I sat in the driver’s seat, watching as the surroundings whipped past us. Sofia had set it on auto-cruise and was currently working on reading the charts from the Speed to give us a more exact location of where John could possibly be. She had warned me that there was a slightly chance John wasn’t there.
I could only cross my fingers and hope he hadn’t moved.
Sofia groaned, grabbing my attention from the window. I turned around in the chair, my eyes resting on her slumped body. She had her forehead pressed into the palm of her hand, her finger tapping a pencil furiously against the bench. She had her body stretched out along the bench so that the tips of her toes touched the end. Papers were scattered all about.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She didn’t look up, “I’m just getting really frustrated with this.”
“What do you have to do?” I asked, standing up and walking over to her. I kneeled by her head, scanning the papers before her. Numbers were everywhere, lines connected some, circles around others. Some numbers were entirely different colors. She had drawn some of her own shapes and lines onto the papers, a few X’s over top of some numbers.
I started at it, utterly confused at how anyone could make any sense out of these.
“I have to figure out which of these belongs to your friend.” She said tiredly
I gritted my teeth, “He’s not my ‘friend’”
“Sorry” She mumbled, not sounding sorry in the least “But you know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” I sighed “I wish I could help you, but I don’t know what I’m even looking at.”
Sofia laughed slightly, closing her eyes, “You’re funny.”
“I’m…sorry?”
“Don’t be.” She shrugged, opening her eyes again.
“Sorry,” I mumbled “I’m distracting you.”
“No, please.” She smiled gently at me. “I really can’t focus on this.”
I leaned back, crossing my legs. Sofia sat upright, rubbing her eyes.
“I just wish this wasn’t so complicated” She mumbled.
“What do you have to do?” I asked “Dumb it down.”
She giggled before pulling a sheet over paper down. Pointing with her pencil, she explained “I have to figure out what groups these numbers belong to. Once I have them grouped, then I have to figure out what the numbers represent. See these numbers here?” She pointed to a few that had circles around them. “They all represent part of John. I need to get 345 of these together to get the basics of John, which is enough to figure out where he is.”
“Wow—”
“That’s not the worst part” She cut me off. “What if John got splinted? Then part of him is somewhere else. I have to keep that in mind once I find 345. From there I have to make sure they all match frequency with each other using this graph.”
Sofia reached behind her, searching for a certain sheet. I held my hand up, laughing slightly.
“Please, you don’t have to show me.”
She bit her lip “Too smart?”
“Just a little.”
“Sorry.” She mumbled “I’m not used to having to explain things on a different level. Most people that I talk to have similar levels of intelligence.”
I stared at her incredulously “Did you just call me stupid?”
She only rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to her papers. I stood up, rather shocked.
“I can’t believe you called me stupid.”
“Relax, I didn’t call you stupid.” She said.
“Not in those words, but you implied it!”
“Oh, don’t be such a baby.”
I crossed my arms, “Whatever. Let me know if you find something.”
“When.” She corrected.
“Whatever.”
“Do you want me to find him or not?” She asked, clearly irritated with me.
I mumbled sorry, sitting back into the driver’s seat. I kept it faced towards her, waiting for her reaction.
She gave a small victorious smile, marking off a few things on the papers.
I rolled my eyes, turning the chair around to stare out the window once again.
~*~
Out of the blue, Sofia laughed.
I turned around in my chair, frowning at her curiously. Ever since she threatened not to help me with my hunt for John, she hadn’t spoken a word. I had almost forgotten she was in the Craft with me until her giggle pierced through the silence.
Sofia looked at me with wide eyes, hoping I hadn’t heard. I smirked slightly, giving her a knowing look.
She glanced down at the papers before her, picking the top one up. Sofia walked over to where I sat, showing me the paper.
“What’s this?” I asked. This looked exactly like all the others, with more scribbles on it than before.
She smiled, “This is John.”
I frowned, studying it. Nodding as if I understood, I said, “I see”
She simply rolled her eyes, pointing to the circled numbers “These are his numbers. Now all I have to do is match the frequency and bam. Done.”
I smiled encouragingly, “Wow that was a lot quicker than I thought.”
She shrugged “I should be able to give you the location in a few minutes.”
“Wow.” I raised an eyebrow, impressed.
She bit her lip, turning back to the charts. “Uh.. yeah, give me a minute.”
“Take your time.” I said, my heart racing in excitement. She was close to finding John’s supposed location. Of course, she had already explained if he moved at all, we would be at a loss as to where he would be. But I had to risk it.
Finding John was the only way to stitch my wounds.
I found that I could no long fall into the thoughtless sights of the passing world as the Craft moved. I felt jittery, ready for action.
My fingers curled into fists as I imagined John’s face before me.
I wanted to hurt him.
I wanted to hurt him badly.
And soon, I would be able to.
I sighed, rubbing my eyes roughly. I had to learn to be patient with this. I needed to stop letting my anger cloud my vision.
What was the saying?
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
And that’s exactly what I had in mind for John.
Sofia cleared her throat, grabbing my attention once again. I raised an eyebrow in surprise at her quickness.
“Did you find it already?” I asked
She nodded, “He should be in London according to the charts.”
I laughed, “So they changed it to Tatiana, but kept the city names the same?”
“I guess so. Must’ve been too much of a hassle to change all the legal documents and whatnot” She mumbled, her eyes glancing over her work.
“Thank you” I said gratefully.
Sofia looked up, meeting my eyes. I sent her a small smile. After a pause, her lips pulled apart, returning the small.
“No problem.”
“Why did you do it?” I asked
She shrugged “You still owe me a favor.”
I frowned, “Answer the question.”
“You’ll see, Clayton.” She smiled gently, standing up. “Trade me spots. You need rest if you’re going to find this guy.”
I stood up, walking over to the bench “What should I do with the papers?”
“Just set them on the ground” She said, waving her hand carelessly. Sofia spun the chair around so that she faced the window, her back to me.
The last thing I saw was her changing the controls before sleep over came me.
***This has nothing to do with the story, but please watch the video thing I'm putting up. It's sooo freaking adorable! Heres' the link if you can't get it to load: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dysG12QCdTA ***