Chapter 8

The van was parked in front of the house when I went out. It was in the same position that we've left it yesterday. The key was still in the ignition. She wouldn't mind if I took the sad looking vehicle, would she? It seemed like it would fall apart any minute. Where was the Hummer anyway?

I chewed on my lips when the van reached the gate. As I rolled the window down, I kept thinking that the facial recognition system wouldn't work. What would happen to me then? Would laser beams appear and shoot me? Was there a trap somewhere? Beep! Okay, stop being paranoid. The gate opened. I shook my head as I drove out of there. My usually composed self was taking a beating lately. I could hardly pull myself together.

Carter jumped from the sofa when he saw me enter the front door of his house. "Where have you been?" he said. "My mom has been worried about you. She was threatening to file kidnapping charges against Mr. Meyer when you didn't go home last night."

I slid on the sofa and exhaled. Damn, so many things have happened in just weeks. "My phone died on me yesterday," I said. "That's why I wasn't able to call you." And I didn't see a phone in Uno's house.

"Okay. What happened with the will reading?"

I covered my face with a pillow. If only I could stop this. "It sucks. Mom gave everything away to charity."

He sat quietly beside me and pondered on it. "That's hardcore, even for her. Mrs. Chance didn't look like the type to leave you alone with nothing. She loved you a lot, and me saying that is an understatement."

"You think?" I removed the pillow so I could look at him properly. "What's worse is Uno is now my guardian."

He cocked an eyebrow, stunned by the news. "Uno? Your Uno?"

"She's not my Uno." The kiss crept on my brain like a deadly virus. Stop thinking about it already. Why did it keep repeating in my head? "If you're talking about that famous multi-millionaire celebrity who happened to be mom's talent, then yes that Uno. Mom appointed her as my guardian, so I have to leave this house and stay with her." I gave him an apologetic look. "Really want to talk to your mom about that and thank her."

"Too late. She and pops just left to meet a client. I don't know where the others are." By others, he meant his sisters. They were a big family and though some were married, they still lived together. In a way they were my family too. Being a single child wasn't as hard when your best friend had lots of sisters. He pointed his thumb to the kitchen. "They left food for you. Do you have to leave now?"

"Not for a little while at least."

Carter and I lounged on the sofa until it was time to pack the van with my stuff. Since I've been staying with them anyway, all I had to do was dump my bags on the seat. "Need anything else?" he asked.

"There's one thing. Can you help me get to my house? I don't have the keys anymore. The attorney took it."

Carter smiled mischievously at my request. If there was one thing he was good at aside from getting along well with females, it was opening locks. He was an expert. In tenth grade he stumbled upon a video online on how to pick locks. Since then, he'd try to master how to open anything. I made him promise that he wouldn't do it for criminal activities someday. "Leave it to me," he said.

My house looked the same as I left it, tidy and medium sized. Not as grandiose as Uno's property. But I loved everything about it, from the yellow walls on the living room, to the blue paint on mine. There was a pinch on my chest when I realized that mom's floral perfume still lingered in the air. It was as if she was still alive. "Wait here," I said to Carter.

My room was messy when I entered. I was dying inside when I was here last, packing my things hastily to stay at Carter's. Still dying, I corrected, though the pain of losing mom has been replaced by confusion. I debated what I would take with me to Uno's. Everything was significant.

Carter poked his head in my room just when I was closing the drawer. "You good?" he asked.

"Yup." I pointed to a mannequin torso that stood in the middle of my room. "Grab that for me please."

He opened the door wider so he could step inside. Carter studied the torso. "It looks creepy," he said with a shudder. It was weird to display an undressed mannequin, but I kept it for one reason. I've always wanted to use it to showcase a dress I've made with my own hands. I just haven't made it yet. "Anything else we should get?" Carter said as he carried the torso. "Why don't you buy a hand or head next time? Just for kicks. Oh, and I suggest putting blood on it and placing it somewhere people would see. They'll freak."

"Shush. I don't say anything about your lock picking addiction, so don't comment on mine."

"Just saying."

I stopped in front of mom's office. "But I'd surely love it if you open her safe."

His eyes grew larger. "The righteous Ms. Chance, asking me for a nasty favor?" He whistled. "The world has changed."

"It surely did."

It was almost sunset when I bid Carter goodbye. His parents were still not home, but I promised to call them as soon as I had my phone charged. And besides, it wasn't as if we wouldn't run into each other. Carter was a brother. He was also taking the same course for college. I'd see his parents one way or another.

Uno's house was quiet as usual when I returned. I placed a bag on the table. I stopped on a store before coming here so we could have something to eat. If she wasn't in the kitchen or living room, maybe she was still locked up in her own bedroom. I went there and knocked loudly like earlier. "I'm back," I called. "Are you hungry? There's food." I made my voice a little friendlier so she'd be encouraged to come out.

"Hello?" I tried the knob. It moved. "I'm coming in," I said. "You might be dead." Okay, not a good joke. I mentally kicked myself. Uno's room was a mirror image of mine. The stark difference was it didn't use a glass wall, but a solid stone on the other end. She wasn't inside, though I could smell her all over the place. It had a calming effect on me.

"Are you in the bathroom?" I said loudly. Still quiet as a tomb, I thought as I stared around. She was neater than most people. Her room was spotless. No clothes hanging on the chair. No cluttered books on the table. No mismatched socks in the corner. On second thought, it felt like she has never used the room before.

A huge painting on the wall grabbed my attention. It was an ordinary painting of a beautiful town somewhere in Germany. I looked not because of the design, but because I recognized the painting.

"No way," I murmured as I walked to it. We had one just like that. An exact copy. When I was younger, I used to draw on its back when I was bored. A very silly game that would make my mom angry if she knew. But that large painting suddenly disappeared. When I asked mom about it, she said that she sold it to someone else. Could it be? I decided to check the back. If it was the same painting, maybe there would be signs of my tampering with it.

Determined to see if it was the same art we had, I carefully pried it from the wall to check. I gasped. The painting was quickly forgotten. What I was focused on was the hidden door on the other side, equipped with a blinking locking mechanism. I replaced the painting and stepped back. It wasn't my intention to see that at all. But now that I knew it was there, a single thought repeated in my head. What was Uno keeping?