Chapter 4

Cora

     "You met who?" Gaped Drake when Soliel and Ciel were recounting what happened around the world.

     "I already told you," teased Soliel "The leader of the South American Rebels." Ciel and Soliel are former bounty hunters, but quit a while back. Then they started a group of rebels. Just normal kids that need somewhere to go and be safe, but also some trained assassins in the mix. But they all look out for each other, like a family. Soon, it spread across the country, continent, and the whole world. And they're on our side. I thought. Bonus. You know, as opposed to them being indifferent about what's happening to us.
     Soliel stuck her tongue out at Drake, "Man, she's good," Ace whispered to me and I snickered, "She can't even see him."
     Ciel rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and all the other Rebel Team Leaders, who work under us!" She sighed, "Now that we're all clear on that, let's move on. Cora, would you like to bring them up to date?"
     Yeah, dump it all on me, wouldja? I thought at Ciel, but I started retelling the story we'd agreed on. "You guys already know that Lily's missing, right? But she's been gone for a while. Ciel and I have our suspicions."
     Drake's eyes were wide, Ace was staring at me and Ciel intently. Soliel was just wandering around aimlessly.
     "Whenever she's gone, it's usually for six to eight days, and now it's been about the same time now, and she never tells anyone beforehand. I was questioning, but Ciel connected it."
     "Four or five days is the average time for going by foot through the forest to the closest town." Continued Ciel. "And one or two days to be picked up and flown to a destination, and flown back to the town."
     "In a helicopter, right?" Clarified Ace, ever so helpfully.
     "Well, duh!" I muttered a reply.
     "Just checking," Ace muttered back. Soliel rolled her eyes, but I could see her holding in her laughter.
     "We think someone's been picking her up. They aren't on our side," I said, staring them down. "And neither is Lily."

*****

     After spending an hour for debating, and finally deciding to go looking for Lily, to get some answers, we head off to try and get some sleep, but then we realise it's probably better to stick together for the time being, so Ace, Drake, Ciel, Soliel and I find our respective sleeping branches in the multi-purpose ceiling of our tree house, and they manage to catch a few Zs, but my sleep, well, let's just say it wasn't very restful.

     Just when I though everyone had gone to sleep, "Can't sleep?" Ace's voice asked me from the shadows of the branches on the other side of the tree house. I got up from the fork of two branches that I was lying in, and leapt from branch to over to where Ace's voice was coming from. "Me neither," He said, most likely because he took me coming over as a no.
     "What's keeping you awake?" I asked him, pitching my voice low, as so not to wake anyone else.
     "I don't know, I just can't fall asleep. I mean, you just dumped something really big on us. It's really unsettling."
     "I know, and we're going to get some answers. Lily can't hide from us forever, she'll have to come out sooner or later, and it's going to be on our terms."
     "Just don't do anything too reckless," He said, "Good night,"
     When he thought I was out of earshot, I heard him mumble "I don't know what I'd do without you..."