Blue opened her eyes as soon as that promised tingle on her belly disappeared and the first thing she saw was....well, blue. The sky was vast above them, a cerulean, cloudless infinity, below which stretched the smooth Baltic Sea.
Miracle and Blue were standing on a long, broad road that looked out onto the sea. Behind them were numerous boldly painted buildings right next to each other. The place was fairly crowded with the locals setting up their markets and tourists all around in their khakis and snapping photos in each and every corner. Blue caught the Finnish language being spoken rapidly amongst the people but a whiff of English floated in between the foreign dialect.
None seemed to bat an eyelash on the fact that two kids had just popped into the street out of nowhere.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Miracle asked, beaming.
"Yeah," Blue admitted, her eyes wide, trying to drink in every detail of this alien place. The cool, salty winds from the sea ruffled her hair as she took deep gulps of the air, refreshing compared to the grimy air in her town.
Blue was familiar with seas and oceans. Their own town was beside one. But their shores had always been rocky and less sandy. And the waters were mucky with the industries near the coast, dumping their filth in it. Here, the sea appeared to be a sparkling sheet of azure with golden beaches, piers and numerous boats and kayaks docked all around.
"C'mon," Miracle said, taking her hand. "Let's move. The sun will set here soon."
Blue followed Miracle as they wove through the people, sometimes moving between their legs.
"How would we know where Happy stays?" Blue asked, panting as they ran.
"I'll feel it," was all Miracle answered.
Blue frowned but decided not to question him. "Where are we even?"
Miracle finally slowed slightly. "Helsinki, Finland's capital," he answered, looking around and then he gasped, pointing at a huge cathedral rising in the distance. "We're in the Senate Square of Helsinki! That's the famous Helsinki Cathedral! Oh and there's the Government Palace! And there's the Helsinki University!"
Blue looked around in awe, mouth slightly apart. Besides, there was a certain thrill in exploring a foreign country without any parent supervision!
Finally, Miracle led them past the crowded, touristy areas and towards the residential areas. They mostly walked but Miracle finally allowed them to take a short bus ride when Blue's legs started aching to the point she refused to move. Of course, when it came to money, Miracle just produced it out of thin air. And still no one looked curious about the two kids, such that Blue became suspicious that Miracle was doing some sort of magic.
She decided that remaining ignorant would be the best option for now.
The neighbourhood was sprawled in an organised maze with stretches of greenery surrounding them. The houses were all very decadent with their wooden, natural feel and vibrant flowers blooming in their gardens.
"I can feel it," Miracle said as they navigated through the streets. "Happy is close."
"He better be," Blue grumbled, the joy having worn off and replaced with tiredness and hunger. Finally, Miracle stopped in front of a small house, in poorer condition as compared to the rest of its neighbours, with the garden overgrown with weeds and the paint slightly chipping off.
Miracle walked slowly towards the front door. Looking back at Blue who gave him an encouraging nod, he knocked softly at the door. Of course, no one answered, but it didn't hurt to try. Shrugging, Miracle turned the knob of the door. It swung open easily.
Blue and Miracle exchanged a glance before walking into a small parlour, the air inside dusty. It was too dark to see with the blinds drawn and Blue ended up stumbling over something. Miracle snapped his fingers and the lights flickered to life.
It took them both a second to adjust their vision but when they did, they gasped aloud in shock.
The entire room was in a mess, as if a mini hurricane had swept through it. Chairs and tables were overturned, couches were torn, vases lay broken on the floor.
"Well, somebody was definitely here," Miracle observed, looking disturbed. "And seeing the state of the room, Happy must have put up quite a fight."
"But when do you think...all this happened?"
Miracle scratched his head, clueless. But Blue's eyes had wandered over to the kitchen infront of the parlour. A small refrigerator stood there with numerous sticky notes pasted on it. She walked towards it and studied the pages.
"Miracle look!" she exclaimed. "Happy must have kept a schedule of his day-to-day activities! My mom does it too sometime so as not to forget something important! But Happy seems to keep a record for everyday – there's one for Monday, then Tuesday and so forth!"
Miracle came over and regarded the short reminder notes. "Yes, he was a very forgetful guy. I remember now, he did have a nasty habit of making to-do lists and sticky---" Miracle abruptly stopped.
"What?" Blue asked anxiously.
"Look, the notes stop at Thursday, the 24th of May, two weeks ago! Wasn't it the same day Good Luck disappeared?"
Blue nodded. "Yeah, that's what Sherry said! Which means all the kidnapping happened the very same day!" She got really excited for a second before deflating slightly. "But how does that help us at all?"
"You never know. Everything's important," Miracle said but he didn't look too thrilled either.
"What do we do now?" Blue asked, going back to the parlour, looking here and there curiously.
"We could ask the neighbours if they saw something weird these past few days or--" Miracle stopped short when a sort of rumble appeared around them. He whirled around, on high alert.
"Blue, come back here," he called from the kitchen, cautious. "Did you touch anything or--"
Blue appeared on the kitchen doorway, carrying a small, slightly broken vase. She was saying, "Isn't this so pretty--?"
The rumble became louder as the house began to shake. Shelves and utensils crashed on the floor as some loose debris rained down from the ceiling. Miracle, although severely taken off-guard, was quick to react. He jumped towards Blue and shielded her trembling body with his.
He dragged them both towards the dining table on the kitchen that remained fixated on the floor and sheltered themselves underneath it as the house continued to shake. Suddenly, a roar crackled through the house, making Blue gasp in fright. Miracle shushed her, his own heartbeat escalating.
A huge, hulking shadow appeared on the threshold of the kitchen, making Blue cower.
She made the mistake of whispering, "What i-is...that?"
Suddenly, the shadow roared again. Blue screamed as the table was thrown off from them, leaving the kids completely exposed. The shadow leered down at them and it suddenly caught the light of the fading sun from the window.
It was a man – a huge, muscled man. Tendons stretched over his hard biceps and a single dark tattoo was drawn over his right arm. His head was bald and there were several rings on his face – one beneath his chin, one in the nose, three in his left eyebrows. But the most frightening part of him, apart from the scars and bruises, was the cloudiness in his eyes. Blue could see his black orbs beneath a sheet of white haze. She doubted it was cataract forming in his eyes.
"What in the name of Goodness is---?" Miracle began, gawking at the man.
The man bellowed in rage again – the sound less human and more animal – and swept down his hand, as if he would reach down and choke them both with one fist but Miracle shoved Blue and himself out of his way. Blue found herself rolling through the floor, the splinters of broken stuff digging into her skin. Miracle rolled towards the opposite side of the room and was already up and running out the kitchen door, back towards the parlour, making the man follow after him.
Blue groaned from the floor, the corner of her eye catching sight of Miracle as he flicked his hand and a poker came flying out of the fireplace and settled on his grasp. He expertly dodged the man's offences but Blue could tell he was no fighter and wouldn't last very long. She needed to do something.
She swiveled around, trying to think of something but the rising panic inside of her made her rational thoughts go haywire. What could she do--?
Miracle cried in pain from the parlour as the man backhanded him and sent him flying backwards, making him crash in the wall, such that cracks appeared in the plaster. Blue gasped, outraged and frightened. But then her eyes caught the glint of a chandelier in the middle of the parlour ceiling – simple and completely non-fancy, more for practical purpose than for decoration. Not far from it was a stool...
Blue grinned, knowing absolutely how crazy this was but thrilled nonetheless. She could do it like they did in the movies! She could be a hero.
She didn't allow herself to deliberate anymore and went running towards the stool, mentally thinking it out. She would use it as a leverage to grab the chandelier and then kick the man, whose back was to her, right in the head. He would be knocked out cold and they would win---
Of course, apart from the various faults in her plan, young Blue never expected the stool to betray her. As soon as her foot touched it and applied pressure, it went tumbling down from the one-sided force. Blue cried out as she felt herself plummeting down along with it, her hand flailing and futilely reaching for the chandelier, way above her reach.
The crash echoed so loudly through the house that both Miracle and the man stopped, despite their demanding...uh, preoccupation.
"Ow!" Blue yelped from the floor as stars appeared on her vision.
With the man distracted, Miracle took the opportunity to whack him in the head with the poker. The man grunted. But before he could retaliate, Miracle gave him another two, three good, powerful whacks on the head. He went down wordlessly.
Throwing away the poker, Miracle rushed towards Blue who was lying on the floor clutching her head and moaning in pain.
"Wha--? Happened--?" Blue muttered.
Miracle grinned. "You stupid girl. What were you thinking?"
Blue looked sheepish. "Did it work or not?"
Miracle chuckled. "Hell yeah, it did! You crazy...heroine."
"What was he doing here though? And what did he want from us?" Blue asked, as she got up on her legs, her entire body aching.
Miracle plonked down on one of the couches, looking grim. "I-I think..."
"What?"
"I think he might have been here for me. Whoever is behind these disappearances, they must have been looking for me too, like Sherry said."
"But how would they know you'd be here, specifically?"
"They probably didn't," Miracle answered slowly. "But if they didn't..."
Blue gasped. "Then they'd probably place others like this man in places you had a chance of visiting!"
Miracle nodded grimly. "Which means..."
Blue's shoulders sagged. "...that Sherry and Warren are in danger."
Okay, first of all, I'd like to apologise if I had completely messed up the geography, demography, culture et cetera of Finland. I've never been there and have no idea about what it's like. I only did a quick Wikipedia research and tried to get a vague outline of it's capital, Helsinki (I do really wanna visit Finland, though. See why people are so happy over there. I mean, what's their secret?)
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. If so, please don't forget to vote and comment. It would mean the world to me.
Also, this was one of the last pre-written chapters I had stored. From now on, the updates are going to slow down to probably one each week. But I am determined to have a schedule and have made a promise to myself that I won't break it. Let's see if I live up to it lmao.
So, that's all I have to say! Bye for now!
AND WASH YOUR GODDAMN HANDS!