A/N: FINALLY another chapter!
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"Come along," said Dave, leading Julia towards the usual meeting place. For once, he had not blindfolded her. She looked around disbelievingly. "You made my poor brother come to this locality?" she said.
"And what's wrong with it?" questioned Dave, raising his green eyebrows, surveying the muddy street. "Well, sure, it's not exactly clean but otherwise…."
"Are you kidding?" she exclaimed. "Raul would have been horrified!"
Dave laughed and then, looking towards his left, said, "He doesn't look too horrified."
Julia looked towards the left and saw her brother walking with a huge grin on his face. "JULIA!" he yelled excitedly. Behind him walked the Blitzkrieg boys. They, of course, had nothing resembling a grin on their faces. They just looked bored and faintly annoyed.
Raul ran forward to hug his sister. Dave looked on with an amused smile. Julia turned to him and said, "Thanks for everything."
"Any time," he replied. Julia hugged him before she and Raul walked off behind the Blitzkrieg boys.
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Back in the hotel, there was a general air of cheerfulness. Their team member was back and they were to board the cruise again tomorrow. Julia, Mariah, Hilary, Matilda, Miriam and Salima were gathered in their suite of rooms, talking animatedly about the kidnapping.
"So you're saying this Dave guy," said Mariah in a disbelieving voice "was actually nice to you?"
"He was very polite," shrugged Julia. "And he did let me go without a ransom."
"So you're not going to report him to the police?" asked Matilda from the bed, where she was sprawled, trying to read a magazine. Hilary suddenly snatched the magazine out of her hands and flipped through the pages. Matilda threw a pillow at Hilary but Hilary ducked. The pillow sailed over her head and hit Miriam, who was leaning her head against the bedpost in sitting on the ground, smack in the face. Salima, who was reclining on a settee, laughed. Just as Miriam picked the pillow up to retaliate, the room went black. There was a dull thud as the pillow Miriam tossed hit the door.
"What the hell?" exclaimed Mariah, standing up. She couldn't see a thing. She fumbled around, trying to find the door, tripping over Julia as she went. "Oops, sorry," she whispered, helping her up. Both of them made their way to the door.
"Do you want to come," Julia asked the others, opening the door. Outside, the corridor was just as black as the room. Heavy curtains hanging at the windows were preventing any moonlight from getting in.
"Of course!" they exclaimed in unison, groping their way towards the door. All of them left the room and started walking silently. After a while, they unknowingly split, going separate ways.
Julia staggered blindly down the corridor, bumping into walls as she went. She was feeling extremely nervous. Suddenly she walked bang into someone else. She stepped back. "Who's there?" she said, a little freaked out.
"Watch where you're going," came Tala's voice.
"Oh, Tala!" she exclaimed in relief. "Gosh, you scared me."
"Strange," came Tala's voice from right beside her, making her jump. "I generally only have that effect on Ian."
Julia laughed and started walking again. "Any idea what's going on?"
"It's a power blackout," he replied, brushing aside a bit of curtain from a window. There was a fierce storm raging outside; clouds were covering the moon and there was only a faint light from the few stars they could see. As he let the curtain fall back in place, he said, "Because of the storm."
Meanwhile, Hilary was walking along a different corridor. Suddenly, there was a flash of light which stayed only for a second. But it stayed long enough to see the silhouette of a tall person with something glinting in his hand. Was it a gun? A knife? Unnerved by her own imagination, Hilary started walking faster. Apparently, the person behind her did so too. She could hear him breathe as he came closer and closer. The flashlight was flicked on and off one more time and then suddenly someone seized her around the waist, the other hand coming up to cover her mouth. A familiar voice breathed in her ear, "Boo!"
"Tyson!" she screeched, as he removed his hand from over her mouth. All she got in reply was mirthful laughter. She swatted at the arm around her waist. "You jerk!" she said, struggling in vain. "Will you let go of me?"
"Nope," replied Tyson. She could practically hear the grin in his voice. "Don't you eat? You're like a stick." He started walking again, pulling Hilary with him.
While this was going on, Miriam was going through the same ordeal with Max. Too bad that Tyson and Max were the only two people from the G-Rev who had torches. Max, however, didn't have the courage to grab her, therefore he didn't get nearly as good results.
Mariah, Matilda and Salima had prudently kept talking, so they were still together. Suddenly, Salima lost her footing and tumbled down a flight of stairs, landing in a crumpled heap at the bottom. She was now on the third floor.
"Salima," called Matilda. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she called back. "I think I twisted my ankle, though. Darn stairs!"
A voice beside her made her jump in surprise. It was Enrique. "Darn stairs is right!"
Salima stifled a giggle. "Enrique?" she said. "You too?"
"Yeah," came the grumpy response. At that moment, they heard two more voices: Tala and Julia.
"Who fell?" asked Julia.
"Enrique and Salima," replied Mariah, laughing. "For all we know, there might be someone else down there too!"
"Is anything broken?" called Tala.
"No, we're all fine," said Enrique.
"Then all we can do is wait for the power to come back," Matilda spoke up, sitting down beside the stairs.
A/N: I think it was way better than last chapter anyway. so what did you guys think? By the way, i know there are more than like two people reading this and it wouldn't kill you guys to review:p