I spy with my little eye (Sequel to 'Invisible')

Chapter 24: Nick's numbers

Luke's POV

"Luke?" Rachel and Tina entered my room and ran to me. Rachel sat down right in front of me on the bed. She caressed my face, I wonder if she could see how scared I was... "Luke, we're here, it's ok."  

I gulped and then shook my head. "W...W...Willow..."

"It's ok," Rachel kept caressing my face. "She's gone, we're here."

I shook my head and pointed at Willow. "W-Willow..." I gulped again. "T-there."

Rachel and Tina looked behind them, right at Willow. At that point I felt relieved because finally they saw her, finally we'd be able to have a conversation about this matter. But I couldn't be more wrong.

They turned back to face me. "Luke," Rachel reached for my hands, squeezing them gently. "There's no one there."

At that point, I truly felt lonely. They didn't see her. Was I really getting crazy? Maybe I saw things that weren't there? Maybe they were right and I was indeed stressed out.

"Do you see Willow?" Tina tried, I could see she wanted to understand me.

I looked at her. "I see Willow right there," I pointed at Willow, she just waved at me. "She's waving too."

Tina walked to Willow. "Is she here somewhere?"

"Yes," I sighed. "You're standing right next to her." I buried my face in my hands, realizing this sounded so crazy.

"Well nice to meet you, Willow."

I looked up and saw Tina talk in the direction of Willow, she was actually trying to believe me. Rachel looked so weirded out, she didn't believe any of this. And Willow was just enjoying the torture she was having me experience.

I sighed. "Never mind."

Rachel looked at me. "Listen, I do believe there is something else going on." She seemed to think about something, then she sighed. "I've taken Blair's phone."

"What?"

Tina seemed shocked as well. She came back to the bed and sat with us. "Why?"

Rachel didn't seem proud of what she did. "I asked Nick to hack the phone so we'd find phone numbers and signals." She looked up at me. "So we'd know who she contacted."

I looked down, I can't believe she and Nick did that behind my back.

"You trusted Nick with that?"

I looked up, noticing that hint of something in Tina's voice. She was angry with him, or maybe upset. It wasn't clear.

Rachel nodded. "He knows his way around phones."

"He's the enemy." So Tina sees Nick as an enemy too... Why? "You shouldn't have done that, Blair wouldn't have liked that."

"I know," Rachel sighed. "But I got a list of numbers." She then reached for her purse, she took out a piece of paper. "Over here are the numbers she called and texted, and here are the numbers that called and texted her." She motioned to it on the piece of paper. I noticed Willow was looking as well, her face pretty emotionless. But then I saw a surprised look before she masked it away.

I knew there was something on that list. "Let me see that," I took it and looked at all the numbers. "She called pretty much the same numbers. But I don't recognize this number."

Tina leaned in, looking at what I was pointing. "That's me."

"Oh..."

"I can give you my number later, if you want it." She then blushed and looked away.

Rachel looked from Tina to me, then she took the paper out of my hands. "That's my number, that's yours," She looked at me before looking back at the paper. "Your parents... Who's is this?" She showed us a number that was in there quite a lot of times.

I looked at the number. "I don't know."

Tina looked as well but when she saw the number, her face dropped.

"Are you ok?"

She looked at me, then at Rachel, then down. "That's Nick's number."

Rachel raised her eyebrows before looking at me. "And you didn't recognize that, because...?"

I shrugged. I took the paper again, looking at the number. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. She was so sure, I knew there had to be something else going on.

"How do you know that for sure?" Rachel asked before I had the chance to.

Tina looked down. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Ok," I patted her shoulder, it was the first thing that came to mind. I then looked at Rachel. "So we have to figure out why they contacted each other so much."

Rachel nodded.

"Is there another number on the list, maybe one that belongs to Willow?" I asked but already saw Willow shake her head. I ignored her and looked at Rachel. "Well?"

Rachel looked through the list and then looked at me. "It doesn't look like it."

"But how did they know when they'd see each other then?" Tina tried.

I sighed. "Because all Blair had to do was call for her," I looked at them. "If you need her, you have to think about her," I then looked at Willow. "And she'll come."

Willow nodded.

I sighed. "We won't find anything on that list to help us with Willow."

"But we found something involving Nick," Rachel looked at the numbers again. "Look," She showed us the paper. "He was the last person to have contacted her before she..."

I looked down. "Why? Was there something going on between them?" I noticed Tina getting upset, I knew she knew more. "Has Blair told you about this matter?"

Tina looked taken back by my question. "Uhm..." She looked down, something was wrong. "I have to go, I'll see you soon." She got up and left immediately.

Rachel looked from the door to me. "Or she's in on it, or she experienced something like Blair."

I nodded slowly. "There's just something that doesn't feel right."

"Like?"

I took the list from Rachel. "If Nick handed this to you, he should've recognized his number was on here an awful lot of times." I then looked at the list. "Why would he risk that?"

"Maybe he forgot?" She soon enough shook her head, realizing Nick isn't that kind of person. "Maybe he thought it'd be less prominent?"

I slowly nodded. "Still, it strikes me as odd." I looked at the list, and truly all you could see was his number. I'd say that 80% of the numbers were his. "We have to ask him about it."

"No," Rachel took the piece of paper back. "We have something he doesn't know about, we have to make him talk."

"Or make Tina talk." I sighed, she was keeping something from us. Whatever it was, it was something that clearly bothered her. "We'll first try Tina."

"Sounds like a plan." Rachel smiled and got up, she seemed like she was getting ready to head back home.

"Rach?" I asked to which she gave me her full attention. "Can you stay over tonight, please?"

She smiled slowly. "Of course," She took her phone. "I'll tell my parents." And with that, I saw Willow shake her head and disappear, right in front of my own eyes. I don't know what she is, but she's not human. She's not a ghost because she can touch me. She has to be something in between.