by Emmy Oakes
*
Alexia and Amosa arrived outside a white two story house. It looked normal from the outside but Alexia knew there was most likely horrible creatures inside doing God knows what to Cynthia and her family.
“Is this the house?” Amosa said, studying the property. Her eyes scanned around the yard, it was empty apart from a large lemon tree that was planted in the middle of the yard, a small plastic sprinkler to water the immaculate grass, and a statue that resembled a pile of sharp rocks.
Alexia nodded. “This is it. I don’t see any movement inside.” Alexia peered through the large windows, the curtains were open and she couldn’t see anybody through them.
“Let’s go. Do you know the layout of this house very well?”
“Not really. Robert bought it after divorcing Cynthia. I didn’t want anything to do with him when I found out about his girlfriend.”
“Fair enough. Let’s go inside.”
Amosa led the way to the front door of the house. The door opened easily when she pressed her hand against it. A faint buzzing sound was heard. Amosa raised a hand to stop Alexia from moving forward.
“What is it?”
“Look,” Amosa said, pointing to the floor. She was pointing to a thin red line that was about three inches off the ground. It stretched out from one side of the door to the other and looked like a see-through piece of growing string. “Don’t touch that.” Amosa stepped over the fuzzy line and Alexia followed her.
“What is it?”
“A trap, it would burn through your ankle before you felt any pain.”
“I’m glad you spotted it.” They talked quietly as they walked further into the house.
“You learn to look out for that sort of thing.”
Alexia nodded and fell silent when she saw spots of blood on the wooden floor. She gasped loudly and felt panic invade her body. “Bl-blood,” Alexia sputtered.
“Don’t worry yet, it might be nothing.”
“Wish I could believe that.”
They stepped into a large modern kitchen. The whole room was spotless and looked unused. Amosa looked around in awe. She had never been inside a house on Earth before. “Polly would like this kitchen.”
“She would like any kitchen,” Alexia said, distracted. She was still thinking about the specs of blood.
“Room's is clear. Let’s keep moving.”
They passed through a spacious living room and reached a staircase then stopped. Amosa started to climb the stairs with Alexia following close behind her. Just as they were about to reach the top, a shadow loomed over them. Amosa stepped back slowly.
“What is it?”
“Quiet,” Amosa said quickly.
Alexia obeyed and crouched down when she noticed the shadow. A hissing was heard and then they saw the owner of the shadow. It was a guard of Temorvick’s. The guard was like one she had seen on Flameia. Though he was much larger with bulging muscles. He was wearing heavy steel armor that covered his chest, head and legs.
Alexia watched as Amosa pulled a tiny curved dagger off the rim of her boot. With great force she threw the dagger at the guard. It soared through the air and struck the guard in the throat, bypassing the armor. Blood spilled from his throat and he fell to his knees.
“Nice shot,” Alexia said.
“Thanks.”
They climbed the rest of the stairs and searched the hall way. “This is Dad, I mean Robert’s room,” Alexia said.
“Okay, let’s check it out.”
Alexia stood back as Amosa slowly opened the door. She tried to be quiet but the door creaked loudly as they pushed it open. Alexia cringed.
Amosa peered inside, looking both ways before entering. There was a chair with loose ropes around the legs of it. A loud exploding sound roared from outside. Alexia ran to the window and saw a metallic ship soar high into the sky so fast that if she blinked she would have missed it.
“They’re gone!” Alexia wailed.
“Well, at least there’s no blood up here,” Amosa said, inspecting the room.
“We have they taken Cynthia?”
“Probably to Temorvick’s planet. They seem to want her for some reason.”
“How do we get there?”
“We can’t simply go there. It’s too dangerous. We’ll have to see the Watchers about it.”
Alexia sighed. From what she could tell, the Watchers weren’t very compassionate.
A noise interrupted her thoughts. It sounded like somebody in high heels. The sound stopped outside the bedroom door.
Alexia watched nervously as the door opened and Mrs. Crock appeared in the doorway.
“I thought I would find you here,” her rough voice said happily.
“She was taken over by a shade to watch me,” Alexia explained to Amosa. “I don’t think we should hurt her.”
Amosa nodded. “We don’t know how to extract the shades without killing the host yet.”
Mrs. Crock ignored their talking and walked forward.
“You’ve been a very bad student, Alexia Martin.”
“She sounds like she’s gone mad,” Amosa said.
Alexia looked around the room quickly trying to think. She turned to Amosa.
“Do you think you could put her somewhere?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like teleport her somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know, anywhere away from us.”
Mrs. Crock approached them, her knees cracking as she walked. Amosa sprinkled her with purple dust and she disappeared with a bewildered look on her withered face.
“Where did you send her?” Alexia asked.
“To the Amazon. That should keep her busy.”
Suddenly Alexia saw Cynthia’s handbag on the floor and sunk to the ground below the window and began to cry. Amosa walked toward her then paused. She took a deep breath and sat down next to her. She awkwardly placed an arm around Alexia. Alexia leaned into her chest and sobbed.
