Chapter 13

"Wait, wait, wait. You put a chip in his ear?" Ashton asked, trying to keep up with Roy. 

Roy was talking to a man who works at the base in the ICT. The man nodded. Roy turned back to him. "Actually it's in his neck. But I did," he answered. "I totally forgot about it. But I need the papers of the chip so I can get the code to track him down." He paused. "They must be at home. Maybe I hid them in his room. Or in our room. Or under the floor. Or-" Roy's eyes widened. "We have to go again!" He looked at his watch. " It's 12 AM already. Fuck!" He rubbed his eyes.

"Do you know where you hid it?" Roy glanced at him.

"I'm 100 percent sure that it's in our backyard," he replied. "But the thing about our backyard is..."

At home

"IT'S FUCKING HUGE!" Ashton screamed. 

Roy shushed him and hit his head. "You know it's late as fuck right? People are trying to sleep," he scolded. "Unlike you, we have neighbors." Roy studied his backyard. "Okay. I'll be starting at dawn. Are you helping or not?" 

Ashton glanced at him. "Of course I'm helping."

"Good. Grab the shoves in the garage and prepare yourself mentally and physically," Roy told him.

Ashton frowned. "Why should I?"

Roy slapped his shoulder. "You'll know after a few days." 

4 days later

It was 1 in the morning and Skylar was watching TV. He couldn't fall asleep and he lazily zapped through the channels. 

"Local news. A man fought an alligator at the train station. He-"

"Boring," Skylar said and zapped to another channel.

"Hey Patrick, I thought of something funnier than-"

"Meh, I'll watch that later." He put on another channel.

"My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man ali-"

"Yawn." Skylar changed the channel again.

"The popular manga, Samurai Legacy, is getting an anime adaptation. The story is about a boy who-"

"Parker would like that news," Skylar muttered as he zapped through the channels.

"So we still don't know what the real name of the streamer is. They go by the name Ruby," an announcer said. "We don't know a lot of them, but we do know that they're too op for-"

"Eh, wasn't that boring, to be honest." He got off his bed and went out of the room. By the door, Skylar glanced around to see that no one's awake. Without making a noise, he ran to the kitchen. When he opened the door, the lights turned on again. Skylar jumped a little. He rummaged through the kitchen cabinet and grabbed a bag of chips. He opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. After he got his things, he closed the door back and quietly ran back to his room.

"But do you think that they'll ever show his face to the public?" The announcer asked another man.

The man shrugged. "I can't answer that. Only if they're down for it. There's also a chance that we'll never see it because of personal reasons. Or they're not in the mood to get recognized by people. Maybe it's because-"

Skylar sighed and changed the channel back to the news channel. "This place is so boring. There isn't anything to do." Skylar continued watching TV and without him knowing, he fell asleep.

A few hours later

"-ennedy. Ms. Kennedy," Skylar heard faintly. Skylar rubbed his eyes and opened one of them a little. He saw Mary standing next to his bed. His whole body jumped up and he fell from the bed.

"Ouch, my ass," he groaned, rubbing it. Mary stuck her hand out. Skylar took her hand and she steadied him.

"Breakfast will be ready in 30 minutes. Use those 30 minutes to get ready. I've put your clothes on the chair."

"Thank you." She bowed and walked out of the room. Skylar creeps up to the chair to see what kind of clothes he has to wear today. "Please not a dress, please not a dress!" Skylar held it in front of him and threw it back on the chair. "FUCK! You know what, I'm not even surprised anymore." He groaned. "A whole damn week passed in this hell hole and that stupid dad of mine still haven't found me. I'll kick his ass when I get home."

Meanwhile, Roy sneezed and got the chills. He wiped his nose as he wondered who could be talking about him.

30 minutes later

Skylar was watching television when Mary came back. She held out a pair of heels that matched his light blue sundress. He turned off the TV with a sigh and wore the heels that Mary handed him. They walked to the dining room where he met Lex the first time and saw him sitting in the same spot. Skylar flipped one of his switches in his head and brightened his face. He ran up to Lex. "Lex! How are you?" He asked, hugging him. "It was a little lonely without you last night!"

"I'm better now that you're here," he chuckled. The servants put the food down on the table. "Sit down so we can start the day." 

Skylar sat down on the other end of the table. "Can I trust this food? Because it's too early to be drugged." 

Lex smiled and drank his coffee. "You can trust it. If it's drugged, you can do whatever you want with me." Skylar took a bite from the pancakes and chewed it. He swallowed it and waited for something to kick in. "And?"

"It's good," he smiled, eating the rest.

"It seemed that you were mad this morning." 

Skylar stopped eating and raised his eyebrow. "How so?" He asked.

"When you saw the dress you are wearing right now. Don't you like it?" 

Skylar played with his hair. "I love the dress! I just expected something else," he whispered the last part. He shook his head. "But forget that! What are we going to do today? Are we going out like the last four days to buy clothes or something? But I hate being temporarily blind. Going out like that is so boring."

"I wasn't planning on doing anything but work. You can roam around freely if you want to. It has been four days and there are a lot of things to do around here."

"Really?" He asked excitedly. "Don't you think that I'd escape this place?"

"I thought about that. And that's why there are guards walking around." 

Skylar smiled on the outside while he was screaming on the inside. "Okay then! Can I go to your office when I get bored?" He asked.

"Sure." Skylar beamed at Lex while Lex smiled back at him. After breakfast, Skylar walked around the house. He noticed that the room where he was kept in was on the third floor and that there's a library on the second. He observed every inch of the building so he can make a blueprint to use for an escape plan. After he was done with that, he went to the kitchen.

"Hello?" His quiet voice echoed through the big kitchen. He walked inside and went to the knife cabinet. He opened it to see a sharp carving knife. He made a mental note about hiding it for later use and closed the cabinet. He grabbed some snacks and drinks and made his way to the library. He dropped the things on the table there and walked to Lex's office. He knocked on his door.

"Come in." Skylar opened the door and he saw Lex with another man. Skylar smiled at both of them as the man licked his lips. "Can I help you with anything sweetheart?" They were watching every step Skylar took. Skylar sat on his desk and crossed his legs. He glanced at the man who was full-on staring at him.

"Can I have paper, a ruler and a few pencils?" He asked with an innocent smile.

"You are able to find those things in the storage room next to the library. What do you need those for? Are you planning on painting something?" He asked.

"I remember painting my dream home when I was little and now that I don't have anything to do, I was thinking to paint it again," he replied. He excitedly explained what the things were that he wanted in his house when he became older and even suggested that they can use it when they grow old. Lex listened attentively as the other man chuckled at his innocence.

"Sweetheart, I'd love for you to stay and talk, but I have a meeting right now." 

Skylar's attention went back to the man and he stood back straight. "I'm so sorry! It wasn't my intention to ruin your meeting," he apologized while bowing. 

The man held his hand up. "It doesn't matter. It was so cute to listen to you talk," he smiled. 

Skylar went back to the door. "Bye bye!" He grinned and closed the door. 

The man turned back to Lex. "You caught a beauty there, Lex," he chuckled.

"He sure is a beauty. I'm really happy that he got used to living here that easily. It took a while before your wife got comfortable, right?" Lex asked. 

The man nodded. "You really are lucky that he is listening to you."

"Yes, I'm also happy about that. He kind of reminds me of someone that was very dear to me."

Skylar reached the storage room. The door opened and he rolled his eyes when he saw how big it was. He took off his heels and began searching. Everything that he found useful, he put next to his heels. He noticed a closed safe and tried opening it with his bobby pins. After failing miserably, the lock opened and he found some money, keys and a letter. He opened the letter.

"The blueprints with the escape places of this place are hidden in the library. Use the key to unlock the escape places," he whispered to himself. He threw the keys next to the other things and closed the safe back. He put his heels back on and carried everything to the library. He dropped the things next to his food. He locked the library door and left the key in the lock so no one can open it from the outside.

"No cameras, huh? Nice." He thought for the most obvious place to keep a secret room. He thought back to the old cartoons that he loved to watch with his dad and he snapped his fingers. "Of course! Behind one of the bookcases!" He glanced at all the bookcases as a sigh escaped his lips. "If I was in Scooby-Doo, where would the secret door be?" He went to the last bookcase on the right and pulled it from the wall. On the wall, he saw an outline of a door and a keyhole.

"Eureka!" He paused. "Wasn't that too easy or are cartoons that reliable?" He shook his head to get rid of the thought and tried the keys to unlock it. The door opened after he tried a few keys. The room was full of dust and he snatched the blueprints from the table covered in dust. He closed it back and pushed the bookcase back to its place. Skylar opened one of the blueprints and studied it. He rapidly tapped the papers.

"This! This is what I need!" He cheered. "I can make a plan!" After a week, he finally felt hopeful. "Wait for me, everyone. I'll be home soon!"