Chapter Four
In the shadow formed by an overgrown willow tree, Arnaud watched and listened. The boy had proven to be a weak link in the structure he had tried hard to build in this town. But he could use this betrayal to his advantage. Slowly, a plan formed in his sinister mind, and this new plan might even work more in his favor. Darien would suffer, and most definitely come with him- one of the disadvantages of Darien's guilty conscience and caring disposition.
He watched the blonde-haired teen walk away from Darien and his partner, checking all ways to make sure no one was watching. Too bad for the boy: he should have checked more carefully.
Arnaud slowly felt the chill of Quicksilver run down his body, and every part of him began to disappear. Once the transformation was complete, he held his hand in front of him, but only saw a purple shadow of his hand placed in front of a black-and-white-colored world.
Satisfied, he turned his attention back to the 'traitor'. Running after him, it wasn't a hard endeavor to catch the unsuspecting teen.
Before Oz got a chance to scream, he felt an icy hand cover his mouth, though he saw nothing, and pull him backwards. He scrambled to get away from the mysterious force pulling him, but he couldn't. After trying to catch Darien's attention failed, he gave in and let himself be dragged towards wherever it was he was being taken. But he never got the chance to see where he was going. The hand over his mouth moved upwards a little to cover his nose as well and he felt his oxygen supply being cut off. Still trying to struggle, he panicked and tried to breathe harder which only pushed his consciousness further away. His vision started to fade and was replaced with dancing black dots. Soon after, he saw nothing.
~*~*~
"So, you believe this kid, Fawkes?" Bobby asked his friend, unsure of what he himself felt about the situation.
Darien thought for a moment. "I'm not sure, but I know we don't have much else to believe right now. So I think we should just go along with this kid for the time being, and if we get another side of the story, then we'll question him."
"Alright, but I want you to remember one thing through this, ok? Here it is- Arnaud is basically holding this entire town hostage. He knows what they do, and he probably already knows about Oz, and being invisible is only adding to his power over them."
"I know all this, Hobbes. What are you trying to say?" Darien questioned, looking him in the eye. He straightened his dark green sweatshirt, and folded his arms over his chest.
"These people's lives depend on you. Don't let your hatred for him interfere with your judgement."
Darien and Bobby stared at each other for a moment, Bobby making sure his partner understood, and Darien angry that Hobbes would even suggest that. But after a minute, Darien looked away, realizing that it was a possibility. A very strong possibility, that this would be the case later on.
Fawkes gave a short, affirming nod. "Fine."
Bobby sighed. "So now what?"
"I have no idea. We need another head here to help."
Hobbes agreed and turned around, thinking. A smile began to form on his face. "I think we just got that third head."
Darien gave him a confused look, then followed Bobby's vision until he saw a blonde woman coming towards them with a medium-sized suitcase in her right hand. She waved with her left hand and hurried towards them.
"Hey, Keepy!" Darien called, amiably, despite the circumstances.
She feigned annoyance by the nickname but her grin slipped through. When she reached them, she set her suitcase on the grass under their feet. "Nice to see you both in one piece, for once," she said, with a joking smile.
Bobby held up a finger to protest, but Darien interrupted him, leaving his mouth hanging open for a moment. "Yeah, well, we might not be like this for long. Arnaud's in town, and from what we've heard, he's responsible for the murder."
"Oh… That could be a problem, then, huh?"
Darien nodded. "Just a little."
"So then you haven't gone invisible yet?"
"Well, I didn't want to go crazy before you got here, so no, we haven't done much searching. Besides, we've only been here a couple hours."
"Ok, can we drop my things off wherever you're staying and then do a little looking around? By the way," she added, "where are you staying? There's no hotels around here."
Bobby told her about Miss Lucy, making sure not to leave out the details of the gorgeous rooms. Claire looked impressed.
"Wow! I can't wait to see it!"
"Well," Darien noted, "why wait any longer? Let's get back."
~*~*~
The first thing Oz saw when his eyes opened and adjusted to the light was Arnaud. He was sitting at a table on the other end of the room. He noticed that the room was fairly nice. It had a light green, and barely faded carpet, a table, where Arnaud was sitting, and chairs to match. Oz felt neither, however. He was tied rather tightly to a blanket-less bed. And much to his frustration, his mouth was gagged.
Determined, he tried to get the cloth out of his mouth, but found it extremely difficult without the use of his hands, which were held tightly to the backboard of the bed.
Arnaud, unfortunately, heard his struggling and turned around towards the teenager. "Oh, I see you're awake."
Oz simply glared at him and threw garbled curses at him.
"Hmm, someone's a little pissed still. But don't worry, you won't be here long. You're just bait. And as soon as I have Darien, you might be free to go, depending on how well you behave. So I suggest you are very, very good. Get it?"
Still glaring, Oz acquiesced. He nodded, and looked away from the face staring back at him.
"Good. Now, I have a plan to set into motion, so if you'll excuse me." With that, he turned his back and went back to work at the table.
Oz mentally flipped him off, and prayed that Darien would be safe through all this. He didn't want Darien to fall prey to this madman, but there was nothing he would be able to do tied up in this room. He had to get out.