Shadows in the Dark: Rise of Three

Chapter XVI

I snuggle closer to Jake and he puts his arm around me. I look up at him and he looks down at me and we kiss. I hear a knock on the door. I get up, reluctantly, and pull on a robe so whoever is at the door doesn't see me in my bra and underwear. My clothes are scattered around the room mixed with his.

I open the door and Isabelle is standing there. She looks at me up and down and doesn't show any emotion.

"People were asking about you too. I thought I should check your rooms and look. Here you are. Standing in the doorway with a robe on. Just like I thought. That or you would tell me to wait and open the door looking dishevelled." She says with out sounding jealous, angry, or any emotion you could think of. Her voice is flat.

I hear Jake get out of the bed and pull on his pants. He walks over to stand behind me. "We didn't do what you think we did Is."

"Really? Then why are your clothes everywhere?"

"Lingerie stayed on Isabelle. I'm not ready to go there yet, and I told him that." I say.

"And I'm ok with it." Says Jake. "I don't want to pressure anyone into doing something they don't want to." He looks at Isabelle intensely at the last part. I look at Isabelle then back at Jake then back at Isabelle again.

"I'll let you two talk." I duck under Jake's arm and start gathering my clothes. I walk into the bathroom and close the door. I get dressed and walk out of the bathroom. Apparently at a bad time because Jake is yelling at Isabelle. I teleport to the training room so I don't over hear anything I don't want to know or might not want to know later.

I watch people fight and give advice to others. Half an hour later Jennifer starts speaking to everyone. "Great job today everyone! Tomorrow we will start the tournaments. Here's how it's gonna work. Each day everyone will be assigned a partner based on how well we think you fight. You will fight that partner and whoever wins moves on to the next round.

"Whoever doesn't will be trained more. This will happen until there are only two people left. Or until we find Michel. Get a good nights sleep and I'll see you all tomorrow."

Everyone starts filing out of the training area. Isabelle rushes in pushing past all of the people. "Jennifer!" She shouts when she sees us. "Jennifer!"

"What is it?!" Jennifer asks in a scared-ready-to-fight voice.

"I know where Michel is. Or at least an idea of where."

"How?" I ask.

"Jake made me think of something. We've been searching warehouses because that's where he was last time. I think he has a main place. Somewhere he always stays."

"Yeah. We figured that."

"He looked rich right? You said he was rich looking?" She turns to me.

"Yes. He looked clean shaven. If you know what I mean."

"I do. Which means that he lives somewhere nice. Either an abandoned mansion or one still in use. My guess is he killed the owner and took his mansion. Now all we have to do if find out what mansion."

"Great idea! Veronica. You sort of know the guy. Can you be the one on top of looking at mansions?"

"No."