Alright those things that are used in the book for thought speech, the greater than and less than signs, you know? Those don't seem to want to work so I used ( ) instead. Grr. Sorry.
Sleep was nice. I collapsed onto my bed, and Jake collapsed onto the air mattress my dad had put out. In our extreme sleepiness, the fact that we had a whole room to ourselves for the entire night left us. Pity, I'm sure we'd regret it later. We awoke without a word the next morning, still horribly tired. After dropping our book reports off at the school office (Jake having finished his summer reading about a month ago) we flew to Cassie's barn. Everyone was there, preparing for the scope-out mission. except us.
"Late again, Marco. You're a bad influence on my cousin," Rachel said pointedly.
"Sorry," I grumbled, sitting down on a bale of hay.
"It's ok, let's just get down to business," Jack said, walking to the center of the group.
"Oh don't tell me you're going to go all soft now that you have lover boy over here," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.
"Rachel, shut up," Cassie bluntly said. Rachel looked too taken aback to respond.
"Right, so anyway," Jack began, "I'm thinking two of us should go in, in seagull morph. We don't need anymore than that snooping around. Wouldn't want to look too obvious."
"What two?" I asked.
"I'm in," Rachel said quickly. Of course.
(Perhaps, Prince Jake, I should be the other, as I may be the most experienced with any technology they may be using,) Ax said in the air of one trying not to sound too snobby, but failing miserably.
"Sure, so Rachel and Ax go around the car wash as seagulls. But there's another part to the plan, and I'll need someone to volunteer for it. It could be dangerous, but I suppose the one with the most experience in this area is Marco."
"Jake, I don't think making out with you is very important to this mission," Rachel said smiling. Jake ignored her. "Once Ax and Rachel give us the ok, we're going to need someone to drive through, and see what happens."
Yeah, I had the most driving experience. I completely totaled Cassie's dad's truck while gaining this experience. But if the job needed to be done...
"You mean you want me to drive through the car wash?" I asked.
"Exactly."
"But...where are we going to get a car?" I squeaked. I wasn't really too eager to jump behind the wheel again.
"Oh don't even think about borrowing one of ours," Cassie said, shaking her head. Ah, so she remembered, too.
"My parents are renting a car on their vacation. We could use my dad's," Jake said.
"And you expect me to drive his car all the way down town and through the car wash?"
"Yep."
"Oh, well if that's all..." I muttered
Ax and Rachel flew off to the car wash. So I found myself standing in Jake's driveway, him leaning over to pick up the key from behind one of the front wheels.
"My parents thought Tom might need it, if he got home early," Jake said, as if I would think less of him simply because his parents hid the keys to the car in the most obvious space known to man kind. So this was dating your best friend. Awkward silences and even more embarrassing statements. I sat down in the driver's seat, and put the keys in the ignition. Jake got in and quickly buckled his seat belt. I buckled mine, put the car in drive, and slowly pulled out of the driveway into the road. I went about ten miles an hour most of the way, until a substantial line of cars piled up behind me, all beeping and making rude gestures out their windows. I sped up slightly, and began to get the hang of it.
"Hey, this isn't so bad," I said, putting the radio on. I veered into on-coming traffic as I leaned down. Jake grabbed the wheel and righted me. "Oh...thanks."
"No problem. Turn left, here," Jake said, pointing to the street the car wash was on. I pulled into a parking lot to wait for Rachel and Ax's 'ok'. Me and Jake sat in silence, until I couldn't take it anymore.
"So...they took it pretty well, huh?"
"Yeah. Rachel seems a bit angry, though."
"Rachel's always angry," I said, hoping she wasn't anywhere close enough to hear me.
"Mm. So..."
"So..."
Wow this was awful. Thankfully, Ax stopped by with the signal before we were crushed by the overwhelming tension.
(Everything on the outside appears normal, Prince Jake.)
"Thanks, Ax," Jake said, although I doubt he could hear him. I drove slowly to the car wash, and stopped at the entrance. A man approached the window.
"That'll be five bucks...say, aren't you a little young to be driving?"
"I have a bone deficiency, thanks for bringing it up." I turned to Jake. "Em, hey man, spot me?" He smiled and handed me a ten. I gave it to the man, who looked at us suspiciously. He handed me back the change.
"Drive on through," he said. I slowly drove in, and Jake and I locked our doors. It was completely dark, but I could sense those weird stringy strips of fabric whipping the car. The hot water was shooting out at us, and the soap was squishing against the car. Everything seemed to be going fine. Until I heard the lock unclick and the passenger side door open.
"Jake. Jake what are you doing?" No answer. I heard a loud thud, a groan, and the sound of something heavy sliding to the ground. "Jake. Jake? Jake?!" I cried, and leaning over I felt no one there. I was alone. Jake was gone. I continued to feel around the seat, refusing to admit that he was taken. I moved onto the floor, still feeling nothing, nothing but a pool of a thick, warm liquid. I've felt enough of this to know what it was. Blood.