Into the Dark

Chapter Seven

I prefer living in color.

-David Hockney

"What?!" Jasmine and I screeched in unison. We cast an annoying glance at each before turning back to listen to Josh.

"I know," he said grimly. "The Headmaster says that Mr. Leto has no wife, so Deborah obviously is a fraud. But why she pretended to be his wife? There are several reasons."

"First of all, she could be dating Mr. Leto and considering him as her husband. That's if we're lucky," he said. "Also, she could be a maid that wants to have more superiority in the house. That is reasonable."

"But the third and most dangerous reason," he said, "is unfortunately, the most likely. She could be a spy that is working for someone to find out about Disapparents." A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

"We are in more danger than we have ever been in before. Already we have a twelve-year old to catch, and now a woman who could tell anybody about us." Jasmine frowned.

"Maybe, you shouldn't have talked so openly about Disapparents. After all, we can't just trust anybody," she said.

"It's all my fault, isn't it?" he said.

"I didn't say tha-"

"No, but we all know it is," he said. Jasmine placed a hand on his shoulder. For once, she looked genuinely worried about someone.

"Then you better get everything back to how it was, punk," she said. I sighed. Guess not.

"But how?" he asked. "We've got to track Deborah, which might not even be her real name, and then catch all the people she tells. It will be impossible, especially if we don't even know her real identity."

"Nothing is impossible," I said. Jasmine snorted.

"Got that out of a Disney movie?" she asked. I frowned.

"No, but I believe with my heart that we can do it."

"Welcome to reality, kid. Where none of our dreams or beliefs ever come true," she said.

"Josh?" I said, ignoring Jasmine.

"Yeah?"

"I have an idea."

****

"That's...that's actually pretty smart thinking!" Josh exclaimed. "So Deborah will probably be going to your old home to get Mara to tell her everything she knows. If we get there before Deborah, we can catch both of them. And we won't have any problem getting there."

"What are we waiting for? Let's teleport."

****

We landed in front of my old school. I took in all the details that hadn't changed since I had last been here: the pretty tulips in front of the entrance, the slowly rotting pumpkins from Halloween, and the stump where we used to carve our names.

We went inside and I looked at the clock. 2:15.

"It's sixth hour, which means that Maya is in art class," I said. "Should we wait until everyone is let out, or should we go now?"

"Now," Josh said. "We can't risk Deborah finding Maya before us. Let's go."

I led them down the halls, faint memories seeping into my thoughts as I passed classrooms and lockers. We finally stopped in front of the art room and peeked inside.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but no one seems to be here," Jasmine said.

"I can see them. Can't you?" I asked. They both shook their heads.