AN:I own nothing. -_-
Chapter 3: Gone
We rode on the grass to prevent the hooves from making noise on the gravel. When we reached town, there was a single candle flickering in the window of the shop where we were to go. We knocked quietly on the door three times to signal Maria that it was us. She came out and smiled at us.
"You girls are very brave to be doing this. Follow me." She led us around to her stables. We led our horses to the back and had them lay down. We stripped all of their equipment off and rubbed and scratched it so no one would recognize the equipment. We went back to the house and grabbed some brooms. Each of us went down the road sweeping away the hoof prints leading to Maria's door. I gave Peri a high-five and quietly ran back to Maria's. She led us upstairs.
"Ok. So you all are going to disguise yourselves and work down in the shop with me, so if anyone comes searching they won't think to search the workers. Go into the room across the hall and grab some of my daughter's clothes. She doesn't live here anymore. Her things should fit you two." She pointed to Teagan and me. We nodded and went across the hall. I grabbed a long working dress and apron. Teagan had a brown skirt and a white working shirt. We walked back to Maria's room. Peri, Samantha, Nadia, and Abbey were all sorted out. Maria then led us to another room down the hall which was her other daughter's room.
"Two of you can sleep in here. Two in the other room. Two in the guest room at the end of the hall. I'll let you get settled in. I'll wake you about an hour after I get up. Good night." Peri and Nadia took the guest room; Abbey and Samantha took the younger daughter's room; Teagan and I got the older daughter's room. Teagan looked over at me.
"Bells, how far do you think we have until Switzerland?" I shrugged.
"We'll ask Maria tomorrow where exactly we are. That should be enough to guess the distance. Good night, Teag."
"Night, Bells."
The next morning, Maria gently shook me. That was the best night of sleep I ever had. Maria spoke softly.
"Would you be a dear and wake Teagan up? I need to start setting up shop." I nodded.
"We'll be down in a minute." She smiled and left the room. I shook Teagan.
"Teagan. You have to wake up now." She groaned.
"Go away." I rolled my eyes.
"Teag. Come on. I'll throw water on you. You know I will." She sat up and narrowed her eyes and threw a pillow at me.
"I'm up. I'm up." She mumbled and searched around for her clothes. When we were finally ready we went downstairs. Nadia, Samantha, Abbey, and Peri were already down there. We waited with them for Maria. She came in with a wooden box that was beautifully decorated.
"Ok. Since what's his name is obviously going to notice that you ran away, we need to change your appearance. I have scissors, makeup, headbands, and other things in here that you can use. I'll be in the shop. Come down when you're ready." She smiled warmly and whisked down to the shop. Abbey sighed.
"I have no idea how to do my hair or makeup or anything." I giggled.
"I'll help you." I sat her down.
"Look straight ahead. I'll do your hair. No one will recognize you afterward."
We giggled. Teagan covered her freckles with some makeup; Peri put freckles on her face. We smiled at each other and went downstairs. Maria was waiting for us.
"Ok. Abbey and Bella will work in the shop. Nadia and Samantha will work the cart outside with me. Peri and Teagan, can you two watch the stables? We don't want anyone sneaking around. Just feed the chickens, milk the cows, and clean the horses. If that's finished before we close, would you mind doing some laundry for me? Get water from the canal. It's actually clean." She giggled. "Ok. I'll leave you to it." We each took up the post we were given. Abbey and I were doing well in the shop. We had some customers and no one was suspicious of us. Peri and Teagan were in the stables because we couldn't really make them look any different. Maria was outside with Samantha and Nadia in case anyone came. I heard the door open when Abbey and I were trying to get something down from the tall bookcase.
"We'll be with you in a moment." A masculine hand reached up and got the basket we were reaching for.
"Here you go, ma'am." I turned.
"Thank y-" My voice cracked. Standing in front of me was the bane of our existence. Peter. I cleared my throat. "Thank you." I put the basket down. "One moment." I turned to Abbey. "Can you come with me to ask Miss Maria something?" My eyes circled towards Peter. She straightened up.
"Of course. I needed to get something outside anyway." We walked calmly outside. We spoke in hushed voices.
"Maria, Peter is here. He didn't recognize us; I doubt he recognized you. He walked right by you. In case he goes around back, we need to get Peri and Teagan upstairs or hidden. He might recognize them." Maria nodded.
"Abbey, go and take care of him like he was a regular customer. Nadia, you go with her. Samantha, go with Bella and get Teagan and Peri upstairs. I'll stay here." Sam and me bolted to the back of the house to the stables. We pushed them into the stables and shut the doors. Samantha informed them of the situation while I watched the door.
"Peter is here. He didn't recognize any of us, but he might recognize you two. We're gonna get you upstairs so he doesn't find you." They nodded. We crept to the back door. I opened it a crack and swiftly closed it.
"He can see to the back door. He'll see them." Peri looked up to the window to her room.
"Do we have a ladder?" I shook my head.
"We have rope." I looked at Teagan. I sighed.
"You're gonna do it, aren't you?" She nodded simply and grabbed the rope. Samantha went around front and casually walked up the stairs. She came to the window and opened it. We threw the rope. She tied it to a sturdy tree branch near the window. Peri went first and nearly fell down. She started laughing.
"SHH!!" She clamped a hand over her mouth and continued to climb. She swung into the window and landed quietly on the balls of her feet. I was next. I climbed the rope and sat on the branch to help Teagan up. She slipped and accidentally kicked the door. Her eyes went wide, and she scrambled to get up the rope. Abbey ran outside. She whisper-yelled.
"What are you doing? Peter heard you! And he's coming out right now." I looked at the door.
"Oh shit." I leaped to the window and grabbed the sill. Peri and Samantha helped me up. Teagan was next. She grabbed the sill. Her foot slipped and the back door opened. We all froze. Good thing Abbey was spontaneous. She took Peter's arm.
"Would you like to see the stables? Our horses are the finest this side of town." She casually looked over her shoulder. We were heaving Teagan in the window. She came crashing in. Abbey coughed and we hurriedly pulled the rope up just in time. We heard Abbey and Peter come back in the house and the front door close. We looked at each other sprawled across the floor and on top of each other. We were all in hysterics when Abbey came upstairs. All of us looked at her and stopped laughing.
"Peter's gone." We started laughing again. Maria ran upstairs to see what all the commotion was about.
"What happened?" Nadia snickered then told her how we were trying to hide Teagan and Peri, our method of getting up here, and how Teagan smothered us all when she came crashing into the window. She leaned against the doorframe and fanned herself.
"You almost gave me a heart-attack." We all smiled sheepishly. I had almost forgotten.
"Maria, I forgot to ask you. What town are we in?"
"Oh, this is Massa Marittima."
"How far are we from Switzerland?"
"To get to Switzerland, that's about a 4 day journey-"
"That's not too bad." Samantha butted in.
"-in a car." Our faces fell. Maria continued.
"I don't know how long it'll take to get there on horses and foot. But I do have some good news. I've arranged for you to leave tonight. A friend of mine is against all of this madness and said that he and his sons will help you. They'll take you as far as Milan. There you'll go with his sister. Her and her husband will take you over the border. Once you're there, go to the nearest city and go to the police. Tell them who you are, where you come from, and what happened to you."
"Ok," we all said in unison. We went to our respective rooms and packed what little belongings we had. Maria let us keep the clothes to travel in. I woke in the middle of the night. I could hear Teagan's feet padding across the room.
"Teagan, what are doing?"
"It's time to go. I was just about to wake you." I got up and changed into my travel clothes. We grabbed our packs and met up with Abbey and Samantha in the hall.
"Peri and Nadia are downstairs with Maria." Abbey informed us.
"Ok," I answered, "let's go." We softly padded down the stairs. Maria took us to the stables where we got our horses. We led them out and onto the grass. We rode through the meadow and to the river. There a man and 5 young men stood.
"Hello," he greeted us, " My name is Francis. These are my sons: Frankie, Billy, Thomas, Gregory, and James." He pointed to each son respectively. We dismounted. Francis took the reins from Nadia's horse, Frankie took Abbey's, Billy took Teagan's, Thomas took mine, Gregory took Peri's, and James took Samantha's. Maria hugged us all.
"I hope you make it to Switzerland in one piece. I'll pray for you." She gave us a warm smile. The boys helped us onto our horses. Billy's hand lingered on Teagan's for a few seconds. She blushed. I sauntered my horse next to her.
"I saw that," I teased in a singsong voice. She nudged me as we started along the river.
It had been 2 years since we escaped from Vincent and Peter Ricci. Our journey had been extended that long because of the war. Teagan and I were now 17. We could only travel at night because of the war and all the soldiers and guards everywhere. Maria and Francis planned this out very well. In every town or village we stopped at there was a friend of theirs that let us rest during the day, hid our horses, and made sure we left safely that night. Francis told us it would take a little longer than usual because we were only traveling at night. We were resting one day in a village somewhere when Francis's friend Marc ran upstairs panting.
"Two thieves have stolen 6 of your horses. We tried to stop them, but they got away." Francis sighed.
"It's alright. Thank you for trying my friend. The other 6 can handle two people." It turned out that they had taken Nadia's, Frankie's, Peri's, Samantha's, Billy's, and Thomas's horses. That night when we left, Francis and Nadia shared Francis's horse; Frankie and Abbey took Abbey's. Greg and Peri rode Greg's horse. Sam and James took James's horse. Billy shared with Teagan. Thomas rode with me. It was sort of uncomfortable, but I felt safe in Thomas's arms. It had been a long time since I felt safe. We had been riding for about an hour or two when Francis's whispers broke the silence.
"We're nearing Volterra. There's been a lot of fighting and guards near here. We need to be very quiet and quick about getting passed here." We each nodded and turned toward some tree cover out of the clearing. As we crept through the trees, I kept getting the feeling someone was watching us. I knew it wasn't Thomas who was right behind me. If that was the case, the feeling would have been good not creepy. I glanced around and saw two guards relaxing by a stonewall. I inhaled sharply. My whisper sounded more like a shout in the dead silence.
"Guards. Two of them." Every head turned toward the wall. Francis sped up his horse a little.
"Keep moving. They didn't see us." We kept moving as he said. That stonewall seemed to go on forever. I looked to my right. There was an ominous glow in the distance, like fires and bombing. My breathing increased. Thomas tightened his grip around me in an attempt to calm me down. We didn't realize how close the fighting was until a land mine exploded near us. We were knocked off our horses. I scrambled to my feet covered in dirt. I lost sight of Nadia and Francis. Teagan and Billy were scurrying underneath a fallen tree. I turned around to see where the soldiers were when I tripped over something. I looked back to see Peri's limp body next to Gregory's. I couldn't move. I shook Peri.
"Peri?!" Peri, wake up!" I shouted over and over again. Thomas tried to pry me off of her.
"They're dead! We have to go, Bella!" He picked me up and ran with me. We dove underneath the tree with Billy and Teagan. We watched in horror as James was shot. Frankie was being hauled to a large wagon. He was tied up. I tried not to think of what was going to happen to him. I searched around for Abbey and Sam. I finally caught sight of Abbey's blonde hair being thrown around. She was trying to fight off the soldiers. She managed to knock them off, only to be caught again and thrown to the ground. They tied her up and were literally dragging her to the wagon.
"AHH!! Someone help me! Get off!!" I recognized Samantha's voice at once. My eyes caught sight of her. I choked back tears. Two soldiers had her pinned against a tree and another was beating her. Abbey broke free of her captors and ran to Samantha. She knocked one off and kicked the other in between his legs. The one on the left went for his gun. Samantha punched him in the face and ran with Abbey. Five more guards caught them and tied them up. They were thrown in the wagon with Frankie. I went to crawl out and go after them, but three pairs of hands held me in place. I sobbed into Thomas's chest as our friends were hauled off to what was most likely death. A few hours later Thomas and Billy nudged us. We had fallen asleep.
"We're going to go see if we can find our horses. Stay here no matter what," Billy told us. We nodded as they crawled out alert. I couldn't see them after 10 minutes. It was so dark. They weren't back half an hour later. I was getting nervous now.
"What if they were captured? What if they're hurt?" Teagan attempted to calm me down. I couldn't take it anymore.
"Teagan, I'm going to look for them. Are you coming?"
"They said to stay here."
"What if they're hurt? Or they need our help?" She finally scurried out, and we walked clutching each other. I felt a soft breeze blow past me on my right. I stopped and turned. I felt another behind me. I turned again. Teagan felt it, too.
"What was that?" She asked nervously.
"I don't know." I heard a chuckle.
"Thomas?" There was another. Teagan shouted.
"Billy? This isn't funny." Then the voice spoke.
"Look here. I think the little mouse is afraid." The other voice chuckled and replied.
"I think her little kitty friend is afraid, too." Then one of them emerged and sauntered up to Teagan. She shivered and looked away. The man looked toward the trees behind us.
"I think the little kitten is afraid of me, Demetri." The one called Demetri came out of the trees. I turned to face him. I didn't back down. Demetri spoke.
"I have a feeling that our little mouse is trying to be brave." I spat in his face.
"Tsk. Tsk. Bad mousy." Then I was on the ground. I struggled to move, but it felt like a statue was on top of me. I looked up. Staring back into my deep brown eyes were unnatural scarlet ones.
Then everything was black.