Water Valkies

Rip took in the peeling walls of the Nova house. They were fat and pink and depressing. He observed how the wallpaper was torn and marked. How the paint was coming away from the cold concrete. They reminded him of Old. He turned his mouth into a grimace and followed Sei into the kitchen. The walls here were a violent yellow and looked as if somebody had desperately tried to inject some joy into them. Rip wondered how Aurie could stand living here, and he softened a little towards her.
"Three days." Old wailed as he sank into a chair. Rip realised that Sei must have asked a question.
"She didn't show like she was unhappy." the man sobbed. Rip noted his bad grammar and wondered if it was out of years of habit or if Old was an honestly uneducated man. "And she didn't take none of her stuff so somebody must have tooken her!" he wailed again and Sei looked to Rip woefully.
"Did she leave anything behind her? Any clues to where she might have gone?" Sei asked.
Old's face suddenly boiled with anger and he reached into his back pocket, bringing out a crumpled piece of paper. Sei took it and read Aurie's writing aloud.
"Alan Dormer, Craig Stoward, Melanie Kinnerton, Thomas Juxton, Annie Bell."
His eyes skimmed the rest of it before he handed it to Rip. His eyes were clouded with fear as he spoke.
"Read the last line."
"The Company." Rip read, and his head became light and he felt dizzy.
"They took her they did!" Old roared pitifully. A long, high pitched sob forced its way past his spittle-covered lips.
"They took her!"

As they left Aurie's house behind Rip felt sick. Had The Company really taken Aurie? Now that he thought about it, he didn't dislike her as much as he once had. Now that he had Sei he wasn't jealous, and meeting her father made him feel a little sorry for her.
"It looks like she was trying to find out about something she shouldn't have been." said Sei, interrupting his thoughts. He was scrutinising the paper Old had given them.
"So who are the people?" Rip asked.
"I don't know. She's crossed out some of the names. What do you think that means?"
"Maybe it means somebody.. well you know." Rip drew a finger across his neck and made a choking sound.
"You think maybe somebody did that to Aurie too?" Sei asked, his eyes widening and tears forming in the corners.
"No." Rip said quickly. "No I think Aurie was probably just taken somewhere, we'll get her back Sei."
Sei hoped he was right.
"So where do we start?" Rip said, steering away from the topic of Aurie's hypothetical demise.
"Alan Dormer."
Sei squinted at the paper.
"Okay then we can look it up online at home."
"Actually Rip I'd prefer to go to the library. I don't want Kinly asking questions."
"Okay then. Library." and Rip made a right turn.

The city library was an old building. It was originally a finishing school for girls in the early fifties and after it closed down they converted into a public library. The boys made their way to the second floor which was filled with computers. Sei entered his ID number and Rip sat beside him, a hand placed soothingly on his knee. Sei typed Alan Dormer into the search engine and scrolled through the top results. He found sports players, business men and even a dancer but nothing strange. He tried another name. Craig Stoward. Again, nothing of interest. He searched each name but they all seemed to have common names and insignificant personas.
"Try a few together." Rip advised.
"Which ones?"
"The crossed off ones."
Sei entered the three names into the search engine and clicked 'go'. The boys shivered as they read the first result.
"MissingPersons.com
Craig Stoward... Melanie Kinnerton... Annie Bell.."
Rip swallowed a lump in his throat as he added one more name to the list.
Aureole Nova.