We were awoken early the next morning…much earlier than I would have liked.
Rose was even more displeased – and she wasn't a morning person anyway. I held her hand as we walked down the stairs groggily after being woken by my mother, informing me that Henry had arrived to make plans.
I didn't say anything other than a polite greeting, squeezing Rose's hand for good measure to make sure she didn't come out with a rude comment.
She didn't however. Her attention had gone straight to the many maps scattered all over the kitchen table.
"I'll make coffee," My mother announced quietly, trying not to wake the other members of the household.
I thanked her and she left the room. Henry immediately started rambling and telling us which map was of what.
I could see Rose mentally cursing him and I felt a small smile grace my lips. I settled myself in one of the chairs and pulled Rose down into the next one.
Before Henry could start again, my mother entered and poured us all some strong coffee. Drinking half of it almost straight away, I jumped straight into the files and paperwork Henry had given us. It took Rose a little bit longer to waken up, but when she did, she was just as enthused.
"The caves are connected," Rose stated suddenly, examining one of the maps. "You can search all day and never find him because he moves around underground."
"Brilliant, Roza," I said admiringly. It was a detail I had missed and had been trying to silently figure out.
"How do you know?" Henry asked her, looking surprised at the fact that Rose had contributed a very useful piece of information. I felt pride and a little smugness at his shocked expression.
Rose just shrugged back. "It's the only thing that makes sense."
She grabbed the nearest pile of maps and shuffled through them. "Do you have an underground map? Did anyone ever do a…I don't know… a geological survey or something?"
"No," Henry admitted looking down. "I don't have anything like that. Probably because no one ever actually made one. If it existed, we'd have it."
I almost rolled my eyes at his arrogance.
"That's going to be a disadvantage," Rose muttered.
"Not so much," I said, a plan suddenly occurring to me. "I have an idea. I don't think we need to go underground at all. Especially with Mark."
Rose made eye contact with me and I held it. I saw my idea enter her head as though it had telepathically gone from my mind to hers.
"Bold move, comrade," she teased, giving me sexy grin.
"Not by your standards," I answered, playing along.
Unfortunately, Henry interrupted our moment.
"What are you two talking about?"
That guy was really starting to get on my nerves.
Rose just gave me a mischievous, knowing grin which I returned happily.