on the move title “Zero Dark Thirty.”
“We are
“You’re right.” Willow flung the bag of clothes at me, “We are Tydes and we are going on a mission to find out who Zara is. So get dressed soldier, it’s time to move out.”
“I’m getting the three of you checked out for Bat-Shit Crazy Disorder at some point. I have a feeling you are prime candidates for the disease.”
“Well, you’re gonna be our leader…” Phoebe laughed, “so what does that say about you?”
“Good point.” I sneered at her and began to pull on the biggest camouflage pants I’d ever seen. I twisted around to inspect the tag. “What size are these…? Men’s large!?”
“Army pants don’t come in size 2 Petite,” Carmen enlightened me sarcastically. I pulled them on without having to unbutton them, and then rolled down the waistband to my liking. A black tank top completed the outfit, along with the black paint that Phoebe smeared all over my face. Once my hair was in a pony tail, they clapped their hands and I smiled in spite of myself.
“So what’s the plan, Staff Sergeant?” I regarded Willow formally, with a less-than-accurate salute.
“We found an address in Zara’s house earlier that we think is worth checking out.” Her voice had dropped, but I didn’t miss the undercurrent of excitement. “Zara is definitely up there in her bed as we speak, so I know we won’t run into her.”
“What kind of address is it?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but she received a phone call after dinner and was extremely secretive about it. She left the room, so Carmen pretended to go to the bathroom, but followed her to her study where she wrote something down. Once Zara left to go back to the dining room, Carmen found the paper she had written on and copied the address.”
“You guys are amazing,” I shook my head in wonder. “Did you hear any of her conversation?”
“Not really,” Carmen frowned. “But my superpower of intuition tells me that we’ll find something at this address. I just feel it.”
“Let’s just hope the ‘something’ we find isn’t a serial killer who collects the tongues of seventeen year old girls,” Phoebe inserted off-handedly.
“Yes, because finding a serial killer who collects comic books would be infinitely better…”
Carmen snorted.
“I’m hoping he takes your tongue first,” Phoebe sneered at her.
“Alright!” Willow put up her hands, “If you keep it up, I’ll cut out both of your tongues so neither one of you can talk anymore. I don’t think anyone else will object.” She looked to me for back up and I shook my head.
“If we’re going, we need to hurry!” a deep male voice called from the living room. We filed out of the bedroom to see the two guards waiting impatiently for us. Both were over 6’5 and could more than likely bench press a train. I had to admit, I felt much safer knowing they would be with us.
After consulting Mapquest.com, we found out that the address was a mere half mile north from Zara’s house, so we decided to make the trek on foot. We all agreed that a golf cart would be too noisy, anyway. If it had been any other night, I would have been able to enjoy the cloudless night with the bright silver moon smiling down at us. It lit up the tops of the sea oats and sand dunes to our right, and glinted off every metal part of houses and garages to our left. The roar of the ocean accompanied us as we silently skulked in the shadows just off the road. Every house was dark, their occupants using common sense to stay in bed instead of embarking on a recon mission in the middle of the night.
Luckily, common sense was especially lacking in our little group. One of the Sons walked in front of the group, while the other followed behind to scour our surroundings for potential threats. I did my own scouring in search of Nadia’s evil essence, but so far the coast was clear. As we ticked off the house numbers, we reached the end of the road and were confronted with sand dunes blocking our path. Willow checked her phone one more time to make sure we were right.
“It says it should be right here,” she murmured with agitation.
“Maybe it’s invisible?” Phoebe proposed, completely serious. The two Sons laughed, but tried to cover it up once she shot them a severe look. It was more than possible - the entire Fortunate Isle is invisible to those who aren’t worthy to view it.
“Wait, what’s that?” One of the Sons pointed to the left and just over the sand dunes. “It looks like the roof of a house.”
“Looks like?” Carmen scrunched up her nose, “Or is? Because there’s a big difference.”
“See for yourself…” he rebutted and gestured toward the sand dunes.
“Okay, I will,” she countered. We looked on, as she more stomped than maneuvered around one of the larger dunes and disappeared. Only seconds later she returned, gesturing wildly for us to follow. Willow and I duplicated Carmen’s path around the sand dune. Once on the other side, we could see a sandy path that extended down the rest of the dunes; twisting and turning until it hit flat sand. Just beyond it stood a magnificent house that glowed white in the moonlight. A wraparound porch invited us to explore further, but the fact that it wasn’t on stilts made me reconsider. For a house that was directly across from the ocean, that was definitely odd. It appeared to be in good condition, although no personal items were strewn about the porch or yard and the many windows were completely dark.
“I’m going to go see if it’s open,” Carmen declared. She leapt up the wooden steps and tried the door knob, which gave way easily as the front door swung open. She stepped inside. The beach around us was deserted, but wondrous. As if the moon had been replaced by a big round black light, it highlighted anything remotely pale. The foam of the waves, the sand beneath our feet, and the sprawling house before us were brilliant against the dark night. At the same time, I felt extremely vulnerable. The rest of our group climbed over the same dunes and made their way down the path to meet us.
“Anything in there?” Willow whispered loudly enough so that Carmen poked her head back out.
“Completely abandoned!” she called back. We scampered up the steps in relief. Something about the open air felt threatening. The boards of the porch creaked under our steps and a spacious, luxurious house opened up to us as we entered. Crown molding, wainscoting, and wide banisters were offset by the wide plank wood floors; making the space appear even larger. It was immaculate. I could picture a big family spending summer vacations here, with colorful towels drying on the outside railing and the smell of suntan lotion. Despite my vivid imagination, the house was absolutely void of any sign that people had ever lived there.
Surprisingly, nothing felt ‘off’ or wrong about the house. It just seemed…lonely. We walked through each of the rooms, admiring the high ceilings and ornate light fixtures until Carmen found a secret door in one of the floors.
“I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea,” I warned. “No secret door leading into the bottom of a house leads to anything good.”
“There could be something else down there, though,” Willow advised. “The rest of the house is pretty empty.”
One of the Sons unhooked the latch and pulled it open with no fear whatsoever. A draft swirled up that smelled of stagnant water and concrete. Carmen kneeled down and stuck her head down in the hole as I held my breath.
“There’s a little ladder!” she cried with excitement. We helped her spin around backwards, before easing down into the hole and onto the rungs of the ladder. She climbed down and the sound of her feet hitting solid ground made me jump.
“Come on down, guys! There’s plenty of room!” she called up to us. One by one, we crawled down the surprisingly sturdy ladder into the underground room. The walls were made of stone and the floor was one long slab of concrete. Dim lights hung from the ceiling at ten foot intervals, allowing just enough light for us not to trip over each other. We followed a wide hallway until we saw openings that led to other doors and hallways.
“It’s like a labyrinth!” Phoebe bellowed from one of the hallways. “Oh! I think I found something! Stasia come look at this!”
“Coming!” I answered. Leaving the others to keep exploring, I followed the sound of Phoebe’s voice. The hallway became skinnier with each step and was unequivocally darker. It twisted to the right, but then abruptly ended at a smooth concrete wall. There were no doors or other rooms off of it, just a random, pointless hallway.
