HDA - Living in Darkness Trilogy - Pt 2 - The Search

Fenton Hardy walked across the parking lot of the hotel and started up the steps. A sudden chill wind swept through the verandah, wrapping around his body, leaving him shivering. Dark clouds blotted out the sun and made the whole world seem to go gray. He'd never thought it could get cold down here in the Caribbean--not like this.

He heard a scream and hurried through the front door to his hotel room. He unlocked the door to find Laura holding a photo album, the small pocket style one could bring anywhere. Her hands were shaking as she handed him the photo album.

Puzzled, Fenton took the album and opened it to the first page. It showed a picture taken about two years ago, from the look of the outfits it must have been a dance. The picture seemed unbalanced for some reason. Frank and his date, Callie Shaw were to one side of the photograph. Fenton didn't see the problem, it just seemed as if something might be missing from the photo.

A cold shiver snaked down his spine as a thought threaded through his mind....or someone... Fenton turned the pages, looked at all the photos of his handsome son and felt that shiver again.

Suddenly, he dropped the album like it was burning hot and took a step back. Someone was missing..."What the hell is going on? Why did I almost forget I had another son?" He gave Laura a panicked look. "What's happening?"

Laura slowly shook her head as tears streamed down her face. "I-I don't know."

Fenton stared down at the photo album and felt a strange sense of displacement. Almost as if he were seeing the image from two points of view. Slowly, he reached down and picked up the album. He opened it again, staring at the photo of Frank and Callie, as if he could will the other half of the foursome originally in the photo to return. He tilted his head to one side and almost caught the impression of two other people in the photo. "My God, it makes no sense."

A knock sounded on the door and he automatically answered it. He looked at the blonde-haired girl for a long moment, and then cleared his throat. "Y-your name..is Vanessa."

Vanessa gave a shaky nod. "Yes, I am. You remember--"

"Come along, Vanessa, we're going." Andrea Bender walked past the doorway, slowed down and finally turned. She looked over at Fenton. "I-I do know..." She looked wide-eyed at Vanessa. "My God, what's going on?"

Fenton shook his head only to stop because what he was seeing made him feel dizzy, off kilter. The walls in the hallway seemed to be fading, morphing into something else. What had once been sage green bead board was now smooth white plaster. A slender red-haired man clad in a bellhop uniform nodded to them as he passed.

Fenton felt a moment's deja vu. He should know this man. He blinked. "Gary Shaw?"

"Sir?" The man slowed down and turned. "Oh, Mr. Hardy, hello. Enjoying your stay at the Savannah?"

Andrea whipped her head around to look at him. "What? I thought it was called Runner's Harbor."

The man reddened. "That little venture, failed, ma'am. Too many weird things happening, never did figure it all out. Janet and I just gave up. We're working here now."

Fenton vaguely remembered a trip his son--no, sons--had taken, they'd come to Barbados with Callie to help...her cousins...Fenton reminded himself to breathe. What the hell was going on? Suddenly another thought slammed into him with all the force of a fist in his gut. What of the other things his sons had helped with over the last two years, the criminals they'd put behind bars...the wrongs they'd righted for so many people? Oh God, what was happening?

***

Jack Sparrow stalked toward the ocean, muttering under his breath. He shook a fist at the calm ocean. He stopped in mid-stride as dark clouds piled up, blocking out clear blue sky and bright spring sunshine. The ocean which had been smooth as glass only moments before started to roil.

Frank stared, stunned as the clouds piled higher, turning nearly black. The wind turned icy, scented with the impending rain, whipping around the four of them, tugging viciously at their clothing. Sparrow's hat flew off but he snatched it up before it could fly away. Frank found it difficult to breath as the gale-force winds stirred up sand and water alike. He'd been searching for something....no, someone...

Harry spun around and yanked open the door to the helicopter. "Get us airborne, Jimmy!"

Jimmy blinked, tore his gaze from the threatening skies, jumped into the helicopter and began to flick the switches to start the engine.

Jack Sparrow's eyes went wide and he grimaced at the impending storm, struggling to stand upright. "Not good, not good..." he muttered, running for the helicopter.

Frank practically shoved him in as the rotor blades began to slowly turn. Frank got in after Jack and took a deep breath. The winds seemed to grow more powerful, shaking the helicopter as it sat there. He felt the lurch as Jimmy took to the skies where fierce winds buffeted the helicopter even more, nearly smashing it back to the ground. "We have to get out of here," shouted Jimmy, looking panicked.

"I know that, I just told you that," Harry shouted back.

"I mean out of the wind. I can't hold this thing forever."

Sparrow pointed to his left. "That way."

Harry twisted in his seat. None of them had bothered with harnesses or headsets. "Why?"

"Well...you wouldn't want to be goin' that way, now would ye?" said Jack, pointing to his right and the black clouds that looked like a wall over the ocean.

Jimmy rolled his eyes and banked the helicopter to the left. The copter shuddered as the wind tossed it around, almost like a child playing rough with his toy. Frank watched a bolt of lightning strike the water barely a yard from them. If the wind didn't smash them down, a lightning strike would fry all the onboard circuits, knocking them back down to the ground.

Suddenly, the rain came down, opaque sheets of water that brought visibility down to zero. Jimmy gripped the stick with both hands, fighting the wind and the heavy rain.

Jack glanced out the small side window and gulped. "Um, will this thing go any faster?"

Frank looked over at Jack. "The weather's impeding us. We may not make it."

Jack gulped again, stared at his right palm which to Frank looked normal enough. "I've ridden out worse storms..." Jack cleared his throat and glanced over his shoulder again. "But naught in a beast like this."

Frank felt his heart skip a beat as the wind seemed to pluck at them, trying to twist the rotor blades in the opposite direction they were turning. For a long, heart-stopping, grinding moment the rotor blades slowed almost to a stop. The helicopter hung stalled in the sky for a moment and then gave a sickening drop.

"I can't hold her!" shouted Jimmy, fighting the controls.

"We're too high up to jump!" yelled Harry, looking quite panicked.

Frank saw the world outside the helicopter tilt. Something crashed into the helicopter with all the force of a freight train. Frank slammed into Jack who slammed into the metal frame of the helicopter. Harry hit the Plexiglas canopy so hard it cracked.

The force of the wind now flipped the helicopter completely over and at at that moment, the wind seemed to release the rotor blades. The blades sliced into the wall of water raining down on them, and the helicopter jerked forward. Jimmy struggled with the controls but the helicopter dropped dangerously close to the ground.

Jack winced and placed his palms together as if in prayer and looked heavenward. "Really truly sorry."

The helicopter hit the ground, the blades crumpled like tin foil and that was the last thing Frank remembered...

***

The first thing that registered was that he couldn't breathe. Frank gagged on salt water and then raised his head, wincing as he did so. His entire body ached like one giant bruise. Slowly, he pried open his eyes and looked around. Muddy water sloshed languidly against his side and he realized the helicopter was half-full of water.

Remembering there had been other passengers, Frank forced himself to sit up, but couldn't find anything to sit on. Then he realized the helicopter was canted at a sharp angle. He looked around and saw that both Harry and Jack seemed to be coming to, Harry groaning as if in pain.

Jimmy coughed hard and moaned. Frank wondered if anyone was seriously injured. "Everyone okay?"

"I-I think I dislocated my shoulder," said Harry, breathlessly.

"Jimmy?"

"I'm okay...I think..." Jimmy's voice seemed to drift in and out and Frank instantly worried that the man might have a concussion.

Frank turned to look at Jack who looked rather dazed himself. "You okay?"

Jack looked over at him blankly. "I don't know."

Frank took a deep breath. "Does anything hurt?"

"Just my head." Jack shifted and glanced down at the water sloshing around his ankles. "Can we maybe get out of this beast before it wakes again and thrashes us?"

After a bit of maneuvering to get out of the upside down helicopter, the four of them staggered further up the beach and sagged to the sand. Jimmy studied the helicopter. "It'll never fly again."

A cold chill swept over Frank despite the warmth of the sun. No one knew where they were. "We need a signal flare or something..."

"There's no rum to be had on this Godforsaken island, she made sure of that," muttered Jack, glaring out to sea.

Frank looked over at him. "Who?"

"Elizabeth..." Jack grunted, looking like he wanted to say more. He blinked, stared out to sea for a moment and then looked over at Frank. "Something's not right."

Harry arched an eyebrow. "You think? I've never seen a storm come up so fast. It was downright freaky."

Jimmy took a deep breath, wincing as he did so. "What do you mean?"

"Storms don't usually come up that fast." Harry shuddered as a breeze blew toward them, chilling their wet clothes. A light drizzle still fell, but nothing compared to the deluge before.

Frank stared out at the ocean for a long moment. Memories, hazy and indistinct raced around his head, not making any sense that he could understand. Not at first. But once he focused on one single image--that of a young blond-haired boy with vivid blue eyes--it seemed to settle. That's who he was looking for...his brother.

Frank turned to Harry. "You said my brother was thrown through time and space by the explosion."

Harry winced as he tried to shift and not move his arm. "Yeah. Otherwise that chest wouldn't have been at the plantation house."

Frank whipped his head around to look at Jack, so fast his neck muscles twinged. "But how could that explain you?"

"Me?" Jack gave him a long look and shook his head, making the shiny things woven into his hair jingle. "Yer an odd lad, much like him..." He tapped his chin with one finger. "Hmm..."

Frank shook his head. "No...I mean--wait, you said him--my brother? You saw my brother?"

Jack glanced over his shoulder and then looked back at Frank, swaying ever so slightly as if he were more accustomed to the rocking of a ship at sea rather than land. "I did?"

Frank frowned. "How did you get here?"

"Had a nasty trip in that beast, how else do ye think I got here?"

"No, how did you get it on this island?"

"I was marooned. I told you that..." Jack cocked his head to one side and narrowed his eyes. "No, Barbossa marooned me on a Godforsaken spit of land twice...No, Barbossa's dead."

Jack scrambled to his feet, looking spooked. "What the bloody hell is going on. And where are my effects?" He stalked toward the helicopter only to stop long before he reached it, looking confused.

Frank sucked in a hard breath. "My brother. He must have changed something...but how?" He stared off into the distance, struggling to wrap his mind around the possibility. "But if he did...." Frank's voice trailed off, full of confusion. He'd never been much a science-fiction fan, that had been more Joe's interest and it usually veered to action movies with a dose of science-fiction. "But if he did, wouldn't that mean I'd have different memories. I still remember Joe."

Harry frowned. "I think I'd count that as a good thing, maybe it means it'll be all right."

Frank shook his head. He was missing something--some vital clue that would make all this make sense--something he had to understand and figure out before it was too late. "Some theories say that time is like a river. You can get out and go back in anywhere you choose." He'd told that to Joe when...

Frank blinked, stunned as images flooded his mind--images that contradicted each other--the four of them going out that night to see Sahara; him and Callie going to see a romantic comedy...

He jumped up and shook his head again, wincing at the soreness. "No!"

Jimmy, Harry....even Jack looked over at him. Frank took a deep breath. "I think..I think something's wrong...I think it's more than the fact Joe may have changed things in the past...I think.." Frank felt a shiver run through him and he went cold despite the sun's heat. "I think that the Jetski exploding was supposed to..."

"It wasn't meant for him," said Harry, quietly, his expression sad. "It wasn't meant for him, Frank. God knows, I'm sorry."

More memories flooded through his mind, still contradicting each other--spending spring break at home with Callie and helping his mother weed the garden...going to San Francisco with his brother, Callie and Vanessa...

Frank clapped his hands on either side of his skull and slumped to the sand. "Stop it." He squeezed his eyes shut and waited until all the images faded from his mind. Slowly, he lifted his head and opened his eyes. He remembered something he'd completely forgotten. The night they'd been able to go to that nightclub before it opened for a private St. Patrick's day party. He remembered Joe dropping his four-leaf clover pin and Piper saying something quietly as she passed him.

After that, Joe had worn it constantly. Almost like a movie on fast-forward, Frank realized that Joe had worn it long after St. Patrick's day stuff and souvenirs had disappeared from store shelves. He'd even worn it that day he'd been goofing off on the Jetski--it had been pinned on his T-shirt. "Oh my God.."

He scrubbed his face with both hands. Was it really possible? He'd seen the sisters do strange things, they'd said they were witches...Frank shuddered. "Oh my God.."

"Hello! Is everyone okay?"

Everyone turned to see a sandy-haired man walking toward them, barefoot, jeans a faded blue. He was wearing a sage-green T-shirt and had a blue and green flannel shirt tied around his waist. Frank swallowed hard. Why did this man look so familiar?

Despite walking in shifting sand, the man wasn't even breathless as he came up to them. "I was fishing...on the other side of the island...and saw your helicopter go down. Anyone hurt?"

The man moved closer to Harry but looked at everyone else. He nodded to the helicopter. "Nasty crash."

Jack Sparrow studied the newcomer and frowned. "You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?"

The man laughed softly, not the least bit surprised it seemed by Jack's attire. He stepped away from Harry and moved to Jimmy. "You okay?" he asked, patting the man gently on the shoulder.

Jimmy suddenly took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, mon, must have just bruised my chest. Thought for a minute there, I'd cracked a rib or two."

Frank shifted away slightly as the man came toward him. "I'm fine."

"I'm sure you are." The man gave him a lopsided smile and stepped partly behind Frank. The soreness and headache faded away and with sudden clarity, he knew this man. Frank jumped to his feet and spun around to look at the man. He knew exactly who this man was--Piper's husband, Leo--they'd met in San Francisco. "What...how'd you--?" Then he remembered the sparkle of blue lights and Paige's little tricks, moving things. What had she called it? Orbing?

Leo gave a slight jerk of his and led Frank some distance from the others. "Um..have you been experiencing anything odd today? Has anything untoward happened?"

"My brother--"

Leo nodded. "Yes..well, the girls want to apologize about that."

Frank's eyes widened. "What?"

Leo fished a scrap of paper out of his shirt pocket. "They were trying to protect your brother.." He gave the paper to Frank. Puzzled Frank read what appeared to be a poem. "What is this?"

"A spell," said Leo, softly. "They meant well but something interfered, some stronger magic..." He leaned closer to Frank. "You'll need to read that out loud when you.." He nodded to the broken helicopter.

Frank read the words again and took a deep breath. He turned to Jimmy. "We need to blow up the helicopter."

Jimmy stared at him. "What?"

Harry scrambled to his feet not even favoring his injured arm. "You can't do that."

Frank focused on Jimmy. "You said yourself it won't fly again. We need to blow it up."

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.