16 December 2012
"Where are you taking me?" I ask Summer. We've been in the helicopter for a while, making circles around the Alps. "You'll see." Summer answers mysteriously. I sigh and lean back in my seat. Sudently the radio crackles to life. "Summer- do you read me?" a voice booms. "Yes." Summer flips a little switch above the radio. "We've found Ellie. We're taking her to Panle now. Come pick us up." "Copy that. Over and out." Summer flips the switch again. "What's Panle?" I blurt. "Why, it's your little friend's town." "No, they live in Kwena." I'm confused now. "Kwena is the village about 70 miles north of Panle. Panle is their real town." I stare at Summer. "Really? So why did they leave Panle to go to Kwena?" "They did some bad things in Panle, so they got chased out of town. They were forced to go to Kwena if they wanted to survive." Oh wow. Should I believe Summer? Tessa, Keleb, and Ellie all seemed so nice. "What bad things did they do?" "You don't need to know that right now." Summer waves her hand as if pushing it away the thought. We dive down into the mountains, finally landing next to a smaller village than Kwena. I look out the window. "This is Panle?" I ask in disbelief. This village is super small. Way smaller than Kwena. There's only about 10 huts. "Yep." Summer climbs out of the helicopter. "You coming?" "Yes!" I jump out before Summer can make me come. I follow her to a little hut. We walk in and I gasp. Ellie is all tied up, with a gag and everything. "Ellie!" I scream. Ellie trys to look up and starts thrashing. A man next to her tightens the ropes around her. It's Xander. "Take her to the copter. Pronto." Summer snaps her fingers and Xander picks Ellie up. They walk out of the house and I lunge after them. "Ellie! No!" I yell. Summer grabs my back and spins me toward her. Her eyes sparkle. "Ellie will be safe with Xander." What a lie. "You will not help Ellie escape in any way. At all. Follow me." Then I follow Summer out of the hut and into the helicopter. Ellie is in the back seat with Xander. Ellie looks up hopefully when she sees me, but all I can do is mouth 'sorry'. I feel so bad. Why does Summer need Ellie? Why doesn't she need Tessa or Keleb? Where is Tessa and Keleb anyway? And what is going to happen next?
. . . . . .
I must've drifted off in the helicopter, because Summer is yelling my name. "Autumn! Autumn! Wake up!" she screams. I jolt up and look around. It's dark out and I can't see anything out the window. "What?" "We're here." "Where?" "Mannicco." I sigh. Mannicco is a little town in Italy. Summer always seems to take me here because she says it's 'safe'. "Get out." I swing open the helicopter door and jump out, landing the jump. Summer hops out after me. "Get in the car." she points to a little Smart Car on the road a couple yards away from the helicopter. We walk to it. I jump into the passengers seat and slam the door. We start off down the gravel road. In about 5 minutes, the car pulls into a driveway in the center of town. The brick house is medium-sized, not too big but not too small. It's two stories, but it's not that wide or long. There's a tiny yard. I sigh and hop out. I'm about to open the door when Summer says something. "Where do you think you're going?" she asks. "To the house...?" I squint at Summer. "No you aren't." She reaches into a manicured hedge and fumbles inside for a second. Sudently I hear a creaking sound to my left. A little crack has appeared in the driveway. Summer walks over to the crack and pulls it up. A slab of cement from the driveway is now on it's side like a trapdoor. Actually, there is a trapdoor beneath the cement slab. Summer presses some buttons on a keypad connected to the cement slab and trapdoor slides open. She jumps in starts climbing down a ladder. "Well?" she asks me. I run over to her. "Get in." When Summer's down far enough for me to get in, I do. The trapdoor slides shut above me, then the cement slab falls down on top of the trapdoor, sealing out all light until it's pitch black. That's when I hear the scream.
January, Chapter 5 • Opuss № I