Back in Central City, it was getting late. Nothing had happened at the mansion. Amy had already gone to bed. Kshin seemed very annoyed by April.
„She yelled at me when I opened the doors to the terrace," he complained.
„Well, we were told to say inside," April snapped. „I just told you that you were not to go outside, that's all."
„I wasn't trying to!" Kshin said, rolling his eyes. „I just wanted to let in some air, that's all."
„It's time to go to sleep now," Flash interrupted, seeing that April was about to yell again. „The Phantom will go meet one of his contacts tonight. There's nothing the rest of us can do for now."
„So Rick has to spend the whole night as a prisoner?" April replied angrily. „And LJ too?"
„There is nothing we can do," Flash repeating. It was difficult for him as well. He never liked sitting around, doing nothing.
„We might need our strenght tomorrow, so we better rest up," Lothar interrupted, although he, too, felt like he wouldn't be able to sleep properly as long as LJ was not safely back yet.
„Come on," Mandrake said to Jedda who had come back from the garden where she had found a safe and comfy spot for Kisa to sleep. „I'll show you and April to your rooms."
„And tomorrow we'll save Rick and LJ!" April said, walking up the stairs behind Mandrake, followed by Jedda.
„Well, us adults will hopefully do so, yes," Mandrake said. His mansion had many bedrooms for back in the old days, balls and soirees had been held here and since the guests had come from all over the place, they had often been staying for quite a while. He opened two doors and gestured inside. „Here you go, girls. And the bathroom is right over there. You'll share it with the other kids who also have their rooms on this floor."
„Thank you," Jedda politely replied.
„Honestly," April grumbled as soon as Mandrake had gone downstairs again. „I can't believe he wants me to stay behind again. This is my brother who is in danger. I do believe I could really help!"
„Well, I can most certainly help," Jedda said. „I've assisted my father before. I am of Phantom blood and well trained to handle myself."
„Maybe we should make that clear tomorrow," April said who liked the other girl a lot. „We're not their babysitters. I believe Amy is old enough to look after Kshin, so we could go along with the adults."
„I did not come here to take care of children," Jedda exclaimed. „I will talk to my father about this tomorrow."
Both girls said good night to each other. April took a quick shower and then went to bed. She was so exhausted that it didn't take long for her to fall asleep. Jedda, who wasn't used to her surroundings, had a few more problems. She didn't know how Mandrake's overly fancy shower worked and took some time to take a bath before trying to sleep on the soft matress. This, too, felt very foreign to her. She could not sleep on a ground this soft and in the end, curled up in her blanket on the carpet which was more what she was used to. Still, it was so quiet here whereas in the jungle, even in the Skull Cave, there were always some noises. Jedda got up again and opened the windows but out here, it was still very quiet. She thought of Kisa all alone in the garden and missed the panther sleeping right next to her. These people seemed nice, yes, but without Kisa next to her and without her father nearby, Jedda just felt really lonely and it took her many hours to finally go back to sleep.
The next morning, Amy was very surprised to find another girl here. There were too many strangers for her taste and she hadn't had the chance to speak with Mandrake yet. But of course, since two boys had been kidnapped, this did take priority at the moment. She only hoped they would be found and rescued in time.
Lothar had made a delicious breakfast for everyone. Jedda seemed at a loss for she didn't know most of the breakfast foods and Kshin and April had to show her what to eat. It was quite funny actually to see how she reacted to different types of cereal, pancakes, toast and jam. She did seem to like the hot chocolate best. Amy envied the three of them. Despite not really knowing each other, they were talking with each other easily while joking around and piling up things for Jedda to try on the poor girl's plate. It was also a way to distract themselves from their constant worry over the fates of both Rick and LJ.
„Please, no, I cannot eat anything else!" Jedda finally exclaimed.
„It might not be good for her to eat all of this at once," Lothar interrupted. „We don't want her to get a stomach ache because she ate too many foods she's not used to."
„I think I'll be fine," Jedda promised.
„What kind of food do you normally eat for breakfast?" Amy asked with interest.
„Well, we do have some kind of, how do you say, porridge, that consists of...", Jedda began zu explain when suddenly Flash heared something and immediately jumped up. He had been rather quiet, drinking his coffee, clearly very worried about Rick.
„I think the Phantom's back", he said.
Immediately everyone stopped talking and all eyes were on the door. Mandrake had given the Phantom access to his cars and also a key to the front door, so there was no need for anyone to open the door for him. And true enough, a few minutes later, the Phantom stepped into the kitchen. He was still wearing his suit and mask while everyone else wore there street clothes. Well, and Mandrake wore his usual elegant suit, of course.
„Here, sit down a minute and have some coffee and pancakes," Lothar suggested. After all, the man had been out all night. At the very least, he should have breakfast now.
„Thank you, I'll take the coffee, but I've already eaten something," Phantom said. He looked over to Jedda to make sure his daughter was alright before he accepted the cup of coffee Lothar was handling him.
„What did you find out?" Flash asked, no longer able to hold himself back.
„There is one place which my contacts have pointed out," Phantom explained. „There were several sightings of spaceships in the last few days. It's a long shot, but we might as well take it."
„If those are the only known sightings of spaceships in the fast few days, we might be onto something," Lothar said.
„What is that place?" Flash demanded to know.
„An old high security prison, long forgotten deep in the Rocky Mountains," Phantom replied.
„That's not even close to Central City," April remarked.
„No," Flash agreed. „But we will be there in no time if we take the spaceship."
„Not so fast," Mandrake held him back when Flash was already about to run outside. „Let's notify the Space Center first and tell them we're going to check out a lead. And then maybe we can use one of their smaller ships to go there. The less attention we attract, the better."
„We won't all fit in a smaller ship," April said. „Don't tell me I've got to stay behind again!"
„Yes, you will stay here," Flash told her. „I'm sorry April, but I'm not going to lose you too. It's bad enough that I have to worry about Rick."
„Father!" Jedda complained. „I am trained for this! I can handle any situation that comes up! Don't leave me behind!"
„You don't have experienced every possible situation, so no, you cannot handle all situations," her father corrected her. „I'm sorry, Jedda. We don't know what we can expect here. Ming already has kidnapped two kids. I think it's best that you stay behind with April and the other two kids."
Jedda crossed her arms and did not look happy, but she didn't try to convince her father otherwise again. April looked pissed while Kshin was disappointed to be left out of the action again. Amy didn't mind staying back. She had been secretly practicing her telekinesis and was now able to move chairs from one side of the room to the other. But she had not told anyone about it. Even though nobody had said it out loud, it was pretty clear that everyone was thinking she could be Mandrake's daughter. Well, if that was the case, she wanted him to get to know and like her as a person first, not as someone with possibly impressive powers.
„We also need a plan," Lothar reminded them. „We can't just go there and hope for the best. Not with our sons lives at stake."
„We can talk about it on the way to the Space Center," Flash decided. „Can you find some floorplans or something about that old prison? Oder maybe someone at the Space Center can find something. We need to know what to expect."
„Well, gentlemen, let's go then," Mandrake said, taking one last sip of his coffee. He turned around to the four kids. „And the four of you, please stay inside. Jedda, you can bring your panther inside for protection if you think that's best. And hide in the tunnels if anything comes up."
„Or call your grandfather," Flash told April. General Arden would know what to do, although Flash was hoping it would not come to this. He had not told his father-in-law anything. He only had informed his parents that they were staying with friends since Ming was still making trouble and they had agreed to help out with the funeral arrangements. But even they did not know that Rick was missing. He had thought it best not to worry them too much right now. They were still taking the loss of Dale very hard.
The kids did go outside with their parents and watch them drive away to the Space Center.
„They'll be okay, right? And LJ and Rick will be too?" Kshin asked.
„Of course they'll be fine," Jedda assured him. „My father can handle anything. And the others too, I'm sure of it."
Kisa came from the garden and Jedda called her to introduce her to Kshin and Amy. April didn't join them. She felt very uneasy and worried and she felt helpless because there was nothing she could do right now.
Note: I first wrote that Jedda had no idea how a shower worked but somehow that didn't seem realistic. I'm sure her father did take her to some places so she would know what a shower is and know the basics of life outside of the jungle. But maybe Mandrake has a very fancy shower with many buttons to press which she has never seen before.
