The Hidden

Chapter 1

*Gracie's POV*

"And don't forget your final papers need to be submitted by next week in order for it to count towards your master's degree"

Dr Ashwood bellowed across the room as the masses of students packed up their books and notes from our latest medical biology lecture. With only a few months to go until our final 1st year presentations, you could tell tensions were running high, cramming every little detail into our prefrontal cortex from every lecture we possibly could. We wanted to pass; I needed to pass.

Amongst the chaos I calmly gather my things into my backpack ready to head home for the night. It was almost 10 PM and I could think of far better things to do than to be in that lecture hall for 3 hours.

"Hey Gracie, wait up!" I hear someone shouting after me in a rather deep voice as I begin leaving. I turn around to see a tall, thin figure standing there, his hair was very short and a kind of mousy shade of brown, his eyes almost matching in colour. I had seen him around before but, how did he know my name?

"Um, hi?" I said quite confused, I just wanted to go home.

"Oh, I am sorry, I realised you probably don't really know me. I mean, this class is pretty big. I'm Charles" he held out his hand and I automatically shake it

"pleased to meet you" I reply.

"Um sorry, I don't mean to sound rude but, like you said this class is pretty big and I didn't know you so, how do you know me?" I questioned. To my surprise, he chuckled.

"Oh, I found one of your textbooks and asked Dr Ashwood who it belongs to, he pointed to you so, here" he answered handing me my revision notebook, pages dog eared and doodled all over. I take it from him and slip it into my backpack with the rest of my books and papers. "Thanks" I said to him, before turning to walk away.

"Hey, at least let me walk you back to the student lodges on campus?" he offered taking my backpack from me and slinging it over his shoulder. "It's dark out there, don't know what could be lurking around the corner" I sighed and nodded and began leading the way back to campus.

"So, Charles, ready for finals?" I ask, trying to make small talk.

"Piece of cake, I'm sure of it." He replied.

"So, you're not stressed out about it then?" my voice seemed shocked and surprised.

"Why should I be? I have got plenty of other things to worry about first."

"like what?" I continued, intrigued to know what he meant by that

"none of your business, for now."

He seemed to shrug the answers off, like he wanted to tell me but couldn't. The conversation fell silent. We continued to walk a few miles away from the block of lecture halls, down into campus square. The square was student central and it seemed to be the place people came to hang out with a friend. Or two. Some of them were having a quick nicotine fix, others slightly wobbly on their feet chanting some gibberish. Well, it was a Friday night. The gentle glow of the campus streetlights lit the way and as we continued to walk in subtle silence, through little alley ways and cut throughs, we finally made it to the student lodges. Copper Cove Medical institute was a very big place.

"Well, here is my stop." Charles said stopping at the campus crossroads.

"Wasn't it supposed to be you walking me home?" I asked

"Well, I mean I walked you to the lodges, right? Surely you haven't got far to go have you?" he asked, handing my bag back to me

"No, I guess not" I reply.

"There you go then; guess I will catch you later" Charles said with a certain charm. I watched as his dark silhouette scurry away into the darkness of the night. I sighed and rolled my eyes, head shaking. Cocky arse I thought to myself as I continued up to my student lodge. Thank God the night was done.

*Charles POV*

"There you go then; guess I will catch you later" I answered Gracie after walking her to the lodges. Little did she know my plan. You see, this was the start of something incredible. Something which I could finally call my own.

I placed my hood over my head and continued to walk past the lodges. The paths grew quiet. Curfew on campus must have begun. Well, not for me. You see, I had work to do and I don't mean studying or writing up final papers for my medical biology master but work to do for my own little project that I was working on.

I had been walking for about half an hour before I finally reached my destination. As I was walking, thoughts about Gracie and the entire situation were running around my head. What did I need to feedback to the others? How are we going to get this project complete? Will she play along? What if she doesn't agree with me? I just needed to find the answers. I opened the padlocked door to the old cardiology research lab. It was a quaint little building, old and rustic, walls painted your typical cream shade, lights very dim. It caught on fire about 20 years ago, but they were not allowed to knock it down due to it being a listed building. We had made it our own storing equipment, computers and other medical supplies we needed. No one knows about it and it was perfect for us, perfect for me.

"Hey bud! How did it go? Did you get any more intel on her?" Jacob inquired just as I walked through into the main lab area. I say nothing and take a seat at the desk.

"C'mon, surely you found something. Anything?" he continued to ask. His gaze puzzled and unsure at my silence.

"Did something bad happen?" a meek voice spoke up; Lucy wasn't always as quiet as this, usually would be the first to speak up, speak her mind.

"No, nothing bad happened, just, I am thinking, how do we get her? She is smart, she has her wits about her. It isn't going to be easy." I sigh "What about the Charhoxin, is it ready?" I ask.

"All set and ready to go. We just need Gracie." Jacob replied.

"Leave Gracie to me. I will get her. I just need to up my game."

I pull out a cloth from the draw, and a small vile of liquid.

"Chloroform? Is that seriously your way of upping your game? I thought we are meant to be helping her?" Lucy queried. That was more like Lucy. Her voice now stern and almost aggressive.

"No, Lucy, I need a guinea pig. I don't care whether it will help her or not. It is about helping people out there. The ones who need us most. I have followed her day in and day out and she is just perfect. Like I said, she is smart. This is my- I mean this is our only way of getting her here." I explained with raised voice. I was passionate about this. I needed this.

"Okay, so how are you going to do it?" Jacob asked, arms folded in a poised position. Lucy was stood, leaning against the wall but still just as intrigued as Jacob. I smile, packing bits into my bag.

"I just need to gain her trust a bit more. But tomorrow is Saturday which means no lectures, which also means I have plenty of time. I watch her, like I have done for the past 2 months, I follow her, I get her chatting, then, I strike. How? I am not sure, but I will work it out. By tomorrow evening we'll have her, and we can finally get on with what we have been working on so long" the determination of my voice silenced the room. "So, you are 100% sure everything is set up? Bed ready and monitors ready to be attached?" I direct my question towards Lucy.

"Yes Charles, everything is ready. Look, go and get some sleep. We will finalise anything here and meet you in the morning. If you need anything you know where we are" Lucy reassured me. "We will do this. You have work so hard" Jacob added, placing a hand on my shoulder. I smiled "thanks mate" and with that, I collected my things and headed to a small little room to catch up on some well needed sleep. For tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day.