Ink

Chapter 40

"Maybe this will be good for the two of you." Caleb begins as we walk quickly through the populated hallways. "A little sister-to-sister bonding."

"I don't know if we'll ever really be able to have sister-to-sister bonding at this rate." I say. "I mean, I did question her authority and say her plan wouldn't work."

"You do have a point there. I almost forgot about that."He scratches his head."Maybe this will be more difficult than I thought."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

"Listen, Al?" Caleb says, pulling us to a stop."There's something I should probably tell you."

"What?"

"I don't have the credentials to get us up stairs. My ID code won't permit it until I've reached a higher rank."

"I was wondering if something was wrong."I say, offering him a smile."It felt we were going in circles for a while there."

He scratches the back of his head with a nervous laugh. I've noticed that he tends to do this when he is hiding something.

"We weren't actually going in circles, were we?"

"Well..."

"Caleb."

"Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad."

"Are you sure? Sometimes Ryder says that and he actually is-"

"I'm not Ryder."

"I've noticed some similar characteristics."

My brow furrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means?"

"You're calling me a jerk."

Silence.

"I am walking away now." I head down the hall we've been circling for who knows how long and nearly lose my sanity at the sight of a group of men playing cards through the door of an open room. I now realize that I have seen them at least six times.

Wow. I mutter. I must be really unobservant.

Caleb runs after me.

"I didn't mean to make you mad."He says."I wasn't saying you're a jerk, I was thinking!"He manages to stop me again."I meant to say you're a lot like Ryder because you're strong and caring, but sometimes can be a little hot headed, which isn't a bad thing, by the way." He makes sure to point out with his finger in the air."I just figured since you have those things in common you probably get mad the same way too, but now I'm realizing that people aren't the same so that may actually be inaccurate."

Before I know what I'm doing my arms wrap around my friend and hold him in a tight embrace.

"I don't think I could ever be mad at you, Caleb."

I feel him smile into my hair as his arms wrap around me giving me a good squeeze.

"That's good. You're probably my only friend here besides Ryder so it would suck if you hated me."

I laugh. After a few moments we pull away.

"Now, back to the task at hand."I begin."How are we going to find Cleo?"

"Well, I know one way we can do it."Caleb says warily, which makes me suspicious. My brow raises in question."But you may not like it."

"At this point, I'm willing to try anything."

"I'm glad you say that, Al." He says with a growing mishchzevious expression."Because it may or may not involve theft and invasion of privacy."

"What?"