Nina Vale: I'm not telling. I don't even know if Kiel is alive or not. And what meeting with Sophie and Wilder?
D.N.S Akina: Maybe.
Disclaimer: I do not own "Huntik."
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Chapter 10: Found?
The team headed straight for their beachside house, with Wilder right behind them, as soon as they got back to Sutos, all taking various positions around the living room. Sophie pulled out the locket she had found in the cave and placed in on the low table in front of them. Setting it down, she noticed that Wilder was staring at it again with that strange look on his face.
Zhalia scanned the locket with her Holotome and an image of it came up, along with an online website that sold Celtic-style jewelry, where the locket had originally come from. Hacking into the website's records, she came up with a list of purchases for that particular locket.
"This design had only been out for about three years now," she said. "A total of thirty-two people have bought one."
"That's quite a list," Lok moaned, the idea of sorting through them all and trying the find the locket's owner already giving him a headache.
Zhalia searched through the records, trying to find something that would help them narrow down the list, and spotted something. "This company gives you the option of special order engravings on the back," she said. Sophie picked up the locket and turned it over.
"It's engraved," she said, and watched as Zhalia made a new list for them. The total came to only twelve this time.
"That's less than half of the original list," Den said with a smile on his face.
"Can you see what the individual engravings are for each order?" Harrison asked. Zhalia did some quick typing.
"Yes," she answered. "Some are letters and some are flowers and other images. Sophie. . ."
The Casterwill girl didn't need any more instructions. Looking carefully at the engraving on the locket, she said, "It's three letters. R-A-W. Must be their initials."
After some more typing, Zhalia smiled. "There's only one order with that specific engraving. The one who purchased it is. . ." She paused, and double-checked the name and picture that showed up on the screen. After making sure that what she was seeing was correct, she looked up at the team, or, more specifically, one person, turned the Holotome around to let them see the picture, and said two words. "Zack Wilder."
The team looked at the picture of Wilder displayed on the Holotome before turning to the real Wilder, who was sitting on the couch next to Sophie. His face was pale, his eyes were wide, and he looked like he was having trouble breathing. Taking the locket from Sophie, he opened it up. The team crowded around. Staring back at them from the locket was a picture of a smiling Wilder.
"It can't be," he whispered. "Renee?"
"This was your daughter's locket?" Sophie asked. The rest of the team turned to her with confused looks on their faces. Like her, before Wilder had confessed to her, none of them had any idea that Wilder had a daughter.
"This was a sixteenth birthday present," Wilder said. "She never took it off. But if it's here, then that means that. . ." His voice trailed off.
"That means that Renee must have been here," Sophie finished for him.
"You don't know where your own daughter is?" Zhalia scoffed, criticism and doubt in her voice.
"She disappeared two years ago," Wilder said. "This is the first clue I've had as to what happened to her."
"If it's been two years," Cherit began, "she may not have been here very recently. Two years is a long time. A lot could have happened between then and now."
"I know that," Wilder said. "But, still. . ." He closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.
"What if it wasn't her?" Harrison asked. "What if someone took it from her?"
"The item exchanged for the Hippocampus amulet had to be something with sentimental value," Sophie reminded him. "I doubt it would mean very much to someone who stole it. Besides, Wilder's picture is still inside. If the locket was stolen, whoever took it would have removed it."
"I thought as much," Harrison said. "It was just a suggestion."
"Do you have a picture of your daughter?" Den asked. "If she came to the island, maybe someone will recognize her."
As Wilder hesitated, the door opened and Grier walked in, having been informed that the team and Wilder had returned. Before anyone could say anything, he spoke.
"You didn't find the amulet."
"How do you know that?" Lok asked.
"Because I know who took it," Grier answered.
Wilder started, but didn't look up. He just kept staring at the now closed locket.
"So do we," Sophie said. "It was Wilder's daughter, Renee."
"You have a daughter?" Grier asked Wilder, who had finally looked up. If the news hadn't shocked him, the tear that fell from Wilder's eyes did. He showed him the locket.
"This was my daughter's," he said in a quiet voice. "We found it in the cave."
Grier took the locket from Wilder's hand and looked at it. Turning it over, he saw the engraved letters.
"R-A-W," he read out loud. "Those would be her initials?" Wilder nodded. "The 'A' wouldn't happen to stand for 'Annabelle,' would it?" Wilder's eyes widened as he looked at Grier in shock. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"What did you mean when you said you knew who took the amulet?" Harrison asked, apparently the only one who remembered why Grier had come here in the first place.
"Because she's here," Grier answered. Wilder jumped up.
"Renee's here!?" he cried. "On Sutos!? Where is she!? How did you find her!?"
"Slow down there," Grier said, pushing Wilder back down. "She was caught stealing from a farm. When I interrogated her, she refused to give me her real name and asked to be called 'Annabelle' instead. She also mentioned that someone was looking for her; a man that was willing to kill to get to her."
"I would do anything to find my daughter," Wilder said, "but I wouldn't go so far as to kill someone. Renee would never forgive me if I did."
"You had no problem trying to kill us when we were still fighting," Den pointed out. Wilder looked away with an ashamed look on his face.
"The man she's referring to must be involved with her disappearance," Sophie suggested, trying to lead the conversation away from where Den had started taking it and back to where it originally was.
"We found the few amulets she had on her," Grier continued, "and one of them was the Hippocampus."
"After two years with no clues at all," Wilder whispered, "and now. . ." He stood up again. "I have to see her." He was pushed back into his seat once again by Grier.
"Just to make sure it's the same girl," he began, "do you have a picture of your daughter on you by any chance?"
Just like before, Wilder hesitated. Eventually, though, he pulled a picture out of his pocket, the same picture that Sophie had seen him looking at. Everyone crowded around to take a look, and all but Grier gasped.
"Sophie!?" the boys cried, then switched back and forth from looking at the girl sitting next to Wilder, who had gone as pale as he had when he first saw the locket, and the picture that he held in his hand.
"Wilder, you said you adopted Renee. Care to give us the details about that?" Sophie asked the man sitting next to her.
"It was fourteen years ago," Wilder began. "I had just joined the Organization and was in Paris looking for an apartment. I found Renee in an alley. She looked like she had just come out of a fire. The hospital was unable to locate her family, so she was sent to the orphanage. I adopted her two weeks later."
"You also mentioned that she already had an amulet," Sophie said.
"Yes," Wilder said. "Pegasus."
"That's one of the Titans Annabelle had on her," Grier added.
"Sophie, do you know something about Renee that the rest of us don't?" Lok asked.
Everyone stared at her as Sophie tried to think of the best way to say it. After a few minutes of mental debate, she took a deep breath.
"I think," she began, "that Renee might really be Serena, my twin sister."
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Cliffhanger! Even though most of my reviewers had already figured it out. How was that? I'll explain about Sophie's twin in the next chapter. For now, please review.