C.N. - chapter 26

'...and that was the library.' Mr. Dragon concluded, and we exited the oak doors of the library. 'Where do you say we ought to head to next?' He asked.
'I think you've showed me everything.' I remarked. Mr. Dragon had an excellent home, it had everything from a theater to a scientific lavatory which we did not go into, I hope Theo and Heathcliff get a chance to go on this tour like I just did. We came into the game room where the chess board was still set at our sixth game.
'Quite right I have, what do you say we go back to the kitchen and fix ourselves-' He didn't get to finish.
Wolfgang stormed in through the doors with a red face, clenched fists and fury in his eyes. He looked like a bull at a Texan rodeo. The doors were pushed aside with so much force the sound was like a thunder strike.
'CLARK! CLARK GABLE!' Wolfgang yelled and ripped open his dress shirt, probably in anger.
'Where?' I asked and frantically looked around for any sign of Clark Gable, I didn't see him.
'WELL WHAT THE HELL IS IT BOY!' Mr. Dragon roared in a equally loud and furious voice, just like a dragon, 'DO YOU NOT SEE THAT WE HAVE A GUEST WITH US! SHOUTING MY NAME AROUND THIS PLACE LIKE A MAD MAN! WHAT GOTTEN INTO YOU IN THE TIME I WAS AWAY!'
I was at a loss for words. Mr. Dragon's name was...Clark??? Clark Gable??? THE Clark Gable???
'YOU LISTEN TO ME CLARK! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT THE HELL'S GOTTEN INTO ME! I'LL TELL YOU LOUD AND CLEAR!' Wolfgang's chest heaved and his fists clenched and unclenched, he was roaring, just like a tiger, 'FIRST YOU DESERTED ME WHEN I NEEDED YOU MOST! THEN YOU SUDDENLY COME BACK INTO MY LIFE, PRETEND NOTHING HAPPENED AND TRY TO BOSS ME AROUND! AND NOW I FOUND OUT YOU LIED! YOU LIED TO ME FROM THE BEGINNING YOU SON OF A-'
'Beep.' I said, I covered my ears.
'YOU SHUT UP YOU STUPID FARM BOY!' Wolfgang screamed and made me shut up entirely, I think it was the voice that did it, not the 'stupid farm boy', which I didn't mind. He turned back to Clark Gable/Mr. Dragon (still could not believe that) and continued his yelling, 'ALL MY LIFE...(holding back tears, I think) ALL MY LIFE YOU TOLD ME MOTHER DIED GIVING BIRTH TO ME! WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO GET AT!? MAKING ME FEEL GUILTY ABOUT BEING BORN!? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED!? IS IT!?'
'WHO TOLD YOU THAT NONSENSE, BOY! STOP THIS RAVING THIS INSTANT!' Clark Gable/Mr. Dragon roared. And just then, I think the answer to his question came through the door, in the form of Theo and Heathcliff, both panicking at the sight of Wolfgang and his dad in a shouting match between tiger and dragon. That aside, I was genuinely surprised, a man past his mid-age, one like Clark Gable/Mr. Dragon (despite the six-pack) who can shout at this thunderous volume is an astonishing sight to behold.
'THIS DID!' Wolfgang threw a notebook into the ground with such force it landed with a splat. 'READ IT YOURSELF YOU OLD FART!' Clark Gable/ Mr. Dragon seemed to have recognized the notebook.
'I thought I ordered that thrown away.' Clark Gable/Mr. Dragon whispered, Wolfgang heard it.
'HA! YOU ADMIT IT! YOU DO! IT'S ALL TRUE! YOU LIED TO ME, YOU LIED TO ME RIGHT FROM THE START! I HATE YOU!' Wolfgang screamed at the top of his capability, his voice cracked, and tears came out.
'Damn,' Clark Gable/Mr. Dragon whispered and then added, 'Damn that housekeeper Phil, must have thought my wife's diary is a soap novel and kept it, damn that Phil.' He turned his bloodshot eyes on Theo and Heathcliff, 'Damn you too.'
Clark Gable/Mr. Dragon took his hand from behind his coat, he was holding a shiny silver pistol and raised it at Theo or Heathcliff, or them both. This took place in a matter of seconds.
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' Heathcliff and Wolfgang yelled simultaneously, but Wolfgang acted faster and moved in front of Clark Gable/Mr. Dragon just as he pulled the trigger, it was just like in an action-adventure movie, everything happened in slow-motion.
Wolfgang fell with a cry, Theo covered her mouth in horror, Heathcliff said, 'Mamma mia!', the sound of machinegun fire and shouting was heard outside the door, a commotion taking place, and Clark Gable/Mr. Dragon placed the barrel of his pistol firmly against my skull. He was cool as a cucumber.
With the calm and collected voice of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, he said, 'Alright, everybody, we have a hostage situation, so sit back, and enjoy.'

T.N - Chapter 25

After some sneaking behind cars to hide from passing terrorists, we somehow managed to find Heathcliff’s phone. It was inside of the Dragon’s specially made and furnished truck, quite in plain view. The door handle was unlocked, making it easy to just snatch the phone and run out of there. I had to be careful that the phone didn’t fall out, as the pocket of my jeans wasn’t the most secure. I ran into my room, which was easy to find, and of course, Heathcliff followed me (much to my barely veiled dismay).

Once I closed the door, I took the phone out of my pocket. I turned it on, and saw it was locked. “Heathcliff, what’s your password?” I asked. Heathcliff opened his mouth to reply, and then I cut him off. I knew what it was going to be. I typed in “Theodora” and the phone unlocked. “Seriously, you need a new password.”

“But it shows my devotion and love to you, my—“ I cut him off with a wave of my hand. I turned my attention back to the phone.

I checked to see if the GPS tracking ability was still on, which it was. I then navigated the complicated workings and managed to compose a message to Grandfather. It was brief, but enough to give him an idea of where we might be (I thought we were underground) and our statuses. Plus I had to tell him that it wasn’t just me in trouble; he had to save Heathcliff and a complete stranger (Charlie).

When I was finished, I decided a safe place to put it would be in the desk. I opened a drawer, and found the diary again. I placed the phone inside, and then took out the diary. I didn’t know if I should tell Wolfgang about her and this journal. From the entries, it appeared that she had fled shortly after he was born, and therefore Wolfgang never knew her.

“What is that?” asked Heathcliff, peering over my shoulder. “Have you been keeping a diary?”

“Do you think I somehow managed to bring a diary here? And I haven’t even written a diary in my life, ever.” I opened up the diary to the first page. On it, written in simple, elegant cursive was the name Laura Gable (née Jeshua).

“Who is that?” asked Heathcliff. “Am I supposed to get it?”

“If you had a higher IQ, yes. But my standards are rather low, so I didn’t expect you to get it,” I said rather sincerely. I guessed it sounded more biting than I meant since Heathcliff gave me a childish pout. I ignored him (although I felt a little stab of conscience digging in). “Do you see the last name of this woman? It’s Gable, the same as the Dragon’s and Wolfgang’s. This woman is Wolfgang’s missing mother!” His pout was completed wiped off by his look of surprise.

“I always assumed she was dead, you know. That’s what my parents told me when I asked.”

“Huh? So you knew that Wolfgang didn’t have a mother?”

“Yeah, I asked my parents because I thought it was odd for a kid to be missing one of his parents. I never brought it up again.”

“Oh,” I said simply. So there was something that Heathcliff knew that I didn’t.

A knock sounded at the door, and I placed the diary back on the desk. I walked over to it and opened it slightly. I was taken aback when I saw Wolfgang standing there. “Can I come in?” he asked awkwardly.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed, or talking to your dad? I mean you weren’t feeling well this morning, so you should be resting,” I said.

“Thanks for your consideration, but I just need some time away from him. I know that sounds silly since I’ve just been reunited with him, but I’ve forgotten how utterly overbearing and annoying he is. And I’ve been resting in bed for the entire morning.” He looked at me. “So are you going to leave me out here, or let me in?”

“Sorry,” I said, and I opened the door for him. He seemed stunned seeing Heathcliff sitting on my bed, and didn’t respond when Heathcliff gave him an awkward wave. “Before you get any funny ideas, Heathcliff followed me here. I don’t have the energy or the will to kick him out.” Wolfgang looked relieved. He looked over at the desk, and saw the book there.

“What’s that, your diary?” he asked, and before I could stop him, he picked it up and started reading it. I tried grabbing it out of his hand, but he kept on moving it out of my grasp. I could see that he’s read past some incriminating evidence, as his expression darkened.

“Where did you find this?” he asked quietly.

“In the drawers, in the desk,” I told him carefully.

He shut the diary loudly, and then started to head out of the room.

“Where are you going?” I asked rather alarmed. This wasn’t an explosive anger of the moment, but one that seemed to have been simmering for a long time.

“I think I’m going to have a little talk with my dad after all,” he said coldly, and he slammed the door shut behind him.

C.N. - chapter 24

Another thing Mr. Dragon and I found that we have in common is our ability to eat quickly. After we finished at the exact same time and divided Heathcliff's share as well, we got up, left the dining room and Mr. Dragon showed me to the gaming room via a secret tunnel located behind the refrigerator in the kitchen. He told me that taking the secret tunnel as to the main hallways saves him at least ten minutes, so in no time we emerged from behind the refrigerator in the gaming room (also the den) and Mr. Dragon showed me to the table with a build-in chessboard. He went to the stereo system and put in a CD, after a while I recognized it to be Gone With the Wind, and we whistled to the main theme as we played five quick games and Mr. Dragon taught me the name of each piece and their range of movement. I found international chess very similar to Chinese Chess, except for the abundance of pawns in this chess.
We were into our sixth game and Mr. Dragon was discussing the prospects of marriage with me (since he brought up the subject of what I want to do with my life and I said I plan to get married to my sweetheart once I return home from this trip), when the door slammed for apparently no reason. Mr. Dragon leaped from his chair like a soldier on row call and made it to the door in two seconds flat. He investigated the source of the slamming but found nothing.
'Blast the engineer who designed this place!' He said, 'The wind is not properly ventilated in this building, I had in mind to fix that some day.' He thought for a bit. 'Now what were we discussing just now?'
'We were discussing marriage.' I said.
'Ah yes, why don't we go back to our game later, this door here just gave me an idea that I ought to show you my humble home. While we're at that, I say let's continue our discussion.'
'Certainly.' I said.
So we went out of the den and made a left, and we kept talking about marriage.
'So what does your sweetheart of yours look like?' Mr. Dragon asked.
'Like Vivien Leigh.' I said, 'And the thing I like about her most is that her hair is the color of dark chocolate, and it always smells nice.' Thinking about her brought a smile to my face.
'Really! What a coincidence! My wife too looked like Vivien Leigh, though she always denied it.' Mr. Dragon chuckled, 'What do you intend to do after marrying your sweetheart?'
'I thought we might start a small business together, making candies like gummy bears, cola bottles, gum drops, peach slices, jelly worms and all those. I always wanted to run a candy store, and I really like cola bottles.' I said. 'We'll buy a small shop in town and start out there, and then we can buy the land so we don't have to pay rent, and then we can pass it down to our children.'
'Oh? Is that all you want to do with your life?' Mr. Dragon asked.
'Yep, I don't think I'll need any more than that. Me and my sweetheart, we make a really good team as business partners too, she is excellent at maths and accounting, and I can man the store. And the best thing is, there isn't a candy store in the town yet, only a convenience store that comes with the gas station, and they only have limited selections of candy to choose from. So when we open up business will always be good.'
'That's very thoughtful, boy,' Mr. Dragon said, 'Where did you find the inspiration to start off this candy store, if you do not mind me asking?'
"Of course not,' I said, 'I went to the big city for the first time when I was eight, it was because dad was going off to protest with the farmer's union about increased taxation, they were going to do it in front of the parliament and it will take a long time, he said, so he dropped me off at a candy store and left to join the picket line. I had ten dollars on me at the time so I bought some of everything and I talked with the clerk, who was a really nice fellow, and when dad didn't come back he offered to stay with me in the store for the night. That's how I became inspired to think about starting a candy store, I took down the names of all the candy in that store I stayed in and that's what my own store will stock once I get the business started.'
'And what happened to your father?'
'He got arrested by riot police during the clash with union workers, they charged him with assaulting a police officer.' I said, 'But according to him, the police threw the first punch and they also had better equipment like batons and tear gas, so technically speaking when he assaulted the officer it was in self-defense.'
Mr. Dragon laughed, 'Yes, the police are always using the law as an excuse to bully lesser folks, and they get paid a handsome amount by the government to do it too.'
'Were you also wronged by the government some time in your life?' I asked.
'Yes, big time too, I nearly lost everything to them.' Mr. Dragon sighed, 'And one of the reasons I almost lost everything was because of a wife who didn't approve of my work.'
'Was it the result of an unhappy marriage?' I asked.
'No! My wife and I were a pair matched in heaven, it couldn't have been better, but then again, the catch was that she let her decency get in the way of things and thought it her duty to prevent me also from achieving greatness.'
'I don't get it, don't happy marriages last forever?'
'Bah, humbug!' Mr, Dragon waved his hand dismissively.
'You quoted Scrooge.' I said.
'Aye yes, quoting Scrooge is the only way to describe it.' He said.
We stopped walking and arrived outside a door with a sign that read, 'Parking Garage'.

T.N - Chapter 23

I wasn’t exactly lying when I said I wasn’t feeling well, nor was I really telling the truth. I wasn’t strictly ill, but I was absolutely exhausted, as I had spent all of the previous night reading the rest of the journal and thinking about it. The rest of the journal wasn’t particularly exceptional, until near the end, where Laura kept on trying to convince herself to leave. I guess she finally found enough reasons to leave, as she hasn’t been in the picture for a vey long time.

For some reason, I thought of Heathcliff’s cell phone at that moment. The last I remembered of it, the Dragon had slipped it into his pocket and entered the truck on our way here.

“Heathcliff,” I said, stopping and turning around. “Whatever happened to your phone?”

“My phone?” he asked, puzzled. “Whatever for? Right now, we need to focus on escaping this dungeon of a fortress!”

“Uh, don’t you remember? Your phone has GPS tracking?”

“I’m sorry darling, but I don’t get it.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered under my breath. Just how stupid could he get? “Before the Dragon took it, I had called my grandfather, and he was going to be able to track us down with it?” I explained to him slowly. “If he hasn’t turned it off, my grandfather should be on the way.”

“Oh, right! Of course I knew that—“

“Do you remember if he took it out of his pocket at all?” I interrupted him.

Heathcliff paused to think. He started to mutter to himself, and so I crossed my arms and waited for him to figure it out.

“I believe he took it out…but where?” he declared. I was surprised he could remember, as he was drunk at the time. I would’ve expected his memories to be a bit more impaired.

“And when was this?” I pressed.

“Uh, um… his face furrowed into an expression of grim concentration. “I think…in the truck?”

“Brilliant,” I said. “I know where they are, thank goodness. Now is just a matter of getting there from here.”

That took a lot longer than I expected, as Heathcliff seemed to have escorted me in the wrong direction. It took us some exploring to try to orient ourselves, and thankfully, one of the few women workers here pointed us towards the bedrooms (exactly where we needed to go).

We walked past a rather large set of doors, and I could hear music playing in the background. I believe it was the theme to “Gone With the Wind.” I could hear two people whistling to it, and my curiousity was aroused. Heathcliff and I peered through the small crack that the door offered and found myself looking at Charlie and the Dragon playing chess. They were sitting at a table with a built-in chessboard, sack dab in the middle of an impressive den. Humph, fitting for the Dragon to have a den. They started to talk.

“So what are you thinking of doing with your life, young man?” asked the Dragon, moving his black piece forward. Charlie stared at the board for a bit, and then moved a piece to counteract.

“I don’t know…probably go back home and marry my childhood sweetheart,” shrugged Charlie. “I’ve known her since we were small, and everyone’s been bugging us to get married already.”

“Hmm,” replied the Dragon, and he smoothly captured one of Charlie’s pieces. “Don’t just jump into this. I’ve been meaning to tell Wolfgang this too, but you know, things have been rough so far.”

He watched Charlie move another piece, and then he moved a piece to place Charlie into checkmate. They reset the board, and started playing again.

“Marriage can be a wonderful thing, especially if both parties are deeply in love with each other. But marriages, even the deepest ones, can slowly accumulate mistakes and grudges, and then fall apart.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Charlie.

“I once was married. But things came apart shortly after Wolfgang was born. She fled, leaving Wolfgang and me alone. I don’t wish that upon anyone, so you must think carefully about it.”

“Oh,” said Charlie simply. Of course, at that moment, Heathcliff lost his balance and nearly knocked the door open. Thankfully, I managed to shut it, but rather unfortunately, I also managed to slam the door.

I grabbed Heathcliff’s hand, hauled him up, and started running as fast as I could away from the door and towards the trucks to find the phone. 

C.N. - chapter 22

I didn't remember getting into a bed when I woke up the next day, and I didn't remember getting into a bed with Heathcliff, who was curled up next to me, hugging himself.
There were no windows in the room, and a lamp was turned on at the far end of the room. I saw that I was still in the same suit from yesterday, it was now crumpled and the dust had fallen off. I got up and looked around the room. Other than the bed, there weren't any other pieces of furniture except for a stool which the single lamp stood on. I wondered what time it was.
Just as I was wondering, there came a knock at the door, the door opened and a bald man in a black suit (like every other one of Mr. Dragon's employees) walked in. 'Breakfast is served.' He said.
'It's morning?' I asked. It did not feel like morning, I had a very strange dream during my sleep in which I was running in slow-motion across a beach, parallel to the waves, and then I saw Heathcliff running next to me, and then Wolfgang appeared running on the other side of me, and then Theo appeared, and then Mr. Dragon, and all of Mr. Dragon's workmen in their black suits. Then we were all bounding in slow-motion across the sand, huffing and puffing, and I could distinctly hear Chariots of Fire blaring across the beach, and the sky was blue, and it looked just like the scene in that movie where the British track athletes run across the beach as the credits roll. During this dream, I was very happy, and I felt I had enough energy to run across the world. Nobody spoke, but I was certain in the dream everyone was happy to be running.
'Yes, seven o' clock, eastern standard time.' He said, 'Now, get ready and wake up the other guy, the Dragon dislikes straggling guests.' He closed the door behind him.
I woke Heathcliff up, who wasn't very happy to be woken up as he was dreaming about some romantic endeavor with Theo before I entered his dream and interrupted him. He saw fit to describe to me the every detail of that dream as we splashed water on our faces in the bathroom, which though I thought was fascinating, I later learned that Heathcliff has many such dreams, making them less fascinating the more you hear them. I did not ask him about his dreams after I learned this the long way, but that will be another story.
Since we were already in our slightly rumpled suits, we did not have to change and went with the bald man to the dining hall, a room at the top of many flights of stairs and corridors. All of this place appeared to be made of the same type of gray cement, making for a dull looking military barrack. I asked the bald man this question and he replied that Mr. Dragon is planning to paint the walls following Theo's wedding to Wolfgang, which sent Heathcliff into a fit and he uttered a string of upper-class insults I still believe are too silly to mention here. I stood Heathcliff while he had another seizure, and we were delayed three minutes, the bald man informed me, tapping his shoe impatiently during Heathcliff's fit.

When we showed up at the dining hall, a spacious room with floor-to-ceiling glass windows looking out into the mountains and the sunny sky, Mr. Dragon was already seated at the head of a long table draped by a white tablecloth. He was sipping a glass of red liquid. The dining room was cylindrical, with another cylindrical room within it that housed the kitchen.
There were five plates and pairs of silverware laid out on the table, I took the seat next to Mr. Dragon and Heathcliff next to me, he didn't say much but I observed that he was nervous.
'Good morning boys, pleasant day it's looking out to be. I assume you enjoyed your first night here?' Mr. Dragon said. He took another sip of his drink.
'Oh definitely, I had a dream-' I began, but Heathcliff elbowed me in the ribs out of sight of Mr. Dragon, and cut me off.
'Wonderful, just wonderful. Now look at the time! My son has always had a bad habit of waking up late. Very well, let us begin without him and his bride.' Without meeting my eyes, Mr. Dragon checked his watch and rung a bell that was on the table. A bald man (a different bald man, I think) came out of the kitchen, balancing three gigantic plates piled high with food on his two arms, and served out breakfast, which included bacon stripes, mashed potatoes, toast with cream cheese, raisins and dessert pastries.
'Dig in, boys.' Mr. Dragon began to munch away at his plate, I did too and found it delicious, Heathcliff sat looking at the food with a bewildered expression.
'What is it?' Mr. Dragon asked Heathcliff, 'Is your appetite not in a good mood this morning?'
'This is a monstrous amount of food, I say.' Heathcliff said.
'Yes it is, I'm known for my extraordinary appetite, do you not remember? I was always the first one to ask for seconds at your father's dinner parties back in the days. To this day I still compliment your mother's cooking, truly beautiful.' Mr. Dragon said, 'Now have a taste, she gave me a few of her recipes and I kept them.' Mr. Dragon resumed eating.
Heathcliff ate a few bites and said, 'I cannot intake all this food! Just by looking at it I can tell there are more calories in there than ten chocolate milkshakes! My body refuses this pile of carbohydrates!'
'Why on earth do? Who cares about the calories when it's wonderful to the taste?' Mr. Dragon said, amused.
'I won't let this into my system! It took me a long time to get this six-pack and I'm not loosing it on unhealthy breakfasts!' At this, Heathcliff lifted up his dress shirt and showed me his abdomen, where six blocks of muscles were barely visible beneath some skin that looked kind of flabby. It was a fine accomplishment to get that far to a six-pack, I'd say a few weeks working on dad's farm should make Heathcliff build the full six-pack, to show him an example, I lifted up my own dress shirt to show him the six-pack I have, and Heathcliff turned white as the tablecloth. Mr. Dragon looked on with the same amusement.
'How did you-' He gasped.
'Aw you boy's are just amateurs!' Mr. Dragon declared, putting down his knife and fork, still chewing, 'This is a real six-pack.' He lifted up his shirt, and beneath was one of the finest abdomen I've ever laid my eyes upon, it was even finer than the ones that belong to guys on football teams. Heathcliff was about to faint in shock. For a mid-aged man, Mr. Dragon had outdone most young bodybuilders. If I were Wolfgang, I'd be extremely proud of my dad on this part.
Just then, Theo walked into the dining room, escorted by yet another bald man. Both the bald man and Theo were quite taken aback by the sight of me, Heathcliff and Mr. Dragon comparing our abdomen muscles in various degrees of fitness. We at the table concealed our upper bodies and tucked in our shirts with haste, and then we said (altogether), 'Er...good morning, eh?'
'Um...good morning.' Theo said, then she hesitated a bit, thinking, and said, 'Wolfgang said he isn't feeling well, and neither am I, we won't be joining you for breakfast.'
'What, is that so? (sigh) Shame, shame, my own boy not wanting to have breakfast with me on the first morning after we are reunited.' Mr. Dragon sighed, 'Very well, go tend to your fiance and yourself, it's a pity you're missing out on this fine meal but I will not voice any further objections.'
Heathcliff jumped at the chance, 'Wait, I'm not feeling well either! As I've said, I cannot eat this food, and I am not hungry, I will escort Miss. Theodora to...Wolfgang.' I thought it must have cost Heathcliff dearly inside to say Wolfgang's name, because he said it as if vomiting.
'I cannot believe this! Nobody wants to dine on this fabulous morning with me? What's gotten into all of you?' Mr. Dragon exclaimed. 'Go ahead, you're all missing out on a meal, one of the few pleasures a human is capable of enjoying, it's a terrible pity none of you seem to grasp this fact.' Mr. Dragon shook his head and went back to eating.
'I don't have anything to do elsewhere.' I said, realizing what I should do, 'I'll finish the food, if you need any help with it.' I said to Mr. Dragon.
'Well, well, well, now that's the spirit boy!' Mr. Dragon gave me a pat on the back, 'You know, you remind me of someone I was very fond of. After breakfast, I suppose we ought to keep our chess agreement, shall we?' He said to me.
'Good idea!' I said, 'And we can do a bit more whistling.'
'I know the perfect tune we can try, I'll tell you about it as we finish this food. The rest of you, you are all dismissed!' He called to the others.
Heathcliff and Theo exited the dining hall quickly, and it was only Mr. Dragon and I left in the dining hall. He asked me whether I know the film The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, which I did, and then we did a whistling rendition of the famous main theme of the movie. This time, Mr. Dragon ordered one of the bald men to brink a tape recorder, so we could record our duel-performance for later listening.
It was a great morning.

T.N - Chapter 21

To say that Heathcliff and Charlie were a mess after the trip would’ve been an understatement. Their eyes were bloodshot, they couldn’t walk properly, and any comprehensible speech through their slurring was punctuated by drunken laughter.

What on earth did Heathcliff drink? He normally avoids alcoholic drinks like the devil; he knows he makes an absolute fool of himself when he gets even the smallest glass of alcohol. The only times I’ve seen him drink was if he needed the courage, or if he was tricked into it. Either the Dragon had some impressive persuasion skills (I wouldn’t have been surprised) or he was tricked. Either one was possible.

“The bedrooms are this way,” the Dragon called over the boys’ laughter. “I suspect you’re tired. Come along!” For some reason, I don’t know whether it was my imagination or not, but I thought that the Dragon’s voice had softened a tad, and he sounded almost fatherly.

I glanced over at Wolfgang. He had a mixed expression, and I could see hints of jealousy, surprise and a bit of joy. He shook his head quickly, and then started after his father. I had to hurry after him so I wouldn’t be left behind. Who knows what the terrorists would think if they saw me by myself.

By the time we caught up, the Dragon had already deposited Charlie and Heathcliff in a room. I peeked into the room, and saw them sound asleep. Charlie was sprawled on the bed across from Heathcliff, who was curled up into a fetal position. I shut the door quietly behind me, and I saw the Dragon beckon me over to a room. Wolfgang had disappeared somewhere.

“This will be your room. Wolfgang will be placed in another room. I noticed you two didn’t seem to be very…comfortable together when you came out of the truck. I'll send some clothes over. You can't sleep in the dress you'll be wedded in!" He laughed.

"Thank you very much." I know I was in an interesting situation, but you must show gratitude when it's due.

He looked me over, and I felt rather vulnerable. I was by myself, in front of a man that could easily kill me if he wanted to. Instead of killing me, he just gave me a small, sad smile. "Don't break my son's heart," he said softly, brushing past me.

I watched him disappear around the corner. I tried to remember if I've ever seen Wolfgang's mother during the conferences that our parents had had in the past. But nothing came to mind.

I sat down on the single bed, taking in the room's decor. The walls were butter yellow, softly lit by the various lamps placed around the room. The floor was made of hardwood, matching the desk across the room from where I was.

It was an interesting writing desk, very antique, and well loved. I stood up to look at it more closely. I could see scratches in the wood, and ink blots where the ink well had tipped over, or a pen wandered off the page. There were a few drawers also built in, and so I tried to open them.

The first few I tried were stuck, the wood swelled up from old age and moisture. Finally, I found one that actually opened. There were a few pens scattered inside, and a book with an unlabelled cover. I picked it up, and found it was quite small, and the pages were well worn. Some of the corners were dog-eared, and a ribbon hung out of one of the sections. I opened it to where the ribbon marked its place. I found a journal entry, dated to about 20 years ago:

Journal,

I don't know where to start. I've found out today that I'm pregnant with our first child! It was a joyous day for my dear, but I'm afraid that our child will have to take over the family business. I know it is useless trying to bring up the conversation again with my husband, but I wish he would go back to more...lawful pursuits. He is clever at disguising it, but I fear Damian North is catching on, and that we may have to flee. But I don't want to spoil my dear's happiness. He has wanted a child ever since we were married all those years ago.

We have already started discussing names. If it is a boy, I want to name him Wolfgang, but my husband wants to name him Sebastian. If it is a girl, I was thinking of perhaps Grace, or Hanna. He hasn't decided on any girl names yet, but he said that maybe we should name her (if it is a her) after myself.

I can hear my husband coming. I must sign off for now.

Your friend,

Laura

Someone started opening the door, and so I shoved the diary back into its drawer. A terrorist stood at the door, and he was holding a bundle of clothing. I took it from him gratefully. As he left, he shut the door behind him and locked it.

I quickly changed into the clothing. The jeans were a bit too long for me, and the t-shirt too baggy, but they were comfortable. I lay down on the bed and thought of the journal entry I had just read. Who did it belong to? I thought back to what the content was.

A wife to someone practicing something illegal (and hiding it from my grandfather), pregnant with her first child whom she wants to name Wolfgang...

It has to be the missing mother of Wolfgang.

C.N. - chapter 20

The last thing I saw before entering Mr. Dragon's military style armored truck was the sun, it was setting. The inside of the vehicle, in sharp contrast to the outside, was designed like a stretch-limousine. The windows were tinted, the seats were cushioned, and there was a small table patterned with black and white squares, for chess, I thought.
'Do you now see why I insist we ride together.' Mr. Dragons said as he, Heathcliff and I all sat down on the white cushioned seats, 'This was the only car I furnished, the others were intended for my workmen and they only. These men, very capable, very reliable, as long as a wage can be negotiated, they ask no questions, leisure is not their preference, so I saw no need to add these leather seats to all my other vehicles. Shame my son does not see that, but you two, you at least (pointing to me) know what's better for you.'
Heathcliff sat silently, I asked a question, 'Is this a chess board?' I pointed at the table.
'Indeed it is, it serves multiple purposes, there's one of the more apparent ones.' Mr. Dragon opened one of the cushions next to him, it was a concealed compartment, he took out a bag with chess pieces and put Theo's phone in there, turning it off to save batteries, I supposed.
'Do you play?' He asked me.
'I can play Chinese chess, but I don't know how to play this chess.' I said.
'Chinese chess! Now how on earth did you learn that?' Mr. Dragon exclaimed.
It was a short story, so I elaborated to make it more interesting. 'The mechanic at the gas station near my house taught me, the car dad used to have was as old as he, it broke down a lot and he always sent me to tow it to the station with the tractor, that's how I came to know the mechanic really well and he taught me Chinese chess, he told me he learned it from his father, and his father learned from his grandfather, and his grandfather learned from his grandfather's father, and-'
'Okay, okay, I see your point.' Mr. Dragon said, 'We ought to teach each other our chess sometime, I'm past my midlife but I've always enjoyed trying new things.' He snapped his finger, and the checkered tabletop split open four ways like a sliding door, and inside were several glass bottles filled with transparent dull yellow liquid, five glasses and a cassette player. Mr. Dragon took out one of the bottles and three of the glasses. He opened the bottle with a cork and poured for each of us.
'Let us drink to our health, and a good time.' He raised his glass, I raised mine, Heathcliff hesitated, he asked, 'What is this?'
'It's apple juice, not the cheap water-mixed type, this is absolutely pure.' Mr. Dragon said, and drank.
Heathcliff took a sip and nearly spilled the glass, 'It's champagne!' He exclaimed in shock and covered his mouth. I was midway through my first taste and thought the juice must have came from some apple I've never tasted, because the juice had a spicy flavor and smelled funny too.
'Still sensitive to alcohol?' Mr. Dragon asked him, 'You haven't improved your drinking abilities, I see.'
'You-you villain, vile dastardly malevolent evil calculating despicable horrendous ill-natured hateful spiteful malicious villain! You said it's apple juice!' Heathcliff said accusingly.
'I did, this champagne is twenty percent apple cider.' Mr. Dragon said smugly.
Heathcliff's face turned red all of a sudden, he burped began a fit of giggles and said, 'What's up, dawg?'
I laughed too and so did Mr. Dragon. I felt very happy and very flushed in the head, so I took off my suit jacket and thought about what I should say next, I asked, 'Anyone what to hear a joke?'
'Yeah? Sure.' Heathcliff said, he burped again and giggled some more.
'So, why did the chicken cross the road?'
'Why?' Heathcliff replied.
I rubbed my eyes because they were getting watery, and then I said, 'If it didn't there wouldn't be a joke.'
Heathcliff fell into a fit of laughter, I laughed along with him, and Mr. Dragon smiled.
I felt giddy and the last thought before I think I abandoned all common sense was wondering what Mr. Dragon's apple champagne contained that made me feel so wonderful and dreamy (I didn't think I was drunk, and if I was, I wouldn't be because I have quite a strong tolerance of alcohol, it's Heathcliff I was worried about).
I hadn't felt so happy since the time my sister took me to her prom. Actually, she was caught in the tool shed with her then boyfriend (later divorced) by mum, they were in semi stages of undress and mum was extremely mad, her scream was heard by the next door neighbors a half kilometer away. As punishment for attempting to be deflowered before the age of twenty, mum made her take me as her prom date, forsaking her then boyfriend. The graduates all made fun of me, thought they focused mostly on my sister, who got the worst of it, but I had a lot of fun and tasted beer (which I didn't like because it was bitter and I still couldn't figure out why people like it) for the first time in my life. Another girl let me kiss her too (I didn't know how lovers kiss, so she taught me).
I shared this story with Heathcliff and Mr. Dragon during our long ride, and a few others which I believe took place in the vehicle but I couldn't recall. Then Heathcliff shared his stories, they were mostly about his glorious youth days, it had been all about pursuing his true love (since the age of six) Theo back then, and he detailed to us many of his ploys to win Theo over, to various degrees of non-success. Though I can not recall the precise details, Heathcliff's ploys include singing love songs outside her window in a suit of real armor with a borrowed mandolin (age nine), presenting a personal speech professing his love for her in front of all parents, graduates and teachers at his elementary school graduation ceremony (age twelve), and hacking into the high school registration catalogue (with the help of professional hackers paid five hundred dollars per hour out of his own pocket) to personally create the exactly identical class schedule and assigned teachers as her (age fourteen). Finally, at our request, Mr. Dragon told us a bit about his own experiences as a self-made billionaire, mostly the tricks, scams and bribes business persons and the business world use against the civilian population and the authorities to evade justice and increase their own benefit. I realized his account was more of a general how-to (control the world) guide as to about episodes of his life, nevertheless I found it quite fascinating. Heathcliff and I had more of the champagne during this time.
At the near conclusion of our journey, the vehicle moved across more uneven surfaces, and Mr. Dragon announced we were traveling over water. I did not believe this and thought it was a clever joke, we laughed over it and then out of the blues I began to whistle a familiar tune. It was the whistle tune from Disney's Robin Hood movie (Robin Hood being a talking fox), both Heathcliff and Mr. Dragon recognized the tune and we whistled in chorus, then we whistled Stand By Me, Say You, Say Me, Love Story, and Star Wars (which was quite incredible and would have been a thing to marvel at in later life had we recorded it).
When the vehicle grounded to a halt, Mr. Dragon kindly took Me and Heathcliff in his arms and guided us out of the vehicle into a windy, spacious and dimly lit tunnel of a place, the ceiling was a half-cylinder like an airplane hangar. He then led us towards a door marked with the sign 'BEDCHAMBERS'.
From one of the other vehicles emerged Theo and Wolfgang, walking apart and both looked like they did not have as good a time during the ride as Mr. Dragon and Heathcliff and I had. Still supported by Mr. Dragon because our knees where shaky and our vision impaired, Heathcliff and I waved and smiled giddy banana-sized smiles at Theo and Wolfgang. Wolfgang, seeing our expressions, must have been mildly jealous, he expression said so. Theo, on the other hand, did not look jealous, but something along the lines of horrified. I supposed she was unwilling to admit being in the company of Mr. Dragon was better than with Wolfgang, who had probably realized his blunder too.
I fell asleep soon after, where exactly, I did not know at that time.

T.N - Chapter 19

I couldn’t believe that my fate was in the hands of this naïve, how should I say it…idiot? Here he was, being utterly ignorant of the dangerous situation he was in, and he’s insisting that the two settle their differences with rock paper scissors? It was going to take a lot more than that.

The terrorists had let me go as soon as Wolfgang had out his arm around me, but they were still watching me, suspicious that I was going to try to plan some sort of escape again. I wasn’t going to try anything (it’s pretty hard to run in a wedding dress and we were surrounded), but since the phone was still in the Dragon’s pocket, Grandfather would have some idea as to where we were.

The Dragon chuckled. “My patience is wearing out, but if it would amuse you, we will settle this with rock paper scissors.” I crossed my fingers that the Dragon would win, and I wouldn’t have to be with Wolfgang, alone.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Lady Luck wasn’t smiling upon me, as Wolfgang pulled a rock to smash his father’s scissors.

“So, now can I be alone with my fiancée? You and I can talk later.”

“Very well, son. You’ve won fair and square.” Two of the terrorists moved forward to escort us to our separate vehicle, when suddenly Heathcliff jumped forward.

“Wait! A couple should not be alone together, especially with someone like Wolfgang! This villain,” he flourished his hand, “kidnapped Miss Theodora. Wouldn’t that question his intentions towards her? He could possibly breach her virtue.”

I stifled the urge to do a face-palm. He must’ve thought that was a grand and impressive speech, but he was unconsciously risking his life. I could very well defend myself if Wolfgang tried to do anything to me. I shot Heathcliff some “Stand down and behave” glares, but he didn’t notice.

“I’m sorry,” said Wolfgang with a smirk, “but she’s already mine.” He hoisted me up onto his shoulder in a fireman’s hold, and I suddenly found myself quite helplessly getting carried off. I looked up through the curtain of hair that had fallen over my face, and saw the Dragon escorting my allies off to the first truck in the group.

“Come now youngsters, let’s leave the lovebirds alone shall we? We have some matters to discuss, I suppose.”

I was placed in the seat of the truck, Wolfgang right besides me, and the truck started away at a rather alarming speed. It was one of those trucks with a heavy armour shell, nearly bulletproof glass, and the cab was completely cut off from the back seats by a pane of metal. So to sum it up, I was completely isolated with one of the last people I wished to be isolated with.

I tried inching away unnoticeably, but Wolfgang noticed and grabbed my shoulders, and pushed me down onto the seat until I was lying down beneath him, his hands still on my shoulders. Some unsavoury thoughts ran through my head, thinking of what he might possibly be trying to do. I tried to wiggle out of this position, but to no avail. He switches his grips to my wrists, which he pinned down. He leaned down, and I moved my head to the side, so he ended up awkwardly kissing my cheek. He leaned his head against mine, his mouth softly grazing my ears.

“You’re so beautiful, love. I couldn’t bear it if you were around those guys instead of me,” he breathed into my ear

“Such an interesting way to show your interest. Could be considered quite perverted actually.”

“What can I say? I’m jealous and possessive. When I want something, I get it. And I don’t share.” His lips started making their way towards mine, and I managed to move my upper body forward to block him off from going any further.

“Stop, please. Not now,” I whisper. “It’s been enough for a day.”

Wolfgang let go of me, and sat back. “I will respect your wishes. But only if you let me kiss you.” He looked at me with pleading eyes, and for a moment, I could see the six-year old Wolfgang in front of me. I sighed.

“Very well,” I replied. He gave me a quick, soft kiss, and then moved towards the window away from me. We were silent for the rest of the trip.

C.N. - chapter 18

So Wolfgang Sebastian was the young man's name? It's a handsome name, times two, I thought it even surpassed Heathcliff's name in handsomeness. If Mr. Dragon had named his son Wolfgang and Sebastian, I wondered if his own name were even more handsome (in addition to Dragon of course). 
Mr. Dragon and Wolfgang were having an argument about how to get to Mr. Dragon's place, and Theo and Heathcliff were speaking in hushed tones about her cellphone. It was a really neat looking cellphone, metallic and smooth; imagine a silver pop-tart, it looked something like that. I thought I would ask Theo later if I can have a cellphone like hers, and find out how much it will cost (I still had a grand, so I thought I could afford to own something stylish; rich people always carry the stylish stuff).
I thought it would be interesting to hear how rich fathers and sons engage in serious conversations, so I stood close to Mr. Dragon and Wolfgang to hear what they have to say to each other.
'Father, the helicopter I have is a stealth and completely silent, if we're planning to go into the mountains especially, I don't see why my aircraft is not the best possible option.'  Wolfgang said.
'Listen, boy, stealth aircraft is the most unreliable of a flying machine ever conceived in the history of aviation, no aircraft is completely invisible, not to mention on radar. I always thought you lacked experience, and I wasn't wrong.' Wolfgang opened his mouth to object, and Mr. Dragon cuts him off, 'Don't argue with me, boy! This is coming from the man who spearheaded the failed bombing of the parliament, I once thought a stealth aircraft can crash into the parliament undetected until the last moment when it would be too late to stop it, but it wasn't so! The air force got that plane along with those suicide bombers before the plane even flew halfway to its destination! I spent my own money training those bombers, you know how much effort it took to make them believe in the afterlife so they won't chicken out? If any of those bombers snitched after that capture I would be history, I had to hire more men just to snuff them all! It was all effort for nothing thanks to some stealth that never was. Can you now see why I never trust a stealth aircraft?'
Wolfgang did not have an argument for this point. Mr. Dragon fixed a stare on Wolfgang until their eyes met, and he said, 'One day, through failure and success you might begin to make informed decisions, but what I'm trying to do now is steer you in the right path.'
'So where were you the last few years when I needed you?' Wolfgang said, their eyes met again.
'Are you absolutely sure you cannot see the blatant answer to that question right in front of you?' Mr. Dragon said in a whisper, I almost didn't make out what he said.
'How can I?' Wolfgang replied, in a whisper.
'Son, do you think visiting me in prison for the rest of my life is better than having me not visit you at all?'
Wolfgang saw the sense in this statement before I did, and he knew he had lost the argument.
Just as well, Mr. Dragon found someone else to talk to just that moment. One of the henchmen snatched Theo's cellphone away and Mr. Dragon said, 'Give it to me.' He took the phone and regarded it in admiration and put it to his ear. 'Why hello, Damian. Talking to you brings so many memories back. How are you?' He said in a delighted voice with a million dollar smirk on his face.
'What? You flatter me, Damian! Oh stop that, you're making me blush.' He listens for some time, 'Yes, yes, you do remember Sebastian, don't you? He's chosen a good pseudonym for himself, the Tiger, yes, he's here too, it will just be like old times, our children over at my place playing their games while we discuss business over tea, shame you can't join us this time.' Damien said something from the other end of the line, Mr. Dragon replied, 'You will? Why that's simply marvelous, it's decided. If you can catch me again this time, I'll be delighted to give them back and come along myself, it's about time soon that I retire anyway, and I'd hate to retire without a lot of people to take care of me. Hello? Hello? Are you still listening?' Mr. Dragon took the phone away from his ear and disconnected the line. He said to Theo and Heathcliff and Wolfgang, 'That was an excellent chat, your grandfather did not change one bit, still a man to be admired! I hung up because it appeared he was having a heart attack at the other end, I'll leave him be, if not we could have chatted a little longer.' For an instant Mr. Dragon was in a moment of peace and reminiscence and there was a smile on his face. 'Well, we ought to get going, and may I say this is an marvelous cellphone!' He walked over to Theo, 'I say your grandfather has lost a few hairs but none of the genius, truly marvelous.'
Mr. Dragon walked off to one of his henchmen to talk, who said something into a walkie-talkie, and then he came back to announce, 'Alright you youngsters, the first truck in the convoy is ours, let's ride.'
'No.' Wolfgang said.
'No? What's wrong with the first truck in the convoy?' Mr. Dragon replied, in a slightly threatening voice.
'I want to ride with Theo, alone.' Wolfgang puts an arm around Theo, and before Heathcliff or Theo could object (which they looked about to do), Mr. Dragon had beaten them to it.
'You would rather spend more time with your fiance than with your dear old man?' Mr. Dragon said, amused somewhat.
'I'm nearly twenty years old, I make my own decisions.' Wolfgang said curtly. Another argument was brewing, I could sense it.
'Hey, I know what you should do!' I said, I brought Mr. Dragon and Wolfgang together, and I said, 'Rock, paper, scissors! If you (to Wolfgang) win, you can ride with Theo, alone, like you said, and if you (to Mr. Dragon) win, we ride together. Now how's that to settle the decision?'
When I heard no one say anything for a while, I looked around and found everyone looking at me with an incredulous expression on their faces.
Seeing their expressions as if to say, 'Are you for real?' I didn't know if rich people did things differently, but back home, it was always rock smashes scissors, paper covers rock and scissors cuts paper. It wasn't very complicated the way I understand it.

T.N - Chapter 17

“Wolfgang Sebastian?” squawked Heathcliff, finally voicing something after several minutes of shocked silence. “You don’t mean that Wolfgang Sebastian that played with me and my darling when we were mere children?”

Ah, so that’s what it was. Wolfgang was a tiny boy (shorter than I was at the time) with an angelic face. He was always forced by Heathcliff to be the villain of his little games, and he always went along with it good-naturedly. But wait, Wolfgang was the son of the Dragon? Did that mean he knew me already?

“You are still children, my dear boy,” chuckled the Dragon. “But yes, he was your playmate all those years ago.”

“Really? I don’t remember it at all…” said Wolfgang, pondering.

“That was so long ago, how long now…perhaps 13 years? My, how time has passed! You were about this tall!” he pointed towards his knee.

“Sir, if you don’t mind, we must be going…someone had notified the Norths and they’re on their way,” said one of the terrorists. My family is on their way! Perhaps I can figure out a way to escape, but I need to stall.

“Excuse me, but I have a question,” I said cautiously. Wolfgang turned towards me and cocked his head to listen. “How are we getting to your hide-out? I assume that it’s rather far away, and reclusive, and I don’t see any quick method of transportation here.”

“She’s right, father,” said Wolfgang, turning to the Dragon. “All I see are heavy-armour trucks, and if we’re dealing with the Norths here, they’re going to have lighter and much faster vehicles.”

“We will be fine. I have my own way of getting to my place.” The Dragon gave Wolfgang a withering look, but he paid no heed.

“If we will be going into high-altitudes, we’ll need something that can fly. I have a helicopter back at the warehouse, so if we could go back…”

“We will not be flying, and this conversation is closed,” said the Dragon icily.

“Are we going on water?” asked Charlie, concerned. “I get slightly sea-sick…” The Dragon turned on Charlie, with rage glinting in his eyes, and I was afraid that the Dragon had lost patience and decided to execute us there and now. Thankfully, the Dragon’s rage seemed to have calmed down, and he just pats Charlie cordially on the head. “I’ll see what we can do, my dear boy.”

Wolfgang started up the argument again, and he and his father turned their backs towards us. Now was my chance.

“Heathcliff!” I hissed, and Heathcliff inched towards me.

“What is it, darling?” he said, in a slightly too loud voice. I shushed him, and he obliged, probably seeing the urgency in my expression. “What is it?” he asked softly.

“Do you have your phone on you?”

“Why yes, I do, actually.” He fished out one of the newest phones on the market out of his pocket. I believe that it was still supposed to be in its prototype stage.

“Does it have GPS tracking on it?”

“Yes…”

“Ah! And do you have my number? Or any of the North family numbers?”

“Uh…I believe so. You’re not going to think any worse of me, are you?” asked Heathcliff rather nervously.

“Not any worse than I already think of you. Hand over the phone.”

Heathcliff obliged. I went through his contact list, and then saw my grandfather’s private number. “Why do you have this?” I asked. Grandfather only ever gave his number to a select number of people, and not many of them outside of the family.

“Well…I was sent by him to try to woo you, and I was supposed to keep him updated…”

Ugh! Grandfather’s up to his old tricks again, even after he said he wouldn’t bother me about suitors during my little vacation. “Whatever,” I shrugged. I dialed his number.

Grandfather picked up the phone on the second dial. “How did it go, Heathcliff?”

“Actually, it’s me.”

“Theo? What are you doing on Heathcliff’s phone? Don’t tell me—“

“No, he was not successful, nor did I beat him up and steal his phone. It’s a long story. But let’s just say we’ve been kidnapped by the Dragon and his son, and we’re almost on our way to his hide-out.”

“Are you alright?” Grandfather’s voice stayed calm; I expected no less from him.

“Perfectly fine. A little tired, at the most.”

“How are they getting there? Do you have a rough location?”

“I don’t know how, they’re arguing over it. And it’s somewhere in the mountains. I’m going to leave the GPS tracking on, so you can follow—“ The phone was suddenly snatched out of my hand.

“Well, well, well. Aren’t you clever?” said one of the terrorists. One of his colleagues grabbed my hands and put them behind my back. “Boss, what should I do with it?”

“Give it to me.” He took the phone from the terrorist. He smirked, mostly at me.

“Why hello, Damian. Talking to you brings so many memories back. How are you?”

T.N - Chapter 16

“Congratulations, I say, congratulations, boy, you've just bought you and your friend and my son's fiancée some more time, well done,” said the Dragon, much to my shock. I’m surprised the Dragon let us off. For a man with a bloodthirsty reputation, he isn’t really known as a man who would give you a “Get Out Of Jail” card for free. And yet somehow, the infamous Dragon is letting us go.

I knew he only said some time, but it was enough to start thinking of a way to get myself, Charlie and Heathcliff out of this situation again. I was tempted to leave Heathcliff behind for all of the annoying things he would say, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I’ve known him since I was 6 and he was 8. Even at the time, he was quite idiotic, absolutely obsessed with fairytales and being the “Prince” in every game we played. I suppose my dislike of overbearing suitors started from that childhood trauma of being forced into acting out his little fantasies straight from the huge encyclopedic book of fairytales he had.

I was snapped out of reminiscing when the Tiger burst out into some sort of childish fit. “How dare you! You just leave me, with absolutely no warning, expecting me to step into your shoes when our training wasn’t even complete!”

The Dragon shook his head. “You should always be ready my boy. What if I had really died? You would never have been able to take over the business.” The Dragon’s voice slid into icy tones, and the Tiger immediately stopped his tantrum.

“I don’t need to take up every single inch that your rather large shoes left,” the Tiger stated. “I have our money behind, plus my fiancée’s. Haven’t you realized who she is?”

The Dragon turned his attention to me, and I could feel the blood drain from my cheeks. Within a few strides, the Dragon was in front of me, inspecting my face. “Ah, if it isn’t the young North heiress. How nice to see you’ve made friends with my boy, especially coming from my arch-enemy’s family.” He took my chin in his hands and raised my face. “I do wonder if you’re a spy.”

“Ask your son. He’s the one who kidnapped me. I had no arrangement in this what so ever,” I scoffed. “From what I heard, that’s something you taught him, hmm?”

“Ooh, feisty girl.” He let go of me, and I felt a shudder climb up my arm. “Much like your mother, I must say,” he said to the Tiger. From the sudden and subtle shift in the Dragon’s facial expression, it seemed like she wasn’t in the picture anymore. He sighed heavily. “I guess we must be going now.” He and some of his own men (probably terrorists) started walking towards some vehicles.

“Wait, the warehouse is the other way,” pointed out the Tiger.

“Who says we’re going to the warehouse?” replied the Dragon. “That place is old, and if someone so idiotic and naïve like this boy can figure out how to get here, we won’t be safe there. We’re going to my place.”

“You mean we’re going into the mountains or something?” asked Charlie innocently. He didn’t seem to have understood that the previous comment was aimed at him.

I just looked at him in some mix of shock and awe. For a guy my age, how stupid and green could he be? You don’t ask that type of questions to a man known for fraud, murder, escaping prison and hanging out with terrorists!

The Dragon just chuckled, to my relief. “Yes, I suppose you could say that youngster. It’s much safer there.”

“I need to go back to get my stuff!” exclaimed the Tiger.

“We don’t have time, Wolfgang Sebastian! Now listen to your father and come along!” snapped the Dragon.

“Yes, father,” muttered the Tiger…or should I say, Wolfgang. He shuffled towards the vehicles.

I paused to think for a second. Wolfgang Sebastian…why did that seem so familiar? 

C.N. - chapter 15

I thought helicopters that can air-lift cars are all in the movies, until the helicopter showed up, lifted the car into the air, and flew away with it and with us in it. The did that with a super-magnet suspended on a steel cable attached to the helicopter, which was surprisingly strong in grip. My pin flew from my suit pocket and stuck to the roof of the car. We (and especially I) were too occupied with the surprise of it all to get out while jumping could still be attempted, so by the time Heathcliff suggested that we ought to jump, we were flying at least one hundred meters over the city. It was quite nausea inducing, and Heathcliff vomited out the window (hopefully it didn't become an unpleasant rain for some poor fellow down below). I rolled down my window and poked my head out into the air to look at the helicopter, which has the logo 'D-Air Delivery', I thought it was a clever title.
'What did you see?' Theodora asked me.
'It's a big helicopter, with a logo on it. The logo says D-Air Delivery, clever, isn't it?' Momentarily I forgot about the situation and focused on thinking about the logo.
'Beside the point! I didn't escape one kidnapping just so I can be kidnapped all over again!' Theodora rolled down the window at her side and yelled at the helicopter. 'HEY! WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS? PUT US DOWN THIS INSTANT! DO YOU HEAR ME WHOEVER THE HELL YOU ARE!'
'PUT MY FIANCE DOWN THIS INSTANT, YOU HEARD HER!' Heathcliff joined in, having recovered from his air-sickness.
'YOU STOP THIS SILLINESS! HEATHCLIFF! I'VE ALREADY MADE MYSELF CLEAR AT TWELVE AND THAT HASN'T CHANGED! I'M NOT YOUR FIANCE!' Theodora screamed at Heathcliff. Heathcliff sulked. Despite the flapping beat of the chopper propellers, I heard laughter coming from within the cockpit.
'What's so funny?' I called to the cockpit.
'More laughter. 'Yo dude, even I wasn't expecting this when I signed up for the job.' Someone from the helicopter said.
'WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!' Theodora yelled.
'We're henchmen,' said another voice from the cockpit, 'tasked to retrieve Master Tiger's stolen vehicle.
'That stupid Tiger couldn't have called up a clever trick as this.' Theodora said plainly.
'Oh that, yes, we partially agree.' Said the henchmen, 'Good thing is, there was a higher authority on deck at the time, so we took orders from the smarter fellow.'
Theodora looked at me, puzzled. I looked at her, even more puzzled. Heathcliff looked between both of us, and declared, 'I shall save us from this dire situation! Here's what we'll do, the moment this helicopter lands us on the ground, we start the ignition and speed out! That will teach them to let us steal the Tiger's ride in the first place, we shan't give it back.'
'Hey! We heard that!' One of the henchmen said, and then they fell into a conversation between the two of them, discussing how to make sure we don't get away when the chopper touches down.
'Well done, Heath, well done.' Theodora facepalmed and shook her head.
'So,' I began on a new topic of introducing myself to Theodora, 'I'm Charlie by the way, Charlie North, and you're Theodora North, very nice to meet you, a few hours ago I thought I was in the only North family in the world! You've proved me wrong.' I extended a hand for her to shake with a smile on my face. 'And by the way, that's a great dress.' I added, complimenting her bride gown.
'HEY! I WAS SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT!' Heathcliff chimed in.

When the helicopter neared ground, the super-magnet dropped the car onto the flat pavement of an abandoned airfield that stretched for as far as the eye can see all around us. A few men in black suits were standing some way off beside two black cars, I recognized two to be in a deep discussion and paying no attention to the arrival of us in the air-lifted sports car. One of the two was the young man from the warehouse, whom Theodora had called the Tiger. This was only the second Tiger I've heard of next to Tiger Woods, I toyed with the idea whether this young man's name should also happen to be Tiger Woods. My day was full of strange, coincidental names.
Tiger and the other, older fellow came over as the car touched ground, and Theodora started the ignition, according to the last-resort escape plan. Nothing happened, the older man was pointing a remote control of some sort at the car, and the engine did not start. How odd.
Tiger's men escorted the three of us out of the car and stood us in line facing Tiger and the older guy. The older guy was old enough to be Tiger's father, with similar, crisp, but more seasoned facial features, which remain handsome despite my estimate that he's at least fifty years old. One look told me that this guy had a lot of money.
To everyone's apparent surprise, I spoke first. 'I didn't get your name last time, I'm quite sorry,' I said to Tiger, 'Your name is Tiger, if I'm correct, does your last name happen to be Woods?' I must say it was a good joke, but nobody laughed except for the older guy.
'Ha, ha! My dear boy, you see? Now this is what I call a pure human being.' The older guy said to Tiger, who looked a mix between shock and joy and fading anger. 'Such sincerity in his voice, such lack of comprehension to the evil around him, such genuine idiocy. I treasure such purity, I truly do.' He rubbed his eyes and scratched his head lightly. I didn't get what he said prior, I also scratched my head.
I looked at Heathcliff's and Theodora's reaction to all this, both of them are very white in the face, as if they've seen a gutted cow for the first time (which was what happened to me when I saw a gutted cow for the first time, I was five).
'Excuse me, father, we've not discussed the more pressing matters, I suggest we-' Tiger said to the older guy, he got interrupted midway by the man that turned out to be indeed his father.
'Slowly, my dear boy, take it one thing at a time. I was on my way to see you after such a long absence, and all of a sudden I was T-boned by a parade of motorcycles, and you were in one of them! What father in such a situation would not ask what in dollar's name was his son so urgently chasing. And now we know,' he turned to me, Heathcliff and Theodora, 'You felons stole my son's car, it was my last birthday present to him before I went on my really long trip from which I've just returned.'
'Yes father, let me explain...this three...well, her (pointing to Theodora), she's my fiance, who I took to be my own without consent as you had taught me, and these two (gesturing to me and Heathcliff)...they're friends of hers who've come to rescue her.' Tiger was tripping over some his his words.
Then I realized who the older man is apart from being Tiger's father. I spoke, interrupting everyone.
'I know you now!' I exclaimed, pointing to the older man, 'You're who Heathcliff called the Dragon, a world-famous terrorist who is believed to be hiding in the mountains with other terrorists after you blew up a prison!' I extended a hand for him to shake, 'So you're not hiding in the mountains with other terrorists!' I acknowledged.
The Dragon laughed a good, amused laugh. Heathcliff and Theodora both looked at me, in some form of horror, and Tiger was in some sort of shock.
'Oh, my boy,' the Dragon took my hand and shook it, laughing all the way, 'You've made my day. As a matter of fact, you've made my day so much that I can not possibly execute you right here, you're too valuable, I must keep you for a bit longer. Congratulations, I say, congratulations, boy, you've just bought you and your friend and my son's fiance some more time, well done.' He gave me a pat on the back
I smiled, for I could think of nothing else to do, I didn't fully understand him then, but he gave me no time to ask further questions.
'Now son, we ought to look into this fiance business here in a short while, in the meantime, what was that you wish to discuss with me again?' The Dragon said to Tiger.
Tiger was flushed in the cheeks and looked frustrated. 'Well, firstly father, where were you for the past-past six years! You died, did you not!'
'Died? Oh my dear boy, give your old man some credit, even in one man's death his relations ought to celebrate his life, not mourn his passing! Confucius' teacher said that. From what I gathered, there wasn't a lot of celebration after my supposed passing, you were in your room bawling your eyes out while gray suits from the justice department stripped our home bare!' The Dragon drew a breath, 'You failed even to acknowledge my legacy, no celebration whatsoever, and now, I'm back to take it back.'

C.N. - chapter 14

Before I could accuse Heathcliff of totaling my car, we were surrounded by men carrying semi-automatics and a young man about my age (but looks to be a few years older facially), who I perceive to be the leader of these men, and before I could ask a question regarding the nature of my situation, Heathcliff began to accuse this young man of kidnapping Miss Theodora, and before this young man could compose a full reply, we were interrupted by who I perceive to be Miss Theodora North in a jaw-dropping stunning wedding dress (who did not look to be in a hostage situation, and if she was, she's handling it quite well I must say) and caused Heathcliff to have another seizure. And then, Theodora and the young man who I perceive to be the suitor who kidnapped her had a small conversation about Heathcliff, and before I could learn the name of this young man, Heathcliff recovered from his seizure and let loose another string of absurdities declaring his love for Miss Theodora (who by the way didn't look too relieved to see him), and then challenged the young man to a duel of pistols, 'let's settle this like men,' he said.
If I am correct, I believe the effects of the vodka he had consumed earlier had not left him, and the next thing I knew, they were standing a distance away from a round target, taking aim and blowing their shots at the disc. The young man's men stood to the side, their gazes fixed on the target as Heathcliff and their leader struck several fifty pointers, but no bull's eye yet.
I saw Miss Theodora standing away from the shoot, near the gaping hole in the doors that Heathcliff had created, and I too went over, with the thoughts to introduce myself and find out a bearing of this bizarre situation.
I could see why Heathcliff fell so madly for Miss Theodora, she is radiant, vastly comparable to Nicole Kidman; there is not only beauty in her appearance, which is matched by intelligence, and something I can't put a name to, maybe worldliness? Didn't know what that meant but it seemed fit. I looked on the shooting in the meantime.
I was at a loss for words, not because I had nothing to say, or ask, more specifically, which puzzled me.
When I looked to where she was standing, Miss Theodora was gone, I looked towards the hole in the wall just to see her go out of it. I looked back at the shooting game, both the young man and Heathcliff were occupied by the target (still no bull's eye). I made the decision to follow Miss Theodora, as no one was looking my way.

There was a sports car in the parking lot, which Heathcliff and I missed sighting when we first pulled in, and Miss Theodora was walking towards it with the looks of the intent of driving away in it.
I spoke, raising my hand like in elementary school, 'hey, um, need some help there?'
She turned around and exclaimed, 'Of course I do! I'm going to get as far away from this house of buffoons as possible, what could I be doing? And if you're sane, you ought to come along.'
'Um...' I said.
'Um what?! It's a relief that you've come quickly enough, now don't lose your gained time and help me here!'
If I guessed correctly, I think Miss Theodora was more annoyed if anything about getting 'kidnapped' by the son of an infamous terrorist and then 'rescued' by her Prince Charming childhood friend. After this thought, I didn't know where to go from there.
'Um...' I still didn't know what to say.
Theodora walked to the yellow and black sports car and pulled at the handle, it's unlocked. And then she inspected the interior of the car, and yelled, 'Darn!' Her head reappeared from beneath the hood and she looked back at me. 'Make yourself helpful, can you pick an ignition a lock?'
I made the action to fish a paper clip out of my pocket, which wasn't there because I was wearing those black dress pants Heathcliff insisted I wear, so I held up a pin from my suit (now dusty) and said, 'Are those locks just like tractor ignitions?'
Back when I was younger and living on dad's farm, he was forgetful, so after plowing a field one day he'd forget where he had put the tractor keys, and since he's too lazy to try to remember where the keys went or search for them, he learned how to pick tractor ignition locks and taught me too (and then he forgot it on purpose because his son now know the craft and can substitute for his old man). After that, every time he misplaced the keys, he got me to start the tractor ignition with a paper clip.
I didn't get to tell that story to Theodora after I got the car started with the pin (it took about thirty seconds), because she jumped in immediately when she heard the engine roar to life, ignoring the well-being of the dress, and pulled me into the shotgun seat. 'Thanks a dozen!' She yelled, giving me a punch in the shoulder, and began to back the car shakily out of the lot, and towards the main entrances.
The men with guns in the warehouse must have heard this, because they came running out and took aim at us with their weapons. Then, their affirmed leader, the young man came running out of the hole in the dock doors too, waving his arms, probably a signal to cease fire. And then, a portion of the dock doors to the left of the first hole disintegrated and a forklift truck came crashing through, helmed by no other than Heathcliff, his face locked in a priceless expression of self-realized heroism.
The forklift sped up and the young man's men dodged out of the way as it came speeding after us. By then Theodora had cleared the entrance to the warehouse compound and was speeding towards the central docks, Heathcliff's forklift cleared the entrance a few moments later, followed by the young man's men on motorcycles, the young man riding in a sidecar on one of them. These vehicles all chased after one or another along the dock road, speeding towards the canal draw bridge. If you can not visualize this image, just think the subway chase from The French Connection combined with the motorcycle chase from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with a forklift between them. I was surprised the forklift could travel that fast.
I looked back at Heathcliff, who was struggling to gain on us, I waved and yelled, 'Just one moment!' and then I asked Theodora, 'Um...Miss? Should you slow down a bit so your friend of long-time-no-see can catch up to us?'
Theodora was careening left and right to avoid incoming cars, as she was driving in the lane of the opposite direction, she turned back to look at the forklift behind us. 'Oh bother!' She did a facepalm before directing her vision back to the front just in time to narrowly miss an incoming truck.
When I looked back again, I was surprised to see Heathcliff only a five meter distance behind our car. I rolled down a window. He was shouting, 'Wait for me!'
I wasn't at the wheel, so I asked Theodora with mild awkwardness, 'We're not leaving him behind, right?' Just as I said this, motorcycles emerged from the midst of vehicles about a hundred meters behind the forklift, one of them with a sidecar. Someone fired a shot and it struck the forklift, producing a 'ding'.
'I wish!' Theodora replied, she braked and then the forklift caught up beside us.
'My love! Me coming to the rescue, that was quite spectacular, what I did, was it not?' Heathcliff called out, and winked. Another round of bullets struck the forklift to no effect.
'It was plainly stupid!' Theodora yelled back.
'Heroic deeds may appear irrational, but never is the hero's heart untrue to these heroic deeds, and that's what counts.' Heathcliff said reassuringly.
'So you've not learned any more sense since the last I've seen of you.' Theodora sighed.
'Sidekick (referring to me)! Make room and open that door, I shall leap!' Heathcliff shouted, adrenaline in his voice.
'Oh no, not this stunt again.' Theodora facepalmed.
'What? You'll die!' I exclaimed as I moved to the back seat and opened the door on my side as wide as I could, I did not know why I followed his insane commands.
With one foot still on the gas pedal of the forklift, Heathcliff prepared to cover the meter distance in flight from the forklift into the open door of the sports car. Theodora did her best so the vehicles stayed at level.
'One, two three, four, five, six...' Heathcliff began counting and breathing in rapidly.
'When are you jumping?' I shouted.
'Random number!' Heathcliff screamed and leaped. The leap was too high and the ambition too great. He landed onto the hood of the car, there was a thumping sound, he dented the section right above my head, and I presume he grabbed for dear life. The forklift fell away form the road and crashed into a fence.
Just then, I looked back to see the convoy of motorcycles and one sidecar pushing the other cars off the road and into the ditches, gaining by the second. And then, inexplicably, a long, black car shot out of a side road without warning behind us, cutting off the entire width of the road, the motorcycles all T-boned into the side of that car and I was spared of the sight at the other side of the vehicle.
Sometime later, Theodora let the car slow down so Heathcliff could climb off the hood and into the car beside me through a window, he made the motion to kiss Theodora, and she ducked away.
'Don't you ever try that again you idiot!' She gave his a swat on the head.
'Brilliant driving, my darling!' Heathcliff began, he didn't finish because the car was suddenly lifted from the ground, swinging from side to side, and commenced flying.
I screamed, Heathcliff screamed, Theodora screamed. We all screamed.