TR 18
Authors: Marina and Casey
Story: Taking Root
Challenge: Coconut 8 (you just missed it), Milk Chocolate 16 (panic) [Marina]; Blueberry Yogurt 15 (just out of reach), Pomegranate 23 (AWOL) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 2,023
Rating: PG
Summary: Laura finds the bikes. Everybody panics.
Notes: And this would be the main reason TR isn’t canon. It is going to be a while before we update this again because of Casey being on the boat (what I’ve been posting is backlog), but with this piece we’re 2/3 through our Caramel/Chopped Nuts/Smoothie sundae flavors! And this is the last piece Casey needs to count her Summer Challenge goal complete.
A sudden burst of rock music startled Carrie so much that she dropped her book and almost fell off her bed. Heart pounding, she glanced around for the source before she realized it was only her phone-she had set Switchfoot’s “Dare You to Move” as Laura’s ringtone. “Oh, hell,” she murmured, as she pulled it from her pocket. Any other day, hearing from Laura was a special treat, but now…
She stared at the screen for a long moment, sighed, and answered. “Hey, Laura.”
“Carrie, thank God.” Laura’s tone set off immediate alarm bells in Carrie’s head. She could hear the older girl’s voice shaking. “Please tell me Chase is with you.”
Carrie frowned and began to get up. “No, he went straight home from the Poppe Shoppe today, why?”
Laura exhaled. “He’s not home, and I found a couple of bikes about a block from our house and one of them is his, and I thought-"
“Wait, what?”
“There are two bicycles just lying on the ground a block away from the house and one of them is Chase’s and I thought the other one was yours and Chase doesn’t have a cell phone so if he’s not with you I don’t know-"
“Laura,” Carrie interrupted, trying to ignore the way her stomach had begun to twist in apprehension, “Laura, calm down. I’m going to come over, okay? Where are you, at your house?”
“No, I’m with the bikes,” said Laura. “On Washington and Palm, right by the park.”
“Okay, just stay there and I’ll be there in a couple minutes.” Carrie hung up and shot a quick text to her mother on her way out to unlock her bike.
She pedaled the four blocks to the park in record time, and found Laura and the fallen bikes beside a telephone pole near the street corner. “Laura!” she cried, dropping her own and running over.
Laura turned to her mechanically, face white with fear. Carrie had not seen her look that way since the dragon world, when Bee had brought her back, but not Chase. Guilt blossomed inside her. It’s not your fault, she admonished herself, trying to squash it down. It wasn’t then, and it isn’t now. Stop it. She glanced down at the two bicycles. The little red mountain bike with dynamic blue stripes on the back definitely belonged to Chase. The other, a weathered green one, lay pathetically askew next to it.
“Do you know whose the other one is?” Laura asked hopefully.
She swallowed. “Yes, it’s Dean’s. His house isn’t far from here, they must have come this way together.” The thought only relieved her a little. Her conversation with Dean the previous night was still fresh in her mind.
Laura cast an anxious glance over her shoulder. “Maybe they’re at Dean’s house, then. I called Dad, he should be here any second. Can you call Dean?”
Carrie nodded and pulled out her cell phone. Dean was more likely to answer his home phone first, as he only had a cell for emergencies and generally turned it off once he was in for the evening. She ignored the reply text from Eva and scrolled through her contacts for the number. Just as she hit ‘Send,’ Peter's squad car turned the corner and pulled up to the curb. She turned away and stuck a finger in her free ear. Please be there, she thought.
His father picked up a moment later. "Hello?"
"Mr. D? It's Carrie. Is Dean there?"
"Hi, Carrie. No, he's not back yet." There was a slight pause on Sorin’s end. "I thought he was with you and the others."
Her heartbeat quickened again. Not good. "He left for home half an hour ago. He and Chase and I all went at the same time, but Chase isn't home either and Laura-Chase's sister-found their bikes just lying on the sidewalk a block away."
Silence greeted this information for a long time, not even Sorin's breath coming across the line. Then, tightly, "What's the address?"
"We’re at Washington Park," Carrie said quietly. “Corner of Washington and Palm.”
"I..." he started, then went quiet again for a moment. "Jesus, I thought this time..." He trailed off, sounding like he was speaking more to himself than Carrie. "I'll be there in a minute," he added, more deliberately.
"Okay. Chase's dad is here, I'll tell him."
"Okay. Okay, good. Thank you," he said, sounding dazed, and hung up.
Carrie lowered her own phone and turned to Peter and Laura. The latter’s increasing panic did not surprise her, but Peter’s did. He did not seem nearly as shocked by the boys’ sudden disappearance as his daughter was. “Any luck, Carrie?” he asked.
“They’re not at Dean’s,” she said. “I’m going to try his cell phone.”
“Please do,” said Peter.
She hung up right away when the call went straight to voicemail. “That could mean any number of things,” Peter said, when she told him. “A lot of cell phones don’t have busy tones, so if the call went right to voicemail it could mean he’s talking to someone else right now. Maybe his father caught him. You three were hanging out this afternoon, weren’t you?”
“Yes. We met Resh, Kenz, Nic, and Sid at the Poppe Shoppe.”
“When did Dean and Chase leave?”
“When I did, about half an hour ago.”
He turned to Laura. “When did you get here?”
She tugged at her hair nervously. “Um, around five, I wasn’t paying attention. Maybe ten minutes ago?”
“All right. That leaves a window of about ten minutes where they could have come by here, dropped the bicycles, and left again without anyone being the wiser.”
“Oh no,” breathed Laura, eyes widening. “I could have been here. I stopped to pick up some ice cream for Chase, I could have caught them if I hadn’t-"
Peter took her by the wrist and made her look at him. “Laura, this is not your fault,” he said firmly. “It isn’t, do you hear me? Whatever this is, it is absolutely not your fault. We don’t even know what happened yet.”
“But you think you do,” Carrie said softly. He glanced at her briefly, but did not reply. She bit her lip. It was all the answer she needed.
Shortly after, Sorin rounded the corner at a run and approached the group. Peter turned to him. "Sorin," he greeted the other man somberly.
Sorin didn't answer right away, surveying the area through panic-stricken eyes. Then, he pulled his gaze up to Peter. "Peter," he managed.
"Chase and Dean didn't leave anything behind but the bikes," said Peter. "Does Dean have a cell phone?"
"Yes, of course. Considering..." Sorin paused and took a deep breath, "considering my father-in-law, it seemed like a good idea."
"Have you tried calling him?"
"Yes, twice on the walk over. Edward would...have made sure to dispose of it."
Peter nodded. "We'll try tracking the phone with GPS just in case."
At the name, Carrie's stomach began to do flip-flops. "That’s his grandfather, isn’t it?" she asked. "Do you think he had something to do with it?"
She could see the parental terror lurking in Peter’s eyes even though he tried to conceal it. "Yes, Carrie, we think so," he said, after a long moment of hesitation. "We have reason to believe that this man has been trying to track them down for quite some time. He may have taken Dean and Chase. Did Dean tell you anything about him?"
She shook her head. "No, just that he was afraid of him." It was on the tip of her tongue to mention Karl, but she remembered her promise to keep that a secret. She didn't think it had anything to do with the kidnapping, anyway.
Surprise registered on Sorin's face briefly, and he appraised Carrie freshly. "He told you?"
"Only a little. He, um, acts nervous often enough that we got curious."
His father sighed. "I was hoping..." he didn't finish the thought, instead returning his attention to Dean's overturned bike.
"I know," said Peter. "Have you noticed anything suspicious in the past couple of days?"
Sorin let out a flat laugh. "I find everything suspicious, Peter. I...no, no more than usual. Dean..." He frowned, "Dean's insisted on answering the phone most of the time. I figure it's because he wanted to talk to Carrie, but...he's not on for long most of the time."
"We only talked twice in the last couple of days," said Carrie. "The other day, and I think Monday. But that's it."
He shrugged helplessly. "It's definitely one of Edward's M.O.s, calling the house. Dean...must have not wanted me to know because he didn't want to leave."
"You're sure you've heard nothing about that, Carrie?" Peter asked. His scrutiny made her uncomfortable. "Dean didn't tell you he thought he was being followed, or anything like that?"
She shook her head. "He didn't, but..." An awful thought suddenly struck her. "Uh, could Edward maybe have found him with Facebook?"
"What?" Sorin practically yelled. "What the hell was he doing on Facebook?"
Carrie shrank back and fumbled for her phone. "I'm sorry! I didn't know he wasn't allowed, and I asked him to friend me and...oh, God, I think I did a bad thing."
"What is it, Carrie?" Peter asked gently, holding up a hand to ward Sorin off for the moment.
She pulled up her Facebook application, found her profile, and handed it silently to Peter. In her mind, she read the words along with him.
Carrie Michaels was with Dean Dakamar and 5 others at The Poppe Shoppe - 2 hours ago.
"I do that all the time," she said, when he did not respond. "I didn't even think about it."
Sorin peered over Peter's shoulder. Laura leaned over as well, and covered her mouth with her hand.
"I'm sorry," Carrie whispered.
Dean's father didn't say anything, something in his expression dying. Peter weighed the phone in his hand for a moment, then handed it back to Carrie. He did not seem angry, but his obvious disappointment shamed her much more than anger would have. She lowered her eyes to the concrete. "You should have known better than that," he said quietly.
"All of my posts are friends-only," she ventured, going red. "I didn't think it would hurt anything."
"The internet is not a safe place, Carrie. Don't ever use that feature again."
She nodded. There was nothing else she could say to that.
He turned to Sorin. "But, that does give us something to go on. Edward would have had to know something about hacking to see Carrie's posts. We might be able to look up IP addresses for her account and Dean's."
"Okay," Sorin said quietly.
"Laura," said Peter, "will you take Carrie home?"
"I rode my bike over," Carrie began.
He shook his head. “I don’t want you going by yourself. I’ll bring your bike to your house with the truck sometime tonight.”
“Yes, sir.” With a nod, she turned apprehensively to Laura.
The older girl did not meet her eye. "Come on, Care," she said, gesturing across the street. Carrie followed her to her car, hugging her helmet tightly to her chest and feeling very, very sick.
She heard Sorin as they walked away. "Do you really think that will work?"
"It's something," Peter replied. "I don't know much about IP logging, but we've got people who do."
Sorin let out a breath. "I'm so sorry, Peter."
"Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault, or anyone's really, that Dean wasn't being as cautious as he should have. I don't blame him for wanting to hang onto something good, or trying to do whatever his friends are allowed to."
"Still. Your son..."
Carrie opened the passenger door and risked a glance at Peter's face as she climbed in. The officer maintained a professionally staid expression with difficulty. "Chase has been missing before and come back," he said, slightly raspy. "I have to believe we'll find him again. He does have a tracker bracelet on him. Hopefully, he'll get the chance to use it."
Story: Taking Root
Challenge: Coconut 8 (you just missed it), Milk Chocolate 16 (panic) [Marina]; Blueberry Yogurt 15 (just out of reach), Pomegranate 23 (AWOL) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 2,023
Rating: PG
Summary: Laura finds the bikes. Everybody panics.
Notes: And this would be the main reason TR isn’t canon. It is going to be a while before we update this again because of Casey being on the boat (what I’ve been posting is backlog), but with this piece we’re 2/3 through our Caramel/Chopped Nuts/Smoothie sundae flavors! And this is the last piece Casey needs to count her Summer Challenge goal complete.
A sudden burst of rock music startled Carrie so much that she dropped her book and almost fell off her bed. Heart pounding, she glanced around for the source before she realized it was only her phone-she had set Switchfoot’s “Dare You to Move” as Laura’s ringtone. “Oh, hell,” she murmured, as she pulled it from her pocket. Any other day, hearing from Laura was a special treat, but now…
She stared at the screen for a long moment, sighed, and answered. “Hey, Laura.”
“Carrie, thank God.” Laura’s tone set off immediate alarm bells in Carrie’s head. She could hear the older girl’s voice shaking. “Please tell me Chase is with you.”
Carrie frowned and began to get up. “No, he went straight home from the Poppe Shoppe today, why?”
Laura exhaled. “He’s not home, and I found a couple of bikes about a block from our house and one of them is his, and I thought-"
“Wait, what?”
“There are two bicycles just lying on the ground a block away from the house and one of them is Chase’s and I thought the other one was yours and Chase doesn’t have a cell phone so if he’s not with you I don’t know-"
“Laura,” Carrie interrupted, trying to ignore the way her stomach had begun to twist in apprehension, “Laura, calm down. I’m going to come over, okay? Where are you, at your house?”
“No, I’m with the bikes,” said Laura. “On Washington and Palm, right by the park.”
“Okay, just stay there and I’ll be there in a couple minutes.” Carrie hung up and shot a quick text to her mother on her way out to unlock her bike.
She pedaled the four blocks to the park in record time, and found Laura and the fallen bikes beside a telephone pole near the street corner. “Laura!” she cried, dropping her own and running over.
Laura turned to her mechanically, face white with fear. Carrie had not seen her look that way since the dragon world, when Bee had brought her back, but not Chase. Guilt blossomed inside her. It’s not your fault, she admonished herself, trying to squash it down. It wasn’t then, and it isn’t now. Stop it. She glanced down at the two bicycles. The little red mountain bike with dynamic blue stripes on the back definitely belonged to Chase. The other, a weathered green one, lay pathetically askew next to it.
“Do you know whose the other one is?” Laura asked hopefully.
She swallowed. “Yes, it’s Dean’s. His house isn’t far from here, they must have come this way together.” The thought only relieved her a little. Her conversation with Dean the previous night was still fresh in her mind.
Laura cast an anxious glance over her shoulder. “Maybe they’re at Dean’s house, then. I called Dad, he should be here any second. Can you call Dean?”
Carrie nodded and pulled out her cell phone. Dean was more likely to answer his home phone first, as he only had a cell for emergencies and generally turned it off once he was in for the evening. She ignored the reply text from Eva and scrolled through her contacts for the number. Just as she hit ‘Send,’ Peter's squad car turned the corner and pulled up to the curb. She turned away and stuck a finger in her free ear. Please be there, she thought.
His father picked up a moment later. "Hello?"
"Mr. D? It's Carrie. Is Dean there?"
"Hi, Carrie. No, he's not back yet." There was a slight pause on Sorin’s end. "I thought he was with you and the others."
Her heartbeat quickened again. Not good. "He left for home half an hour ago. He and Chase and I all went at the same time, but Chase isn't home either and Laura-Chase's sister-found their bikes just lying on the sidewalk a block away."
Silence greeted this information for a long time, not even Sorin's breath coming across the line. Then, tightly, "What's the address?"
"We’re at Washington Park," Carrie said quietly. “Corner of Washington and Palm.”
"I..." he started, then went quiet again for a moment. "Jesus, I thought this time..." He trailed off, sounding like he was speaking more to himself than Carrie. "I'll be there in a minute," he added, more deliberately.
"Okay. Chase's dad is here, I'll tell him."
"Okay. Okay, good. Thank you," he said, sounding dazed, and hung up.
Carrie lowered her own phone and turned to Peter and Laura. The latter’s increasing panic did not surprise her, but Peter’s did. He did not seem nearly as shocked by the boys’ sudden disappearance as his daughter was. “Any luck, Carrie?” he asked.
“They’re not at Dean’s,” she said. “I’m going to try his cell phone.”
“Please do,” said Peter.
She hung up right away when the call went straight to voicemail. “That could mean any number of things,” Peter said, when she told him. “A lot of cell phones don’t have busy tones, so if the call went right to voicemail it could mean he’s talking to someone else right now. Maybe his father caught him. You three were hanging out this afternoon, weren’t you?”
“Yes. We met Resh, Kenz, Nic, and Sid at the Poppe Shoppe.”
“When did Dean and Chase leave?”
“When I did, about half an hour ago.”
He turned to Laura. “When did you get here?”
She tugged at her hair nervously. “Um, around five, I wasn’t paying attention. Maybe ten minutes ago?”
“All right. That leaves a window of about ten minutes where they could have come by here, dropped the bicycles, and left again without anyone being the wiser.”
“Oh no,” breathed Laura, eyes widening. “I could have been here. I stopped to pick up some ice cream for Chase, I could have caught them if I hadn’t-"
Peter took her by the wrist and made her look at him. “Laura, this is not your fault,” he said firmly. “It isn’t, do you hear me? Whatever this is, it is absolutely not your fault. We don’t even know what happened yet.”
“But you think you do,” Carrie said softly. He glanced at her briefly, but did not reply. She bit her lip. It was all the answer she needed.
Shortly after, Sorin rounded the corner at a run and approached the group. Peter turned to him. "Sorin," he greeted the other man somberly.
Sorin didn't answer right away, surveying the area through panic-stricken eyes. Then, he pulled his gaze up to Peter. "Peter," he managed.
"Chase and Dean didn't leave anything behind but the bikes," said Peter. "Does Dean have a cell phone?"
"Yes, of course. Considering..." Sorin paused and took a deep breath, "considering my father-in-law, it seemed like a good idea."
"Have you tried calling him?"
"Yes, twice on the walk over. Edward would...have made sure to dispose of it."
Peter nodded. "We'll try tracking the phone with GPS just in case."
At the name, Carrie's stomach began to do flip-flops. "That’s his grandfather, isn’t it?" she asked. "Do you think he had something to do with it?"
She could see the parental terror lurking in Peter’s eyes even though he tried to conceal it. "Yes, Carrie, we think so," he said, after a long moment of hesitation. "We have reason to believe that this man has been trying to track them down for quite some time. He may have taken Dean and Chase. Did Dean tell you anything about him?"
She shook her head. "No, just that he was afraid of him." It was on the tip of her tongue to mention Karl, but she remembered her promise to keep that a secret. She didn't think it had anything to do with the kidnapping, anyway.
Surprise registered on Sorin's face briefly, and he appraised Carrie freshly. "He told you?"
"Only a little. He, um, acts nervous often enough that we got curious."
His father sighed. "I was hoping..." he didn't finish the thought, instead returning his attention to Dean's overturned bike.
"I know," said Peter. "Have you noticed anything suspicious in the past couple of days?"
Sorin let out a flat laugh. "I find everything suspicious, Peter. I...no, no more than usual. Dean..." He frowned, "Dean's insisted on answering the phone most of the time. I figure it's because he wanted to talk to Carrie, but...he's not on for long most of the time."
"We only talked twice in the last couple of days," said Carrie. "The other day, and I think Monday. But that's it."
He shrugged helplessly. "It's definitely one of Edward's M.O.s, calling the house. Dean...must have not wanted me to know because he didn't want to leave."
"You're sure you've heard nothing about that, Carrie?" Peter asked. His scrutiny made her uncomfortable. "Dean didn't tell you he thought he was being followed, or anything like that?"
She shook her head. "He didn't, but..." An awful thought suddenly struck her. "Uh, could Edward maybe have found him with Facebook?"
"What?" Sorin practically yelled. "What the hell was he doing on Facebook?"
Carrie shrank back and fumbled for her phone. "I'm sorry! I didn't know he wasn't allowed, and I asked him to friend me and...oh, God, I think I did a bad thing."
"What is it, Carrie?" Peter asked gently, holding up a hand to ward Sorin off for the moment.
She pulled up her Facebook application, found her profile, and handed it silently to Peter. In her mind, she read the words along with him.
Carrie Michaels was with Dean Dakamar and 5 others at The Poppe Shoppe - 2 hours ago.
"I do that all the time," she said, when he did not respond. "I didn't even think about it."
Sorin peered over Peter's shoulder. Laura leaned over as well, and covered her mouth with her hand.
"I'm sorry," Carrie whispered.
Dean's father didn't say anything, something in his expression dying. Peter weighed the phone in his hand for a moment, then handed it back to Carrie. He did not seem angry, but his obvious disappointment shamed her much more than anger would have. She lowered her eyes to the concrete. "You should have known better than that," he said quietly.
"All of my posts are friends-only," she ventured, going red. "I didn't think it would hurt anything."
"The internet is not a safe place, Carrie. Don't ever use that feature again."
She nodded. There was nothing else she could say to that.
He turned to Sorin. "But, that does give us something to go on. Edward would have had to know something about hacking to see Carrie's posts. We might be able to look up IP addresses for her account and Dean's."
"Okay," Sorin said quietly.
"Laura," said Peter, "will you take Carrie home?"
"I rode my bike over," Carrie began.
He shook his head. “I don’t want you going by yourself. I’ll bring your bike to your house with the truck sometime tonight.”
“Yes, sir.” With a nod, she turned apprehensively to Laura.
The older girl did not meet her eye. "Come on, Care," she said, gesturing across the street. Carrie followed her to her car, hugging her helmet tightly to her chest and feeling very, very sick.
She heard Sorin as they walked away. "Do you really think that will work?"
"It's something," Peter replied. "I don't know much about IP logging, but we've got people who do."
Sorin let out a breath. "I'm so sorry, Peter."
"Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault, or anyone's really, that Dean wasn't being as cautious as he should have. I don't blame him for wanting to hang onto something good, or trying to do whatever his friends are allowed to."
"Still. Your son..."
Carrie opened the passenger door and risked a glance at Peter's face as she climbed in. The officer maintained a professionally staid expression with difficulty. "Chase has been missing before and come back," he said, slightly raspy. "I have to believe we'll find him again. He does have a tracker bracelet on him. Hopefully, he'll get the chance to use it."