Chapter 5 Black SUV

Ella's P.O.V.

I'm an idiot.

I couldn't believe that I had made arrangements to go across Germany with men I didn't know to hunt ghosts.

Zak made it abundantly clear how he felt about this by staring at me blankly after I had finished explaining myself.

"You're supposed to be the smart one between the two of us," he signed.

''Where is your common sense?''

I just shrugged. I didn't have a defense for myself. What I had done was stupid but I didn't want to back out of it.

As much as the situation made no sense to me, there was a nagging tug in the pit of my stomach that urged me to commit to going with the strangers and find my grandfather.

"What are you going to do about school?'' Zak asked me.

''Then my grandfather's dead." Excuse will only work for so long until you start to get behind on your work.

I sighed. He had a point.

''Thanksgiving break is about to start,'' I signed.

''That will at least buy me a week."

Zak just shook his head.

''You don't know these men.'' he reminded me for the umpteenth time.

'This isn't safe."

Before I could respond I heard the front door open downstairs.

''Not a word to Mom and Dad.''

Zak raised an eyebrow.

''How do you plan on telling them that you're leaving?'' He asked.

"I'm working on it,'' I signed.

I opened the bedroom door and walked downstairs. As I walked down the stairs, my mom passed me on the staircase, still teary-eyed. I walked over to my dad, who sat down at the dinner table and was looking through a packet of information.

"What is that?" I asked him.

He drew in a breath and laid the pamphlets down on the table before taking off his glasses.

"Just a few things the police thought we should be aware of if we wanted to press charges against the mortuary."

Just before I could say anything about the fact that I was leaving the next day, my father interrupted me.

"I think it would be best if you and Zak went home tomorrow."

My eyes widened. Well, that was easy.

I fumbled over my words as I struggled to figure out what to say next.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

He ran a hand through his gray, thinning hair.

"This sounds like it's going to be a long, drawn-out process. You and Zak can't do anything to help, so I think it would be best if you let Mom and I deal with this. I'm sure you can spend Thanksgiving with your college friends, right?"

"Um, yeah, I have a few people I could call," I said, nodding slowly.

All the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together in my mind as I formulated a plan.

"I 'Il go book our plane tickets now," I said, backing away. I turned and went up the stairs to Zak's room.

I opened his bedroom door to see him sitting down on his bed with his laptop in front of him.

''You're not going to believe this,'' I signed.

''Dad wants us to go home.''

"I'm assuming you want me to cover for you while you stay here,'' he signed, shaking his head. I nodded.

"I don't like this,'' he signed.

I sat down on his bed as he purchased his plane ticket.

There's no backing out of this now.

I waited until everyone had gone to bed to go up to the attic. I turned on the lightbulb that hung over the musty room and looked around. I was looking for anything that would give me an idea of what my grandfather could have been involved in. I couldn't stop thinking about the things the stranger had said.

He seemed to think this could be due to something that my grandfather had brought upon himself. I just couldn't imagine my grandfather, the man who had practically raised me, being involved in something that would require faking his own death.

I searched through countless cardboard boxes looking for something that stuck out to me as unusual but I couldn't find anything.

My intuition was screaming to grab the books on the shelf that I had picked up earlier the day before. I looked over at the shelf warily. There were no way my grandfather's old books would be any help in finding him.

I shook off the feeling and went back to searching.

I found a few things such as old journals and calendars that I put into an empty box. Before I left the attic, I grabbed the books off the shelf and stuffed them into the box. I told myself it wasn't a big deal. If the men asked why I brought the books, I would tell them it was for joy reading.

I went downstairs and found all of my grandfather's financial statements and health records in the folders my mom had stored away. Knowing she would eventually notice they were missing, I put them into the box as well I tucked the box under my bed and packed my suitcase quietly.

Closing my eyes, I prayed for the few hours I had before the men arrived to be filled with sleep. Sleep didn't come, however, and I laid in the bed and turned the situation over in my mind for hours.

I heard my bedroom door open and I turned over to see Zak standing in the doorway. He nodded for me to follow him and I rolled out of the bed and grabbed my things before going downstairs.

My mom and dad were waiting for us, still dressed in their night clothes.

"Goodbye," she said, hugging Zak and I.

We hugged her and my dad before watching them go back upstairs to their room to go back to bed. It was only four forty-five in the morning, I didn't blame them.

Zak grabbed his things as I put my coat on.

I stood by the front door, looking down at my watch.

They should be here any minute, I thought. Zak's plane was leaving at seven that morning and he needed to leave, but he couldn't leave until I did. The last thing I needed was my mom or dad to come back downstairs and see me still standing there.

I heard the gravel on the driveway slide and I looked out the window to see a black SUV pull into the very edge of the driveway with its headlights turned off.

I turned to see Zak staring at the vehicle warily.

"That's them," I signed.