As I listened to his words, his eyes glistening with doom and panic, I quickly gestured for us to walk towards the bathroom as the two of us whispered.
"What do you mean by 'problem'?'"
Reaching the sink, I washed the oil off my hands and took to the hand towel to dry them. Beside me, Oliver jerked his gaze to the air right next to the table, right in front of the spice jar actually, and narrowed his eyes as he lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Ava just told me that Mark and James are currently carrying out some sort of plan in High Street. However, some people from High Street have caught on to them and are currently setting a trap for them. If nothing is done, they might be caught and executed."
Oliver bit his lip as he rapped through the explanation, one hand shooting out to grasp the edge of my clothes.
"We have to head to High Street. Now."
Turning around, he shot another look at my parents, before gently pulling on my clothes.
"Alright. But how? My room doesn't have any windows to sneak out of."
Placing the towel back, the two of us walked back to the table, making sure to keep our voices low enough that my parents wouldn't hear them.
"That..."
Oliver shifted his eyes towards the area in front of the spice jar and paused, probably listening to his system talk, before he gave a brief nod of his head.
"Ava suggested saying that we're going to head to Ralph's apartment, or somewhere outside the apartment, and then sneak to High Street from there. She says she'll meet us there since she needs to go grab her friend who used to live in High Street, so she could guide us."
The two of us reached the entrance of the kitchen, and I hesitated for a slight second.
I didn't want to lie to my parents. Even if it was for a valid reason. And using Ralph's apartment as an excuse was way too easy to debunk. If we wanted a place that would be far enough that it wouldn't be easy to check in on us, and would also be trusted enough that they would allow us to go there when the sun had already set, there was only one place.
"Mom, Dad. I need to use your phone for a bit."
Calling out to my parents, I slipped my hand into Oliver's as I dragged him to my parent's room.
"Alright."
With a cheerful voice, my mother replied from the kitchen, before she burst out into a chuckle at something my father probably did.
Taking out a set of keys from my pocket, I used my free hand to slide one of them into the door lock and turned it. Then, pulling Oliver inside, I locked the door.
Stretching my hand up on the wall, I felt around until my fingers stumbled on the light switch and flicked it, illuminating the small but warm room in front of us.
In the corner of the room, on our immediate right, was a large wardrobe that could fit two people's clothes. Touching that wardrobe was a small bedside table that had trinkets and appliances piled up on it. Beside that table, right next to a small window opening up to the view of the back of the apartment building, was a large bed that could fit two people. And at the foot of the bed, almost right in front of us, was a Long rectangular table with stacks of newspapers on it, and my target in entering this room, was the telephone.
The two of us took a step forward, with me leading Oliver, as we walked over to the telephone and I lifted the receiver. Then, with great familiarity, I quickly dialed a number into the phone and put the receiver near my ear.
"Beep...beep...beep...Walton family here."
Over the line, I heard a crisp and cool woman's voice speak into my ears. It was Frank's mother, Jesse.
"It's me, Dan. Could I speak to Oliver?
"Sure!"
After I mentioned my name, the voice turned warm and sweet as it enthusiastically replied, before I heard Frank's name coming from some distance away.
"Wait a second, he's coming right now."
Jesse chirped at me for a second before the sound of running could be heard over the phone and panting sounds overtook the phone.
"I'm...here."
Hearing Frank's voice, I waited a couple of seconds for him to catch his breath before I explained why I was calling him so late at night.
"Could you cover for me and say that I went to your house?"
I spoke softly into the phone, and I could hear Frank's breathing calm down shockingly fast as he seemed to fall into silence as he thought to himself.
"Is the reason a secret?"
Turning to Oliver, I repeated Frank's question and watched as Oliver nodded his head.
"Yes."
"Then, can I come?"
At this point, Frank's breathing had returned to its usual pace, and his voice seemed to drop into a soft whisper.
"It has to do with Oliver right?"
I signaled to Oliver, and when he heard the question, he seemed to freeze for a while. His face contorted as the gears in his head started turning. They spun, and ground at each other, making loud noises as the room descended into silence. Then, with a small sigh, Oliver waved his hand in acceptance.
"He says it's alright."
Giving Oliver a thankful smile, I saw him gesture for me to quickly wrap up our talk while telling me the location of our meeting point.
"The meeting place is outside the school. It's an emergency, so we're heading out now. See you there."
Bidding goodbye, I hung up on Frank and Oliver and I shared a glance. We then walked out of the room.
"Mom, Dad! Something came up so we're heading over to Frank's house for a while!"
Making a beeline to the door, we waited with bated breath for my parent's reaction. And when I heard my mother give us an 'Ok! Be safe!", I sighed in relief and opened the door. Then, locking it behind us, the two of us started running towards the school.
"So? What's Mark and James' plan?"
Rushing down the stairs, we immediately turned right and ran straight towards the school. We took the large road there, which was properly illuminated with streetlights. And as I ran, I asked Oliver for more details.
"I can't speak of their whole plan yet, since the fewer people who know about it the better. And we're currently running on a road. However, a visit to High Street wasn't in their original one, so something unexpected must have happened on the way. One of the systems overseeing Mark and James must have seen it and told Ava. What Ava told me was that those people in High Street seemed to be setting a trap for Mark and James, and that if nobody heads there right now, the two of them will be caught, and their original plan would end in failure."
Gritting his teeth, Oliver explained to me between breaths as we arrived in front of the school. Since it was currently night, the lights inside the school were off so the usually bright and magnificent appearance of the school, which was once a theater, turned malignant and menacing.
We caught our breath under one of the streetlights outside the school as we waited for Frank, Ava, and Ava's friend.
"Do we at least know where in High Street the two of them are?"
I leaned my hand against the lamp as I sucked the cool night breeze into my lungs.
"Yes. Ava said they were at Middle High Street, inside the Main cemetery."
"Main cemetery?"
Twisting my neck, I gave Oliver a confused look between breaths and saw him gulp in air before explaining.
"It's like the MDVA cemetery here in Middle Street. Except, since the death rate in High Street is much lower, they only have one for the whole Street called the Main Cemetery. It's a large cemetery, with a water fountain on the first floor, and is fully air-conditioned all day."
Listening to Oliver's description of the cemetery, reminded me of the cemetery Linel had mentioned quite a while ago when we had visited WIll with Linel and Frank.
"I'm here!"
Retrieving my hand from the lamp pole, I straightened my back just in time to hear Frank's voice coming from the left of the school. After that voice, the echoes of footsteps became louder and louder until the scene of a red-faced boy running towards us emerged. Reaching us, Frank leaned his hand against the same lamp post I had used and wiped the sweat dripping from his chin with the back of his hand.
"So, where are we going?"
Panting, Frank didn't forget to ask this question as he tried his best to regain his breath. Lifting his head, he first looked at me, then at Oliver, before looking back at me again.
"High Street."
As the one who started this whole operation, Oliver answered as he gestured for us to follow him and walked past Frank.
Sharing a look with Frank, I saw him push himself off the lamppost as the three of us swerved around the school and headed towards High Street.
"Our target is Middle High Street, specifically the Main cemetery there. What we're supposed to do is to warn Mark and James about those people from High Street, and distract them if needed."
Beside me, Frank nodded his head, not questioning who Mark and James were. In front of me, I saw Oliver sneak a glance at a space beside him before he returned his gaze to the road in front of us.
The three of us walked in almost absolute silence, where the loudest sound was the footsteps we made on the cheap black roads. Past the school, we reached the crosswalk that separated High Street from Middle Street. Across this crosswalk was the local shop where Joel and Jade worked. Of course, since it was night, the local shop was closed. However, the sight of it brought the two lackeys of my father to mind, and I found myself wondering whether they knew of the project Oliver was currently doing.
"From here on out, we have to be careful. If we're caught here, it's over for us."
A harsh whisper came from in front of me, and I focused my attention on the task ahead. Sneaking across the crosswalk, we entered Bottom High Street and continued walking straight ahead.
"The Main cemetery is between the Asylum and Hope Research Center. It's big and white, so we can't miss it."
Just as Oliver mentioned those words, a large white building came into sight. It was massive. Towering over the neighboring buildings with its tall towers and large pointy roof. In the night sky, although most of the neighboring buildings were shrouded in darkness, it was the only one that was decently well-lit, with light streaming out of its tall glass windows.
And in front of the large building, two small lights were walking towards the door.
"Are those our targets?"
Instinctively, the three of us hid in a small alleyway, quite a distance away from the lights. Keeping Oliver's words in mind, the three of us couldn't just saunter up and blatantly hide near the targets. We would immediately be found out.
Narrowing my eyes, I was trying my best to stare at the lights and at least try to discern the faces of the two people who were holding them, when Oliver suddenly called from behind me.
"Follow me!"
Serving my head, I saw Oliver gesture as he went deeper into the alleyways. We silently followed his lead, technically it was his system's friend's lead, and hurried through several twists and turns before two small lights appeared not so far away from us. The system had managed to maneuver us into the alleyway just slightly ahead of the two lights.
"Do you reckon those two rats are here?"
The man carrying the light further away from us sneered as the flashlight he held illuminated his ugly face.
"Definitely. Those people from the lower streets aren't as smart as us. The only reason why it's been so hard to crush them is because they have quite a lot of help from those traitors in High Street. Without them, the so-called 'Anti-MDVA Prevention Act faction' would have disappeared many years ago."
The man holding the flashlight nearest to us gave a mean crackle as the two made their way to the doors of the Main cemetery. Shifting my eyes, I saw Oliver glare at the two as he leaned slightly forward to observe them.
"So? How are we going to distract them?'
Standing on my left, Frank asked in a small voice as his eyes remained fixed on the two men with flashlights. They were still a little distance away from the Main cemetery, so we had a little room to breathe and think. However, we still needed to act fast if we wanted to stop them in time.
"Let's head inside and warn Mark and James first."
Stepping back, we followed 'Oliver's' lead into the alleyways again as we headed somewhere. Some distance away from them, we suddenly heard a cry of alarm from one of the men, and sped up our steps.
"I've called some backup to help distract them for me, so we should have enough time to search for Mark and James. If the two men enter the Main cemetery, my backup should alert us."
Leaving a system behind, most likely Ava, we were led through another set of twisting alleyways until we popped out at an area incredibly close to a door to the Main cemetery.
"This should be one of the side doors inside. From here forward, we'll need to keep an eye out for the two of them."
Running up to the door, I didn't see any scratches on the keyhole or any key in it. Holding my breath in nervousness, I saw Oliver narrow his eyes as he reached out a hand to turn the door knob.
Click
It was open.
Letting out a sigh of relief, we opened the door big enough for us to enter before quietly closing it. Then, as we turned around and prepared to search the cemetery, we paused.
At twice the height of our apartment, a magnificent water fountain spilled water into its wide basin in the middle of the cemetery's reception. The bubbling liquid was clear, refreshing-looking, and probably enough to feed the whole of Top Bottom Street. The reception area was so large that we could barely see the line where the floor met the wall.
Taking a step forward, the sound of my dirty shoes on the pristine golden-colored floor tiles made me freeze in my steps.
"Where do we even start?"
I heard Frank's stunned voice coming from my left before the confident steps of Oliver on my right drew my attention.
"This way."
Ignoring the waterfall, Oliver headed toward the back portion of the cemetery and stopped in front of what looked like a door. Beside the door was a small panel with a button on it. Oliver stretched out a hand to press that button, and the door slid open silently in front of us, and we all filled into the elevator.
"What floor do we have to ..."
Being the last person to enter the elevator, Frank asked as he reached his hand towards the elevator control panel right beside the door. However, before he could finish his sentence, his voice dwindled and he just pressed a button. Leaning to see the panel, I immediately understood why he had stopped asking. There was only one floor other than the reception floor.