Chapter 9: Maddy
Luckily, she and Rhydian hadn't made it to the woods by the time that Harry and Shannon stormed out of the main school building with Liam hot on their heels. So they pursued them into the changing rooms and stopped a crisis from occurring.
Watching Shannon break her heart over keeping their secret was extremely painful, and as soon as she left the changing room Maddy followed her to apologise. Rhydian understood with a look and stayed behind.
By the time that she caught up with Shannon, she had already lost Harry and was slumped in the Dark Room. Maddy didn't know what to say or where to start. "I'm sorry Shan," she began, "You should never have had to do that for me and Rhydian."
Her friend only sighed in response, not yet turning away from the empty computer screen that she was staring vacantly at. Maddy was not quite sure what to do to comfort her, as a hug seemed too much when Shannon was not even looking at her. She settled for placing her hand on her friend's shoulder in support. To Maddy's relief, Shannon accepted it, leaning towards the offered palm.
The door opened and Shannon's head turned towards a hesitant looking Tom, finally breaking out of her stare and into a tired smile. "You okay?" He asked, to which she nodded her head and glanced at Maddy. "Did you…?" She began to ask.
"Yeah, me and Rhydian heard. Sorry." Somehow, Shannon slouched more, and suddenly Tom crossed the room to hug her. Maddy stayed where she was, for the first time not knowing what to do in her friend's presence. This argument needed to end.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to apologise, Rhydian pushed open the door as well, looking contrite. "Sorry Shannon." It's clear from his hovering in the doorway and her not looking at him that he didn't feel comfortable to be in the room with everyone and Maddy can't help but feel something similar. As she looked between the two options, Shannon decided for her, leaning further into Tom as she spoke, "Just go Maddy, we'll catch up with you later."
Heartbroken at what this seemingly pointless argument had devolved into, she still left the room and headed to their next class with Rhydian. They'd not been seated long before Tom and Shannon entered after them, causing a round of mutters and laughter from their classmates. Maddy saw Shannon's jaw clench as they both sat down in front of them.
They made it through most of the lesson before the Kay's couldn't help but stick their noses in. Maddy could do nothing but watch as Shannon's anger rose along with Rhydians guilt. She saw the thought brewing in his mind to chuck something across the room in order to talk to them, but before he could, she instinctively took his hand. "Wait a second," she whispered when he looked up at her in surprise, "You can't talk to them properly here anyway."
She gestured around the room to point out its lack of privacy, and to her surprise found Liam already staring back at them. The boy's eyes flitted down to where Maddy and Rhydian were obviously holding hands and she flinched, drawing her hand away to scratch at her eyebrow in deflection. It was unintentional, but she saw Rhydian frown at her out of the corner of her eye, when he looked up and saw what caused this reaction, he stiffened.
He continued staring moodily at the back of Liam's head until the bell went off, rousing him enough to pull Tom and Shannon back from where the rest of their classmates were leaving the room. The group walked slowly, so as not to be overheard.
"We're sorry." Rhydian began, to which Maddy nodded frantically in agreement, "Yes completely, it wasn't right for us to exclude you all of the time. Especially keeping secrets from you both." She looked between the pair as Rhydian continued, "You shouldn't have to deal with this Shan."
"It was my decision." She instantly replied, defensively.
"Well, I should have dealt with it then. You've both stuck your necks out for us, and we've let you down."
"No mate, you should have just talked to us, trusted us with what's going on. Then we can all deal with it together." Tom interjected.
"I guess it's just that we didn't want you both caught up in something that we did." Maddy butted in.
"Ha," Shan laughed dryly, "Well we got caught up anyway."
"Yeah. From now on, you don't get to pick when we get involved." Tom chuckled, "You're stuck with us now."
"We know." Maddy and Rhydian spoke simultaneously, and they all scoffed.
"From now on, we'll let you know whenever we need help, because I think we've learnt that you'll get involved whether we say anything or not." Maddy finished and Rhydian smiled, "You deserve the same from us."
They all smiled and Maddy brought them all into a group hug as they walked through the door to the playground, "Ah, it's nice to do this now that we're all friends again!"
Unfortunately, whatever Shannon said in response was drowned out as Maddy and Rhydian's heads snapped towards the woods. A faint sound of a yelp met her ears before Rhydian ran off towards the field in order to perform eolas. The three of them crowded around him to shield his hunched form from anyone who may be looking their way.
Maddy glanced down at him as his eyes misted over and his breathing hitched, remembering the rush that eolas used to give her. After her temporary lapse in judgement when she first discovered it, she had come to an agreement with Rhydian and her parents to only use it when absolutely necessary. After all, she had found that she was particularly susceptible to its addictive properties.
Before she could dwell too long on it, Rhydian jumped to his feet, whispering "Mum!" before sprinting across the field towards the forest. Remembering their promise to include their friends more in all decisions, Maddy turned to Shannon and Tom, "Meet us back at mine, I'll call you if we need backup!" They both nodded in agreement before she ran off after Rhydian, easily following his scent through the underbrush.
It wasn't long before she came across Rhydian who was helping a wriggling Ceri out of a net on the ground. She was still furiously arguing with Aran who was halfway up the tree above them. The sight was so ridiculous that she couldn't help but laugh, earning her a scathing look from the pair in response.
"What happened?" She quizzed Rhydian as Ceri and Aran started walking off. He gestured to the tree, the net and the still squabbling pair as they walked out of earshot. He chuckled, "Your guess is as good as mine at this point, but I think we can make an educated assumption…" He gestured around them to the net set up and made to follow the others, who were already far in front of them.
Something pricked at Maddy's senses and she held out a hand to pause Rhydian. "What is it?" He asked, but she ignored him in favour of sniffing the air. There. There was a trail of a person in this clearing, probably the person who set up the trap. That wouldn't usually alarm Maddy, but they seemed to have lingered and returned to a certain spot a lot considering the strength of their smell.
She knew she looked a bit ridiculous, but Maddy continued sniffing deeply and moved towards the patch of ground where the smell was strongest. It didn't take long before she saw the hidden camcorder in the long grass and snatched it up with a triumphant hoot. "I knew I could smell something fishy!"
"How the hell did you find that?" Rhydian asked as he came closer to have a look at the camera.
"Oh, I could still smell the trail the idiot left. They must not have set this up long ago… Ah Ha!" She exclaimed as she flipped the case of the camcorder open and slipped out the SD card. "No evidence now!" Her pleased face was met with a confused one from Rhydian.
"You can smell them that specifically? I can just tell that someone was here in the last 24 hours." He gave another large sniff, frown taking over his face as he concentrated, "And even that is barely noticeable because it rained last night."
Now it was Maddy's turn to frown. She had been so sure that the scent was fresh from how strong it was, but now that she concentrated, she could smell the rain from last night as well. The scents mixed together and the trail was duller like you'd expect, but nonetheless very noticeable. Now that she paid attention, the scents surrounding her were all a bit heightened, even overpowering.
Maddy could smell the laundry detergent from her school shirt really clearly, and it was already its second wear since it had been washed. The smell would usually have faded by now, but somehow, it was just as strong as if she were unloading the washing machine that very second. She felt her eyes bulging as she sought out the other scents that were suddenly bombarding her.
The chewing gum that Rhydian had eaten after lunch nearly three hours ago, the smell of his deodorant that she knew he only sprayed on when he woke up in the morning, and the presiding scent of him, just him, that seemed to envelop her. Maddy felt her cheeks growing warm that all of the scents she had picked up on were related to him. Rhydian was still looking down at her with confusion and a question in his eye and so she looked away quickly, frantically looking for a reason as to why her sense of smell was suddenly so acute.
In her haphazard attempt to not look at Rhydian, her eyes landed on another problem that approached from behind him. That very same problem solved why the smell around the camcorder had been so familiar. The problem that was very quickly gaining ground up the hill with a very angry look on his face. Liam would want to know exactly what they were doing in his dad's field, next to a presumably failed trap and holding the camcorder with the evidence against them.
Maybe it was her previous thought about his overwhelming scent, but that second, only one idea occurred to Maddy that could get them out of this. She cast an anxious look up at Rhydian, who still looked at her oddly seeing as this conundrum had passed across her face in what must have been two seconds.
"I'm sorry!" Maddy whispered, as it was all she really could do to prepare him, especially as he still had his back to the threat of Liam, and so would have no idea of what her real motives were.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Maddy reached up, wrapped her hands around his neck, and kissed him.