Into the Dark

Chapter Eight

Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second.

-Mattie Stepanek

"You've got to be kidding me," Jasmine said, running her fingers along her hair in frustration. Josh sat on the bed, leaning his head against one of his hands.

"She couldn't have escaped," Josh said. "It was much too cold in the cooler for the ice to melt. That means..." We stared at the open window, gusty winds ruffling the curtains.

"Deborah," we all muttered. Jasmine groaned and flopped onto the bed.

"All that work, for nothing," she said. "But how could Deborah possibly know that we teleported here? She's just an ordinary human being." She crinkled her nose at the last part.

"Oh no," Josh said.

"What?" Jasmine asked. He looked up.

"Deborah is working with Mr. Fraudman," he said.

"Wait, what?" I said incredulously. "That doesn't make any-"

"Sense. You're right. I was stupid for thinking that," he muttered.

"No, I think you're on to something," Jasmine said, contemplating the situation. "Mr. Fraudman made those products. He could have programmed them to do anything at any time."

"We need to talk to him, get him to tell us where Deborah is," Jasmine continued. "Josh, teleport us."

"But-"

"I said, teleport us. If we're wrong, we're wrong. We just have to see," Jasmine said.

****

Once again we stood in front of Mr. Fraudman's door.

"You knock," Josh said.

"No, you knock," I said.

"For all we know, he could have a ginormous laser-gun ready to cut us into a million pieces!" 

"You guys are such big babies," Jasmine said, stepping up to the door. She knocked three times. Mr. Fraudman peeked out his door before slamming it shut.

"Mr. Fraudman, we need to speak with you!" Josh shouted. "Don't worry, it's not like we're going to mug you or anything!"

"We're not?" Jasmine whispered. Josh jabbed her rib with his elbow.

"Not helping," he said, gritting his teeth. Mr. Fraudman opened the door and let us come in.

"The Headmaster told me that Maya escaped," Mr. Fraudman started.

"And it's all your fault-" Jasmine interrupted before earning another jab in the ribs.

"I don't make the products," Mr. Fraudman continued. "I only buy and sell them. The real person you need to talk to Mr. Bo. I'll write down the address of the factory for you." He took a piece of paper and scribbled down the address.

"Good luck," he said, handing Josh the slip of paper.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Jasmine asked. He chuckled.

"Well, you'll find me back here if you need anything," he said.

"It was great talking to you sir," Josh said. He got up and hugged Mr. Fraudman.

"What are you doing?" Jasmine hissed.

"Just in case we die on this mission, I want to have a sincere goodbye," Josh said, heading out the door. We followed him out.

"You kids have fun," Mr. Fraudman said.

Oh, yeah we will.

****

We teleported in front of the factory. I recognized this factory; my school bus would pass it on the way home. It was large, but the outer walls were rusty and peeling off.

I headed inside along with Josh and Jasmine, and surprisingly, the inside was much more impressive. The white walls were painted a perfectly without a smudge.

"What are you doing here?" a man asked. I looked up. He strongly resembled Coach Bruno, tall and strong.

"We are here to see Mr. Bo," Josh said. The man wiped sweat off his forehead.

"What do you want from me?" he asked, his eyes filled with impatience.

"Um, well, you see, we were wondering about one of your products. The Freezinator," Josh said.

"Yes, one of my great inventions. What do you need to know?"

"We were wondering about the time-lapse of the freezing," Josh said.

"Oh, only thirty minutes," the man said, waving his hand as if shooing a fly. "Whoever you froze will be alright."

"No, it won't be alright," Jasmine said. "We needed to trap someone, and they escaped! Thanks your stupid short time-lapse." The man scratched his chin.

"Most people find it useful. However, I do have another invention that may help you. Follow me," he said.

We followed him into a large room where people seemed to be manufacturing the products. He took us to a scrawny teenage boy who was working busily on his product.

"Liam!" the man said. "I need you to show these three your tracker." The boy nodded and took out a small pyramid out of his desk.

"What is the person's name?"

"Maya Suri," I said, and the boy typed in the name. An image projected onto the wall in front of him.

"Maya is just outside a coffee shop in this city. Do you recognize this place?" Josh asked me.

"Actually, yes. It's right next to the book shop where I used to go all the time. I don't think she's very far from the hotel," I said.

"Then let's teleport."

****

We appeared in front of the coffee shop but Maya was gone from her spot at the table. We looked left and right, and finally, I spotted Maya's unmistakable wavy brown hair. We ran to catch up to her. Jasmine, who was faster than both me and Josh, tackled Maya.

"Gotcha!" Jasmine said. Maya looked up.

"H-how did you know I was here?" she asked.

"Magic," Jasmine said. "How did you escape?"

"T-the ice melted a-and t-then-"

"Stop stammering and speak normal!" Jasmine said.

"I got out of the hotel and went to the coffee shop to hide," she said.

"But you went out the window! How did you do that?" Josh asked. Maya gave him a confused look then burst out laughing.

"Oh, I just opened the window because I felt so cold," she said between laughs.

"Okay, okay. Let's get going," Josh said.

"And this time, we're taking you straight to the Headmaster."