Chapter 24: Something Wrong

April crawled over to a big statue of a nobleman. She could still hear the dragon hiss and growl in search of his prey, but so far, the mythological beast hasn't been lucky in catching any of the guests.

She let out a silent sigh of relief when she reached the statue. She dug into her messenger bag and retrieved her T-phone.

Calling back really was no option any longer. Speaking up would give her location away. But she could at least text the others and ask them for help, because heck, she needed help here!

She scrolled through her missed calls. There were three from Casey by now, and April couldn't help, but feel a pang of guilt. She just hoped that Casey would realize that something was wrong and that she wasn't just playing hard to get – Casey sometimes got the weirdest ideas.

She was about to type her text message, when she thought that maybe she should set her phone's volume on mute first. But at that exact momentm the gadget came to life and her familiar ringtone echoed through the hall.

Damn it, April thought.

She wanted to toss her T-phone into her bag again when she heard a familiar hiss, and she could just jump to the side as a wave of fire hit the ground right where she had been sitting just a split-second ago.

The T-phone slipped from her hands and skidded over the floor. She wanted to run after it, but another wave of fire made her change her direction.

Ducking behind a pillar, she hoped she'd be safe for a moment.

Some other guests had thought they could make a run for the exit while the dragon was sending fire her way, but just when they had started moving, the dragon shifted his attention back to them.

Luckily, they managed to dodge the attack.

But while the dragon was busy with the other guests, it gave April a chance to finally really look at him.

She let her eyes wander over its large body, its green-blue-ish scales, its bat-like wings. This creature looked exactly how April had imagined the dragon from the second "Realms"-book, the one that had been guarding the old castle.

It looked like her imagination had hit the nail right on the head.

But suddenly, there was this cold breeze again, and for a second, the dragon was gone, completely gone, like not even there. Also, the ancient pillars, the statues and the old furniture, it all was gone for a second, and April found herself in the warehouse again.

She jumped a little in surprise and blinked, and after the blink, everything was back to normal again. Well, the freaky, "Realms"-ish, not at all normal kind of normal.

With a frown she ducked behind the pillar again.

That was strange, even stranger than being dragged into the world of a book.

What the heck was going on here?

But before she could deepen this thought, she heard a scream and when she looked back at the dragon, she realized that one of the guests – a teenage girl in a long robe – had fallen over, probably when she had run for cover, and now the dragon was moving closer to her with a deep, warning growl.

And before April really knew what she was doing, she had left her cover and was running over to the dragon.

Raph still had not given up on pacing up and down the room, although, due to exhaustion, he moved a lot slower now, but he refused to sit down. He couldn't sit down. Casey had called April several times now, and she still wasn't answering her phone.

Okay, maybe she was angry because she had had to line up for hours to buy the latest "Realms"-book for him and this was her revenge. Maybe she had just gone right home and was sleeping peacefully in her bed now. But somehow, Raph couldn't believe it.

Besides, hadn't her text-bombardment been punishment enough?

Raph twisted his mouth as he thought about this.

Well, it was about April here, so probably not.

But still, going home without saying something – but hopefully with the book – just wasn't like her, all revenge aside.

Raph looked over to Casey.

Casey's eyes were glued to the TV, but he still had his phone in his hand, and Raph realized that Casey's knuckles were white from holding the gadget so tightly. Also, Casey's whole body seemed tensed.

So Casey was worrying about April, too. And he too knew that something was wrong.

Raph stopped and looked directly at Casey.

The teenage boy seemed to feel his gaze and looked back at him over his shoulder.

Raph frowned. "I think something's wrong."

"Oh no, dude, everything's just f…"

"Don't say 'fine' or I swear I'll hit you with my crutches!"

The word died in Casey's throat and he just looked at Raph.

"We both know something's wrong, right?" Raph asked.

For a second, Casey didn't do anything, but then he nodded.

"Good," Raph said. "I mean, not good!" he quickly corrected himself. "We're lucky that Donnie's working late hours tonight."

And with that Raph set into motion again.

Casey got up and followed his friend to Donnie's lab.

When they entered the lab, they found Donnie at his work desk, bent over something Raph hadn't even the slightest idea what it could be. And he didn't want to know either.

Donnie had his shell turned to them and didn't show any sign he had even realized they were there.

Raph cleared his throat which made Donnie jump.

With a confused look on his face, Donnie turned around and looked at them.

"Wh- … oh, it's you!" But then it seemed to dawn on him that it was Casey and Raph in his lab in the middle of the night.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Well, there's this small possibility that maybe, just maybe, April is in trouble," Raph said.

It was one thing to ask Donnie for help and it was another thing to tell him to do something, but it was something completely different if you had to tell him that something could have happened to April. That was a topic even Raph sometimes had issues to touch – especially when he couldn't just pound Donnie when he lost his temper.

"What!?" Donnie called out. "I thought she was getting this stupid book for you!"

"She was or maybe she still is, we haven't heard from her in a while and she doesn't answer her phone when we call her," Raph replied. "And 'Realms' is not stupid."

"April always answers her phone!"

"Well, we know, but…"

Raph couldn't finish this sentence because Donnie marched over to Casey, stopped and glared down at him, taking advantage of the fact that he was taller than him.

"You were supposed to be looking after her, right, Jones? Brought her food and so, right?" Donnie said. "Don't tell me you lost her! Again!"

"I didn't lose her!" Casey replied, but backed away from Donnie a bit. "She was pretty fine last time I checked on her."

"No one lost anyone here," Raph said, lifted one crutch and used it as a barrier between Casey and Donnie. "And probably everything is just fine. But could you track her phone or something, Donnie? Just to be sure, okay?"

Donnie turned to Raph, and Raph gave him a calming smile. Raph's smiles never really looked calming, he just inched the corners of his mouth up, but it seemed to work, because Donnie just nodded and went to his laptop.

Raph brought down his crutch again. When he looked at Casey, the teenage boy mouthed a thank-you.

Raph nodded in reply, and then they walked over to Donnie who was already typing away on his computer.