Chapter 12

Where's Aria?

Derek, who had only been awake for a few minutes, sleepily reached the scrambled eggs and bacon his mother left out for him. He'd always wake up only moments before it was time to leave for school.

Beep. Beep.

He glanced out the front window and saw Ian in his red convertible waiting. Realizing he had to go, Derek put the rest of his eggs on a piece of toast and went out to his ride.

"Hey, man. What's up?" Derek greeted.

"Hey! Not much," Ian replied. When saw that Derek brought his breakfast in the car he added, "Be careful with that, man. Kendal gets pretty mad when I make a mess in here."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Dude? This is your car, not Kendal's."

"I know, but I drive her to places a lot in this car. She says she would prefer it clean."

"Whatever, man."

When the two boys arrived at school, Derek observed something interesting. "Hey, Cooper's all by herself today."

Everyday, they would see Aria Rosenberg and Vanessa Cooper arrive at the school together. Derek couldn't help but feel curious. Ever since he had known Aria, she had never missed a day of school.

"Maybe Rosenberg's with that Calloway kid," Ian suggested. "They seem to be getting pretty serious."

"I still can't believe how fast she fell for his cheesy tactics. I always thought Aria was the kind of girl that had more sense."

This time Ian was the one to roll his eyes. "Dude, you've got to let this whole Edmund thing go. Even Kendal's dropped it. Also, you keep making it harder and harder to believe you're not into Aria."

"I don't like Aria!"

"Sure, whatever, man."

xXx

By lunchtime, there was still not sign of Aria. As Derek walked over to his usual table, he noticed Vanessa Cooper heading towards the exit. He couldn't help but wonder what was going on with her and Aria. Vanessa had looked concerned all day. Derek wondered if she was going to go to Aria. For some reason even he did not understand, Derek had to find out. He suddenly had an idea.

As Derek approached Ian, sitting alone at their table he asked, "Hey man, can I borrow your car?"

"Um, sure. Why?"

"I, uh, left my English homework at home and was going to sneak off during lunch to get it."

Ian looked utterly puzzled. "We didn't have any English homework."

"Sure we did, remember? We were suppose to, um, write a poem about something important to us."

"Man, I can't pay attention to that Mr. Stone guy, he's so dull. I didn't even know we were doing poetry." He threw Derek his car keys and said, "I guess I better get working on that now. Just be careful with the car. Kendal…."

"Yeah sure, man."

Derek sighed as he ran to the car. He hated using his best friend's lack of intelligence to his advantage, but he could not think of another way. He definitely did not want to admit he felt concerned about Aria. At least he does not take advantage of Ian as often as Kendal does.

As Derek drove up to where Vanessa walked he lightly tapped the horn and asked, "Do you need a lift?"

Vanessa just starred at him bewildered.

Derek continued, "You're going to Aria's, right?"

This time she responded, "Yeah, what's it to you?"

"You'll get there faster if I drive you."

"That doesn't answer my question. Why do you care?"

"I'm just, well…" Derek had no idea what to say so he decided to go with the closest thing to the truth. "I guess I'm a bit concerned. We both know Aria has never missed a day of school."

Vanessa got in the car and said, "Alright, fine, but you better take me straight to Aria's. I can't believe I'm doing this."

"So when did you last see her?" Derek asked as they drove off.

"Yesterday at school. She left with Edmund after that. I think he was going to take her somewhere nice for her birthday."

"Edmund," Derek said the same darkly. "Do you think he did something to her?"

"I don't know. When I went to her house this morning, no one answered. I was actually planning to trying Ms. Fleming, now."

"Who's Ms. Fleming?"

"Our neighbor. For some reason, I have a feeling she knows something about Edmund. You should have seen the look on her face when Aria first told her about him. It was as if she was worried about something."

"Alright then. Lets go to this Ms. Fleming person."

When Vanessa and Derek reached Ms. Fleming's house, Vanessa ran up to the front door and began knocking furiously.

Ms. Fleming answered. "Oh, hello Vanessa."

Vanessa did not waste any time with greetings. "Aria's missing. I think Edmund did something to her."

"I know," Ms. Fleming answered sadly, "and I know where she most likely is, too. It's just that, well there's no one too…" she stopped when she saw Derek and demanded, "Who is this boy?"

"I'm Derek, Derek James. I, uh, drove her hear to help her look for Aria."

Ms. Fleming looked at him with wonder. "If you're concerned enough about Aria to come looking for her then you just might be," she paused, "the one."

"What do you mean?" Derek looked over to Vanessa, but she appeared just as confused by what this woman was saying.

"No time to explain now. Come on, we're going to rescue Aria!"

Ms. Fleming ran to Ian's car then demanded, "Now, which one of you is driving?"

"Me," Derek answered still confused, "But where are we going?"

"Just get in and start the car and I will tell you exactly where to go."

Derek looked to Vanessa while she just shrugged and followed Ms. Fleming. Vanessa strongly believed that Ms. Fleming really did know where Aria is now and there's still the possibility that she is Aria's birthmother. Vanessa made a mental note to ask her when she gets the chance. For now, she figured it's just best to do what Ms. Fleming says.

The three drove to downtown Norfolk to a deserted building that neither Derek nor Vanessa ever noticed before now.

"It's locked," Vanessa declared as she tried to open the door.

"Never mind that," Ms. Fleming moved Vanessa out of the way, pulled out her wand and tapped the door. It then opened.

Derek began to ask, "How did you…"

"Now is not the time for questions," said Ms. Fleming impatiently. "Just come on in and get in the fountain."

"Why do we need to get in the fountain?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, the water looks kind of filthy," Vanessa added.

"Don't worry about that. Just get in!"

At the same time, Vanessa and Derek stepped into the fountain. They felt something suddenly pull them down and then push them back up. When it was over, they realized they had been pushed out of a lake but somehow still dry.

"This is weird," Derek commented.

Vanessa did not even know what to say. This place seemed so unreal, almost like a dream, but Vanessa felt sure she was awake.

Only moments later, Ms. Fleming came out of the lake. Just like Vanessa and Derek, the water appeared not to have touched her.

"Well, Vanessa, Derek," Ms. Fleming beamed. "Welcome to Galatia! By the way, you can call me Adora."