= Chapter 26 =

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" Even our eyes are different colours, but we see fine."
-Jeremy Lockhart

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⚓️SKYLAR⚓️

No matter what had happened the previous day, we still had to move on to Monday. Usually Dante would wake me up every morning by throwing stones at my window but today, it seemed unusually quiet.

Waking up due to the uneasiness, I followed up with my normal routine before heading over to Dante's house.

To my surprise, Mateo opened the door and welcomed me with a wide smile.

"SKYLAR!" He wrapped his tiny arms around me. Ruffling his hair, I gave him a light kiss on his forehead.

"Don't you need to go to school already?" I chuckled at his excitement.

"School is never important when you have a special girl to talk to. Detention would be worth it." He winked at me.

Shaking my head in amusement, I walked up the flight of stairs which led to Dante's room. I came upon Dante sleeping soundly under the comfort of his fluffy blanket. I could hear his soft snores as I scanned his room. It was creamy white with many posters and paintings.

My eyes fell on a red poster with 'Not only my name starts with a D' written on it. Scrunching my nose, I tried to brush away the dirty meaning behind the words.

Letting out a sigh, I pulled the blanket away from Dante, hoping that it would cause Dante to wake up. However, in swift movements, he pulled the blanket back which caught me off guard.

His strong thug of the blanket caused me to fall forward onto him. His blanket wrapped itself around my waist as I fell onto his chest. His arms tightened around my waist, closing the gap between us.

"Didn't know you desperately wanted to get into bed with me?" He whispered into my ear, tracing random patterns on my back. Realizing that he wasn't wearing a tshirt, I started squirming.

"Darling, that's not gonna help." Amusement laced in his voice. Cursing belligerently under my breath, I decided to just remain still.

"Were you awake the entire time?" I glared up at him with a pout.

"I never sleep, Skylar. I have too many thoughts in my mind." His fingers brushed over my cheeks ever so tenderly. My body started to find comfort in lying next to him, thus I snuggled closer.

"How's your mom coping?"

"She's been sobbing the whole night, she's still in bed I'm guessing."

"Danny, I promise you...we will find her." I kissed his cheek.

His eyes looked deep into mine, drifting back down to my lips.

"What would I do without you..."

"Probably be dead, no one would ever survive if they are Skylar-deprived. " I rubbed my chin in thought which caused a smile to spread across his gorgeous face.

We remained quiet for a moment, taking the chance to just warm up to each other's touch

"Sky, I know you'll find Emily but...I'm afraid about you..." He slid his fingers over my eyebrows in slow movements that made my cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I didn't get what he meant. Noticing my confusion, he answered.

" People are out there to get me and once they find out you mean the world to me...your safety would be in danger. And Jeremy is not exactly a person I trust, so please think this through again..." he took both my hands in his as he gave them a squeeze, staring into my green orbs.

Why would people want to get him?

Do I want to do this?

Does he know who 3W! could be?

A train of questions swirled my mind like a tornado. However, I decided to change the atmosphere. But I would definitely bring up this topic in the future.

"I'll tell you my descison, but I'm sure I can take care of myself...Do you maybe want to go to the beach afterwards? It could help to take your mind off things..."

"I'm up for that!" A cheeky smile plastered on his face.

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" I hate art!" I mumbled out in irritation as I placed my chin onto the table.

Gabriel give me a small glance before getting back to painting his artwork which made me pout in pity. His expression never changing from his usual straight emotionless face.

I was currently trying to receive help for my art homework from Gabriel.We were once again at the library, at the same place we first met. I would have been hanging out with Dante in school, but he decided to skip school today so I was left with annoying Gabriel.

" Patience is a virtue Skylar, and art needs both patience and time." He spoke his wise words.

Holding the brush with such gentleness, he stroked the fusion of colors over his masterpiece.

"Would you do my art work if I paid you?" I bribed mischievously.

Shaking his head, a short laugh left his lips.

"Why don't you ask Dante? He's way better than me anyway." He eyes became a darker shade of brown, sadness clouding his vision.

"Why do you say that?! Your skills are amazing!" I slapped him playfully on his shoulder, hoping to cheer him up.

"Didn't you know? Dante is gifted with a photographic memory?" He frowned as if it was the most obvious answer.

My lips fell slightly ajar, his words sounded too familar. I was so sure I heard that from somewhere.

Photographic memory?

And then it hit me hard like a twenty pound sledgehammer...

[FLASHBACK]

"Sorry to bother but I'm doing a...research on this painting and...could you maybe tell me anything interesting or well known about this?"

I asked him as professionally as possible but most probably sounded the least confident. Walking nearer towards me, he face lit up with excitement.

"Ahhh, very interesting question Ms! Well, this picture was drawn by a very famous artist who was known in the past for his splendid photographic memory!! It was absolutely remarkable!" He clasped his hands, admiration seen clearly on his face.

Snapping back into reality, numerous numbers of possibilities entered my imagination within seconds.

Was this just a coincidence?

Could it have been a similar coincidence to the when I found the red note in Dante's sleeping bag?

I could have gone a whole long list on different possibilities but one thing I was sure of was that 3W! Was trying to tell me message about Dante.

And I wasn't going to stop till I found out...

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