Lucky 13

Chapter 39: The letter 'L'

Esmee's POV

A new day, a new chance to talk to Catherine. All weekend, I needed to talk to her. I needed to check up on her, but she wouldn't let me in. And then there's this whole situation with Lily...

So here I was at my desk, waiting impatiently for Catherine to finally show up. I've noticed she's gotten more laidback since dating Lily. I wonder why that was.

Finally, the door opened, revealing Catherine. "Morning, Esmee." She went straight to her office.

I got up and followed her in. "Morning, Catherine." I sat down in front of her desk. "Why didn't you communicate with me this past weekend?"

Catherine sat down, sighing in the process. "I had a lot on my mind."

I raised my eyebrows. "Does it start with the letter 'L'?"

Catherine looked straight at me, her facial expression dead serious.

I gulped, realizing this could've meant something completely different than what I intended to. "I meant to say Lily, just so you know."

Catherine relaxed. "Yeah, Lily and I have spent the whole weekend together." She leaned back in her chair, seemingly day-dreaming. "I loved it, I love..." She stopped. Then she cleared her throat. "Uhm why did you need me?" She said, changing the subject.

I made a mental note of this revelation before going on: "I need to know how you experienced this lunar eclipse." I took out my tiny notebook, going to a new page and wrote last weekend's date.

"It was fine," Catherine thought back. "I locked myself up in the red room, it worked so..."

I nodded while writing it all down. "That's good indeed," I then looked up at her. "What did you do with Lily?"

"I sent her to my parents' house," She looked at her computer, turning it on. "I figured it was best to not have her around during those times."

"Good," I finished writing it all down and then looked at her. "And how's the relationship growing?"

"We're really close," She started, which was great to hear already. "But I don't know, I feel like Lily's holding back."

"Holding back how?"

She shrugged. "Something's bothering her," She then looked at me. "I'm guessing it has something to do with Marianne."

I leaned back now, crossing my arms. "Why do you think so?"

Catherine leaned closer to me. "Marianne's been acting strange lately, she's checking up on me regularly, even more than usual, and she's  constantly interrupting my special moments with Lily." Catherine sighed. "At this rate, it'll take me years to get into Lily's pants."

I chuckled. "Too much information, Catherine."

"You know what I mean." She leaned back again.

"I'll talk to her, ok?" I said to which Catherine nodded. "So Lily's father was here..."

Catherine looked at me. "Why was he here? How did he even get in?"

"They came during the night, when no one's around here." I thought about what he said to me when he had captured me. "He told me to tell Lily to call his emergency phone, he wants to help her."

Catherine raised her eyebrows. "Do we believe this?"

I shrugged. "It's hard to tell. I didn't tell anything to Lily yet, I wanted to hear what you thought."

She nodded, thinking about it. "This could either be a trap, or a father who's sincerely worried about his daughter..." She sighed. "I don't want to risk anything now."

"I understand," I got up. "We could always ask Lily about the emergency phone and then call ourselves, that way she's safe."

Catherine slowly nodded. "That's not a bad idea," She then looked at me, smiling. "Let's do that, I'll go home during lunch to ask her about it."

"Ok." I smiled as I left the office and went back to work.

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Lily's POV

Waking up in an empty house, which you know nothing about, doesn't give you a great feeling. But I was thankful that Catherine let me stay in her parents' house.

This morning she came by, she wanted to see me before work. Isn't that sweet? I loved that, those tiny things that made our relationship even better.

She also gave me a new phone, one that my parents or humans couldn't track. She told me she had added several numbers to it, useful numbers, she'd say.

And so, as I was eating breakfast, also something Catherine had done for me, I was going through those useful numbers. And I agree, they were useful.

Those numbers included Catherine's number, Esmee's private phone number, the office's number, Catherine's home phone, Remy's number, Marianne's number... 

But also some other numbers and names I didn't recognize. Such as Peter, Benjamin, BC... I had no clue who they were, so I wasn't going to call those numbers.

After breakfast, and going through my phone, I decided to go out. Though I had to be careful, humans couldn't see me. I went through the closet in my (temporary) room and looked for something to hide myself with. Something that wouldn't attract unnecessary attention.

I found all kinds of things, but nothing that suited me well. These clothes were too elegant, too sophisticated. Of course, they'd attract attention.

I went to one of the other two remaining rooms. I went straight to the closet, but immediately noticed I wouldn't find anything. These clothes were too tiny, and too child-like.

Ok, there's one more room. I went to it and, upon entering, immediately felt weird. There was an uneasy atmosphere, one that pressured me to get out fast.

I went to the closet and opened it, the dark clothes immediately caught my eyes. They were so different compared to the other two rooms.

I took a hoodie out of the closet and had a better look at it, this one was fine. It was all black, but had a symbol on it. It wasn't that noticeable, but it drew my attention. What would that mean?

Anyway, I put it on and looked at myself in the mirror. This hoodie went great with the pants I found in my temporary room.

Deciding I looked good like that, I headed to the front door. I'll finally be able to go out again. I'll surely enjoy it.