The Pendants and the Mystery of the Wozniak Five Part I

by Stephanie Steele

  They entered walking at a brisk pace, both keeping their eyes low and went to the section of the store that sold camping equipment. Carson began grabbing supplies, including two army green backpacks, two flashlights, two sleeping bags, a few ponchos, two packages of waterproof matches, two compasses, and a Swiss Army Knife.

  "Where are you from anyway, Carson?"

  He glanced up at Valie, as he stuffed the supplies into the backpacks, then stood. “Here. It's my city."

  "It's, like, one of the biggest cities in Wisconsin, isn't it kind of everyone's city?"

  "Point?"

  She shrugged, "I wish I grew up in a bigger city.”

  “Come on, let's keep moving.”

  “How do you know your way around so well?”

  “I used to work in this store. I quit.”

  “What?!” Valie suddenly became alarmed, “Carson, why would you bring us to the store that you used to work at? Don't you think that’s dangerous?”

  “No, because like I said I don't work here anymore and because we're hurrying, that is if you stop asking me all of the freaking questions. This store has the stuff I know we would need, okay?”

  “Why did you quit?”

  Carson gently pushed one of the backpacks into Valie's chest. She took it.

  “I quit because my ex-girlfriend was the manager, she's a little...persistent.”

  “Oh, really?” Valie was surprised, fighting off the sudden urge to laugh, but only because of how he was acting, rushing through the store, pulling her by her arm and all. Valie knew now he was in such a hurry, not because he was being cautious, in case the bad people were looking for them, but because he was avoiding his ex-girlfriend.

  “Is she working today, Carson?” Valie asked with a smirk.

  He didn't answer, but Valie had to smile, it was amusing to her. Carson was trying to hide from an ex. It was something else to think about for a second, something to even laugh about.

  They walked to the women's clothing section. “Hurry up.” Carson instructed.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Valie replied, looking through the racks of clothing. She didn't need anything special, anything other than her work smock would suffice at that point.

  Then, Carson turned his head and cursed under his breath.

  "Why haven't you been returning my calls?" A woman yelled, marching up to Carson.

  "Britt, this is not the time," Carson said back quickly, speaking in a much lower voice than she was. Britt was very loud; she had stick straight bleach blond hair and big hoop earrings. She held her finger up in the air as she shouted at Carson.

  "This is the time! You don't get to blow me off like all your other little girlfriends," she glanced at Valie, "Is your newest one?"

  "What? No!" Valie said quickly, making an attempt to hide behind the clothing rack.

  "Yes," Carson said, "She is my girlfriend and we are dating."

  “Oh God,” Valie mumbled to herself.

  Then, the woman brought her fist back and punched Carson in the face. Valie gasped.

  "What the hell, Britt?!"

  She turned to Valie, "He'll break your heart too, honey." Then she strutted away.

  "Are you okay?" Valie shrieked, rushing to his side.

  He looked down at her, with an angered expression, wiping blood away from his nose.

  Then, Valie started to laugh, not knowing what came over her. She started to laugh harder and harder, where her whole body started to shake. She put her hands over her mouth, but it only made her laugh harder.

  Carson's scowl slowly faded. He shook his head and his lips formed a small smile.

  Valie was surprised at her own dramatic shift in emotions, but it felt good to laugh.

  She put her hand up, “I'm sorry, Carson,” her laugh began to trail off. He only watched, seemingly amused.

  She brought her sleeve to his nose and dabbed away some of the blood, he let her.

  "Ex's right?"

  "Yeah, I guess," Valie said, not really knowing what having an “ex” was like. She had never dated, but she wasn't about to share that with Carson.

  He gently pulled her hand away. "Thanks."

  “It feels good to laugh.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Carson?”

  “Yeah?” He asked as he bent down to pick up the supplies he dropped.

  “Do you think we'll find them?”

  “The pendants?”

  “Our parents.”

  He stood and looked at her, and then, finally, he just nodded.

  They paid for the supplies and left. Valie had forgotten all about buying a new shirt.

  Chapter 9

  They were back in the car driving to a nearby park so they could sit and talk about what they were going to do next.

  Valie had regaled the tale of Carson and his ex to Maddy and Trent. If anything it lightened the mood in the car. They, too, found it amusing. Carson, however, did not.

  Then, they continued with what they were doing before the mall. Trent with the GPS, Maddy with the book, Valie with the window. She tried to appreciate the lovely scenery that the city offered. Lots of trees and rolling hills, despite the metropolis feel forced upon it, it was still quite scenic.

  Maddy's voice brought her back to reality.

  "Guys?"

  "What?" Carson asked in his near-constant annoyed tone.

  Maddy closed the book and set it carefully down in her lap. "In this book... the author mentions The Wozniak Five by name.”

  “So?” Carson asked. “That's not a big deal.”

  “Right...but they're not our names.”

  Valie grabbed Trent's arm. Carson pulled the car over quickly and shut off the radio, "What?"

  Valie thought she was suddenly going to puke. “What? What? Is this all some kind of joke?” She was bordering on hysteria.

  "I've studied this probably more than any of you. The names of The Wozniak Five were never released to the media," Trent insisted.

  "What exactly does it say, Maddy?" Carson asked.

  She didn't have to look back at the book, "It says, Valerie, Jay, Cain, Villemonte, and Rose.” Then, without missing a beat, “Rose is my middle name." Her eyes flickered from Carson, to Trent, then to Valie, waiting for a reaction.

  “Cain is my middle name," Carson said.

  "Whoa...did they rename us? Those were originally our first names?" Trent asked incredulously. He looked at Carson and narrowed his eyes. "Your name was going to be Cain Fontaine?" Trent didn't give him a chance to answer. "My name was originally Jay? Are you freaking serious? I could've gone my whole life as Jay?"

  "Trent's not so bad," Maddy offered.

  "Yeah, but I could've gone through school not being referred to as 'Get-bent-Trent' Snevets."

  Carson chuckled.

  “Not funny.” Trent countered.

  “No...” Carson said, shaking his head, “It's not that...I know where our pendants are.”

  Valie felt her heart start to pound again. She moved to the edge of her seat, closer to Carson.

  “What? Where? How?” she questioned.

  Carson had a sly grin on his face and almost looked to be enjoying some kind of inside joke. "They must've changed our names so that if the time came, we would figure it out ourselves. Our names, Carson, Helena, Trent, Maddy, and Jackson."

  “I don't get it,” Valie said.

  "Our names, that's why they changed them, our names represent where our pendants are hidden. Jackson, Mississippi. Carson City, Nevada. Helena, Montana. Madison, Wisconsin. Trenton, New Jersey. That has to be why. They named us after state capitals, that's where our pendants are."

  Chapter 10

  The four of them arrived at the park a short time later, each still reeling from finding out that they now knew where their pendants were, and that their names were changed so they could figure it out. Valie had to appreciate the cleverness of it. It was smart, but also dangerous. How could they know that they would put that together?

&nb
sp; The park was a state park with a large lake and a lot of rock formations.

  There weren't many people there; it was almost the off-season and also a weekday. They wouldn't have to worry about any suspicious characters sneaking around. They would be able to see them quickly in the near-empty park.

  The four of them walked to a spot on the grass. Carson found a map in the glove compartment in the car and laid it out next to all of the supplies they had bought from the mall.

  Valie sat in the grass next to him as he studied the map, rubbing his forehead as he did so.

  Trent and Maddy both felt that Carson could figure out the details, so they walked to the shore to sit by the lake.

  Valie stayed by Carson, she wanted to help.

  “Do you think we'll have enough time to get everyone's?” Valie asked with a hint of fear in her voice, dreading the idea of running out of time before they were able to reach someone's pendant.

  “We'll have to split up.”

  Valie huffed, “No, we can't...it's too dangerous.”

  “It's the only way.”

  “Well, I'll tell you right now, I'm not separating from Trent.” Valie said staunchly, committed to the fact that the expression on her face matched her tone.

  “You may not have a choice.”

  Valie wasn't about to have that conversation with him, she mumbled that she was going to the shore and walked away.

  The breeze was robust as it came off the water. Valie could smell the lake and it went well with the autumn air. Before she got to the shore, she stopped and looked out at the water. Part of her wanted to walk right the lake and swim across. She missed the feeling that swimming gave her, the sensation of taking a big breath; feeling like her body was a torpedo in the water and the wonderful exhaustion that came after a long swim. With those memories, came some others though and before she could think too much on it, she walked to Trent and Maddy.

  The two were sitting in the sand. Well, actually, Trent was sitting in the sand. Maddy was sitting on Trent's sweatshirt because she couldn't allow her legs to touch the sand...apparently. That seemed a little superfluous to Valie, but whatever, she thought.

  Valie sat next to Trent and started to brush her fingers across the sand. “It's nice here,” she said, reflectively looking out at the lake.

  “Maybe we'll come back someday,” Trent said bumping his shoulder into hers.

  “Maybe.”

  They fell silent.

  Maddy then cleared her throat. "We were talking about funny memories before you stepped over."

  Valie got the feeling that she was trying to lighten the mood a little and she could appreciate that.

  "I've never been kissed,” Maddy admitted. “That's a funny memory, right? I mean, you guys think that's funny...don't you? Right?”

  Valie leaned forward, looking past Trent so she could see her, "Really?"

  Maddy nodded, "Pretty pathetic, huh?"

  “You're such a pretty girl though...” Valie said, trying to work out in her mind how Maddy had never been kissed, but Maddy also had a certain...irritating side to her, so it kind of made sense.

  "Maybe things are different where you're from," Trent offered lamely.

  "How many girls have you kissed then?"

  "Well, just two, but one doesn't count because we were in third grade and the other was my prom date."

  Valie gasped, "What! Casey was your prom date!" She was shocked, and had always suspected that Trent had a little crush on Casey, that's why they went to prom together, but the kiss was news to her.

  Trent laughed.

  "Wow...I can't believe Casey never told me that. I can't believe you never told me that!" Valie punched him softly in the arm. Valie made herself a promise that when this ordeal was over, she would have a little chat with Casey about keeping that from her.

  "Who's Casey?" Maddy asked.

  "She's one of my best friends," Valie stated.

  "Well...how was it?" Maddy asked curiously, tapping Trent's knee.

  He shrugged, "A little awkward...but nice."

  Valie was strangely proud of her cousin...and betrayed. Traitors. "Did you go to prom, Maddy?"

  Maddy flinched as if the question hurt her. She looked down and started running her hands down her dress over and over.

  "Maddy?" Valie pressed.

  "Almost," she finally said. "I was asked to the dance by the cutest guy at my school. He was popular and I wasn't and I couldn't believe he wanted to go with someone like me. I was so excited. My mum and I planned it carefully--the perfect dress, hair...everything."

  Valie leaned in a little closer because Maddy had been talking so softly that she was hard to hear.

  "Then," she continued, "prom night came along and I thought I looked quite pretty. My dress was purple and my hair had actually been straightened. My mum even put fake eyelashes on me. I sat in my living room and waited and waited...and waited. Finally, I went to prom on my own. I drove myself thinking that perhaps I misunderstood him and we were meant to meet there. I got there and he was dancing with the most beautiful girl in our school, laughing and smiling. It was his girlfriend as it turns out." Maddy brushed away a tear. "It was a joke all along. A little payback because I had beaten his girlfriend for a scholarship to a prestigious summer camp and it was their revenge. They just didn't like me. I was never the girl that boys liked. I was too weird, or too smart, or too whatever. I had to go home and explain what happened to my mother and I think that was the most humiliating part."

  Neither Trent nor Valie said anything at first.

  "It's okay though," she sniffled, "they got what they deserved. Everyone does eventually, I suppose."

  Valie really wasn't sure what that meant, but she could feel Maddy's sorrow as she sadly recalled her story. It made Valie's heart ache for her. It had to have been an awful experience, she thought. Valie wanted to reach out and hug her, but with Maddy's OCD, it would've probably done more harm than good.

  Valie didn't know Maddy or Carson that well. They had these lives outside of what was happening, there was so much to know, learn, and understand about each other. Like Carson had said to her, there were layers to everyone. There were even things about Trent that she didn't know, but they all shared something very important-- still young and trying to beat a clock that was counting down, and when the countdown was over, so were they...basically, if they didn't find their pendants, that is.

  "Would you excuse me for a moment?" Maddy said quickly, standing with her hands pressed against her head. "My headaches," she mumbled as she started to run towards the park bathrooms.

  Trent and Valie both stood and watched her hastily run off.

  "Is she okay?"

  Trent shrugged. "She gets headaches, I guess."

  “Headaches?”

  “Migraines, er-whatever.”

  They started to walk back to Carson.

  "You know what bothers me?" Valie said walking backwards, trying to absorb as much of the pretty lake as she could.

  "What?"

  "Carson basically knew who we were...why didn't we get to know? Why didn't we ever put it together?"

  Trent hesitated. Valie knew he had to have thought about it since they got the news. "I think he was trying to protect us. Think about knowing. Would we have lived the same lives? Would we be able to live amongst our friends and keep the secret?"

  Valie turned towards Trent. "It wasn't his choice, it should've been ours. It wasn't a matter of knowing, it was a matter of coping. How would we cope? He obviously didn't think we could."

  "I don't know, Valie, I don't think it's that simple."

  "It IS that simple! He didn't think we could handle that and why? Because I cry? Because you can't do anything on your own? Because you can't ever stick up for yourself and fight?"

  Trent didn't say anything and Valie knew right away that she hurt his feelings. "I'm sorry. I just, I can't believe he didn't tell us and I mean, not three days ago we were in our backyard playing catch.
How did this happen to us, Trent?"

  He hugged her. "At least we have each other."

  It was why Leon had tried to keep Trent and Valie on such a short leash. They had been in hiding their whole lives and never knew it.

  There was a payphone in the park, possibly the last one in existence, and Carson was talking on it.

  A surge of panic ran through Valie, wondering who he was talking to, but Carson wasn't stupid, he wouldn't have called anyone from home. It was probably business of some sort, she quickly convinced herself.

  All of the items he had spread out on the grass were gone, with the exception of the two backpacks that now looked plumper than before.

  Trent and Valie by the backpacks and waited. Carson came back, picked up both of the bags and said, “Let's go.”

  “Who were you talking to?” Valie asked curiously.

  “Train arrangements.” He said back.

  Maddy emerged from the bathrooms. She had a beaming smile on her face, seemingly unfazed by her prom story or her headache.

  “Let’s go!” She chirped.

  Then, Carson announced that they would have to split up and Valie told him, again, that she wasn't leaving her cousin. He didn't seem to care because he spoke over her, acting like he didn't hear it.

  "The way I figure it, Trent, Maddy take the car, hit Madison, and then straight to New Jersey. Valie and I---"

  "Um, yes, sorry," Maddy interrupted, holding up a finger, "Is it really necessary that I go? I mean, if my pendant is only an hour away..."

  Valie was giving her a dirty look, not because she was trying to, it just formed on her face. There was no sense of loyalty or support from her and it astounded Valie.

  "Look, Madison," Carson started. It was the first time Valie heard him say her name. It surprised her that he wasn't calling her Maddy. "You're going along with Trent. It's safer for you and besides, where else would you go?"

  She shrugged and crossed her arms.

  "Valie and I will take the train," Carson continued, "I don't think we can afford to fly.”

  "Trent and I aren't separating," Valie repeated.

  "It's the best way."

  "He's my cousin, Carson."

  "He's not your cousin, you don't have any cousins. None of us do, understand?"