Taken • cth

sixteen | revelations

"Aright." Lea spreads her hands across Ashton and Luke's kitchen table, leaning backward in her chair. Her long blonde hair remains in the messy braid she shoved it in this morning, resting calmy between her shoulder blades. "What do we know so far? About everything?"

"You're acting like this is a police investigation." Ashton says, but the doubt in his voice is obvious. He's running his fingers around the rim of a glass, one filled with cheap whiskey. It's not even ten in the morning. "They could have just gotten drunk and lost somewhere."

"After two days?" Lea scoffs. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Calum told us he thought somebody was playing a prank on them." Luke jumps in, his chin resting on his hand. His jet black hair lays in raven folds over his fingers, messy yet straight at the same time. His blonde roots are just beginning to show through. "He sounded pretty worried."

Lea raises an eyebrow. "You didn't think anything of it?"

"That kind of shit happens all the time!" He exclaims, his hands in his lap now. "I didn't think to take it that seriously. You're forgetting nothing suspicious was happening before Saturday night."

Lea frowns, and realization pricks in her brain. "Wait. There was something suspicious."

Both boys look at her. "What?"

Lea opens her mouth to answer, but is interrupted by several knocks on the door. Luke goes to answer it, and comes back with Michael at his side.

"Sorry I'm late, my mom was throwing up." The punk boy does indeed look hassled and tired, bags under his eyes and worn sweats. "Anything new? You went to the police station right?"

"Yeah, and they acted like nothing was wrong." Luke briefly explains the events of the morning to Michael as he sits down, folding his hands on the table. "We're going to have to find them on our own."

"There was this kid that kept coming into the store." Lea says, continuing her earlier words. "He was acting kind of weird. He was super drawn to Arrow, and never asked for anybody but her. It was very unusual. It's like he knew her."

Ashton stares at her, and slowly nods. "I bet that was the kid that was messing with them."

"There was somebody messing with them?" Michael asks. "I wasn't informed of this."

"Yeah, Cal said somebody was pulling a prank on them. That they kept leaving them creepy notes or some shit."  Ashton replies. "It was probably that kid. But would he kidnap them?"

Michael shakes his head. "I highly doubt it. He couldn't have been any older than 13." A look of realization passes over his face. "But that doesn't mean he couldn't have been working for somebody."

"For who?" Lea asks, more concerned now than ever. "Sex traffickers? Drug dealers? Who would kidnap two people at the same time with the help of a kid?"

"Good question." Michael says. "I have no idea."

"Maybe we should go back to the house." Ashton suggests. "We could search the grounds and stuff, see if there's any clues. Maybe the symbol is still there."

Michael nods. "Yeah, I could call Derek. We might even be able to go today."

The rest of the group mumbles in agreement, so Michael pulls out his phone and exits the room. Ashton gets up.