The Adventures of the Holmes Club

Chapter 19: Turbulence

***Max***

We arrived at the airport around eight in the morning. All of us, and our families. There was a lot of shouting. 

"Guys, seriously. Our plane leaves in, like, half an hour. Can we just get ourselves situated?!" Louis shouted. He really was sort of the leader of all of us.

Everybody turned to look at Louis, and he managed to get us all onto the plane without too much arguing. The five of us sat together, and we whispered to each other for the our three hour flight. When we landed, the families separated so we could get cars to go to the hotel. 

"Max, your friends are just delightful." My mom said in the car.

"Was that sarcasm?" I asked.

"No, I'm serious, your friends are great."

"Speaking of my friends, Mom, can we go hang out somewhere after we get to the hotel?"

"Yes, of course. You have nothing to do until Monday, so you can pretty much go anywhere you want until then."

"Great, thank you."

***Nadia***

"Great, all five of us are here?" Louis asked.

I looked up at him, "Yes, Louis, we're all here. Can't you count?"

Louis glared at me, "Who are you, Nadia? Penny?"

Sophie stood up, "Louis, what is wrong with you? As soon as we got to the airport, you were acting different. It's like you don't want to be here. Is that it? Did you not want to come?"

Louis stood up defensively, and glared at Sophie, "Don't talk to me like that, Sophie. You don't know anything about my life!"

Max stood up, "Louis, don't talk to Sophie like that, she's just defending her friend!"

Louis turned to Max, "Excuse me? What is even wrong with you guys? Nadia started it anyway!"

Alina stood up too, "Louis! What are you, a child? Nadia started it? Have you even met her? You know that Nadia is sarcastic! Why did you just go off on her? I still want you to answer Sophie's question!"

"Which question?"

"Did you even want to come?"

Louis sat down, "Of course I want to come. I'm sorry, I overreacted."

"Fine, let's go."

***Alina***

We were walking down the street, following the directions on Louis's phone.

"Are you sure we're going to right way?" Nadia asked.

I slapped her, "Nadia, you already pissed off Louis once today. Stop. Exercise some self control."

"Fine."

***Louis***

I shouldn't have shouted at Nadia. I know I shouldn't have, but she was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I was already under stress, and she just pissed me off a little to much.

Who cares anyway? We made up, everything's okay. 

No, it's not. I need to tell someone what's going on. In the middle of my navigation, I got a text.

Hi, Louis. I can't believe you actually went to Portland.

I responded quickly,

Leave me alone, Chloe. You don't scare me anymore.

We entered the property of Anderson Development Industries. It looked deserted, which suited us just fine. We walked through, looking around.

"Anyone interested in splitting up? It would give us a tactical advantage." I asked.

"That's a good idea." Max replied.

Good, someone agreed. We split up, and walked through the grounds. 

I stepped into the small gap between two  buildings, and someone put a hand over my mouth. He had been holding a rag, soaked in something.

I was blacking out. 

Oh, God, I hope the others are okay.

***Max***

I walked around, looking for anything useful. I ran into Nadia and Alina a couple of times. I turned a corner, and someone was standing there. 

I jumped. He approached me, and I turned to run. He covered my mouth with a rag, and I fell unconscious.

***Sophie***

I saw the man grab Max, I ran up behind him, but before I could do anything, he turned around, and he got me too, the same way he got Max.

***Nadia***

I looked down at my phone,

Hey, Ali, you got anything yet?

Alina replied quickly,

No, nothing yet. Have you seen the others?

No, I saw Max a few minutes ago, but that's it.

Yeah, I saw him too.

Then someone came up behind me, and I barely had time to be frightened before I was out cold.

***Alina***

I could sense that something was wrong. I had already walked through the whole grounds, and I had only seen one other person.

I wandered around for a few more minutes.

"Stop taunting me! If you have my friends, come get me!" I shouted to no one in particular. 

That's the last thing I remember.