VENUS 13 - JACK WILDER [2]

6: tricks & secrets

Danny catches me right as I amble away from my spying position. His conversation with the Eye has finished and now the information is lodged into his brain with the rest of his thoughts. I tried to stay unnoticed as I mindlessly wandered in the background for the entire phone call, hoping that he wouldn't expose me to the very place that I'm trying to stay hidden from. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that they haven't found me yet. It's almost as if they're not even looking for someone that could potentially reveal their secret organization to the eyes of the public. I would never do such a thing, but that doesn't mean the Eye shouldn't be more careful.

"Okay, there's a marketplace down the street," he explains to me, walking over to Jack who is crouched down as he plays 52 Pickup. I'm forced to follow him, trying to figure out whether or not Danny ratted me out. "I'm meeting with a man in a blue hat. He'll get the stick to our people and get us home."

"So, did they know we were kidnapped?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. "They should have, right? I mean, they claim to be always watching. If they were, why didn't they do anything to help us?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but they seem to be doing it right now," Danny says defensively, Jack keeping quiet as he stares up at us. "You may have lost all your trust in the Eye, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have, okay? You don't have to drag us down into your black hole of disbelief."

"I haven't lost my trust in the Eye," I say, giving Danny a snarky look. Him and I always used to banter, but it was playful and meaningless. I know now that he means every word he says to me, every snide remark and insult. I don't exactly know how to fix it, as Lula suggests I do. "I just can't help but feel as if this scheme we're planning is a little sketchy."

"This scheme that I'm planning," Danny says, raising his eyebrows. "Good news for you is that I will be the only one in charge of delivering the stick to the man in the blue hat. You don't have to partake in any aspect of the scheme that will undoubtedly upset your boyfriend."

"Oh, shut up, Danny," I say to him, aggravated with his persistence at making me feel terrible. "Just because you didn't get any until recently doesn't mean you can judge the rest of us that have been doing it for years."

"All you have to do is help us steal this stick," Danny replies, ignoring my statement. "Once we're done with this whole predicament, you can go back to running away to wherever you feeling like going. With the amount of money you have in your bank account, I assume it will be some place extravagant."

I glare at him, ignoring his taunting words. I know he hates me, but I just have to bite my tongue and let his anger ride out before he can fully trust me again. "Do you think they'd use it for themselves?"

Jack finally stands up, though I can't imagine what he must be thinking after my outburst. "I think they want it just so no one else can have it, or worse, use it. The Eye may be sneaky, but they're also honest."

I have to tear my eyes away from Jack as he speaks to me. It's the first time we've even acknowledged each other since this whole thing started, and I'm glad he doesn't seem to hate me like Danny does. If anything, he's reacted the best out of the original Horsemen by simply ignoring me. Merritt, on the other hand, never misses an opportunity to throw a sarcastic joke at my face.

"The aftermath isn't important," Danny says, turning his attention towards Jack. "What matters is that we get the stick to them, so first we need to steal it. Can you grab Merritt and we'll figure out what to do from there?"

Jack nods in agreement, but Danny then speaks up again to point out something that I'm sure Jack didn't want us to notice.

"Hey, hey," Danny calls to him, pointing to an object in Jack's hand. "Put your belt on."