Chapter 74 Safe House
Melissa looked out the window again, trying to discern what the actual shape of the large shadow casted against the mountain was, but she got a different answer this time, yet again. Last time it had been a cougar, now it was a goat running backwards. She giggled and turned to Richard who was quietly driving the car, and hadn’t said a word for the past two hours they'd been on the road.
"Avalors is right," she said. "The shadow changes all the time we move. Beats me how I never noticed that. I would like to know the theory behind it."
Her boyfriend only nodded and she smiled. For some reason, she wasn't bothered by Richard's quietness anymore. She'd reconnected with him at his most primal level and she more than just understood him, she remembered him for what he was, what he still is.
Richard was always the pillar that was behind her, ever since the day of his first turning. He'd taken up that role — always having her back silently, always nodding to her reactions, and smiling to them, but barely talking. Even then it frustrated her and it was one of the reasons she got into Avalor's hands, she wanted someone who would talk to her, share her feelings and she felt that person was him.
She remembered how Richard had warned her repeatedly, if only she had stopped for a second and tried to see what he was taking about.
But all she had in her head was, ‘This guy is just jealous and doesn't want me to be happy.’
But now, she was all grown up. She'd found better ways to communicate with him and this was just reading the subtle emotions that came with his silence.
"Oh, the changes are actually brought by the series of mountains that are always in the middle of the light rays, all of them possess a different shape when the sun cast against it at different angles," Avalors informed.
"Oh!" Melissa exclaimed. She had been acting like a kid on excursion throughout the entire joutney. This wasn't her first time here, but this was the first time she wasn't on her phone, or angry about something. So she was enjoying it to the fullest.
"The most fascinating thing about this is the fact that it always form a meaningful shadow," Avalors added. He was her tour guide today.
She nodded excitedly.
"Are we there yet?" Beatrice, raised one eye up from her blindfold. She'd been asleep in the car all day. Melissa heard she hadn't been sleeping for the past four days. All her spare time she had been spending on trying to find the loopholes in Melissa's family murders.
"Almost," Avalors replied, and she nodded, blindfolding herself again and falling asleep.
Melissa looked at her with a smile. "She is missing a lot of road facts though," she told Avalors and the elderly man chuckled.
"Do you think Beatrice is one to actually waste her time on mundane things such as roadsigns?" he asked.
"Oh, I am gonna take her on a fun road trip soon," she said.
"Goodluck with that." Avalors replied.
She smiled. They were going to meet Nathaniel at a different location to prepare for the Vance pack meeting. Though he'd originally planned to have the meeting in the palace but they'd rejected the idea and they'd decided to do it in a safe house in the middle of a small town called Cave Valley.
Melissa didn't think much about the meeting, she just wanted to get it over with so they can focus on the job at hand, which was try to destroy her own council. The car took a left turn and then a right, and at last they were there.
Avalors placed his hand on Beatrice's shoulder and the woman opened her blindfold, "We are there?"
"Yes," Avalors replied.
Melissa opened the door and stepped out of the car. She was wearing a very casual cloth. It was a long gown that'd been slit on two sides, and the she had worn a pair of pants. Richard'd made fun of her back home saying she looked like an unarmed combat apprentice. She'd of course elbowed him immediately.
Currently, they were in froht of a small house, that was isolated in the midst of very high hills. It was a miracle that the roads towards it were tarred. They didn't see signs of anybody, so they knew Nathaniel had not arrived.
"What do we do now?" Melissa asked. "Seems like we are early."
"I am gonna go sleep," Beatrice said, waltzing back into in the car.
Richard stood beaide Melissa and Avalors as they rested their backs against the car. They chatred about mundane things till Nathaniel arrived at last.
He got out of his car and slammed the door, coming to meet them at the center. "Your majesty, I am sorry for being late."
"Let's get started." She said, turning to their car window and knocking on it, waking Beatrice up.
They entered the house as Nathaniel opened the lock. The house was even smaller on the inside. But it was a cute place to hide out. It contained essential stuff and they were just in the right proportions. It had three rooms. A kitchen, a bedroom, probably and the sitting room they were in now, it made Melissa want to say the word Cozy.
"Let me get the backup generator on," Nathaniel informed them.
"Why?" Melissa asked, she didn't even know what a backup generator was.
"So we can have power," he said, gesturing to the light bulbs.
"Oh," she said. "I wanna see." She said and Richard sat her down with a glare. She knew what he meant, she was supposed to be tyding up her thoughts and getting ready for the meeting, but she couldn't deny that she was curious
Soon enough, Nathaniel was done and the entire room was lit. The entire group got together, all of them sitting comfortably on the three sofas in the room. The meeting was about to start.