The black lily- chapter 8

Chapter 8

A letter

It was long past night fall when we reached havelock. Jennifer was supposed to meet us with her team. The next ferry was a private one, so as to discontinue any needless interruptions in our journey forward. The journey was a long one since we had to go the roundabout way to avoid being spotted. But first we needed Ms. Totally punctual to join us.

The three of us had changed out of our wet suits. I was wearing a simple white crop-top and ripped shorts with a fake denim jacket to finish the look. Malhaar was looking a little weird with her green shorts and pale pink shirt. Hana had donned a ridiculously pink, feathery top with a matching skirt. I had laughed myself silly when I first saw this outfit and was even now suppressing giggles.

When Jennifer finally showed up twenty minutes later, we yelled at them for a while (that was really fun!) and then boarded the ferry. Thankfully this one was a silent ship so that meant no baa baa black sheep. Yayyyy! Hana fell asleep within the first 15 minutes. Malhaar, after casting a suspicious look at everyone around, snuggled down and fell asleep as well.

But I stayed awake. I stared at the beautiful full moon outside. It was a magnificent sight. The moon hovered a few inches above the surface of the water. For the first time in quite a while I began to feel that things were ok. It was going fine, right?

We were going to get the black lily.

I had no grantee that I would live to see the next full moon.

I was about to shake Malhaar awake (I had, for once, woken up before her) when I noticed an official looking letter on her folding paper. It was opened to the second page. My attention was drawn toward the underlined third paragraph.

“I cordially invite you to attend our training course so that should you accept our job offer. We would of coarse take care of any transportation expenses. Lodgings will be offered to you and family members that you wish to bring along………”

This was enough to send me slumping into a nearby chair.

Would she accept it? In Australia? Malhaar was a smart, highly educated person. She could excel in her field if took this job. It would be an amazing career burst! Why would she turn down such a good job offer just to stay with her childhood friends when even there the most important one is missing? Maybe her revenge would hold her back, but for how long?

And besides if she didn’t want to go, why would she keep the envelope? Because it matched her shirt? I wish.

With all these possibilities in my head, I stumbled up the hallway, intending to bang on Hana’s door and scream, but for some reason I hesitated outside her door. I had always been able to tell Hana anything. But this was different. This was Malhaar’s problem. Not Hana’s. I stepped away from the door. I walked back down the hallway and reached Malhaar’s room. I opened the door and shook her awake.

“Hey! Good morning!”, I said brightly.

“Morning”, she replied groggily.

I walked off, giving her a minute to stuff the letter into her bag.

“coffee”, I asked, so cheerfully that she looked up in surprise.

I walked away.

“what’s going on?”

“You tell me, Preet”, I said with my voice dropping menacingly

"I actually do have something to tell you. Don’t freak out but I got a job offer”.

“I know”

“It’s in Australia”.

“I know”

“ok”, she said, unable to think of a better response to this.

Are you going to take it?”, I asked her?

She opened her mouth, but words failed her. She only just managed a tight affirmative nod.