The Day The Earth Stood Still

Chapter 12

"I'm guessing that was what you wanted to tell me?" I joked.

"Sorry, I just couldn't miss that opportunity." He smiled.

I looked around and suddenly it dawned on me that we were still inside the pool. Scott and Kayo looked at us, which made me blush.

"Well. You took your time there Virgil!" Scott laughed.

"I didn't realise you two were..." Kayo began to speak. "That's so cute!"

I looked over at Virgil once more, realising that I was still sat in his arms. I moved out of his arms and treaded water next to Virgil.

"Does that mean, we're, you know..." I spoke.

"Dating? If you want to." He spoke.

I smiled at him to give my response. He smiled back, and put his arm around my shoulder once more. He stared right into my eyes, but unbeknownst to myself he gathered some water in his free hand and flung it at me. I blinked at the impact and gave Virgil an unimpressed look before splashing water at him as a reply.

"Guys!" A voice shouted from just outside of the Tracy home.

"What's the matter Gordon?" Scott shouted back.

"I think you'd better come and look." He replied.

We all looked at each other with curiosity and confusion in our faces before all jumping out of the pool. Virgil took my hand and we followed Kayo and John back into the Tracy house.

"What happened to you?" John spoke.

"Nothing." Scott spoke. "Alan go and get us a few towels please." He added.

"Oh come on Scott!" Alan responded. "I wanna know what's happening."

"Alan, we'll tell you." Scott replied.

Alan made his way upstairs and only moments later he departed the steps, carrying a handful of towels. He threw myself, Kayo, Virgil and Scott a towel each.

I put the towel around my shoulders and wrapped the remainder of it around my stomach to keep myself warm, causing water to drip less off of my body.

"Are we all sorted?" John asked, impatiently. "As this is kind of important."

"Yeah, get on with it." Gordon responded.

"I've received the footage from Scotland Yard." John replied before a bald man with the look of death in his eyes popped up where John's face had previously been. The Hood.

"Hello." His voice spoke. "If you're watching this, then beware. I have people all over the world, who can cause so much damage with just one simple spoken word. So many people can be harmed. So many people that International Rescue don't even have a chance in saving. But that's tough luck isn't it. They can't save everybody, not even Jeff Tracy."

I saw Virgil tense up to the left of me, he was still dripping with water. Looking around, I noticed the rest of the brothers all angrily staring at the image of The Hood.

"He's bluffing." Kayo spoke to try and diffuse the tension.

"You're probably thinking of a way to get around this. There is one way. Give me exactly what I want and I'll leave you." He took a silver locket out of his top pocket. It looked awfully similar, as if sparking a memory in the back of my mind. "Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, if you are watching this, and no doubt you will be, do you remember this?" He spoke before opening the locket. "Does this remind you of anyone?" He revealed a photograph of myself, Katie and our parents.

"How did he get that?" I began to shout, my heart dropped. "That was my mum's, she always wore it." I felt Virgil move behind me and place his hands on my shoulders to try and calm me down.

"Isn't this a beautiful photograph?" He asked mockingly. "Now, I believe you know what I expect. I'll give you, oh I don't know... A month to get back to me. If not, you know what I'll do. Mind your backs." He added before his image was replaced once more by John's.

"How could he do this?" Kayo exclaimed.

"He's just an awful person." I replied.

"He didn't used to be." She added, which was completely ignored by the rest of the brothers, but for some reason it struck me.

"So, what are we going to do about this then?" Alan asked.

"We just need to keep Daisy and Katie even safer." Scott spoke.

"Yeah, but how?" Gordon asked. "We're already doing everything we possibly can. What's next? Locking them in their room?"

"That's going too extreme." Scott responded. "We just need to make sure that no harm comes to them. That's what we were asked to do."

"Just make sure that someone is watching them. We don't want The Hood to get hold of them. We'll deal with the disasters when we get to them."

"No." I spoke. "If you do that, there's chance that he'll take over the entirety of Tracy Island when you go and sort out the disasters that he'll create. That means, he'll take myself and Katie, take over Tracy Island and cause havoc to the world. He'll win. I'll go, give him a reason to not cause this much pain and suffering. I don't want that to happen."

"Dase, you can't do this." Virgil spoke, removing his hands from my shoulders and moving next to me.

"It's the only way." I responded. Virgil looked at me, a little upset, clearly realising my idea was the best one.

"I hate to admit this, but I think Daisy is right." He spoke. "It doesn't have to be right now, but if we can't figure anything out, it's the only and best option we have."

"Only if it's our last option." Scott spoke. "Are you sure you're alright with this?"

"There could be no other choice." I responded bluntly. "Just, whatever happens, take care of Katie." I added, feeling tears form in the corners of my eyes.

"We promise." Virgil spoke, lightly kissing my forehead.

"Right, well. I'll tell Lady Penelope and find out any ideas from her." John spoke. "I'll update you. That's all for now."

"Thanks John." Scott spoke before John's image disappeared from view.

It felt as though my heart was ripped out and laying on the floor, staring at me. If I could have turned back time to when Scott, Virgil, Kayo and I were outside, joking about, I would have done. I began to walk upstairs and into my shared room. Once inside, I noticed Katie staring at me.

"Don't start." I spoke, before looking for my baggiest jumper and a pair of ripped jeans. I then made my way into the bathroom and ran a nice hot bath, filled it almost to the top, and hopped in.

About half an hour passed, when the water began to cool I decided that it would be best to finally leave the tub. My skin was slightly wrinkled as I began to get dried and changed. When I left the bathroom, I noticed that Katie was still sat on her bed.

"Virgil told me what happened." She spoke, before walking towards me and giving me a hug. "Thanks. You're the best big sister I could ever wish for. I wish I could be more like you."

I returned her hug and she suddenly skipped off towards the door, before smiling at me and making her way downstairs once more. I felt myself smiling at her gesture, and for the first time, in a very long time, she truly warmed my heart in an awful situation, rather than cause it.