A/N: I would like to apologize for such a long wait! I tried to keep a schedule that lasted about a month before I couldn't do it anymore and I'm sorry. I will try to get back on track but don't hold me to it! So without further ado, the long-awaited chapter ten!
Disclaimer in first two chapters.
Chapter 10: Contact
Emmy and Cal leave the group to take Cal back to her home. Emmy decided to walk Cal to her house.
"I can't believe that's the type of stuff you have to deal with now," Cal says as they walk back.
"It's not a regular thing," Emmy guarantees her, "That's for sure." Cal smiles.
"Thanks for asking for my help. And, uh, I'm glad you changed for the better."
"Me too," Emmy agrees. She and Cal walk in a peaceful silence a little longer.
Cal walks up to her steps and Emmy heads back to the Hunter house. After hearing what happened the night she disappeared, she was surprised. Maybe it was because neither Tess nor Max had a record to be considered, however, she did.
When Emmy got back to the house she could hear Eugene and Hedwig going on a rant about all the rules the kids had disobeyed. Emmy walked into the living room as Eugene asks if they thought they'd get away with what they did.
"Yeah, honestly thought so," Emmy says sarcastically as she closes the door behind her and leans on the back of the couch where the other kids sat.
"And where have you been?" Hedwig asks.
"Like you care," Emmy rolls her eyes. She doesn't answer the question.
"Well, for the two most impudent of all, we have a little surprise," Hedwig says and a Blackfriar's orphanage truck pulls up.
Everyone looks out the window and Emmy seems to lose the bravado she had beforehand. The adults leave and quickly the kids are thinking of a way to hide Max and Emmy.
"The secret room!" Anika yells, pointing to the hidden door in the living room.
"Yeah!" everyone agrees as they go to open the wall. Pulling the door open they all hug Max and Emmy goodbye, unknowing how long they'll have to hide. Daniel and Tess push the door closed as Anika and Sal go and sit back down on the couch.
Emmy and Max make their way through the tunnel to the secret room. They can hear Hedwig's annoyed voice echoing around the walls as the Blackfriar's orphanage worker left. Emmy smiles as they see the light from the secret room through the small grate.
"Almost there," she says as she hurries towards the grate. Forcing it off and climbing out of the hole. Max follows after her.
Eugene is yelling at Anika, Sal, Tess, and Daniel about how they'll be searching the house inch by inch until they find Emmy and Max. The four kids go to their rooms as they are told. And in the secret room, Eugene's voice carries as he yells,
"So you won't forget who's in charge in this house! Understood?" Max walks over to the wall that connects to the library and tries to listen as Eugene and Hedwig talk. Emmy joins him.
"Good thing how?" Hedwig asks as she and Eugene walk into the library.
"Who cares where the filthy urchins are? If they ran away again, so much the better. We want all those brats out of our hair. Two down four to go."
"That's true," Hedwig agrees, "And it's only a matter of time before we stick the other little rats in new foster homes."
Emmy and Max look at each other, worry evident on their faces. Hedwig continues to talk about how she and Eugene are the 'real' Hunters so all the possessions belong to them. Hedwig and Eugene leave the library. Max and Emmy look at Max's phone as he calls Sal.
"Max?" Sal asks when he picks up the phone.
"And Emmy," she adds. The phone is on speaker so both of them can hear Sal.
Sal thinks they shouldn't talk on the phone because it's too risky but Emmy and Max want to meet with them because of what they heard. Trying to come up with a plan without the others getting into trouble proves difficult since none of the kids are supposed to leave their rooms. But then the line cuts off.
Sal runs down the stairs with the rest of the kids to see what happened to the phone signal.
"The internet is down!" Daniel says.
"I need internet access for schoolwork!" Tess adds as she too runs down the stairs.
"The horsie ponies were going to have a pillow fight!" Anika complains. Everyone looks at her with confused expressions. Sal suggests that they reset the router for internet access.
Hedwig shows them an unplugged router. Eugene and Hedwig explain how they think devices are too distracting. They have also put up a signal jammer so none of the kids can call anyone. They even make everyone hand over their phones, Tess sneaks the Saganash phone into her back pocket and hands over her real one. And to add to the new rules, all the kids will be sleeping in the same room.
Back in the secret room, Max slides down the wall while his stomach grumbles.
"You'll eat when it's safe," Max tells his stomach.
"Do you really need to say that out loud?" Emmy asks as she goes to sit on the table in the room.
"Sorry," Max says, "I guess this situation is bad enough to make me want to talk to myself." Emmy purses her lips and nods.
"It is, but hey, we've always got each other, right?"
Max smiles sadly and nods.
"And we're going to find a way to get Kate and Erik back."
"Yeah, we are," Emmy agrees. She helps Max up from the floor and they high five. "And with us not having to go to school since we're runaways now, we have even more time!"
"This glass is half full," Max replies.
"Soon it will be overflowing," Emmy chuckles. Hopefully, she thinks silently.
Anika, Sal, Tess, and Daniel look at the Rec room that had been turned into a bedroom for the night. And maybe future. Four lumpy sleeping bags lay on the floor with some gross meat on gross bread and four glasses of water. Anika made a disgusted face at the sight.
Outside the room, Eugene was sitting in a very comfortable-looking chair. Hedwig gave him a plate of food and started questioning the lock on the door. Wondering if they needed an extra lock on the door. But Eugene refused, saying,
"My watchfulness is boundless," he says. "Not even a mouse could pass without me noticing."
Anika is freaking out in the room. Tess tries calming her but Anika only continues. She tries explaining how she has FOMO, bad. Then the annoying ringing of the Saganash phone starts. Tess pulls it out of her pocket and answers.
"Hello?" Tess asks.
"I don't appreciate being treated like a fool," Saganash says from the other end. There's a video of the hooded kidnapper smashing the fake diamond. Saganash gives them a new place and time to meet for the Hunters to hand over the real diamond. Or they would never see Kate and Erik again.
Later that night…
Emmy and Max sneak out of the secret room. Through the living room and tip-toed past a sleeping Eugene. Emmy unlocks the door quietly and the others are looking at them with surprise.
"MAX, EMMY!" the four shout.
"Sh, sh, sh, sh," Emmy whispers as Max looks behind him to check that Eugene is still sleeping. He is, surprisingly.
As soon as Max closes the door quietly he and Emmy take a seat on the floor in front of everyone else. They are filled in on the situation at hand. They needed to do something. But Max informed them about the plans Eugene and Hedwig had for splitting them up. Each kid would have a new foster family, so they needed to leave. But it would make Eugene and Hedwig's plan to take the Hunter fortune easier.
"Where can we go?" Daniel asks.
"I don't know," Max admits. Emmy's face morphs into one of pondering. "Amsterdam does have some nice parks."
"Don't listen to Max, we're not living in a park," Daniel reassures Sal and Anika as their faces get even sadder. Sal even hides his face in his knees.
"I think I might know somewhere," Emmy says quietly. The others look over to her with hope. "I'm not one hundred percent sure they'll take all of us, though."
"Well, as long as it's better than Max's canal idea," Daniel says.
"I didn't-" But Tess cuts Max off.
"That's not actually a bad idea." Sal seems to understand what Tess means and so does Anika, Daniel and Max are still confused, however. Emmy also racking her brain for the answer to the three agreed solution. They find out soon enough.
The next morning, the six kids wake up in the boat they boarded last night. Daniel and Anika leave in a disguise of a tall man to go get Rinus who has heard of their disappearance. They lead him to the boat where Tess, Emmy, Max, and Sal wave hello to him. Anika reveals her face and Daniel unbuttons the coat to reveal his.
The six explain to Rinus what they are doing in the boat. He realizes they slept there and tells them how they're brave, but Kate and Erik wouldn't be proud of them.
"Tim and Simone were really giving it to your aunt and uncle. They're worried," Rinus tells them. Daniel thinks he should call her but they all ignore his request.
"We need to hand over the diamond to Saganash," Max says.
"The real one," Sal adds.
"But your parents told you-"
"We're all out of options!" Tess says, "This is the only way to get them back."
"I understand. What do you need me to do?"
"Well, the diamond is still in the house in the safe," Sal explains. "We need to get in there and get it back."
"That's where you come in," Emmy says with a hint of mischief in her eyes. She may be able to lie to everyone else, but not herself. She still loved the thrill of a good scheme or con or robbery.
Rinus rings the doorbell of the Hunter house, Hedwig answers already annoyed by him. He tells her how he wants to help look for the kids. He convinces her that he knew the kids better and where they might hide, and then persuades her to drag along Eugene (A/N: before this line, I didn't know Eugene and Hedwig were siblings) Hedwig calls for Eugene and they grab their coats. Rinus ushers them out of the house, but he can't leave the door open for the kids. He hopes for the best as he follows Eugene and Hedwig down the street.
Emmy, Tess, and Sal pop up from the other side of the stairs. Tess hops up to the door, only to find it locked.
"We've got a problem," she says. Sal comes up behind her. Before he can say anything, Emmy beats him to it.
"No, we don't."
Tess looks at her with confusion, Sal the same. Even though he has his own idea, Sal doesn't know what Emmy can do. Emmy seems to be scratching her head until she pulls out a bobby pin from her mess of black hair.
"Do you just have that in your hair all the time?" Tess asks incredulously.
"You never know when you'll need one," she retorts. Tess rolls her eyes but takes a step back, letting Emmy do her thing.
She bends the bobby pin open and delicately puts it in the lock, she's slowly moving the pin around the lock until a soft click is heard. She turns the doorknob and pushes the door open.
"Voila," Emmy says with a smile. They make their way inside. Tess and Sal go to the library to open the secret room and grab the diamond, whilst Emmy travels to the kitchen to grab food that could last them a few weeks in the boat. They arrive back at the boat announcing their accomplished mission was a success.
As everyone starts fighting over the food, even though they have plenty, Daniel spots Simone and Tim on a bridge right above them. They can hear their distant voices talking about the kids. When Simone mentions how Daniel is just a kid he starts yelling about how he's not and everyone else shushes him.
"Did you hear something?" Tim asks.
"No. Come on, we should check the hospital," Simone responds. Their voices grow quiet as they walk away.
* * * * * Later * * * * *
"This is a tracking device," Sal says as he holds something small in a pair of tweezers. He places the device on a knitted bag where they plan to put the diamond.
After Sal explains what the tracking device will do and Daniel leaves their little circle because he asks if he can place it on Simone, Sal asks Max for the diamond.
Max feels his pocket and his eyes go wide. His hands started to move from pocket to pocket. Sal, Tess, and Emmy look at Max in disbelief. Emmy glares and elbows Max lightly.
"Don't tell us you lost it!" she says. Tess also starts glaring at Max. Max laughs and says,
"I'm just joking." But then he doesn't pull the diamond out.
"Max! This is serious!" Sal says.
"Yeah, okay, uh, now I'm not joking!" Max says, "It was right in this pocket a moment ago!" Tess can't believe what she's hearing.
"Max!" she yells.
"Don't worry, I got it," Emmy says, revealing the diamond in her hand.
"Wh-how-what?" Max asks questioningly. His face screwed up in disbelief.
"Sleight of hand," Emmy says as she hands the diamond to Sal. "That's how easy someone could actually take it from you."
"And you are not funny, Max," Tess agrees angrily.
"Now, we can trace the diamond's location within twenty meters or less," Sal says. Everyone looks relieved with this information. "But only if there's an internet connection."
"Did somebody say internet?" Anika asks eagerly. She pushes past Daniel in the front of the boat and takes the tablet by them.
"Nika!" everyone yells.
Soon Max and Sal are standing on the docks with the bag. Everyone else is on the boat giving them thumbs up of encouragement. Some guy with a bike rides up to them.
"You Max?" he asks.
"Yeah."
"You got a package for me?"
Max starts to question the appearance of this guy when he asks about the cape and hood. The guy is confused, because who rides a bike with a cape? They hand him the bag and he gets Max to sign a receipt, then he's off.
Max and Sal get back on the boat where they're already tracking the guy. Daniel is steering the boat as they try following the dude on the bike. They follow him around Amsterdam through the canals. Over the radio, Daniel hears Simone's voice telling people to be on the lookout for their boat.
"Repeat five missing juveniles and one almost adult."
"Almost adult?" Daniel asks, seemingly offended. They continue their pursuit for Saganash and their parents.
Everyone yells at Daniel when he walks away from the wheel to see the tracking device.
And then suddenly the movement stopped and they can't see the guy anywhere. Daniel pulls the boat up to the docks and the six climb out. They're running on the docks when Anika stops. Emmy looks back at her.
"Guys!" she yells at the rest and runs over to a bench. The bang hanging from one side. She takes the bag and opens it. "It's empty." They're all disappointed and frustrated.
"Saganash was onto us."
Then sirens are going off near them. Police sirens. Emmy's eyes wide and everyone turns to see Simone and Tim getting out of her police cruiser.
"Great, they were onto us too," Tess deadpans.
Emmy now has not only disappointment but fear in her eyes. She looks around at her siblings. This might be the last time she saw any of them was her last thought before they were brought back to the Hunter house.
"Oh, thank goodness. Oh, my precious nieces and nephews," Hedwig sighed when she entered the kitchen with Eugene, Simone, and Tim. "We've missed you so much."
"We've been looking all over town for you. That's how worried we were," Eugene lies to Tim and Simone.
"Frankly I don't understand how you could have let this happen. These children were left in your care," Tim irritably says.
"It's not our fault," Eugene spits out furiously. "They're like wild animals." Hedwig continues with the excuse that they're old and the children run around too much, and blah blah blah.
"They're lying!" Anika says, having had enough of their excuses and bitterness. "The first thing they wanted was to get rid of us. Eugene and Hedwig are quick to object to that statement. Hedwig speaks through her teeth as she talks about loving them.
"Is that really the truth?" Max asks. He hits the play button on his phone. Eugene and Hedwig's voice could be heard.
"I think it's a good thing," Eugene's voice is heard.
"Good thing how?"
"Well, who cares where the filthy urchins are? If they ran away again, so much the better. We want all those brats out of our hair. Two down four to go."
"You give that to me!" Eugene yells as he reaches across the table at Max. Max only pulls his phone away and puts up a finger to just wait. Hedwig's voice continues.
"And it's only a matter of time before we stick the other little rats in new foster homes. Then this house and everything in it will belong to its rightful owners: us, the real Hunters."
Hedwig immediately starts to call Max names as soon as the recording is done. Tim and Simone are quick to start ushering Eugene and Hedwig out. All the kids follow saying their "goodbyes" and "how much they'll miss them". And Eugene and Hedwig will never step foot in this house again. Everyone yelling over each other.
Anika hangs back and a ringtone for an incoming call is heard. She looks around the kitchen then notices the tablet in the living room. She sits on the little brown chair and picks the tablet up, accepting the call, she gasps in joy.
"Guys! Come here quick!" she shouts with a smile. Emmy is the first to join her, everyone else soon following. They all grow smiles on their faces as they see Erik and Kate on the screen, smiling and waving. They smile and wave back.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry again for the long wait! Hope you enjoyed it!