This chapter was a long time coming but I hope that I can spend more time writing now that my work has settled down and things in my life are quietening down. I guess the wait also gives you all an excuse to go and re-read the previous chapters to get caught up on what you may have forgotten! I hope that you all enjoy reading and here's hoping the next chapter won't be too long.
I also couldn't upload anything else while LouiseX was updating her fantastic White Flag story which had me riveted in reading.
Her bonds were slowly withdrawn from her face. She felt so weak now that even if she weren't covered in toxic ropes, she wouldn't be able to escape anyway. Clearly, Verminous had thought carefully about how to apprehend her, and using polluted roping had completely nullified all of her abilities and powers. She truly was helpless, mortal and completely vulnerable. She managed to force her eyes open and fight against her restraints when she saw who was standing in front of her but gave up when she understood the futility.
"Welcome!" Verminous sneered, "I do apologise for the unsanitary and toxic accommodation but you know as well as I do that this is the only way I can hold you here without you running away."
"What do you want from me?" Gaia snapped back at him, trying to appear angry but she only managed a squeak, showing him how weak she really was at that moment.
Verminous laughed and reached his hand out to touch her cheek, "oh, how it must pain you to feel so useless. Don't worry too much though, the pain will end soon when I kill you and those Planet brats."
"Don't you dare touch them! They have nothing to do with this!"
He slapped her hard across the cheek, "they have EVERYTHING to do with this you pathetic wench. Countlessly, they have embarrassed me and destroyed my plans and operations. Did you seriously think that there would not be consequences for their interference? Did you honestly believe that I would not exact retribution?"
"Take your anger out on me and leave them out of it. I was the one who told them what to do, it was my doing so therefore exact your retribution on me."
He smiled, "oh, but I will and I agree that it was your fault and you will pay for your meddling but those pesky brats have accosted me personally and I will not stand for any of them continuing to live."
"You will not defeat them, the bonds they share will not break by anything that you do."
"Is that so? That annoying fire idiot broke pretty quickly," he waited to see her reaction and chuckled when he saw her horror before he continued rubbing salt in her wound, "but now that he's out of the way, the other brats will fall straight into my trap and there's nothing you can do to stop them."
"No... Wheeler..." she hung her head down, trying to sense his spirit but due to the pollution encapsulating her, she couldn't hope to do so. She had set out to save Wheeler and had only succeeded in getting the both of them killed. She now could only hope to save the rest of them, if only she had the power to..
"Lift your damn head and look at me!" He slapped her again and then put his thumb and finger under her chin, forcing her to look up, "tell me exactly where the source of your power is! Tell me how you can commune with the Earth! Tell me where I can corrupt the planet from most effectively!"
"I will never tell you any of those things and you will never succeed," her voice was drawn and she knew the repercussions for what she said but she didn't care. Her sole purpose was to protect the planet and she would not jeopardise that, even under threat of torture or death.
"You're probably right about the first but you're wrong on the second. I know that you'll never tell me what I want to hear but I'll torture you for that information anyway. I'll poison this planet with or without your help but I may as well take as much enjoyment from destroying you while I still have the chance, right?"
"You're a monster, Skumm," she said and as soon as she did she could feel her side impacted by his fist. She coughed up and was shocked to see blood come from out of her mouth. The pollution had acted faster than she anticipated and her vision started to blur.
"Do not EVER call me that!" Rage burned in his eyes and Gaia silently endured his torture. She could sense the damage being done to her body but she couldn't feel the pain as she detached her mind from her body. He continued to demand answers from her and she could see his lips moving with each question but she could not hear them. As she ignored his questions, time would pass and he would become increasingly irate, causing him to unleash a barrage of damage to her but again and again, she did not respond to him. He continued his interrogation for hours and eventually tired of it. The only words throughout the ordeal that she heard were his last ones.
"You may not talk, but I assure you that I will make your Planeteers talk before I end their suffering too. I will have my vengeance, I will have their lives and I will have this planet." He placed the ropes back over her head and she again felt the burn on her skin as they settled around her head. She tried to sleep but the pain kept her awake. Eventually she knew that she would pass out, but until then she was doomed to suffer in silence. She heard the door slam shut and was met with completely no sound around her. She relaxed as much as she could and tried to conserve her energy but knew that her body in its weakened state would not last long before falling unconscious.
Gi and Ma-ti slowly followed Linka. The determination that she was exhibiting was overwhelming and unfortunately it did nothing to quell their own senses of hopelessness.
"Which way now Ma-Ti?" Linka called back to him. She continued to trudge through the trees ahead of them and her boots kept sinking into the muddy ground but she was relentless in her pursuit for Wheeler.
"Straight ahead," Ma-Ti answered abruptly. He suddenly felt Gi's hand on his shoulder. He turned to her and she spoke to him in a whisper so Linka couldn't hear.
"Look, I know it looks bad but maybe Wheeler is okay," she tried to smile, "so how about we put in the effort for Linka and find him as soon as possible." She glanced over at Linka and took a deep breath before picking up her pace and catching up to her Russian friend. Ma-Ti sighed and somehow found the energy to increase his pace as well and that little act of determination seemed to lift his spirits immensely. Before any of them knew it, they were chatting to each other and the air of sorrow had been lifted.
"Quick! I can see the clearing up ahead," Ma-Ti was the first to see the lake and ushered the others to speed up. They started hastening towards the edge of the lake and when they started to see the waterline they all started approaching more apprehensively in hesitation against what they might find. Ma-Ti was the first to arrive and he started following the bank around to where he remembered Wheeler falling under the water. He couldn't see their footprints any more but the water level had obviously receded down as he could now reach the rock upon which he had been resting with just a small jump. He frantically started looking around but saw no trace of his American friend.
"He's gone! There's no sign of him!" Ma-Ti grabbed his head between his hands before Gi and Linka caught up to him and stood either side of him. He felt a hand touch her shoulder, looking over and expecting to see Gi but it was Linka who was comforting him. He could see the sadness across her face as she stared blankly out over the lake but even though her feelings were sad, through his ring he could sense that she hadn't given up hope on finding Wheeler. Her love for him shone through and that power flowed into Ma-Ti, giving him the hope to continue. He couldn't explain it, but the Planeteers needed each other for more than just their abilities. A lot of time passed as each of them just stood next to each other in silence.
"Well, the water is still flowing so we should just follow the river until we find some kind of sign of Wheeler and Gaia," Gi was the one to break the reticence. Nobody responded but Linka nodded in agreement before slowly making her way along the embankment, the others following in her footsteps and each of them keeping their eyes aware for any sign of either of the missing persons.
Ma-Ti was constantly checking his ring to try and sense either Gaia or Wheeler but nothing was coming to him. Linka was idly rotating her wind ring around her finger as she walked, feeling tense about the situation but looking forward to holding Wheeler in her arms again. She didn't want to think about what would happen if the outcome ended up being different. Both of them turned when they heard splashing from behind them and they saw Gi wading through a shallow crossing.
Gi looked over at them and judging by the reactions on their faces she began explaining, "I'll look on this side of the river, might be some signs over her." Linka curled a lip up slightly into a small smile and Gi returned with a larger version of her own.
Linka turned to look at Ma-Ti and saw that he wasn't looking too happy so she drew him into a gentle embrace, "everything is going to be okay, Ma-Ti. Have a little faith."
"I can't stop blaming myself for everything that has happened."
Linka pulled back, "what makes you say that?"
Ma-Ti hesitated and Linka repeated herself, "Ma-Ti, what is wrong?"
"I was resting over there by the lake and I fell asleep and lost track of time. The weather must have turned up the mountain or something because suddenly the lake had much more water in it and Wheeler tried to save me before I'd have been swept under the water. In the process of doing so, he ended up putting himself in a lot of danger and..." he couldn't continue.
Linka pushed him away, "he got himself into this trouble trying to save you?" Ma-Ti looked back up into her eyes and saw them piercing back into his. He felt like breaking down and crying but her eyes softened shortly after, and she again drew him back into her arms. He felt her laugh gently against him, "that sure sounds like him," followed by Yankee durak muttered to herself before she laughed again.
"You're not angry at me?" Ma-Ti looked up at her.
"Ma-Ti, niet of course not. We've both known Wheeler for years and he's always putting himself at risk to save others. It frustrates me to death but..." she paused before continuing, her voice lowering down to little more that a whisper, "but I wouldn't have him any other way."
They were both interrupted by Gi's loud voice booming over at them, "Hey! I've found something."
Linka broke away from Ma-Ti and spun around to Gi. She immediately started running towards the other Planeteer and slipped while doing so. "What did you get, I mean find?" Linka was a little short of breath and, coupled with the emotions bouncing around in her mind, found it a little difficult to construct a proper sentence.
"Well, follow me and I'll show you," Gi lead the way and Ma-Ti slowly caught up to them. When he arrived, she continued, "I found some marks in the mud running away from the river. It looks like someone was dragged along the ground. I can only assume that the marks are Wheeler's."
Linka felt like jumping up and down but she took a deep breath and held her composure. This didn't mean anything yet, it might just be a dead-end. She paled at the thought of death and suddenly felt very worried. Maybe he'd dragged himself out of the water and he was now just lying in some hole somewhere, praying that she would come and save him but in the end just dying from his injuries. She closed her eyes and tried to put her thoughts aside and managed to do so. It was strange how a slip of the tongue, or rather a slip of the mind, had made her mood change so rapidly.
She never thought that emotions could have such power over the body. She always thought that everything must have a foundation in science but her experiences with the Planeteers and especially those with Wheeler had shown her that some things couldn't be explained. When she was around him, it felt like all else faded and all she could really focus on was him. Is that what love did to people? No wonder she could never understand what people had meant.
They all arrived at the marks in the ground and it indeed looked like someone had dragged themselves or been dragged through the mud. Linka knelt down and softly placed her hand on one of the ridges left behind and quickly stood again when she came to her senses and realised that that would accomplish nothing. "Let's follow them," she suggested.
"I already did," Gi answered, "they seem to stop about 30 metres that way." She pointed off towards a thick mass of trees to the north.
"Well, maybe there's some kind of clue near there," Ma-Ti started heading that way and Gi and Linka nodded to each other before joining him. When they arrived, it was clear that the track abruptly stopped. It looked like he'd been picked up from how obviously the path ended. Subconsciously, the three began fanning out looking for any further clues. After a while, Gi and Ma-Ti found nothing but Linka couldn't give up. She glanced over at Gi, who had a look of despair on her face like she'd lost all hope. Linka sighed and swung her head around but as she did something glinted in the sun and caught her eye.
Linka tried to find it again but she couldn't seem to see anything until a few seconds later a breeze flew past and rustled some bushes in front of her, and as the did she could see something shining at her. "Over here!" Linka called out before making her way forward carefully. The ground was dangerous and uneven and she didn't want to hurt herself. What use would she be in finding Wheeler with a broken ankle?
Before long, she came upon the bush and reached into it. The leaves cut at her hand and irritated her skin but she managed to retrieve the paper. By the time she had pulled it from the shrubbery the others had arrived either side of her.
"What is it?" Ma-Ti inquired. Linka unfolded the paper and inspected it.
"It looks like some kind of invoice," she carefully read the top, "look, Salt Lake Industries. What would this be doing here?"
Gi leaned her head in closer, "it looks like they're involved in some sort of water purification. Look at the items on this receipt." She pointed at all the expensive filtration systems on the docket.
"What would this company have to do with Wheeler's disappearance?" Linka seemed puzzled.
"Maybe nothing, but it is a start!" Ma-Ti tried to seem enthusiastic. It didn't seem like much of a lead but what other reason could there be for this invoice to be doing in the middle of the forest on Hope Island. It didn't make any sense.
Linka turned the paper over and there was some hand written message on the back. Most of the writing had washed away due to the conditions but there was one phrase that was legible. Her hands tightened as she read the message and Gi gasped to her side. Do not return without a Planet brat.
Just as that message sank in, the trees started to shake, they wind picked up and they all looked up to see the Geo-cruiser fly over them. Ma-Ti was the first to comment, "that must be Kwame! Let's take this to him, he might know what it means." Linka felt like telling Ma-Ti that she knew exactly what this paper meant. It meant that someone had taken Wheeler away from her and she would not sit idly by until she felt his embrace once more. Her resolve steadied and she now felt sure that Wheeler was still alive, albeit kidnapped. She silently followed Ma-Ti back towards their rooms, clenching her fists as she prayed for Wheeler's safety.
I've developed a basic flowchart, I guess you could say, for the remainder of the story and I think there's many surprises in store for you all so please follow or favourite to keep up-to-date. Beyond that, I'm not going to spoil the reading experience for you.
Take care everyone, much love.