Runaway

Chapter 2

They sat in the police station and waited. There was nothing to do and no where to go. They all just wanted to know where she went.
"Alright well, since you are her friends I'm gonna take you to her room. I want you all to see if anything seems remarkably different." He said. So without uttering any words they followed him to the Hart-Hunter household. Shawn was standing there waiting. He looked like he hadn't slept in days and he was dying of an illness, being his worry of course.
"We didn't touch anything in her room." He said as he gulped fairly hard. The group followed the policeman as Cory talked to Shawn.
"Alright go ahead we've already taken a picture of everything in here, so you can do whatever." They started to look around. Her room was messy," like always." Riley thought to herself. She must have left in a hurry since she had left her favorite leather jacket which Riley picked up and held onto. Lucas poked around where her art was. There was a collage of pictures on one of her walls. One was an obvious portrait of Riley as well as one of them both. The one at the top was more confusing though. It was a man in blue kissing a blonde in black. Lucas then remembered that he had kissed Maya that night and she was wearing a black halter top. He looked at the picture more intensely. It looked more rough than the others, it might have been a mere sketch ,but Maya was a great artist. He thought hard, she must have returned to her room and left this here he thought.
"Um sir may I have a water?" He asked the officer. He dipped his head and left the room.
"Guys, I'm positive this picture was put here last night!" He whispered to them once they were gone.
"What are you talking about Lucas?" Riley asked.
"Trust me." He said as he pulled the picture off the wall. On the back was a little note scribbled in little letters.
"I knew you'd figure it out, sorry I left in a rush but the cards will explain a few things. Be prepared for a trip the notes are everywhere i am, ven a buscarme. Uno douce en blanco Quattro sinco... Just writing this is making me hungry. You'll figure it out. Xoxo Maya."  Zay read aloud.
"What is she talking about?" Lucas asked staring at the paper. Farkle looked at it and thought.
"It says come find me 1 2 blank 4 5. Is it talking about three?" Farkle said.
"Maybe it was meant for the three of us." Riley said.
"But that wouldn't make sense as to where to find the next card." Lucas replied.
"Maybe it's talking about three in Spanish trace?" Farkle asked questioningly.
"It's making me hungry just writing. Trace? Guys the Mexican restaurant downtown trace Amigos?" Zay said.
"You might be right Zay; we all knew you'd be right one day." Lucas said chuckling. He stuffed the drawing in his pocket right as the man walked in with his water.
"Thanks." He said as he was handed the glass of water. When they finally left Maya's room they had to go to Trace Amigos.
"Hey um mom can I go out to eat with the guys? I need to get my head out of this space." She said looking down.
"Of course whatever you want honey." Topamga said cradling her daughters head. They all got into Lucas's truck and took off.
"Maya used to love mysteries." Lucas blurted out absentmindedly.
"Lucas, she may have loved them. But she basically became one." Riley responded.
"But the point is we are going to trace this mystery back to her and bring her back." Farkle said more for Riley than anyone else. When they arrived at the restaurant the smell of Mexican food erupted to their senses.
"Have you all seen a short blond girl about our age, pretty spunky." Lucas says.
"Maya, Maya hart." A girl with black hair says.
"Gigi by the way, and yeah I know exactly who you're talking about. I'll take you to her table." Gigi said happily. She showed them to the back corner booth and immediately was whisked away to do her job.
"So this was Maya's table?" Riley said tracing over the table.
"How many times do you think she came here?" Zay asked.
"Obviously a bunch." Lucas said.
"Without us." Riley said toying with her old friendship ring.
Farkle put his hand under the table and felt around but felt no note.
"There isn't a note under here." Farkle said clearly upset. Lucas looked behind him to see a small rip in the pleather seat. He put his hand inside to reveal a small note which he shook in front of Farkles face.
"Sorry about the hiding spot but no one can find these notes trust me. Anyways I'm glad you figured out my first hint. Now the problem will be finding the others. They are more on the road like I am, I'm barely just stopping to put these out. Your going to have to go on a road trip to find me. If you can go your next clue is on Liberty island don't bother if you can't though. It will be hidden in the sculpture garden, but don't show up if you aren't going to see it through. Xoxo Maya."  Lucas read.
"Well." Lucas said.
"My mom is never gonna let me go." Riley said.
"Well we have to convince her, it's the only way we can get Maya back." Lucas said.
"I have an idea!" Zay said. He explained how he intended to convince Riley's parents. Afterwards, they ordered some food and talked about their favorite things about Maya. The next morning they all showed up to the Matthews apartment. Riley was moping in the living room while Topanga was in the kitchen with Corey reading the paper. The mood in the household wasn't its normal happy mood.
"Hey guys." Farkle said as they walked in.
"I saw another one of her posters, this one someone had written loser on." Riley sighed.
"Sorry riles you know how people are." Zay said as he patted her on the back.
"Yeah I know but I wish I could walk down the street and not see 20 posters vandalized and 3 different groups of people talk about her." Riley said as she covered up her face.
"I know what you mean Riley, I'm actually gonna get out of town for a bit. It's just too hard." Lucas said.
"Yeah I'm going with him, I'm there to make sure he doesn't get in trouble." By then Topanga had raised her eyebrows and looked in the direction of the kids.
"No way are you taking my kid out of town!" Corey said.
"Mr Matthews, this isn't good for her. You want her to remember the good parts not what is happening now. Have you seen or read what most people are saying about her? It's terrible! This isn't good for Riley's head space."'Farkle pleaded.
"Corey maybe it is for the best, they have been saying a lot of things recently."'topanga said.
"She's like a sister to me! I wouldn't let anyone hurt her." Zay said.
"You know I would protect Riley."Lucas added.
"I care for her very much and would do everything I possibly could to help her." Farkle finished.
"Alright but only for 1 week, 7 days that's all you get! Where are you going?" Corey asked.
"Maybe up in Albany or to Trenton New Jersey, we could even go to Washington DC." Farkle said.
"Try to have fun sweetie, now go pack your leaving tomorrow apparently." She said as she kissed her daughters head. While her parents head was turned Riley shot the boys a thumbs up as she ran back to her room.