5. Rescue Mission

"You have to admit this whole vacation thing is a little weird," Fred took a sip of the beer sitting before him. "Our girls may like to have fun, but going away spontaneously isn't like them."

"Especially for Sydney and Kairi," Joe added thoughtfully. "I'm surprised they would leave the kids behind like that."

"And Cade would never leave in the middle of a research project. Especially this one." Sam drummed his fingers on the counter.

"What's the nerd working on this time?" Fred teased.

"Cade's not a nerd," Sam defended.

"Sorry. What's the nerdette working on this time?"

Sam sighed with a shake of his head. "She got commissioned to do Holocene research analyzing detrimental human interaction with the modern environment and how it relates to the natural ecology and ecosystems of the world. You see, species are deteriorating at a rate that's over one hundred percent higher than in the past century."

"In English?"

Sam frowned. "Earth is in the middle of its sixth mass extinction, meaning we will lose seventy-five percent of the Earth's species in a very short time. Cade is part of the team that is doing research to attempt to stop it or at least slow it down to learn enough about it to prevent future scenarios from happening."

"Fascinating," Fred said sarcastically. "At least we get some guy time out of all this."

The men had decided to get together at Joe's house for the night since the girls were out of town. Fred had brought Jesse over and she was currently watching the twins and Jade finger paint on the kitchen floor. The seven-month-old was too young to have the proper motor skills to join in, but she was plenty happy just watching the others.

"It's not really guy time when we have to watch the kids at the same time." Joe rolled his eyes and kept a careful watch on his kids. Joe jumped and ran over to Riley. "Jade, the paint goes on the paper, not your brother's face."

Riley had two large red circles painted on his cheeks and smears of blue around his eyes. He whined and clung to his father for help, wiping paint onto Joe's shirt in the process.

"We were just trying to make him look pretty," Jade said with a pout. "So we gave him pretty make-up like what mom wears."

Beside her, Lexi silently bobbed her head in agreement.

Joe shook his head, but couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face. "Your brother doesn't need to look pretty and for the record, your mom doesn't wear this much make-up."

Joe grabbed his phone and quickly took a picture of Riley to send to Sydney. He immediately started to wash Riley's face when he was done.

"Where is mom?" Jade stopped her pouting and looked to her dad for an explanation.

"According to Cade, in the Land of the Dead," Sam grumbled.

Joe almost dropped Riley, spinning around to stare at Sam in shock. Fred matched Joe's surprise, jerking and hitting his knees under the counter in the process.

"What?!" They both yelled at the same time.

Sam recoiled in fear. "Ye- yeah... I didn't believe Cade would just leave in the middle of a research project for no reason. I asked her why she was really going on this trip and that's what she told me."

Joe sat Riley back down with the other children, forgetting to finish cleaning off his face, much to Riley's dismay. The girls happily returned to 'beautifying' their brother. Joe went back to Sam and Fred at the counter and heavily sat down.

"What do you mean they're in the Land of the Dead?"

Sam glanced back and forth between his two best friends. "You two are way too worked up about this. It was just some crazy story she made up because I kept pestering her."

Fred and Joe looked at each other, clearly not believing Sam. "Sam... What exactly did Cade say to you?"

"Something about Kairi having died but brought back to life and having a debt to settle with Death. So they were going to the Land of the Dead."

Fred and Joe simultaneously fell back in their seats.

"What?" Sam tilted his head at them. "You don't actually believe her, do you?"

"It would explain the impromptu getaway."

"And of course they wouldn't tell us the truth."

Sam gave them a look of bewilderment. "You guys are crazy! There's no place called the Land of the Dead. Kairi never died. Fred, don't you think you would know that about your wife?"

"I do know that about my wife. She told me right after we met that she had died and come back." Fred ran a hand over his face. "And now she's running right back into Death's arms."

The events of yesterday suddenly made sense to Fred. If he had a debt with Death he would have been behaving the same way she had been. Maybe that's why she had felt chills all day and why she had felt like someone had been following her. And if Fred had to guess who it was, he'd say it was Death.

It would also explain why Jesse had been acting nervous around Kairi. Jesse could pick up on Kairi's closeness to Death. Not being able to hold her daughter must have killed Kairi. No wonder she was so eager to get this all sorted out.

Fred had to go after her. He couldn't let his princess go on this wild adventure without him.

"You can't be serious! Joe, help me out here." Sam turned to Joe, expecting a reasonable response.

"And Sydney went with her." Joe buried his face in his hands. "I feel so stupid. I should have figured out that something was up sooner. No wonder she was being so weird this morning."

"No, no, no!" Sam stood up and crossed his arms.

He could accept the fact that time travel was possible, that one of his best friends even owned a magical book that allowed them to time travel. He could even come to terms with the fact that that same friend now had special powers that gave him the ability to control time. But this was preposterous. There was no place called the Land of the Dead. People didn't come back from the dead. If that was possible, Cade would go out and bring her parents back.

Sam grabbed onto the counter for support as the realization hit him. "That's why she went..."

If Sam could describe Cade in one word, it would be family-orientated. She had practically raised her little sister, Gabby by herself. Cade's parents had meant the world to her. Even after they disappeared, she held onto the hope that they were still alive for years. That hope had been crushed when she had the trio had found their bodies along with thousands of others in a hidden knowledge temple Sam believed to be linked to the Library of Alexandria. The discovery had crushed Cade. She still had her sisters, and she had always been grateful for that, but if Cade had the chance to see her parents one last time, there was no doubt that she would take it. And if there was a possibility to bring back the dead, Cade would do anything in her power to bring back her parents. If Sam knew anything, it was that.

"We have to go after them!" Fred slammed his hands down on the counter. "We can't let them go in alone!"

"Easy, Fred." Joe put a hand on Fred's shoulder. "You're making the kids nervous."

Fred took a glimpse at the children and saw that Joe was right. Each one of them was staring at him with a mixture of confusion and fear on their faces. He looked back at Joe and Sam.

"I stand by what I said," Fred spoke quieter this time. "We have to rescue them."

"If the girls didn't tell us the truth about where they're going, there's probably a good reason behind it," Joe suggested. "We should probably stay here. They may not even need rescuing or help at all."

Fred grabbed Joe's phone and turned the screen on, revealing his background image of Sydney surrounded by Jade, Lexi, and Riley. "Don't you want to go make sure Sydney is alright?"

"Of course I do," Joe snatched his phone back from Fred, "but you and I have kids, Fred. We can't just abandon our children for a week."

Fred grinned and threw his arm over Joe's shoulders. "That's what grandmas are for."

"I guess..." Joe rubbed the back of his neck.

He desperately wanted to go in after Sydney. He knew it was a lie to say that they wouldn't need rescuing or their help in any way. He remembered everything Kairi had told him from when Sydney was Shadowed and what had happened the first time they went into the Land of the Dead together. He'd seen his wife in enough dark moments and had even seen the physical darkness and shadows that sometimes surrounded her when those dark moments happened. Walking right back into the Land of the Dead couldn't be good for her, especially with her unstable mental state. He couldn't let her do this alone. Even if she had Cade and Kairi with her, they couldn't be there for her the way he could. Of that, he was certain.

"What?" Sam stumbled back from shock. "You can't be serious! We can't just jump into some place called the Land of the Dead. It doesn't exactly sound like a welcoming place. And we don't even know how to get there!"

"He's got a point, Fred. None of us have experience with that place nor do we know how to get there."

"Wouldn't The Book have something on it?"

"It might." Joe moved to go fetch The Book from its hiding spot.

"No, no, no!" Sam yelled again, knocking over the stool he had been sitting on. "Do you realize how crazy this all is?"

"What? Wanting to help out our wives?" Fred crossed his arms. "We can't just let them wander in there by themselves. Who knows what could happen to them?"

"Who knows what could happen to us if we try to go in after them?" Sam countered.

"Don't you want to help Cade, Sam?" Joe tilted his head, not understanding his friend's resilience. "What if she needs you? You can't just leave her like that."

"Of course I'm worried about Cade. But what am I supposed to do? I'm not strong like you or Fred, and I certainly don't have magical powers." Sam nodded to Joe's chest. "If the girls felt like they could handle this, then they can probably handle this."

Joe self-consciously touched his painted-stained shirt where his Warp Wizard mark gleamed underneath. "You're smart though. That's useful. And what about just being there for emotional support?"

Sam frowned and looked away. "I think I'm the last person Cade would go to for emotional support. Cade's been behaving off lately and we didn't exactly leave on the best of terms."

Joe and Fred exchanged amused glances. "Is that why you don't want to go? You two had a little fight and you're worried she doesn't want anything to do with you?"

"That might be part of it." Sam put his hands on his hips. "But so is everything else I said. This trip is way too dangerous. We could die!"

"Which is why we have to go. The girls will need us." Fred put on a smug grin, like he had just won the argument. "Joe, go get The Book and let's get going! We can meet them there by morning!"

Joe nodded and left to grab his blue book.

Sam sighed. "I can't believe you're dragging me into all this."

Fred rolled his eyes. "Cade went too. You were already a part of this."


A/N - So I know I said that this chapter would have action, but it ended up being longer than I expected so I had to divide it. Next chapter will pick up though! Don't forget to review, favourite, and follow for more!