Elio's attention was split in two. One eye on the road as he drove, and the other looking around for any trace of Valentina.
Marcello at the passenger's seat, looked through the window, calling out her name at the top of his voice.
"Where the fuck are you, Val!" He cursed out loud.
The day was getting darker, and there still was no trace of Valentina.
"How did none of the security guys see her? It's simply impossible to miss a face like that!" Marcello joined in lamenting.
"It's that damn hat! And her camera is always glued to her face. Practically covers everything," Elio hissed.
His phone began to ring, and his breath frazzled for a few seconds.
"Who is that?" He questioned with the tone of a man that knew his life was hanging on the line.
Marcello reached out for the phone. "Cristo!" he breathed out in pure fear.
Elio's eyes widened. He didn't need to be told. Judging by Marcello's face, he was fully aware who it was.
"Don't pick up," he pleaded.
"We're going to die, Elio!"
"We're going to die if you answer that call. We might as well prolong the inevitable by finding Valentina first."
The phone didn't stop ringing.
"Elio!" Marcello's hand holding the phone vibrated, causing the device to almost slip out of it.
"Damn it!" Elio slammed his hand on the steering wheel. "Answer it."
Marcello swiftly swiped in response, and tapped on the speaker icon.
"Elio Sebastian Fernandez!" Luciano's voice thundered heavily through the phone.
In that same moment, the sky rumbled.
The boys jerked twice, fear gripping them hard.
"Lu–Luce," Elio stuttered.
"Where are you, and where is Valentina?"
Elio knew he was done. There was no point derailing anything further.
Luciano had called him by his full name for the first time in years. It was the end.
"Luce, I'm looking for her. I can't find her. I'm driving around in search of her, Luce."
Luciano hung up on him, and immediately set out in motion.
"Babe, where are you going? You can't just leave. Send someone to search for her, but I'm not comfortable with you going your—"
"Daniela!" Her name flew out of his lips like the sound of a blasted gun.
She jerked, and took a step back.
"Shut up–" he dragged the words through his lower teeth, warning her. And then he walked out of the room.
Vittorio ran after him. "Luciano, what are you going to do?" He questioned him not as his underboss, but as his friend.
"I'll go look for her. Go back to the arena and request the cameras from the guards. I want her found by the hour!" He ordered, as he took the turn towards his car storage.
His driver, as if preinformed of his approach, had already turned the car around.
He hopped into the car. "The roads leading to the arena," he ordered, whilst dialing a number.
"Carpo, I just got a call from Signor Vittorio. We're looking through the clips around the arena."
"What can you see?" His eyes scanned through the windows, even as he spoke.
"There's just one clip of someone that fits the description. We can only see her partially as she wasn't fully in the frame."
"Cut the long talks, and tell me the trail she followed."
"SÌcarpo—"
There was a brief silence, and Luciano used the opportunity to look even more intensely around.
"Carpo, she followed the trail that leads to the black woods."
"Cazzo!" He cursed under his breath, and ended the call.
"Dante?"
"Sìcarpo?"
"Drive to the black woods."
"Sìcarpo!"
***
Valentina sighed pleasantly, as she dove for the last time deep into the sea of water she had stumbled on.
In the depth she was, she felt one with the sea.
It was perhaps the best day of her life. Not only had her lens captured so much beauty, and energy, she had ventured into some creepy looking place, and found beauty in the midst of the ugly.
The sea. Large, blue and beautiful.
She couldn't resist water on a normal day. How could she resist it when it was this beautiful and inviting?
She had taken off her camera from around her neck, and dropped it on a chopped tree. Then she dove in all the way down.
The sky rumbled with thunder, and as the sound reached her ears down below, Valentina knew it was time to swim up to the surface of the water, and then return to the arena.
She couldn't wait to share her adventures with Natalia.
But as she broke through, she froze on seeing it was completely dark.
Valentina, in an attempt to swim down the beautiful sea, had completely lost track of time.
The sky above her was pitch black. She couldn't see through her nose. Not a sight to the left, or to the right.
Wind began to shake the fabrics of the earth, blowing her hair across her face.
She slid the strands like curtains away from her face, and blinked as if everything would become normal right after.
But nothing changed.
It was dark, and her chest was slowly starting to tighten.
"He– hello?" Her voice shot through in a panic. "Is anyone there? Can you hear me?"
The fear in her voice echoed back into her ears.
One brief second passed, and then she shot forward, trying to swim to the shores.
Valentina couldn't see.
From the left to the right, the sea blended into one.
Everything looked the same.
"No, ple-ase no," she quivered, breathing hard, fast and roughly.
She felt it at that moment. The onset of a panic attack.
In that same moment of her panic, the earth played a cruel joke.
Lightning split the sky, and very briefly, she saw a storm approaching.
"No!" She screamed out, as she dove behind to escape it, but it followed her like a brutal stalker.
The sea swallowed her whole, but she fought back, and managed to break through the surface.
She coughed, and screamed, and cried out.
Nothing changed.
The realization she was truly alone, hit her harder than the waves of the sea, just as the storm reached her.
It tossed her from one end to the other, swinging her around like a rag doll.
"Please," Valentina, who hadn't truly cried in ages, began to wail. "Let me go, please!"
She tried to pull herself up, but the storm dragged her down.
Her chest heaved, and her breath grew fainter by the second.
"Hel–" water flowed into her mouth, flushing down the rest of her words.
At that moment, she remembered the rest of the prophecy.
The storm would come like a battle on that day of peace. Whether you survive it, well that is the will of the creator.
Her eyes started to close, as she lost her last grip on life.
"Let his will be done." She remembered her mocking retort to the gypsy, as her eyes fully closed.
An image of Luciano floated into her mind.
The last bit of her consciousness wondered why.
"Why him?" It asked.
"Why?"
The storm hit hard again, as the waves dragged her down.
At the same time, the heavens opened, and rain poured heavily.