Chosen by Lisa Mears Page B

even more strange things to come.’ She looked up at her
rear vision mirror, straight into the ice-blue eyes of Haven. ‘I
need to speak to you later, alone, if that’s ok.’ She felt rather
silly thinking it instead of saying it, but she was positive Haven
would hear her thoughts. His eyes widened and then he nodded
slightly, no one had noticed but Max. ‘He heard me,’ she thought
happily.
They arrived at the resort
about six o’clock in the evening, unloaded the car and snuck Shibby
into the unit hidden under a blanket. Pets were not allowed.
‘Shall we order in?’ said Max,
picking up a wad of local takeaway menus kindly provided by the
resort.
‘What a wonderful world you
live in Max,’ said Haven, ‘you don’t even have to cook if you don’t
want to.’
‘Yes,’ said Gilster, ‘I think
we should order in, then we can show you the information we found
on our “visitors” and you can decide if it’s pertinent.’
After reading through the menus
for a few minutes, they decided on a couple of pizzas and some
Italian. Max went across the road to the local hotel and bought a
couple of bottles of wine and a six pack of beer. ‘Hopefully that
will be enough,’ she thought, smiling. Her new friends had
certainly taken to the food and drink in her world, especially the
drink. Haven’s favourite turned out to be beer, but the discerning
tastes of Daria and Gilster leaned more towards wine, especially
red.
The food arrived and everyone
sat around the dining table, helping themselves. Shibby was eating
from his cat bowl, Max had packed it because she wanted him to have
something that was his own, something familiar. Poor Shibby, he’d
lost his brother, his home and had been badly injured and on top of
all that, now he was being taken somewhere he had never been before
and it had all happened in such a short period of time. ‘A little
like me,’ thought Max. ‘We’re both tough though, we can handle it,
as long as we’re together.’
A gentle tickle in her mind
startled her, it was Haven. ‘I’m not listening to you,’ he said, ‘I
just wanted to know if now was a good time?’
‘A good time for what?’ said
Max out loud, not thinking. Haven cringed.
‘Huh, what are you talking
about?’ said Daria taking a bite of her pizza.
‘Sorry, that was meant for
Haven,’ said Max sheepishly, ‘and it was meant to be a thought, not
come out loud like that, I can’t seem to get the hang of talking to
someone with my mind.’
‘Oh, you two are starting to
become painful,’ said Daria with mock annoyance.
‘Yes, I agree,’ said Gilster,
‘will you just go off somewhere and leave us in peace.’
Haven grinned, ‘how about it?’
he asked, holding out a hand to Max. Without saying a word, Max
stood and took his outstretched hand, it was warm and strong.
Leaving the room together they walked down the hallway and entered
Haven’s room.
‘Finally,’ said Gilster to
Daria; they both laughed as they chinked their wine glasses
together.
Hours later Daria and Gilster
were still trying to work out what the piece of paper found in the
Anubian’s pocket might be.
‘I have no idea what all these
squiggles mean,’ said Daria, exasperated, ‘maybe we should have got
Max to have a look at them before she left.’
Gilster looked over at her, his
eyebrows raised. ‘REALLY?’ he said, ‘you really think she would
have been able to concentrate with Haven sitting there staring at
her, tickling her mind in that way he does, no, this was the better
option and I think, when they eventually get back to us they will
be able to concentrate much better on the task at hand.’
‘You’re probably right,’ said
Daria .
‘Probably? I know I’m right,
you’ll see.’ The wine eventually ran out and Daria and Gilster were
feeling relaxed and sleepy, something they had not felt for awhile;
they decided to go to bed and talk about the clues again in the
morning, when, hopefully all four of them would have clear
heads.
Max