Chapter 9:

Wilbur sees them again the next day, outside his school for a brief instant, as he looks out of the window during a relatively boring science class. And the day after that as well as he's crossing the street with Carl. And again, as he leaves through the front doors on Friday afternoon. The distinctive top hat could be seen bobbing over the sea of students milling outside the school.

"What's the matter?" Jake asks, standing by him in the parking lot.

"Nothing. It's nothing," he says, loud enough to be heard in the din.

"So I asked my mom, and she said I could sleep over this weekend."

Wilbur grimaces, having forgotten all about it.

"I don't think it's a good time right now dude."

"Wait. Why not?"

"Do you see those two people over there? Don't look at them!" He turns Jake to the side. "Geez! Way to be subtle…Do you see them?"

"You mean the guys with the weird fashion sense?" he asks, nonchalant.

"Yeah. They've been following me around the last couple of days."

"Are you sure you're not just being paranoid again?"

"Positive!"

"Have you told the police about this?"

"And have them run away at the first sign? No Jake. If I can corner one of them, maybe they'll know something about my dad."

"Wilbur, bro." Jake begins to see where this is heading. "What if they're responsible for your father's death? Did you ever think of that? What happens if they're after you next?"

"Won't know until I ask them." Wilbur tries to reassure him with a smile.

"You really worry me sometimes."

"There's no need." Wilbur shakes his head. "I'll be totally and completely fine."

Wilbur goes on to one knee and reties his laces. "But, just in case."

"Hey isn't that Carl coming?" Jake says as he looks over to the parking lot. He turns around and sees Wilbur already running in the opposite direction.

"Gotta go Jake! Wish me luck."

"Wilbur, don't make me say 'I told ya so,'" Jake yells at him.

"What's that? I can't hear you! Too much interference!" He makes loud, static noises to make his point.

And the boy disappears around the corner.


Yes, as expected, they were trailing him. It wasn't very hard to miss them, considering that even the people around the two extravagantly outfitted men were looking at them strangely.

"Okay. Now to put this plan into action."

Wilbur turns around to look at the two of them, which has the expected outcome of stopping them in their tracks.

"Hey! Why don't you two catch me if you can?" Wilbur laughs and runs through the crowd. He doesn't look back, but from the hey's and watch it's coming from behind him, he knows that they are chasing after him.

Escaping into an alley, he hides behind a recycling bin and waits. Wilbur hears them coming, hears them pass him, and then hears their whispered voices as they see the empty dead end they were tricked into.

He takes a deep breath, a small voice in his head (oddly enough sounding like Carl) telling him that this was a mistake…which he promptly silences like he always does.

"Hey! What do you guys know about my dad?" Wilbur comes out of his hiding place and cuts off their escape. But... the two men in front of him now don't seem to be the two that he wanted. He looks again. No, not at all. Even without the hood and hat, their heights were too different.

"What've we got here?" the one on the left spoke, smiling between crooked teeth. He looks to the man next to him. "Just our luck!"

"Ain't that the Robinson kid, Charlie?" the man answers, his voice heavy with what Wilbur perceives as an English accent. "The one we've been tailin' all this time?"

"Right you are Spooks!" He pulls an object from his belt and points it at Wilbur. "Easier than I thought, really. He came to us."

"Hey fellas! We got 'im!" Spooks yells out.

Two more people appear behind Wilbur and block his only way out. Jake's voice instantly rings through his head, and it says, "I told you so!"

"I should really start listening to him more," Wilbur thinks.

He surveys the four of them and something inside him panics. He wants to run. But, strangely enough a little piece of him is able to keep calm, and that part wonders if all four of them got fashion advice from top hat man. Even to Wilbur's untrained eye, their color palette was truly atrocious. Wilbur shakes his head to dispel those thoughts. He needed to focus.

Wilbur inches his way for the exit. If he could only get past the two, and he had a slim chance of that, he could disappear into a crowd.

"Kid, come with us quiet like, and you won't get hurt!" Charlie offers.

"My parents told me never to speak with strangers," Wilbur smirks, but his bravado is thin. He knows that his voice and hands were now shaking.

Charlie points the the object in his hand at the floor. A red beam emerges and chars the ground right next to Wilbur's foot. It takes all of Wilbur's strength not to yell out loud…or to keep his legs from collapsing under him.

"Yeah…this was a mistake," Wilbur thinks to himself.

He needed to do something. Anything. What else could he do really but distract them with conversation. Maybe someone would hear.

"What do you want with me?"

"Just to catch ya'. Snake's orders, see," Spooks answers, and Charlie smacks him across the back of his head.

"Don't go telling the kid nothing now!"

Was this a kidnapping? To Wilbur, this didn't seem to be just a simple robbery. And who is this Snake?

"Look guys, I don't have any money with me right now---"

The man named Charlie comes closer and grabs him by the arm. "We don't want your money kid. Just take it easy and cooperate."

Suddenly, a bright light erupts. It blinds Wilbur, but he hears the sound of thunder fill the alley. He had felt heat exploding right next to him, and he cringes away on instinct. His vision clears slowly, and when it does, he sees the man who was named Charlie, lying on the floor, groaning, with a hole in his shirt and a burn mark on his chest.

And there is someone in front of him now, standing with his back towards him. Wilbur could recognize that hooded leather jacket anywhere. The man's hand is strangely smoking like a newly fired pistol.

Just then, something grabs Wilbur's shoulder and jolts him to look up, frightened, at the man with the top hat.

"Come with me if you want to live," he whispers.

Wilbur doesn't think about it, too surprised by what had happened just moments before. He nods, absentminded, and runs, his feet on automatic, allowing the top hat guy to pull him away.

Spooks comes out of his daze, rubbing the pain in his eyes away and catches sight of Wilbur as they escape. "The Robinson kid's gettin' away!"

Wilbur doesn't see what happens next. All he hears is the faraway sounds of gunshots. Gunshots that are then drowned out by a roaring thunder that explodes once more.

They run and keep running. He didn't know if they were still after him. The man pulling on his arm leads him in twists and turns, through crowds and deserted alleyways like a maze, hoping to lose their pursuers. To Wilbur, everything seems like a blur. His mind is still numb from what has happened: Charlie had pointed a gun directly at him. That was a gun. He wanted to get as far away from that as possible even if it meant being kidnapped by the top hat man instead.

Exhausted, the top hat man gazes over his shoulder and seeing no one, begins to slow down to a halt.

"We're safe…for now," he whispers to himself.

They were now in the old industrial center of the city. Filled with some abandoned warehouses, it was the perfectly place to hide. The stranger takes rummages into one of his pockets and produces a key. He opens the door to one of the buildings and pulls Wilbur inside.

It was empty except for the single desk and chair in the middle of the room. Light came through the windows that lined high up on the walls.

Wilbur leans against the wall, out of breath. The top hat man moves to the center of the room, but Wilbur pulls back, his mind starting to race. Out of the pot, into the fire...maybe.

"Let go," Wilbur says..

The top hat man looks at him, surprised, as if he had forgotten all about the him.

"Let go of my arm…"

He does.

"Why have you been following me?" The question comes out in gasps. "What is going on?"

The top hat man keeps silent, drawing his face even deeper into the umbra of his cloak.

"What do you want with me? Who is this Snake? Do you work for him too?" The man stays silent.

"Why did you kill my dad? Answer me!"

The top hat man begins to shake, and in a yell that surprises Wilbur, the top hat man proceeds to push him against the wall, lifting him up into the air by the front of his coat.

"Why?" the top hat man asks. His voice is gruff. "Why did you do that?"

"Let go!" Wilbur tries to push him away, his legs flailing helplessly in the air.

"Why did you have to put yourself in danger." The top hat man's voice gets louder and louder.

"Put me down!" Wilbur punches wildly.

"So help me God, I'm going to ground you until the sun stops shining!" the man exclaims. At the same time, Wilbur's fist connects with his face, and it knocks the top hat from his head.

And Wilbur stops struggling altogether as the world seems to go into slow motion.

"It…it can't be," he says softly as the world seemed to slow down around him.

The same jaw, the same blue eyes, the same blond spike. All the same features he had known and loved, twisted into worry. A red blotch appears on the left cheek where Wilbur's fist had been momentarily.

Cornelius sees his hands clenched by his son's throat. He lowers the boy until his feet touch the ground and relaxes his fists. He looks at his son: the boy's lip quivering, hands clenching together, eyes watering.

"Dad..." Both joy and sadness fill him to the brink until he can't seem to hold it in any longer, and he cries. Wilbur wraps his arms around him and buries his face into his chest.

The warehouse's silence is broken by his loud sobs.

"I'm so sorry Wilbur." Cornelius slowly strokes the boy's hair.

"I don't care! I don't care! I'm just so glad you're alive!" Cornelius smiles as the rest of Wilbur's words are lost into incoherent babbling and hiccups.

"I missed you too…" He says as he pulls his son closer to him, embracing him as if to never let go.


Note: Thank you for everyone's reviews so far. As usual, they are always welcome.

Sorry this took so long. I've been reading the Cirque du freak series by Darren Shan and a couple of other books.

I'm planning two more chapters in this story and then I'm going to switch the it over with more of a character arc instead. I've never done one before but hey I have to start somewhere.