navy blue shoulder bag – much like the school bag she used to own. It was at least as large as her current backpack – if not bigger – and it would be much easier to handle than the one she had now – or at least it wouldn't keep falling off. It would also blend in well with the shadows of 74th Sovereign Street. I really should find a name for that, she thought idly.
She returned to her cave and swapped the bags. After putting in her flashlight, she tossed the now empty black backpack to the corner of the cave.
"Okay, I think that's everything," She muttered to herself. She yawned and ruffled her hair. She set her bag down on the ground and huddled up against the cave wall, wrapping her blanket around her.
Cleo awoke again a few hours later. She got up and stretched, yawning. She ruffled her hair, moving about sluggishly. I should probably do some further investigation on... I really do need to find a name for it... she thought.
She rubbed at her eyes and grabbed her new bag. She brushed her hair and tied it up, before walking out of the cave, shading her eyes from the sunlight. What should I call it? She mused, Sovereign? Sovereign building? 74th Building? The fortress? These names aren't very creative.
She plonked down at a nearby bench and allowed her mind space to wander. Hm, she thought, for the first time thinking about it seriously. She was unable to come up with anything.
Before she knew it, she was asleep.
She awoke sometime later, and the sky had turned to a beautiful pink. She stretched, yawning. I do seem to be falling into a habit, don't I? She thought dryly. Ah well, perhaps more sleep shall aid me in the forces of logical decisions, she thought, remembering her not exactly ideal run in with a guard a few days prior.
Which had ultimately resulted in her capture.
She just shook her head and, standing, leant against the wall, taking a breath. She set out for her cave. I should like to arrive before sunset, she thought, before the city is plunged into darkness and I find myself hopelessly lost because I was stupid enough to forget my flashlight.
She soon found the pavement morphing into grainy sand, and from then on she knew exactly where she was, even if the city were to be spontaneously shrouded in darkness.
She huddled up in a blanket and promptly fell asleep, despite retaining the feeling of being quite well rested.
She woke to the sounds of waves slowly slicing into her subconscious. She took a moment to just lay there in the dappled sunlight that was fighting it's way to reach her. But she soon got up, once again with that firm thought of having no time to waste, despite the fact that she had been having a marvellous time with an absolutely unproductive last couple of days.
She walked out into town with the intent of snooping a little more around this... fortress. She tied her hair up and slid her sunglasses on, as the sun was quite harsh today.
Something caught her eye, and she stopped. What was that? She looked around. A trick of the light? She shrugged and kept moving. She saw it again. Okay, now I know something's up.
She looked around earnestly, while the hot sun beat down on her. A sinister hissing came from behind her. She whipped around. A black and brown striped cat made a run for her, snarling and spitting. Cleo jumped back in fright.
To her surprise, the cat narrowly missed her, barrelling for the underside of a house for a rat or some other small animal, no doubt. Cleo winced at the angry scratch marks the cat had inflicted upon her while making a mad dash for whatever helpless creature was to be it's breakfast.
She opened her bag, the velcro splitting apart with a satisfying rip, and dabbed at her new wound with a tissue. Soon the tissue was soaked with blood, so she threw it into a nearby bin. Cleo looked down at her leg. The cat had clawed just above her ankle, rather deep – it would need a rather large bandaid, or perhaps even a bandage. Luckily, Cleo had come prepared for circumstances like these.
She took out three packs of bandaids. One regular, one bigger than usual, and one huge – heavy duty, that's what it's name was. Cleo looked down at her leg and then picked the biggest one. It was quite a large wound site. She slapped the bandaid on, throwing the wrapper into the bin mentioned earlier. She ventured forth. It hurt to walk, even doing so gingerly, but she would just have to be careful.
She looked around. I must've turned a wrong corner, she thought. I don't recognise this neighbourhood. And she didn't. It looked like a fairly rich part of down, mini malls everywhere, showing off TV's and what was no doubt the latest and hottest fashion in Boston.
Then where did the cat come from? Maybe it belongs to one of the owners and got out somehow, she thought wonderingly. But it didn't have a collar. And it looked pretty 'street cat' to me. I don't know if you can tell those things by looking.
She continued to wonder about this presumably stray cat that had attacked her. And that's something. Wouldn't a trained cat have learned not to attack people? Or perhaps it was rescued, had escaped, and was reverting back to it's old self? Oh, the dramatic life of a cat is too much for me. I thought being a mermaid was hard.
She frowned as she looked around the buildings that she was now in the midst of. I'm definitely going the wrong way, she thought. I should probably turn back.
She pivoted on her heel and started walking in the opposite direction. She was walking past a store displaying various wide screen TV's, when she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned. She saw someone. Someone eerily familiar.
Herself.
"This eighteen year old girl, Cleo Sertori, went missing approximately three weeks ago, and a full out police investigation had been launched into her whereabouts. Friends and family describe her as cheery and honest, with dark brown hair and hazel green eyes. Please, if anyone has seen this girl, let us know." A reporter said, his face grim and bleary.
Next there was a picture of her, smiling, presumably taken by one of her friends. She barely had time to register her amazement, when Rikki, Emma, and Bella's faces popped up on the screen.
"Cleo is our best friend, we just want her back," Rikki said in a shaky voice. Guilt rippled through Cleo's body. Rikki never cried, but now there were tears falling freely.
"Cleo, if you can see this, please, come home." Bella said in an almost whisper.
Cleo couldn't bear to look anymore. The reporter went into a monologue about how Cleo was a big part of the community, and her presence was noticed and missed. Cleo walked away, feeling an overwhelming sense of hatred with herself. She finally realised just what she'd done to her friends. They had looked a wreck on television, and she could only imagine how they were by themselves, alone with their grief.
Then it struck her how bad the situation had just become. Oh no. She thought, breaking out into a sprint.
If my story has reached America, going into the open won't be a choice for me now. I'll have to hide.
She ran as fast as she could back to the cove, pulling her jacket over her head. Things will be even harder for me now.
