

The Bonnies

NICOLE KING

The Bonnies

By Nicole King

Copyright 2013 Nicole King

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Prologue

Boston, Massachusetts

July 10, 2013

A flashing of colorful light illuminated the room as the young woman laid across a bed that had seen better days. The sheets on the bed were ripped from its previous owner and the springs were digging into her back. She shifted as she focused on the ceiling. Colorful lights flashed from the television across the room creating a light show. It wasn't much to be happy about considering how things had been lately—or considering the places she had to take shelter in, but she had learned early on it was best not to complain.

Something cool and wet hit her forehead awakening her from her thoughts. Her hand went across her forehead as she frowned at the muddy brown liquid that had been wiped off. Great. The ceiling had a leak. She sat up on her elbows and turned to her left. Her eyes stared at the hunched over figure that sat perched at the metal desk in the center of the room. It had been an hour since they'd last spoke, since they were last given the order to work together on this particular assignment. Being together again made her felt giddy. It was like old times again. Another drop of water tapped her on the forehead. She really needed to say something about this. Her mouth opened to inform them of the leak, but immediately closed. Years of living with this person had taught her never to bother them with annoying things of this nature. Besides, they wouldn't be here for long anyhow. Her stomach gave a rumble as she placed a hand on it. She needed food, particularly something sugary.

The young woman sat up from the bed and shoved her feet into a pair of boots that were two sizes too big for her. As she bent over to tie the strings to the shoes, she watched the hunched over figure sit up.

"What is it?" The rough voice floated across the room to her. It was a voice she loved and cherished. It was a voice that she could identify in her dreams.

"It's nothing. I didn't mean to bother you." The young woman cursed the noisy worn down twin bed. "I'm going out."

The figure gave no reply to this and she didn't expect it to. She walked over to the nightstand, grabbed the room key and her pocketknife before stepping out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. She headed down the sidewalk towards the convenient store next to the hole in the wall motel they'd chosen tonight. It was always the same—the same hole in the wall motel in the same hole in the wall town with the same overcooked food. Unlike any other teen her age, she had her fill of microwavable and greasy foods. She was ready to finally sit down and call a place home. But it was never going to happen. Shabby motels and rubbery food would be their way of life until they completed this mission.

She walked into the convenient store ignoring the young man behind the counter dressed in Goth. She headed towards the back where the freezer case were located and grabbed a soda. Walking down every isle, she filled her hands with junk food and a magazine broadcasting something about glamour. Walking up to the counter, she placed all her items down and waited for the clerk to ring her up.

"This is a lot of junk food." He said thumbing through her items, his fingernails covered in chipped black polish. "Someone must have the munchies."

Her eyes lifted from the counter as she stared at the clerk. He wasn't bad looking despite all the eye liner and piercings he wore. Seeing her eyes on his, he gave her a smile showcasing his straightened white teeth. She knew it. This wasn't the true him. It was a ploy, probably to get mommy and daddy's attention.

"Where are you from?" He asked. "I've never seen you around here before?"

"Just ring up my items."

The guys stared at her for a moment before scoffing. He shoved the rest of her things in her bag. "10.44."

She smirked at his attitude and handed over the money which he roughly snatched out of her hand. The cash drawer open as the clerk went to put the change in and then froze. He stared across the counter at her. Their eyes connected as the music that had been playing loudly, suddenly started to fade into the background.

He knew.



The young woman stepped into the room shutting the door and locking it behind her. The figure at the table was no longer there. A sense of fear went through her of being abandoned until the bathroom door opened and they stepped out.

"The time has finally come. Today is the day you get to reap the rewards of all your hard training."

The young woman smiled stepping further into the room. She tossed the bag full of snacks on the bed. Already she'd forgotten her sugar rush, and the memory of the clerk who now lay stuffed in an air vent inside the store. Nothing else mattered. The mission was here. It was about to start.



Manhattan, New York

The sounds of the latest hip hop tunes boomed through the speakers as the circle clock on the wall struck two. Shoppers shuffled through the building, hands filled with bags and food from the food court. To the left, a child dropped his sippy cup as the mother bent down to retrieve it. Behind her stood a red head flipping through a catalog, her nails tapping the glass counter. She was aware of this. She was aware of all of it, even though her eyes were focused on the cream faced clerk in front of her. It was her awareness that led them to always pull off successful missions, and it would be the clerk's lack of awareness that would allow them to do the same to him.

Smiling in way that most would compare to a siren, she leaned more across the counter, pretending to give the clerk her full attention. Had the clerk not been too interested in her assets, he would have noticed her mouth moving, counting. At that exact time, he would have noticed the homeless man enter and the red head exchange looks with her before causing their scene.

Raised voices elevated behind her, as the clerk finally realized that they weren't the only two people in the store. Mumbling an apology, he made his way towards the redhead and the homeless guy to contain the situation. But it was way too late for that.

The clerk who was several feet away assuming he was doing his job, never noticed the girl removing the glass cutter from her purse. He didn't hear it cut across the glass counter, or when she reached in and remove the diamonds and ruby jewelry from their collection. No, he like the rest of the shoppers in the store that day, were too enthralled with the scene that they never noticed her walk past them giving the arguing couple a slight glance. They didn't notice the couple who suddenly ended their argument heading their separate ways, only to meet up with her at the exit.

No, it was only when the clerk turned to look for her that he would noticed the missing jewelry. It is then that he would call the police and they would search the building, just missing the three thieves entering the limo pulling off.
Chapter One

Victorville, California

I couldn't believe I was back here after spending the summer in one of the most beautiful places in the world, Greece. Baldwin Faith Academy. A private school for the children of some of the most powerful people in the world. Unlike other private schools, not just anybody with money can go to this school. This school was built for our safety from our parents enemies. What other school that you know have round the clock army guards patrolling. Also unlike other schools, ours is remotely off the map. It doesn't exist. It's like a secret society. Not many have heard of Baldwin Faith Academy, and you would get zero results for it if you searched for it on Google. A while back someone tried and in the end had the Secret Service at their doorstep searching their house.

Sighing, I pulled out my cellphone to check if I had any new messages. I had fifteen messages, but none were from my mom. It seems she was still avoiding me. Tossing my phone in my purse, I stepped out the car into the scorching heat of the desert. Ridiculous, I could already feel the sweat drops start to form. A couple of girls walked passed me gawking and gossiping behind their hands. I gave a roll of my eyes behind my designer shades. Usually it didn't matter to me whether or not if they gawked, I loved the attention they gave me. Sadly, today I was not in the mood. I not only had to leave behind my summer fling in Greece, but Headmistress Blake had sent out letters stating that no more than ten suitcases could be brought back to campus this year, which really was a bummer since I had spent most of my summer trying to get rid of depressing thoughts by shopping. It's been only two months since the death of my father and I was doing all I could to remain in control. I told myself I shouldn't feel sad since he left a long time ago erasing all contact, but at the end of the day he was still my dad, and I missed him.

"Miss Jones"

I snapped out of my mental meltdown to see my butler James in front of me. He was struggling with the number of bags I had. Okay, so Headmaster Blake said we couldn't bring too many suitcases, she didn't say anything about bags. "I'm sorry James, what were you saying?"

"I was asking if everything was okay." James had a look of worry on his face and I felt myself soften. James had been with my family since before I was born, and he had always been the parent after my father left, and after my mother simply stopped caring. He helped me with my homework, had tea parties with me when I was little, and when I hurt myself he didn't brush it off like my father did, he'd clean it and tell me everything would be okay. Some people parents were their weakness, mine was my James, my butler.

"Everything is fine James. I just wished I could have gone to school somewhere where I don't have to feel like a piece of bacon in a frying pan."

James laughed which sounded more like a cough. "Yes well, at least your skin is glowing in this heat and you look quite dynamic if I may say so."

I stared down at myself. I was dressed in a blue and black belted dress, a pair of Givenchy heels, and a pair of diamond studs in my ear and a diamond tennis bracelet on my right arm. I had decided to forgo straightening my hair this morning and instead left it into its natural curls. My dark brown skin was glowing in the sun thanks to the body crème I had applied earlier. James was right, I looked fabulous.

Feeling back to my normal self, I hitched my purse up on my shoulder and made my way through the string of arriving students. Most of them immediately got out of my way, and for the new ones, well it didn't take long to catch on. My heels tapped along the stone walkway as James and I made our way through the campus towards my dorm. Despite our campus being in the middle of the desert surrounded by sharpshooters, it really was a beautiful place. The grass was exceptionally green, no browning marks here. There were trimmed bushes and colorful flowers despite the scorching heat. There were stone walkways around the campus and in the center a giant fountain which was usually the hang out spot after classes. There were no gremlins or Goth buildings like you read in stories. No our campus looked more like a palace, more fitting since it held royalty. Waving to a couple of people, I stopped when I noticed a blond head near the benches under the trees.

"James you go ahead, I'll meet you there."

James nodded and headed towards my dorm as I headed over to the blond. As I neared her, I noticed she was accompanied by a certain someone who I had certain distaste for. I almost turned around. Almost.

She looked up and smiled happily when she noticed me. "Autumn you're finally here. I thought you'd ditch to stay in Greece." Yuri was my roommate and above other things my best friend. We'd met when we were nine and both of our parents had to attend the same dinner party for charity. Unlike the other kids there, we didn't prefer to sit still and listen to a bunch of adults chatter about useless stuff. Instead we'd snuck up stairs to Mrs. Edison's room and tried on her jewelry and played with her perfume. We ended up getting caught when Mr. Edison and the Wilshire's nanny busted into the room kissing. He'd given us both a hundred dollars and a promise not to tell our parents what we were doing. We'd taken the hundred dollars and didn't promise not to tell his wife. Needless to say we weren't invited to anymore of their dinner parties.

I gave Yuri a hug and stepped back giving her floral print dress and wedges a look of approval. "I thought about it. But it wouldn't have been as fun without you Yuri."

Yuri and I shared a laugh until a certain someone sighed with annoyance. I turned my attention to the over built figure under the tree. Mark McEachron, the school's "it" guy, but to me he was an egotistical jerk who loved to mentally abused Yuri. He was tall and way too overbuilt for a teenager. His hair was a deep color brown with two strands hanging over his eyes. It drove the girls at this school gaga. His eyes were that piercing blue that drew people in but instead revolted me. He knew he was gorgeous and so everyone knew as well. They loved him. I hated him, and of course the feeling was mutual.

"If you don't mind Autumn, Yuri and I were talking." He said his eyes arched in that threatening way that usually scared the underclassmen, but it made me smirk.

"Why Mark, it's 103 degrees out here, so why add your breath to the mix?" I said smiling sweetly.

Mark gave me a look of pure outrage and Yuri snorted with laughter. Looping my arm through Yuri's, I gave Mark a wiggle of my fingers as I led us off towards our dorm.

"You really shouldn't have done that." She said once she had calmed down. "I'm going to have to be the one to deal with him later."

"You shouldn't have to!" I pointed out. Mark was a jerk and Yuri needed to learn how to stand up for herself. I wouldn't always be here to do that for her.

"I know." She sighed brushing a piece of hair back into place. She had gotten rid of her long hair this summer and settled for this super cute short haircut. I loved it. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you, did you take care of Perkins?"

My lips thinned as I thought about the guy who had helped us out on our small heist this summer. We'd taken him from his boring job at a plant factory and willingly gave him twenty thousand dollars just to be a distraction in our heist, only he'd gotten greedy and wanted more money. Luckily, I had planned for this certain mishap. Perkins had a thing for the guys. Considering he was a married man, I'm pretty sure his wife didn't know about it. After showing him the disturbing photos, he'd fallen back into place and disappeared quietly from the scene.

Opening the main door to our dorm, I breathed in the cool air feeling my skin beginning to cool. "I took care of it. Besides even if he does decide to come back for more money, who will he contact? As far as the world is concern, Ashley and Maya don't exist."

Yuri and I had been at this heist things for two years now, only scheduling robberies every few months or so. We never hit the same type of places, always switched it up. One day it'll be clothes, the next diamonds. Nothing too big, since we were a two woman show. Our disguises, names, and resources were endless. After we got finished with one job, we'd burned the evidence. Besides, who would suspect two daughters of politicians to be the thieves they'd heard about on the local news? It was the perfect cover.

I opened our room door to see our room as neat and tidy as we left it. Our two queen size beds were already decorated with the bedding we had sent over ahead of time. Last year our room's color theme had been a light yellow, now it was light a purple. The contractors had redone our wallpaper to match our bedspreads, and even redid our carpeting. Yuri and I preferred our carpet to be soft, so when we walk across it, the carpet would tickle our feet. To the front of the room sat our desks and bookcases, and off to the sides were our bathroom, closets and dressers. In the middle room sat our flat screen television and our sofa we'd had since we first started here at Baldwin Faith Academy. It was a matter of significance to Yuri and me so it had to stay the same. James was seated on our sofa, his work uniform out of place among the purple and white pillows. My bed was empty of suitcases except for one. Thank God, I had talked to him early on in my years about not putting away my underwear. Some things should just be private.

"James!!!" Yuri yelled excitedly running over to James tackling him into the mess of pillows. Smiling I headed over to my bed tossing down my purse.

"Miss Hopkins." James said politely removing himself from Yuri's tight hold. "A pleasure to see you as always."

Yuri gave her a roll of her eyes. "James how many times do I have to say you can call me Yuri? I mean it's only been what eight years." She finished sarcastically.

"My apologies, Miss Hopkins." James said his mouth twitching with a smile. Turning to me, he gave me a fond smile. "I've put away everything in your closets except for one suitcase. I've also sent the kitchen a copy of things you would like to have in the common room."

"Thank you for that James. Lord knows I don't want any more skin covered pudding."

"Eek I hate it when the pudding has skin!" Yuri voiced squeak imitating Britney from Daria.

I popped Yuri on the shoulder and turned back to James. "You're heading out?"

"Yes mam, I need to be getting back before dark."

Smiling, I walked closer to James and gave him a hug. As bad as I didn't want him to go, secretly a part of me did. James being here reminded me how imperfect my life was. Leaning down, he placed a kiss on my forehead, before whispering into my ear. "Your mother will call."

Giving him a brave smile, I stepped back and allowed him to make his way out the door. Locking it back, I made my way to my bed and started to unpack my underwear bag. Opening my suitcase, I smiled at the cute underwear I had purchased on my way here from Victoria Secret. My mother would just die if she saw the type of underwear I wore, but then that means she would have to take a personal interest in something besides her job.

Yuri kicked off her shoes, snatched up a magazine out her basket and laid across her bed. "I take it Justine didn't pay you a phone call this morning."

"When does she ever?" I folded a pair of boy shorts and slipped them in my dresser drawer. "What about Caroline and Michael?"

"Caroline sent a text while she was boarding a plane to Madrid or Thailand. Michael had his secretary fax me a booklet of what he will and will not accept this year from me, including expenses."

I laughed. Yuri's father Michael was so serious about everything, but at least they contacted her. My suitcase was now empty, as I tossed it in the closet with the rest of them where they will sit until Thanksgiving break.

Walking over to the window, I stared out at all the new students who were just arriving. Gucci, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana suitcases rolled across the stone walkways as students made their way to their assigned dorms and conversed with friends. A couple of freshmen were holding onto their parents for dear life while some parents stared around the campus faces filled with awe and fear. Surprisingly the fear didn't come from the trained army guards, but more so from the group of seniors who had taken it upon themselves to place one of the new kids on the flag pole. I shook my head in disgust. Some people could be such a cliché.

A knock at the door came from the door. Yuri bounced up to answer it. She opened the door and said something to somebody before stepping aside.

Karen Sawyers, our dorm monitor and chief kiss ass, entered the room already dressed in her school uniform. The sight of her always made me frown. She was our age, but yet she dressed as if she was way older. I'm talking Soccer Moms of America older.

"Hello ladies, I've just come to review with you the dorm rules, and a couple new ones I suggested myself."

Yuri and I shared a glance as Karen sat on the end of my bed.

"Rule Number One: All Students must be in their dorm for curfew at 10:00 p.m. Yuri, I wanted to make sure I went over this one with you, because last year I notice you coming in late a couple of times even though you wrote down you were here at ten."

Yuri started towards Karen her fist raise, "I'll give you something to notice."

I quickly jumped up latching onto Yuri as Karen threw her hands up to cover her face. "Down champ!" I turned to Karen fighting a laugh at how she was balled up. "Karen, we already know the rules. So why don't you go inform some of the other ladies the rules for the new school year."

Karen opened her mouth to object but I gave her a look. She quickly stood up and flew out the door. I walked over and locked it back as Yuri sat down on her bed fuming.

"I really can't stand that girl."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I can't either, but I don't let her know it. She's our dorm monitor and Blake's mole. It's best to stay on her good side."

I plopped down on my bed and removed a paperback from the shelf behind me. There was silence in our room for a while, only the flipping of my book and Yuri's magazine.

"Hey so, do we have any new exciting adventures to look forward to." Yuri asked suddenly sitting up.

"I told you I was done with that lifestyle." After my dad died, the whole robbing scene had seemed wrong to me. I knew that if my dad had ever found out about me and the things I had been doing, he wouldn't have been too happy with me. I never wanted to be a disappointment to him.

Yuri sighed. "I know. I was just seeing if you had changed your mind. To be honest the whole scene was getting boring, plus it's getting harder to trust George." George was our forger. He made okay I.D.s and passports so people would maybe give us a glance, but he wasn't the best. "He blows through the money we give him like crazy. It won't be long before he spends it all and have to come to us for more or worst turn us in."

I shook my head at the thought of George. "Can you believe he had the audacity to ask me for another loan? Why would I give him money when I'm not purchasing anything?"

"I heard he's been betting it all away as well. That he owes some pretty bad guys a lot of money. The way he's going he might lead them to us."

"I agree. For now on, we erase him from our lives as well. Hand me your stuff." I said rambling through my own purse. I removed the things George had made for me as Yuri handed me hers. Walking over to the shredder, I powered it on before dropping the I.D.'s in and ripping the pages to our passports and dropping them in as well. I emptied them from the shredder into a wastebasket. Yuri climbed up on a chair to remove the batteries from the smoke detector. Rambling through my desk drawer, I removed the box of matches and struck one.

"Goodbye Maya." I said staring down at my now shredded I.D.

"Goodbye Ashley." Yuri said wiping a fake tear as she stared down at hers. I dropped the match as the trash can lit up with flames.

Grinning Yuri stared over at me. "Now what?"

"Well we get ready for orientation." I said walking over to my closet for the gift I brought along from Greece. Turning around I held the champagne bottle up high for Yuri to see. "And then we celebrate."
Chapter Two

Orientation was the same as every year. Headmaster Blake spent the whole assembly going on about rules that no one would adhere to. She finally realized this as she sent us away while giving us a final warning that she would not tolerate any wild parties tonight. It was clearly a waste of breath.

"So, I just got word that the boy's dorm has invited us to a party." Yuri said hooking her arm in mine. Her eyes twinkled with mischief. "It's going to be at the reservoir."

"God, can't they be more original." Every year the boy's dorm held their annual back to school party just outside the gates of the academy. When I was a freshman, I couldn't wait to party with the upperclassmen. But now that I was the upperclassmen, this party was no longer my scene. I turned to Yuri to suggest that we skip it, but when I looked at her expression, I knew she wanted to go. "Fine." I sighed.

Yuri gripped me tighter as we headed to our dorm to get ready. The girl's dorm was in frenzy as they ran back and forth out of each other's room exchanging outfits. You would think they were about to go to prom the way they were acting. Yuri scanned her key card and we both entered the room, shutting the door behind us. Yuri went to her closet as I went to go check my email for any messages. I signed into my account and waited for the page to load. Once the page was loaded, I saw the email I had been waiting for and clicked on it.

Don't be a nuisance at school this year.

Mom.

I deleted the email and slammed my laptop closed in frustration. It was typical mother. No words of encouragement or any signs of affection, only warnings. It was times like this that made me ache for my father. Sensing the direction my thoughts were going to take, I hopped off my bed and headed over to my closet. This party wouldn't be what I wanted, but it was exactly what I needed.

Twenty minutes later, Yuri and I were dressed and headed out to the reservoir with the other girls from our dorm. On our way there, we passed a couple of guards who only gave us stern looks, but didn't bother us. The guards knew the way things played out here. They would let us have our little party as they do every year and in return, our families would put a little extra in their bank account. Headmaster Blake was the only one that was out of this particular loop, but she was in plenty others.

The reservoir was located just behind the school where the forest started and was guarded by the school's fence. At first glance, the fence near the forest was in perfect condition. However, the closer you got, the closer you could see where some of the stones were no longer aligned perfectly. One push of the stone will reveal a big enough hole to climb through. The last person in your group was always the one to fix the stones back into place and no one was the wiser.

Our group quickly climbed through the hole as Yuri instructed a freshman on how to fix the wall properly. Once she was done, we headed down the trail of the forest until we could hear the sounds of music and laughter. Stepping through the clearing, I stared around at the large number of people that had made it. There was a group of students in the middle dancing around with plastic red cups as the sounds of the latest tunes could be heard blaring from someone's radio. There was a group of freshman off to the side of the group that stood huddled together, their eyes darting around nervously. I felt for them. I knew what it was like to attend your first big party and not know how to act. Eventually, they will find a way to introduce themselves into the world of Baldwin Academy. Hearing a burst of loud laughter, I turned to see a group of girls that I'd recognize from the first floor of our dorm. They stood behind Mark and some other boys from the dorm as they tortured a poor freshman.

I turned to give Yuri a pointed look as she sighed. "I'll be back."

I watch her march over to Mark and say a couple of words. He and his friends put down the boy as the kid wasted no time getting lost. Mark threw an arm around Yuri's neck and before long they were making out. I shook my head in disgust. It was sickening.

"Hi."

I turned my head to the left to see a girl with curly red hair standing there smiling at me. I turned around to see if it was possible that she could be talking to someone else, but there was no one behind me. Turning back, I looked her up and down. "Do I know you?"

"Oh I'm sorry. Where are my manners? My name is Heather Watson. I'm a new transfer this year."

She stuck out her hand as I gave it a glance. I looked from it and back to her cheerful face before taking it into mine. As I shook her hand, I grimaced at how sweaty her hand was. "I'm Autumn."

"I know." She said happily. "I mean, I saw your picture on the school's website. You're the Senior Club President."

I frowned at the thought about my picture being on the website. Every year before school is out Headmaster Blake picks an African American student as the Senior Student President. This year it was me. My mother thought I should be thankful to get the chance to show how diverse our school was, but who would really be happy being known as the token.

"Can I get you something to drink?"

Heather's voice took me away from my thoughts as I stared at her. She was an aggressive little runt. She was no taller than five foot two and had arms as long as her legs. Her face was covered in blotches that seemed to be mostly hidden under her black frame glasses. Her hair reminded me of curly fries dipped in ketchup and her eyes were a sparkly green that seemed to twinkle like an anime character. She wore a plaid shirt over a white tank and a pair of blue jeans that seemed to be dingy at the knee. If I was any other girl at this school, I would have shooed her away and then turned my back on her. But as I looked at her desperate expression, I realized she was only trying to make friends, and somehow she did something no other freshman here seemed to have the courage to do. She'd walked right up to the school's most popular girl and introduced herself. It was risky, but I liked it.

"Sure, I could use a drink."

The two of us headed over towards the cooler as she fixed us two cups of punch. Once she handed me my cup, I quickly down the contents, enjoying the hidden taste of alcohol. It never ceased to amaze me how the guy's snuck alcohol into the school without the guards knowing. As it were, I ended up hanging with Heather all night. I'm not sad to say I corrupted her a bit. By four cups, she was in a daze and was flirting up a senior guy who was too drunk to notice her appearance.

I also found myself attached to some guy's hip as we danced until I could feel my lungs start to burn. All my pain of this summer and my mother's abandonment flew away as I lost myself in the music and some unknown guy. All too soon, the party was over.



Yuri and I stumbled up the hill as we both help to carry a unconscious Heather back to the dorm. As we climbed up the hill, I wondered if Yuri had ingested some illegal drugs. She was giggling way too much.

"Will you be quiet?" I hissed. "You're going to get us caught."

"Sorry. Hey did you hear about the new guy transfer at our school."

"No. Why?"

"No reason. I just heard from the girls that he's extremely gorgeous, though he may be on the geeky side." This for some reason sent Yuri into a fit of giggles. She was so busy laughing that she didn't see the rock in front of her. As it were, her foot caught on the rock and over she went, taking us with her.

"Damn it Yuri." I said pushing up from the ground. I was just about to reach over and slap her when I heard someone in front of us. Peering up I stared at the figure and froze. "Headmaster Blake."

Headmaster Blake placed her hands on her hips as her stern face stared down at us. "Hello girls."

Chapter Three

The first week back at Baldwin Faith Academy passed by in a blur. School was officially in, which meant fewer parties since the library will be packed with students cramming for tests or researching papers. Plus thanks to Yuri getting us caught by Blake, we'd been sentenced to detention. However, Headmaster Blake never comes by the detention hall, Yuri and I ditched detention, only showing up to sign our names on the list.

Ditching detention was actually a win for me. I had a paper due for literature class, and not being in detention allowed me to head to the library. I found a quiet corner table near the windows as I sat down and got to work. An hour later, my books and folders were scattered across the table as I tapped on my white flowered colored laptop. I kept my head down ignoring the looks of my fellow classmates, gawking at the fact that I was alone. Was I not allowed a moment to myself? Even the guards, were throwing each other curious glances. Surely they suspected something was up. I even saw one whisper something in his walkie talkie looking discreetly at me. Probably sending someone to make sure Yuri was still on campus no doubt.

I was aware of all of this without even lifting my head up from the computer. I noticed everything. Something my mother always hated about me. I just prayed Blake doesn't overhear that we're not in the detention hall. Moving my thoughts away before they headed down the dark road of my mother, I scanned the different news articles to see if the police had any new leads about the robbery we'd done at the mall in New York. After cross referencing a series of articles, the case was still cold. One newspaper had even called us ghosts.

Exiting off of the articles, I pulled up another tab to check my email, when an article caught my eye. Famous Cursed Painting by Bartolomѐ Esteban Murillo to be moved to the Louvre Museum.

Clicking on the link, I watched as the article pulled up along with a picture of the painting to be displayed, The Beggar Boy.

One of Spanish Baroque painter Bartholomѐ Esteban Murillo most famous pieces will be moved to the Louvre Museum in one month. The Beggar Boy which was painted in 1650 is said to have come from the artist's popular genre paintings featuring the street children of Seville. However, this particular painting has another reason to be famous. This painting is in fact the known "legendary curse" painting that is said to bring death to anyone that touches it. This painting has caused so much fear, that the painting has remained hidden in an attic of a Jeu De Paume for years, until employees of the Jeu De Paume discovered it after cleaning out the attic.

The employee who discovered the painting knew of the legends of the lost painting, but claimed to not be a believer of the curse.

For the first time in years, The Beggar Boy painting will be displayed at the Louvre Museum in the Denon Wing. The ceremony will be hosted by the Queen as other dignitaries have booked their tickets for the painting's historical unraveling. The painting will share the home with other famous paintings in the world, price ranging from 14 million and higher.

As I finished reading the article, a sudden chill came over me. I have seen this painting before, and it wasn't in any Jeu De Paume. It felt like yesterday when I discovered my father's obsession. I'd been playing hide and go seek with my father when I discovered the door to his study had been left open. I knew my father wouldn't have expected me to hide there since it was always locked. I slid into the room fully expecting a boring old office, but was surprised when I discovered the wall to wall coverings of photos, maps, and paper filled with notes. I remember that every photo hanging on the wall was exactly the same, yet they were different. I'd been so lost in a trance staring at the photo, that I didn't notice when my father entered.

"Amazing isn't it?"

I jumped and stared at my father expecting to see a look of anger on his face, but instead he was smiling. He walked up to stand by me as he stared at the wall with great pride. "Do you know what this is Autumn?"

"Um, a bunch of funny looking photos."

My father laughed and rubbed the top of my curly afro. "I guess the distortion does make them look a bit funny. I blew them up for a reason. You want to know why?" I nodded my head. "This photo is of a famous painting that is said to be protected by a powerful dark curse."

"But why do you have so many pictures of it?"

"Because I am going to find it."

I stared at my father and the happiness on his face as he stared at the picture. I didn't understand why my father wanted to find such a scary thing, but I realized I didn't care. I had never seen that look of happiness on my father face unless he was looking at me. It was beautiful and I instantly wanted to see more of it. I found myself asking my father questions about the painting until he finally just told me all he knew. We would spend hours in his study discussing the painting and the curse we believed protected it. Soon it became my obsession too. I thought of it as a fun hobby that I could do with my father, until it became something else.

My father couldn't just sit still anymore. He quit his job and bought an RV planning to take us on his journey with him. But my mom wasn't having it. She thought his obsession was foolish and had no problems voicing this whenever she felt like it. It was another reason why I disliked her. She always found a way to put him down. It wasn't before long that my father decided to follow his dream of finding the painting. On the night he left, he came into my room and kissed me on the forehead, telling me that he loved me and that he would be back soon. I waited for him but he never came back or called. It wasn't until this summer, his body was found floating near the docks in Maine. He never found the painting. He never found it because it had been hidden in a Jeu De Paume for years.

Filled with a sudden burst of energy, I tossed my books together along with my markers ignoring the wary eyes of the guards. My hands were shaky and my breath was coming out in short gasps. I had to get out of here.

I grabbed my books and snatched up my purse, hastily making my way towards the exit. Exiting the library, I headed down the hall past students who were loitering and headed down the steps. Pushing open the door, I made my way outside not even frowning at the temperature today. I was so busy in my own world, that I didn't notice the person heading towards me in what was to be a sure collision. My mother would have cheered at my sudden unawareness. As it was I collided with this hard body knocking not only myself down, but taking the person along with me. The person I knocked down took most of the pain as I landed on top of them, my purse smacking my face.

I could tell everyone had been watching. No doubt someone caught this with their phone. I can just see the headlines now: THE GREAT AUTUMN JONES TAKES A TUMBLE! Filled with embarrassment, I stood up brushing off the white blouse to my uniform.

"My God, can't you watch where you're walking!"

The person stood up and I noticed it was a guy. He was dressed in the typical uniform for the boys that consisted of black pants, a white dress shirt with our schools emblem on it, a tie, and shoes of their choice. But unlike the other guys here, he didn't try to make the uniform his own, but instead wore it the right way. The only thing he added was a black handkerchief in the shirt pocket, while most boys here stuck pens in theirs. His hair was style neatly and the color was so black that it made his dark eyes pop out at you.

I felt my mouth fall open. The boy bent down and picked up my bag and purse handing it to me quietly. His eyes connected with mine before sweeping to the side. Everyone was staring at us, waiting, maybe even hoping for some sort of altercation. Without saying anything, the guy walked past me as I turned and watch him enter the doors to the library. Turning back around, I shot a glare at the crowd as they quickly began to go back to their business.

Gaining my composure, I made my way through the quad as I headed towards the back of the campus where the athletic department was. It was also known as another go to hang out spot during breaks between classes. As I made my way towards the bleachers, my mind began to drift to the guy I bumped into. Who was he? He had to be new because I knew the majority of everybody who went here. Could he be the new transfer student that everyone had been talking about? My thoughts produced question after question until I reached my destination.

Walking up the hill to the bleachers, I spotted Yuri laid back on the bleachers, dressed in a white tank and her uniform shorts. Her white blouse lay beside her covering what appeared to be her books, as she rocked a pair of sunglasses on her face. I walked up the steps, and made my way to where she was.

"There you are, I texted you two times." Yuri turned to me. "I thought you were dead."

Plopping down beside her, I got control of myself before speaking. "Wow you thought I was dead, but yet you didn't come to find me."

"I figured if you were going to die here, you would at least want to scare one of the underclassmen by having them discover your body." Yuri grinned. "Besides Madison King texted me and told me you were in the library. What's up with that?"

"I had a paper to do. Why are you here?"

"I came to interview Kerry Diamond for the school paper." Yuri said nodding her head in her direction. "I heard she broke a swimming record yesterday. The coach said her speed is up there with some of the best Olympians. She's that good."

I turned my attention to the field where Kerry Diamond was running around the track. Kerry was the daughter of two well-known archeologists— her father was African American, and her mother who was of the Indian descent. She had that sun kissed honey gold colored skin that went perfectly with her fire red hair that shined nicely in the sun. She was our school's top athlete. Mark hated her, which meant I loved her.

"I don't doubt it. She's practically into every sport we have here from swimming to track. The girl is driven."

Yuri snorted. "Well no wonder she's a loner, all that can't be good for her social life."

I shook my head at Yuri. Yuri was always surrounded by people so she didn't understand the importance of having some alone time.

Rambling through my bag, I found some starbursts and popped one in my mouth. As I stared out at the students on the field, I began to feel a bit of peace. I may have joked earlier about not wanting to return here, but it's the only place that ever truly felt like home. Whenever I went home for breaks, it was always just James and I. My mom would end up staying in the city somewhere because she always had some "big" meeting.

My cellphone beeped as I dug it out my purse as well. It was a text message from Ryan, my summer fling.

"What's got you smiling so hard?" Yuri asked trying to see who I was texting.

I shoved her back with my arm. "A little bit of privacy Yul, it's just Ryan."

"Ah, Mr. Housley. Is he leaving his heaven of a boarding school to come to our hell of one?"

"Nope, just want to know if I can Skype with him later."

Yuri purred. "Ooh La La, should I spend the night somewhere else so you two can showcase your dirty parts."

I smirked rolling my eyes. Yuri just may be on to something. But then again it would be just my luck he decides to show his friends our conversation or better yet upload it to the internet. Hmm, maybe then I would get my mother's attention if I'm labeled Miss Slut U.S.A. Turning my attention away from the field, I spotted a figure bouncing towards us up the bleachers. "Look who it is."

Yuri glanced over to see who I was talking about and grinned. "Taylor!!!" She shouted with glee.

Taylor Kim, everyone's go to computer nerd, stopped her approach up the bleachers and broke out doing the robot. Yuri and I erupted with laughter. Taylor never seemed to disappoint.

Smiling gleefully she started back towards us, her long black pig tails bouncing as happily as she was. "Hello ladies, I've come to let you know I've relocated my shop. This year symbol is no longer a fawn. I actually haven't decided on a symbol yet. Just continue to look for the invisible paint for my location."

"What happened to doing business in your room?" I asked. Taylor not only fixed computers, but she did term papers, hacked into the computers to erase tickets, and even change grades.

Taylor gave a roll of her eyes as she planted her hands on her hips. "My kiss ass of a roommate told Blake on me about the "illegal" things I'm into." Taylor said. "Like I need another reason to be on Blake's radar. She's still on my case about my uniform, can't she see this is how I express my creativity!"

I stared at Taylor's clothes. She was dressed in our school uniform, but it never looked like it. She wore different color suspenders every day snapped to her pants, today's color happen to be red. A red tie hung loosely around her neck and ended at the belt of her shorts. Speaking of her shorts, she had redesign them so one part still resembled the issued black uniform shorts, while the other side was covered in white skulls. A pair of red and black stripe socks covered her legs, as she wore black boots on her feet. Top it all off, she wore a pair of big glasses on her face. Her style was very...unique. I guess that's why it disturbed Headmistress Blake. Since day one, Taylor and Headmistress Blake have been at it about how she wears her uniform. I think the mention of proper use of the uniform at orientation was meant especially for her.

"Anyway", Taylor said with a wave of her hands. "I heard about your encounter with that cutie Micah Martin."

"That's his name?"

"Who?"

Yuri and I said at the same time. Just as Taylor was about to open her mouth, the bell sounded signaling break time was over.

"I'll text or email you guys later." Taylor shouted as she bounced down the bleachers the same way she came up.

Grabbing our belongings, Yuri and I headed down the bleachers and towards the front where the classes were held.

Yuri chatted merrily along side of me as I turned her out. I couldn't get the article about the painting out of my head. It was strange how the painting seemed to pop up just a month after my father's death. The wheels in my head were spinning when I was suddenly hit with awareness. I had it. I knew what I had to do. I just hoped I could convince Yuri to help me.
Chapter Four

She was not convinced.

"Have you lost your mind???" She shouted, her eyes almost popping out her head.

"Will you be quiet?"

Walking over to our room door, I opened it and peeped out making sure no one heard Yuri's yelling. The hall was clear minus Jasmine Evans who was seated outside her room laughing at whoever was on the other end of her cellphone. Closing the door back quietly, I turned around and peered over at Yuri who was pacing back and forth, shaking her head from side to side.

I'd sent her message during fifth to tell her about going on a new mission. After that, she had sent text after text trying to get details from me, but I told her that I would explain after class. The minute we'd gotten out of our last class, she'd snatched my arm up and headed towards the dorm. She'd been so antsy that she was even willing to skip out on hanging with Mark. I had to make her sit on the bed like a little child while I changed out of my uniform into something more comfortable. Now I'd wished I'd just gone to the student center instead. I was even wishing I'd bumped into Mark on the way. At least he would have prolonged the unraveling of my insane idea some.

"Yuri, I know the idea is insane but-"

"INSANE!" Yuri shouted. "It's senseless Autumn. We could do some serious jail time. I'm talking about maximum security."

I rolled my eyes. "In case you didn't notice Yuri, we could have done serious jail time for those other thefts as well. What did you think they would do with us, put us in juvenile detention centers?"

"Well of course! We're Minors! But at least it would have been worth going to jail for those diamonds, but a painting. We're not art collectors. Plus the thing is cursed. Why would we take something like that?"

"Because it's the reason my father died."

"What?"

Plopping down on the bed, I told Yuri about my father's obsession with the Beggar Boy painting. It was something that I'd never shared with her just in case she turned out to be like everyone else who ridiculed my father and called him foolish. Once I was done talking, Yuri walked over to our window. It had been thirty minutes and she still hasn't spoken one word to me. Pulling my knees to my chest, I wrapped my arms around my legs. "Yuri, you're the one who said you were bored with boosting the clothes and jewelry. We needed something new and different. Plus this painting means a lot to me. It meant a lot to my father."

"I know." She said turning around. Yuri usually resembled a model coming straight off the runway or out the picture of a magazine, but at this moment dressed in her sweatpants and tank, she looked like a normal stressed out teen. "I understand what you're trying to say, but Autumn this is different. The Louvre is located in France, and we're all the way in California. How are we supposed to hop from here to there and still be present for school? We'll have to wait until break and by then the painting might be heavily guarded. Besides this is more than just a two woman job. We can't do this."

Leaning back into my pillows, I closed my eyes. Didn't she know I had already thought about all of that? I knew there was no way we could pull off the heist without having a serious team behind us. Not to mention the amount of money financing this mission. Our family's accountants would surely call to let our parents know that we had been dipping generously into our funds way more than needed. My mom may not call often, but I'm sure she would once she knew I was blowing away all her money.

However, we said the same thing when we first starting robbing stores for their merchandise. And even to this day, every case against us was cold with no leads.

Opening my eyes, I turned towards Yuri who was looking at me worried. "Yuri, I'm scared too. Not only of if we get caught, but of the backlash it will bring on our parents. With us being the daughters of senators, I guarantee you the press will eat this up." Licking my lips, I took a pause imagining the uproar our little heist could cause. "But Yuri, I have to do this, even if it's without you."

Yuri stared at the floor for a while before sighing. "Fine I'm in. I could stand to learn more about art. Not to mention, the amount of press we would get if we actually pulled this off." That thought seemed to intrigue Yuri as she smiled. "We can go down in history! They may even make a movie about us. Wouldn't it be cool if we were actually cast to play ourselves?"

"Plus don't forget the painting is rumored to be worth 14 million dollars or more. Even if they do get on our trail, we will have more than enough money to disappear safely somewhere. There are plenty of people who will pay just to have this painting, and even more when they know it's been stolen right from up under the museum's nose."

"Okay, if we're going to do this Autumn, we've got to be smart about it. Our butts won't be the only ones on the line if this thing goes south. Whoever we pick to help us pull this off, have to be more than good."

"Agreed." I said sighing with relief. "This heist won't be like the others. It's going to take a lot of patience and planning, and we've only got three months."



The sounds of laughter and silver hitting glass echoed throughout the large dining hall as students sat at the dinner tables, socializing with friends and packing their mouths with food. Near the front of the room, Mark and a couple of his friends stood on the stage, giving some poor fellow a hard time. A guard finally took notice and decided to go over and take charge of the situation.

Leaning back in my chair, I raised the cup of tea to my lips as my pen scribbled across my notebook. "Okay, we know this assignment will take more than two people. But exactly where do we start our search. We can't just go out and find anybody. Too many complications can arise from that."

Yuri spooned some spaghetti into her mouth and chewed it before answering. "You're right. We don't want another Perkins on our hands. We need someone who's in close proximity, someone we can keep our eye on to make sure they don't leak any information."

Yuri opened her mouth to say something else, but it was lost to me. Because at that moment dark eyes, I mean Micah Martin had walked into my eyesight. Since it was after hours he was no longer in his uniform, but instead in a pair of shorts and some geeky Captain Planet graphic tee. I frowned at that. How could he go from looking like a Colin Farrell look-a-like to resembling someone who attends a comic con?

I watched him stopped to talk to a group of boys. My eyes followed his hand movements as he talked animatedly about something. The groups of guys were no different. They followed alone with his conversation as their faces held huge smiles. I moved my eyes to the side for a split second to see that Mark and his gang of ruffians had turned their attention to Micah. Mark face was filled with jealousy and anger. He was the top dog around here and Micah was stepping on his territory. Walking up to Micah, he threw an arm around his neck interrupting his conversation. Micah's smile dropped as Mark began to take over what was left of Micah's conversation. The guys were now enraptured with Mark's story as he tapped Micah on the shoulder. I could see the angered look on Micah's face. Those taps weren't exactly friendly. Micah finally excused himself from the group walking the other way.

A sharp pain in my leg knocked my eyes away from Micah Martin. Frowning, I turned to look at Yuri who stared at me with her smirking. "Ow! You could have done some serious damage to my knee."

"Well had you been paying attention I wouldn't have had to kick you." She said. "So is that him?"

"Who?"

"Do not pull that clueless card with me" Yuri said with a raise of her eyebrow. "I'm talking about Micah Martin. You know the guy's arms you practically leaped into outside the library."

"I did not leap into his arms!" I screeched.

Several students turned to look in our direction at my outburst, Micah included. His eyes moved from Yuri's to mine. At the sudden eye contact, I felt the wind rush from my chest. This guy was making me uncomfortable and I didn't know why. He finally decided he wasn't interested enough in what was going on at our table unlike everyone else. His attention was turned back to the brunette who was now occupying his time, Paige Harper.

Great he was conversing with another person I deemed in the same club with Mark. Paige Harper was the daughter of Evelyn Harper who ran against my mother for office in the last election. Evelyn Harper was a snake and her daughter was no different. While she campaigned against my mother out in the real world, Paige campaigned against me here. At first she had won everyone over with nasty and fictitious rumors about me, but people quickly began to see her for the Medusa she was. Sadly, she still had some loyal followers in her rank who felt I was the bottom of the barrel compared to Paige. She always wanted everything that I had or even thinks I want. My guess, that's why she was taking an interest in Micah Martin.

"Looks like someone is making moves on your man"

I turned my attention from them. "He is not my man."

"Thank the heavens, someone has an available seat"

Taylor plopped down with her tray in the chair next to Yuri. "This school is seriously getting way too overcrowded. I thought this school was supposed to be special invite only."

"Aw, Taylor look at this way. You get more customers to fill your pockets." Yuri said.

"You're right and I need the extra cash. I'm running low on funds. I had to replace my laptop and some other equipment I needed. They got damaged in the move to my new office. My parents have also cut me off this month since the incident with Karen." Taylor's hands balled up into fists. "I could seriously pummel that girl."

Yuri and I grinned at Taylor's expression. I knew it had to be hard for her to change the place she did her illegal activities on campus. Her room was her safe domain, now she can get caught being out in the open. It was clear that Karen will be getting a drop in her grades this semester.

"Anyway" Taylor said spooning her dinner. "I need to come into some serious cash fast or else say goodbye to my business."

A light switch went off in my head as I stared at Taylor. I switched my gaze to Yuri who too had picked up on a hint. We stared at each other for a minute, silently communicating with each other. Taylor was a super genius when it came to all things technical. She could hack into just about anything and she always made the most realistic I.D.s. ever. The only reason Yuri and I didn't go to her before the heist was because we didn't need someone who knew our real identity and could link us to the crimes. Taylor had been caught several times hacking into government sites but her dad has saved her each times. She was already into illegal activities. She was perfect.

"You guys are weird." Taylor said laughing. "What's up with you two?"

"Taylor, I think I may have the solution to your money troubles."

Chapter Five

If I thought Yuri had freaked, then Taylor was way past it. After telling her that I had a proposition for her money problems, she'd immediately asked us to cease conversation until we got to her headquarters. Her headquarters however, resembled more of a computer lab— minus the graffiti drawings and anime posters on the wall. Taylor had found the perfect spot on campus that the guards or teachers wouldn't dare think to look. Far off behind the athletic department a few feet in the woods sat the building for the school's custodian staff, and beneath it was an abandon basement that apparently had been boarded up since forever.

"Okay, so let me get this straight." Taylor said her voice filled with laugher after I'd told her everything including about our past robberies. "You two want me to help you break into a highly secured museum to steal a painting that is in France. Did I get that right?"

"You forgot the part about it being cursed and being presented by the Queen of England, and did I mention we plan on stealing it that night." Yuri said all nonchalant while tapping on one of Taylor's computer gadgets. "How did you sneak all of this down here without anyone seeing?"

"I simply loaded them and myself onto the carts the janitors push during lunch. It took four trips to get everything down here." Taylor said folding her arms. "You guys are serious, aren't you?"

Taylor wanted me to say no, but I couldn't. She was the best at what she does. We needed her. So I simply nodded.

Taylor shook her head. "This is insane. I know you guys have robbed stuff before, but you're talking about a museum. What if the painting really is cursed? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to die."

"Hey, you're the one who said you need the money. Autumn and I can swing it without you, but we really want you to help us."

The room was silent for a while before Taylor agreed to help us. "Fine, I'll help you. But I want my money up front. You can pay me half now and the other half when we get the painting. Deal."

"Deal." Yuri and I agreed.



Standing in front of my bathroom mirror, I wiped the fog off as I tied the extra towel around my hair. I had the room to myself thanks to Yuri hanging out with Mark. The usual vomit reflex came to me as I thought of Mark. What was it that truly made me sick to my stomach about him? There were plenty of guys Yuri had dated that I didn't like, but for some reason Mark took the cake. Anyway, as soon as the sun was up good, she high tailed it out of here to him.

Walking out the bathroom I walked over to the window and stared down into the courtyard, I watched a group of guys play toss football as some girls sat near them cheering. Moving my eyes away, they came to focus on something or should I say someone entirely different. Micah Martin sat on a bench up under a tree staring at a notebook.

A certain feeling came over me and before I knew it, I was stripping out of my towel and throwing on my clothes. Micah Martin was alone and this could be my chance to finally talk to him. Maybe even find out why I was so interested in him. I hurried out of my dorm and made my way over to him. The temperature today wasn't as hot as it been the past two weeks. There was coolness to the air, perfect weather for a dress I'd bought this summer. As I got closer to Micah, I waved to a couple of my friends and even people I hardly knew. It always made me feel ashamed the way their face would be filled with surprise at me speaking to them

Finally, I was in front of Micah. He was so into whatever he was drawing that he seemed to be unaware that I was standing there. I didn't mind though. It gave me a chance to stare at him without him noticing. Surprisingly, he wasn't sporting one of those nerdy graphic tees he had been wearing lately, even though I secretly admitted to myself that some of them were quite funny. Today though, he was dressed in a gray V-neck, a pair of blue jeans, and some sneakers.

"Hello."

Micah looked up startled before his dark brown eyes narrowed on me. Giving him one of my best smiles, I watched as his eyes gave me a once over. "Hi." He then turned his attention back to his drawing. Had I been a sensitive person, his actions would have seriously offended me or worst sent me running away in embarrassment. As it were, I was thick skinned and I didn't believe in running, even if I was being chased by a mob of zombies.

"What are you drawing?"

Micah stared at me again for a moment before answering. "Nothing." He flipped his book closed and stuffed it in his bag.

Okay, so maybe this was a bad idea. I had nothing I really wanted to talk about, and it was obvious he felt the same way. "Look, I just wanted to apologize for last week. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. That's all I wanted to say." Giving up, I turned around to leave.

"Autumn."

I turned around shock that he knew my name, and thrilled about the way he said it. His voice was like smooth silk, and as he said my name, I pictured the silk wrapping around it, caressing it.

"You didn't need to apologize. I understand. You were in a rush. It happens."

"Still, the least I could have did was helped you up. After all, you caught me from permanently damaging my face with the ground."

Micah smiled then. Oh my. His teeth were pearly white and even. He could model for a Colgate commercial. "Your face colliding with the walkway would have improved the walkway."

We both froze as we stared at each other. Did I really just hear him call me beautiful? Granted the words weren't outright "you're beautiful," but the meaning was there. I heard it, and apparently he did as well.

Feeling the butterflies thumped to life in my stomach, I tried to detour us from this awkward situation. "So Micah, you know who I am. What category do your parents fall into?"

Micah smiled, glad for change of subject. "It's funny you should ask that, my parents fall into neither category." At my confused look, he laughed. "My father is a mechanic and my mother owns a flower shop."

"Oh." I said still confused. Everyone at this school was either the child of a royal or a politician. This was why our school was so exclusive and heavily guarded. So what was Micah doing here? "That's Cool."

"You don't have to say that. I know I'm not what you guys are used to around here."

I stared at the ground uncomfortably as I moved a piece of hair behind my ear. "So why are you here?"

"How about we save that story for another time?" Without giving me a chance to answer, Micah picked up his bag, throwing it over his shoulder. "I've got to go. I promised Paige I would meet her and some friends at the movie theater."

I pursed my lips together at the bitter taste of Paige's name coming from his lips. I could have been a little malicious and made up some nauseating rumor about Paige to make Micah stay, but instead I decided not to. Paige was an idiot. She would end up making herself look bad with or without my help.

Putting on a smile I said. "Ok okay, well see you around."

Turning on my heels, I made my way from Micah. The slight wind had ruffled my hair as I turned back to stare over my shoulder at him. Imagine the surprise I felt when I notice he was still in the same position, staring directly at me. Feeling my face flush, I gave a little wiggle of my fingers and continued walking.

As I walked past the group of boys I'd seen playing football earlier, I began to chastise myself. I was getting googly feelings about Micah and I didn't like it. Googly feelings usually lead to vulnerability and I hated to feel vulnerable. But I had to admit, I enjoyed the feeling of butterflies in my stomach. The feeling was foreign to me, and I couldn't help but want to know more about it.

As I headed across the campus, I caught sight of something red on the track. Moving closer, I realized that it was Kerry Diamond. Today was a free day, and yet she was spending her free time doing this. As she neared me, I noticed the worried expression on her face. It was an expression I knew all too well. Kerry had gotten herself into something she had no idea how to get out of. I didn't know her, but I knew that expression.

Pulling out my phone, I dialed Taylor's number.

"Hello."

"Give me everything you can find out on Kerry Diamond."

Kerry Diamond was crying for help, and I was going to save her.

Chapter Six

"Are you serious Autumn? "Miss All American. You want her to help us."

Yuri's words bounced around in my head as I stood outside Kerry's room door. I knew I was taking a risk, but my gut told me I was doing the right thing. Raising my fist, I knocked on the door, waiting for someone to answer. It didn't take long as the door opened to reveal the girl I assumed was Kerry's roommate.

"Hi is Kerry here?"

The girl gave me a look of confusion and suspicion. She no doubt was more than just roommates with Kerry. She was probably her best friend and the sight of me, someone who've never talked to Kerry asking for her, raised suspicion.

"Where are my manners, I'm Autumn."

"I'm Anna." She said reaching out to shake my hand. "Kerry's not here. She's gone to the morning services and then running."

I nodded. I should have gone to the chapel first like I started to instead of coming to this girl's door looking like a fool. Today was Sunday which meant everyone would be at the school's chapel for morning services. "Well, I'll probably bump into her in the courtyard then. It was nice to meet you."

Turning on my heels I heard the girl mumble a faint "you too", but I was already gone. If she was anything like Yuri and I, she would be texting Kerry to let her know that I had come by looking for her. Kerry would be on the lookout for me.

I left out of the dorms and headed through the courtyard enjoying the cool breeze that was graciously given to us today. I reached the chapel hoping that Kerry would still be in there. Unfortunately it was empty. Her roommate had also said she was going running today. But would she still go running if she knew I was looking for her. I headed for the trails the students usually jogged on. Arriving, I plopped down a bench and watched joggers come and go. I began to lose hope thinking she went somewhere else when I saw her fire red hair come bouncing around the corner. Standing I brushed off my shorts and made my way towards her. Kerry wore the same look of worry on her face that increased when she spotted me. Slowing down, she removed her ear buds, deciding to confront the situation. I instantly liked her.

I decided to do the same. "You don't look so surprise to see me. I take it your roommate told you I was looking for you."

"She's about as confused as I am."

"Is there somewhere private we can go to talk?"

Kerry stared at me before pointing the way she had been running. "We can go on the trails. That's about as private as we're going to get."

I was a bit cautious about talking on the trails. I've never been a big fan of wooded areas. However, this is where she felt most comfortable at. If I was going to gain her trust, this would have to be the place.

"Okay."

We walked off down the trails both of us in deep silence waiting for the other to speak. Every now and then, a jogger would run past us into the trails disappearing.

"It feels good out here."

Kerry nodded. "Yeah it does. It's been tiresome running in this heat the past couple of days."

"I can believe you."

It was quiet again.

"What is it that you want?" Kerry asked quietly. "You haven't spoken to me once since I've been here. Why now?" She wasn't rude at all. She was just curious. I would be too if I was in her position.

"I need your help on a certain project. I'm asking you because we're alike. We both have done some things and we both have gotten away with it."

"I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"You know those heists that have been happening recently, the clothing stores and jewelry ones." I asked. When Kerry nodded, I continued. "I was behind them." I decided to leave out Yuri for right now. But she was a smart girl. Surely she would realize the heist was always done with two or more people. Yuri and I were best friends. Why wouldn't she be in on this? It still didn't make me feel any better confessing my secret like this.

Kerry laughed her eyes crinkling up the dimples in her cheeks showing. I waited patiently for her to get over the laughter phase to the "are you serious" phase.

She didn't disappoint. "Are you serious?"

"Very."

Kerry stopped and so did I. Another jogger came running by bringing a slight breeze that gave me a slight shiver. Being under these trees made the temperature feel lower than it actually was. We both waited before he was out of sight to talk.

"Okay, so why are you telling me this?" Kerry said folding her arms.

"I knew if anyone would understand me, it would be you. I know about England. I know you're the one that stole the necklace."

Kerry froze. "How do you know that?"

"You just answered it for me. Plus I read the news articles. No one seemed to question you about the Prince's stolen necklace since you were supposedly bedridden with the flu. But yet as I looked at some of the pictures from the party that night, I spotted something strange. There was a figure in the crowd staring at the glass case. It was a familiar figure." Kerry eyes darted around nervously as she licked her lips. "You weren't in your room were you Kerry. You were at the party."

Somewhere ahead thunder sounded as Kerry continued to stare at me.

"Look, I'm not going to tell anyone. I promised. I know why you did it. I know the necklace belonged to your family and that you parent's lost the lawsuit against the Prince. It meant a lot to your family. That's why you took it and that's why I need your help. The same thing has happened to me."

I explained to her about my father and his obsession with the painting. Throughout it all, Kerry just listened. She felt sorry for me, but just like any sane person she knew what I was asking her to do wasn't right. She proved it by what she said next.

"I can't help you Autumn. I'm...I'm sorry." With that Kerry turned and ran back to the dorms.

I sighed more convinced than ever that this heist was not going to happen. A slight rustle to my left made me turn my head and peer into the trees. No one was there. It could have been a squirrel, I told myself. More thunder sounded as I noticed how dark it had gotten on the path. We'd gone so far down the trail that I couldn't see the school anymore. A branch snapped making a chill go through me.

"Hello."

Only silence answered back. Even the sounds of birds were scarce. I had a feeling that someone was watching me and the more I stood there, the more the feeling increased. I needed to get out of here.

I raced back towards the dorms, peering back over my shoulders occasionally. By the time I reached the dorms, Kerry was nowhere in sight. She'd probably made it to her room by now and was telling her friend what kind of nutcase I was. Together they would tell Headmistress Blake who would point her gnarly finger at me in her "I knew it" stance. I would be shipped away to some prison with a cellmate named Deb who would force me to do inhumane acts while my mother wonder where exactly did she go wrong.

I ran upstairs to my room and slammed the door closed, ignoring the surprise look from Yuri.

"Everything okay?"

I gave her a fake smile. "Yeah."

Yuri turned back to her book as I fell down on my bed. My body still shook with a chill about the fact that somebody had been watching me.



The storm cleared up just in time for us go hang out with friends tonight. Opening the door, Yuri and I walked into the student center as the smell of fried grease attacked our nostrils. I let out a sigh of yearning as Yuri shot me a look of disgust. God she was such a health geek. Mark spotted us as soon as we entered and headed straight for us. Just great.

"Where have you been?" He demanded loudly.

Yuri not one for being embarrassed, placed a hand on her hip as she pointed a finger at Mark. "Excuse me, but who exactly do you think you're speaking to?"

Not wanting to have a front row seat to their live soap opera, I walked off into the throng of students. It saddened me to think that no matter how much Yuri tried to exert her strength against Mark, he always had a way of knocking her back down. But what could I do when she allowed it to happen over and over again.

I stopped to talk to Heather. I hadn't seen her since the party so I decided to speak. We talked about the latest global warming incident and protest. Well Heather talked— I mostly leaned up against the wall and kept a watchful eye on Yuri. The fierce look she had on her face dropped to one of sorrow. Mark said a couple of words and then caressed her face as the look of happiness reappeared. It didn't take the two long to try to mesh their faces together.

I blew out a big gust of air.

"I'm sorry if I'm boring you with my talk about the protests. We can talk about something else if you want?" Heather said with a hopeful look on her face.

I stared at her. Heather was what people would call a hippie. She wore clothes that looked as if they'd come straight out of the school's theater trunk. She cared about the animals, trees, the air, things teenagers today didn't care about. While her conversation wasn't the least bit interesting to me, she still did not deserve to be ignored. She was a sweet girl, which people sometime overlooked.

Once I realized she was still staring at me with a bit of uncertainty, I gave her what I hope was a bright smile but instead it seemed to creep her out even more. "I'm sorry for zoning out. My mind has been haywire these last couple of days. It's not your fault."

Heather smiled, glad I was still talking to her. "It's okay. So do you want to get a slice of pizza or something?"

I stared over through the glass doors of the diner that was built in the school center. Even from here I could see that the room was over crowded with students, as it is every weekend we have here.

"Actually I want to go to the theater. I heard the school got in the new Nightshade movie, what's it called?"

"Princess of Darkness"

"Yeah that. Do you want to go see that?" I asked. I had to get away from Yuri and Mark.

"Sure"

Heather and I made our way over to the movie theater purchasing some snacks with our student I.D. cards. Since I was a bit upset with Yuri at the moment, I made sure to drown my popcorn in butter. There was a stand selling the hot angel Gabriel T-shirts that was over flooding with girls. After assuring Heather I didn't want one, she squeezed in between them to get herself a shirt.

As I waited in line to buy my drink, I pulled out my cellphone to text Ryan. Maybe he was having more fun at his school than I was currently having. The drink lined shortened as Heather waved at me from across the room. She had pulled her Gabriel shirt over her long sleeved one, and was wearing a black hat that were also engraved with his name. I wiggled my fingers back as she waited for me to pay for my green tea, and then we made our way into the room playing the movie. It was pretty crowded in here with girls which wasn't the least unusual. I spotted a couple of guys, no doubt being forced here by their girlfriends for a date. Well minus Andrew Kirk. I'm pretty sure he was here for the man candy in this movie.

Heather and I grabbed some seats towards the back and plopped down to watch the movie. Once again, Heater was actually good company. I was beginning to like her more and more. I tossed a couple of popcorn in my mouth as I frowned at the character of Eris. This was my first time seeing this series and already I had joined the ranks of the I HATE ERIS CLUB! This chick was completely ruthless. However, I found myself admiring how dedicated she was to her plan. The man she was in love with had been banished to the dark limbo of the world and she was doing everything to set him free again. But I would NOT want to take away another person's life just to be with some guy who never paid me any mind in the first place. Eris however was blind to this. Marius was her one true love and she would be with him no matter how the main character Summer tried to stop her.

The angel Gabriel took off his shirt and all the girls including Heather sighed in pleasure. I myself had to admit the boy was smoking hot! I reached over for my drink but stopped once my eyes connected with a familiar head. Paige Harper sat two rows in front of us, but that what wasn't that drew my attention. It was the person sitting next to her. I watched Paige turn to say something to the person as their head turned to get a better hearing from her. The guy she was with was none other than Micah Martin. Paige gave an annoying laugh as she laid her head on Micah's shoulder. He didn't bother to move it as his head turned back to the screen.

Feeling sick beyond belief, I sat back in my seat as I tried to focus back on the movie. But it was a lost cause. I couldn't stop my eyes from drifting back over to them. Her head was still on his shoulder. They were on a date. They had to be. For once I envied Paige. I was supposed to be the one with my head on his shoulder, not her.

I found myself drifting through the rest of the movie until it was over. We followed the rest of the students out the theater into the hallway.

"So do you want to get something else from the concession stand or we could see another movie?" Heather asked.

"Actually Heather I think I'm going to head back to my dorm now."

Heather's smile dropped a little but she quickly hid it. "That's okay. I had a great time tonight."

I smiled. "Me too Heather. We have to do it again." I actually meant it too.

Giving a sad glance over at Micah and Paige who were now leaning against the wall talking, I made my way out the student center.

Walking through the courtyard, I ignored the guard shadowing me and headed straight for my dorm. Climbing the marble stairs, I noted how quiet it was in the dorms. Everyone was out, that is except for Kerry. Pausing on the steps, I stared at her in the common room on one of the sofas, a book pressed to her face. I started to approach her but decided not to. I climbed up the stairs to my floor and headed to my room.

Unlocking the door, I entered the room shutting the door behind me. Kicking off my shoes, I made my way over to my bed and laid down clutching the bear my father had bought me. I felt sick. The sickness I felt was not due to the buttery popcorn. No, this sickness came from the sight of Micah and Paige together. I hardly knew anything about this guy but yet I found myself being drawn to him. This went way deeper than physical attraction. Snuggling deeper into my comforter, I closed my eyes as the picture of me and Micah transformed into the characters Summer and Gabriel from the movie.

I stood on the balcony of my room peering down into the courtyard. I had just learned of the army Eris was building and that they were headed for us. I stared up at the stars as I asked for guidance during what was sure to be troubling times. Granted I was a creature of the undead, so I was pretty sure God was skipping over my prayers all together.

Micah entered the room but yet he was Gabriel. He came towards me and stood by my side. Placing a hand on my hand, he stared into my eyes with a love so powerful it took my breath away. Our argument earlier a thing of the past, now that he was sure there was a way to keep me protected. It didn't matter that I was more than capable of protecting myself. It just made him feel better that he could be there.

His face neared mine, his perfect lips connecting against mine. Pulling back he stared at me smiling. I could feel the love he had for me in his smile. Reaching out to caress my face, he mouthed something to me. I couldn't hear him so I asked that he repeat himself. Coming closer, his face contorted in a disgusted expression as he said, "Autumn, you're drooling."

My eyes snapped open as I stared at Yuri standing above me. Her once cute curls were a mess on her head and her lips looked as if someone had tried to suck them off her face. Not mention her top was unbuttoned. Oh if the parentals could see her now.

"What time is it?" I asked sitting up.

"Ten. I snuck in right when the doors were about to lock. I'm going to shower you should do the same."

Yuri disappeared into the bathroom as I fell back on my pillows. My thoughts were still filled with Micah. Maybe this was why Eris was ready to destroy the world for Marius. Maybe the same sickness filled her at the thought of Marius being trapped in a dark place alone. God help me if I decide to become a shepherd for the devil.

Yuri came back out the bathroom freshly showered and dressed as she plopped down on my bed. "So who were you dreaming about? It couldn't have been Ryan since we slept in the room all summer and not once did you drool while in la la land."

I grabbed the book I had been reading off the nightstand as I shrugged my shoulders. "It was nothing. Just scenes from that movie Princess of Darkness that's all."

"Oh My God, isn't Gary just the cutest thing."

"His name is Gabriel."

Yuri gave a wave of her hand as she lay down beside me. "Same difference. I wasn't watching much. Mark and I were distracted." She said with a blush.

"You guys went to see it tonight?"

"Yup, we went to see some action movie first though since Mark basically begged me to go."

I rolled my eyes at that. More like Mark told her they were going. "How are things going with him?"

"Like you care, you hate him."

Well she wasn't wrong there.

"I might not like him, but you're still my friend. If you care about him, I have no choice but to care as well."

"I don't know about Mark anymore, Autumn. " She said softly. "He's changed. I know you find that hard to believe but he really use to be a sweetheart to me."

She was right. I did find that hard to believe. Since day one Mark had always been a jerk, and Yuri usually weren't the type to fall for those kinds of men. I guess there was something that blinded her to his true identity. Or maybe the way he acted with Yuri in secret was his true identity and the jerk display was just an act. I should know all about that since I put on one daily to hide the fact that I'm scared to be alone.

Yuri turned over in her bed as I stared at the ceiling. My phone beeped as I checked it to see an unknown number. I clicked the message.

It's Kerry. We need to talk.

Chapter Seven

After Kerry sent me that message, I was extremely happy but yet worried. I was hoping she would say that she's in, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else. I agreed to meet her after classes the next day so we could talk. When the next day came, I could barely concentrate. The last bell for today rang, and I rushed out of class to meet up with Kerry outside of her biology class. Leaning against the wall, I reached in my pocket and stuck a piece of grape flavored gum in my mouth. The class emptied with students until I could spot Kerry. Her eyes had bags under them as she approached me.

"Are you okay?"

"Let's talk."

I let her lead the way. She led us away from the school building and back to that jogging trail I was starting to hate. Since classes had just ended, the trail was empty. We were alone. Kerry led us to a spot that was similar to last time and then she stopped. She turned to face me, a glare scarier than the ones I usually dished out, on her face.

"I thought you said you wouldn't tell anyone else about my secret."

"Yeah, I said that and I meant it."

"I thought so." She reached into her yellow school folder and retrieved a white envelope. "I found this in my gym locker yesterday after practice." She handed the envelope to me.

I took it from her hands and began to open it. In the inside of the envelope was a piece of white paper. I quickly unfolded the paper and then froze. On the paper was the exact same picture of Kerry that I'd told her I had deleted, but it wasn't the only thing. Below the picture was a message.

She's going to keep quiet. But how are you going to silence me?

Help her with the painting, and it'll be the last free thing you'll do.

One caught turkey for thanksgiving, coming up.

I closed the message as I stared at Kerry. "You didn't see who sent this."

"No. Everyone was showering and Coach Malory was in her office on the phone. Anybody could have walked in during that time, but I'm sure she would have seen them through the window."

Kerry eyes still held a bit of distrust in them and I immediately wanted to get rid of it. "Kerry listen, that day when I asked you to help me, I had already deleted the photo. I was the only one who had discovered you in the background on the photo. The police had already checked all the photos from that night and still have no clue on who stole the necklace. I knew though, if they hired a specialist, he would find your face in the photo. So I did the only thing I could to protect you, I deleted it. I never saved a copy and I never told anyone about it. You have to believe me."

After staring at me for a while she nodded. "I believe you. But who else could know?"

"Have you told anyone? What about your roommate?"

"I haven't told anyone. I figured if I kept it to myself, it would be at least one secret I could take with me to the grave."

I nodded. I understood those types of secrets. Yuri and I had enough of our own though now Kerry and Taylor seemed to know about it as well. I opened the paper and stared down at it again. The writing font seemed familiar. Where have I seen this font? Closing my eyes, I pulled up old memories of being in my father's office as one particular memory came to me. It was three weeks before my father decided to leave. I'd gone into my father's office to take him some lunch since he'd been in there all day. When I got there, his office was empty. I walked the tray over to his desk and sat it down. I was turning to walk away when I saw a piece of stained paper that had the words "This is your last warning", written on it. I tried to see more, but my dad walked in and covered the paper with a book. He claimed it was something from a debt collector, but I didn't buy it. Now as I hold this letter in my hands, my suspicions came back once again.

"Who do you think sent this?" Kerry said walking to stare over at the paper.

"I'm not sure, but I think this person may know what happened to my father."



The Café was packed from wall to wall as usual. I said goodbye to Kerry as she headed over to the table with her roommate. I didn't plan on staying. Someone out there was starting up with the messages again, and this time they were aimed at me. Whoever it was, was hoping to scare Kerry enough so she wouldn't want to help me, but it only seem to fuel her more. I needed to figure out how this person had made the connection between me and Kerry and how they got their hands on that photo. In order to do that, I needed chocolate. I walked towards the long line and waited to place my order. As my eyes glanced around the Café, I spotted Micah hanging out with a group of guys. As if sensing me, he glanced up and smiled. I felt my heart rate speed up as I returned his smile. Then out of nowhere, Paige walked up to him wrapping her long ape arms around his neck. He turned to face her and I turned my head. Paige was doing this on purpose. She knew I couldn't stomach seeing them together. Every time I saw Micah— she was there, hanging on him like a Christmas tree ornament.

"Don't let her get to you." I turned around to see Heather behind me. She pushed up her glasses and smiled.

"I'm not worried about Paige. She's a twit."

Heather laughed covering her mouth with her hands. "Why does she hate you so?"

I opened my mouth to answer but really couldn't come up with anything. I had met Paige at a dinner party someone was hosting in Washington. We couldn't have been any more than thirteen when we met. Yuri had abandoned me to go hang with Scott Wari who was way too old for her. Being left alone, I had filled up on sweets from this candy bar when this guy named K.J. approached me. He made a remark about the party and we'd instantly hit it off. At that time I was still a bit tomboyish and had angered my mother by showing up in a dress and some sneakers. While other people had given me a weird look, K.J. just smiled at me. He didn't care that I was dressed like a freak. We had just stolen a few sips from a champagne tray when we heard a noise behind us. That was the first time I met Paige. Turning we saw a brunette girl dressed in a sky blue colored dress. She was beautiful, but that wasn't what caught my attention. It was her face that was filled with anger— anger that was directed towards me.

"Can we help you?" K.J. had asked. The girl turned to him, her expression filled with one of betrayal. Shooting me another glare she turned and left the room. After she left, we laughed and continued drinking the champagne, already erasing her from our minds. One year later during freshman orientation, I bumped into Paige in the hallway. I remembered her instantly and as she did of me. I had hopes the two of us could be friends, but Paige had other plans. She made it known we were going to be enemies, and we had, since that day.

"I don't know why she hates me" I said finally answering Heather. I truly didn't.

I ordered my box of brownies and headed out the Café. I didn't bother to even look in Paige's direction. Heather had wanted to tag alone with me, but I told her I needed some alone time. I wasn't lying, I really did. Removing my cellphone from my purse, I texted Taylor to see if we could meet. She replied a minute later telling me to meet her at her headquarters. I headed towards the custodian building when I spotted Micah sitting in his usual spot under the tree drawing. When had he left the Café? I debated with myself on whether or not I should talk to him. I decided on the latter. He was Paige's man. I headed in the other direction, when I felt a tug on my arm. I turned around to see Micah.

He let go of my arm and reached to rub his head in a nervous gesture. "I called your name, but I guess you didn't hear me."

"Sorry, I've been lost in my thoughts lately."

"Anything, I can help with. I'm good at listening."

I laughed. "No, I think this is something I need to work out for myself."

"I understand."

The two of us stood there in silence. Neither of us knew what to say. In the end we just stood there staring at each other. The longer her stared at me, the more my palms began to itch and my heart pushed against my chest.

"I've got to go." I finally said.

"Oh...Okay."

I turned on my heels when he called my name again. Composing myself I turned to face him. "Yes."

"Would you like to hang out with me tomorrow after classes? I know we have study hall, but I could really use a partner. I'm falling behind in biology and I heard you're really good at it. That is, if you're not too busy."

I laughed at the red blush that had crept upon his cheeks. He was rambling. Seeing me laugh, he broke into a grin of us own as he stared down at his shoes. "Can you please ignore the fact that I've just made a fool of myself. I promise I'm not always like that."

"Of course. And yes, I'll be your study partner."

"Cool. I'll see you after class tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye."

I walked away from him with a huge smile on my face. Though he didn't ask me to be his girlfriend, I found myself not that disappointed. We haven't had much time to talk with him having Paige attached to his hip. Tomorrow we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other. Who knows, maybe we'll be a couple soon. One could only hope.

I reached Taylor's headquarters without detecting any attention. Opening the door, I spotted her at the computer surfing the internet. Seeing me, she closed out of her tabs.

"What's the reason you needed to see me?"

I wiped the goofy smile off my face. It was time to get to work. Handing her the letter, I explained to her the conversation I had with Kerry and what I'd remembered from the past.

"Did your father have another partner besides you?"

I shook my head. "Not that I know. I thought me and my mother were the only ones he talked to about it. But I don't put it past him. My father told this story to anybody that would listen."

Taylor stared at the letter before placing it down. "Autumn, I know you want to get this painting for your dad. But if this letter is sent by the same person that was threatening your father, are you still sure you want to go after this painting."

"I'm more than sure. Whoever this person is, threatened my father and I'm pretty sure had something to do with his death. Now they think they can do the same to me. I'm going after that painting, and I'm going to get revenge for my father."

Taylor stared at me before sighing. "I won't tell you this is dangerous because I'm sure you know. We can't go against them unarmed."

"You're still going to help me?"

"Of course. If this person knows who Kerry is, then I'm sure they know about Yuri and me. I don't know about the others, but I don't take too kindly to someone threatening me and my friends."

I reached over and hugged Taylor. I should have known the day she popped Reggie Samuels in the face for looking up my skirt freshman year, that she would always have my back. Pulling away, she smiled up at me. "So boss, when is the heist?"

Staring at the calendar on the wall, I flipped through until I find the date I wanted. "Thanksgiving."

Chapter Eight

"Goodness Taylor, could you move any slower. My grandma would have had the box opened by now and she's dead!"

Glancing up from the book I was reading, I watched Yuri stare down at Taylor who blew out a breath of frustration. These two were always at each other's throats about something.

"Are they always like this?" Kerry asked from beside me on the sofa.

"This is mild compared to their other arguments. I've learned from years of dealing with them, to just let them argue."

Taylor had received an important package in the mail that we all had to be here for. It had been ten minutes since our arrival and Taylor was still nowhere close to getting the package opened.

"Let me!" Yuri said shoving Taylor to the sighed. She snatched the scissors from her hand and began cut the tape off with insane speed. Within seconds all of the tape was removed. She shot Taylor a look of triumph. Taylor took the scissors from her and made a stabbing gesture over Yuri's head. I wagged my finger at her as she sighed.

"Thank you Yuri for so kindly opening the box."

"No problem."

"What is it?" Kerry asked scooting down to the floor.

Taylor opened the box and reached in. She pulled out an item, removing the plastic bag from around it. Once it was free, she held it up for us to see. It was a silver and black masquerade mask covered in a flower decoration. "I sent a suggestion to the Queen that everyone wears the same mask—everyone but her of course. That way, it'll be hard for anyone to identify us out of the crowd, and hard for the police to trace later."

"How did you get her to listen?" I asked.

"I pretended as if I was the stylist of the party. I hacked into her email and contacted the Queen's secretary. The invitations have already been changed and sent out with the new information about the masks and where you can get them from."

"Great idea Taylor."

Taylor beamed happy to be in high spirits again. She passed the masks around and also withdrew some stretchable black cat suits to go under our gowns. After the clothing and masks were distributed, the girls worked on a cover story to get their parents to let them go to Paris for thanksgiving break. I didn't have to worry about asking my mother since she never showed on thanksgiving anyhow. However, I did have to persuade James to let me go alone. Which was better said than done.

My phone beeped letting me know that classes had ended. I gathered my books in my hand, feeling a rush of excitement either from the heist or going to meet up with Micah. It felt a little like both. We headed out of the janitor building no longer concerned about getting caught. Taylor had helped one of the lead custodian fix his taxes and he was more than happy to do anything she requested, even covering for us.

"Do you think anyone will notice that we weren't in classes?"

"Who cares?" Yuri replied. Taylor threw an arm around her neck as the two of them bounced off towards the dorms. Their fight for earlier long forgotten. Kerry turned to look at me as I just shrugged.

"Do you want to get something to eat at the café?"

"Maybe later. I'm supposed to meet someone in study hall."

"Okay, well catch you later."

I waved at Kerry as I headed towards the school building. The halls were empty since classes were out so I didn't have to worry about anyone asking why I wasn't in class today. The study hall room was also empty besides two students and Micah. I took a deep breath to compose myself before venturing into the room.

"Hey"

"Hey" He said smiling up at me. "Have a seat."

I moved my chair over to the side of the table. I couldn't handle sitting across from him the whole evening. Micah only gave a raise of his eyebrow, but otherwise ignored it. "You weren't in last period."

"You came to my class?"

"No I um, my roommate takes last period with you. He told me."

I smiled. He was checking up on me. Maybe I wasn't the only one having feelings. "I had some personal things to take care of. I would have waited until after classes, but it was important."

Micah laughed. "You don't have to explain anything to me. Trust me, I know all about taking time off for personal problems." He stared over at me— his dark brown eyes roamed my face as if he was storing it in his memory. I felt the butterflies flutter in my stomach as I turned away. Micah cleared his throat. "We should get started."

"That's a good idea."

I pulled out my books as I helped Micah with his lab paper. At first, the atmosphere was one filled with awkwardness. But little by little, the awkwardness began to disappear, and soon we were talking to each other as if we'd known each other for years. I noticed during our study session that whenever Micah would concentrate on something, he would bite down on his bottom lip as his eyes would squint smaller. I thought it was the cutest thing and I couldn't help but to stare at him. He often caught me staring at him. At first I was embarrassed, but after a while I didn't care. I was never a shy person, but when I was around him, I felt like a girl with her first crush.

The study hall room had begun to fill up with people needing a quiet space to do their homework. As students entered, they shot glances over at us and began to whisper among their groups. Seconds later, cellphones were pulled out as they sent messages to any and every one in their contacts about the fact that Micah and I were huddled together over a stack of paper and books. I was worried for a second that Micah might sense what was going on and want to leave. But like me, he ignored the curious glances and even dropped his voice to a whisper.

An hour later, Micah's lab paper was complete. We packed up our books and headed out of the room past the curious glances. My phone beeped alerting me to a message that I ignored. I figured it was Yuri wanting to find out about what was going on between Micah and I. I didn't even know that answer so how could I tell her.

"I think all of that research has drained the energy out of me." Micah said as we walked out on the building. "I was thinking about going to the Café, do you want to join me?"

"Yeah."

Micah led me to the Café as I fought back the giddiness. I was acting like such a geek and I was trying my best not to show it in front of him. Entering the Café, Micah led me to a booth away from prying eyes which made me wonder if he did it because he wanted privacy. I slid into the booth while Micah went to go place our order. I didn't want anything special so I just decided on a plate of fries and some chicken strips. Though this wasn't our first date, I still didn't want to embarrass myself by ordering a messy hamburger, or make him think that I was on a diet. I busied myself by playing with my nails until Micah slid into the booth.

I ate my food in small bites while stealing glances over at Micah. He must have been truly hungry. He didn't waste any time going to work on his hamburger. If it was anybody else, I would have been disgusted. But he made it look cute.

"So Micah, how does one go about applying to Baldwin on scholarship?"

Micah paused eating his hamburger. His whole body had tensed with caution and I wondered why. It was a simple enough question and yet he appeared to have been ruffled by it. I thought he wasn't going to answer me, and then I heard him say, "My parents wanted me to go to a school where I could get a good education. This school is the best in the country and I had a high enough GPA to apply for the scholarship. Top that off to the fact that Headmaster Blake and my mom are best friends and the next thing I know, I'm saying goodbye to public school and hello to a school that's far greater than a private school."

"Well behalf on the student body, I would like to say welcome and congrats on being the first scholarship kid in the history of Baldwin Faith Academy."

Micah laughed as his body relaxed. "Thanks, I guess."

We finished our food off when a shadow fell over the table. I glanced away from Micah to see Paige and her main follower's standing there, their arms folded trying their best to imitate a mean girl pose.

"Hi Micah. I thought that was you over here. Did you get your lab paper finished?"

Micah glanced from Paige to me as he sat back in his seat. "Yeah, Autumn help me with it. If it wasn't for her help, I would still be sitting there."

"Well isn't she helpful." Paige said glaring down at me.

I sighed. I didn't have time for this tonight. I was finally having some alone time with Micah and Paige was trying to ruin it. "Did you want something Paige?"

Paige scoffed at my tone. Waving a hand through her brown hair, she turned to Micah. "Actually, I came over here to ask Micah if he wanted to hang out with us. The seniors are getting up a game of soccer on the quad. I remembered you said how much you missed playing soccer."

"I do miss playing soccer." Micah said. Paige shot a triumphed look over at me. "But not tonight. Thanks anyway." Micah stood from the booth ignoring Paige's dropped jaw. "You ready Autumn?"

"Yeah."

Micah led me past Paige and her friends as I stifled a laugh. Everyone had been staring at her since she entered, and now that had witnessed her humiliation. I didn't even have to do a thing.

Leaving the Café, we walked side by side down the walkway. Out the corner of my eye, I could see Micah throwing glances at me. His expression told me he was worried about something. He proved it once he stopped me from walking.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what happened with Paige. Don't be upset with her. She can be real snotty sometimes, but she doesn't always act like that. She's really is a good person."

I scoffed. "Yeah, well I've only seen one side of her, and it's not good." I switched my books to my other hand. "Look, if you can't hang around with me anymore then that's cool. I don't want to cause problems with you and your girlfriend, even if she's Paige."

I turned to walk off but Micah yanked me back by my arm.

"Whoa, wait a minute. Paige is not my girlfriend."

"You're defending her like she's your girlfriend."

"That's because she's my friend. I defend my friends Autumn. You can't fault me for that. Besides, she's not the one I want to be my girlfriend."

I froze in place as I stared at Micah. Did I hear him right? Was that statement directed towards me? By the look on his face, he was directing his statement to me. I felt the butterflies in my stomach take flight again as my mouth grew dry.

The moment was broken by the ringing of my cellphone.

"Sorry." I said. Micah stepped back giving me some space as I dug through my purse for my phone. Glancing at the screen I froze.

"What's wrong?"

"I...I have to go." I said glancing up from my phone. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Turning from Micah, I ran down the walkway ignoring Micah calling my name. Once I was far away from him, I stared at my phone as it continued to ring. Taking a deep breath, I answered. "Daddy."

The line was silent, and then. "Do you want to know how your father begged for mercy before he was killed? Continue looking for the painting, and I will show you."

The line disconnected as I stood there clutching the phone to my ear, my body shaking with fear.

Chapter Nine

"Okay this whole situation has stepped up a notch." Kerry said sitting on the bed in my room. After receiving the phone call, I'd texted them asking to meet. Since it was almost curfew, the best place to meet was my room. I didn't have to worry about my roommate over hearing since Yuri was my roommate. She was also late. I'd texted her three times, and she hasn't shown up yet. "How did this person even get your father's phone?"

"I don't know Kerry. Maybe when he killed my father!"

"Hey, I'm just trying to help."

"I know." I said rubbing my forehead. "I know and I'm sorry. I'm just freaking out here."

"All of this over some painting though." Taylor said. She'd been quiet ever since I told them about the phone call. "I could understand if this painting belonged to your dad, but it didn't. Your father never found the painting so why kill him. Why not go steal the painting now instead of threatening and taunting us? It's not like we knew anything about them."

Kerry turned towards me. "Autumn are you sure your father wasn't in to anything illegal?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Look I know you wouldn't want to hear it, and I understand. But you have to admit, none of this makes any sense. Why would someone kill your father over a painting? Maybe your father saw something he shouldn't have, or maybe he got involved with the wrong person. I'm not trying to damage the memory you have of your father. I'm just saying, maybe, just maybe he didn't tell you everything."

I sat down on the bed. I was drained, physically and emotionally. I knew that I had no reason to be mad at Kerry. She had a point. Things were getting strange and there were so many missing pieces. I didn't want to admit it, but it seemed my father really did have another life that he kept hidden from me.

The door to the room opened as Yuri stepped in. Her face was covered in dried mascara and tears.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked.

She shook her head. "It's nothing. Mark and I just broke up." She placed her purse on the couch and took off her uniform blazer. "What's going on? You said it was an emergency."

I gave Yuri a run down on about the phone call and what we'd just discussed. She sighed as she stared at me with sad eyes. "Kerry's got a point Autumn. Your father was really obsessed with finding this painting. There's no telling who all he got involved with. Don't forget that he used to go to all of those out of town meetings."

"Yuri those were meetings for his job."

"Which he had been having problems on remember. He and your mom got into that huge argument that weekend I stayed over. Maybe those meetings were more than to discuss government funding. You should call your mom and find out."

I got up from the bed and raised my hands okay. "Okay, hold your brakes Yuri. I'm not going to call my mother and ask her anything that has to do with my father. The first reason is because she doesn't talk to me about my father's death. As for the second reason, she doesn't want to hear anything about that painting. Trust me I've tried to talk with her about it after my father's death. She didn't care about it when he was alive. She doesn't care now. So please stop trying to make it seem like my father was a part of some secret group and attending hidden meetings. He loved his job and he loved me. He wouldn't lie to me."

"Autumn he already did." Kerry pointed out.

I shook my head. "I don't want to hear anymore. I'm going to bed." Walking over to the door, I held it open and stared pointedly at Kerry and Taylor. Kerry shot a look at Yuri who just shrugged her shoulders. Getting up off the bed, she walked past me out into the hall as Taylor stood up from the sofa.

Walking over to me, she stopped. "Do you want me to check into him? I won't do it unless you want me to."

I bit my lip and stared down at the floor. Taylor said nothing but placed a hand on my arm, and then she was gone. I closed the door behind her and turned to face Yuri.

"Don't be mad at us Autumn. You're the one who wanted to do this heist. We're just doing what we're supposed to do. Research any and everything associated with the target. You might not want to hear it, but your father was hiding something. It is your job to find out. You might not like it, but it has to be done." Yuri made her way to the bathroom and closed the door as I slid down our room door. Digging the heel of my hands into my eyes, I cried for the first time in a long time.



The rest of the week blew by in a blur. Because of the last conversation I'd had with the girls, I'd spent the week avoiding them. I needed time away to get a grasp on things, but every time I saw one of them around campus, I thought of their harsh words. I knew they didn't mean to hurt my feelings intentionally, but they did. But they weren't the ones I was mad at. I was also mad at my father. All this time, I had been thinking he was being honest with me, but now I wasn't so sure.

"Isn't this fun?" Heather gushed. While I hadn't been hanging with the girls, Heather had proven to be good company. She chatted on enough for the both of us to keep me out of my thoughts. Not to mention, she was the President of a lot of clubs at the school and had asked me to help volunteer. I helped her with a couple and had to admit I was having fun. But this was one project— I'd wished I'd said no to.

"Just think of all the secrets we'll discover in the boys room. I already found a couple of guy's naughty stash."

She walked off to clean another room as I sighed. I walked over to the next room I had to clean. Using the all access key card, I scanned it before pushing open the door. Stepping in, I noticed how clean it was. It was a first. All of the boy's rooms I'd been in cleaning were messy double bed rooms. I was walking further into the room, suddenly the bathroom door swung opened.

I let out a scream, but stopped when I noticed the person standing in the doorway. My heart was racing from being brought on by fear, or at least so I hoped. "Jesus, you scared me."

Micah stared at me, surprise to see me in his room. His eyes ran over me slowly from head to foot before coming back up to my eyes. "I'm sorry. What are you doing here?"

I smiled a bit sheepish. "Cleaning. I'm a new member of Code Green. Heather needed some help, so I've been volunteering lately."

"Yeah I heard about that"

A rush of embarrassment went through me. He'd heard it from Paige no doubt. She's thought I'd fallen from being the school's "it" girl. She had no idea how quick I could rise back to the top.

"So why aren't you in class? Are you sick or something?" I asked staring down at his sweat pants and t-shirt.

"You could say that."

He walked past me and sat on his bed. I moved back some to give him space. "Today is the anniversary of my brother's death."

I placed a hand over my mouth in shock. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's been a year."

I nodded my head even though we both knew it was okay. I knew from experience how hard it was to lose someone close to you, especially a family member. Micah said he was okay, but I knew he wasn't. His state of dress said so. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Micah smiled tilting his head staring at me. The dark brown eyes I loved to stare in so much were a bit dull and sad today. It made my heart hurt. "No I'm okay really. Besides you have work to do."

"Please" I said plopping down on the bed beside him. "Your room is the cleanest one out of the entire dorm. By the way, how did you and your roommate swing a room this nice?"

"Another perk of my mother being close to Blake."

"Sweet. Maybe I should introduce her to my mom."

Micah smiled at me and looked down at his hands. We sat in silence for a while before he finally decided to open up. He told me that he hadn't been exactly honest with me about why he'd come here. I figured as much, but I kept quiet as he told me his story. He told me about his younger brother Seth who had been killed by a stray bullet. Micah and Seth had been coming home from school one day when they had heard someone screaming for help. The two had run in the direction to an old warehouse. Climbing the steps they arrived just in time to see a group of men tossing some guy off a building. Micah said the shock of seeing the man fall from the building had frozen him and Seth. He even said he sees the man face sometimes at night in his dreams. The fear frozen on his face as he fell to the ground head first. It was only when Micah's phone rung did the men notice they were there.

Micah remembered his eyes connecting with to the faces of all of the men before Seth yelled at him to come on. Together they raced down the stairs as the men came behind them firing their guns. Bullets raced past them colliding with the wall. They made to the last couple of steps when the bullet hit Seth in the back. Micah had carried a bleeding Seth away far away enough to call the police. The ambulance came but it was too late. Seth had died in Micah's arms.

Micah had blamed himself for Seth's death. He was the oldest and because he made the wrong decisions Seth was dead. He felt they should have never followed the call for help. He should have put his phone on mute. Anything that could have saved Seth. But Seth was gone. Micah knew the only way to help Seth now was to put the guys in jail. So he testified against the men who he later discovered had ties with the mafia. Christophe Bareli was the leader and had been the one to push the victim off the building. The cops had been trying to nail Bareli for years so they were more than happy when Micah decided to testify. His parents became even more happy and relieved when Bareli was sentenced to life in prison. However, that feeling was short lived.

Bareli's crew had staged a prison fight and broke him out. Now that Bareli was out, he wanted blood. Preferably Micah's. The FBI and judge feared for his safety so they recommended sending him away. That was the real reason why his parents wanted him to attend Baldwin Faith Academy. He didn't have to worry about Bareli thinking to look for him here. Headmaster Blake had enrolled him as Adrian Parker. No one was the wiser. He just hoped they caught Bareli soon. He hadn't surfaced since the prison break. His disappearance had everyone including Micah parent's on edge.

"You miss your parents" I said softly.

"Yeah. Especially my mom. Despite that we were growing up, she would always wake us with happy faces on our breakfast every morning. She made lunch even though we ate at school. She was just always happy. And every weekend we would go fishing or bowling with our dad and finish the evening camping out in our backyard. We didn't have much money, but it was enough for us."

I felt my smile drop a little as sadness came over me. I would trade anything to have a normal breakfast with my parents. I use to spend mornings eating with James and my dad, but now it was just James.

Micah noticed the change in my face. "What are your parents like?"

Not wanting to open the blank pages of the book that is my family, I quickly stood up. I ran my hands down the jumpsuit. "I should get back to work. Heather is probably looking for me."

Micah stared at me. I know I was being hypocritical. I had wanted him to open up about his family, but when it came my turn, I clammed up. Maybe it was because I was being shallow, but I didn't want him to see my imperfections, and my family was one of them. But as I looked at him, I knew he'd already seen through my façade. He was looking past all of that to the lonely little lost girl that I truly was. "I'll help."

"You don't have to. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, me too."

I turned to leave but stopped. Something had been nagging me since the other day and I needed to know the answer. Turning to face him, I said "Are you and Paige really just friends?" Micah stared at me and I wanted to slap myself in the face. Great going. You just had to ask him that. I rocked on my heels. "I saw you guys at the movies together."

"You were there?"

"Yeah, I went with Heather."

Micah rubbed the back of his head. "I only went with Paige because some other people were supposed to be there. But when I got there it was just her. I didn't want to be mean so I stayed."

"Oh. Well, I'll see you."

Spinning on my heels I left the room closing the door behind me. I didn't see Heather anywhere and that was fine by me. Exiting the boy's dormitory I headed over towards the cafeteria. It was lunch time so the student center was full. Walking up to the buffet bars, I grabbed a paper plate container and filled it with greasy food or what I liked to call comfort food. I got in line and waited for my turn to swipe me card. After paying for my lunch, I was headed towards the exit when Mark stood in front of me. I was so not in the mood for him today.

"What do you want?"

"I waste some food over there and need you to come clean it up." He said smiling. A few of his friends cackled.

"Why don't you use that cow tongue of yours to clean it up? I mean since you obviously don't know how to kiss with it. Or so at least I've heard."

Mark's friends choked with laughter as his face grew red with rage. Not giving him time to retort, I pushed him to the side with my elbow and headed out the door. The lamps outside were switching on signaling the evening winding down. I entered the girl's dormitory to see Karen coming towards me ready to complain about something. I put my hand up. I was not in the mood to hear whatever room error I'd made. Climbing the steps to the second floor I walked towards my door, and continued walking pass. I made my way down the hall to the last door on the left. I had no idea if she was here or having lunch. But I had to find out. Raising my fist, I gave a knock on the door.

The door opened as Taylor stared at me. "Hey."

"Can you still do what you told me?" Taylor nodded. "Good, I want you to find out everything."

Chapter Ten

The black luxury car rolled smoothly down the road giving off a soothing atmosphere. The trees smelled rich with pine and the sky today was amazingly blue. It was like a scene from a painting. If the car hadn't been going fast, I would have captured a photo. My hand hung outside the window as I enjoyed the cool weather on my hands.

"Are you glad to be headed home?"

I turned my attention from the window to stare at James. I'd called him Thursday to let him know I would be home for the weekend. He didn't ask any questions on why I wanted to come home. He never did. He knew that there were times when I needed a break away from school. "I guess you could say that. The weather in Victorville has been a bit floppy. I needed a new change of scenery."

""Well I for one am glad to have you home."

"Does my mother know about me coming home?"

"I sent her a message. She hasn't returned my calls yet."

Figures. I turned my attention back out the window. It would be amazing to be able to fly. Holding out my hand again, I allowed the wind to take hold of my hand as it soared. I did this until we finally reached home. Climbing out of the back of the car, I stood in front of the place I had called home. I stared up at the window on the second floor as I did every time I returned home.

"Is Ms. Hopkins going to be joining you?"

I shook my head. I'd left immediately after classes Friday so I wouldn't have to face Yuri. Only Taylor knew where I was. "No, Yuri's staying at school this weekend."

James gave me a confused glance but didn't comment. Walking into the house, James left me to my own devices as I made my way up the stairs. My hand rubbed up against the wall as I thought back to the many times I'd often run up and down the hall playing hide and go see or tag with my father. Reaching his office, I came to a stop. The moment I entered into this room, I would find out whether the truth and the perceptions of my father would either stay the same or change. I listened for James, but he was nowhere near. Grasping the knob, I turned it and pushed the door opened. The door made a whooshing sound as I paused. The room was just how my father left it. Stepping in, I closed the door silently behind me.

The left wall was filled with two brown oak bookcases while the right wall held his file cabinets, paintings, and a coat rack were one of his favorite jackets were hanging. I stepped towards it, grasping the sleeve. Taking a deep breath, I inhaled what scent was left of my father. A smile came to my lips. It still smelled of his favorite cologne. A bird chirped outside of the window reminding me of what I'd come here for.

I headed over to my father's desk and stared at the open books and scattered documents across it. Sitting down in the chair, I began to search through the documents. Taylor had done her job. According to what she found, Yuri and Kerry were right about the out of town meetings. My father hadn't been to work in months before he left home. In fact, she found his letter of leave in his employment file. My father had been lying to my mother and me both.

Taylor couldn't find out the name of the meetings he attended. But she did trace his credit cards to different hotels. All of them were always near the water or the expressway and in every hotel he went to, he shared a double bed room with someone. However, the name of that person was still a mystery. I was certain it was the person who killed him.

There was a stack of papers that seemed to be stuck to something on his desk. Grabbing the end, I gave the paper a tug. It wouldn't budge. I gave it a few more tugs before ripping them. The force of the tug, made my elbow collide with my father's pen case as it went tumbling to the floor. The case broke in half creating a loud crash as I froze. Goodness, I hoped James didn't hear that. Bending over, I gathered up the fallen pens when I noticed the small gold key. Picking up the key, I stared at it. It was unusual. It was the size of my pinky, but it looked to be really old. There were also curved markings on the front and back of it. It didn't make any sense. Why would my father hide a key inside his pen case?

Glancing down, I noticed there was a crack in the floor where the pens had fallen. Getting out of the chair, I squatted down to the floor. This wood was movable. Tucking the key into my pocket, I reached forward and began to pry the wood out. It released revealing a slot filled with papers and a tattered old book. Reaching in, I removed the book out of the hole and felt around to see if there was anything else. There wasn't. I quickly placed the wood back and gathered the pens up to place them back on the desk. Sitting down in the chair, I focused on the papers. One was of a map, the second one was a letter written to my father from someone named G.L. Ross, and the third page was a burnt page filled with a list of names.

I tucked them into my pocket along with the key. Grabbing the book, I was just about to read it when I heard someone outside the door. Freezing, I stared at the knob as it slowly began to turn. I quickly pushed the book into the waist of my pants and pulled my shirt over just in time as the door opened. Staring in shock, I stood up from the seat. "Mom."

My mother took one look at me in my father office and stepped into the room slamming the door behind her. "What are you doing in here?"
Chapter Eleven

"I asked you a question Autumn. Who told you that you could come in here?"

My shock began to fade away as it was replaced with annoyance. "I didn't know that I needed a reason to come in my father's study. Since we're asking questions, what are you doing home?"

"I received James message. I found it strange that you wanted to come home on the weekend when you usually jet off to some beach."

"I just wanted to come home."

It was unnerving the fact that we looked so much alike. Every feature on my face was thanks to my mother. The only thing I seemed to take from my father was his curiosity for the unknown.

My mother pursed her lips as she stared at me. I watched as her eyes left me for a second and roamed around the room. "James doesn't seem to follow directions well. I told him to box up this room."

"He follows them just well. He just doesn't follow yours."

"Cute."

"I thought so." I said. I made my way from around the desk towards the door where she was standing. For a moment, I thought that she wasn't going to move out of the way, but then she simply stepped aside.

I reached for the door and opened it, when she said, "I make people suffer that cause trouble for me Autumn. Do not be one of them."

I glanced back at her, as a chill crept up my arms. Not bothering to reply, I hurried out of the room and down the hall to my own bedroom. Once in, I closed and locked the door. I leaned against it for a moment to listen for my mother's retreat. It was a second before the door to my father's study closed and the sound of her heels could be heard going down the hall. I finally relaxed as I tried to steady my racing heart that was about to burst out of my chest. My mother was always known for trying to scare me. Usually, I found myself ignoring her. But for some reason, today she really got to me. There had been a dangerous look in her eyes, and what was with that tone. It was downright chilling. Whatever. I was just freaking out for being caught. That had to be the reason.

I walked over to my bed and climbed on it. Reaching into my waistband of my pants, I removed the book I'd taken from my father's study. Unwinding the string, I opened the book and stared at the first page.

### Property of Joaquin de la Pezuela

This book wasn't my father's. While the journal itself was in pristine condition, the pages were not. In fact, I was pretty sure these pages did not go in this book. They were sewed into the binding with black thread. It was a wonder that they didn't come loose. Did my father do this? I didn't understand it. Why remove the pages from the original binding. Maybe someone was after this book just like the painting, and my father hid it to keep it safe. I had no clue on who this Joaquin guy was, but I had a feeling it had something to do with the painting. Looking through this book could give me the information that my father had tried to hide from me. Flipping to the next page, I began to read the diary entry.

May 20, 1820

The revolution has started and I fear for my people. I've received word that José de San Martín and his Army are approaching the city. He pretends to be invading because he wants to conquer my lands, but I know otherwise. He has learned of the treasure. I am sure of it.

I have spoken with Captain William Thompson. He has agreed to protect the treasure by delivering it to a remote island. I will not reveal the directions or name of the island just in case this journal falls into the hands of the enemy.

Captain William thinks he is taking all of the treasure with him, but he is wrong. There is one piece of treasure that must remain separate. This piece of treasure is cursed with powers that man must not ever get their hands on. I fear what would happen to us, if they do.

The enemies have been spotted. I must go.

I continued to read the journal as I learned that the treasure that was sent with Captain Thompson included jeweled stones, candlesticks, two life size solid gold statues of Mary holding baby Jesus, and tens of millions of dollars in gold and silver. The treasure was supposed to reach the island, but it never did. Captain Thompson betrayed the guards and disappeared with the treasure. However, Joaquin did not seem to be too much concerned with this particular treasure. He continued to talk about the magical curse piece that had made it to foreign territory and would remain protected and hidden.

Closing the book, I tried to make sense of all of this. I was certain the magical cursed piece that Joaquin spoke of was the painting. I never really focused too much on the curse aspect of the painting because I knew it couldn't have been true. My father believed it though. He thought of the painting as not cursed, but blessed. He believed the painting to be filled with good powers, but according to the media and Joaquin's diary, they believed otherwise.

I didn't want to lose any of this information, so I scanned all the pages including the three pages I found under the floorboards with the book. Once I was done, I stuck it in the vent, where I use to hide all of my secrets.



I spent most of my weekend in my room, avoiding my mother and avoiding phone calls from my friends. I wanted to wait until I got back to school to talk to them, and as for my mother— I simply had nothing to say to her. However, that all changed the minute she demanded I come down for dinner. Now I was sitting across from her at the dinner table playing with my food and doing my best to ignore her.

"You're not touching your food." She spoke. "James worked hard to prepare this meal for us. The least you could do is support his hard work."

"James knows that I don't eat seafood. He would have never cooked this if you hadn't demanded it of him."

"Since when do you not eat seafood?"

"Since I was diagnosed as being allergic to it at the age of five."

My mother scoffed and gave a wave of her hands. "Surely you've gotten over it by now."

"I haven't."

We grew silent again. Why did I have to be put in this awkward situation? As I stared down the table at her, I wondered why she couldn't have been like other moms. When it came to her, family ranked on the bottom of the scale, and she had no problem letting us know that. It was times like this where I missed my father. He would have filled in the silence with entertaining stories. Thinking of my father made me think of the painting. I needed to know if my mother knew anything about my father secret trips or the threatening letters he had been receiving.

"Mom, why don't you ever want to talk about dad and the way he died?'

My mother stopped drinking her wine as a faraway look appeared in her eyes. It quickly vanished as she sat her glass down sighing. "Because there is nothing to talk about. Your father died in a horrible accident. He wouldn't want us to sit here grieving over him every day. He would want us to move on."

"I don't think it was an accident."

"And why is that?"

"Dad was a good swimmer. As a matter of fact, he was better than good. There is no way he could have drowned, not that close to the docks anyway."

"Maybe he fell."

"Maybe he fell!" I echoed. "Jesus mom, do you even care to find out how he died? Or maybe you're happy he's gone. Now you don't have to worry about him going on about that painting."

My mother hand came down hard on the table as I jump. Pointing a finger at me she said, "You will not talk to me in that tone and you will certainly not bring up your father's foolish obsession. Do you understand me? I do not want to hear of it."

"You never do! Did you know that he was taking secret trips instead of going to work like he claimed? Did you know that he was receiving threatening letters?"

"Your father should have taken heed to those letters and maybe he would still be alive."

I froze in my seat as I stared at her. "You knew. You knew he was being threatened."

"Of course I knew." She said drinking from her glass nonchalant. "I tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn't listen. He was so set on finding that painting that he didn't care about the fact that he could face jail or be killed by some other lunatic who was after the painting. Your father's death was a tragedy, but he made his choice, and he suffered the consequences."

If I thought so before, I knew well now. My mother was heartless. She claimed to have tried to stop him, but the way I see it she didn't really care. Tears streamed down my face as I tried to hold in the sobs. Seeing my tears my mother chuckled. Pushing up from her chair she made her way down towards the end of the table where I sat. Grasping my face in her hand, she stared into my eyes. "You really are your father's daughter." She pushed my face away roughly. "You always knew how to ruin my appetite. Hurry and finish your dinner."

She walked away from the table towards the door and stopped. "And Autumn, you're starting to cause trouble. If I were you, I wouldn't come home on breaks again. You being here is starting to annoy me."

I watch her disappear out the door, leaving me alone in silence.

Chapter Twelve

The next morning when I woke up, my bags were packed and waiting for me downstairs. My mother wasn't playing when she said she wanted me gone. I headed back to my room to get the journal and papers that I'd hidden, but they were no longer there. I must have put my whole arm in that vent, but they were gone. I didn't have to a psychic to know my mother had something to do with this. She'd apparently left while I was in the shower. I didn't put it past her to search my room. She knew more than what she claimed she knew, and stealing the journal just proved it. Now I was back at school and more determined than ever. I would get the painting and the person who killed my father. I owed him that much.

When I got to my room, Yuri was out. I sent her a text alerting her to the fact that I was back on campus and that I was ready to talk. I knew I would hear a mouth full from her first. Grabbing my key, I left out of my dorm towards Taylor's room. No one answer the door. Retrieving my cellphone out of my pocket, I called her. The phone picked up on the first ring.

"Are you back on campus?"

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"I'm working out with Kerry. Meet us at the bleachers behind the track."

After agreeing to meet her, I disconnected the phone and headed towards the track. I ended up making it to the bleachers before them. I grabbed a spot at the top near the trees and sat in the shade. Removing a book I'd brought for home, I decided to catch up on some reading. As I turned the page, I noticed a slight shadow to my left. I looked up to see Micah standing there holding a sandwich and coke.

"Hi"

"Hi" He replied back. "You're back."

"I'm back." I felt giddy to the fact that he had noticed I was gone.

Micah sat down beside me as I moved my bag out of the way. He placed his sandwich and drink on the other side of him. "What are you reading?" Micah read with a raised eyebrow.

"Anne of Green Gables. It's one my favorites. I guess it because I often felt Anne and I were so alike."

"So you're a red headed orphan that's always eager to please. Yeah I don't see that."

"Not that part." I laughed putting the book away. "I mean the part of her being sent away and having to call another place home. Despite all of this, she remains this bright strong girl who has no trouble making friends. I admire her."

Micah was silent as I turned to face him. He had been watching me with this unfathomable look and I knew why. I'd let my guard down around him again and showed a flaw. Clearing my throat, I decided to change the subject before things got too weird. "What are you doing out here? You usually eat in the cafeteria during the day or sit under the tree in the quad?"

"I can't be in there around that Mark guy. He's an asshole and so are his friends."

I nodded my head. I couldn't disagree there. Many people would put Mark and me in the same category, but I wouldn't. Mark felt as if he ran this school and that everyone was afraid of him. He lived off that. I on the other hand, never wanted anyone to be afraid of me. Maybe it was because I knew once you were out of high school none of this really mattered. Sadly, Mark didn't. He was the king inside the school and he just knew he would be the king outside the school. If only I could be there when he's no longer surrounded by his group of immature friends and instead meets the real world.

"How did you know I don't come out here during lunch?" Micah asked.

Busted. I moved around on the bench and turned my attention somewhere else so I wouldn't have to look at him. "I just never have seen you out here that's all."

Micah looked at me a moment before smiling. "You were looking for me." He stated instead of asking.

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were! You were checking up on me." He laughed. My cheeks flushed as he choked with laughter. "Don't worry Autumn, I won't tell anybody that you have a crush on me."

My eyes got large. "I do not have a crush on you!"

"You don't?"

"No."

Micah's smile dropped as he stared at me a little. The gaze was so intense that I felt my own smile drop. His dark eyes stared at me searching my face as I felt my heartbeat speed up. Moving closer he said, "I think you do."

"Do what?" I asked lost in his eyes.

"Have a crush on me"

I said nothing. I only stared at him. Had I been too obvious? There were times when I would stare at him across the room and knew he was about to turn my way. I thought I'd turned away in time so he wouldn't have noticed.

Things were getting awkward and I suddenly remembered I was supposed to be meeting Kerry and Taylor. They hadn't arrived yet but I had no problem going to look for them—anything to get me out of this atmosphere.

"I have to go." I gathered my purse and headed down the bleachers.

"Go on a date with me?"

I turned around puzzled towards Micah afraid I was hearing things. He didn't make it no better just staring at me in the same position. Did he even open his mouth? Was I imagining him asking me out on a date?

"What?"

"Go on a date with me, this Saturday."

My mouth went dry as I fought the trembles that were making their way up my body. Did he really want to go on a date with me or was he playing with me. I didn't think my heart could take him making a joke about the strange feelings I had for him.

"Okay."

"Good. I'll see you Saturday"

"Okay." I smiled. "Bye."

Turning on my heels I walked off with a huge grin on my face. My grin dropped once I spotted Kerry and Taylor making their way up the hill with Yuri. I glanced back to see if Micah was still on the bleachers, but he wasn't. Good. I didn't have to worry about him overhearing anything. We stopped in front of each other as Taylor and Kerry greeted me. Yuri turned her head away, her stance letting me know that she was upset.

"How did it go? Did you find anything?" Kerry asked.

I shot a look at Taylor as she shrugged her shoulders. "I tried to get her to wait until you returned, but she's very persistent."

I told Taylor that it was okay. I had no problem discussing what I'd found out. I filled them in on the things I found in my father's office. I also told them how before I left, I tried to see if there was anything the key would fit in the office, but there wasn't. Throughout it all the girls listened. Yuri's stance changed once I started to talk about my mother. She wanted to comfort me, but she was still upset with the fact that I'd ignored her and then left without telling her.

After I finished, Taylor discussed what she'd found. According to her surveillances cameras in the museum, there had been a flood of activity with extra security on one particular wing of the hall. She'd also tapped into one of the Queen's private phone calls. She overheard the Queen talking to some mystery man about bringing in a duplicate. The phone call wouldn't have seemed suspicious, but then Taylor heard the Queen say the painting needed to stay hidden for the sake of human survival. She tried to hear more, but she received an alert that home security had caught on to the fact that there was someone else on the line. She'd quickly disconnected and got rid of any traces that would lead them back to her. She'd also showed me the messages Yuri and her had received while I was gone. Yuri's message had said "It seems like she no longer trusts you," while Taylor's was more threatening. The person wanted her to give up helping me, or they would alert the police about her father's private parties held in the basement of his mansion. Taylor hadn't gone into details about her father and I didn't ask her too. She said she knew how to protect her father so she wasn't worried about the theat.

"It's clear now. They are afraid of how close we're getting to the truth. I realized my father wouldn't have left this information behind for anyone to find. He would have taken it with him when he left to go find the painting. I think he made copies and hid the originals in the floorboard hoping that I would find it. I think my father knew that he would be killed. Whoever he met in those secret meetings, he did not trust, just as they did not trust him. My father had discovered something and in order to shut him up, they killed him. They just didn't count on me having suspicions about his death or the fact that he'd talked to me about the painting."

"So what do you want to do?" Yuri said. It was the first thing she'd said since they arrived.

Looking around at the girls, I stared at their faces as they looked at me. It was no longer about getting the painting for my father. It was about finding the truth. "We're going to find the person who killed my father, and then, we're going to take the one thing he wants the most, the painting."



Saturday came and I was full of nerves. I spent most of the morning off campus preparing for my date by getting my hair and nails done. Kerry decided to accompany since she needed things from the city. As the two of us traveled through the city, I couldn't believe that the two of us never hung out until now. I knew most of it was my fault. I came off sometimes with a standoffish attitude that seemed to not invite anyone in. Plus, there's the fact of the popularity pyramid and me being at the top. It made me hard to approach, like a celebrity.

Once our errands were done, the two of us decided to grab some tea at this family owned cafe near the school.

"I heard you got Paige for a lab partner?" Kerry said grabbing a seat across from me.

"It's like Mrs. Baldwin has it out for me. Last year I was partnered with Mark, who's a total dick I might add, and now I have to be partnered with another person I don't care too much for." I said as I thought back to the unfairness of it all.

"Well, look at this way. At least she didn't get partnered with Micah."

She was right. I think I would have hated that even more. It had been torture to see them all over campus together. I knew Micah claimed that they were nothing more than friends, but it was pretty clear that Paige was trying to be more. Thinking of Micah made me think about our date tonight which sent a bunch of nerves through my body.

"Are you nervous about the date?"

"Is it obvious?" I said rubbing my sweaty hands on my jean shorts. "Kerry, I have never been like this over a guy. I'm usually confident and suave, but when I'm with him, I don't know. It's like sometimes I feel like I can hardly breathe and I start twitching as if I'm on something."

"Maybe it's because he's your first love?"

"I don't love him."

"Yet." Kerry said. She sipped some of her tea as I stared off to the side. Could she be right? Was I falling in love with Micah? The two of us hardly knew each other. Kerry finished off her tea and glanced over at me. "You're ready to head out. I'm supposed to meet Taylor to go shopping for the mission."

"Yeah. I'm ready."

The two of us headed back to school and went our separate ways. The day seemed to stretch long and I spent most of it hiding out in my room reading books. It was one of my best calming effects and it seemed to work. However, when it got time to get ready for my date, the nerves came back. Thankfully, Yuri came back to the room to help me get ready. Once I was done, I headed out the dorm towards the front of the campus where the gate was located. As I walked towards the gate, I spotted Micah leaning against the brick wall with all the other guys waiting on girls for their dates. The whole scene was so weird that I couldn't help but to laugh. Hearing my laugh, the boys turned to me as they all gave me lustful glances. I ignored them and headed over to Micah as he made his way towards me.

"Hi." I said shyly.

"Hi." He smiled back. "Is it too cliché of me to say you look beautiful?"

"Nope."

"Well Miss Jones, you are one beautiful young lady."

I think it was impossible for me to cheese any harder than I was. Micah gave my outfit a smirk as if he was having a private joke. When he wasn't looking, I took a quick glance down at myself, but I could not see anything wrong. Grabbing my hand, Micah led me to a taxi that was waiting outside of the gate. I could hear all the people behind us laughing but we ignored them. Though I was shock to see that we would be traveling in a taxi cab, I found that I didn't really mind. I slid into the back of the cab as Micah followed. The taxi pulled off as the two of us made small talk in the backseat. It wasn't long before we finally made it to our destination.

Getting out of the car, I stared at the place where we were having our date and felt a sense of unease. We had stopped at what appeared to be a farm. There were several parked cars as people headed inside the gates dressed in couple outfits. I glanced down my outfit and looked back over at the field. Now I get Micah's secret smirk. I was way too overdressed for this.

"What are we doing here?" I said glancing over at Micah.

He was wearing a sneaky smile that once again said that he was having his own private joke. "You'll see."

Micah grabbed my hand as he led me down the hill to the entrance of the barn. He filled out our information on a clip board as the lady behind the booth handed us two pink couple shirts. Micah slipped his on as I maneuvered mine over my dress. Once I was done, we entered the gates as a big sign displayed overhead that read "Annual Couple Competition."

The Annual Couple Competition included things from relay games to karaoke. At first, I was a bit put off with the date. I was wearing an outfit that didn't scream athletic gear, but after losing a couple games to a snobby couple, my competitor side broke out. It was long before I kicked my heels to the side and was competing as if my life depended on it. Micah and I ended up winning the last four games even though we still didn't win first place for best couple. We came in third, and I was fine with that. After we were done, Micah suggested that we go pick some peaches since it was my favorite fruit.

I found the whole idea to be very heartwarming. No guy had ever thought to do anything like this for me. Most of my dates always took me to some fancy restaurant and then back to the dorm. But Micah, he was different. I was beginning to like different.

We changed into a pair of gardening boots and bought our supplies before heading out to the fruit field. Together the two of us harvest the peaches along with apples, oranges, and lemons. While we worked, we talked about the different things we could make with the fruits and how we would eat them together. Once we were done, we returned our items and took a picture with the owners. The owner remarked on how it was nice to see young people taking an interest in something that wasn't dealing with technology. He then went on to remark how we made a gorgeous couple and told me that I had a good young man.

After we left there, we headed to the second pit stop on our date which was a fortune telling store. I only gave Micah a curious glance before walking into the building. Micah had told me that there was a myth that couples who got their palms read together would live happy lives as a couple. It seemed to convince me, and the next thing I know, my palm was being read by a stranger. I soon came to realize that dating Micah was so much fun. He took me places that I would have never thought to go. We snuck into a private party and went swing dancing, we went to a karaoke bar and sung our hearts out before taking pictures in an old photo booth. We stopped by an arcade and battled each other in every game we could and then ate dinner at a hot dog bus before taking a city bus to play bingo. We didn't win anything, but it was still fun. We finished the night up fishing at a nearby pond which was quite nice. Since I was allergic to seafood and Micah was still full from the hot dogs we'd eaten, we ended up taking them to a soup kitchen to serve to the homeless.

Arriving back to school, we checked in at the gate and Micah walked me to my dorm. We came to a stop outside the doors as I turned to face him.

"I had an amazing time tonight."

"Really, the date wasn't too weird for you."

"No. I like weird."

Micah smiled at me as his eyes dropped to my lips. My breath caught in my throat as he leaned closer to me. Closing my eyes, I waited patiently until I felt his lips on mine. The moment his lips touched mine, I felt my heart speed up as my body suddenly flushed with heat. His lips were soft against mine to the point they felt more like a caress. Micah took his time kissing me as if he was in no rush and wanted this moment to last forever. Call it cliché, but I could have sworn there were cupids surrounding us sighing with awe. All too soon, it was over. As I stepped back, I noticed a strange look in Micah's eye. It spoke large volumes of shock and I'm pretty sure mine mimicked the same.

Clearing my throat, I told Micah goodnight and headed into my dorm. The whole trip to my room, I walked in a daze. I don't even know how I managed to scan my key card. Entering my room, I could hear the shower running and knew Yuri had made it in. Plopping down on my bed, I laid my head against my pillow. With a trembling hand, I reached up to touch my lips that were swollen from the kiss. Like a projector, I replayed the kiss in my mind. I kissed Micah. Micah and I had our first kiss. Giving into my emotions, I let out a scream of glee as I kicked the bed wildly. The door for the bathroom suddenly opened as Yuri came stepping out, a white fluffy towel around her body.

"Are you okay?" Her face was etched with concern. "I heard you scream."

"I'm fine."

Yuri stared at me before shaking her head. "God help me. Autumn is in love."

She walked back into the bathroom closing the door as I stared into space. It was true. I had fallen in love with Micah, and it didn't seem like I was stopping anytime soon.

Chapter Thirteen

Before we knew it, three months had passed quickly. We spent most of our days juggling school work, and practicing for the heist. Since Taylor and Kerry were new to this, we gave them a couple of practice runs by having them heist a couple of stores in Atlanta. It wasn't long before they caught the hang of it and we could move on to the next part of the plan. We each had a part to play. Taylor took care of surveillance. Yuri took care of the social aspect by flying to France on the weekends and hanging out with security. One look at her face and a couple of drinks, they were spilling gossip as if they were high school girls. Kerry took care of the physical aspect by having us practicing from rock climbing to martial arts. As for me, I focused on contacting any and every person that my father knew. The whole thing had become pretty exhausting.

My love life however, was going great. Micah and I had gone on a couple more dates before deciding to date officially. I didn't know whether if it was because I liked him so much, but spending time with him made me very happy. When I was with him, I didn't worry about the heist or the family problems that seemed to assault me daily. Our days where filled with nothing but each other, though there were other forces that were trying to fight their way in. Paige hadn't been shy with how she felt about the situation. She made up rumors about the fact that I'd stolen Micah from her while they were dating. Since I didn't care to respond on the rumors, many had believed it to be true. The fact that Micah and I ignored her seemed to sting her even more. If she hated me before, she really hated me now.

I wasn't the only one doing good in the romance department. Yuri had officially moved on from Mark to Simon Knoll. Simon was one of Mark's friends who'd been the only nice one out of the group. The two of them had stopped being friends two weeks before Mark and Yuri broke up. After being assigned to work on a school project together, the two of them clicked and before anyone knew it, they were a couple. Though she had a bit of trust issues after dealing with Mark, she put in an effort with Simon. Taylor experienced her own romance after going back home to Korea for her mother's birthday. She ended up bumping into an old classmate that she had a crush on back when they were young. Though the two haven't made it official yet, she's been smiling like a love struck fool, every time he calls or text her. Kerry on the other hand had us all beat. While attending a Halloween party in West Hollywood, Kerry ended up bumping into teen heartthrob Cree Smith. Well it was more so, Cree knocking Kerry in the head with the door. He stayed with her for the entire weekend at the hospital and as the blogs say, the two became quite close.

But now, it was time to put our relationships to the side. In two days, we would be going on thanksgiving break. The story of the painting was getting more and more coverage to the point that even the President would be attending. This heist would have to go off without a hitch. I couldn't even imagine what would happen to us if we were caught. We hadn't received any more threatening messages which left us worried. Every spare minute we got, Taylor checked to make sure the painting was still in the museum. The Queen had spoken of a duplicate, so it was hard to determine if the one being held there was real or a fake.

Lying across my bed, I stared at the copies I'd made of the book and the letters. The map that was drawn on one of the papers, I was pretty sure had something to do with the lost treasure of Lima. I'd done some more research on it to find out that after Thompson killed the guards, he and his men headed to Cocos Islands where they believed the treasure was allegedly buried. There had been reports of researchers and archeologists going to find it, but ended up leaving without it. I flipped to the next paper which was a copy of a letter from someone named G. L. Ross. There wasn't much to the letter. He only thanked my father in for believing his story. He then went on to warn him to give up the mission of finding the painting. Unlike the threatening messages, this one was written in care. This G.L. Ross guy must have known my father well, because a line later he wrote that he knew he would go ahead to search for the painting, which was why he was giving him the map and the list of names. He didn't explain what the names meant, only that my father would know what to do with it. The letter ended with him warning my father to be careful who he trusted. There were many people after this painting and they would kill for it.

I stared at the paper with the list of names. I had gone about typing them into the internet to see if anything would come up. Nothing did. Taylor had wanted to look them up in her database but I stopped her. I didn't know if anyone else was watching for when these names popped up. In fact, I had rebooted my computer to completely new.

The door to the room opened as Yuri stepped in. Her face was flush red and her hair was in a tangled mess on her head. By the look of awe on her face, I knew she'd been up to no good.

"How'd that paper go?"

"Huh?" Yuri said snapping out of her daze. "Oh it went good. Really good."

I smirked to let her know I didn't believe her. She gave a sheepish smile and made her way over to her bed. "What are you doing?"

"The same thing I've been doing every night. Trying to figure out what these names could mean. It's annoying the crap out of me. I have a feeling I know this, but I can't seem to figure it out."

"Well you're not going to figure it out tonight so you should take a break. Go hang out with Micah. The two of you won't be able to see each other over the holidays, and if this heist doesn't work out, the two of you won't be able to see each other anymore at all."

"Way to have faith in the mission Yuri." I said sitting up from the bed.

"Hey, I have faith in the mission. But I'm also a realist."

I crawled off my bed and placed the letters in a lockbox I'd bought one summer while in New York. Climbing back up on my bed, I stared up at the ceiling. "Do you think the other girls are going to chicken out?"

"Not Taylor. The girl loves anything illegal. Kerry is a skittish but, I don't think she'll tell. We have too much on her now for her to back out."

"That's true."

A knock sounded at our door as I turned to glance at Yuri. She made no moves to get it so I guess that left me. Pushing up from the bed, I headed towards the door and opened it to reveal Heather.

"Hey Heather."

"Hey Autumn." She smiled up at me. She seemed really happy to see me and I instantly felt bad. Due to us having to get ready for the heist, I didn't have much time to hang out with her or give time to the clubs I had joined. I'd abandoned her and it wasn't cool of me. But by her expression, I don't think she really cared. "I was coming to invite you to a thanksgiving dinner that I'm throwing on campus. A couple of students aren't going home for break, and someone mentioned that you usually don't go home as well. I figured we could hang out together."

"Oh. I'm sorry Heather. I have plans for thanksgiving this year."

"You do." She said in a small voice. I felt as if I'd just kicked a puppy. Her expression was so depressing that I couldn't stop myself from trying to explain.

"My grandmother invited me down to Georgia. My mom figured it was time for me to get to know that side of the family." I wasn't exactly lying. My mother had advised me to do that in a detailed email letter she sent me. I had no plans on going to see the evil old witch.

"I understand. We can't control the choices our parents make. Have fun and I'll see you around."

She hurried down the hall as I stood in the door feeling like a total jerk. I finally shut the door and turned to face Yuri.

"God I'm so awful."

"Oh don't stress yourself. Heather will be fine. You two needed a little break. She was becoming too obsessed with you. It was scary to watch."

I rolled my eyes as I climbed back on my bed. "What are you talking about? She's a nice girl."

"She's a nice weirdo is what you mean. I use to catch her listening in at the door when I would come back from classes or hanging out. She used to say that she thought she heard you scream or something stupid. After a while, she stopped caring about whether I seen her or not. Not to mention she stares at you all the time during class. It's a wonder you don't feel your face burning."

"You're being dramatic. I admit she comes off a bit weird sometimes, but that's only because she's shy and have a hard time making friends. You should give her a break."

"Whatever." Yuri said standing up. She walked towards the bathroom. "Don't come complaining to me when you've been turned into a puppet at one of her birthday parties."

I shook my head as she went into the bathroom. I wasn't going to stop hanging with Heather just because Yuri was threatened someone might be taking her place. But as I lay back on the pillows, I wondered just why Heather had been listening in at the door.

Chapter Fourteen

It was finally thanksgiving break. I said goodbye to my friends and to Micah. He would be one of the ones that would be staying behind on campus. He wanted to visit his parents or have them visit him, but they didn't want to take the risk just in case they were being watched. I told him about Heather's thanksgiving party and he promised me that he would go. After that, I headed out the gate and joined Yuri in the back of her parent's luxury car. The girls and I had thought it would be best if we all arrived separately. Kerry and Taylor would take different flights from different states as Yuri and I would head to Paris from California.

"Did you inform James that you would be spending thanksgiving with me?" Yuri asked once the car started moving.

"Yeah I told him. I feel bad. But this way he gets a chance to spend some quality time with his family. What about your family?"

"My dad's spending thanksgiving with his favorite little model and my mom is spending thanksgiving in Aruba drinking herself into a coma on the beach. My sisters are coming to California which is why I'm glad I'm leaving."

I laughed. Yuri's family was just as estranged as mine.

"Do you think your mom is going to check in on you?"

"No. She's been avoiding all phone calls with me since that weekend at home. If she needs to get in contact she'll have James do it or she'll email me. I don't think she cares too much since I'm hanging out with you."

We arrived to the airport and headed to the gate that would take us to Paris. Taylor had gone ahead and changed the location of our trips just in case someone decided to get nosey. We checked our bags, and ten minutes later we were on a flight to Paris. As soon as we were up in the air good, Yuri succumbed to sleep. Left alone, I busied myself by making sure our invitations arrived to the place we would be staying while in Paris. After that was done, I decided to catch some sleep as well.

Later, I was awakened by the flight attendant offering us a meal. Yuri waved hers away and turned over to finish sleeping. I was starving so I had no problem taking the tray of cuisine from the attendant. I finished my plate of chicken and potatoes and sat back to relax. Five minutes after eating, I felt my stomach start to bubble as a queasy feeling came over me. I tapped Yuri to get her attention but she was dead to the world.

Moving my tray to the side, I got up and made my way towards the restroom. With every shake of the plane, I felt as if I would end up chucking my meal on one of the passengers. Thankfully I'd made it to the restroom safely. I locked myself inside as I squatted down over the toilet. The lovely meal provided by the attendants in first class wasted no time in coming up. Once I was done, I stood up and wiped my mouth with a piece of tissue before tossing it into the toilet and flushing it. I rinsed out my mouth as I tried to calm down the shakiness of my stomach. I never could handle plane food.

Feeling a little bit better, I went to open the bathroom. The door had only opened a fraction before I felt the door being shoved open. My eyes widened at the mask figure as it pushed me back into the restroom. I stumbled as my head hit whatever that was attached to the wall behind me. I stared around the small room daze. It was dark. The lights had gone out somehow. My attacker suddenly grabbed me by my throat as they lifted me up and shoved me repeatedly into the wall.

I felt my teeth click together with each impact. Pain skyrocketed up my back as I fought to sink my nails into my attacker's face. Because of the mask it was hard to get a good grip. My hand caught onto what felt like feathers as I pulled it with my hands. I could feel the mask give leeway. My attacker stopped what he was doing and grabbed hold of my arm. I let out a scream as their other arm came down on my throat silencing me.

"I warned you what would happen if you decide to go after the painting."

I froze. The voice of the attacker was the exact same as the voice that called me on the phone. It was a guy. I knew it had to have been. My attacker seemed to sense my awareness as he laughed. "You're a bright girl unlike your father and I know that you care about what happens to your friends. Give up this foolish mission and I won't hurt anymore of your friends."

Anymore? What did he mean by anymore of my friends? The only other person on this flight was...Yuri. I started to struggle even more at the thought of Yuri being hurt. I got in a good hit into my attacker's stomach as he groaned in pain. It was enough for him to release me. I got out of his grasp and fumbled my way around in the darkness for the door. My hands finally found the handle. But the minute my hands enclosed around them, I was yanked back again.

The two of us fell on the floor of the small restroom. His hands clutched at my throat as I tried to push him away from me. I prayed someone would help me. If they didn't check on me, then the least they could do was check on Yuri.

My attacker finally got tired of wrestling with me as his hands tighten around my throat and he lifted me up towards his face. "You've been warned Autumn Jones. Abort your mission."

Before I could blink, my attacker sent his fist into my face as my world faded.

Chapter Fifteen

"Miss. Miss can you hear me?"

My eyes snapped open as I quickly sat up. There was a slight pain at the back of my head and my body was experiencing a woozy feeling. My eyes had a slight haze to them that seemed to clear the more I tried to focus. Once they were fully clear, I saw the faces of two flight attendants as they stared down at me with concerned faces.

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?" I asked trying to stand up. One of the flight attendants grabbed a hand to help me up.

"One of the pipes seems to have busted causing you to slip. I am so sorry. This has never happened aboard Delta Airlines and I assure you that we—"

The flight attendant continued to rattle on as I tuned her out. None of this made sense. I don't remember there being any water on the floor when I came in. Closing my eyes, I told myself to concentrate as I thought back to what really happened in here. One by one, images started to come back to me and before I knew it, I had remembered everything. I had been attacked. The person that had killed my father had tried to kill me, and he'd even threatened Yuri.

"Yuri." I said. I pushed through the two flight attendants and made my way through the plane back to our seats. The flight attendants were shouting something to me but I ignored them. I spotted Yuri's blond head over the seat as I neared her. But when I finally reached her, she was eating her meal as if everything was normal.

Sensing me, she turned and smiled. "There you are. I was wondering how long you were going to take in the restroom. It was the chicken that messed your stomach up, wasn't it?" I said nothing. I only continued to stare at her. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Reaching across the seat, I pulled Yuri into a hug as I tightened my grasp around her. She tried to maneuver out of my arms but my grasp was too tight for her to go anywhere. She finally stopped fighting and before I knew it she was patting me on the back. I was aware of people's eyes on us, but I didn't care. My heart felt as if it was going to burst out of my chest and my legs were shaky. I have never been this scared in my life.

"Excuse me miss."

I released my hold on Yuri as I turned to stare at the same flight attendants. They still wore concerned expressions on their faces, but I knew most of it was because they were thinking I was going to sue their airline and get them into trouble. "Don't worry. I'm not planning to sue you guys."

The flight attendant faces flushed as they wave their hands. "Oh forgive us, we didn't mean to give you that impression. We were checking to make sure you were okay. The water seemed to have soaked your clothes and its giving off the appearance that you might have had a little accident."

Yuri and I stared down at my jeans. They were right. It did seem as if I'd wet myself. Sighing, I rubbed a hand through my hair. After ensuring the flight attendants that I was fine once again, they finally left me alone with Yuri.

"Okay Autumn, what's going on? You haven't hugged me since I found out my grandmother died."

"Someone attacked me?"

Yuri eyes widened. "What? Who attacked you?"

"I think it was my father's killer. He cornered me in the restroom. He even said he'd done something to you, but you appear to be fine."

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just super sleepy but that's it. Jesus Autumn. I'm so sorry that I didn't come in to check on you. I was just thought you were using the restroom. Why didn't you tell the flight attendants?"

"Because I don't even know what he looks like. He was wearing a mask." I said. At that, I turned to look around the plane to see if anyone was watching me. No one seemed to be paying attention.

"Do you think he's here with us in first class?"

"I don't know."

The rest of the flight Yuri and I sat on edge. Every few minutes I would peer around my seat into the isle as if I could feel him watching me. I started to get curious glances from the flight attendants which once again got them to ask me if everything was okay.

The plane finally landed in Paris. Yuri and I followed the flight attendants as they led us to the door and thanked us for flying with Delta Airlines. I climbed down the stairs and stepped aside to wait for Yuri. As I watched her, I noticed there was something off about her. She appeared as if she could barely hold herself up. Was she really that sleepy? Granted she did stay up most of the night, but the sleep she got on the plane should have cured all of that. She finally reached the last step as she blinked her eyes against the light.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She said with a smile that trembled around the edges. Something wasn't right.

She took a step forward and almost went over. I caught her in my arms as I felt how sweaty her arms were. "Yuri, you are not fine. You're burning up." Yuri opened her mouth to say something to me that ended up getting lost in translation as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted. "Yuri! Yuri!"

The flight attendants rushed down the steps to help me as two men who were on the flight helped to pick her up. They loaded her up on a cart as they tried to figure out what was the closest hospital. As I climbed up on the cart with them, I noticed a man standing in the shadows near the back of the plane. Squinting my eyes, I tried to get a better look, but the cart had pulled off to a start and was heading further away from the plane as the unknown man began to shrink in the distance.



I sat in the waiting room of the hospital waiting to hear some news on Yuri. My nerves were on edge as I tried to restrain myself from not marching back behind the double doors. I was worried for several reasons. According to our credit card history, we were supposed to be checked into a hotel in New York. If our parents were to find out that we were someplace different, we would have some serious explaining to do. Thankfully, we had new identities made before we left. However, I wasn't so sure it was going to help us if the nurses decided they needed more information.

Once again, I got up from my seat and went to peer through the small glass window. No one was coming. Sighing, I walked back to my seat and plopped down. Leaning my head back, I tried to figure out what exactly had happened to Yuri. Fifteen minutes later, the doors opened as the nurse came out to tell me that I could see her. Getting up, I followed the nurse through the doors and down the hall until we got to the room Yuri was in. Entering the room, I spotted Yuri in the hospital bed, her arm hooked up to an IV as she sucked on something from a plastic cup. I quickly made my way over to her and grasped her hand.

"The doctor will be here to talk with you shortly."

"Thank you."

The nurse left the room, leaving me alone with Yuri. "So did they say anything?"

"No. But they did give each other suspicious glances before leaving the room. I think I'm just dehydrated though."

"You're not dehydrated. You had something to drink on the plane. No this is something else."

Yuri and I waited for the doctor to return. He finally entered the room and he closed the door behind him.

"Hello I'm Doctor Parks." He gave us a smile as Yuri smiled back. I was the only one that wasn't smiling. There was something off about this doctor. He appeared to be nervous. I was worried. What was he so nervous about?

"How is she? Will she be okay?"

"She'll be fine now. We've clean all of the dangerous toxins out of her system that was causing her to be ill." Dr. Parks turned a glance to Yuri. "Miss Harvey, did you take any pills while on the plane." It seems the hospital wasn't aware yet of our fake identities.

"No."

"Why do you ask that?" I asked.

"It appears that Miss Harvey has been the victim of food poisoning. We found a good amount of crushed poinsettia in your system that seemed to be mixed with your food. Did you eat any Mexican food in the last twenty four hours?"

Yuri nodded. We'd gone out for Mexican food with Taylor and Kerry Friday night. It was supposed to be a kick off dinner for our first mission.

"I don't understand. I had Mexican food as well, but I feel okay."

"That's what troubles me." Dr. Park said. "It seems that whoever made your food, intentionally gave you large amounts of the poison, but not enough to kill you." The doctor was about to say something else, but a knock on the door stopped him. The nurse from earlier appeared in the door as she and the doctor exchanged glances.

"Excuse me for a moment."

"Sure."

The doctor exited the room quickly as he threw one more nervous glance in our direction. As soon as the door closed, I turned to Yuri. "Get up, we're leaving."

"What?" She said in confusion. "Why?"

"The doctor has called the police on us. He's been stalling until they arrived ever since he stepped into this room. The police are going to discover we're lying about who we say we are and then it'll all be over before it began. Plus, they're going to want answers to questions that we can't answer. We need to leave."

Yuri climbed from the bed and tore her IV from her arm. She slipped on her shoes as I cleaned the end of the IV off with an alcohol pad before sticking it into a wad of tissue, and tucking it into my pocket. I couldn't chance them finding any evidence that we were here. I grabbed our bags that the airport workers had brought here and pulled them over my shoulder. Yuri offered to grab one but I shook my head. She would need all the energy she could to help us escape this room. I couldn't have her dropping one of the bags and getting us caught. Yuri grabbed her cup, taking it with her, as I opened up the door. Peering out into the hall, I glanced towards the end where the doctor had his back towards us. He was talking with two police officers. Reaching behind me, I latched onto Yuri's arm as we quickly and quietly made our way out of the room, and down the hall to the opposite end where to elevators were located. Luck seemed to be on our side because they opened the minute we reached them. We quickly blended in with the exiting passengers and moved to the side out of the view of the opening. The doors closed and I pressed the button for the first floor.

The elevator landed on the first floor as Yuri and I exited. We made our way towards the front of the hospital without attracting attention. Stepping outside the doors, we headed away from the hospital, blending in with the people on the sidewalk.
Chapter Sixteen

The streets of Paris were flooded with people. Yuri and I blended in perfectly with the other tourists as we made our way through the lively streets. Once we were far enough away from the hospital, I hailed a cab and the two of us climbed into the back. I gave the cab driver the address to our hotel as he pulled back into the streets. Pulling out my cellphone, I sent a text to Taylor, asking her to get rid of the camera feed for the hospital. I gave her the time we were there and told her I would explain the rest when we saw her.

"Do you think she will get the message in time?" Yuri asked peering over at my phone.

"I don't know. I hope so. I have no clue if she's already here or still on the plane."

"I can't believe someone tried to poison me. We've gone to that restaurant plenty of times and nothing like this has happened before. Not to mention, we know every face that works there."

"We know every face up front. We only know two people that work in the kitchen. For all we know, they could have hired a new employee."

"Well I sure as hell am going to find out." Yuri pulled out her phone and punched in the number for the Mexican restaurant. She held the phone up to her ear for a few moments before pulling it away in anger. "They're not answering."

"Don't worry about it. We know who did this. We'll find out how he got into the restaurant later."

"Fine." Yuri sighed.

The ride to the hotel ended. Yuri paid the driver as I carried the bags out the car. Bellboys rushed forward to take our bags as we went into the hotel. We checked into our room and headed up on the elevator to the top floor. Our room was one large family suite big enough for the four of us. Yuri and I would share rooms while Kerry and Taylor would share rooms. The bellboys placed our bags in our room and I gave them a tip. Closing the door, I made sure to check the hotel room out. Nothing was out of place.

I sent Yuri off to get some rest as I unpacked our bags. Once I was done, I pulled out my laptop to check my email. I had two from my mother. The first one she was reminding me not to make any headlines and the second message she was informing me how hurt my grandmother was that I decided not to spend thanksgiving with her. She advised me to call her and play nice. It was advice that would be ignored. Once again, my mother seemed to bring the anger out of me. The only reason she wanted me to keep out of the spotlight was because she didn't want anyone to know how dysfunctional her family was. She wanted to portray that we were still close despite my father's death, but the truth of the matter was, we were never close to begin with. If it wasn't for this mission, I would have challenged her by doing just exactly what she forbidden.

Sitting back in the chair, I sighed. She could send emails giving out demands but she couldn't return any of my emails or calls when it came to the journal and letters she'd stolen. I was one hundred percent sure it had been her. Why else would she suddenly up and disappear the next morning? I just didn't understand why? What would she need with the journal and letters? Maybe she wanted to get rid of anything related to my father's obsession. But that didn't really seem like the case either.

Maybe it wasn't my mother. Maybe it was my father's attacker. He could have gotten into the house somehow and took the papers. But I found that impossible. Our house was protected by an expensive alarm system that did everything except pick the intruder up and tosses them out on their feet. Plus, James would have noticed someone lurking around our house. But as I thought back to what happened to Yuri and I, my resolve wavered.

The attacker had been more close to us than we could have imagined. He'd been able to track us down to the Mexican restaurant and he even known what flight we were taking to Paris. I began to wonder if we were dealing with more than one person. Just like us, this guy could have a team of people that wouldn't hesitate to kill over the painting. We needed to be more careful.

Rubbing my eyes, I sat up in the chair and grabbed my phone. I had a new message from Taylor saying that she would take care of the footage. At least that was one problem taken care of. Needing a break from the stress, I scrolled through my contacts until I found Micah's number. Pressing send, I listened to the music on the line.

"Hello." He answered.

"Hey. It's Autumn."

"Yeah I know. How are you? Have you made it to Atlanta yet?"

I felt a slight twinge of guilt. Micah still believed that I was going to Georgia to see my grandmother. He had no clue that I was in another country. "Yeah I've made it. My grandmother hasn't stopped kissing and hugging on me, and all of my cousins won't stop talking my ear off, and going on about how I remind them of my daddy."

Micah laughed. "I'm glad you're having fun with your family."

"It's not fun. More like torture."

"I'd give anything to be able to visit my family. You're lucky."

I bit my lip as I chastised myself for my mouth. How could I forget? "I'm sorry Micah. I shouldn't have said that."

"No it's fine. I don't expect you to silence the annoyance that sometimes comes with family. I know you didn't mean any harm."

"How are things going at school? I heard that Heather is planning a bunch of activities to keep you guy's buys until break is over."

"I don't think that's going to happen."

"Why?" I asked.

"Heather ended up going home for break. Her mom came to sign her out. So we're stuck with eating greasy foods out the Café."

"That sucks." I said feeling sad for not only Micah, but Heather as well. I bet she was crushed. Heather had made it quite clear that she would be on campus for thanksgiving break. I guess her mother had other plans for her.

"Autumn, I have to go." Micah said suddenly.

"What? Why?"

"I um, I kind of made plans."

I snickered. "Did you get roped in to one of Blake's charity schemes? It wouldn't be like her not to have one for thanksgiving."

"No. I told Garrett and Simon that I would play a game of soccer with them. I'm already late."

"Simon?" I questioned softly. "You're playing with Simon."

"Yeah. Look I really got to go. I'll call you back later okay."

The phone disconnected as I stared at it in shock. I scoffed as I tossed it onto the computer table in front of me. I couldn't believe Micah. He'd lied to me. There was no way that he was going to play soccer with Simon. Yuri informed me that Simon would be heading home to spend thanksgiving with his family. So why did he lie? Was he really upset with me about the family issue? I hadn't said anything about his family, only how annoying my family was.

A knock sounded at the door as I froze. Getting up from the chair, I quickly made my way over to the door and peered through the peephole. Recognizing the people on the other side, I relaxed and unlatched the door. Opening the door, I smiled as I stared over at Taylor and Kerry.

"It's about time you ladies arrived. Boy do I have a lot to tell you."

Chapter Seventeen

Kerry and Taylor entered the room as I gave them time to unpack their bags. Hearing the commotion, Yuri came out of the bedroom and greeted them. Her cheeks and skin had regained their color and for that I was thankful.

"Okay so what's going on?"

"Yeah, why did I need to erase some hospital footage?" Taylor said plopping down on the other side of Kerry. Yuri and I grabbed the other sofa as I began to tell them what happened. I explained to them about how I was attacked on the plane and how somehow Yuri had gotten food poisoning from the restaurant we all eaten at before leaving for Paris.

After I was finished, Taylor and Kerry had their own story to tell. Taylor had flown home to Texas after dinner Friday night to check in with her family. The next morning she'd gone to the airport to meet us in Paris, when all of a sudden she was being pulled to the side by security. They had informed her that they'd gotten a tip that she was carrying something dangerous in her bag. A quick search through her things seemed to prove the tip right. They'd found two large hunting knifes and a small black bag full of needles. Taking in the fact that she was Korean, the airlines felt they didn't need any more proof that Taylor was on her way to do some type of terroristic plot. Luckily, a friend of Taylor's father had seen the whole thing. He'd accused the airlines of racial profiling that would resort in a large lawsuit. He then argued that Taylor was taking the knives to Paris for an art show and the needles were simply filled with adrenaline because of her heart problems. Because the airline security was so dense, they took the rich man at his word and apologized to Taylor. Her father's friend then escorted to his private plane which they quickly boarded and took off before the airport security became suspicious again. They landed in Paris and she promised him that she would put in a good word for him about letting him partner with one of her father's companies.

Kerry misfortunes on the other hand, came from car trouble. On the way to the airport, her family's luxury car tires had burst on the road. To make matters worse, her driver had suddenly gone into allergic shock. Kerry with her quick reflexes had to climb up to the front and stop the car before they both ended up getting killed. Once they were pulled off safely to the side of the road, she then reached into her driver's jacket and found his Epi pen and injected him.

He'd recovered just in time as a passing car stopped to assist them. It turned out to be her neighbor Mrs. Hall. Mrs. Hall along with her son got out the car to help them. Kerry was planning to stay with him until the tow truck arrived, but he assured her that he was fine and that she shouldn't miss her flight. After more urging, she finally caught a ride with Mrs. Hall as her son stayed behind with the driver. She just barely made it to the gate.

"It's a good thing you were quick on your feet Kerry. You guys could have been seriously injured." I said.

"I know. I had found it strange how the car tires suddenly blew out. Our driver always made sure our cars were in good shape. It was also weird that he just so happen to have an allergic reaction right then. He's always been careful not to eat anything that deals with peanuts, but for insurance purposes he kept his Epi pen on him at all times. Now that I know what happened to you guys, I know that it couldn't have all been a coincidence."

Yuri shook her head. "I'm saying. Whoever was doing this, really didn't want us to make it here in time. Taylor what kind of favor did your father friend want you to do?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not doing it."

"What? Aren't you worried that he might get angry with you?"

"No." Taylor said. "He can get angry all he wants, but he can't turn me in. He helped me board a plane with illegal items. That makes him an accessory."

"Were the knives yours?" I asked.

"No. I've never seen them a day in my life. Someone put them in there. I just don't know when."

The four of us sat there in silence. Each one of us had been threatened to the point our lives could have been over. My father's killer was doing everything in his power to get us to back away from the painting. He didn't seem to get it. He was only making us stronger. He was showing us that he had no problem harming us to the point of death and when it came time, we will have no problem returning the favor.

We had never killed anyone in our lives, but it was becoming quite clear that things may end up this way. But we killed someone—it would only be in self-defense. We would never willingly take another human's life.

After talking, we all split up and went to go shower and change. While Yuri was in the shower, I'd gone downstairs to buy her a pack of juice. I needed to make sure she kept up her energy. I returned back to the room to see all of the girls dressed and standing over the coffee table as Taylor dug through a black bag. I handed Yuri the juice as Taylor distributed different forms of technology from cameras to recorders, all would help us with surveillance. Tucking everything in our purses, we put on the wigs that Yuri had brought along in her bag, as well as extra accessories. Once we were done, the four of us looked like four different girls. In fact, Yuri looked as if she could be Heather's twin.

"Alright ladies, let's go survey."

We headed out of the room towards the elevators, unaware of the fact that our room door hadn't fully closed.
Chapter Eighteen

Since the hotel was near the museum, we decided to walk rather than waste money on a taxi when we weren't going that far. Arriving at the museum, we split up into groups. A while back, I had done some research to find out that there would be plenty of private schools visiting the museum today, which is why we were sporting matching shirts. Taylor and I wore shirts from a school in Virginia, so the two of us set off together to find our group. We spotted the other group dressed in the same shirts. Heading towards them, I realized we would have to fit in if we didn't want to raise suspicion. Spotting the popular girls of the group, I headed straight for them. After a few seconds of conversation, I had them eating out of my hands. They no longer cared that they've never seen Taylor or me before.

Our group made our way into the museum, as the students in front of us handed over their tickets. Taylor reached into her bag and handed me the ticket she'd purchased ahead of time. Handing our tickets over at the door, Taylor and I entered the museum and paused. Taylor gave a quick imitation of a tourist by tapping my arm and gesturing around excitedly. Following her approach, I responded with a smile that I'm sure resembled the joker's. The popular girls spotted a cute employee and ran over to flirt with him leaving Taylor and I alone. I was grateful. I don't think I could take anymore of Amber's pep. Zooming in on the camera, I quickly snapped photos of the camera in the right corner under the ledge to the second floor. Raising my camera higher, I took photos of the guards stationed on the ride side of the museum. Once we were done, we joined back in with the class as the overly excited blond tour guide, led us throughout the museum.

This was the perfect cover because not only was everybody taking photos, but you could ask any question you wanted without gaining suspicion. Taylor and I queried about the number of exits in case of emergency, and the procedures in case there was a fire. The guide was more than happy to answer our questions and then more. We finally made it to the Denon Wing, where The Beggar Boy painting was supposed to hang. We didn't have to ask about the painting since the guide was already going into details about the painting.

Some of what she was saying I read on the internet, but she did mention some fact that I didn't know. She talked about the artist Bartholomѐ Esteban Murillo, and how he was the distant relative of artist Juan del Castillo. She further explained how Murillo went to live with Castillo until 1639 when his mentor moved to Cadiz. Murillo had to end up fending for himself at the age of twenty two, and scraped a living by selling some of his paintings. In 1643, Murillo met another famous artist named Velazquez who took pity on Murillo and let him lodge in his house. It is said, that it was Velazquez who placed the curse upon the painting. He had been dabbling into the dark arts and ended up unleashing powers that was so powerful and dangerous, that he could no longer control them. He needed to transfer the powers into a solid object so he chose Murillo's painting. Velazquez had a copy of the painting made and switched it with Murillo's original one. By 1648, Murillo had moved away and married a wealthy lady of rank, Doña Beatriz de Cabrera y Sotomayor and had two children. He later died in 1682, leaving behind only his son and daughter, his wife having died before him. He had no clue that the painting he had thought to be his— was a fake. No one knows the exact details of the curse, only that it leaves death in its tracks.

The tourists oohed and awed as we after the story as they snapped several more picture of where the painting would sit after it's unveiling. Taking advantage of everyone else snapping their cameras, Taylor and I joined in. I zoomed in on the glass case for the painting, waiting to be filled. The guide moved off down the hall as Taylor and took photos of the end of the hall. The tour guide wrapped up this section calling for a break. We were to meet her back in the center hall to resume the tour. The group broke up, mostly heading to the restaurants and book shops.

"Do you think we should take some snap shots of the restrooms?" Taylor asked.

I shook my head. "We could but there would be no point. The restrooms are probably crowded with tourists right now. Taking photos would just give us weird looks and give us a quick exit."

Taylor opened her mouth to say something else when I spotted a familiar figure a few feet away, staring at one of the portraits on the wall. He wore a baseball cat that seemed to cover most of his face, but it was his stance that seemed familiar. It was a stance similar to guy that was standing behind the plane in the shadows when we were leaving the airport. I walked off from Taylor and headed towards the guy. As if sensing my approach, he turned and headed in the opposite direction. I could hear Taylor calling me by my name, but I ignored her. I picked up the speed as it became harder and harder to catch up with the man. The crowd had thickened and it seemed like every one was moving in slow motion. By the time I got through the clearing of people, he was gone. My head glanced back and forth through the museum to see if I could catch a glimpse of that baseball cap. I couldn't.

"Are you okay?" Taylor said coming up behind me. "What's going on?"

"I thought I saw him."

"Who?"

"The guy from the plane. I think he's here."

Taylor glanced around but it was no use. There was no way possible we could spot anyone in this crowd. Taylor grabbed my hand. "Come on, we should get back."

I took one more glance around before I let Taylor drag me off. We finished up the tour taking photos in every part of the building. The two of us decided that we had enough, and headed out the museum. Getting rid of our shirts, we stuffed them in a nearby trashcan and went to meet up with Kerry and Yuri. We spotted them near the pyramid. They were sitting on a bench flirting with two of the guards that worked at the museum. Taylor and I hung back for a while before they finally bid the two love struck men farewell. We walked on the opposite sides of the museum trying not to alert anyone to the fact that we were together. Exiting back on the street, we grouped back up and headed away from the motel.

Not wanting a repeat of what happened at the Mexican restaurant, we picked a random place to have lunch at. The waitress escorted us too our seats. After a quick glance at the menu, we placed our orders and the waitress left us alone.

"You guys, Autumn saw the guy at the museum."

"What?" Yuri said choking on her soda.

"Did you really?" Kerry asked.

"I think it was him. No, I'm sure it was. I just couldn't get a good glance of his face. His stance was familiar though."

"But how do you know it was him?' Kerry asked. "It could have been anybody with a similar stance."

"Maybe because when I started towards him he suddenly decided to make a fast exit."

We got silent at the table as the chatter from the other patrons faded into the background. The waitress arrived with our meals and I felt my stomach sigh with pleasure. The last time I'd eaten a meal was on the plane, and that meal eventually ended up in the toilet. It was a wonder I wasn't walking on wobbly legs like Yuri was. We consumed our foods and shared a dessert together. Once we were done, we paid our bill and headed to the hotel.



We arrived back to the hotel, sleep weighing heavily on our mind. I wanted nothing more than to dive into bed, but I knew we needed to stay up to finish planning the heist. Tomorrow was the big day and we couldn't jeopardize our operation. We'd come too far. As we approached our door, Taylor came to a stop.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Someone's been in our room. The door is opened."

We stared at the door as Taylor pushed it open with her foot. The door swung open as the four of us peered into the room. At first sight, nothing appeared to be out of place, but that didn't mean we shouldn't do a thorough search. Stepping through the door, we all split up to search the different rooms. We checked every piece of furniture in the hotel and every cabinet and vent. After that we searched our bags that we brought along and still found nothing. Nothing was missing.

"Could it be that we just left the door opened?" Yuri asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice and with good reason.

"Even if we did, this place still gives off the feeling that someone has been in this room. It just feels cold." I turned to Taylor. "Did you pick up any recording devices that may have been planted in here?"

"Nope and I searched everything. Whoever came in knew exactly how to search stuff without moving anything out of place. I hate to say it guys, but I feel like we're a bunch of amateurs compared to who we're up against."

"Amateurs we may be, but let's not forget that he was once an amateur. If he can become a professional then so can we." I said. "We've gotten this far, so I'll say we're doing pretty damn well. Let's not worry too much about this. We've got a lot of work to do with too little time."

The girls and I got to business. Taylor took all of our camera footage and began to upload it to her computer while Kerry and Yuri discussed what they'd learned about the security. There will be a total of fifty guards on scene for the event of the unveiling. There will be guards throughout the room during the unveiling of the painting. There will also be guards on the floor were the painting is to be displayed, near the elevators, and at every exit. But Kerry said it's the ones that won't be in uniform that we will need to worry about. They will blend in with the rest of us in their formal wear and masquerade masks. All of the guards also have to check in every five minutes. It became clear the museum would be on high alert, and we would have to be too.

Taylor finished uploading the pictures as we all gathered around to check the still photos and the videos we had filmed.

"How are we going to get the painting without alerting the guards? It's going to be damn near impossible."

"I could tap into the power system and cause a black out." Taylor said. "If I caused a blackout, we could easily remove the painting from the display and be out of the museum before the power kicked back on."

"What about the backup power?" Kerry asked. "Wouldn't they come on if the main power failed? Plus, what if the power is connected to the doors and we get stuck on the inside with the painting."

"There's a restaurant in the museum that has pushed doors. If we could make it to there in time, we could exit the museum through the pyramid and have enough chance to get away before the power comes back on." I said.

The girls nodded their head. It was risky, but it was the only way to get the painting without being detected by the guards.
Chapter Nineteen

The girls and I waited until an hour before closing before heading back to the museum. This time when we went, we wore another disguise. We entered the museum and headed to the section where the opening party would be held. The employees had the room sectioned off as they went back and forth setting up for tomorrow night. There were a group of guards who were standing around getting their orders from a guy who seemed to be in charge. We needed to memorize every guard's face that worked in this museum. It was hard at first to keep their faces in memory, but after several walks around, we knew every guard that would be on duty.

After we were done, we headed to restaurant that had the push open doors. Close by, there was a souvenir store that also had push open doors. We decided it would be best to split up and head in different directions and then meet up once we were in the clear. Once we had the escape route, we took turns practicing our escape onto the streets. We did this until it was time for the museum to close. On the way back to our hotel, we talked about how the heist seemed more possible. Everyone would be in too much of a panic once the lights go out, which would create the perfect distraction for us to take the painting. We just had to make sure that we would be able to get close enough.

We arrived back to the hotel and started on our stretching exercises. Anything could go wrong tomorrow, and we need to be prepared to make a run for it. The stretching lasted about thirty minutes. When we were finished, we sat around the coffee table trying to think of a place to hide the painting. The four of us wanted to purchase a vault, but that would be too risky. Once this painting went missing, every bank and vault would be searched thoroughly. We also knew there was no way we could buy any property without arousing the attention of our parents, and the people who were after the painting. We finally decided to take the painting back to school where the girls agreed that it was best that I would keep an eye on it, since after all it was more important to me than them. Since Taylor took art class, she said she would be able to give me one of her extra painting cases. Once she gave me that, it was up to me to decide where to hide the painting on campus. I didn't want to keep it close to me just in case we ended up being found out, but I didn't want it too far out of my reach either.

Once we were done, the four of us headed off to bed. Gathering my overnight bag, I headed off to take a shower. I didn't know how tensed I was until the streams of hot water from the shower began to massage my muscles. I stayed in the shower for a couple more minutes and then I got out. Yuri was already dressed for bed as she sat on her bed, painting her toenails. I tossed my towel on a chair and headed over to the nightstand to grab my phone. There were no missed calls or text messages. Sighing, I tossed it back on the stand and climbed into my bed.

"Micah hasn't called you?" Yuri asked.

"No. He's probably busy."

"Doing what? He's at school. Everyone is away for the break. How busy could he possibly be?"

"Can we just give it a rest?" I said.

Yuri shook her head as she put her nail polish up. "No we can't give it a rest. Micah's up to something. I can feel it and I know you can too. If you want, I can call Jamie. She's staying at the school during break."

"Who's Jamie?"

"Just a freshman who has devoted her life to serving me. Well at least until I help her win against Ashley Donovan for freshman court."

"The last thing I need is for Micah to have a run in with one of your spies. No thanks. I'll be fine. Like I said, he's probably just busy."

Yuri got off her bed and headed towards my bed. She climbed up on the bed and stared down at me. "Autumn, we've been best friends since forever and I've never once seen you get like this over a guy. Talk to me. What's going on?"

"Yuri, I said give it a rest."

I turned my back to Yuri as I waited for her to leave. After sitting there for a few more minutes, she finally made her way back to her bed. I knew without looking at her that I'd hurt her feelings. It wasn't intentionally. There were just some things that I couldn't talk about. Yuri wanted to talk about Micah, but there wasn't too much I could say. Micah had a fake life for safety purposes, and I couldn't jeopardize that for a little girl talk, no matter how hurt I was about his sudden distance. Before I had left on break, everything had been fine. He acted like it was going to be torture to be away from me. Now he was acting weird and wasn't returning my phone calls. Sighing, I realized how stupid I was being. So what if Micah didn't return my calls. He probably was busy. Besides, this is the first time he has ever done something like this and I'm pretty sure he wasn't doing it on purpose. We had only been dating for three months and already I was becoming one of those "girlfriends." I wouldn't be like that. I trusted Micah and he trusted me.

Yuri got up to turn out the light and ten minutes later she was sleep. I laid there in my bed trying to get some rest, but couldn't. Getting up, I tip toed quietly out of my room, closing the door softly behind me. I walked into the joined living room and was surprised to see Taylor was still up.

"Couldn't sleep?" She said glancing up at me.

"No. What are you doing?"

She was sitting in front of her laptop with her headphones on her ears. "I was listening into the incoming and outgoing phone calls from the museum. I didn't know they had that much activity after hours."

"I didn't either."

I sat down on the sofa next to Taylor as she handed me an extra pair of headphones. I plugged them in as we both listened. Most of the calls were the guards abusing their privileges by making phone calls saying goodnight to their children, talking to their wives, or talking to their wife's sister. Taylor left to make us a bowl of ice cream. She came back with the bowls as we ate and made small talk. We were just about to decide to give up the phone surveillance when a particular call came in. It was the Queen demanding to speak to someone named Gill Roberts. As we listened closer, it turned out to be the man in charge of security. We listen as the Queen spoke in frantic whispers. She told him to make sure that his guards were in top shape. They had gotten a tip that "they" were after the painting. At the mention of "they," Taylor and I gave each other glances. The Queen never went into detail about who they were, but only that the head security knew what to do. He promised her that the painting would stay in the right hands, and then the phone call ended. We waited to see if he would make another phone call, but he didn't.

Taylor shut down the computer and then turned to me. "Who do you think they were talking about? Do you think it's the same person that's after us?"

"I have no doubt that it is. The thing I want to know is how the Queen knows about them."

"I don't know. But it's clear they are prepared for the painting to be stolen."

I stared off toward the window where night skyline of Paris shined through our window. "Well we can't let all their hard work and manpower go to waste. Can we?"

I turned to Taylor who smiled over at me. We both then turn back to stare out the window. Tonight, the streets of Paris were quiet. Tomorrow, it wouldn't be.

Chapter Twenty

The day we finally been waiting for was here. Today was the day that we would steal the Beggar Boy painting. The girls and I got up early and had room service bring us up a nice and healthy breakfast. As we ate, I could sense the other girl's nervousness. They kept shooting nervous glances over at me. I ignored them and continued to spread jam on my toast. From the outside, I had a calm façade. But on the inside, I was doing all I could to keep my hand from shaking and dropping the knife I was holding. I was nervous. I was very damn nervous. I just knew that I couldn't show them. It was clear that they had already chosen me as their leader, and as their leader, I couldn't show weakness. Showing weakness would cause them to panic, and then the heist would never see light.

After breakfast we dressed and headed out to the museum to do some more surveillance. Taylor claimed she needed to go to city hall, so she and Kerry separated from us promising to meet us later. I had no clue what Taylor needed from city hall, but I knew it was something that would pertain to the mission. Yuri and I made it to the museum back in the disguises we wore last night. The news teams had already arrived, trying to get in day shots of the museum for the big event. They were all setting up near the pyramid which would make it harder trying to escape their attention. I just hoped that the Queen invited them to broadcast from the inside, leaving us a clean escape without witnesses.

Getting back to the hotel, we entered our room as Yuri went to book our flight for after the heist. Taylor and Kerry still hadn't gotten back yet. I call them, but their phone went to voicemail. Hanging up from them, I dialed Micah's number and got his voicemail as well. Filled with frustration, I plopped down on the sofa, and turned on the television to watch the live broadcast coming from the museum.

"The flight is book." Yuri said plopping down next to me. "I got us a ticket from Paris to California. I figured we can just stay at your house until break is over. With James and your mother away, we won't have to worry about anyone finding us there."

"Sounds good."

"Can you believe this is happening? I mean this is really about to happen."

I smiled over at Yuri. She could barely contain herself in her seat. It seems like the adrenaline she use to get during our robberies has made its way back to her. I just hope mine hurried up and made its appearance. These nerves were wreaking havoc on my stomach. The door to the room beep as it swung open. Taylor and Kerry entered the room carrying a rolled piece of paper.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Blueprints for the museum. I'm going to scan copies to my phone. I thought these would be useful just in case things go wrong."

"Good thinking."

The day began to disappear and before we knew it, we were getting ready for the heist. The girls and I decided to go with a simple hair style that wouldn't take away from our dresses, or get in the way during the heist. We slid our body suits underneath our dress, rolling up the end of our pants leg. We filled our totes with different items such as, pepper spray that was hidden in a tube of lipstick, a stun gun in the shape of a mirror, and another tube of lipstick that was actually a flashlight. The last item Taylor handed us, was a small handgun that was covered by a plastic that would protect it from being caught by the metal detector. We all gave Taylor a look that she simply just shrugged off. "Better safe than sorry" she said before handing us our passports that would go into the inside compartment of our purse.

We gave the room a cleaning sweep, making sure not to leave anything behind. Gathering all of our things, we headed downstairs and checked out of our room. Before stopping to the museum, we headed to the airport and obtained a locker. We placed our bags in the locker and secured the key in our clutch. Heading back to the museum, the taxi we'd taken put us out along the sidewalk. The four of us stared at the museum that was crowding with people.

"Are you ready ladies?"

The girls stared at each other before nodding at me. One by one, we secured the masks on our face, hiding our identity from view. We made our way up the grounds joining in with the crowd. I was happy to see that I was right about all the news crews. They had all been invited inside to film the historic event. We handed our tickets over as the guy stamped our hand. Entering the room, I took in the group of people as they stood around drinking champagne out of the glasses that was being carried around the room. We took glasses from a passing tray and made our way towards the area where the painting will be displayed. The room was still closed off and I knew it was because they were waiting for the Queen who had yet to show. We gathered into a little group by ourselves, while our eyes constantly checked our surroundings.

"I think they just marked us." Taylor said suddenly.

"What? What do you mean?"

She waited for a couple to pass by us before speaking again. "I wasn't so sure before, but I am now. The ink used in the stamp is the same ink my father used on his merchandise. He uses it to track stolen property."

"So they're tagging everybody just in case the painting goes missing." I said answering the rest.

"That's just great." Yuri sighed. "How are we supposed to get rid of a tracker?"

"Rubbing alcohol will work. I keep a first aid kit with me at all times and I think I got some in my bag at the airport."

Kerry glanced around at us. "But that won't be enough time will it? The power will be back on by then."

We stood there trying to figure a way to get our hands on some rubbing alcohol when Taylor said that she had an idea. She told us to stay put and that she would be back. She disappeared into the crowd as Yuri and Kerry gave me worried glances. I assured them that Taylor knew what she was doing even though I really didn't have a clue. I just knew that I had to trust her. Thankfully she returned just in time as the doors to the banquet hall were opened and people started to be escorted in. Taylor didn't get a chance to tell us what she was doing which made me slightly uneasy.

The room filled up as the girls and I headed directly to the front. A couple of people scoffed in anger at the way we barged in front of them, but we ignored them. We had a great view of the display case where the painting would be held. The only problem was the red rope separating us.

The room filled with chatter until the blaring of horns seems to make them cease. Our heads turned as the speaker announced the arrival of the Queen. The dignitaries and the President stood from their chairs on the stage and began to clap. The Queen with all her beauty and elegance— stepped through the door, her jewelry gleaming as bright as the flashes coming from the cameras. She smiled as she made her way past the crowd and up on the stage. The Queen walked up to the microphone and tapped it.

"Good evening everyone. It is so lovely to see you all. Words cannot express how happy I am at all of you for showing your support by attending tonight's extraordinary moment of history."

The Queen began to go on about the painting and the artist Bartholomѐ Esteban Murillo. If it wasn't for me trying to remain alert, I'm pretty sure that I would have grown bored and walked off. Not to say the Queen was boring. It was just everything she was saying, I already knew. Luckily, she decided to end my misery.

"Ladies and Gentleman, I now present to you a new piece to add to our historic collection. I give you, the Beggar Boy painting."

The crowd clapped as the Queen stepped back from the microphone. Our eyes turned to the two men that were stepping onto the stage, carrying the Beggar Boy painting. I couldn't contain my excitement as I clapped along with the other guests. It indeed was a historic moment in history. As I clapped, I felt my throat tighten up as tears threatened to leave my eyes. If only my father could see this. He would be so happy right to be a part of a history that many didn't know about until four months ago. The men placed the painting on the stand as the crowd started taking photos of it. The Queen stood beside it proud as if she was the one who'd painted the portrait herself.

As I stared at the painting, I realized something was off. I stepped a little bit closer to the rope as my eyes scanned the painting. My eyes must have gone over it twenty times before it was confirmed.

This was not the real Beggar Boy painting.

This painting...was a fake.
Chapter Twenty-One

I walked away from the crowd out into the hall as the girls followed me. There were a few people outside of the banquet hall so our exit didn't seem so suspicious. I sat the full champagne glass on a nearby tray and wave the girls over to a statue that was hanging up on the wall. The four of us surrounded the painting, staring at it as if we were actually interested.

"The painting is a fake." I said quietly enough for them to hear me.

Since the girls were smart, they didn't bother to turn their heads towards me as I said this. But the way their eyes darted, I knew they heard what I'd said.

"The original Beggar boy painting has a bag of fruit sitting on the ground near the boy's heel of his foot." I continued. "In the painting, there is one piece of fruit showing inside of the bag and one on the outside. The painting the Queen is displaying doesn't have the piece of fruit outside of the bag."

The girls didn't need to ask if I was sure, because they knew I was. That painting had been every part of my childhood. I knew every swerve and curve of every stroke painted on it. In every photo, there was that extra piece of fruit lying by the boy's heel, just outside of the straw bag.

"So if that's the fake painting, where is the real painting?" Kerry asked.

I darted my glance over to the guards outside the room. They had taken notice of us. But their glances weren't one of suspicion— it was more along the lines of lust. Though they couldn't see our faces behind the mask, the shape of our body was more than enough for them. They obviously found us interesting and I knew it wouldn't be long before they left their post to try and talk to us.

"I don't know where the real painting is. Wherever it is, we need to find it fast. We're attracting attention."

I knew the girls had picked up on the guards and was purposely avoiding their attention. All it took was one of us to make eye contact with them and it was over.

"I should have known the Queen would switch it out." I said thinking back to the worried phone calls we'd overheard from her. "Our first guess was that the painting would be close in her reach. It was the best place for her to keep the painting safe since she was surrounded by so many guards. But then again, it also seemed like the perfect place to steal it. Maybe security had figured out our plan before we even thought of it."

"So what do we do now?" Yuri said.

I closed my eyes as I tried to run back on everything I knew about the museum and this painting. The museum had a vault, but it wasn't big enough to carry the painting. It would also be the first place for a thief to look. The vault was in the director's office and as of right now, the room was unguarded. There is no way they would leave the painting alone in a place like that.

"What about the extra security?' Taylor suddenly said.

I turned to her slightly. "What other security?"

"Remember when we tapped into the camera's surveillance. There was tons of security on two separate floors. One was this floor and the other one was on the floor with the basement."

"But there wasn't anything in there besides crates and broken furniture." Kerry said. "We even double checked it before coming here tonight. There's no security down there."

"What if we were wrong? What if the floor we thought was the basement, was a planted feed in case someone was watching."

"You mean like a replica?" I asked.

"Exactly."

Taylor waved us to follow us as the four of us headed to the ladies restroom. Stepping inside, Yuri locked the restroom door as I checked all the stalls. The room was clear. Taylor reached into her dress and pulled out the tablet she had stuck down there inside her bodysuit. We waited as she went searched for whatever she was looking for.

"I got it."

"What is it?" Kerry asked moving closer.

"When I went to city hall today to get the blue prints for the museum, they gave me two different copies. At first I found it strange that the museum would have two different copies, but I shrugged it off. But now that I think about it, this blueprint is a copy for when the museum was created in 1793. Remember what the entry in Joaquin de la Pezuela journal said? He had the painting moved to somewhere safe. What if that somewhere safe wasn't the Jeu De Paume, but the museum itself?"

"But there aren't any hidden rooms in the museum, we checked."

"Not looking at the new blueprint there isn't." Taylor said with a smug smile. She turned her tablet around to where she had enlarged the picture of the blueprint. As we stared at it, I saw the room that was blown up on the screen. If I remembered the other blueprint correctly, this room was located right underneath the pyramid.

"Taylor you're a genius." I said smiling over at her.

"Duh!"

"But how do we get there?" Kerry asked. "The pyramid is closed for the evening, and the last time I checked, there weren't any stairs leading into a secret room."

"I've figured that out as well." Taylor said putting away her tablet. "The claim is that the painting has been lost for several years, but somehow it just so happens to turn up in a Jeu De Paume. Of all the years it could have been found in that attic, why would the painting turn up now just after months that Autumn's dad was killed?"

"What are you getting at Taylor?" Yuri asked tilting her head. Yuri hated puzzles and "what if" questions. It was enough to drive her mad.

"Autumn, I think your dad was the one who sent us this hint?"

"What?" I said.

"I never told you, but the article about the painting being found in the Jeu De Paume wasn't released by any known news publications. In fact, the news publication, and the author who wrote it was fake. The author's name was something like Anne Gables and the publication was located somewhere in Nova Scotia."

At that I went still. It couldn't be.

"Autumn, are you alright?' Kerry asked placing a hand on my shoulder.

In a shaky voice I said, "Taylor, what name did you say?"

"Anne Gables."

Yuri eyes widened as she turned to me. "No shit."

"What?" Kerry and Taylor asked at the same time.

"Anne Gables is another name for Anne of Green Gables. It's one of my favorite books." I said. "My father used to read it to me every night until I was able to read it myself. Then I read it to him."

The girls looked at me as my mind rumbled with so many thoughts. My father had left the hint for me to find. How? Why? Maybe he knew that I wouldn't just take his death as an accident. So he'd released the article, hoping I would recognize the name. Only I didn't.

"I'm still a bit confused guys." Kerry said.

"Taylor was right. My father released the article to give us a hint. The painting was never in the Jeu De Paume it has always been in the museum. Now I get it while the Queen seemed to have such a calm façade tonight. She wasn't worried anyone would really take the painting. She knew that it was safe and there was no way anyone would get to it. All of this, the worrying, the displaying, it was all an act. She's been in on this the whole time."

"Are you saying the Queen was working with your father?" Yuri asked.

"Yes. I think the frantic phone calls weren't for us to hear. They were for whoever else was after the painting. The Queen and my father wanted them to think that she would have the real painting tonight— not knowing the real painting was hidden beneath the museum. I think they were trying to draw them out."

"This all too confusing." Kerry said. "If this was all for someone else, why haven't they taken the bait."

It took a second before realization hit me. My eyes widened as I looked at the girls. "It's because they've already figured out the whereabouts of the painting." I made my way past the girls to the restroom door.

"Autumn, where are you going?"

"To the Jeu De Paume"
Chapter Twenty-Two

The four of us left the museum and headed over to the Jeu de Paume. The guards at the museum were sad to see us go, but they didn't try to stop us. They had other problems to worry about now. It seemed two of the partygoers had a little too much to drink. After a few insults, shoving followed, and then an all-out scuffle. It seemed like fate for that to happen as all the guards rushed over to stop the fight before it ended up ruining the Queen's party.

We approached the grounds of the Jeu De Paume and came to a stop. Unlike the Louvre, this museum didn't have a single soul in sight. It was strange and it made us a bit suspicious.

"Where is everybody?"

"Do you think the Queen cleared the way for you to get to the painting?" Yuri asked.

I shrugged. Things were getting weirder and weirder. I understood my father wanting me to steal the painting, but why the Queen. "Taylor, check the surveillance to see if anyone is inside."

Taylor pulled out her tablet and tapped into the source that would allow her to hack into the Jeu de Paume's security system. She tapped on it a couple of times before shaking her head. "The cameras are out. In fact, all the power in this building seems to be out."

I glanced over at the building that showcased nothing but darkness through the windows. I wondered if our friend had already made it to the building. I didn't know, but I wasn't going to stand around and allow him to steal the painting. "We're going in."

The four of us headed towards the back of the museum to avoid prying eyes. At the back we found another set of glass doors. The girls stepped out of the way as I walked up to the door and pull out my pick locking tools. Thanks to my successful history of pick locking, it didn't take me long to have the door open. I reached up and pull the handle as a guff of cool air and the smell of stale art hit my nose. Wrinkling my nose, I stretched my ears out as I tried to detect any sound of movement. There was none.

"Let's go."

We made our way into the museum keeping our eyes alert for anything. Thanks to the Taylor tweaking our masks, we were able to see despite the darkness of the museum.

"Okay, so where would the entryway to the painting be?"

"Well according to the blueprints, there are pipelines that run to and from the museum underground." Taylor said staring at her tablet once again. "From what I'm seeing, the entryway is in, the men's restroom."

"Ew" Yuri said. "We got to go through a pipeline, like a sewer pipeline."

"You can always stay here and guard the place." I said following Taylor to the men's restroom. I let it sink in before I heard her feet following us.

"Hey, I never said that I wouldn't get in there. I just don't think it's sanitary, that's all."

We headed to the men's restroom pushing open the door. Taylor opened a door to one of the stalls. "Okay, here's where it gets messy." She dug through her purse and placed what appeared to be a stick of gum all around the toilet on the wall. "Quick! Go Outside!"

We ran out the door just in time to hear a loud boom. The four of us stared around as Yuri punched Taylor in the shoulder.

"You idiot! What if somebody heard that?"

"Trust me, they didn't."

Kerry and I gave each other unsure looks. We needed to hurry just in case Taylor was wrong. When we entered back into the restroom, the room was clouded with smoke. We stumbled our way through the crumbled debris to see a small opening in the wall, and through that hole was the sewer. We stripped out of our dresses and rolled the pants leg to our body suit down. The bottom of the pant suit slipped over our feet like a boot, as we zipped it up on the back of our legs. Pulling my mask up so I could see better, I stepped through the opening first and immediately went into a coughing fit. It smelled horribly. The walls were covered in some thick slimy residue and I was up to my ankles in muddy debris filled water. The girls stepped in and mimicked my expression. If they caught something in here, I knew I would be the blame.

"Which way do we go Taylor?"

"To the right. The tunnel is a bit long so we're going to have to run."

Taylor led the way down the tunnel running, as we followed. Water splashed around us as rats skirted out of the way, seeking refuge in small holes. We covered more length by running and I could only imagine where we would have been if we decided to walk. We came to a stop at a crossroad in the sewer.

"Just Great! Now which way do we go?" Yuri threw up her hands annoyed.

"One sec." Taylor said staring at the blueprints.

"Can you like hurry it up Taylor, it stinks down here." Yuri fussed.

"Relax Yul. We'll be out of here soon." I said with a shake of my head even though I silently agreed with her. The smell from the sewer was awful and I had to take several deep breaths so I wouldn't keep ingesting it in. There were rats crawling on a ledge near the side of the wall as they squeaked on by. The ledge was also littered with trash that had gotten wash down here. We could barely see through the dirty water as it rose from our ankles and up to our knees. It was a very good thing that we had these suits on—even though it was clear we would have to burn them when we were done.

"Okay I got it. We need to keep straight."

"But wouldn't the left tunnel lead in the direction of the museum?" Kerry asked.

"No it will lead back to where you came from. You guys forgot we came to a curve when we first started in the sewer. The left way just doubles back. If we go straight ahead, we will be in the direction of the museum."

We ran straight ahead down the sewer in the direction that Taylor gave us. Had this been a couple months earlier, my legs would be screaming and begging me to sit down. Thanks to boot camp trainer Kerry, they weren't. A couple of rats we ran passed started to squeak and some even dove into the water. Yuri hollered before kicking one across the sewer. The look and kick on her face was so priceless, that I almost busted out into laughter. Instead I just file the memory into to the back of my head for later to use to pick on her.

As we ran deeper into the tunnel, I noticed a small glimpse of light shining. The closer we got, the brighter it got.

"Do you guys see that?" Kerry asked.

We slowed down as we got closer to the light that was coming from a hole in the wall. At first glance I thought it was the sunlight from outside shining through the hole in the wall, until I remembered it was night time. Also, this light had kind of an orange glow to it. The tunnel we were in still continued straight, but I had a feeling we were supposed to go through this opening. I slowly approached the opening as Yuri grabbed hold to my arm.

"Autumn where are you going? Taylor said to continue straight."

I shrugged her arm off. "For once, I think Taylor is wrong."

Taylor scoffed. "Just what exactly am I wrong about? I saw the room on the blueprint. It's nothing but a small room filled with more sewer water. It doesn't lead to anywhere."

"There's light coming from inside it."

"Well there is power running through the sewers. The city just doesn't know about this one that's all." Taylor said.

"Once again Taylor, I say that you're wrong."

Not giving her a chance to reply, I climbed through the opening and followed the small walkway. I could hear the girls coming behind me. I exited the other side of the opening into the small room Taylor had described. As I stepped into the sewer water, I froze.

"God, it stinks even more in here!" Yuri complained. She was too busy fussing that she ran right into my back. "Hey, why'd you stop?"

I didn't answer, just stared around. By the sound of the gasps I heard behind me, I knew they had spotted what I had.

Kerry mouth open in awe. "Oh Taylor, you were so wrong about nothing being here."

At first glance the room was nothing more than another part of the sewer filled with dirty water. But looking around, it was far more different. The light we had seen was coming from the ancient looking lamps hanging on the wall. But that's not what caught our attention. The thing that caught our attention the most was the stone door in the middle of the wall.

"Okay, did anybody know this door was here?" Yuri asked.

I stepped in the water and approached the door. "Can't you see Yuri? This room was hidden. You can tell by the hole in the wall back there. This room had been bricked up, but because all the trash and chemicals coming down here, the bricks have gave way."

"I wonder exactly how old it is." Kerry said as she rubbed her hands against the wall. "Do you think it was built when the painting was brought here?"

"It's a possibility."

Despite the room being closed up for a long time, there were still healthy plants in here. There where vines along the sewer wall and flowers on the ground that hadn't been contaminated by the sewer water. In fact I was betting that was what kept it growing.

"You guys" Taylor. "We've just discovered a room lost to history"

The four of us let out an excited shout—until we remembered we were supposed to be quiet.

Walking up to the door, I placed my hands on the door handles and gave it a little shake. Good. They were still sturdy. Taking a deep breath, I pulled on the handles of the doors. The door let out a loud groan as a gasp of hot air blew into our faces.

"Eew, what is that smell." Yuri asked.

"Yuri, by now you should know it's the sewer." Taylor rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"No she's right." I said gasping. "This smell is worst then the sewer."

The room was completely dark so we had no chance to see if what we were walking into. Since this was not an Indiana Jones movie or a Lara Croft game, I wanted to make sure I wasn't falling onto any ancient hidden spikes. Removing the flashlight from my purse, I shined it into the room. The floor was safe from what I could see and there was nothing hanging down from the ceiling waiting to snatch us up. As the light ran against the wall, I spotted an old lantern hanging. Stepping in, I walked over to it praying that the floor didn't give away. It didn't.

"Can one of you girls hand me a match?"

"You don't really think that's going to work? I mean we are underground amongst all these chemicals. This room could blow." Yuri said stepping up behind me.

"We've got to try."

Kerry found a box of matches in her bag. Striking it against the wall, the end of the stick lit as she handed it over to me. I took it from her carefully and then turned to light the candle inside the lantern. We all held our breaths as my shaking hand neared the candle praying that the room wouldn't explode. At first, it didn't light. But after two more tries, the lantern finally lit up.

"Look there's another one over there." Yuri yelled running across the room.

"Be careful." Taylor shouted. Yuri waved her away and lit the lantern.

The two lit lanterns were enough for us to see into the dark room. The room was the same size of the one we just left — only in its center there wasn't a door. There was a well.

"Ahh!"

Yuri screamed running over towards us. The three of us froze and turned to see what had happened. In the corner where Yuri had been standing near the lantern, was a skeleton. Its arms were above its head, chained to the walls. On the floor beside it were small bones that looked to belong to small rodents. There was a broken drinking pitcher and what I assumed was a plate. It was too chipped to tell.

"You guys, there is a body down here."

"You mean skeleton." Yuri added. "Any tissue or muscle left on that thing is gone."

There's nothing we can do for whoever it is now." I gave the skeleton another glance before walking over to the well. The rope was gathered on a huge iron nail on the side, but I didn't trust it would hold up after all these years. Leaning over, I flashed the light to my flashlight inside the well. The girls came to peer over as we all stared at the bottom.

"Taylor was right. This room was a bust. There is no way we're getting down there."

Peering closer, I began to study the bottom of the floor. I leaned back up and looked around the room.

"What's wrong?" Kerry said looking around as well.

I didn't answer her. Instead, I looked around the room for something heavy. My eyes landed on the pitcher again as I made my way over to it. I picked it up almost gagging at whatever had been left inside it. Walking back over to the well, I aimed my arm high before tossing it down at the floor of the well. The pitcher broke on contact, but nothing else happened.

"Okay what's going on?" Yuri asked confused.

"That floor is breakable." I said placing my hand on my hips. "I just need something heavy." As I tried to think of something to use, I noticed the flashlight I was holding. Aiming it like I did the pitcher, I threw it with all the force that I could into the well.

"Hey!" Taylor yelled in my ear. "Do you know how much that cost?"

I ignored Taylor as I stared at the flashlight. It flew downwards, gleaming against the well's wall zooming towards the floor. With a boom, the flashlight collided with the floor and the floor gave away.

"It worked!"

The floor had crumbled, revealing a body of water.
Chapter Twenty-Three

"Is that another part of the sewer?" Kerry asked.

"It can't be. Look at the water." Yuri pointed.

We stared at the water in the well that was completely different from the one in the sewer. Compared to the sewer water, this water was a pretty sea green blue that moved as if it was being pulled in from somewhere. It was so clear that I could easily spot my flash light at the bottom.

"I think this is it." I said smiling. "I think this is the room the painting is in."

Kerry pointed toward the well. "And look, the well is big enough for someone to climb down."

"Taylor, I'm about to lower the camera into the well. Tell us what you see."

"Gotcha!"

I reached into my purse and removed the camera that was disguised as a mirror. I attached the camera to the rope that was on the side of the well. It might not be able to hold up our size without breaking, but it could handle the size of the camera. Making sure the rope was tied tight—I lowered the camera down until it was at the bottom of the well. I hoped there were no guards stationed in this room. I doubt though seeing how the room was flooded with water.

The camera moved passed the wall of the well and into the water. I lowered it a little bit more and held it into position.

We all waited for Taylor to confirm what we were hoping. She was quiet for a little while staring at the tablet. I knew she was having difficulty seeing through the camera lens because of the water.

"OH MY GOD!!!" She suddenly screamed. "I see it. The painting is there. It's in the center of the room on a platform."

"Yes!" Yuri jumped up and down. "That means we got here first."

"We have to hurry!" I said feeling the rush of adrenaline running up my arms. I pulled the camera up quickly and removed it from the well. "Let's go."

I removed some the mascara cases from my bag that were actually suction cups used to climb walls. We took off our masks and left them leaning up against the outside of the wall. Since Kerry was the best swimmer, she decided to go first. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she turned backwards to the well, as we help lower her into the well. Twisting, she continued to lower herself until her whole body was in the well.

"I'm right behind you." I said.

"Okay." Kerry closed her eyes for a moment to say a prayer. Finished, she slowly lowered herself down the wall of the well like we did on the rock climbing wall in the gym. Within seconds her lower half was in the water. Once the water was to her neck she looked up at me.

"Be careful." Yuri said touching my arm.

I smiled. "I know the rope is a bit shattered, but hang it in the well. We're going to need some kind of a way back up."

Following Kerry's suit, I climbed into the well and lowered myself into the well. When I was right above Kerry, she took a deep breath and disappeared under the water, giving me more room to come down. My body entered the water as I sucked in a deep breath at how cool it was. I lowered myself even more until I was neck length in the water. Letting go of the rope, I took a deep breath and disappeared under the water.

The water was clear enough for me to make out Kerry's shape as she swam ahead of me. I was thankful for the wig we wore, because I just knew my hair would have been a mess. Remembering the breathing exercises I'd learned, I continued to push through the water. Up ahead in the water, I could see Kerry standing as I made my way towards her. Once beside her boots, I pushed up towards the surface, feeling like my lungs were on fire. I took in some much needed air. Behind me, I could hear the sounds of Yuri and Taylor moving through the water.

Kerry laughed. "Isn't this place beautiful?"

Standing up on my feet, I stared around the large room. Kerry was right. It was beautiful. The room looked as if it came straight from a page of a Greek Mythology book. The walls were made of stone as more of the same green vines hung all around the room. A few inches from the top of the wall, were four openings covered by silver bars. In between those bars came the water that filled up the room. I still couldn't believe we had swum across this huge room in a matter of seconds. In the corner left of the room, were a set of steps that led up to a platform, where a set of double doors stood. I bet that was where the guards entered. And in front of us, on the steps of the platform we stood on, were two stone statues, and sitting between them, was the painting.

Taylor and Yuri made their way beside us finally having a chance to take in the room. Turning to each other, we let out a squeal of glee as we squeezed each other hands.

"Where do you think that water is coming from?" Kerry asked. "It can't be from the sewer with how clear it is."

"I don't know. It could be from another secret room or something."

Holding each other hands, we approached the painting. The painting was hidden behind a thick glass case. Removing my favorite glass cutter, I cut out the size of the painting. Placing the cutter back in its place, I removed the glass and set it down beside the statues.

"We'll all touch on three." We surrounded the painting as I began to count. "One, Two, Three." Our hands reached out to touch the painting. As my hands touched the frame to the painting, I froze. A sharp jolt had moved through my body. That was weird. I turned to stare at the other girls as their expression mimicked mine.

"What was that?" Yuri said with a look of fear on her face. I knew what she was thinking.

"This painting is not cursed. We're just over excited that's all." Even as the words came out of my mouth, I knew I was lying. "Let's try again." The girls nodded their heads and we tried to touch the painting again. Touching the painting again, I didn't feel any more jolts. Giving the girls a look of triumph, I gripped the painting tighter when a sharper jolt ran through my body.

The jolts began to come faster as my heart rate began to rise. The painting began to surge with white light as it ran from my fingertips and connected with the girls. The white light lit up the room as we all shook. My body was wrecked with so many seizures that I felt that any minute now my body would break into two. A loud clap of white light exploded from the painting as the four of us were pushed back. My body flew through the air convulsing. I landed in the water as my head bounced off a nearby stone, sending me into complete darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Four

My eyes opened to a blurry sight. Blinking a couple of times, I allowed them to clear only to see Yuri leaning over me. I jumped in shock as I stared at how close she was to my face. I opened my mouth to retort this to her when I noticed the expression on her face. Her face was contorted into an evil glare as dark circles broadcast her blue eyes. Her lips were positioned in a sinister smirk and there was a growling sound coming from her. My heart sped up in fear as I scooted back from her. As if sensing my fear, her expression disappeared, and she was Yuri again.

"Autumn, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

I pushed up to a standing position making sure to avoid her eyes. There was a slight pounding coming from the back of my head. Reaching back, I touched a hand to the spot. Withdrawing it, I stared at the smear of blood on my hand.

"You hit your head pretty good on that stone right there." Yuri said.

"Oh."

I wiped my hand on my pants and walked past her where Taylor and Kerry were standing chatting. "Are you guys okay?"

"I think I'm okay. My body has the shakes however." Taylor said. "What in the hell just happened?"

"I think the painting really was cursed you guys." Kerry said looking like a scared little girl.

"I might have the shakes, but I don't think I've gained any magical powers Kerry. So the painting couldn't be cursed."

"Well I was just saying." Kerry fired back at Taylor.

The two began to bicker as I took a glance out of the corner of my eye at Yuri. She stared at the painting in silence, and I had to wonder if maybe Kerry was right. Maybe the myth was true. Joaquin didn't go through all this work of hiding the painting if it wasn't true. But could the painting really be filled with a dark curse? While I felt fine, I couldn't help but think that the shock we got from the painting had something to do with Yuri's evil expression.

"We need to go." I simply said. I headed back up the platform to get the painting.

"Are we taking the frame too?"

"No. We'll just get the painting out."

Flipping it over, I cut the back of the frame and removed the painting. Taylor reached into her bodysuit and removed the plastic tube that will cover the painting until we got back to school. I rolled up the painting and stuck it inside the tube and sealed the end.

"What's with Yuri?" Taylor said giving her a look.

I turned to stare at Yuri who slowly looked over at us. "I'm fine."

"Let's get out of here." I said with a shaky smile.

"I think not!"

The four of us jumped as we turned towards the double set of doors. A man stood at the top of a ledge holding a gun as more men entered dressed in the same uniforms the guards were wearing. In fact, they were the exact same guards.

"Oh my God, we're busted." Kerry cried.

"No we're not." I said. I stared up at the man as I took in the expression on his face. This man was not with security. A smirk came to his face as a sinking feeling settled in my stomach. "It's him."

The girls glanced at me and then back at the man as recognition began to show on their face. Kerry made a step to move and the man pointed a gun at her.

"Bad move, Miss Athlete." He said smiling. I grabbed Kerry's hand as she shook from the fear of the gun being pointed at her.

"It's okay." I whispered. "We're going to be fine."

The man walked down the steps followed by his security as I glanced over at the opening in the ceiling. I tried to calculate if the four of us had enough time to make it there before he got to us. I figured even if we did reach the opening, one of us would end up getting shot. The man followed the walkway from the steps over to the path that connected to the platform. I silently wondered how he got passed the guards.

"How did he get in?" Yuri said voicing my thoughts.

"I don't know." Taylor said in a panic voice.

The girls were scared and so was I, but someone had to take charge. This was the man that killed my father. I wouldn't let him know how shaken he had me. Clearing my throat, I tried to act normal. "You know who we are. I think it's only right that we know who you are as well."

The man gave a laugh as he stopped in front of us. The silver gun gleamed in our direction. "Why dear old Autumn, don't you recognize me?"

I stared at the guy. He had short black hair cut close to his head and blue eyes. There was a large curved scar that went from under his right eye to the top of his head. His face was also covered in freckles. At first glance, he looked like no one I knew. But as I took another look, my breath caught in my throat. "Mark!"

The girls glanced at me and then turned back to stare at Mark. It was him, but he no longer looked like the Mark we knew. His blond hair was gone and his face was no longer the smooth creamy clear that Yuri used to brag about. I turned to look at Yuri who finally had showed a sign that she was still my best friend. There was a look of shock on her face, but she also looked hurt. She felt betrayed and I couldn't blame her.

I turned back to Mark as he mocked our shocked expressions. "Don't look so shocked girls. You of all people should know about secret identities."

I shook my head trying to make sense of what I was seeing. "This can't be true. I know you didn't kill my father, you couldn't have."

Mark cackled in laughter. "Oh contraire, I did. But don't take it personal. I was just following orders."

"Orders? Who's Orders?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mark said smiling. Waving the silver gun at us he said, "No need for explanations, just hand over the painting."

"Not until you tell me why you killed my father."

"And tell me why you betrayed me!" Yuri added as tears streamed down her face.

Mark eyes darted over to her as a look of anger came in them. "You're one to talk. You never once confided in me about you and your little best friend here secret adventures. I had to find out from others about my own girlfriends whereabouts. Do you know how that made me looked in front of my boss? Then you go and dump me for my best friend, destroying my cover, and making me have to resort to other measures in order to keep tabs on you. You're lucky I haven't killed you yet."

"So that's all I was. I was just your cover!"

"From day one."

Yuri lip trembled as she fought not to cry. Mark seemed to like the reaction he gave her as his anger resided and he smiled at her. It was like watching him abuse her all over again.

"He's lying Yuri."

"What?" He said turning to me.

"You're lying about the fact that she was just a cover. If she was just a cover, you wouldn't have added in the part about her dumping you for your best friend. That actually hurt you, which means that you actually cared about Yuri more than you're trying to let on."

Mark growled with rage as he used the butt of the gun to smack me in the face. My face flew to the side as I felt blood coat my tongue. My head was already ringing and the added force seemed to irritate it more. But I wouldn't cry. Not in front of him.

The girls stepped towards Mark as his men pointed their guns at them making them stop. I waved a hand to let them know I was fine. Spitting out the blood, I turned to face him. "You just proved my point."

"Enough of this!" A guy behind Mark suddenly yelled. "We don't have much time. It won't be long before someone notice the gunshots and screams. The police will be here soon."

Mark turned to me and held out his hand. "Give me the painting Autumn, now!"

I stared over at the girls as our eyes connected. We communicated with our eyes knowing what needed to be done. Turning around in a blink of an eye, Kerry ran towards Mark letting out a battle cry. Mark who had been focused on me, turned towards Kerry in confusion. It wasn't until Kerry was right in front of him, that he realized what was happening. Instead of tackling him, she rushed a guard beside him, knocking him back into the others. Mark tried to raise his gun, but I sent a kick to his arm, making the gun fly out of his hand. Taylor and Yuri tackled the other guards sending them into the water. I sent a kick to Mark's chest knocking him down into the water. My foot ended up getting tangled with Marks leg as we both flipped over into the water. My body floated under the water as Mark sent a kick to my head to push himself up. The kick was enough to make my eyes blurry, but not enough to take me out fully—though I was pretty sure that if I take one more knock to the head, I would be unconscious again or in some serious trouble. By the time I got back to the surface, Mark had climbed up onto the platform. He was so busy trying to stand to his feet that he didn't see Yuri who was approaching him from behind. Once again, she had that look on her face. But this time it wasn't directed to me, but at Mark. An unsettling feeling surged through my stomach as I stared at her. Something wasn't right.

Mark finally turned to see Yuri, but it was too late. Yuri's hands shot out and latched onto Mark's arm. I watched in horror as Mark's body shook with convulsions. Black lines ran up and down through his veins as the a loud sound of something cracking could be heard.

"YURI NO!!" I screamed.

Hearing my scream, Yuri turned to face me. She took one look into my eyes and let go of Mark's arm. Her eyes went from me and back to Mark who lay jerking on the ground. "I...I didn't mean to. It just happened."

I hurried out of the water and ran past the unconscious bodies of the guards. Yuri was crying heavily beside Mark's feet. I squatted down beside her and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay Yuri. Everything is going to be okay." I turned to see Kerry and Taylor staring at Yuri with fear in their eyes, and I wondered if mine showed the same, despite the fact that I was trying hard not to show it. "You guys take her. I need to have a word with Mark."

Yuri headed towards the girls as I turned to Mark. Despite that he had killed my father, I couldn't help but to squat down beside him, and grab a hold of his hand. I had no clue what Yuri had done to him, but I knew whatever it was had taken the life out of Mark. He was dying slowly and painfully.

"It's going to be okay."

Mark eye's landed on me as he gave a painful choking laugh. "Why are you being nice to me? I killed your father."

"I know."

Mark stared at me as the arrogant gleam in his eye began to fade. "I...I know you won't believe me, but I didn't want to kill your father. I disliked you a lot, but I never wanted to hurt you that bad."

I blinked tears away as my throat tightened. "But you did."

"I had to." He suddenly cried. "You have no idea what would have happened to me if I'd refused him. He would have made me suffer much more than I am now."

"Who? Who would have made you suffer?"

Mark gave a squeeze of my hand as his body began to shake more seriously. His eyes widened as he fought to catch a breath. Locking eyes with me he said, "We call him...The Invisible Spider."

Mark gave one more shake and then he was still. Staring down at him, I felt a slight wave of sympathy for him. I didn't know whether to believe what he said or not. I removed my hand out of his grasp, and reached up to close his eyes. "Goodbye Mark."

I turned to stare at the girls when suddenly a loud shrieking alarm went off. The girls stared back at me as the sound of running footsteps could be heard.

Taking a running jump, I dived off the platform into the water as we swam for the opening. I had no idea what was going on inside the museum. All I cared about was getting up that rope. By the time I reached it, Yuri and Taylor had already made their way up the rope, and Kerry was hallway up it, hidden by the walls of the well. I grabbed onto the rope—thankful that I had did the rope climbing exercise in the gym, and pulled myself up it. I made it just inside the walls of the well, when I heard someone shout "over there!"

The girls pulled me out of the well and together we sealed the top back. We grabbed our masks and clutches, making our way out of the secret hidden room. Slamming the door shut behind us, we headed back over to the opening in the wall and back through the sewer. Water splashed around us as we looked around for the opening that would lead us back to the restroom at the Jeu de Paume.

"There it is!" Kerry shouted as we turned the corner.

The four of us took turns maneuvering through the hole back into the restroom. From here, we could hear the sirens across the way at the Louvre Museum. Outside was probably flooded with police by now. We wasted no time dressing and making sure that we didn't leave anything behind.

"What about the tracker?" I said.

"Don't worry. I got something for it."

Taylor removed some rubbing alcohol pads that she'd found in one of the offices at the Louvre. We rubbed the stamps off of our hands until they were no more. Grabbing the clean trash bag out of the trashcan, we stuffed our bodysuits in the bag and headed out of the restroom. We made our way back through the museum and out the back door. Peering around the building, we could see the numerous cars of police as they littered the lawn of the Louvre. It didn't seem like any of the partygoers had exited the building yet, and I knew it was because of the tracker. By now they realized the painting had been taken and soon there will nowhere safe in Paris to hide. We needed to leave.

We left the Jeu de Paume and moved passed the crowd that was growing on the sidewalks. I spotted a taxi nearby and waved to get its attention. It pulled to a stop as the four of us crowded into the backseat.

"Take us to the airport please."

"Will do."

The taxi pulled off down the street. The Louvre Museum began to grow smaller and smaller, and then we could no longer see it.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The taxi pulled to a stop at the airport. I handed him his fee as the four of us quickly climbed out of the back of the taxi. We made our way through inside the airport and headed directly for our lockers. My eyes continuously moved back and forth as if any minute now, I expected to be tackled down by airport security. As it were, we made it safely to our lockers. We opened our lockers and retrieved our bags and then headed to the nearby restrooms. The women's restroom was crowded with people, so we had to take turns entering the same stall. Once we were dressed back in our regular clothes, we decided to stop by the food section as Yuri and Kerry went to get us some drinks.

"Autumn, are we going to talk about what happened." Taylor said whispering over at me.

"About what?"

"Yuri killed Mark. She put her hands on him and the next second he's flipping around like a fish out of water."

I swallowed tightly as I stared over at Yuri in the line with Kerry. She'd been quiet since we left the museum and I knew she was still having a hard time dealing with what she did. "I'm not going to lie and say that she's the same. I don't think any of us are. But until we know the extinct of what happened, let's not treat her like a pariah."

"I know that." Taylor said sighing. "It's just that after seeing what she did. I'm scared not only for her, but for me as well. What if I end up being able to do the same thing?

I said nothing to this. I couldn't. I felt the same way too. Yuri and Kerry headed over to us with two extra frozen coffees. I took my coffee and headed towards the gateway that would take us back to California. I needed some time to myself, so I stood off from the girls and sipped on my coffee. But as I turned around, I saw Kerry and Taylor standing together while Yuri sat alone. Shooting them a look, I made my way over to her and sat down beside her.

"Are you okay?"

Yuri turned to me and gave me a weak smile. "I'm fine." She turned to stare over at Kerry and Taylor who were slowly inching towards her. "They're afraid of me."

"That's because you still smell like the sewer."

Yuri eyes widened as she tried to secretly sniff herself. I stifled a grin. Glancing back up at me, she gave a roll of her eyes. "Ha, ha Autumn. I don't smell. But thanks." She said smiling over at me. "I know you're just trying to make me feel better."

I opened my mouth to say something to her when they announced our flight. Getting up from our seats, we tossed our drinks away and made our way to show our tickets, and board the plane. We headed to the first class cabin and found our seats. It was pretty full so we had to end up sitting on different rows. Yuri and I grabbed a seat together since I knew that the girls were still a bit too uncomfortable to be near her. I know they had to have a clue how bad they were hurting her feelings, but I knew that they also had a lot on their mind and being around her would only cause more trouble.

The plane took off from the airport and I finally felt myself relax. We had done it. We'd stolen the painting from the museum. I felt a sense of accomplishment even though I knew I didn't have all the answers to the puzzle yet.

"You were right about Mark." Yuri suddenly said.

"Huh?"

"I said you were right about Mark. He wasn't trustworthy."

"Yuri." I said placing a hand on hers. "Don't do this to yourself. You couldn't have known about Mark any more than I could have."

"But you seemed to sense that there wasn't something right. I don't know how I could have been so blind."

"Yuri, Mark fooled all of us. He had a secret life just like we have. His just was something far more dangerous."

"Do you believe him when he said he killed your father?"

"Yes."

Mark hadn't been lying about that. At first I hadn't been so certain when he said it in such a smug tone, but as he lay there on the ground dying, I knew that he was telling the truth. He had no point to lie anymore since his life was about to be over. I also knew that he was telling the truth about not wanting to do it. Mark had a desperate look on his face when he spoke to me as if he was begging me to forgive him. Even though I had no problem giving him comfort during his last moments, I couldn't give him the forgiveness he so desperately wanted. I knew it wasn't his fault, but he was the only one I could blame at the moment.

"What did he whisper to you?"

"He told me the name of his Boss."

"Really?" Yuri said sitting up. A flight attendant stopped by to ask us if we wanted any drinks but we declined. As soon as she left, Yuri turned back to me. "So what is his name?"

"Mark said they called him, The Invisible Spider."

Yuri got quiet as we both got lost into our thoughts. I had no clue to who this Invisible Spider was or even how to find him. My only hope had died at the hands of Yuri and I was pretty sure she would soon realize this. Maybe when we got back to school, I could search Mark's room. There had to be some sort of a hint hidden in there. Hopefully Yuri still had the key to his dorm room so I wouldn't have to worry his roommate. But what if his roommate was a part of it? While it was true that Mark could hide any and everything from us, he couldn't have hidden everything from his roommate. If he wasn't his partner, then I'm sure he knew something. I would have to question him.

"Wait a minute Autumn."

"What?"

"You said Mark said "they". Does that mean there are more people involved besides his Boss?"

"I'm pretty sure that there are a lot more people. The fact that they seemed to have had the whole museum staff at their disposal seemed to make me think that they're an organization of sorts."

"Mark didn't really seem to be in charge even though those guys followed him."

"For some reason I feel that Mark was just a flunky. The guy on the plane and at the museum was way taller than Mark and more bulky."

"So if they are flunkies, where is this Invisible Spider?" Yuri asked.

I thought back to the guy standing in the shadows of the plane and the one at the museum. Their shape was exactly the same. Could it be that he could have been on the plane as well? He had been hidden from view thanks to shadows, and at the museum you could hardly see him the crowd.

Turning my head, I stared out the window as sprays of water began to hit them. The Invisible Spider wasn't hiding. He had been there, and he'd allowed me to see him. Feeling a chill, I tightened my arms around my body, as I allowed the plane to put me to sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Yuri woke me once we had landed back in California. The four of us got our things and headed inside of the airport to get our luggage. Since James was away with family, we had to catch a taxi. It was a good thing because I had no idea how I was going to explain to him the reason I'd come back early from vacation. I mean I could rope a lie, but James was the one person in my life that I never wanted to lie to. My mother, I had no problem telling her a couple of Pinocchio's.

The whole ride to my house, everyone was quiet. The exercise from the mission had finally caught up with us, and we were starting to feel the burn. While my body no longer ached from my head injury earlier, there still was a bit of tiredness to it. The taxi pulled up in front of my house as the driver gave a whistle. "This is a nice place. All of you live here?"

The girls climbed out of the taxi as I reached in my purse and pulled out his fee. Handing it to him, I gave him a sweet smile. "Now why would we tell you that?"

The driver's mouth fell open as I climbed out the cab and shut the door in his face. I scanned us in through the gates and hurried to enter the security code before it alerted James, or worse my mother. The girls followed me up our long driveway as I led them around towards the back door. I unlocked the door and opened, allowing the girls to step in first. Since Yuri was always at my home, she had no problem walking over and entering the pass code to the alarm system while I locked up behind us. Taylor and Kerry stood in the middle of the room as I went to turn on some light. The light came on showcasing our large modern style kitchen.

"Come on. I'll show you to your bedrooms."

I led them through the cold dark house and up the stairs to the second floor. It felt weird to be in the house without James. I imagined this is how it really would be if he wasn't around. I showed Kerry and Taylor to their rooms, and Yuri went to the room that James had set up especially for her. I entered my room and tossed my luggage down on the bed. The ringing of my cellphone made me pause my unpacking. I pulled it out of my pocket and froze. James was calling. Clearing my throat, I answered in a normal tone. "Hello."

"Autumn is everything alright. I just saw on the security feed that you were home."

I slapped myself in the forehead. I forgot James had told me he would be updating the security system so he could get alerts while he was away for the holidays. I blamed the stress and tiredness from the mission for my reason of forgetting.

"Autumn?"

"I'm here. Sorry I forgot to call and tell you that I decided to come home. I think choosing to spend thanksgiving in the New York was a bad idea."

"Don't worry. I'll catch a plane and come home and make you an excellent feast."

"No!" I said too quickly. "I mean it's fine. I'm here with Yuri and two more of our friends from school, so I don't mind cooking meals for us. You just continue to enjoy yourself. How's your family?"

"Well we lost a family member during the break, but other than that, we're all stronger than ever."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that James. Who was it?"

"It was just a distant cousin of the family. We weren't that close, but some of the family members are shaken by it. I've been doing the best to keep everybody motivated and in high spirits."

"Well then of course you can't come home. Your family needs you more than I do right now. Help them through the difficult times. We'll be fine."

James and I exchange some more words before I disconnected the call. Tossing my phone on the bed, I pulled my arms over my head and stretched my muscles. Walking over to my dresser, I reached in and grabbed some clothes before heading into the shower. I was so happy to get the smell and feel of the sewer off of my skin. We had used some wet wipes at the airport to get rid of the smell, but we were still a bit tart. I really felt bad for the cab driver that had taken us to the airport. He peeked in his mirror several times to look at us before going into a fit of coughs. I think he even broke the speed limit trying to get us and the horrible smell out of his car.

Once I was done with my shower, I climbed out and dressed in my clothes before heading downstairs to the kitchen. The girls were still in their rooms and I take it they were probably washing up and relaxing as well. Going to the fridge, I pulled out some things to make us a quick meal. It was three in the morning, but I'm sure the girls didn't mind eating any leftover shepherd's pie and corn. James always cooked a whole bunch of dishes just in case me or my mother decided to come home. My mother hated that about him. She always liked to fuss about the fact that he was wasting food. But the things we didn't get a chance to eat he gave away to the food shelters.

While the food was warming up in the microwave, the girls came downstairs.

"What are you making?" Kerry asked climbing up on a stool.

"I'm heating us up some leftover shepherd pie."

"Thank Goodness because I was starving."

I laughed at Taylor. I glanced over at Yuri who was standing at the kitchen window looking out. I turned back to Taylor and Kerry who were giving her worried looks. The microwave finished cooking our food, as I served it up on some plates along with some lemonade. Yuri finally left the window and came to sit down with us. The four of us ate in silence as we scarfed down two plates of the shepherd's pie and corn.

"Are we going to talk about what happened now?" Taylor said pushing her plate away from her.

"Taylor." Kerry said. She elbowed Taylor in the side. It was clear the two of them had been discussing something before coming down.

"Look, I know I said I wouldn't say anything, but I lied. We can't sit here and act like we didn't witness what Yuri did. I'm sure she wants to talk about this."

"Actually I don't. In fact I would like to forget that any of this ever happened."

"Well too bad you can't. I won't let you!"

Taylor began to go on about how it would help Yuri to talk about what happened as Kerry insisted that we do what Yuri said and just forget everything. I placed my hand on my head as I felt a headache coming on. Remembering that I'd bumped my head, I reached back to check my wound. I must have moved my hand around that spot several times before I pulled it away.

"What's wrong?" Kerry said noticing my expression. Yuri and Taylor stopped talking and turned to look at me.

"The head injury I'd gotten at the museum. It's gone."

"What?" Taylor slid off her stool and made her way over to me. She maneuvered through my wet hair as if maybe I'd been mistaken. But after a while she finally stopped. "Maybe it wasn't that big."

"It was big. I felt it. When I touched it, my hand was covered in blood, and now I can't even find the wound."

Taylor walked back to her seat as we all sat in silence.

"Maybe it was the painting." Yuri suddenly said quietly.

"You think the painting might have healed me."

"It's a possibility. I mean look at what it made me do."

Yuri had a sadness to her voice and I wanted nothing more than to fix what had happened to her. I blamed myself. I always looked out for her, but this time I slipped up. I should have been the one to receive the dark end of the curse and I should have been the one battling with the turmoil she felt from killing Mark. Yuri was a strong girl, but she wasn't strong enough to deal with this. This reminded me of the time when Mark had first started to put her down. She never told me exactly what he said to her, only that it was enough to make her crawl into bed for two whole days and stare at the wall. I had wanted to go pummel his face, but she stopped me assuring me that she would take care of it. She never did, until now.

"Yuri, don't beat yourself up about this." Kerry said. "We all touched the painting just like you. We might not be showing any symptoms yet like you are, but I'm pretty sure that we will be soon. And when we do, we need to be ready for it."

"Kerry's right. You were just caught off guard. Now that we know that there could be a chance that we're cursed with dark powers, we'll be more able to handle it."

"Not to mention your healing powers." Taylor pointed out. "So what are we like super heroes now? If so, I have a nice idea for a costume."

"We're not superheroes Taylor."

"We're villains." Yuri said. "A superhero wouldn't have done what I had to Mark."

"Look Yuri, I know you don't want to hear this, but Mark had it coming."

"TAYLOR!!"Kerry and I both shouted.

"Don't Taylor me. You guys know it's true. If Yuri hadn't taken care of Mark, then Autumn would have. I mean he killed your father Autumn. Do you really think you would have let him walk out of there alive?"

I turned my head away from them not wanting them to see the answer in my eyes. Taylor was right. If Yuri hadn't done anything, I probably would have given into my anger and killed him myself. But I know I would have been regretting it like Yuri is now. No matter how torn I was about my father's death, that didn't give me a right to go out and kill people. My father wouldn't have been proud of me if I had gone through with something like that.

Turning back to them I said, "Mark may have been a betrayer and God knows what else. But that doesn't mean he deserved to be killed. I couldn't have done that."

"I could have."

I ignored Taylor. "And I don't blame you either Yuri. I couldn't imagine what you were feeling. You were the one that was betrayed the most. He used you as a cover."

Yuri gave me a weak smile and lifted her glass to drink some more of her lemonade. I knew it would take a lot more convincing before she finally believed what I said.

"I'm glad you mention that." Taylor said. "If Yuri was Mark's cover, than that mean this all had to be planned a long time ago. Mark's been at our school since freshman year. Why was he planted at the school that early when your father died just a couple of months before we decided to steal the painting?"

I had forgotten about that. Mark had been a freshman the same year Yuri and I had enrolled. I always joked about him being older than a freshman, but I just often chunked it up to good eating habits.

"Are we sure Mark was our age?" Kerry asked looking around.

"He always seemed a bit older to me." I said as Taylor agreed. Yuri looked off to the side as I saw her contemplate whether or not Mark was truly the age he claimed to be. It would be another lie he'd told her, and another nail in her heart.

"We can always find out."

"How?"

"I can hack into the school records and get a hold of his file. I've done it before with Karen's file so it wouldn't be that hard."

"Do it." Yuri said suddenly. She turned to Taylor. "Dig up whatever you can find."

Taylor hopped off the stool and ran upstairs to get her laptop. Kerry and I stared over at Yuri as she ran a hand through her blond hair.

"Are you sure about this Yuri?" I asked. "We don't have to dig any further."

"Of course you do Autumn. It's the only way for you to get some answers."

"I can find another way if you ask me to. I don't want you hurting more than you're already hurting."

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine." She said with a smile.

Taylor came back into the kitchen with her laptop and the painting covered in plastic. She tossed it over to me as I caught it. "You need to keep an eye on that. We're not out of the woods yet. People are still after this painting, and I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate on breaking down the door to your home in order to get it."

She was right. I would have to keep my eye on this at all times until I got back to school where I could hide it in a safe place. At least until I figured out what the next step would be.

We waited for Taylor's laptop to boot up. Once it was finally up, Taylor gave a crack of her knuckles before her hands started to hit at the computer keys in a ridiculous speed. Within minutes she was inside our school's computer system. She tapped around before she pulled back in shock. "This can't be right."

"What?" I asked trying to peer at her computer.

"One moment." She tapped some more on the keys before pushing away from the computer in frustration. "It's not there."

"What's not there?"

"Mark's file. It's gone. As a matter of fact, there is nothing in the computer to show that he was even a student there."

"What about his school photos and all the clubs he was in?"

"Gone. Anything with mention of Mark Stevens no longer exists."

We all sat there in silence as we let it sink in. Was it possible that Mark had erased his file before coming to Paris? Maybe he knew there was no way that he could show his face in school after trying to steal the painting from us. But even as I thought that, I knew I was wrong. This felt like something done by the Invisible Spider. He was erasing all traces that Mark had existed. But how was he going to explain it to all the students at school who knew Mark. What about Mark's friends? Surely they would know if their leader went missing.

"Okay let's not panic." I said raising my hands. "It's simple. When we get to school, we'll ask around about Mark. And if that doesn't help, we'll search his dorm for some information."

"But if they removed his files and photos, wouldn't they take care of his room as well." Kerry asked.

"I don't think they would be allowed to enter the campus and take anything without anyone noticing."

"I don't know Taylor." I said. "Mark was able to enter the campus and pretend to be a student. There's no telling who all is involved and just what exactly these people are capable of. We'll have to be very cautious when we return to school after break."

"What about this Invisible Spider?" Yuri said. It was the first time she'd spoken in a while. "What do we know about him?"

"Not much." Taylor said digging into one of her ponytails. "But let's see what we can dig up."

Taylor dug around for anything on the Indivisible Spider but came up blank. I don't know why I thought we would be able to find something on him when we couldn't even find anything on Mark.

"Well that goes that."

"So what do we now?" Kerry asked.

"I have an idea!" Taylor hopped down from her stool and ran over to the kitchen counter. She searched through the drawers until she found what she was looking for. Turning to us, she gave us a sneaky glance before taking the sharp knife and cutting her hand.

"TAYLOR!" We shouted.

"What on earth are you doing?" Kerry demanded getting up. She walked up to Taylor and took the knife out of her hand.

"If you be quiet, I will show you."

Kerry gave me a curious look as I shrugged my shoulders. Turning back to Taylor, we watched as she looked at the inside of her palm before laughing. Looking up at us, she held her hand up for all of us to see. At first, I was a bit confused on what I was supposed to be looking at. It took me a second to realize that I was supposed to be seeing a cut across her hand. But as I stared at it, there was no slash whatsoever on her hand. I turned to Kerry who looked just as shock as I was, and Yuri just gave her questionable glance.

"How did you—"

"It was an experiment. I kept thinking about what Autumn said about her head healing and I wondered whether or not if I could do the same thing. So I tried it."

"You idiot." I shouted. "What if you were wrong?"

"That's why I only made a slash on my hand. Duh! I'm not stupid enough to try and kill myself based on an inkling."

I shook my head at Taylor and turned to Kerry who was staring down at the knife. She had a curious glance on her face as well. Before I could say anything, she had slashed herself on the hand. We watched in amazement as the blood that had leaked from Kerry's hand slowly backtracked inside the cut, and the cut slowly disappeared.

"It's cool right." Taylor said bouncing up and down. "We're like invincible."

Kerry seemed to like that idea as she pierced her skin again, watching it heal again.

"There's nothing amazing about it!" Yuri said grabbing all of our attention. "We're cursed, not blessed. You might be happy with your little display of powers now, but just what if they transform into something darker like what I could do. You won't be laughing then."

Yuri got up from her seat and marched away out of the kitchen. Sighing, I turned around to face Kerry and Taylor. Walking up to Kerry, I snatched the knife out of her hand and threw it in the sink. "Yuri's right. We shouldn't be enjoying this. We have no idea what we're capable of and for all we know, cutting yourself like that could be forcing the other powers to make an appearance. We need to be more careful."

"Sorry." Kerry and Taylor said.

"Whatever."

I turned to the counter to clean up the dishes from our food. Kerry and Taylor gave each other looks before Kerry made her way out of the kitchen as well. Taylor was gathering her computer when I stopped her. "Don't leave yet Taylor."

"Look I'm sorry about what I did. You guys are right. Whatever is going on with us is nothing to play with. I'm sorry."

"I know. But that's not what I wanted you for."

I climbed back on the stool I had been sitting on as Taylor did the same. I stared at my fingers for a while before asking, "You said that you can pull up anybody's file?"

"Are you talking about at our school? Yeah."

"Good." I said nodding. "I need you to pull up whatever you can about Micah."

Taylor eyes widened as she chuckled. "Autumn please tell me you're not going to be one of "those girls". I know that he hasn't returned any of your calls lately, but that's no reason to dig around for dirt."

I shook my head. "No, it's not that. Believe me, I don't want to ask you to do this either. But I keep getting the feeling that something is off about Micah. I think he's hiding something from me and I'm just concerned. I just want to make sure he's okay." Deciding the only way for me to convince Taylor was to tell her the truth, I opened up about Micah and his haunting past. It was my first time speaking to anyone about this and immediately I felt as if I was betraying not only Micah, but Yuri as well.

Taylor didn't need me to say anymore. She tapped back into the school's system and pulled up Micah's file. She scanned it a couple of times before she slowly looked up at me with a strange look.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Autumn, I don't know how to say this to you. Here you read it." She turned the computer towards me.

Glancing at the screen, I stared at the article that was pulled up. I felt my heart drop as I pushed the computer away from me.

"I'm sorry Autumn." Taylor said to me.

I ignored her as I climbed down off the stool and made my way away from the kitchen. I felt as if I was going to burst with anger. Micah had lied to me. He'd told me that he came to our school because he was on the run from the mobster Bareli. He told me Bareli had killed his brother and was trying to kill him. But according to the newspaper article, a young boy did die at the scene, but his brother, Adrian Parker died as well. Bareli never made it to jail and he never broke out. He had been killed by the police trying to escape. It was all a lie.

Micah wasn't Adrian Parker. I had no clue whether or not his name was really Micah Martin. But I was going to find out.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The next morning we woke to trouble. The news had drawings on every channel, of four women that slightly resembled us. It seems the guards at the museum had gotten a good look at us when we were stealing the painting. Though the sketches weren't exact, it wasn't hard to deny that they were almost close to our identity. It wouldn't have been such a big deal to us if the news hadn't revealed that some of the hostages had been killed, and they blamed us for it. Now not only were the police looking for us as thieves, but we were now murders as well. The news were callings us "The Bonnies." Already there were several stories and talk shows covering the madness.

"Okay, exactly how did we get blamed for this?" Taylor yelled. She stood in the middle of the living room dressed in a pair of cow pajamas. Her black ponytails had fallen loose from her rough sleeping. "We didn't kill anybody. Well at least none of the hostages."

"Autumn what's going on?" Kerry said turning to me. Her voice held fear.

"And what about the Queen!" Taylor said cutting me off before I could even say anything. "Shouldn't she be taking some responsibility for this since she was the one who helped us to steal the damn painting in the first place?"

"I don't think she can help us too much right now Taylor. She can't cover up the fact that the guards saw us in the museum stealing the painting."

"Well she could at least tell people that we're not murderers."

I sighed. I had no clue on what to do in this situation. Taylor was right. While the Queen couldn't do too much about us being down in the vault, the least she could do was stand up for us against the rumor that we killed the hostages. I didn't understand any of this.

'Let's not panic." Yuri said from her seat on the sofa. "Autumn and I have been on the news before. Those drawings won't help them to find us unless they end up getting a hold of some more evidence. We'll just stay inside until thanksgiving break is over, and then we'll head back to school like normal."

Yuri spoke in a calm voice that seemed to calm the rest of us down. We realized that we were being ridiculous. The guards couldn't have gotten a good look at our faces because we had already reached the opening in the ceiling that was way across the room away from the door that they had entered. I found it also weird how they seemed to know that four women were involved when I was the only one on the rope when they entered. I wondered if maybe the Invisible Spider had dropped a hint. I also wondered just how much we could trust the Queen.

The rest of the days of our break, we spent inside the house. When we weren't trying to brainstorm about the hidden treasure and The Invisible Spider, we were relaxing by my pool or enjoying movies in my family's home theater. The girls and I had even made up for the fact that we missed thanksgiving by having our own dinner. Granted Kerry burned the ham, but I made up for it with the turkey. Throughout it all, Yuri kept a distance from us. At first Taylor and Kerry seemed to understand, but now they were getting downright annoyed. They felt that Yuri was being a baby. She wasn't the only one going through hard times.

In the past couple of days, more powers had begun to manifest. One day while swimming in the pool, Kerry had managed to manipulate the water. It had sent downright chills through my spine as we watched the water part to the side, and hover above her. Kerry had been so freaked out by what she was doing, that she lost control, and the water came down on her knocking her unconscious. After we got her out, she was in a complete state of hydration. Later on that day we tried the same thing she did, and was able to manipulate water. The next thing you know we had insane strength, quick reflexes, and our senses were more enhanced than they ever had been. Throughout it all, only Yuri still showed signs of dark powers, and it depressed her even more.



Thanksgiving break was finally over. The four of us packed up our bags and I tucked the painting in one of my suitcases. Taylor promised to give me the tube for it once we got back on campus. Since we didn't want to chance anyone seeing us arriving together, Kerry and Taylor took separate cabs back to school.

"Yuri our cab is here." I said placing my purse on my shoulder. She was taking forever to come downstairs. I needed to be gone before James arrived and decide to question me. Already I had a feeling he was going to want to know who Taylor and Kerry were. "Yuri!"

I turned around to go find her when I jumped. She had been standing behind me the whole time. I tried to ignore the slight wave of fear I felt. "Jesus you didn't have to scare me. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." She had dark circles under her eyes, and her skin could have used some treatment. She hadn't got much sleep this break, no matter how many sleep enhancing pills she took. I wanted her to see a doctor but she kept saying that she was fine.

We headed out the house as I locked up behind us. Getting in the cab, we headed down the roads and back to school. The cab pulled up in the school's parking lot, as several arriving students turned to see who was getting out. Placing the shades on my face, I stepped out of the cab and gave them all a wave of my fingers. Seeing me exiting the cab seemed to put them into shock. Their mouths dropped even more once Yuri stepped out behind me. I thanked God she was normal enough to put on an act in front of the school. A couple of guys came over to help us with our bags and we thanked them. We signed into the school as the guards at the gate handed us some new packets for this year.

Once I was clear of the gate, I tossed my packet in a nearby trash can. I didn't understand why Headmaster Blake continued to try and force her rules on us as soon as we entered the campus, when we knew we would find the same thing in our mailbox—or thanks to Karen, taped to our room door.

Yuri and I thanked the boys for helping us with our bags and entered the dorms. I didn't spot Karen anywhere which made me happy. We headed upstairs to our room only to see the blue packet taped to our door. Karen never seems to disappoint. I ripped the packet down as Yuri unlocked the room door and we entered.

I tossed my bags on the bed along with the packet. Digging in my suitcase, I removed the painting from my suitcase. Walking over to the vent at the top of the wall, I grabbed a chair and stood on it. Removing the screws, I took the frame off and slid the painting into the vent. Screwing it back, I hopped down off the chair and dusted off my hands. Hiding the painting here would have to do until Taylor got the chance to bring me the tube.

I turned to Yuri who had climbed onto her bed and was staring at the ceiling. "Hey, are you still going with me to question some of Mark's friends."

"No, you go ahead."

"What about his dorm room? You said you would help me search it."

"I don't feel good. His key card is in my desk drawer." Yuri said turning her back to me ending all conversation.

Sighing, I walked over to the desk and searched through it until I found the key card. I tucked it in the pocket of my jeans and headed over to the door, grabbing my own key card and my phone. "I'll be back. Try not to leave the painting alone." Yuri didn't respond.

I walked out into the hallway that was littered with girls gushing over their new spends they'd gotten over thanksgiving break. I was so busy doing the mission that I wasn't able to shop like I usually did. It didn't matter. I had more than enough new clothes in my closet. I was okay.

I made my way down the hall and out of the girl's dorm.

For an hour, I questioned any and every person that might have known Mark. According to his close buddies, Mark had called and told them that his family was moving to Canada, and that he would be attending school there. I even asked Simon, Yuri's new boyfriend. He hadn't heard anything from Mark since their fight. But he did tell me that Mark used to receive a bunch of phone calls all throughout the day. He claimed Mark was very secretive about the phone calls and often went to the restroom to take them. Whenever Simon tried to ask him about them, he would get mad, or sometimes he would just go emotionless. Simon said he had stopped asking because he believed the calls to be from other females that weren't Yuri. Talking about Yuri, he then asked what was going on with her and why she hadn't returned his calls. I told him that Yuri had caught a bug over break, and had been spending most of her time in bed. He wanted to go see her but I told him that she was sleeping. After promising to tell her to call him, I headed inside the boys dorm to Mark's room.

Mark's room was located on the first floor of the dorm right next to the food lounge. I stared at the tacky pictures of swimsuit babes on their door before knocking on it. The door opened, as Jeremy Hunter stood in front of me with his shirt off.

"Autumn Falls." He said calling me by his usual nickname he'd created just for me. "What good things have I done in my previous life to get you to arrive here?"

"I'm sure you might have saved a virgin. Then again you were probably the one she was running from."

Jeremy laughed as his blond hair fell over his eyes. If he didn't have that loud goat laugh, I would have found him cute. "So what can I do for you?"

"I heard that Mark won't be coming back to school."

"Yeah, it's really sad." By his tone, I could tell he felt the exact opposite. "Why are you so concern with Mark? You hate him."

"I know. But it seems that Yuri let Mark hold some of my favorite movies and I didn't know whether or not if he took them home with him. I wanted to check his things to see."

"Bad timing sweetheart. Mark took everything with him."

"Everything?" I asked.

Steeping back, Jeremy opened the door wide so I could see into his room. Mark side of the room had been completely stripped. There was nothing on the walls, dressers, or the assigned student desk. Even the bed was stripped of sheets. "I came back from break to see everything gone. I guess he did it over the break."

I sighed. I spent a few more minutes questioning Jeremy on Mark. He like Simon, had noticed the strange phone calls he would get, but he didn't ask him about it. He said it was Mark's business. He also said that Mark used to receive a lot of packages through the mail. He never opened them in front of him however. He always waited until he was out of the room.

Giving up, I made my way out of the boy's dorm. As I made my way down the steps, I spotted Micah. I froze as he finally glanced up and saw me. He had a smile on his face, but after seeing the frown on mine, his dropped.

Taking a deep breath, I headed down the stairs. One problem out of the way, now to attack another one.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Hey, you're back." Micah said. He walked up to me, reaching out to hug me, but I stepped back. His expression changed to one of confusion. "Is everything okay?"

"We need to talk."

I walked past Micah ignoring the curious glances of the passing students. I'm sure the expression on my face spoke volumes, and they were glad they wouldn't be on the receiving end of whatever I was about to unleash. I listened to Micah's footsteps as they slowly dragged across the ground. I knew he had to be wondering just what was going on. I led him to the Café that was surprisingly not crowded. I took it to the fact that it was the first day back after break. Everyone was probably sleeping off the many plates of turkey or showing off their new holiday purchases. Heading towards a booth we had claimed as ours after several dates, I slid in and watched as Micah slid in across from me.

Micah wore a worried expression and I felt my heart tug a little bit. I didn't want to cause him any discomfort, but at the same time, I had to find out what was going on. He had lied to me and it hurt.

"What's going on?" He finally asked after several minutes of nothing but silence.

"Why didn't you call me back during the break?"

"I was meaning to, but Headmaster Blake ended up inviting my parents to California. She said it was safe for me to see them now."

"So Bareli has been captured?"

"No, he's still on the loose. The police just think he's simply given up any revenge he has towards me or my family. I'm not saying that he won't try to kill me sometime in the future, but as for right now, I'm safe."

I studied Micah's expression as he talked to me. The whole time he was telling me his story, his eyes stayed on mine. It was like he was compelling me to just believe his story and take it as it is. But since I knew the truth, I couldn't. The more he went on about the time he spent with his "family", the angrier I got. He had no problem lying to me it seemed. Did I not mean anything to him? How could he just sit up here and lie to me as if it was the easiest thing in the world? The way he acted with me reminded me of Mark. Mark had fooled all of us into thinking he was someone else. Could Micah be doing the same thing? Was he the other person working with Mark? A shaky feeling settled in my stomach as the urge to vomit threatened to rise.

Sensing my expression, Micah stopped talking about his parents. "Autumn, are you okay? You look as if you're going to be sick."

"Why are you lying to me?" I asked quietly.

"What?"

"I said, WHY ARE YOU LYING TO ME!"

A couple of students inside the Café turned to glance at our table. Micah shot an uncomfortable glance around the room as he began to shuffle in his seat. "What are you talking about? What am I lying to you about?"

"I'm talking about your so called life on the run. I know its fake Micah."

"Autumn, I don't know what—"

"STOP IT! STOP LYING TO ME!"

"Autumn, calm down."

I realized that I was getting nowhere with him by yelling. But I couldn't help it. I was going through a wave of emotions. I took a glance around the Café and noticed that everyone was listening into our conversation. I ran a hand through my hair and tried to talk in a calmer tone.

"Please stop lying to me Micah." I said glancing up at him. "I know what really happened to Bareli. I found the article. I know you're not who you say you are."

Micah expression took on a cold form that I had always seemed aimed at Mark. Sitting straight, his dark brown eyes pierced across the table at me. "You don't know anything."

I stared at him in shock. "Did you not just hear what I said? I found the article. Unless you're a zombie, vampire, or ghost, there is no way that you're Ashton Phillips. So who are you?"

"Autumn, there are things you don't understand and things that I can't tell you."

"I understand fine. You've been lying to me since you got here. I think I deserve to know the truth."

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't."

"Won't." Micah simply said.

My throat tightened as I felt tears come to my eyes. I felt so betrayed and I couldn't understand why. Why was he doing this to me? What did I do to make him treat me this way?

Micah stared across the table at me with his poker face, but as I glanced up at him, I watched him stare at the tears in my eyes. Slowly, his poker face began to break.

"Was everything a lie? Including us?"

"Autumn."

"Answer me! Did you really mean those things you said to me? Do you, do you love me the way that I love you." I cried.

I could hear gasps all around us throughout the Café. No one at school had ever seen me this vulnerable before. I never cried in front of others unless it was Yuri. But as I stared across the table at Micah, I couldn't help the tears that ran down my face. My heart was hurting so bad. I had already made it up in my mind, that I would forget this. I was a fool in love and I was willing to do foolish things. Even forget that Micah had lied to me and could be working for the Invisible Spider. I just needed him to say yes.

But as he spoke the words softly for only he and I to hear, I felt the hope deflate as if it was a balloon.

"What? What did you say?"

Micah sighed and rubbed across his face. When he moved his hand, his poker face had returned. Staring me in the eye he said, "No. I've never loved you Autumn."

Swallowing tightly, I reached over and grabbed my purse. I slid out of the booth on shaky legs that threatened to collapse any minute. Staring down at him, I wiped the tears away from my face. "I don't need to tell you that we're over, do I?" Micah eyes dropped from mine as he shook his head. "Good."

I walked away from the booth as everyone got out of my way. Pushing open the doors, I marched out of the Café and headed across the quad. I felt like I was about to break down. I needed to get to my room so I could wrap myself in my covers and never come out. Nothing would comfort me at this moment, except my dad. I needed my dad. But he wasn't here. He would never be able to comfort me again.

"Autumn! Autumn!"

I stopped walking to see Heather running towards me waving her hand wildly. I sighed. I was not in the mood to deal with her or anyone else today. Turning to her, I gave her a fake smile. "Hey Heather, what's up?"

Heather's arm came forward as I felt something press into my stomach. I froze as I stared down at the silver gleam of the handgun in her hand. Tensing with fear, I stared back up at her. Her face no longer held that friendly smile that I was so used to seeing but instead a cold smile was in its place. My stomach tightened in fear as I tried not to faint at the feel of the gun digging into my stomach.

Heather eyes twinkled with excitement as she said, "Let's you and I go for a walk, friend."

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Heather led me away from the view of the campus and over to the woods where the reservoir was located. There were no guards or any passing students there to witness my kidnapping, and that seemed to frighten me even more. We reached the entrance to the forest as I noticed that someone had already removed the bricks so there wouldn't be any problem stepping over them.

"Don't even think about running." Heather said pressing the gun in my back.

"I won't." I had seen enough movies to know what happens when you try to run from a idiot holding a gun. If I wanted to escape, I would have to be smart about this.

As the two of us walked entered the forest, I turned my head up to stare at the sky. Rain clouds were rolling in as the sky began to darken— setting the mood for what was sure a horror movie. I put my head down and turned to glance at Heather out the side of my eye. Though her eyes moved frantically around the campus, there was also a determined look in them. I gulped silently. I had no idea why she was acting this way. I only knew that I had to think of something fast before she ended up killing me.

Heather caught me staring and smirked at me. "What's wrong Princess Autumn? Afraid of something?"

"Yeah. I'm afraid of my hair getting wet from this rain. I just washed it." I replied back smartly. If I was going to die, I was still going to be me. I wouldn't give this freak the pleasure of seeing me afraid.

Heather frowned at my smart remark and dug the gun deeper into my back. I fought the groan that threatened to rise as I prayed that she didn't stumble over any branches and accidentally pull the trigger into my back.

"I never did like your smart mouth."

The smell of pine trees and soil surrounded us as I tripped a couple times over some fallen logs. We were so far away from the campus that I couldn't see where the opening was any more. As we drew closer to the area where the off campus parties were held, I could hear the sound of the rushing water from the river. It soon came into view as we made our way into the clearing. There were scattered paper cups on the ground and I knew someone had been up here recently since the last party. My only hope was that they would come back to clean up their mess and see Heather and me.

"Right here." She said waving her gun at me. "Turn around and toss me your bag."

I turned as she asked and tossed the bag at her. The bag collided with her leg as she shot me a glare. I smiled. "Sorry."

"Oh you will be." She promised. Keeping the gun on me, she reached into my bag and removed my cellphone. She took it and tossed it deep into the woods out of my reach. Turning back towards me, she smiled. "So you won't get any ideas."

"Hmm. So what was so important that you needed to talk to me out in the middle of the woods with a gun?"

I tried to remain nonchalant as if this was an everyday thing though I knew it was not. I just had to get her talking enough to distract her. If I got her talking, I could figure out a way to escape this maniac before she shoots me. I'll also have to get that gun away from her so she doesn't shoot me in the back when I run.

"Where is The Beggar Boy painting?"

"Huh. What are you talking about?"

"Are we really going to do this Autumn?"

"Heather I promise you that I have no idea what you're talking about." I said frowning at the way her voice suddenly changed. It was like I was talking to a whole other person.

Heather stared at me for a moment as if going blank and I really got afraid. Her face became so blank that I wondered if she was even seeing me. Thunder sounded above as the sky continued to darken, making a blanket over the top of the woods, cutting off any natural light that was on this trail. I could see the shine from Heather's eyes as she stared without blinking at me.

"You're a liar Autumn." She finally spoke in a quiet chilled voice. "You're a liar and you're a thief."

The fear left and I tensed at the way she pronounced thief. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that she had found out about me. Now things were starting to make a little bit of more sense. She knew I had the painting. My only question now was why did she want it?

"Harsh words coming from a girl who use to preach about peace among humans and animals. What ever happened to her?" I asked.

"Unlike you Autumn, I'm not a liar. I do believe in bringing peace on earth. But like our great God, I believe on washing away the evil that is on our planet. And my dear Autumn, you are evil."

"Says the girl with the gun in her hand."

Heather shrugged. "Just think of it as a peacemaker."

I laughed even though there was no real feeling into it. "So why are you bringing me out here. You should know that I'm not going to tell you where the painting is."

"The gun is here to help you make the decision."

"Do you really think the fact that you're threatening to shoot me would make me give up the painting? If anything, it would make me work even harder to keep it a secret from you."

Since the first time bringing me out here, Heather didn't look so composed. She moved around as she kept the gun trained on me trying to think quickly on her feet.

"You'll tell me if you don't want me to hurt your best friend. I know you left the painting somewhere on campus. I tried to get in your room, but Yuri wouldn't let me. It seems she doesn't care for me too much. I would have killed her then, but that stupid nosey Karen was in the hallway causing a commotion which brought everyone into the hall."

For once I was happy to have Karen around. Because of her, Yuri's life had been spared and I was now taking her place. I had no problems with that if it meant I was saving my best friend's life.

"I then realized that you wouldn't leave it somewhere where it's easily assessable. You're not that careless. I don't know where you hid it, but I know it's here and I'll do anything to get it, even if that means killing you."

"So you're going to kill me, that's rich. Go ahead. You won't get far. The guards will gun you down for harming the daughter of a Senator."

"Like I care about that!" Heather yelled. She stopped yelling and composed herself. "Good game Autumn, but it won't work. You almost had me ready to give up my position by doing all this yelling. I can see it now, the guards hearing my yell and coming to investigate, only to find me holding you hostage. It was a cute idea, but I'm smarter than you. You won't leave this spot until I say so. You got it." I nodded. "Now where is the painting?"

"What do you want with it?"

"I don't want anything with it. My boss on the other hand is a different story."

I stared at Heather. "You work for him don't you? The Invisible Spider."

"I knew you weren't as dumb as you look. Every school you go to, there's always the dumb popular girls, but not here. You girls actually enjoy reading something other than some teen supernatural romance novel. There might be hope for the young generation yet."

"Why does the Invisible Spider want the painting?" I asked ignoring her.

"Why for the powers of course? Clearly you didn't think you and your father were the only ones who knew that the painting was actually filled with power? The Invisible Spider needs the painting since he is the only one that can access the powers."

"What do you mean he's the only one who can access the power?"

"Surely you didn't think you and your gang of misfits were worthy enough to receive such a blessing." Heather scoffed. "Here I was praising you and you know nothing about the myth. It is written in Bartholomѐ diary that in order to access the powers, you must take the lives of three powerful guardians—the gatekeeper, the prophet, and the beholder. If you successfully complete all three tasks, only then will you be able to access the powers hidden in the painting."

Heather mentioning the three powerful guardians seemed spark a memory in me. Back when my father was alive and staying with us, he used to talk a lot about the three powerful guardians and their hidden treasure. I never wanted to hear about them because it didn't seem relevant to the picture, so my father didn't bother to talk about them again. However, a month before my father left, he started talking about them again. He didn't seem to care how annoyed I got. He still forced the story into my head. I saw the mentioning of them again at the end of Joaquin's journal but I never really connected the two stories until now. The stories were similar, but Heather seemed to be misinformed. Yes, it was true that sacrificing the three guardians would give you power, but the power wouldn't come from the painting, it would come from the beholder. The beholder was the only one that could access the powers from the painting.

My breath caught in my throat. Only the beholder could access the powers. The four of us had touched the painting and were now displaying supernatural symptoms. The four of us...were the beholders.

Staring at Heather, I realized that she didn't seem to know this yet. So if she didn't know about us, than maybe the Invisible Spider wasn't aware of what we could do yet. We were at an advantage. I just needed to figure out exactly how much did Heather know. Clearing my throat I asked, "How did you know we were the ones who stole the painting?"

"I've been studying you."

"What do you mean studied me?"

A reminiscent smile came on Heather's face. "My brother and me, Mark."

"Mark is your brother." I said in shock. The two of them look nothing alike.

"We're twins actually. Mark and I were raised by a foster family that couldn't care less about us. Since we had little money and our foster parents never paid for the necessities we needed to survive, we became thieves. My brother taught me everything to the point it became surprising the things we could get away with when people didn't pay attention. By age ten I was a pro at picking pockets and what many called a born actress. We would trick people into thinking I was lost, and when they go to take me to the last place I saw my mother, Mark would jump them and we would take everything they possessed. Before long, we had mastered every act of robbery skill that was possible—that's when he found us."

"The Invisible Spider."

Heather nodded. "Mark and I were so scared when we ran into him. We thought we were going away for a long time, but he didn't turn us in. Instead, he wanted us to work for him. He even offered to give us a permanent residence and more money than we could imagine. We couldn't turn a good deal like that down, so we decided to work for him. We thought he wanted us to steal money, but he was after art. Mark and I didn't care too much about what the guy wanted, just as long as we got paid. At first, he had us doing jobs together, it was like old times. But then, he pulled Mark into different missions, more violent missions. Mark had gone from a thief to a killer within a month. We never got to see each other. Our boss kept us separated. It wasn't until Mark had come off his last mission from killing the prophet that we were allowed to work together again."

"The prophet?" I said. "Who was the prophet?"

Heather's smile grew on her face as thunder boomed above. "Why don't you know Autumn? The second guardian known as the prophet was your dear old dad."

My heart pushed against my chest as I reached out to clutch it. "You're lying. My father wasn't a prophet."

"Of course he was. Why else do you think he quit the job he had dreamed of doing? It was because he saw the painting. He started to have visions of it to the point he couldn't avoid it. It was more than his obsession— it was his destiny to find it, which he did."

"Is that why your boss had him killed?" I said crying. "He killed him because he found the painting."

"My boss was going to kill him regardless if he found the painting or not. He was one of the tasks remember. Your father hid the painting which just seemed to make his death come a bit faster."

Tears rushed down my face as I balled my hands into fists. I felt sorry for my father. He had gone through all of this and I had no clue. My mother didn't even seem to know about this, or at least she didn't tell me. Then again she never told me things.

"I was your next mission, wasn't I?" I said looking at Heather.

"Right you are. Since my brother had to get close to the prophet and his family, he enrolled in your school as a typical freshman. At first he tried to get close to you, but he said you seemed to distrust him right off the back. That is why he turned to your BFF Yuri. Being close to Yuri meant he had the chance to get close to you and your family. Yuri use to bring him all the time to your family house or any event your parents were hosting. It made for the perfect cover for him to get in and out without being caught—and then Mark fell in love with Yuri, and things got sloppy. The boss as you can imagine was not happy with Mark, so he sent me in to help. I entered the campus and immediately sought you out. Since you were always trying to prove that you weren't the shallow bitch that everyone thought you were, it didn't take long to become your friend. In that short time, I had learned more about you than Mark had ever learned."

I said nothing and she laughed.

"I have to admit Autumn, you became more than a cover to me as well. I became happy to be your friend. Don't get me wrong, I have friends. But none of them were you. They were boring and quiet just like how I was supposed to be, which didn't interest me at all. So I started to follow you. At first it was just around campus. I loved watching you and Yuri sneak off to parties at the boy's dormitory, or watching you make out with different guys as if it was nothing."

I frowned in disgust at the thought of her basically stalking us. I mean what kind of person would sit there and watch as someone makes out with people. A pervert, that's what kind of person would do that.

Heather once again unaware of my thoughts continued. She was like those people in the movies who had to get out their whole evil plan before they killed you. I just hope I could be like the ones that got away.

"I thought we could become real friends until I stumbled onto you and Kerry out in the woods. I overhead your conversation about the painting and decided it was best to keep a closer eye on you. I wasn't really worried at first, because Kerry hadn't agreed and we knew there was no way you would find the painting. But then you began to get closer to the painting, and the boss needed updates so I had no choice but to tell him. Since you were my friend, I tried to protect you by threatening you and your friends."

"You were the one sending those emails."

"The emails were just to get you to back off. I didn't want you to get hurt so I sent them behind Mark's back. I knew how serious he was about taking the painting since he'd been screwing up. He was serious enough to kill and I didn't want that for you. I didn't care about the others. But you just had to keep meddling in affairs that wasn't yours, and now my brother is dead! YOU GUYS KILLED HIM!"

"HE KILLED MY FATHER!"

"And you're about to join him if you don't tell me where the painting is." Heather said saucily. "I'm done talking. Where is the painting?"

"Heather please think about this. You don't have to follow in your brother's footsteps." I said backing away from her as she stalked towards me with the gun. I was nearing the river and any minute I was about to go in. A flash of something moved behind Heather as I froze.

Heather unaware of anything behind her, released the safety on the gun. She went to take another step when a stone rock came crashing down on her head. Heather's body tumbled to the ground as the gun flew out of her hands.

Glancing from Heather's body, I stared in shock at the person holding the rock. "Paige?'

Paige tossed down the rock and place her hands on her hips. "Some friends you have here Jones."

Chapter Thirty

"Paige, what are you doing here?"

"Well I saw what happened in the Café so I followed you outside to taunt you." Paige said dropping the rock to the side. "That's when I saw you talking to Heather. I was going to leave you guys be until I saw your face. You look terrified and I couldn't understand why you would be scared of Heather. Something didn't feel right in my gut, so I followed you guys out here. What the hell is going on? Why is Heather trying to kill you?"

"You didn't hear what we were talking about?"

"I tried to, but I was too far away. I wanted to keep some distance between us just in case Heather detected me. When I saw her backing you up to the river, that's when I knew I had to take action. No matter how much I dislike you, I couldn't stand by and watch you get killed."

I felt tears come to my eyes as I smiled. Reaching out, I pulled Paige into a tight hug. "Thank you so much Paige. You're the best!"

"Ew!" Paige said struggling against me. She pulled away from the hug. "Are you trying to make me sick to my stomach? Now because of you, I'll have to get rabies shots." While her words may have been harsh, there was a tiny smile in her eyes and around her lips as she looked at me. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Gladly."

We took a step away when we heard, "Not so fast."

Turning around we saw that Heather was back conscious and that she had the gun again. I mentally kicked myself. I forgot to get the gun. Blood ran down Heather's head staining her face. I saw her eyes take in Paige as they narrowed with anger.

"Heather, let Paige go. She has nothing to do with this."

"Girl, I'm not leaving you out here with crazy." Paige whispered to me.

"Don't worry." Heather said smiling, blood coating her teeth. "No one is leaving."

Before I could say anything else, there was a loud pop. Everything began to slow as I turned from Heather's evil smile to look at Paige. Paige's mouth had formed an "o". Her hands clutched her stomach as her body paled.

"Paige!" I cried. Paige made eye contact with me. She opened her mouth to say something, but in the end collapsed on the ground unconscious. I went to go to her, but out the corner of my eye, I saw Heather raised the gun towards me. As I stared into her eyes, I realized, she no longer cared about the painting. She knew like I did that the guards would have heard that shot despite the fact that it was thundering. There was no way she was going to make it out of the woods without being caught. The painting was useless to her now. She had lost her brother, the only family she had left. She no longer had anything to lose, which made her very dangerous.

Heather's hand squeeze the trigger as another loud popping sound vibrated the air. The bullet flew out the gun towards me as I ducked. It landed in the tree behind me, shooting splinters from the bark to the ground.

I turned my attention to Heather who was staring at where the bullet had flown past me into the tree. Taking advantage of her unawareness, I charged at her. Heather gave me a look of shock as I ran for her. The two of us collided with the ground as Heather landed with a grunt. The gun flew out of her hands to somewhere in the bush of the forest. I pulled my arm back before sending it forward, making my fist collide with the side of Heather's cheek. She let out a groan of pain as I followed behind it with another fist of fury. I threw another fist at Heather who this time dodged it. Heather threw her head forward with insane speed as it knocked against mine. I heard a ringing in my ears as a pounding drum thumped in my head. Groaning, I fell over and clutched my bleeding head in pain. Heather stood up and walked over to me sending a kick to my stomach. I groaned out balling over now trying to protect my stomach. She sent two more kicks into my stomach, and I had to wonder was I ever going to make it out of the woods alive today.

Through the pain from my head, stomach, and the blurriness in my eyes, I watched as Heather's foot came towards me again. I quickly reached up and caught it before she could do anymore damage to my abdomen area. Remembering the moves Kerry had taught us in case we ran into trouble for the mission—I twisted Heather's foot slightly, enjoying the slight crack side of it breaking. However, that didn't slow Heather.

As she went towards the ground, her other foot came around to kick my face that was slowly rising up from the ground. I fell back onto the ground feeling an even more intense pain than before. Heather landed on the ground beside me clutching her foot. She hopped up limping on her broke foot and came towards me. Her foot didn't seem to hurt her as bad as I thought because she sent it aiming towards my face. I rolled out the way just in time as her foot collided with the ground sending her howling. Taking advantage of her slight pain, I swooped my foot around under hers legs and sent her to the ground. She fell towards the ground, her head bouncing off the ground as it connected with it.

I got up to make my way towards the clearing as she rolled across the ground. My face was hurting and I'm sure it was covered in blood. As I limped towards the closing, I felt myself being pulled back by my hair. I caught myself as I stumbled back enough to cause me to fall. Turning quickly, I ducked the fist Heather threw at me. By the breeze that followed, I knew I would have ended up in some serious pain.

"Give up Autumn. You and I both know you're no match for me." Heather hissed.

I sent my foot up making the heel of my boot connect with her nose. I took in the slight satisfaction of seeing blood run down from what I was now certain was a broken nose. "You're right about one thing Heather. I'm not a match for you. I'm better than you."

"We'll see about that." She cried through her bloody face.

The two of our hands continued to connect with each other and for a moment I had the upper hand. That was until I stumbled over a jarred rock in the ground. I went over into the grass and I hoped there wasn't a snake hidden in the slight pile of leaves. Once again my head had taken another hit of pain and it would be a miracle that I will still be able to use my brain after this.

I blinked open my eyes to see Heather standing above me, the thrown away gun now back in its owners hands.

"Not so tough now." She sneered down at me. "Any last words."

"Yeah, go to hell."

Heather aimed the gun as I waited for death to come to me. However, there was a sudden change of events. A blur flew past my eyes as I watched Heather fall to the ground. I sat up quickly as I watched her tumbled with someone on the ground. I couldn't see who it was from the back, but I could tell it was a guy. I wondered if it was one of the guards.

My questioned was answered when Heather tossed her opponent over so I could see their face. Oh my God. It was Micah! What was he doing out here? I didn't really care. All I know was that he was tumbling with that maniac and she was going to end up killing him.

Micah got the advantage back and he was now on top of a squirming Heather. Micah went to go grab her when Heather sent a foot into his chest. His body flew back and collided with a tree behind him as he sunk down.

Rage filled me as I felt a sudden burning rush go through my body. Without realizing, my hands had moved on their own and formed and outward position. The burning rush shot from the pit up my stomach and out my hands. A small black ball of light hovered in my hands growing darker and larger. Once it was completely filled, the ball shot from my hands. Heather turned around in surprised, her mouth outstretched as the light hit her. The light thrust her body backwards until she collided into a tree. Her arm came out and clutched the spot on her chest where the light had hit her. It was like déjà vu all over again. Heather's body shook similar to the way Mark's shook. Her mouth kept opening and closing as she made a wheezing sound. The color of her skin began to change and I could hear the sound of her bones breaking. Glancing up at me, tears swarmed her eyes as her mouth formed to move. Staring in her eyes, I could see the realization finally hit her. She now knew that I had the powers from the painting. I was a beholder. I thought she may have been upset at the realization, but she smiled. The smile wasn't one of evil, it was one of peace. She seemed happy that I had the powers. Her smile dropped as her body tensed with shock, and then she crumbled to the ground.

I stared at Heather's still body. She was dead. I'd killed her. I'd used my power, and I'd killed her. Yuri was right. We all had dark powers.

Micah gave a groan as I finally snapped out of it and made my way over to help him up.

"Micah, are you okay."

"I'm fine." He assured me. Grabbing my face in his hands he stared into my eyes. "Are you okay?"

His eyes didn't portray that he had seen what I'd done. The knock Heather had given him had put him out. I reached up to grasp his hand as I said, "As good as I'm going to be."

Micah released a sigh and pulled me close to him. He rocked me in his arms as the two of us stared down at a dead Heather. From far away I could hear the sound of an alarm blaring and knew that the school was on lockdown. The guards would be here any minute. My eyes scanned the woods and landed on Paige's body.

"Paige!" I made my over to her body as I sat down beside her, pulling her body closer to me. Micah came to sit down beside her as I cried. I prayed that Paige would be alright.

The sound of boots got closer as Micah and I both tensed. We knew not to make any sudden movements that might send the guards shooting at us. As it were they broke from both sides of the trail guns raised.

"On the ground now!"

Micah and I both got on the ground. The guards came forward and peered down at us. They stared at Paige's body and then over at Heather's body. One of the guards made his way over to check Heather's pulse. He kneeled beside her for a minute before he confirmed what I already knew. "She's dead."

Another guard that had been checking Paige's pulse stood up and yelled. "She's still alive. Get an ambulance out here now!"

The ambulance arrived as Paige was loaded on to it. Headmaster Blake also had made her way into the forest. She took one look at the scene and marched over to us. Standing above us she snarled. "You two are coming with me."



After we were treated for our injuries, Micah and I had been questioned over and over about what happened in the woods. I told all the truth that I could, omitting the parts about me stealing the painting from the Louvre. Instead I told them how Heather had become obsessed with me. Thanks to Heather giving me her whole life story instead of just plain shooting me, I had enough stuff to back up my story. I hid the part about Heather and Mark being related. If I told them that detail, it would spark a further investigation that would eventually link me to the painting. The guards weren't that satisfied with everything that I gave them, they assumed I knew more. But since Heather fingerprints were the only ones on the gun, they had to end up letting us go. They were still stumped on how Heather died, but was already assuming it had to be from natural causes.

When we left the office, Micah pulled me into a hug and I let him. I didn't care that we were supposed to be over. I loved him. I finally came to realize this that moment in the woods when I thought Heather would kill him. It felt as if someone was sitting on my chest and I couldn't breathe. It was the same way my father had explained his love for my mother. It was the same way I felt for Micah.

Pulling away from the hug, I stared up at Micah. "What were you doing out here?"

"I kept debating with myself on whether or not I should let our relationship end. I decided on the latter. I tried calling you, but you didn't answer. So I went to your dorm. Yuri claimed she hadn't seen you since earlier and asked me if everything was alright. At that time, I assured her that everything was. It wasn't until I was leaving your dorm that I heard the first shot. A bad feeling went over me and I knew that you were in trouble. Another shot fired so I rushed out there and that's when I saw Paige on the ground, and you Heather wrestling around. You guys were rolling so close to the river that I swear my heart stopped for a second."

His voiced cracked at the end as I grabbed his arms and tightened them around me. I rubbed his back soothingly even though I knew he thought that I should be the one being comforted. He proved me right by moving by slowly enough to grab my hands.

"I should have intervened earlier. Maybe Heather would still be alive. I'm happy that you were handling yourself. But then again you always handled things yourself. I shouldn't be surprised. I just, when she grabbed the gun the second time, I couldn't stand there."

"It's okay Micah. " I said my voice hoarse. "It's all over."

"No it's not. I owe you the truth. You were right. I lied to you about my past. The truth is Headmaster Blake, she's my stepmom."

"What?"

"She's my aunt. My dad left my mom for another woman when I was fourteen. He married her and the two of them skipped town cutting all ties with us. My mom became so heartbroken by my dad's betrayal that she tried to kill herself."

"Oh God, Micah I'm sorry."

"The courts deemed my mom unfit to take care of me so I was sent to live with my aunt, and my mom was sent away to a psychiatric hospital. My aunt believed image was more important than family, so she sent me away to the farthest boarding school she could. Only she didn't count on me acting out and getting expelled. By the time I was seventeen, my aunt had taken enough of me and decided it was best if I go to a school where she could keep an eye out on me, only she didn't want anyone to know about her troublemaker nephew. She's the one that came up with the story about the Bareli situation."

"When I got here, I spotted Paige. She seemed like the perfect person to get mixed up with and cause trouble at school. I had a full proof plan, and then I bumped into you. You might not believe me, but I became taken by you. I knew you were bad for me and my plan, so I tried to keep away from you. Only it ended up backfiring and more than anything I wanted to be near you. I wanted to tell you the truth about the story, but I knew how you felt about being lied to. I just decided when the time was right, I would tell you and hopefully you'd understand. But you found out anyhow. "

I stared at Micah. I could tell this must have really tormented him. "I'm not happy that you lied to me. In fact, I was hurt. But now that you're telling me, I can understand why you did it. I just can't believe that Headmaster Blake is treating you like this. I mean I knew she could be cruel, but not to her own relatives."

"You'd be surprised."

Micah and I stayed out a little bit longer working out our problems. I still didn't fully trust him, and I was sure that he was still keeping secrets, but I decided to let it go. I had my own secrets, so how could I fault him. We were once again together and the air between us felt smoother.
Chapter Thirty-One

Paige being shot and Heather's death had sent the school into an uproar. There were so many outrageous rumors from people claiming to know what happened or assuming to know. Amongst the rumors, I had been the one to be painted as a bad guy. It was crazy. I had told the girls what happened, and they seemed just as shock as I had been. I also told them about my display of dark powers. Kerry and Taylor had done their best to comfort me, but only Yuri actually knew what I was going through. I now understood her sleepless nights and her dark moments. I had killed someone. I'd taken someone's life. No matter how much Heather seemed to be loose of a few screws, she didn't deserve to die.

All of it had become too much for me, that I needed an escape from all the whispers. Thankfully, today was the day that Paige was allowed to have visitors. She had been in the hospital for a week and was finally moved from critical condition to stable condition. On the way to the hospital, I stopped by to get her some flowers and other trinkets that I thought she would enjoy. I had been in the hospital before, so I knew just how boring life in the hospital could be.

Stepping off the elevator, I searched the room numbers until I found Paige's room. Finally finding it, I stood outside for a moment before knocking on the door.

"Come in."

I pushed open the door and stepped into the room. Paige turned her attention from the small black TV perched in the corner. Seeing me, she gave me a look of surprise as I stepped further into her room, shutting the door behind me.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey." I walked over to the side of her bed. Standing beside her, I handed her the gifts I'd purchased. "I brought you some things to have until you get out. It's not much, but's it's enough to keep you busy."

Paige sniffed the flowers before putting them in her lap. Turning to the bag, she removed the different items smiling and oohing. She finally spotted the Cree King CD and squealed. "Oh my God! This is Cree's new CD. The pre-order copy hasn't even come out yet. How did you get it and how did you get him to autograph it?"

"It was nothing. Since Kerry and Cree are dating, I asked for a favor. He was more than happy to do something for one of Kerry's best friends."

"Kerry and Cree are dating?"

"Oops." I said covering my mouth. "That's not supposed to be public knowledge. You can't tell anyone, okay."

Paige nodded as she hugged the CD happily. "Don't worry. I'm not like his other fans that don't expect him to have a girlfriend. The guy is eye candy. I would find it weird if he didn't have a girlfriend." Paige tucked the CD back into the bag. "This was really cool of you. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

An awkward silence settled in the room as the two of us tried to think of what to say next. Eventually the awkward silence began to disappear as I told her what happened after she was shot. She was sad that Heather was dead, but she wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Heather had almost killed her and she was finding it hard to let go of the resentment she felt and forgive her. I didn't bother telling her how Heather died since it wouldn't make any sense to her. After we talked about Heather, we then laughed about the stupid rumors that were going around about us at school. It felt good to laugh about it with Paige. She assured me that once she got back to school, she'd set the record straight about what happened. She disliked me, but not enough to frame me as a killer.

"Why do you hate me?" I asked Paige quietly.

"Huh?"

"Why do you hate me? I never understood what our beef was about. What did I do to you?"

Paige shuffled under her covers. "It's not you that I hate Autumn, it's your mother."

"My mom?"

Paige nodded. "I never told anyone the real reason for my parents divorced. My parents divorced because my father was in love with your mother." My eyes widened in shock as Paige gave a sad smile. "Your mom was my dad's first love and he never let my mom forget it. She was older than him when the two of them dated in high school. They broke up for some reason he never explained. When he finished high school, he planned on getting back with your mom, but by that time she had already met your dad. My dad was heartbroken, but he eventually moved on. Or at least so it seemed. One night, I overheard my parents arguing about her. The two of them had been sneaking around behind my mom and your dad's back. My mom demanded that he end things or she would end up taking me away. In the end, it was my father who left. Your mom and my dad were supposed to run away together and get married. Only your mother never left your father. Instead she told him never to contact her again."

"My father tried to come back home and make up with my mom, but it was too late. The two of them got divorced, and I spent my childhood bouncing between households. One weekend while staying with my father, we attended a party hosting by some really important people. The party was one of the most boring parties I had ever been to, but I found it bearable since the boy I had a crush on would be there. I had been all set to confess my feelings to him, until I saw your mother there. I knew that if my father saw her, my night would be ruined. So I tailed her, and that was the first time I saw you. You were standing near their buffet line with your dad. The two of you laughed about something until your mom interrupted. I remember she said something mean to you that made you walk off, and your parents break into an argument. Instead of sticking with your mother like I should have done, I followed you. It took a while to find you, but when I did, it was like looking at your mother all over again. You were talking with my crush K.J. I could tell right off that he liked you which made me angry. The anger turned into pain when K.J. pretended to not know who I was."

"I'm sorry Paige. I didn't know."

"I know you didn't. I'm not blaming you. I should have known K.J. would never like me. In the end, I marched off to find my father who was with your mother. What surprised me was that they were speaking into such angry tones, and then your father showed up."

"My dad?"

"Yeah. When he showed up, both our parents froze. Your mom said something else to my dad and walked off leaving your dad to stare at mine. After that, my dad snatched me up and we left the party."

I sat there trying to take in everything Paige had been saying. My mom had been having an affair with Paige's dad, and it seemed my father had caught them. So many things were starting to make sense now. I now understood why my mother treated my father the way she did, and why after a while my father stopped trying to win her over.

"Our parent's conversation was so weird that night. They were arguing over something about a painting and not disappointing the Invisible Spider. I thought the two of them had sipped way too much champagne."

At Paige's words I froze. "The Invisible Spider. They talked about that."

"Yeah." Paige said giving me a suspicious look. "What is it?"

"It's nothing. Paige do you know whether my mother kept in contact with your father after that night."

"Of course they did. She was the one to tell him to stay away and yet they continued to meet up and call each other."

"Did they talk about the Invisible Spider again?"

"I'm not sure. I think I heard it mentioned a couple more times whenever she came to visit my dad. The two of them would shut themselves up in his office, and sometimes some other people would join them. My maid Lisa said they all worked together part of some type of organization, but I think Lisa was fooled. My dad was a teacher."



I left Paige's room, my mind rushing with thoughts. I tried to ask her more about the private conversations but she couldn't remember everything. She also grew suspicious about my questioning. The last thing she informed me was that her father cut off contact with my mother after my father died. He avoided all of her calls and told security not to let her on his property.

Climbing into the back of a taxi, I gave him the address to the school. The cab driver turned on the radio as the radio DJ chatted on about some kind of a contest. I was about to tune him out until I thought I heard him mention my name.

"Excuse me sir, can you turn the radio up please?"

The taxi driver turned up the volume to the radio.

"The next song is dedicated to Autumn Jones from a special someone, who wants you to know that he hasn't given up on you. From your secret admirer, who calls himself The Invisible Spider, here's Blondie with One way or Another."

"One way or another I'm gonna find ya

I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha

One way or another I'm gonna win ya

I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha

One way or another I'm gonna see ya

I'm gonna meetcha meetcha meetcha meetcha

One day, maybe next week, I'm gonna meetcha

I'm gonna meetcha, I'll meetcha

I will drive past your house

And if the lights are all down

I'll see who's around"

Chills ran down my spine as I suddenly felt claustrophobic. Outside the car, the sky had darkened and the sounds of thunder rolled in. In a panic, my eyes searched wildly as if I knew he was close by. The cab driver began to hum along with the song as I placed my hands over my ears, and the words from the song got clearer and the music grew louder, louder, and louder.

Epilogue

The inhaling of alcohol did nothing to take away the torturing thoughts in my head. The only thing it was good for was creating a headache that seemed to be pounding louder than the music that came from Jessica Piers stereo system. Getting off of the floor of the hallway, I made my way through the gyrating bodies of girls as they danced with each other. I stumbled to my room and leaned against the door. Great it was locked. I knocked on it a couple of times before I realized Autumn hadn't made it back yet. She'd gone to see Paige at the hospital. Switching my cup to the other hand, I dug in my shorts for my key card. It took a second for me to hold the card right so the scan could detect it.

Hearing the beep, I pushed open my room door and stumbled in, closing it behind me. Tossing my cup to the side, I made my way to the bathroom to wash my face. I would feel better once I cooled down. Turning on the water to the sink, I ran my hands under it before dashing it on my face. I went to dash my face again when a loud squeak sounded in my ears. Groaning, I covered my ears from the horrid sound. I couldn't understand why this was happening to me. Since the heist, I had been feeling under the weather. My stomach wouldn't stop cramping up, and the headaches wouldn't disappear. My thoughts had also made a turn for the worse. They were growing darker. I did all I could to keep it from the girls. I hated to be selfish, but I was glad that Autumn had started to experience what I went through after killing Mark. Soon she would start showing the same symptoms, and then I wouldn't feel so alone.

A knock came from our room door as I sighed. Didn't they understand that I didn't want to be bothered? I tried to ignore the knocking as if I wasn't here, but it continued. Growling, I marched out of the bathroom over to the room door and swung it open. Karen stood there with her hand on her hips and a scowl on her face.

"There you are Yuri! I've come to inform you that I will be informing Headmaster Blake about the illegal activities going on in this dorm."

"So. Why are you bothering me about it?"

"Because it appears this wild party and alcohol was your idea."

Okay so maybe she was right. After a little persuasion on my part, I got Jessica to throw a party. I needed to take the attention away from Autumn, and I needed a release from my thoughts.

"As you know, this violates the rules of Baldwin Faith Academy, and if you and the other mindless drones had read your pamphlets, you would know that the punishment is expulsion." I stared at Karen as her words sunk in. Sensing my fear, she gave a smirk. "That's right Yuri. You're on the way out of here, and Autumn will be next."

My body began to heat up as I felt that dreaded bubble of anger rise in me. Karen turned getting ready to take a step when I reached out and grabbed her collar. Yanking her into the room, I slammed the door.

Out in the hall, the girls continued to dance and laugh. The music slowly began to rise, blaring out the screams that came from behind the fourth dorm room.

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