Chapter 18

The mysterious blonde had brought Joey to Kama Traydon and made it feel as though this were the only place in the whole multiverse he needed to be. Sat on the edge of the Sacred Huntay, Joey had been completely entranced by the music playing continuously from an unseen source. Every melody was familiar, but every song's lyrics were obscured as though words didn't matter. But then they didn't with her. For countless hours he'd just sat there, sometimes watching the ash blonde dance, sometimes waiting for her to return from whatever mysterious place it was she went to. The knowledge that she would always come back was enough to stop Joey from questioning the situation; not that his questions would have received answers anyway.

It was dark when the other two arrived. Like her they were both dressed in black and had half of their faces hidden by their varying hairstyles. The three of them danced together as though dancing was all they really knew how to do. Sometimes their dancing was energetic and lively. Sometimes it was free formed and careless. Sometimes it was slow and sometimes it was almost choreographed. But always it caused the three of them to radiate a strange kind of brilliance. The music filled them with life, the dancing turned that life into energy and the dancing made all three of them grow with a powerful kind of beauty.

Even though Joey knew his heart belong to the ash blonde, he felt a strange kind of tugging towards all three of them. They were all beautiful and perfect, even the male. They all made him wish he shared their energy. They all made him want to get up and join in their dancing. But for some reason he remained in place. He didn't question it. He didn't fight it. He just allowed himself to remain rooted to the ground, admiring them. He wanted to be a part of their world and at the same time he was just content to even know their world existed.

As the sun started to rise, they disappeared one by one and, for the first time since he'd arrived, Kama Traydon fell silent. It was a strange kind of silence to experience after such a long time of nothing but music. It made his mind feel numb and caused his thoughts to become somewhat stilted. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now, but he knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to just sit there and wait. They would return; he was certain of that. So all he had to do was wait.

'Is he still not back?'

Covo sighed and shook his head.

'I can't believe he's doing this to Mai,' Ahna lowered her gaze, 'how could he?'

'Honestly, I don't know,' Covo half turned from her, 'but he did this to you, so are you really that surprised?'

'He didn't do this to me,' Ahna found herself gawking at him. 'For a start we were never in love to begin with. For a second he'd actually left me before he started a relationship with her. Okay, it might have been on the same day near enough, but still...'

'Yeah, well...' Covo folded his arms and gritted his teeth, 'his track record still speaks for itself.'

'He doesn't have a track record,' even she could hear how tight her voice was, 'and he loves Mai way too much to do something like this to her. I just can't believe he would.'

'You know, you've really got to stop playing the jealous ex,' he rolled his eyes.

'This is no time to be making stupid jokes Covo.'

'It's not like there's anything else I can do.'

'You could go out and look for him.'

'Yeah, because that's really going to help. I mean, what exactly am I supposed to do if I find him? Ask him why the hell his messing around with some skank when his pregnant girlfriend is in hospital. God that bastard makes me so angry.'

'I can't believe you're just judging him guilty like this.'

'What else can I do when the evidence speaks so loudly for itself?'

'Well maybe we're not listening to the evidence correctly. Maybe there's something else going on here.'

'I can't believe you're defending him,' Covo shot her a look.

'And I can't believe you're damning him like this. I think we should call in Jay and SK.'

'Why, what good would that do?'

'They'd be able to find out if something's affecting Veronie somehow.'

'You think something might be controlling him? Really? That's the explanation you want to go with here?'

'I think we should at least try to rule it out before condemning him completely,' Ahna met and held his gaze.

'Okay, fine, you're right,' Covo sighed, 'but how do we call them exactly, we're not the ones they're listening out for.'

'No, but Mai is.'

'You think Mai would really be up for calling them right now?'

'I think she would do anything to prove Veronie still loves her and only her,' Ahna nodded. 'And what other choice do we have right now; she's the only one we can turn to here.'

'Okay, we'll talk to Mai, but... what if Veronie isn't being controlled by anything?'

'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,' Ahna sucked a deep breath in, 'right now we have to believe he's innocent till proven guilty.'

Mai sighed heavily as she stared at the curtain separating her from her roommate. A part of her felt sorry for the girl; beaten, unidentified, alone, no one should have to suffer that.

'Sleep well?' The younger of the two nurse's from the day before smiled at her as she entered.

'Well, I slept,' Mai found herself yawning for the fifth time in as many minutes.

'Cheer up love, you have visitors coming later.'

'Who?'

'The lass who brought you in and her partner I think.'

'Oh.'

'Hoping for someone else were we? Like the baby's father maybe.'

She sighed again, but didn't reply.

'Like that, is it love?'

'I really don't know right now,' she shifted her gaze away.

'I'm sure he'll come round,' the Nurse drew back the curtain separating the two beds.

'Do they know who she is yet?' Mai glanced towards the girl, whose face was still hidden.

'No, unfortunately.'

'Has no one reported her missing?'

'Well if somebody has, the police haven't been round here to tell us yet.'

'So she's a bit of a mystery then?'

'Just a bit of one,' the Nurse gave a wry smile. 'Still, I dare say she'll be able to tell us herself when she wakes up.'

'Do you know when she will?'

'I'd have thought she'd be awake by now personally.'

'I see.'

Mai carefully pulled herself into a sitting position. Just as she did Covo and Ahna, carrying baby Crovell, entered.

'Well looks like you'll be good for company for a while,' the Nurse nodded at them, as she left. 'I'll be back to check on you in a little while love.'

'How are you feeling?' Ahna perched herself on the edge of the bed.

'Tired.'

'Mai, there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just come right out with it; Veronie's gone missing.'

'He's probably run off with his mystery blonde,' Mai rolled her eyes, suddenly bitter.

'Perhaps,' Covo averted his gaze, 'but Ahna and I have been talking. We think maybe Veronie is being controlled by an outside force. I mean, it's happened before, right? And one thing all three of us can agree on is that he wasn't acting like himself yesterday.'

'That doesn't mean anything; cheaters always act suspicious right before they're caught.'

'Yes, but for things to happen this quickly... I don't know any guy as in love as Veronie made us believe he was would fall for someone else just out of nowhere like this,' Ahna shook her head. 'Look, the point is we want you to get hold of SK and Jay and ask their opinion.'

'And just what's that going to achieve?'

'Look, it's at least worth a try, don't you think?'

'Da da da da da,' Crovell chirped and clapped his hands together.

'I'm guessing that means you agree?' Mai found herself half smirking at the infant. 'Fine,' she sighed, 'I guess it's worth a shot. After all, if there is something wrong with Joey then maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to forgive him for this.'