Second Thoughts

Afterward, they got back to the hotel where they stayed to get their stuff and head back on the track, after a few hours they reached another hotel it was cheap they decided to stay there.

It was a wreckage but at least they had a place to spend the night.

Lisa didn't stop crying and Edgar couldn't make her stop either, she finally started getting hiccups, she was sitting under the window.

"Lisa!" Edgar brought her some water she took a few sips and pushed the glass away.

"Make me as powerful as you or himself! I wanna rip him into pieces!" She was shaking.

"Listen…" He held her by her arms and she looked at him with her eyes swollen and red.

"I can't say that I know how you feel, but it was the first time I saw a dead body too! Especially in that condition, I won't say it is as much painful as what you are going through.

But I wanna tell you one thing, you will get through this, you are a brave girl!" He wanted to say more but she interrupted him.

"I want to see him suffering, just as he made me!" She held his hand and looked him in his eyes.

"You want revenge I get it! This wouldn't make things easier for you Lisa, I have seen people being consumed by the thirst of revenge and getting nothing in the end!" He said.

She turned her face away.

"Look at me!" He insisted and she finally looked at him again "We are going to defeat him I promise, but we can't let emotions cloud our destination, it will take us off the track!" He held her again.

"Besides, you know he is too powerful to be defeated, and becoming like him is not an answer!" He finally got through to her.

She pouted as she rested her head on his chest "You are right Edgar, he took everything from me, and I just wanted to strangle him, see him die the most painful death but… you are right, becoming like him isn't an option!" She sighed.

He cupped his hands around her face, wiped her tears, and stood up holding her hands "Come here!" He made her follow him and took her to the bed, they sat beside each other she again rested her head on his chest, this is what she needed most, a shoulder to cry on, a safe place to comfort her.

She shed a few more tears until she fell asleep, after a few hours she dreamt of her father's death, it wasn't something she'd easily forget, she woke up with a gasp and found herself wrapped in his arms as he gently rubbed scalp with his fingertips "I got you!" He said.

Right then someone barged in, it was Ben "I am sorry I will just!" He wanted to get out but Lisa stopped him.

"No! Don't go!" She called out.

"How did you find us?" Edgar asked, it was suspicious.

"I tracked your phone idiot!" He smiled "And it was important for me to find you because I needed to tell you something" Before he could say anything his eyes fell on Lisa's swollen eyes.

Sun was up in the sky now and after putting her back to sleep Edgar took him to a small balcony in front of their room and told him everything that happened.

"This bastard needs fixing asap!" Ben was sad about all the things she had to go through.

After talking for hours with Edgar he turned around and saw Lisa standing by the door "I am sorry!" Ben said.

She slowly walked to him and hugged him "Thank you, brother!" His eyes widened, and there was a strong emotion in her voice that wanted him to help her, the way she called him brother, he gently patted her on the back.

"I promise we will make him pay!" He nodded.

"You are going to help us?" Edgar stared at him.

"Yes but first! You need to get that hourglass away from you!" Ben responded.

"What? Why?" Lisa asked.

"Because it is not just a curse and a timer, it is also a tracker! The one who put that in your bag can easily track its smell!" He asked them to bring the hourglass, and they headed out right away.

On their way they took a stop at a graveyard, Ben took the hourglass and jumped in, he dug a hole in the ground, buried the hourglass, and sneaked back out again.

They quickly got past the graveyard and finally Ben managed to get Frank to meet them near a service road.

"You kept me running like a gold digger girl!" Frank complained as he rubbed his long nose, he was a guy wearing a Beanie, he had stubble.

He was clearly a drug addict wearing a leather jacket that wasn't going at all with his checked bush shirt and his loose long bottomed pants laden with his lace less boots.

"Are these the people you were talking about?" He glanced at Lisa and Edgar.

Ben nodded and handed over some money, they talked for a couple of seconds, and then he took a bag from Frank and a bunch of car keys.

There was a car nearby, Frank sneaked away and they got to the car, Lisa stayed quiet all the way, she didn't speak, she was just lost in thoughts.

Her entire life was turned into a living hell by Lunarian, she was forced to run away, forced to watch her father die, to make her mother forget her, and she almost forgot to smile.

In no time they reached their destination, like Ben said a man was waiting there, he took the car and before that, they wrapped blindfolds around their eyes.

"This is weird!" Lisa complained.

"You rather go without seeing and talking than not being able to talk for the rest of your life lady!" It was a hoarse whisper that made Lisa clear her throat with discomfort.

After a while the blindfolds were pulled down and they found themselves in a cave with an opening in front of them, they got out of the car and walked toward the opening, there was a wooden boat with a man sitting on it with a cigar squeezed in his lips.

"Dirty business? eh?" The man glanced at Lisa's clothes covered with blood.

She furrowed her eyes and chose not to answer.

"Cut her some slack! The girl lost her father!" A man came out from the cave.

"I don't remember telling you anything?" Lisa stared at him with confusion.

"We have ears everywhere!" He smiled.

Ben handed over a fat bundle of money to him "I need double!" He complained.

Ben squinted.

"What if Lunarian finds us?" The man tried reasoning with him.

"You will get to take just one bundle to your grave?" Ben smiled.

But the man said he wouldn't take them anywhere so Ben took out another bundle but it was slimmer than the other one.

"I have nothing else!" Ben said and the man agreed.

"It was the Shorthand guy I told you about" Ben tossed his head to his left as all three of them got into the boat.

"If you are chosen to do this, we will survive this trip!" The man who was rowing the boat said.

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked.

"It turns out I haven't been honest with you!" Ben answered.

"What do you mean?" Edgar asked.

"I mean I didn't track your phone, Lunarian involved the police and you are wanted, I had just reached the city when I saw this paper on the branch" Ben took out a crumbled paper from his pocket and showed it to them, it had both their pictures on it.

"The owner of the hotel you just reserved was standing there and was calling the police station from his phone when I heard him.

He said he would meet the policeman right there and on the call I heard the police were on their way, so I got to him first and compelled him, that's how I found you!" He told them the truth this time.

"You are forgetting the most important part, Mr. Tatum!" The oarsman interrupted.

"We are taking you through the forbidden path, you see there?" He pointed to his right.

"Is that a cyclone?" Lisa asked, it was at a distance but was very wide.

"Yes! That is the entrance to Atlantis!" The oarsman said.

"Oh my God!" Lisa gasped as she held onto Edgar's arm tightly.

This cyclone was big and seemed to be made of water, it was going up in the sky, clouds were swirling round and round around it and.

"It senses the presence and pulls the people close to it!" The oarsman said.

"Stop scaring her!" Edgar yelled.

The man simpered "I only get a customer once a year, hardly! That's why I ask for so much money!" He yelled as the storm got louder.

Lisa wouldn't let go of Edgar's arm, Edgar was holding her hand tightly to let her know he was there.

"I haven't got any customers in the last 5 years, no one was nuts enough!" Oarsman kept scaring them.

"My last client only made it this far!" He added.

"What happened to your last customer?" Ben asked because he had a very good response for him.

"When we got here, he jumped out of the boat and swam into the cyclone!" The man yelled, "I guess he was here for that!" The man smiled.

"Why don't you shut your mouth and focus on the way?" Ben yelled.

"You mean to focus on the storm ahead?" The man said and then they noticed that they were really rowing toward a storm.

There was a loud thunder that made Lisa so scared that she closed her eyes and held Edgar tightly "I promise I won't let anything happen to you!" He whispered.