Chosen (26 page)

             
The next time my eyes opened I had no idea how long I’d been sleeping on the couch, but there was a full plate of cold food on the coffee table in front of me.  Either Willow couldn’t wake me up, or she had left me sleeping.  I thought about re-heating the food, but decided against it; slinking back to the bedroom and climbing into bed.  I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling.  Surprisingly, it stared back. 

             
A solid line of at least fifty glow-in-the-dark stars of all sizes ran the length of the ceiling from window to wall.  From there, it trailed down and disappeared into the closet.  I switched on the small lamp on the bedside table and hopped out of bed; curiosity getting the best of me.  I crossed the room and opened the door to a large walk-in closet that seemed to go on for miles.  Blouses, pants, and dresses were stuffed on either side; not allowing room for much else. 

             
I stuck my head inside, but only the eerie glow from the line of stars that continued to run along the ceiling could be seen.  I stepped farther inside and spun around slowly.  There was a good chance the stars had been there for years, but I hadn’t noticed them the night before.  Maybe Zara had thought I’d like them? Or maybe Finn did it?  Giving up, I was about to walk out when I heard a light stirring near the back of the closet.  I stepped farther in, looking for some kind of weapon in case a murderer, or more appropriately, Nadia, was hiding behind one of the dresses.  My breath hitched as I pictured a rat the size of a small dog launching itself at me.

             
Funny - how a rat could elicit more fear in me than a murderer or Nadia.  I didn’t have much more time to contemplate who was sharing the closet with me before three figures plunged out from the darkness and smothered me in a hazardous four-person hug in the middle of the closet.

             
“What are you guys doing here?!” I screeched at my three roommates. “I thought you were a murderer!  Or a…rat.  Or…whatever! You shouldn’t be hiding in my closet!”

             
“It was the only hiding place we could all fit!” Carmen jumped on the bed and tested out its springiness.

             
“The perfectly good living room wasn’t big enough for you?” I put my hands on my hips.

             
“Sticking stars to the ceiling and hiding out in your bedroom closet were much more fun.” Willow laughed. “Plus, the guards outside let us in because we had food.”

             
“I voted for cutting off the electricity and blasting the door down, but Carmen said that would be too obvious.” Phoebe shrugged as she inspected the pictures on the wall.

             
“
Or
…” I emphasized slowly with sarcasm. “And this might sound crazy, but you could have just
knocked on the door
and woke me up.”

             
“Once again, that doesn’t involve stars or closets,” Phoebe informed me. “Not to mention, we wouldn’t have had an excuse to get all dressed up like army guys!”

             
She twirled around to show off her outfit. All three of them looked more like duck hunters than army men, as they were covered in camouflage from head to toe with black war paint smeared on their faces.  Willow’s gorgeous hair was tucked up under a bright, neon-orange knit hat.

             
“Good thing you wore camouflage - If it weren’t for your hair, I wouldn’t be able to see you right now.”  I rolled my eyes and laughed.

             
Carmen put her hands on her hips, “I sacrificed at least three dollars for these diamonds in the rough at a yard sale last week.  I knew they’d come in handy some day.  Besides, yours are in this bag. We can’t bust you out of here in
that
.” I looked down at my jeans and sweater and then back at Carmen with skepticism.  She tossed the bag at me with a wicked grin. “You’ve got two choices. Put them on or we put them on for you.  You pick.”

             
“And just what are you busting me out of here for?” I retaliated. “And just how do you propose we get back out without the Sons seeing us?”

             
“I can be very persuasive,” Carmen answered darkly. 

             
Phoebe snickered and rolled her eyes, “Your
money
can be very persuasive. Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb didn’t take a lot of convincing to agree to be our escorts for the night.”

             
“And what exactly do we need camouflage outfits and armed guards for?” I wasn’t convinced. I eyed my own camo outfit awaiting me in the bag sitting on the bed.

             
“Operation ‘Zara Dark Thirty’,” Carmen announced, clearly proud of the name they’d come up with; a play on the move title “Zero Dark Thirty.”

             
“We are
not
going on a mission to kill Osama Bin Laden,” I disagreed vehemently, “And most importantly, we are NOT navy seals.”

             
“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.