October 9, 2003 – 22:00
Coralis was on her way home from her flyball game. Her team had a solid victory against Morocco. As she was about to enter the Laval skyline, she sensed she was being followed. Not wanting to lead her stalker to where she lives, she decided to circle the city anti-clockwise. She didn't want to be seen entering the Montreal skyline.
The uneasy feeling of being followed persisted and grew stronger. Suddenly, she saw someone floating still ahead of her, so she took a sharp turn west toward Rigaud. She was about to make a U-turn before passing the provincial border, but three people suddenly appeared right in front of her, and two on either side of her, forcing her to take another sharp turn going down.
They were trying to capture her.
She stabilized her altitude before reaching the top of the trees below her and paused. She was thankful that she wasn't flying above a town. Looking up, she saw more people appearing from all directions, trying to trap her.
Meanwhile, Frank was growing worried. It was past 23:00 and Coralis still wasn't home. If she had been called for a case after her game, she'd have let him know. He tried calling her but got no response. He tried to call Sebastian.
"Is Coralis with you?"
"No, why?"
"She isn't back yet. I know it's not unusual for her to be called somewhere after a game, but she lets me know when it's the case. Did something happen?"
"No, we left the field at the same time, no later than usual. I had to pick up your sister at Healing Moon, so we didn't leave in the same direction. I don't know more than you do. Did you try to call her?"
"Yes, but I got no answer, hence why I called you."
"I'll try to reach out to her on her hologram, I'll call you back."
She conjured up a thick fog around her. She could see through her own spell, but others wouldn't be able to. She closed her eyes a moment, imagining herself on a flyball field. They wouldn't be able to catch her.
She opened her eyes and saw them trying to close in on her, bumping into each other as they couldn't see where they were going, but they knew where she was. They were tracking the scent of her essence. 'They hired pros this time, but they won't beat me at this game,' she thought.
She felt her hologram vibrating in her cloak, but she tapped it to turn it off. She didn't want her followers to be also able to track her by sound.
"Did you find out what happened?" said Frank as soon as Sebastian called him back.
"No, she turned it off right away without answering, I couldn't even record a message. Something must have happened on her way back, I don't know what else to tell you. This is odd."
Frank didn't want to think about the worst, but his mind couldn't stop going there.
"Do you think she got shot down?"
"I doubt it, or she would have found a way to let us know."
"What do you think happened?"
"I really don't know."
She looked around her and took a deep breath. She started moving forward at low speed, watching for an opening above her while keeping the fog around her thick. She took a sharp 135-degree turn to her right and gained speed. She went 100 meters that way, then suddenly shot up.
She saw her stalker turning around themselves, confused. Two of them flew close to her as she passed them, but couldn't grab her. Some of them tried to throw fireballs at her, but she dodged them all.
She stabilized her altitude when she was far enough above them and flew toward the Ontario provincial line. She crossed it at high speed, keeping a thick fog behind her. She knew she was still being followed. They cornered her a few times, but she slipped through their fingers each time. She kept changing direction continually. She was slowly losing them.
Even when she was confident that she had lost her pursuers, she knew that she couldn't go home that night. She was near Toronto and decided to stop at a fay inn located in the outskirts of the city.
She couldn't stop pacing her room. People came after her, trying to capture her. They came close. She didn't know who they were and who sent them. She knew there were a lot of people who wanted her dead, not only the agency employing her. It could be fanatics wanting to deliver her to any government, it could be anyone. She couldn't lead them to where they would find Frank.
She wanted to call him, but was afraid her call would be tracked from his phone and she didn't want to worry him more than he probably already was. Remembering there was someone who tried to call her on hologram, she pulled it out of her cloak, which she had thrown on the bed as soon as she closed the door behind her. She saw it was Sebastian.
"What happened? Did you make it home?"
"I'm not sure, and no."
Sebastian could hear the stress and anxiety in her voice and sat straight up. He was in bed when she called, but awake. He looked beside him: Stephanie was still asleep. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen to continue his call.
"Did you call Frank?"
"No."
"He called me earlier. He was worried when you didn't come home and didn't call him. Why didn't you? What's going on?"
"I was being followed by a bunch of people, and I couldn't lead them to where I live. I tried to lose them, but more appeared. I nearly got captured."
Sebastian wanted to yell curses but didn't want to wake Stephanie up, so he bit his tongue.
"Are you serious? By whom?"
"I have no idea, but when I finally managed to lose them, I couldn't just circle back to come home. My phone might be untraceable, but Frank isn't and even a payphone number could be tracked and raise a red flag these days."
"Where are you?"
Coralis stopped pacing for a moment, thinking about how to answer Sebastian without offending him. She didn't like to hide things from him, as he was practically family to her, but she had to.
"Near Toronto. I won't tell you where exactly because I don't want you to lie to Frank or Stephanie if they ask and I can't have him knowing where I am at the moment. You know he will come to me if he finds out. What do you think will happen if my stalkers take him instead?"