2025-03-28 - The Kidnapping

"You know...every time I think how hard can fireworks really be, I'm surprised. That. Is a whole ass boat." Moderately sized barge or not, Gabe has never seen anything like it and even now their jaw is more or less scraping against the floor. They look just as much of a tourist as Camilla. Camilla Gardner because they adopted her. "Alright fine," Gabe huffs at Trace. "I'm fucking impressed. Up until now I thought you were just a huge nerd but this is pretty cool."

"He's still totally a huge nerd," Camilla says to Gabriel. "Just a huge nerd with explosives." She is dressed in a pair of comfortable leggings and an oversized dark purple sweater that shifts a little off one shoulder, revealing a black tank top underneath. Comfortably seated in the little motor boat, she's got safety glasses on because safety! Well, the small nod at safety and a desire for protection to her eyes just in case. "It is pretty cool, though. You should have seen the barges in Boston when he worked on the Fourth of July stuff there. Huuuuuge."

Trace laughs and says, "It is a whole ass boat. And there's a couple more of them for the even bigger holiday shows. This is just for the nightly amphitheatre show." He crouches down to work on the next set of fuses, making sure each one is connected to the right trigger. "I should show you the program that I use to do the choreography sometime."

"Good point. A dangerous nerd, perhaps. To some." Gabe smiles wickedly at Camilla. They're in a fleece-lined jean jacket over a black tee that reads leave me alone in white block text and skinny jeans. They also have safety glass on just in case. That at least seems like something non-negotiable, unlike their shoes being tucked underneath them on the bench. Normally they wouldn't put their shoes on any seating surface but it's not THEIR boat. "Shit, I bet Fourth of July kills in Boston, too."

There's a nod up to Trace. "Is it like an ipad app? I saw some of the tech at the amphitheater control all the stage lights with an app and it made me immediately nostalgic for actual buttons and levers."

Camilla widens her eyes and nods slowly, "He never blew anything up in the house, though. So there's that!" She then nods and says, "The show is amazing with the Boston Pops playing at the hatch shell. So good." She leans in a little against Gabe's shoulder beacuse no, she is absolutely not leaving them alone. They are now a sibling and thus they get all the sibling perks and annoyances.

"No," Trace says with a shake of his head. "Well, the launching mechanism for the show is an app, but the actual choreography to set everything up isn't."

As they are chatting, somewhere in the deepening darkness, another boat approaches from around the other side of the castle to the east. It's not that out of the ordinary for there to be other boats around, particularly those belonging to security and the crew, however.

"That you know of," Gabe points out. "Who knows what our boy was up to in college. On weekends. Where our influence couldn't reach." They're just gonna go ahead and add themselves into Trace's entire origin story here. Gabriel leans sideways into Camilla, smirking softly at their newfound familiarity. "That sounds cute. Is that by the river? The CHAAAAHLES." Gotta say it in the accent.

"Oh so like timers or stopwatches or what?" Gabe's actually into the mechanics of this. The approaching boat appears in their periphery but they don't pay much mind to it since it's not completely out of the norm.

Camilla laughs and says, "Well then it wouldn't have been in the HOUSE would it? Because he was off at school then. If he blew up a dorm, he definitely hid it very well." She is too distracted by this whole conversation to really notice the comings and goings of other boats. As far as she knows, it's just the three of them out there hanging out until Trace can be done and they can go get food. "Yes," she laughs. "Exactly," drawling out the Chaaaaaaahls in much the same way.

"Not quite," Trace chuckles as he crouches down to affix another set of fuses. "I'll show you sometime when we go up to the office." The office in the castle where he does much of his not-outside work.

The motorboat, however, pulls up right alongside the barge, causing him to stand up suddenly and realize it's not one of the park's boats. "Hey," he says, "You can't be out here." He points to the large red and white sign on the back of the boat that says "FIREWORKS - KEEP BACK" and tries to wave the boat off.

But it happens very quickly, that two dark-clad figures suddenly jump onto the barge and grab Trace, dragging him back toward the boat. He curses and thrashes to try to get out of their grip. "The FUCK?"

Camilla stands up quickly and shouts "Trace!" The boat shakes precariously and she has to keep herself from tipping out.

"Okay fine," Gabe playfully bumps their shoulder into Camilla's. Arguing over semantics is a prime sibling activity and they're into it fully now. "You'd think like...someone would call and be like uhhh we think your kid blew something up?" A dry laugh breaks out at chaaaaahles and Gabe can't help repeating it a few times just for the giggles.

"Alright, yeah show me because I'm having a hard time working it out in my brain," they say to Trace.

And then this boat just casually sidles up like no big deal? Gabe's brows furrow instantly. "Who are--" and then Trace all but confirms it. Stranger danger. Slowly, Gabriel rises to their feet, blue eyes glued to these strangers. It all happens so fast, of course, the two figures breeching the barge to lay hands on Trace. "YO!" The New York accent comes right out in times of panic.

Camilla's outburst snaps Gabe into action. They whip a hand into the air and snap it to the side in a grab-and-toss Magneto-esque gesture. "LET GO OF HIM!" One of the figures gets roughly yanked upwards and away from Trace by Gabe's telekinesis, then summarily yeeted the fuck into the lake.

Camilla stares for a moment as Gabriel's hand comes up and suddenly one of the two men is lifted straight up into the air and thrown into the water. Her eyes widen in shock and she has her phone halfway out, forgetting to dial it. "Holy shit," she breathes. She's seen quite a bit of magic in the almost two weeks that she's been here but she's never watched Gabe just straight up yeet somebody before. Then she suddenly comes to her senses and begins dialing security. "Come on.. come on..." she mutters as she waits for someone to pick up. Then it's a hysterical outpouring of, "Someone's trying to kidnap my brother!" It takes another moment or two for her to actually spit out where they are and what is going on.

Meanwhile, Trace struggles against the other guy who still has a hold of him. Both of them stumble when the dragging presence of the third guy is suddenly gone. With a rough shove, the second guy pushes Trace forcefully into the boat and he stumbles, falling in face first and barely catching himself.

The driver of the boat pulls away from the barge and leaves the dude who got yeeted in the water, taking off toward the northeast as fast as that motorboat can go.

Meanwhile, the guy in the water disappears, sinking beneath the surface after the initial splash.

To be fair, Gabe's never actually straight up given anyone the yeet either. There's a somewhat distressed look on their face as they swallow back the knot of anxiety rising in their throat. "Fuck fuck fuck." They don't know what's happening other than people trying to grab Trace for some reason, but it's Camilla's passionate plea into her phone that makes it click. Someone's trying to kidnap Trace. Here. On Spellbound.

Trace getting shoved into the interloper's boat draws out a helpless gasp from the blonde, now fully aware of the situation and feeling their heartbeat rattle around in their ears. The other boat speeds away, prompting a shouted, "Should we go after them?!" They look down at the boat's steering wheel. Trace drove them them out here so...not likely?

"Camilla! What do we do!? I can fly but...not that long?"

There's also the matter of the guy sinking beneath the water. Did Gabe just kill someone? Uh oh.

Camilla shoves her phone in Gabe's chest and says, "Talk to security! Tell them to call the cops. Boat is heading northeast away from Castle Island." She then grabs ahold of the wheel and starts to back up before realizing the boat is still attached to the barge and makes an awful noise as the nose dips precariously. She reaches for the mooring and unties them before rushing back to grab the wheel and turns the boat around to chase after the other one. In this moment, she isn't even thinking about the guy in the water. Can he swim? She's too busy going after her brother. At least she knows how to drive the boat!

Unfortunately the other boat has a head start on them and more horsepower than the little one that's mostly just used to get to the fireworks barges and back. It's not built for racing across the lake, but she damn sure is going to try. "If we can get close enough maybe you can fly to the other boat?" she asks Gabe having no idea exactly what the range on that flight is.

Oh shit Camilla can drive a boat! There's something to be said about the Accardi siblings but right now Gabe's too busy fumbling with with the phone as they lurch forward when the boat gets jostled. They finally smack both hands around it and bring it up to their face to start barking orders while Camilla unties the moorings. "AMBER ALERT MOTHERFUCKER! Trace Accardi's just been yanked off the goddamn fireworks barge! Assailant's boat is heading northeast from Castle Island, intercept immediately!" It sounds legit in the movies, why wouldn't it work now? They also pull out their own phone and call 911 with their free hand.

"Yeah I can do that, I just can't really go fast so you'll have to be real close! Also, forgive me for what I'm about to do."

Their call connects-- 911 what's your emergency.

Gabe glances at Camilla, then over to Trace's boat. "Shots fired at Spellbound theme park!"

To be fair it's a wheel and a throttle and once you figure out forward, how to turn, and how to cut the engine, that's all you really need for a desperate boat chase across the lake in the middle of the night, right? Camilla's a fake-it-til-you-make-it sorta getaway driver and right now she's focusing all of her attention on trying to catch that other boat!

Does she even bat an eyelash when Gabe calls shots fired? Nope. Does she look over at them? Nope. She is focused and she is going as fast as this little boat can go.

On the Security line, Security tells Gabe they have help coming. The woman asks some more questions, whatever Gabe can tell her about how many people, what sort of boat, any details that they can provide.

Meanwhile, the 911 operator tells Gabe that they have already received calls about shots fired at the park and asks if they are in a safe location. Wait. Shots fired already reported? That can't be good.

"Small craft, fast fucking boat. There are-- were three of them. One driving the boat and one who grabbed Trace and there might be one at the bottom of the lake but it's on him for not having a goddamn life jacket isn't it, STEVE?" Is this even Steve?! Gabe's just calling whoever is on the other side of the security number Steve out of panicked spite. "We're trying to catch up to them!"

Their hands are shaking but it's fine. At least Camilla wasn't over-embellishing her superb accomplishments.

As for the 911 call, their mouth drops open. "What? Already reported? Um. Fuck. No, no, sorry, we'll get to a safe location." They immediately hang up and shoot a concerned look at Camilla. "Something very fucked up is happening in the park right now...we need to catch up to them. Like now."

The poor woman on the end of the Security line, who is definitely not Steve, remains very calm and patient, her tone soothing even when Gabe is panicking at her. She repeats the information back, high speed boat, three assailants, one in the water, two in the boat. It's clear she's also relaying this over a radio to the security team that has been dispatched. "Do not attempt to catch the other vessel. Please maintain a safe distance. We have a boat coming. Are the assailants armed?"

The 911 operator can be heard on the other side recommending that they get to a safe location and stay there until they receive an all clear. Officers have been dispatched. And then Gabe's disconnected the call and there's silence on that phone.

Meanwhile, they are not really gaining much distance on the boat ahead of them. It's clearly capable of going faster than theirs, but it isn't. The reason why becomes obvious soon enough when a shot rings out and there's a muzzle flash across the water. Fortunately, it doesn't hit either of them or the boat.

"I'm giving it all that it's got, Gabe but this thing wasn't made for racing," she says, panicked, shaking, and white-knuckling those controls as she tries as hard as she can to catch that boat.

Goddamn Not-Steve making Gabe feel worse by maintaining rational thought on the other end of the line. "Yeah but my roommate is on that boat! I'm with his sister!" Like, no way in hell are they not gonna pursue. Pursuit is happening. But are they armed?

Gabriel's mouth opens to probably scoff when a shot rings out and they quickly grab at Camilla's sweater to yank her down as they duck just in case. "OKAY YEAH THEY'RE FUCKING ARMED!" they bark into the phone. Poor Not-Steve.

"Fuck it. I'm going. Take the phones, call whoever. Call your parents. I'll stay close to the water." Because of firearms. Both phones, Not-Steve still on the line, get tossed onto the dashboard before Gabe leans up against the railing and uses it to launch themself up into the air.

Blonde hair whips around their face as they take to the air, unfortunately not going more than a measly 25 mph in this boat race from hell. It's not exactly easy to see at night and maybe the kidnappers aren't expecting a flying human, but Gabe still keeps low to the water, zipping left and right in a serpentine fashion since movies say that's what you should do to avoid getting shot.

"Gabe! No! Don't..." Camilla says just as the phones are tossed and Gabe launches into the air. The boat is going pretty fast and the phones slide off onto the floor of the boat where she can't reach them without letting go of the controls and so there they sit, the call open with security to hear whatever is going on in the boat, which is mostly Camilla cursing under her breath and ducking down low to avoid any more shots from the other boat.

When Gabe launches into the air and starts to pick up speed, zig-zagging through the air, there are two, three more shots, though none of them manage to hit the flying blond.

Gabe actually seems to be catching up to the boat, but as soon as they get close enough that one of those shots clips their clothing, there's a scuffle on the boat. Trace seems to have made a resurgence and is struggling with one of the men in the boat, which throws off their aim, making their next shot go wide.

Then several things happen. First, they cross the barrier of magic around the islands. Second, as soon as Gabe hits that barrier, they fall straight into the cold water of the lake with a splash. Third, Camilla has to veer wildly not to hit Gabe with the boat going at that speed. And fourth, another shot rings out in the darkness as the boat speeds away, a cry heard across the water.

"Holy shit! Holy shit!" Gabe zigs and zags, dodging literal strays and trying their best not to panic completely as the evening turns out much differently than planned. By the grace of a higher power they don't scream outright when they feel a shot clip the very edge of their jean jacket, fraying it at their shoulder. It sends them veering side to side suddenly, terror making their flying erratic.

But they continue forward, undeterred and goaded on by the fact that they're not as slow at they thought. It also looks like Trace is fighting back from what they can tell. "Jump! JUMP! Get off the boat, Trace!" they shout. "Ju--" unfortunately that sentence gets drowned by a mouthful of water as Gabriel suddenly plunges from the sky into the lake.

So that's the line of demarcation. Nice to meet you.

They burst up through the surface, flailing around wildly and not completely aware of the danger Camilla poses with the boat until she's banking sharply. Gabe coughs out water as they frantically splash about, fear setting in. Dark lake. Cold lake. Are there sharks in lakes?! But the shot in the distance followed by a cry gets them freezing immediately. They go under for a brief second, coming back up to tread water quietly in hopes of hearing more clearly. Pushing their wet hair out of their face, they look left and right, everywhere. But no other sounds apart from Camilla's boat are heard.

"Oh my god. Trace."

Camilla manages to get the boat under control and there's a moment of sheer panic as she watches the boat speeding away and hears that shot. Her blood runs cold and she goes completely white. Then she lets out a SCREAM that is a mix of rage, fear, and frustration. It's only THEN that she notices that Gabe is STILL in the water and she clenches her jaw and turns the boat, slowing down to a crawl so she can get close enough to reach down and help pull the poor sodden blond out of the cold dark lake. There probably aren't sharks but that doesn't mean it's a great place to be floating around in the dark either.

It's only once she manages to get Gabe into the boat that she just collapses. The adrenaline still coursing through her, but the fear and anger and frustration leaving her shaking and crying in the bottom of the boat.

And then, then there is a massive rumbling from the islands in the distance as an earthquake hits all of the Isles of Wonder. It's not felt immediately on the water until a massive wave lifts the boat suddenly, causing it to lurch, and then drops it down again, soaking them both and a huge eruption of bright blue light like that which happened at New Year's blinds them completely. It's an enormous flash that surrounds the islands and then is gone again.

Camilla's scream sears right into Gabe's mind, never to leave again. They whirl around in the water in sudden worry she caught a bullet in the fray. "Camilla?!" When she brings the boat around, they reach up for her with trembling hands and manage to scrabble onboard. It's not their best look but there are worse things hanging in the air right now. Like if Trace just got shot out there.

They smooth their hair back with both hands once, twice, three times until it very much becomes a self-soothing tactic while they stare at the boat's floorboards. At this point, Gabe's entire body is shuddering violently from the cold, which is not helped at all by the sudden surge of panic that rises up uncontrollably when the rumbling starts. "What the fuck NOW?!"

And then the wave hits, drenching them yet again and pushing them right off the bench they'd been sitting on. They land next to Camilla on all fours, growling out a curse just in time to see the bright blue light. "Shit," they murmur, knowing it's magic related after what happened on New Year's. A sudden sharp gasp erupts out of them as they reach for Camilla and pull her into a fierce hug.

There's people to call. People to text. But right now, they just really need a fucking hug.

Somewhere, the phone is still open with security. They can see the lights of a boat racing toward them in the distance. They can see the lights of police helicopters approaching Castle Island in the distance. But that motorboat? It's gone. Wherever it's going, they can only hope that the helicopters and security boats can catch up to it.

In the meantime, Camilla just clings to Gabe and sobs into their shoulder. She's in no shape to drive the boat now. It won't be until one of the security boats catches up with them that they'll be leaving that water. For now, they just cling to each other.