Aunt Candy and the Mysteries

Thirteen.

I awake to the feeling of movement on my blanket. I open my eyes to see Cedar's peaceful sleeping face a few inches away from mine. I smile sweetly at him, carefully pulling off the beanie he slept in. "Hurry up!" I hear someone whisper. I sit bolt upright, remembering the movement that woke me up.

I see two people: a man and a woman, dressed in all black. The man smiles devilishly at me as he hoists an unconscious Brooke over his shoulder. The woman next to him does the same with Katchina. I tap Cedar, trying to wake him up. He just groans and rolls over to the other side. I bite my lower lip, nervous as I stand up to challenge them. "Whatcha gonna do Etta?" The woman says, her brown doe eyes seeming to taunt me. She's the police officer from the airport! I realize suddenly. "She's gonna try to stop us." The man says, his blue eyes sparkling. Officer Feid!? What's going on? "Oh, like she stopped her parents from getting killed?" The doe eyed officer-- woman says.

I snap. No one mentions my parents like that. I run after them, attempting to tackle them. They're nimble though, escaping through an open window which was most likely their doing. Katchina and Brooke remain unconscious as they exit the house and stuff them into the back of a black car, making me think that they used the same chemical they did with Luke.

I stick my head out of the window and watch as the man and women open the front doors of the car. The man takes shotgun, and in his black backpack I can see Brooke's starry night paint brush, making the anger and fear rise once again in my chest.

I run to the front door and thrust it open as fast as I can before running out into the night with nothing on my feet. My toes slap the sidewalk as I try to run after the car, yelling and screaming nasty things at them. But they just continue to drive. I stop at the end of the block and watch them disappear behind a hill.

I scream. Letting out all the anger I was too devastated to feel earlier. Now three of them are gone, and all I have left to feel is anger and determination. I march back to the house, knowing that sleep is now a luxury for the disbelievers. We are going to get them back, no matter what.

I march through the door and over to where everyone is sleeping. I pull off their covers, careful not to wake Aunt Candy who fell asleep at the island with her laptop open. "Hey." Birdie says sleepily, but still evidently annoyed. "They're gone." I say quietly as everyone else wakes up, suddenly worried at my words. Except for Birdie, who looks as if I just slapped her. "What." She says. I know exactly what she's thinking. "No, it wasn't me. There were two people, Officer Feid and that one officer from the airport" I tell Peter, knowing he's the only one who will know them. He looks at me wide eyed. "They carried them off through that window." I point to their still open escape route. "Lies." Birdie says "You did this again!" She stands up and comes after me, fists raised. Cedar suddenly jumps up, holding her back. "If I did it, why would I be the one to tell you what happened?"

"Because you're the note." Birdie says angrily, still fighting Cedar's grip.

I let that soak in. Maybe she's right.

"Don't listen to her Etta, she's just angry." Cedar says

"No, no. She's right." I say. Birdie stops struggling, but shrugs off Cedar.

"What do you mean?" Peter asks me, his expression uncategorizable.

"I mean that they wanted me to see them." I say, "Officer Feid actually looked at me before he took off with the airport officer." everyone lets that soak in for a moment.

"What does that mean?" Cedar asks.

"I think it's exactly what Birdie said." I tell them "I don't see a note this time, so maybe I am it. Maybe they wanted you guys to trust us-- me less so that we'd all sort of fall apart as we've been doing. I mean, we weren't in a group at the market so it was easier to single out Luke." I explain. Everyone seems to think this through. Even Birdie.