Keep Your Enemies Closer | a Bars and Melody Story [COMPLETED]

Chapter Thirteen

Eventually, as the sun began to rise, Charlotte found Leo's old home. The place where the man had come to kill him, maybe her too. She walked through the rooms, almost like a ghost, not uttering a single word. The floorboards creaked beneath her feet. The wind picked up outside and the house groaned, the shutters banged against its fragile exterior and Charlotte worried that it might just all crumble to the ground. She found tinned food in the cupboards and rested her ankle. She found a laptop and tried to get it to work, but the power was out and it wouldn't turn on. As far as she knew, this little house didn't know what electricity was. She waited until night fall, when everything was black. The moon was small, and didn't give off much light, but she would've found what she was looking for blindfolded. At midnight, Charlotte grabbed a rucksack she had packed after raiding Leo's father's old supply's cupboard and headed out towards the forest. Branches snapped beneath her feet, as she clung to the shadows and tried not to freak out. It took half an hour, but eventually she found the place where the ground had fallen away. She stopped dead, skidding, sending leaves and bark down into the small shaft. Charlotte leaned down, peering into the darkness wishing she had brought a torch, when a tall dark figure blocked out the moon's light completely. Charlotte's heart sped up, as her hands began to tremble. How could she have been so stupid? How could she walk into the mans trap, twice? Slowly, carefully, she turned around to see a pair of blue eyes starring back at her. She blinked, as she watched the boy smile and step aside, to reveal Leo who was leaning against a tree, looking smug. "What are you doing here?" Charlotte snapped, standing up and walking straight past Charlie. "Covert operations rule number 7, never go into a deep cover mission without backup." Leo stepped towards the shaft. "It's a rookie mistake." He whispered.

The rappel-a-cord burned Charlotte's hands as she sped too fast down into the dark, narrow shaft. Leo was ahead of her, somewhere in the blackness and she could hear Charlie clipping his own harness onto the cord above her. "Watch it!" Leo yelled at her, she felt her feet make contact with his head as she skidded to a stop at the bottom of the shaft. She quickly unclipped her harness and moved out of Charlie's way. "Well, sorry for not being able to see in the dark." Charlotte yelled, she felt shoulders grasp her from behind as Leo spun her around to face him. He was laughing, and despite everything she felt herself smile. She heard the sounds of Charlie landing in the tunnel like space with them. "What is this place?" He asked. Charlotte shrugged just as Leo turned on his torch. "I don't know, I've never seen it before." She looked at Leo. "Me neither." The space was lined with empty shelves filled with cobwebs, there must've been about 6 smaller tunnels that branched off from the circular room they stood in. "Split up?" Charlotte suggested. "No." Leo and Charlie snapped, together. "I'm not leaving you." Leo stepped towards her. "I'm a big girl Leo, I can look after myself." Charlotte laughed. "I'm not leaving you." He said again, firmer this time. Then he turned to Charlie, "which one do we take first?" He asked. "It'll take forever." Charlotte said before Charlie could answer Leo. "We don't have 6 days to waste." She snapped, her voice echoing off the cold stone walls. "We don't have any time to waste." She whispered, her voice softer now. "Okay." Charlie said, shrugging. He reached to grab his rucksack that he'd dropped during his decent into the tunnel. "You two stay together, I'll go on alone." He was already heading towards the first tunnel. "Are you sure?" Charlotte asked, genuinely stunned. "Positive." Charlie called, he was already halfway down the tunnel. Leo turned to Charlotte, he reached for her hand and smiled, as they walked towards the second tunnel.

"Oh." Leo said, his voice echoing down the tunnel to Charlotte. She sped up her steps, hoping to reach him faster. "What is it?" She asked, just as the tunnel spiralled off into a large room. It was bigger than the one they'd first stood in, but the same six tunnels all spanned off here. "Oh, so it wasn't worth splitting up." Charlie said, echoing Leo's tone as he joined them. "Guess not." Charlotte answered, but her mind was distant as she stared past the old swords, the table in the centre stacked sky high with dusty old papers. Towards a box in the far corner, labelled "Charlotte must never read." She was moving across the room like a cat, purposefully striding towards the cardboard box. "I can't read what?" Charlotte asked, to nobody but herself, she was aware of Leo and Charlie at her back. She reached for the box, to lift the lid and brush away the dust, when a hand grabbed her wrist pulling her away. "Leo!" Charlotte snapped, starring at him. "What did you tell us about your mum?" He asked, it sounded like any other mission, but this felt personal. "She rigs things?" Charlotte said, almost like a question. Charlie nodded, "until we know that, that box isn't a big burn bag that'll kill us all, you don't go near it." Charlie said, his voice firm. "Do you understand?" Charlotte crossed her arms. "Yes." She said, but she didn't have to like it.

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I n s t a g r a m: pengmendes

- Naomi x