Nadia looked worried. "But what about you?" She whispered. Dan
nodded, waiting until the window was completley open, before
slipping in. Standing in front of the window, he held his arms out.
"If it means saving my sister, I'll do whatever I have to to
convince you that I'm telling the truth. And, I can explain a lot
more about what went down at the Killing Game, and why it
happened." Nadia stared at him for a minute, her face
expressionless. She then moved to the doorway, her foot tapping and
poised to run at a moment's notice.
Mimicking what he'd seen in those police shows Cam loved to watch,
Colt made sure Dan had no lumps, sharp things, or anything that
potentially could be used as a weapon on him. Once he was certain
the boy had nothing dangerous, he slowly pivoted, keeping himself
facing Dan and the knife hanging from his back pocket hidden, Colt
shoved the window shut, locked it, and drew the curtains, again not
even watching what he was doing. "Well?" he said finally.
Dan took a deep breath, and spoke. "My sister is being held hostage
by the Society of the Broken Mirrors. You..probablly don't belive
me, but torwads the end of the Killing Game, I tried to put a stop
to things. My punishment was not only having my sister's death come
closer, but I was going to be killed as well for my
insubordination. I was supposed to pose as the Killer, and then be
pushed from a windowsill so my death would be quick and hard to
trace. My parents knew about all of this, they didn't even try to
stop the people who took us, and..and I don't know why." He looked
up, on the verge of tears. "I don't know what to do. I barely
managed to escape them with my life, and now I need to save my
sister."
Colt froze, taking his eyes off Dan for the first time and glancing
at Nadia. The Society of the Broken Mirrors... well, shoot. "Were
you followed?" he asked, not wanting to alarm Nadia by mentioning
what he knew of said society, that Luswire and her husband were in
charge, as he needed her help in deciding what to do. He himself,
though he was doing a great job of hiding it, genuinely had no
idea. Angel had calmed down, though, he noticed, and was now
sniffing at Dan's shoes, albeit still looking slightly hostile.
Dan shook his head. "No. I know that they had one of their people
on me, or "followers" as the call themselves, but after the police
got involved he stopped showing up. I don't know how long they'll
stay away, though, so I took my chances." He glanced at Nadia.
"Sorry for scaring you." Nadia sighed. "I can't say it's fine, but
I'm not mad either."
Shaking his head in an I can't believe I'm doing this
manner, Colt reached behind his back and shut the knife, then said,
"Dan, you're going to follow Nadia downstairs and into the kitchen.
I will be walking right behind you with Angel at my heels. You will
sit down at the kitchen table, I will pull blinds over all of the
main windows and the front door, and then we will talk. Are you
physically injured in any way?"
"Not really, just a couple of old scars that got open up trying to
get to Nadia's window," he said, gesturing to the dark red spots on
his temple, the corner of slashes hid by his long dark bangs. Nadia
nodded. "Okay, Dan, follow me." She led Dan downstairs and into the
kitchen, gesturing for him to take a seat. He dd, keeping his hands
on the table. "So. Is this an intterigation or something?" Dan
laughed bitterly.
Colt proceeded to do what he had said he would, feeling that it
would be in their best interests if the SoBM didn't know they were
actually listening to Dan. Angel, as if she knew what was going on,
walked to sit by Nadia's feet like a sentry. "If it were, you would
owe it to us," he said cooly, moving to the kitchen, opening the
fridge, and taking out the leftover pizza. They'd eaten the first
two and a half (he and Cam could each each an entire pizza on their
own if they really tried, but usually each stuck to 6 slices) and
had refrigerated the remaining half. Taking paper plates and
plastic cups, he also grabbed some lemonade, setting it all on the
table. "Eat, if you're hungry. Tell us what you think we should
know."
While Nadia leaned down to scratch Angel's head, Dan explained, not
touching the food. "Mrs. Luswire, along with her husband, whom
evreyone called M, runs the entire society. There's someone else
too, but no one knows who they are. They collect recruits, either
by blackmailing, kidnapping, or if they're pyschotic enough,
invitation. They wanted children. Young ones, so they could
inflitrate the schools and weed out the ones they deemed
"virtouous" enough. My parents watched me and my sister be drugged
and thrown into the back of a truck as calmy as if they were
watching a television show. My sister, they soon found out, was not
only weak and useless to them, but also extremley close to me. So,
they used her, to get to me. To make me do whatever they wanted.
And I want to get her away from all of that. If I can, and I'm not
asking you to help me do this, I want to stop that entire accursed
group."
"Look," Colt said, his expression a bit softer. "I detest them,
too. I don't know if you were close enough to see," here he walked
over to Nadia and laid his hand gently on her shoulder blade as she
pet the dog, Angel staring up at her with adoration in her eyes,
"what Luswire did, but I want her to pay, and I will honestly do
whatever I need to to make that happen, provided no one I care
about is put in harm's way. But you need to think logically here.
How do you know they don't want this, for you to come here and get
us involved, lead them to my family? They may be trying to pull
that same thing with me; remember, Nadia, the note that Cam found?"
He stepped forwards, grabbed a plate, and slid a slice of pizza
onto it. "And yes, you are asking. Why else would you have come
here? But no worries. If, and only if, there's a way to get my
family and Nadia safe, then I will help you." He counted Nadia out
of the effort, knowing she was still injured, not wanting to have
to see her on the brink of death ever again.
Dan nodded slowly, thinking over what he had said. Finally, he
spoke. "It was never my intention to involve any of you more than
need be. All I'm asking is that you help me get my sister back, and
that's it. Trust me, it's a much smaller task than taking down the
entire society. I just need some help with rescuing my sister. I
know it's not much, but I can give you my word that they won't be
involved. In order to cover up what I've been doing until now, I
claimed that I was observing the winnders and keeping watch over
them. But what note are you talking about?" Nada straightened up,
explaining about the note. Dan listened, and responded camly, "They
wanted to cover it up. They must have a vauge idea of what's going
on, so I'll probablly be punished if I go back to the society. But
I can always find a park bench, at least until morning. My point
is, it's more of a cover up than anything, if I know these people.
They'll want to figure out what's going on, so as long as I keep my
trail as distant from you as possible, none of you will be harmed."
"Understood. What I want is for no more people to be hurt by them
and to repay a certain teacher. Seems like we could work that in.
Final question: How can we trust you? This is heart wrenching and
all, and, though I know it may not seem like it, I do genuinely
feel horrible for you, hearing your story, but you have to see that
it could easily be manufactured." He took a bite of his pizza,
staring at Dan.
"I totally understand, Colt," Dan said, meeting his eyes and
speaking softly. "And I do have proof. As much as I can give you
now, at least." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone.
"Not a weapon, I swear." He typed a few things into it, pulling up
a video, sliding it across the table torwads them and hitting play.
The video was that of a dark room, poorly lit. But as things came
into focus, a young girl, probablly about 11 or 12 years old, was
tied to a chair. A man in a mask stood next to her, the mask
expressionless. A voice spoke, female and as slick as butter. "Dan
Silver, I'm dissapointed in you. You failed to meet my standards,
and did not act virtouously. We'll have to punish your sister for
your actions-" Dan suddnely paused the video, pinching the bridge
of his nose to keep from crying. "I'm sorry, I just-I can't stand
watching it more than once."
Colt felt sick just looking at the electronic scene. His brain
naturally had many doubts regarding the veracity of the video, but
his moral compass wouldn't allow him to walk away from this. He
turned his head away, a wrenching, sickening feeling in his chest.
Taking a moment to breath, he glanced at Nadia once more. So long
as she his family were safe, he thought, he didn't care what
happened to himself. Addressing her, he said tentatively, "I'm
going to help him." Though he didn't say it outright, the
underlying meaning was, "And you are staying here."
Nadia stared at him for a minute, before speaking. "If you're
going, I'm going too. And because I know you're thinking of it,
There is no way you're leaving me behind. The Society wronged me
just as much as it did you, or Salene, or anyone. You can't leave
me behind when you're putting you're own life on the line like
this."
"Nadia," he began, his voice a mix between trying to be reasonable
and pleading. "Yesterday afternoon you were stabbed." He stopped as
if finished, but then continued. "You're in no condition to jog
around the block, let alone infiltrate the group of people who
perpetrated said stabbing and we literally have video evidence of
some of their committed horrors. I couldn't live with myself if the
smallest thing more happened to you." The images of her falling in
slow motion, of her blood on his hand, flickered into his mind, and
he shut his eyes momentarily, trying to block them out. He moved
towards her, reaching for her hand. "Please... trust me. I'll be
fine, and I'll be back here before you know it."
"So you're just going to leave me here, torn up with guilt and
worry, while you risk your life?" Nadia protested. "Colt, if
anything, I want to know that you're safe." Her hand moved away,
and she stood up. "But I can't stop you. I'm going back to bed.
Hope you save Dan's sister," she said bitterly, walking away and up
the stairs, before moving into her room. Dan watched her go
akwardly. "I didn't think this would happen, but you are right. The
Society is extremley dangerous."
Hurt flashed in his eyes, and he had half a mind to go after her,
but he told himself it was for the best. If something did happen to
him, it would be easier for her to deal with if she was furious, or
so he hoped. Shutting his eyes again, holding back tears he hadn't
thought would even threaten him, he waited a moment before
responding to Dan. In a flat tone, Colt said, "Well? Let's go. My
parents would stop me if they knew. We have a third car in that
shed out back; we'll take that, get your sister, and get out."
Dan, still feeling a bit uneasy after watching that argument,
nodded quickly. "Alright. The place that they're holding her isn't
far, only about thirty minutes away. That's how I was easily able
to, uh, find you. Sounds a lot creepier out loud." Standing up from
the table and pushing the chair, he sighed. "Alright, let's go get
my sister."
Putting the plates, cups, remaining pizza, and lemonade away, Colt
then opened a cabinet, pulled out a pad of paper and scrawled a
message on it. Satisfied, he laid it on the counter, then led the
way to the front door, glancing both ways before walking down the
path to the backyard.