Corey wished Elena a safe trip and slammed the room door. Two pairs of curious eyes stared at the woman with interest. "Well, team, what are you up to? Aqua park again or some kind of excursion? Uncle Nick is staying with us, so he would be a great company. What do you think?"
Ashley and Sean looked at each other and shrugged, the idea of the aqua park was tempting, but it would be more interesting to have fun with a larger company, as for the excursion...
Ashley narrowed her eyes and thoughtfully tapped her chin with her index finger, "Mom, do you know where everyone went?"
Corey sat on the sofa next to the coffee table and opened her laptop to check work e-mail, "No, baby, I don"t know. Probably somewhere to the jungle, "the woman"s eyes fell on a message from her manager regarding an important event for which they had been preparing for a long time.
"Wait a second," Corey dialed the manager"s number, despite the morning hour, the employee was supposed to be at work, "h.e.l.lo, Kelly? I did not understand what it means they changed the program and rescheduled the date? We agreed on the whole catering a month ago!"
Corey"s eyebrows frowned as the manager stammered about the important changes in the large order at the very last moment, "Kelly, you know that I"m with my family on vacation. It will take me at least two hours to redo the menu and draw up a new proposal. Can we do this in three days, when will I be back in the States? ... Haaa ... I see, well, I"ll come up with something."
Ashley looked at her mother with concern, Corey was sitting with her eyes closed and obviously tried to quench her anger due to a sudden problem, "Mom, I have an idea! Le me watch some movie in the bedroom with Sean, and you will take care of your job! I saw an ad that the Pirates of the Caribbean will begin soon!"
Corey looked at her daughter with a smile, this little girl was such an understanding child that sometimes it seemed to the woman that the girl"s mind was developing beyond her years, "Bunny, you have already seen this movie more than once, it"s twice your age. I"ll deal with work later, so never mind."
But in her head Ashley had already thought of her pirate plan and she, ignoring her mother"s offer, grabbed Sean by the hand and dragged him into the bedroom, "Mom, you don"t understand! It will be in Spanish! We will take water and nuts and will watch a movie while you work! See you!"
The girl dragged the boy into the bedroom and slammed the door. Corey shook her head, if it was about pirates, then arguing with Ashley was useless. In any case, this situation played into the woman"s hands, as she could calmly deal with her work and not worry about the remaining days of vacation.
Corey settled herself in front of the computer and opened the file she needed. The woman"s a.s.sumptions about her daughter"s ingenuity were not groundless, but at that moment she didn"t even think how easily this little pirate turned her own mother around the finger.
Ashley turned on the TV on the first available channel, but instead of looking for the right program, she pulled a chair against the wall and looked out the window.
In the parking lot near the hotel, she saw two large white cars and a group of people she knew.
One of the men, as if feeling her gaze, raised his head and looked at the girl. A faint smile slid across his face, he stopped his attention on the child for a few seconds, and then turned away to the side, as if nothing had happened.
"Dad...," the girl whispered, his slight smile was enough for Ashley to understand his thoughts, and what he meant.
Rick would have liked to take a longer look at her and wave to her, but he could not attract such attention, especially when Marcus was standing nearby.
Ashley got down from her chair and sat on the bed next to Sean, the boy melancholy flipped through the channels on the TV, showing no interest in any of them.
"Hey, Sean, what kind of pendant did your mom give you? It"s so cool!"
Sean put down the remote control and looked at the pendant hanging on the boy"s neck, "Hmm, I don"t know for sure, but it seems to be from grandma Amelia."
The girl"s eyes looked at the jewelry with such interest that he couldn"t help but smile, "Do you want to try it on?" he asked, trying to hide his embarra.s.sment.
"Can I really?! But your mom told you not to give it to anyone."
Sean turned his face to the side, scratched his nose and said, "Well, if it"s you, then you can," the boy removed the pendant from his neck and carefully hung it on Ashley"s neck, "I allow you to wear it."
The girl took a small pendant in her palm, she saw such a mysterious thing for the first time, "Wow, look, there are some screws on the side ... wow, they are spinning!"
Ashley"s inquiring mind immediately realized that it was some kind of hidden mechanism, but no matter how the girl twisted and rotated these levers, nothing happened.
"Sean, I need your help! Scan this thing and show me."
"What?! Don"t ask me what I don"t know, okay?!" the boy muttered with resentment, Ashley was already much more skilled than he was in terms of the abilities, so he was genuinly suprirsed to hear such a strange request.
The girl looked at him with an innocent look, timidly clapping her fluffy eyelashes, "This is not true! I know what you can do! Otherwise, how are you always the first one to leave the maze in an amus.e.m.e.nt park?"
Ashley moved closer to the boy and added in a whisper,
"Sean, you have such beautiful eyes. When I look at them, they remind me of the sun in the blue sky. Eh, I wish I had such beautiful eyes," not that Ashley lied about the boy"s heterochromy, but she knew very well that this topic was sensitive to him. Not all children understood that different eye color was not some kind of disease and because of this, they considered Sean weird.
The boy"s cheeks flushed, he lowered his gaze and said embarra.s.sedly, "Okay, give me your hand," Sean focused his eyes on the pendant until his pupils turned black.
A three-dimensional picture displayed in Ashley"s head, with all the hidden mechanisms, as if she was looking through the pendand.
The girl began to turn the wheels with her second hand, until the lid of the pendant clicked under her fingers.
Click.
The children froze in antic.i.p.ation of the unknown. Sean released Ashley"s hand, and the girl opened the pendant cover. An unusual stone of incredible beauty completely captured their attention.
Its overflows under the rays of the morning sun falling into the room through the window, fascinated by depth and magic, as if dragging into their s.p.a.ce.
"Wow, what is that?" Ashley asked in a whisper.
"I don"t know," Sean touched the stone with his fingertip and the blue light of the crystal began to envelop his finger like water.
"Sean?"
"Mmm?" the boy could not take his eyes off the stone, as if his body sought to merge with this unknown object together.
"I have an idea. You"ll like it." the girl said.
Sean turned his gaze to the girl, her cunning eyes and a mysterious smile confirmed only one thing - Ashley had something in mind, and for this "something" they would clearly make their parents very angry.
Corey concentrated on typing on the computer the last slide of the final presentation when a knock on the door distracted her from work. The woman stretched, got up from the couch and walked to the door.
"Oh Nicky, h.e.l.lo! Have you changed yet? Did you have your breakfast?" asked Corey in surprise when she saw a young man in full dress on the threshold of the room.
A white T-shirt encircled his body, and though it was not as pumped as Daniel"s, but this guy clearly had a room for improvement. His hair was combed back, revealing a straight forehead and clearly defined dark eyebrows, which served as an excellent accent to draw attention to his eyes, beckoning like the ocean.
"Yes, a long time ago already. What are you doing?" Sean glanced around the room, not finding signs of the presence of children.
"I"m just finishing urgent work, and the children in the bedroom are watching a movie. You can join, they just recently ... Oh, Lord! Two hours?!" Corey looked at the clock on the wall in shock, she was so immersed in the work that she did not notice how much time had pa.s.sed.
"Guys! Nick is here! Stop watching TV, let"s go for a walk!" the woman shouted, at the same time removing things from the table and pointing to Nick to sit on the sofa.
"Hmm, they must have fallen asleep or something?"
Corey closed the laptop and walked toward the bedroom, because apart from the sounds of the TV she did not hear anything in return.
"Ashley, will you go...," as soon as she opened the door of the room, her heart sank, "ashley?"
Corey glanced around, but the bedroom was empty. A woman began to inspect every corner, behind every curtain, under the bed, in the bathroom, but everything was in vain.
Nick jumped up when Corey returned to the room, completely pale as if she had just seen a ghost, "What is it? What happened?"
"Nick .. The kids... They are gone."