MONSTER OF THE UNKNOWN

THE RESCUE ATTEMPT

Laura wakes up the next morning and she is beyond dumbfounded when she opens her eyes to see Mathéo peacefully sleeping beside her, their bodies so close that she can feel his warm breaths against her skin. She vaguely remembers inviting the Hispanic boy into her room in the middle of the night and asking him to sleep on the bed with her, but she pretty much assumed the encounter was all a dream. The brunette then wonders if she did something salacious with him last night and just forgot. Laura, her mind now filled with worry, rushes out of the bed to make sure all her clothes are still on and all these movements cause Mathéo to also wake up from his deep peaceful slumber.

"What happened, Laura?" the boy asks her with a yawn as he tries to scratch away the sleep from his eyes.

"Did we have..." Laura freezes, too afraid to complete her sentence. She doesn't know how she would react if her fear is confirmed true.

"Of course we didn't. You said you weren't ready to and I would never force myself on you," Mathéo reassures his now girlfriend, immediately understanding the question troubling her so much without her finishing. "I'm so sorry, I should have known it was a terrible idea to meet up with you when you were so sleepy. I didn't mean to make things weird between us again."

"No, not at all. I'm the one that willingly asked you to come in and I did mean everything I said to you last night. I wasn't high on sleep or under the influence of some drug. It was my choice, you didn't do anything wrong. I just needed to be sure I was remembering last night correctly." Laura comes closer to join Mathéo on the bed when she suddenly remembers it's a Monday morning, which means Nathaniel is getting ready for work (their school is on break at the moment, so the teens don't have to worry about getting up early). "You need to leave. My brother will be out any minute from now."

The teen boy instantly recalls how hot tempered Laura's elder brother is when it comes to his sister, and there's no telling what the guy would do to him if he finds out his house guest disobeyed him and slept in the same room and bed as his sister. He would explode. Not wanting to test his luck, Mathéo thanks Laura with a little kiss on her cheek before hurrying back to the guest room, leaving the girl flustered by his sudden action.

* * * *

Mathéo and Laura arrive together at the Bloomaert residence sometime after midday because of the text they received from Sara a few hours ago. She claims to have machinated a plan for rescuing Aaron and she desperately needs the both of them in order to perfect it. When they get there, they are welcomed by one of the numerous maids that work in the home, a white middle-aged woman with short brown hair, who takes them to the main living room where Sara is sitting and waiting.

"Thank you, Ms Sophie. Do you mind giving us some privacy?" Sara politely asks the lady who nods in response and leaves, shutting the door behind her to ensure they're not eavesdropped on. The girl then turns her gaze to Mathéo before sincerely saying, "I'm sorry about what happened to your family. Laura told me they were kidnapped."

"Thank you" is all Mathéo reluctantly tells her in reply as he sits down with Laura on the couch that's opposite the one of Sara. It's obvious from the clearly forced pleasantness in his voice that he still hasn't totally forgiven the girl.

"So, Sara, you said you've come up with an idea of how we can find where the Zomer is holding Aaron hostage. Do you mind explaining it to us?" Laura cuts in with this question, attempting to shift her boyfriend's hostility from their classmate to the matter at hand.

The dark skinned girl is about to answer when her phone starts ringing all of a sudden. She takes a moment to look at the screen to see the name of the caller, and once she does, she immediately puts it on silent and returns it to her pocket.