Further

Chapter 6

Sofia awoke to a bright beam of sunlight coming through her window. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. By the time they had arrived at the treehouse and explained the whole situation to a confused Zoe, it was midnight and Noelle was exhausted, despite the fact she had napped for so long.

She crawled out of bed and walked down the hall to the shower they shared. She showered quickly, walking back to her room to change.She slipped into a pair of light jean shorts and a white crop top. (A/N: Picture in media) She pulled her long brown wavy hair into a high ponytail, before walking into the room Noelle was sleeping in to wake her up.

Sofia shook her lightly and her eyes opened, eyelids drooping drowsily.

"Time to get up," Sofia whispered, helping Noelle out of bed.

She dug through Noelle's suitcase, picking out a striped navy and white dress and pulled her hair off her face in a messy bun. (A/N: Link on side)

She grabbed Noelle's hand, leading her down the hallway to the kitchen, where August stood at the gas stove frying a pan of eggs and bacon. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a tight white tank top, showing off his tan shoulders.

"Good morning," he greeted her, offering her two plates. She gladly accepted, giving one to Noelle and sitting them both down at the table.

"Thanks, August, when's our flight?" she asked, taking a bite of scrambled eggs.

"The tickets said 4:00pm, but it's already twelve. We'll have to get going if we're going to get through security on time, especially since we have to go through normal security. Anytime Ash would take us, we wouldn't have to since we were with the government."

A sleepy looking Victor strolled into the kitchen followed by Zoe, both of them grabbing a plate of food before sitting down at the table.

They finished up their meals and brushed their teeth before saying goodbye to Zoe. August had called a cab, which they all managed to squeeze into, despite the size of their luggage.

Sofia peered over August's shoulder, "Who're you texting?" she asked.

"Autumn, she's not taking it so well that I'm leaving and didn't get to say goodbye," he replied, sighing.

"Why don't you invite her to come with us, we still have Ben's ticket," she suggested, lowering her voice since Victor still got teary at the thought of his death.

"Great idea! I'll ask her now. My grandma won't even know she's gone, she doesn't remember either of our names anyway. And it's not like we're leaving her, she still has the staff at the retirement home to look after her."

After a moment, he looked up at Sofia grinning, "She said yes!"

---

*Flight 104 will be departing shortly*The attendant blared over the speaker.

"That's our cue to go," Victor said, lifting Noelle onto his hip. They grabbed their suitcases, handing each of their tickets to the woman over the counter. Thankfully, nobody at border security had recognized them, despite the articles and news reports the others had been in.

They quickly found their seats and buckled themselves in, Autumn in the aisle beside August, followed by Sofia and Noelle with Victor on the opposite side.

"It's so weird having so many girls around, before now, the only girls I knew were my mother, Autumn and Noelle," August blurted out of the blue, "It's not a bad thing, just different."

"Wait, you've never seen any other girl before now?" she asked.

"All the government officials and doctors were men, Autumn was the only one I really talked to," he explained.

"That's crazy! Once we get to Ukraine, we have to do all the things you missed out on doing as a kid," she exclaimed.

The plane took off and Sofia drifted off to sleep, the way she typically did when her family took the 16-hour flight to Odessa, Ukraine.

---

"Sofia, we're here," August whispered, gently shaking her. She groggily opened her eyes, stretching her sore limbs. They got up and walked down the center aisle, thanking the attendant as they walked out into the jet bridge.

Once all their luggage was collected, they made their way out the familiar exit of the Odessa International Airport, the one she and her family crossed through every summer.

"August, where in Odessa did Ash say we were going?" she asked.

"He said a place called Vel-ee-ko-do-lin-s-kay, why do you ask?" he replied, trying to pronounce Velykodolyns'ke.

"I have family in Hradenytsi, but that's a ways off, we should be fine," she answered.

"Wait, you have family here?" he asked, "Does that mean you speak Ukrainian?"

"Tak" she replied, "It's my first language."

"Good, I was worried we would have to find people that speak English," he said, waving a taxi over.

They climbed in and Sofia read the address out to the driver, a burly man with a thick moustache over his top lip.

---

The driver pulled the van up in front of a small cottage, almost exactly like her old house. Her parents had tried to replicate their old house in Odessa, so it made sense. It looked to be about two storeys high and bordered a rather large lake.

"спасибі," Sofia told the driver as they climbed out, using the Ukrainian word for thank you.

They grabbed their bags and walked up the pathway as the taxi sped off behind them. On the doormat sat a thick envelope. Sofia picked it up, dropping her luggage, and opened it. Inside was a set of keys five pre-payed bank cards, one for each of them, and a tub of white capsules.

She handed the envelope to August, unlocking the door with the keys. The door swung open, revealing a cozy living room.

They set their bags down in the entryway, then glanced at each other before racing upstairs to claim bedrooms.

While the others were checking out the bedrooms in the second-floor main hallway, Sofia went further, down to the end. She opened the only door and stepped into a pale yellow bedroom. The furniture was all white, the queen sized bed with a pale yellow comforter. Along one wall was a huge window overlooking the water. She flopped down on the mattress. She hoped that her family wouldn't be down anytime soon.