Palpable | Latent 2

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Sophronia

The thing Dustin missed the most when he was missing and invisible to everyone was lemon sorbets, so we decided to meet at the ice cream shop to get some, despite it being less than five degrees Celsius.

I told my parents where I was going before putting my jacket and boots on. I put my wallet and cell phone in my jacket pocket before walking outside of the house and started walking towards the ice cream shop.

During the walk there, I had a weird feeling, like someone was following me. I shook off the feeling since I was almost there.

I shouldn't have shaken it off.

Something suddenly hit the back of my head, causing me to black out.

I didn't know how long I was out for, but when I started coming to, I heard a muffled voice saying, "Soph. Come on, Soph, wake up."

My eyes slowly opened to find out I was laying on the floor with Dustin kneeling beside me. I rubbed my forehead as Dustin helped me sit up.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, apart from my head hurting," I said as I looked around. We were in what I was guessing was a warehouse unit, with the large metal door on one side of the wall and piles of boxes stacked in the room.

"I know you're going to ask what happened," he said. "When I was walking to the ice cream shop, I felt something was wrong, so I went to where I felt you were and that was when I saw Ally putting you in a van. Before I could even do anything, something hit the back of my head and I blacked out. Then I woke up here."

I sighed. "So much for us being able to help each other by sensing something's wrong."

"To be fair, I honestly didn't think Ally and Jacob would take the both of us," Dustin said. "And before you think about it, they took our cell phones and wallets, so calling someone is a big nope."

"Great," I said sarcastically. "They just had to think of everything. How are we even going to get out of here?"

Dustin shrugged. "We'll think of a way. At least we're together this time and not alone, or in a coma."

"Yeah, that's true," I said.

The large door suddenly opened, and Ally walked in followed by Jacob. Jacob closed the door as Ally just stared at us, which was making me feel a bit uncomfortable. Once the door was closed, that was when Ally finally said something. "I want to know something," she said, looking at Dustin. "How on earth did you know where my sister and her family was?"

"Uh, because I followed your husband," Dustin said.

"That isn't what I meant," she said. "Why did you randomly decide to go looking for them? I know everything about my sister and her family and I know for a fact that you didn't know them at all."

"I doubt you know everything," Sophronia said. "He was my friend. You're telling me you know all of my friends?"

"Yes, I do," Ally said. "Astrid and Ella. Those two were your only friends, and you certainly weren't friends with him before it happened. So what I want to know is why?"

If she wanted to know why, then she shouldn't have asked how Dustin knew where we were.

"Oh, because I was doing a current events project and came across the article about their family being missing," Dustin said. "I figured since the police didn't find them yet, I could try. It worked, didn't it?"

Ally narrowed her eyes at Dustin. "I don't believe you," she said. "People rarely, if never, would go looking for a missing family they know nothing about."

"Would it help if I tell you that my best friend's dad is a police officer?" Dustin asked.

"Nope," Ally said. "It's still unbelievable."

Dustin shrugged. "It's not my fault it you don't believe me."

"You're going to want to take things a lot more seriously if you want to get out of here," Ally said. "Alive."

"I don't know what you're expecting me to tell you," Dustin said. "It isn't even going to change the past."

"Because you ruined my plans," Ally said. "And to top it off, you didn't even know them at the time. Something's up, and it you want to get out of here, I suggest you tell us. I'll give you time to think."

She left with Jacob, slamming the door shut. I looked over at Dustin. "Should we tell her?" I asked in a soft voice.

Dustin shook his head. "No, that's one thing we can't tell them. We'll figure things out. Don't worry."