Summer Love | TLOS

Ch. 26

15/01/10

My classes are soooo good this semester! I have my Honors English class first with Bree, then Advanced Biology. After that, I have my Geometry Honors class and then Home Ec. My last two classes are electives! Art class and Music class! The only predicament is, I have Adv. Bio with—you guessed it—Micah. And today, he asked me to be his lab partner! LAB PARTNER!!!! What. Does. This. Mean?

Alex awoke from unconsciousness. Her heavy eye lids refused to open, but her body was awake and ready to kick someone. Preferably that cat. Alex rubbed her eyes, and forced them to open. She looked around the room. The room was empty. No one was there. It was dark, but she could see a small wooden table with a large piece of parchment, a knife slashed into it, and a book that laid closed. Alex tried to stand up. She was held back by ropes made of burlap which made her wrists burn from the irritation it was causing. Alex grunted as she scooted the chair toward the table with the closed book. She needed to see the title.

Out of breath and with a flushed face, Alex got to a spot where she was close enough to book to say, "Good enough."

With her legs, Alex jumped the book closer to her. It landed on the front cover. Alex moved the table closer to her with her legs. It made a loud sound that made Alex's shoulders snap up to her ears. When the table was close enough to her, Alex touched her nose the spine of the book, and flipped it over, so she could read the title.

"No," Alex gasped under her breath.

She knew exactly what had happened and why Lloyd wanted this book. Alex knew what he wanted: the Witch of the West. She squirmed her wrists to loosen the bands. The ropes finally broke off. Alex ran her fingers across the book's spine gently. She sighed, and opened the book. Blue light pooled on the pages. Alex leaned in closer to the book. She heard a young girl giggling and cooing, and a dog barking. Alex smiled, and kept leaning closer and closer to the magical book.

****

Conner raced down the stairs with Arthur and Bree on his heel. He wandered around the garden until he found a florally place with a marble pedestal. Conner knew it was a spot that Alex would find sanctuary, except that she was gone.

"Conner, what are you doing?" Bree asked, touching her chin with her right hand.

"Trying to see if twin telepathy is real," Conner replied, massaging his temples.

Bree laughed. "I doubt you'd be able to have twin telepathy with Alex since you neglected her and your grandmother for, how long was it? Oh, yes. Three, almost four years."

"I know, I know. And I regret it. Now, let me concentrate."

Conner looked absolutely insane when he started humming to himself. Bree rolled her eyes impatiently. "This is never going to work!"

Bree moved Conner aside and looked around rose bushes. She edged around the perimeter. Bree stopped and noticed a difference in the roses. Scuffling. Alex was here. She was obviously dragged away, and she definitely put up a fight. Bree tried to move the branches without nicking herself of the thorns. She quickly pulled her hand back. A thorn had drawn blood. Bree sucked on her finger. Ouch.

Bree bent down, and grabbed a fallen tree branch. Before she could hack at the rose bush, Conner stopped her. "Wait! Maybe there's another way."

"Another way?" Bree asked. "What do you mean 'another way'? I'm onto something, don't you see?"

"Maybe, we should go around the bushes," he suggested.

Bree sighed, and gave in. "Fine."

Conner, Bree, and Arthur walked around the rose bushes. Bree's eyes widened. More scuffling. She smiled excitedly. Mysteries were always her favorite. Conner noticed the smile.

"What's that smile for? My sister is missing!"

"She won't be for long; I know where she might be," Bree replied.

"Where?" Arthur asked.

"Wherever the scuffling leads to," Bree explained. "Obviously, it was Alex and her kidnapper that made the scuffling. Watch, I bet it leads to where she is being held hostage."

With that, the threesome followed the scuffling into the forest. Bree was overloaded with giddy excitement. She loved these kind of things. The mysteries that kept her on her toes, and she knew everything about them.

After what felt like hours, sweaty and tired, the trio arrived at the end of the scuffling. It led to a cottage. The door was propped open just a crack. Conner pushed open the door. Alex was standing right over a glowing book. Conner widened his eyes and cried, "Not again!"

He ran to Alex, but she had already fallen into the book. Conner grabbed for her arm, and fell in with her.

A/N: hey guys, it's me, Flora who wrote this chapter. Sorry it's a bit late. Hope you're enjoying the book so far!