Chapter XIII: The Escape Plan.
***Evening***
"I think we're almost there." Jackson said, as he, Alex, and Ray turned the corner of a suburban street on the outskirts of Falcon City. They had caught two buses just to get to this neighborhood, and it was unlike any part of the city that Jackson had ever seen. Houses lined the deserted streets. It was getting dark, so the only real light came from the streetlights, the houses' windows, or the faint glow from the centre of the city, now a distant speck at the other end of the great lake, which separated the residential areas of Falcon from the more busy parts of the city where Jackson lived and attended school.
The houses here were all noticeably large, and their gardens meticulously well kept. The driveways seemed more like country lanes winding through rich green grass or shapely bushes. Even in the dark, the three could see the intricate brickwork and the ornate window frames of each house. They stood like proud soldiers against the evening sky, all lined precisely parallel to the road.
"Fancy." Alex noted. He clearly felt very out of place. Royal Springs was a very well regarded school, and wealth was never far from its halls, but even for Jackson and Alex, this was intimidating.
"Who is this girl!?" Ray asked rhetorically, as they came to another turning.
"She said it should be just at the end of this road." Jackson said, "What time is it? The guests arrive at seven, so we need to get her out before then."
Alex checked his watch, "We've got about a half hour."
They came to the end of the street, and ducked behind a hedge that lined the front garden of the farthest house.
"This must be it." Jackson whispered.
"Whoa, this place looks huge!" Alex said quietly.
The hedge ran along the edge of a long stretch of grass, divided perfectly in two by a gravel pathway. The grass was, even in this low light, a bright and vibrant green, kept in such a state by the countless sprinklers that nursed the blades' thirst at regular intervals. Along each side ran flowerbeds dense with bright colours. The pathway opened out towards the front of the house, and reached around the sides, presumably meeting up with the back garden on the other side.
"Alright, I'll text Sam." Jackson said, "She should have her cell on silent, so when she feels it vibrate, she'll know we're here, but her parents won't notice it ringing." He composed the message and pressed 'send'.
"Ok." Alex nodded, "Which window do we meet her by?"
Jackson squinted to get a better look at the house. "That one." He pointed at a window on the left side of the house. "Ray, wait here for the signal. When Alex and I reach the window, I'll call your cell. When it rings, you go to the door and distract the parents, just like we practiced."
"Sneaking out was a lot easier when I was your age." Ray joked.
"You're only a couple years older." Alex argued, but Jackson grabbed his arm to get his attention.
"Lets go." He whispered, and they walked alongside the hedge with their heads down, and headed towards the house.
"This is stupid." Alex moaned.
"Shh." Jackson swatted the air in Alex's direction. "Do you want to go the shadow world tonight or not?"
"Well, yeah-"
"Then you'll just have to help us get Sam out of this dinner with her parents this one time."
Alex pouted as they reached the window, "Fine." He gave Jackson a leg up over the hedge, and then proceeded to clamber over rather loudly.
"Shhhh." Jackson hissed, "You'll attract attention. This probably looks really shady."
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it!" Alex whispered back, "You try climbing over a fucking hedge without making any noise."
Jackson laughed as quietly as he could. "Ok, ok, lets just concentrate."
"I really don't see what's so funny."
They quickly tiptoed up to the window, and ducked against the wall underneath it. Jackson got his phone ready, and plumed Ray's number in. "Okay, I'm gonna call him now." He said, and pressed the button. He held it to his ear and waited, "..It's ringing.."
.. He heard the ring tone three times before Ray rejected the call. "Good, I think he knows to go now." Jackson said.
"How do you know?" Alex asked.
"Because he hung up…"
"…Maybe it just rang out."
"…What do you mean?"
"I mean why didn't we arrange that he actually pick up and then you say 'okay go' and he could say 'ok, I'm going'… that way we wouldn't be sitting here thinking 'has he gone yet.'…For that matter, why didn't he just come with us and then go to the door. They aren't going to be watching the driveway to constantly make sure that any visitor arrives in the proper manner."
"Because..." Jackson paused, "Shut up, we're doing it my way."
"I just think it would have made more sense is all." Alex chuckled.
"Yeah, but this is more spy like." Jackson smiled, "Don't you feel like you're part of some super cool plot?"
"Yeah, but I'd rather feel like I'm part of some super cool plot that makes sense and where everyone actually knows what they're doing when-"
"Shhshhhshh I can hear footsteps." Jackson tapped Alex on the shoulder to get his attention. Ray's footsteps grew closer as he trudged down the gravel pass. There was the sound of a couple steps on stone, where Ray had reached the porch, and then Alex and Jackson heard the doorbell ring from inside the house. "Okay, he's there."
"So what do we do now?" Alex asked.
"We wait." Jackson replied. They waited for a few seconds, though with the adrenaline that seemed to accompany them on this childish mission, those seconds felt like hours. The doorbell rang again. Ray was clearly as impatient as the other two.
"Why aren't they answering the door?" Alex asked.
"I don't know. Just wait."
"…What if they have a maid? Or a butler?"
"Shhh..." Jackson leaned his head to the side of the house, trying to see what his ears could pick up on. But there was nothing. Suddenly he heard something beeping. "What's that?" He asked. It grew louder as he darted his eyes around to see if there was any sign of what was making the noise.
"Crap, sorry that's my cell phone." Alex admitted, and delved into his pocket, trying to fish it out. The beeping grew louder still.
"SHhhhh turn it off!" Jackson hissed, "Why isn't it on silent!?"
Alex pulled it out and flipped it open, "Crap, it's Ray! What's he doing!?"
"Hang up, don't answer it!" Jackson said nervously.
Alex pressed 'reject', and the two sat frozen for a moment in silence.. "What do we do?" Alex asked.
"I don't know." Jackson said. There was another pause…
Then they heard a noise at the front of the house. The sound of the front door opening.
"-Yes I'm answering the door now!" A voice called, "Sorry, what is it?" The voice was male, presumably Sam's father.
"Ah- yes" Ray's voice was startled. "C-can I interest you in-"
Alex and Jackson sighed in relief. "Thank god, he's doing it." Jackson said.
"Alright so what, do we just wait for Sam now?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, that's the plan." They sat and listened as Ray regained his composure, and really put on a show. His acting certainly sounded top notch. He was persistent in his act enough to drag both parents into the fake argument, and it wasn't long before a light came on in the room of the window above Jackson and Alex's heads.
There was a few seconds of rushed footsteps from inside the room, and then the window slid open above them, and Sam appeared, smiling down at them. "Hey, you guys okay?" She asked.
Jackson smiled, "Jesus, breaking you out of your own home is surprisingly nerve wracking."
"My parent's home." She corrected.
"Alright, pass us those bags." Alex said, and Sam handed them each a rucksack full to bursting with items that would come in handy on a shadow hunt. Then she clambered out of the window, one limb at a time.
"Let's go." She whispered, as she closed the window slowly behind her.
They threw their bags over the hedge and followed after them one by one. Then they ran as quietly as they could down to the street, making sure to keep their heads ducked under the hedge and out of the way.
"Alright, I'll call Ray." Alex said, and dialed the number. He told him to pretend that something had come up, and get out of there. The light from the house disappeared as the door closed and Ray could be heard running down the pathway.
"Lets go!" Sam hissed as Ray met up with them, and they all sprinted down the street and turned the corner, ramming their backs against a wall. Jackson peeped his head around the edge of the wall, and watched as lights began to come on inside the house.
Then Sam's phone rang. She rejected it, and there was a slight silence. "Right, shall we go fight some shadows then?" She asked.