Home: CS Fanfic//Book One

Chapter 17- Hope

Ivy sat on her bed in their San Diego headquarters, Carmen's hat in her hands. She had managed to grab and hide it from VILE when it had been knocked off of the thief's head by an operatives gun.

The moment that Carmen had crumpled to the ground kept playing in Ivy's head.

She sighed and ran a finger over the hat's black band, almost glad she had finally decided to take the fedora out of her closet, where she had stashed it immediately.

Almost.

"Is that...?" Zack's voice from the doorway startled her, and she turned to see her brother staring quizzically.

"It's Carm's hat." Ivy said quietly, offering it to him.

He took it hesitantly, sitting down next to his sister and smoothing the red brim. "I thought that..." He choked out. "That VILE had taken it, too."

"No. They basically just left it."

Zack shook his head angrily. "Monsters." He continued to drag his fingers over the fabric, muttering curses under his breath.

Ivy watched him sadly, her mind straying to how long it had been. About five weeks had passed since VILE took Carmen, and with each day, it felt more and more likely that they would never see their friend again.

"Do you think we'll find her?" Zack suddenly asked, mirroring her thoughts.

"I hope that we do, but that's not exactly the same thing, is it?"

"No," He sighed. "I guess not." He went back to examining Carmen's hat, sadness filling his blue eyes. After some time, he asked, "Ivy, what if they kill her? What if... they already did? They've been trying to since they almost caught her last year in Poitiers."

Ivy felt her soul wither a bit. "I don't even want to think of that as an option."

Zack looked up, blinking away tears. "I really miss her," he whispered.

Ivy bit her lip so hard that she tasted blood. "I really miss her, too," she whispered back.

"I just never thought that she would-" He stopped, turning to where his hand rested on the hat. "What... Ivy, there's something on the inside."

Ivy sucked in a breath. "What? Where?"

"Look, right here." He rummaged around with his fingers until they snagged on a tiny bump that was hidden in the fedora's inside fold. "Almost..." Pinching, he gently pried it from the red fabric.

"It's a tracker," Ivy noticed, her eyes widening with shock.

"Yeah," Zack muttered, turning the tiny box over in his hand. It was black, and about the size of two grains of rice. "But... we can't use this to find her. This doesn't help us."

"Well..." Ivy narrowed her eyes, daring to let herself hope. "Let's call Player. He might've known about this."

"I had no idea that that was in her hat," Player said, looking just as surprised as them.

Ivy blinked, her stomach dropping. "Oh."

"But, it might not only be a tracker. Because Zack's right, If that's what it was, it wouldn't be of any use to us." Poorly hidden excitement quivered in his voice. "You guys send it to me. I'll see if there's more to it than catches the eye."

The siblings glanced to each other, then nodded. "Okay. On it."

"Okay what?"Shadowsan suddenly said, standing in the doorway. He eyed the hat, then Zack and Ivy. "You... saved her fedora."

Ivy nodded, and Zack held up the possible tracker. "This was in it. Player said that it might help us find Carmen."

Shadowsan blinked, hope flitting over his face. "Really?"

The hacker laughed joyously. "Really! Get that thing in a package to Canada now!" His happy laughter faded, as if he'd run out of his room.

Zack and Ivy smiled.

"Guess we'd better find a box."