[IC] Out of Sight, Out of Mind (Blitz x akela)

[akela]

.

[akela]

Repeat sorry sote was messing up”

[Blitz]

Lucas watched Alice, feeling just as anxious as she. What she described to him seemed improbable. The two of them had done extensive research on psychics, but neither could have even fathomed the idea of some kind of… systematic psychic killing. The thought sent a shiver down his spine.

“I believe you,” Lucas assured her. “Although I really wish I didn’t.”

His stomach did a flip when she told him he shouldn’t be around her. What if her father was out looking for them right now?

“Alice…” he began, trying to think rationally. “I can’t just leave you here… Besides, I’m not in any more danger than you are! You’re a psychic too. If anything, I should stick around to make sure you’re okay.” He stepped over the handcuffs and came next to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“We’ll both be fine,” he told her firmly. “We just need to stay calm. Both of us have made it this far without even knowing it.”

[akela]

“Right…right. He has no idea we know anything. Any maybe it’s nothing. I’ll have to…to do some investigating. No big deal.” Alice looked around, still trying to get a grasp on her surroundings. “I can’t believe I cried in front of you,” she murmured, wiping at her eyes with a deep sigh. “I um…it’s getting late and dark, maybe we should go inside.” She felt safer inside the tent anyway. Suddenly being out in the open like they were didn’t sound so great.

“I’ll change and let you know when I’m done.” Alice gave him one last look before going inside the tent, changing into a set of black shorts and a white tanktop. “Okay!” she called, sitting with her legs pulled up against her, chin ontop of her knees and arms around her legs when he came in. “This is so not how I pictured this night with you going. Not at all what I planned,” she said as both an apology and disappointment to herself as she opened her phone. There was already a friend texting her asking how the night was going. She’d only told one that she was coming here with him…maybe even that’d been a mistake.

[akela]

.

[Blitz]

Lucas crawled inside when she had informed him that she was done changing. He looked up and picked out the unoccupied sleeping bag next to hers and sat down on it cross-legged. She apologized to him, her voice laden with disappointment as well. Lucas felt a little bad for her, as he was assuming she had pictured this night not being quite as... scary.

"You... don't need to apologize," he said with a nervous smile as she checked a text on her phone. She didn't react too much, so he guessed it wasn't her father.

"You said your dad wasn't coming home right?" he asked, wanting to make sure they'd still be okay to sleep out here. "I mean, besides... possibly... being... you know.... He's still your parent, and parents worry."

[akela]

Alice shook her head, wiping the last of her tears away. The calming color of the sunset shining through the red tent wall and his presence was helping. Maybe it'd all been a bad dream...yeah, right. "No, not him. He knows I'm out all night and he won't think twice about it. I could be sleeping in some guy's bed and I don't think he'd care all that much," she smirked with a roll of her eyes.

"I was wanting to...to ask you something," she admitted, biting her lip again, avoiding eye contact before finally looking over at him, "but I feel like it's just going to sound stupid now. Not the right time. Or maybe you'll be afraid your answer will hurt me when I've already been crying," Alice went on, feeling like she was rambling at this point. She should probably explain or just let it go.

With her arms still around her legs her bare toes curled as the nervousness she'd felt earlier while arranging their sleeping bags made her stomach squirm. "Ah, your friends...you said they thought something might be going on between us," she started, taking a slow, deep breath to steady herself. "If- if they were right...what I mean is, I like being with you, so if eventually...is it totally out of the question that we could- that I..." she laughed weakly with a shake of her head, uncurling herself and grabbing her pillow and blanket to settle in. "Forget it, I'm rambling. The stars outside are gorgeous, I don't blame you if you want to sleep outside," Alice added, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "I think I'll stay in here, though."

[Blitz]

Lucas thought her nervous rambling was cute. He was pretty sure he got what she was going for, but was surprised to see her quickly dismiss the idea and change the subject. For a moment, he considered her offer. It was still warm outside, and, after all, it'd be a lot less awkward between the two of them if he did sleep out there. But he couldn't; partially because he wasn't confident he'd find a comfortable spot to lay out, but mostly because he wanted to try to get her to finish what she had been saying.

"I'll think about it," he said simply. "But wait. What were you getting at earlier?"

He leaned forward curiously and a small, innocent smile formed on his lips as her stared unblinking into her eyes.

"I'm not a psychic or anything..." he began, pausing for a second to wonder if that was the best wording. "...But did you just ask me out?"

[akela]

Alice grinned at his reference at not being psychic. Cute and funny. And she could tell his emotions didn't include any disgust, so that was a good thing. "I attempted. And failed," she answered with a grin, leaning back slightly as he got closer, letting go of her legs and tilting back with the palms of her hands flat on her pillow. It put her back just as he was leaning forward, keeping distance between them. It was distance she was a little tired of having, but it was necessary. It would make things less weird if he said no.

"But...how about I try again," she said slowly, trying to get any kind of response from him at this point. "I was hoping just by mentioning it I would get a 'yes' or a 'no' just from your emotions. But yet again you're too calm and I can't read you. It's annoying." Alice ran a hand through her hair, taking yet another deep breath. "Are you really that surprised? I mean Lucas, I asked you to go camping. Alone. I barely talk to other guys at school," she laughed, giving him a small shrug.

"So. I know I've been kind of a loner at school, and today has had a creepy, terrifying twist, but...maybe if it turns out to be nothing we can go to a-...whatever you're into. Party, coffee, ballgame, pizza. We wouldn't have to be exclusive!" she assured him quickly, leaning forward again with a sigh. "You don't even have to tell the guys. Just one date," she asked, tilting her head to the side, looking at him with a playful glint in her eyes. "If not, then I'm sorry I dragged you here. But Lucas..." Alice put a hand on his and kissed his cheek, keeping her lips at his ear as she spoke. "I had to try. You can't blame a girl, can you?"

[Blitz]

"I thought you just wanted to hang out," Lucas replied with a shrug when Alice asked if he was surprised. He felt a little bad about being so oblivious about it all this time. Had she been hinting at it for a while? He was sure she didn't feel anything when they first started talking. Or... did she? He wondered how long she had had feelings for him.

Lucas remained silent as she continued to very nicely ask him out on a non-exclusive date. He smiled at it and butterflies swarmed his stomach when she placed her hand on his and kissed his cheek.

"I guess I can't," Lucas agreed with a chuckle. "But I'd love to go on a date with you, but... I believe this thing with your dad is your first priority. And mine too. Are you sure he doesn't know about you or anyone else?"

He looked down nervously. It was evident that he was not feeling very romantic that night. He might have been, if he hadn't learned that someone could possibly want him tortured and killed. It sent shivers down his spine.

[akela]

Alice's shoulders slumped as she sighed, leaning back onto her sleeping bag. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry, guess I just wanted to think on something a little happier." She sat there for a moment, thinking on his question. "I know he doesn't know about me. There's no way. My abilities are mental, minus the healing and like I said I've only done that a few times," she said. "He can't know about you, obviously. As for anyone else..."

She shrugged, yelling a yawn slip. "I don't know, I really don't. If he's this deep into something, he obviously knows more about me." Alessia laid down with a shake of her head, her insides trembling again at memories. "All this worrying from a stupid pair of handcuffs. Look, how about we just lay low and find out what I can without talking to him. But I...I'd like you to come over whenever I mess with his stuff, check it out. Just give me few days, okay? If I do find something...I can't take memory after memory like that," she said, grabbing a blanket. "What do you think? Take it slow, see what happens next? Don't want him finding out I'm investigating."

[Blitz]

Lucas nodded hesitantly when she admitted she didn't know if her father knew about anyone else. It was certainly gut-wrenching to think her father could be targeting other psychics, possibly people they know. He was now glad more than ever that he never officially "came out" as a phsychic at school. If he had... Who knows what could've happened to him? He shivered and also settled into his sleeping bag for some warmth.

"Yeah, I can come over," Lucas told her with a reassuring smile. "Just try to take it easy for now though, okay? Like you said, we'll lay low and find out what we can. Hopefully... hopefully we won't regret it."

With that ominous thought, Lucas yawned rather loudly and set his head down.

"Well, good night," he said. "Thanks for inviting me to camp. I'm glad... we became friends."

He yawned again and stretched his arms outwards. "Maybe even more," he added discreetly, turning his head away from her.

[akela]

Alice grinned at his last words, settling into her sleeping bag right beside him. The problem was with it being so quiet and so much on her mind she had trouble sleeping, and laid awake for an hour more at least. She wanted to grab his hand, to tug on his shirt...but refrained, not wanting to go too far. She'd done enough by simply admitting how she felt tonight.

A week passed rather quickly, and unfortunately Alice didn't find anything by searching the downstairs. Going up to her fathers room or study...well, she just wasn't ready for it. Besides, school was getting busy. Or at least Alessia made it so; she could always find something to distract herself with. A couple days Alice texted and asked if she could hang out with him after school at his house, mainly just to watch a movie on the couch though they did do some research on groups that might be against psychics. There were leads, but nothing as serious as what she saw in the past. By going to his house they could keep such things off her internet history, in case her father checked it.

Something that they had let go unnoticed by her until the afternoon, however, was the disappearance of a classmate. Alice only had her in algebra, and she wasn't even sure if they'd spoken more than a few times. It had been on the news that morning and she, Skylar Matthews, had disappeared. There was an amber alert out for the girl, and how she had missed the talk on her all morning was beyond her. As soon as school was over she rushed to Lucas' locker, knowing he would be there with his friends as usual. She wore a deep red V-neck shirt with skinny jeans, her messenger bag slung over her shoulder as usual. "Lucas? Lucas, I [i]really[i/] need to talk to you..." she said, glancing at the boys with a smile before focusing on him. "Please tell me you don't have plans right now..."

[Blitz]

Lucas was talking with his group of friends at his locker after school as usual. Coincidentally, they had all been discussing the amber alert that had gone out that morning on a girl named Skylar Matthews, whom they all knew or had heard of. For Lucas, the news was particularly unnerving, especially in light of what Alice and he and learned about Alice's father. Something was definitely not right. Surely, there wasn't a correlation... Right? If this girl had been abducted, her kidnapper must have been well aware that the news of her disappearance would get out and spread pretty fast. Was that a risk that Alice's father would be willing to take? No... He couldn't make assumptions. This could be completely unrelated. He was probably just being paranoid. Two times that week, he had dreamt of being captured by mysterious figures and being tortured. It was definitely unsettling and didn't help with his nerves.

"Wait, she's blonde, right?" someone asked.

"Yeah, pretty cute, too," someone else added.

Lucas remained silent as his friends chatted on about the subject nonchalantly as if nothing was wrong. He probably would be doing that too if he wasn't so on edge. He was getting close to being unable to listen to it anymore when Alice came rushing down the hall toward them.

"Lucas? Lucas, I really need to talk to you..." she said, flashing the boys a friendly but quick smile before turning back to him. "Please tell me you don't have plans right now..."

"I don't," Lucas answered her. He turned to his friends, all of whom looked like they wanted to burst out into sexual jokes or laughter.

"I'll see you guys later then," Lucas said. "Good luck at practice."

He turned back to Alice with a nod and began walking toward the front doors of the school. As they were walking, one of Lucas's friends shouted after them: "Have fun you two!"

Lucas wasn't expecting any fun. He could tell by her expression that she was just as upset as he.

"Is it about Skylar?" he asked in a low voice, looking down.

[akela]

"Yes," she murmured, biting her bottom lip. "I guess I've been pretty out of the loop all day, in my own little world, but I finally paid attention to the whispering behind me in my last class. So of course I looked it up on my phone, trying to find out more about her..." Alice dropped her bag to her feet, pulling out her cell and scrolling through a few articles on the news site she checked every once and a while. "Look, this just came out an hour ago. I guess they were searching her computer for ideas of where she went, and found this blog."

Again she touched the screen, bringing up a internet page with black background and blue font. "It's hers, and it's all about her powers. She was posting anonymously of course, but it was all over her computer and came from her IP address, according to the article. And there are videos too..." She scrolled down, clicking play with a sigh. It was short, not but about 30 seconds long, but on it was an orange. It was still for a few seconds before it slowly, shakily, levitated a few inches in the air. It moved up and down, to the side, before dropping to the table and rolling off near the end of the video. "I'd think it was fake, but..." Alice looked at Lucas, worry in her eyes. "You don't think...? What now?"

[Blitz]

Lucas read through a couple of her posts and watched the video quietly. He was surprised to see that Skylar had kept a rather revealing blog on her powers, despite it being anonymous. Sometimes it was easy to forget that anything on the Internet can be traced back to where it came. When Alice asked what they should do, Lucas sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know..." he said with a hint of frustration. "I want to say we're overthinking this, but... After what you saw in that vision, we have every reason to be suspicious." He crossed his arms and shut his eyes for a moment, wondering what would be the best plan of attack. They had searched everything they could without drawing any attention to themselves, except...

"We need to check your dad's study," Lucas finally said, opening his eyes. "That's the only place we haven't looked. We can't back out now. I know you might be scared, but this girl's life is on the line." Lucas turned to her with his eyes filled with sadness.

"That could've easily been one of us," he reminded her.

[akela]

"I know. But we aren't stupid enough to post online about it," Alice replied, shoving her phone into her pocket. "Shit...okay. This is okay. If we leave now we should get there and have time to look before he even gets home. If you're still willing to come with me," She shook her head, heading toward her own locker. "This is insane, Lucas. I'm supposed to be worrying about next weeks test, figuring out how to go to the next party, or get a date with you," she smirked, unlocking it and putting her books back before shutting the thin metal door. "Not searching my dad's stuff so we can figure out if he kidnapped somebody. Tell me why we aren't going to the police again?" she asked, looking around before heading out to the parking lot with him.

"You do realize if something happens...it's up to you to get us out of there. I don't exactly have any guns to bring to the show," she grinned, showing a 'muscle' by holding her arm up, "and I don't have any offensive...talents. Any ideas if we do find out it's him?"

[Blitz]

Lucas considered what she said about calling the police. It might not be a bad idea. After all, they were just kids, and calling the police wouldn't blow their cover. But then again, what could the police do to help? Alice and he had no proof, and what adult in their right mind would believe a crazy story about a father who hunts down and kills psychics? And above all, would the police even want to help the psychics? These were risks he was not willing to take.

Lucas shook his head when she asked what they'd do if they did find out her dad is who abducted Skylar.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I like to take things slow and plan things out, but unfortunately we don't have time on our side. We have to be a bit more...impulsive."

"Besides," he added somewhat hopefully, "maybe it wasn't your father after all."

That didn't help much. Alice still saw what he had done in the past.

They got to the car and Lucas got in, starting the engine and beginning to back out.

"I know, I know," he said to acknowledge what she mentioned about him getting them out of any trouble. "I'll make sure you get out all right, at the least. But I'm not going to be too eager about using my powers and blowing my cover if something does happen... We'll just have to see how things turn out. Don't worry, okay? I'll protect you."

[akela]

Alice nodded with a small smile, leaning down into the seat until her feet were up on the dashboard, her eyes out the window. She didn't talk much during the ride there, which was unusual based on their past time spent together. When they arrived she slipped out of the seat, leaving her backpack in the car. "Mind if we get out of here after we find something? I don't care where, we can go clubbing with fake IDs if you want," she said with a crooked grin, glancing sideways at him. "Are you surprised I have one? Never used it, though," she smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

As soon as they got inside she called for her father, making sure he wasn't home. As if his sedan being absent from the carport didn't make it obvious. "It's upstairs," she muttered, looking at him with worried eyes, standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You honestly think we'll find something?" Alice added, but still didn't move. Finally she reached for his hand, wrapping her fingers around his before making her way upstairs. The second door on the left led to a small study that was just as perfect as in the movies. There were no pictures of anyone, however, and no drawings from Alice as a child. Only expensive nicknacks and stacks of papers in and out of pale yellow folders labeled with...

"Names. All the folders are labeled with names," Alice murmured, licking her lips as she stood over the large desk. There was a computer, but she knew it would be password protected.

[Blitz]

Lucas understood why Alice would want to get out of the house after they found something. He couldn't imagine how hard it must be to learn all this crazy stuff about her own father. He wondered how she was handling all this and made a mental note to ask her about it later to make sure she was all right. He blushed slightly when she took his hand and slowly followed her up the stairs.

The moment the two of them walked into her father's study, Lucas got the feeling that what they would find wasn't going to put them in the mood to go clubbing. The small room gave him goosebumps. Something about it seemed really unsettling, and Alice was the first to notice something strange: all the organized folders on her father's desk were labeled with names. That was definitely a red flag.

Lucas approached the large, wooden desk. His hands hovered nervously over the pale yellow folders. He was overcome with the desire to flip through them to see what names were on file, but... No, he couldn't touch them. He was being paranoid, but if anything seemed out of place when her father got back... He didn't want to be responsible for anything happening to Alice.

Then his eyes caught something. Maybe he wouldn't need to go digging through the files after all.

"Alice," he breathed. He placed his hand on her shoulder and pointed shakily to the top folder on the pile. Skylar Matthews was written in permanent marker on the tab. Lucas's heart began to speed up. This was bad. Really bad.