Big big thank you to Crystalwolf101, Wildhorseatheart, Guest, Stewie909, EpicMan58, ErrorSkittlesFox for the support! LY!
Emmy sat in the former Mayor of Perdido Beach's office. It was a bigger version of the principal's office up at Coates, including a larger desk chair that dwarfed Caine. It gave him his true appearance—a child. Caine had sent Drake to give his police force commands and ensure each one had appropriate weapons. Drake's suggestion of guns had been swiftly rejected, so he grudgingly left with the task of finding baseball bats.
"Emmy," Caine said after Diana had gone to the daycare to find out what they needed.
"Yep," she said as she was lying back on the couch. She couldn't find her brain's off switch last night in bed, replaying over and over the images of kids trapped at Coates.
"Go to the fire station—Sam and his friends should be there now."
"Ugh," Emmy groaned. "Why can't Diana do it?"
"Because I want Diana to do other duties."
Emmy sat up and smirked at her brother. "You don't have to tell me what you want Diana to do. But I doubt—" Emmy was forcefully shoved back against the back of the couch and pinned down against it.
"The last thing I need," Caine responded in a forcibly low voice, "is for you to get above your station with nasty comments like that! Now if you don't want to be here, then I can easily send you back up to Coates so you can wipe the butts of those cemented. You're choice."
"Fine, I'll be your little messenger!" Emmy shouted at him, and he released her. "What do you even want me to say?"
"That I hope they settle well into their new duties and they can always speak to me if they have any problems. I need them on my side. Got it?"
Emmy stood up and stomped her way over to the fire station. Making jokes at Caine's expense was never a good idea, but exhaustion made Emmy forget to think smart.
The fire station's ground level was a garage containing the fire engine. The large door to it was open and Emmy stepped inside. "Anyone home?" she called out.
In response, a boy came down the fireman's pole. He wasn't comfortable with the speed he descended with and put a foot back to save himself too soon. He ended up falling back on his ass with a bump. "Agh," he moaned, "That—" he stopped talking when he looked up and saw Emmy. "Uh," he mumbled, he was Sam's friend in the church yesterday.
"I think you need more practice with that," Emmy said bluntly.
He didn't notice her rudeness and replied. "It was my first try, and the best one yet of ours."
"Oh, then very impressive, until the end."
"Thanks," he blushed. "It's Emmeline isn't it?"
"I prefer Emmy," she corrected.
He nodded his head and began to ramble, "Cool, I don't know any else with that name—I know tonnes of 'Emma's and 'Emily's, and even an 'Emilia'. But not an 'Emmeline'."
"Quinn!" someone shouted from above them; Sam Temple was leaning over the pole's opening that was probably too small for Emmy to be insight. "Who's there, man?"
"Emmy Soren, Caine's sister!" Quinn answered.
"Is there a fire?" Sam asked.
"No, I just need to talk to you," Emmy called up to him.
"Sure, come on up."
Quinn scrambled to his feet. "I'll lead the way." He had intended to look briefly at Emmy's face, but his gaze was fixed.
"Your eyes aren't that typical either," Emmy protested at him thinking how odd her eyes were.
"What?" He was taken aback.
"They're hazel—a mixture of two colours. My eyes are also a mixture of two colours. It just manifests itself in different forms."
Quinn was feeling more out of depth with her. A hottie was challenging enough, but a smart hottie was intimidating.
Upstairs, Sam and a smaller kid were taking stock of the pantry. "Hello," Sam's friend greeted when he saw Emmy.
"Hi," Emmy said back.
"Did Caine send you?" Sam asked. Sam didn't seem threatened at Caine sending Emmy—unaware it was to keep tabs on him.
"Yeah, he just wants to know if you guys are alright and getting set up for dealing with emergencies."
"We're fine," Sam said. "We'll practise with the equipment in case we're needed."
"Let's hope you've more success with that than the fireman's pole."
The guy with Sam piped in with an optimistic smile, "Nah, me and Sam are way better at it than Quinn. You should have seen his first go!"
"Stupid Mexican!" Quinn thought to himself. So there was tension between him and the Mexican—tension was always amusing to spectate.
"Sorry, I don't know your name," Emmy said politely.
"Edilio Escobar," he proudly answered.
"Good to know," Emmy smiled sweetly at Edilio, which infuriated Quinn. "If you need anything then come talk to my brother. He'll be happy to help."
"Thank you," Sam nodded politely.
Emmy smiled between the three boys and walked towards the pole. As a child she was always the best at the fireman's pole in the playground. "Shall I demonstrate how it's done, Quinn?" Emmy smirked at him before grabbing the pole, and wrapped her limbs around it before dropping down to the garage. She buckled her knees to absorb impact and stepped gracefully away from it. "Bye boys!" she called up towards the three of them gawking at her.
…
Emmy despised peeling potatoes—it always left a strange smell on her hands. But it was a necessary step for making Potato Dauphinoise that Caine had requested for dinner. Caine and Diana were at the town hall—Caine had designated afternoons for people to come to him with problems and Diana was his secretary. Computer Jack was the only person in the house with her. He sat at the table focusing on taking apart the house phone, hoping it would be useful for developing his communication system.
Emmy was growing fond of the house. The kitchen was fully kitted out, and the back garden had a pool. Caine had obviously claimed the master bedroom, and Computer Jack willingly took the spare room even though it was the smallest. The owner's had two daughters; one at UCLA with a neat room that Diana wanted as it had an en suite. Emmy was glad that she got the other—she had scoped the rooms before the others and knew that despite the older girl having a lame geeky wardrobe, the younger one had a fashion taste more akin to Emmy's. Emmy guessed that since no one had come to the house yet then the girl was in high school.
"Set the table for me, Jack," Emmy ordered after she was finished with the potatoes.
"Umm, sure." Jack scuttled around the large kitchen to find the cutlery while Emmy picked up a copy of Vogue she found in her new room. "Do you think Caine would mind if I eat in my room? I have a lot of work to do." Work was not the reason Jack didn't want to join them at dinner—they all intimidated him, especially the flirtatious Diana.
"As scintillating as your dinnertime conversation is, we'll survive."
"Did your mum teach you to cook?" Computer Jack asked when he had finished his task.
Emmy nodded, "Yeah. It was very boring, but it was the only time we had together." She hadn't really thought about if she would see her parents again. And she couldn't do it now in front of Computer Jack. At least she had Caine; that was more than what a lot of people had. Emmy busied herself by flipping through a magazine, then making a sauce to go along with the dinner, and searched for any fresh vegetables. Asparagus—perfect. "Do you like asparagus, Jack?" Emmy asked.
"It's alright," he half-heartedly said.
Emmy had her head in the oven when she heard Caine and Diana arrived back.
"Gassing yourself?"
Emmy looked up at Drake smirking. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Drake will be joining us for dinner," Caine answered.
"Oh thanks for the notice," Emmy snapped. "Jack, set another place." The FAYZ was unpleasant enough without Drake's presence. Emmy pulled the dinner from the oven and plated up. She handed the first one to Jack. "Jack has to a lot of work, so he's eating upstairs," Emmy announced. He nodded gratefully at her and scuttled upstairs.
The others took their plates and sat down. Caine had a bite of the potatoes and made a satisfying moan. "Mmm, just like Mum's."
Drake poked at his, "What is it?"
"That's chicken," Diana answered with condensation , "you know? From the bird?"
"I know what chicken is!" Drake shouted. "What's the other stuff?"
"Potato Dauphinoise," Emmy informed him.
"Potato what?"
"It's what fries are made of, with cheese, cream and onions. And the green things are asparagus. Have you ever had them before?" Drake didn't answer, but Emmy knew he was cursing her for giving him food he had no familiarity with.
Drake glared at everyone else at the table, happily eating the posh food they grew up with. Drake knew the Sorens were infinitely richer than his family. Caine always came back from Summer Break with souvenirs from foreign countries. Whereas Drake was lucky if he got a week camping with his dad. His family barely afforded his school fees, but it had been a last resort. Being poor was never a disadvantage at Coates, because then you were there for a very good reason, and you were avoided. Drake was far from jealous of Caine or Diana; it was just the feeling of superiority they had that bothered him.
"Not hungry, Drake?" Caine asked, with that arrogant face of his. Drake glared at him, and stuck his knife and fork into the chicken breast and sawed. It tasted like any plain chicken; nothing spectacular for the rich to get excited about.
"The sauce jazzes it up," Emmy pushed the saucepan towards him.
Drake finished the chicken, and looked at the rest of his dinner. He was never a fan of green vegetables so the asparagus was bound to be disgusting. He lifted a slice of potato and inspected beneath it, before cutting it in half and taking a bite. He didn't expect the creaminess from it, and took another bite. Before he had realised he was greedily polishing it off. He stole a sideways look at Emmy. It was surprising that someone so skinny was a good cook; Drake would have guessed she didn't even eat. He took another quick glance at her, but his mind stayed on her. Her hair was tied up, out of her face and Drake could see that her mysterious eyes were focused on her food, silent as everyone else was. That reminded Drake: what was he doing here? It wasn't because they enjoyed his company.
"Why am I here?" Drake asked bluntly.
"To discuss the police force's rota," Caine replied. "I was going to wait until we'd finished dinner, but you're obviously in a hurry. Diana, go get it." Diana got up and picked up documents from the table by the front door, and handed it to Drake. Caine started to explain it. "There's about five people on shift at a time. They must be on the street during their shifts, but have the power to enforce the law at any time. We made copies, and every officer has been told to pick up a copy by lunchtime tomorrow. If the don't feel free to discipline them." Drake smirked at the last remark.
In the previous silence, Caine had been thinking through his problem: he knew all of those fifteen or older had disappeared. But what happened when someone turned fifteen? It was an important question for Caine as he his fifteenth was in nine days. It had been playing at the back of his mind when he had made the connection. "I need to find out what happens when I turn fifteen. Maybe, if I saw what happened to someone else?"
"And how do you do that?" Diana asked, not seeming to care about the severity of his dilemma. Caine furrowed his brow, and bit his thumbnail.
"School records will give you birthdays and even times," Emmy answered.
Caine looked gratefully at Emmy, "So you do have your uses. You'll go up to the school tomorrow, and fetch them."
"What?" Emmy yelled. "There is no way that I am going there to see what you did to the others!"
Caine's pleased face evaporated. "You will do as you're told, or you'll end up like them! And that's non-negotiable." Emmy's silent response allowed Caine to cool down. "And Drake will take you there."
"No I—" Drake protested.
"Yes, you will. Pick her up tomorrow morning at nine."