

Vanish (Book One)

By Sonny Daise

Copyright 2012 Sonny Daise

Smashwords Edition

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Chapter 1: Leaving Hell

I stood outside the hell I'd been forced to call home. Nurse Debby stood at my side with all my bags and one unfamiliar one. I held my breath as I waited for my mother's blue SUV to round the corner. The gates would open, and I would be free—in one sense. I dreaded the glares, the awkward phone calls that would define every relationship. I needed a friend; my best friend was gone. I was accused of killing her. Not even I know the truth but deep down in my heart. Bits of memories remain, just enough to haunt me forever. The pieces that hold the key dissolved as if they were never there. I dreamt of that night as I dreamt of other things that in time came true. I never dreamt that I would be the one to kill her. My mind was a complex thing, ever since I was little, letting me foresee the future, and hiding away the memories that mattered most.

I never felt insane until I was brought to this place; I guess they design them that way. After all, this wasn't Meadowbrook hospital for the mentally sane. Staring into a white oblivion I had plenty of time to see that there was something wrong with me. I thought I was normal until I came here, but according to them no one can see the future. Not to mention the whole memory-loss-thing, which the nurses deemed convenient given the circumstances. For if I hadn't done it, I would remember what happened that night, and that was enough to convict me, at least to this place. There was no evidence, not even her body was found. How these people thought a 115-pound girl could carry off a girl at least her size was beyond me. Nevertheless, other people believed as well. I didn't hear from one-single-person during my six-month stay, not even my own mother. I began to wonder if she would show up at all, then she pulled up to the gate.

The nurse typed in the code to open the gate, paying no attention to me watching over her shoulder. 5961. I made a mental note. Who knows, I could end up back here. The gates opened, and I noticed she wasn't alone. Sitting next to my mother, who'd cut her long black hair during my stay, was a tall, dark featured man who had to be two feet taller than her. Who was he, why was he with her? Was she too frightened of me to come alone? She felt she needed protection? Noticing my reluctance, the nurse opened the back door for me. Once I sat, she handed me my bags, and gave the unfamiliar one to my mother.

"Instructions are inside," The nurse said.

"I don't know how to thank you Deb—" Nurse Debby shot my mom a warning glare. I didn't understand what my mom had to thank her for; it was her job wasn't it? "Nurse..." my mother said, intimidated.

"No problem," She grumbled. "If you have any problems call this number." She handed her a folded piece of paper.

"Thanks again," My mother said under her breath.

Nurse Debby shut the door, and my mother took off. I waited for her to say something, after a few moments I couldn't help myself.

"So..." I said as casual as I could manage. "Who's this?"

"Joe, I'm sorry I didn't know how to tell you."

"What, during all the phone calls, or the visits?" Sarcasm was the only way to deal with her.

"We met when—" she started.

"What, you don't recognize me?" He turned around.

I didn't recognize him, not until I heard his voice. I recognized it from one fragment of memory that remained from that night. After all, I wasn't expecting him to be the officer who questioned me that night.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"I can't help who I love Scarlett, even if it's inconvenient for you."

No, it was past inconvenience, try traumatizing. It was just another reminder of that night, if I could remember, the case would be solved. While I was certain I wasn't a criminal, it still reminded me that my best friend was no longer here.

"Okay, mom you're a grown woman you can date whoever you want, but in this case, I would prefer to be kept out of it as much as possible."

"The three of us will give you as much space as you need, in fact, your new room—"

"What?" I looked out the window. "We moved? And who's the three of you? Did you get a dog or something?"

"Yes, we moved, and yes Joe is living with us... and so is his son, Skylar."

Chapter 2: One Big Happy Family

There was nothing I could do, if it was my house, I could have protested. This house was theirs; the intruder was me. We drove down a long, winding road covered on both sides with forest—another traumatizing factor. They were all the same to me now; I might as well live at the crime scene. How could she think I would be okay with this? Everything about my new life, everything around me haunted me.

My mother was always bringing different men around me. I was certain he would last just as long as the others. Sometimes I thought the length of her relationships was to prove to me that my father was nothing. Only someone she fooled around with for a few weeks and forgot soon after. I asked about him all the time. I needed to know about the man who had a part in my existence. That was too much to ask of her, as were a lot of things.

I started my own search, a few weeks before Grace's disappearance—I couldn't call it anything else. They never found her body, and I couldn't give up hope. I hoped that I would find her someday, and she would absolve my conscience. The search for my father turned up nothing. I needed a name. I thought maybe on my birth certificate, which was nowhere to be found.

We pulled up to the house; it was the only house around. The white siding was stained and covered in vines. The red shutters made the house almost presentable.

Before all of this, I could have been happy with the change aside from none of my friends being around. Now that fact didn't matter, and I was still miserable. I'd always wanted a family; as far back as I can remember I wished for my mother to be happy. So why now did it all mean nothing?

Trees hung over the dirt driveway like a trellis, and someone quite different from what I expected stood on the porch. I was imagining a kid, Ten or eleven what I saw was a boy no younger than seventeen. More than that, what I saw before my eyes, widened, was an almost exact replica of the love I'd left in Sunny Bay. If it wasn't for his light-brown hair that was a little longer than Dante's, I would swear it was him.

"Scarlett, ignore Skylar. He can be kind of rude," Joe warned as I got out of the car.

"Yeah okay," I answered, never taking my eyes off him. I grabbed my bags and headed toward the door.

"So," Skylar said. "I thought for sure you'd be in there for a while. They must have you all drugged up huh?"

I moved a little closer, ignoring his comment. I realized his eyes were different, too. The piercing deep-brown eyes that I fell into so many times with no escape, were nothing but a dark, unflattering green on Skylar.

"Skylar cut it out!" Joe yelled. "He's been a little better since we moved, but—"

"Scarlett, what would you like for dinner?" My mother interrupted.

"I don't care I'm not that hungry," I replied.

I didn't know what to do, I felt less at home here than I did in the hospital. I could tell I was going to have some serious problems with Skylar, and Joe's friendliness seemed to be nothing but an act.

"Oh, alright, would you like to see your room?" she asked.

"I've been waiting to see my room since I was brought to that place," I gave her a dirty look. "Unfortunately I don't think that's going to happen," I added with a harsh tone to my voice that couldn't be ignored.

"Look, you don't know what it was like for me after what happened. Everyone stared, all the dirty looks and that was just for me, honey. What do you think would be waiting for you there?" she said in her fake loving voice, she was good at faking it. Joe would soon learn all about that.

"I know what it must have been like, but I didn't do it, I couldn't have," I cried.

"Well that hasn't been proven," she lost her nice tone.

"It hasn't been proven that I did it either. It hasn't even been proven that she's dead. Maybe if the cops—"

"Alright, that's enough out of you. Your room is through the kitchen and down the hall."

"I'm going to find out what happened to her," I swore. "And when that day comes whether it's tomorrow, or in ten years, I'm going to make you feel the same way you've made me feel, oh loving mother of mine," I snapped.

"I wouldn't search for answers to questions you don't want to know," she hurled one of my bags at me.

"You want to add physical abuse to emotional?" I picked up my bags. "Be my guest."

I stomped into the tiny kitchen. I was going to give in and go to my room, but instead I went out the door to the garage. I dropped my bags on the floor, then I searched for a tent, there wasn't one to be found.

I collapsed on the floor, tears streamed down my pale cheeks. My red curls were in knots; I wasn't sure I could ever brush them out. My hair was bright, beautiful it had an orange shimmer in the sunlight. Now it was dull and lifeless. How hadn't I noticed this before?

I saw a mirror on the other side of the garage. I jumped up to look into it; I hadn't seen a mirror in months—they were dangerous. I stared at myself, seeing what I had become. The red seemed to have been sucked out of my hair from the bottom up. It must have been all the dust in that awful room. Showers were a privilege. My eyes, still a vivid green, had purple circles under them. One hand to the wall, I put my forehead to the mirror and cried. Months and months of horrible things I'd kept inside came bursting out. I thought it would never stop.

"Hey," Skylar whispered as he shut the door to the kitchen.

"What are you doing out here? Just leave me alone," I sniffled.

"I'm not as bad as my dad says, I just have to act that way... it's hard to explain," he stared at me. I went back to my previous position. "I didn't make you cry, did I?"

"No," I said, still staring at myself. I hit my hand against the mirror a few times, it cracked. This is why mirrors weren't allowed, I thought to myself, stop acting insane. "It's everything. I couldn't have done it. Not unless I was possessed. I can't stay here, but I can't leave either unless I go back to the hospital." I forgot and put my forehead to the glass once again. "Ah," I gasped, taking my face away from the glass.

"You're bleeding."

He ran across the room, grabbing paper towels from a shelf. He came over and wiped the blood away. He was so gentle. He couldn't have been the same person who greeted me on the porch.

"Thanks," I said, embarrassed.

He just insulted me not even five minutes ago, why was I so quick to forgive him?

"No problem," he smiled. God what an astonishing resemblance. His smile was so much like Dante's it took my breath away. "Are you alright?" he asked, laughing.

"You look a lot like... someone I knew." I sighed, welcoming the air back into my lungs.

"Someone you knew, huh?"

"Just some guy," I said, looking in the other direction. I could see him frown out of the corner of my eye. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he smiled again. His dimples weren't pronounced, but they were charming nonetheless. "So what are you doing out here anyway?"

"I was looking for a tent. I was going to sleep in the backyard."

"That's not a good idea," he advised. "You never know what's in those woods," his expression turned grim, "especially at night."

"What do you mean?" I laughed, not because it was funny, but because I was nervous.

"Bears, stuff like that," he shrugged.

"I think I'll take my chances," I replied, ready to welcome my death if it meant escaping this.

"You shouldn't, really. Your mom's room is all the way across the house, she won't be bothering you," he walked toward the door. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," I answered as I tried to make my legs move. He had the same effect on me as Dante did.

He walked through the kitchen, grabbing something out of the fridge and returning to his path faster than he had left it.

"Here we are," he said as he nudged the door open with his elbow.

I walked in with vigilance. It looked just like my old room.

"Wow she put quite a lot of effort into this," I observed as I spun around. "She's never done anything like this for me," I almost felt a tear, until I realized—she must have an ulterior motive. I threw myself onto the bed. At least I could pretend I was home. Skylar shut the door and held out a Coke as he sat down next to me.

"Thanks," I said as I took the can.

"No problem."

"So what did they tell you? About what happened, I mean."

I didn't know what their view of the story was, but I was very eager to find out.

"Look, I don't believe that you did it, and I think she's alive," he blurted.

"So what did they say to lead you to that conclusion?" I asked with skepticism. If their side—and by side, I mean opinion—of the story could lead him to believe that, my mother couldn't see me as a total monster.

"What's wrong? I'm saying I don't think you did it."

He put his hand on my shoulder.

"What did they tell you?" I asked, enunciating each word.

"Not much. I've heard them say things here and there. I don't think I was supposed to hear it though." He looked around making sure no one heard. He was nervous, there was no doubt about it.

"Just don't then. You don't know any more than I do, if you even know that much. So stop trying to give me false hope when you know nothing."

I was being rude and I felt awful, but I wasn't one of those people who wanted to hear lies to feel better.

"Alright, I don't want to upset you. What you need right now is a friend. Mind if I stay in here for a while?"

"I—" I thought for a moment. Before I never minded being alone, but the hospital had given me a complex. I had to demand a night light, but that did little. I still saw things, monsters coming in the night. "Yeah, I would like that," I said, trying not to sound like a frightened little girl.

"I'll stay as long as you want," he smiled.

I got up and looked around the room. There were pictures of Grace and me hidden in drawers, Dante was in some of them.

"Those were the days," I muttered to myself.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Oh, do you want to see?" I asked as I walked over to him. "This is Grace, and that's Dante."

I missed them so much, I couldn't bear it.

I closed my eyes; all the monsters that had haunted me appeared behind my eyelids. They were distorted, as my dreams sometimes were. White-faced men with blue lips, just stared at me as the blood ran down the corners of their lips to their chins.

Parts of them would disappear, coming back to only have other pieces vanish, like a TV with bad reception. There were women with long flowing hair and bloodshot eyes, as if the vessels burst. They had crimson lips, and blood scattered in various places. I opened my eyes, I couldn't take it anymore, but the monsters gathered around us. I gasped, staring wide-eyed across the room, looking right, then left.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's just some old demons coming back to haunt me," I said, sounding calmer than I was, though my voice, my breath, and my hands all trembled.

He couldn't see them, that was for sure. I grabbed my bag; inside I had a box full of pills I'd pretended to take. My dreams were a connection to Grace. The pills made the dreams stop, so I hid them, until I noticed they made the monsters go away as well. I searched for the box, tossing my clothes in the bag aside. I found the box, popped it open, and let the top fall to the floor. I shook two out into my hand—a double dose—and threw them into the back of my throat. I took a deep breath and waited for them to disappear.

"What was that?" He wondered.

"My meds," I answered with shame.

"What happened? Why were you so desperate to find them?" he questioned while watching me.

"I see things, okay, is that what you wanted to hear? You can go if you want," I said as I reached for the lid.

"No, I was just making sure you were okay. You're not used to someone caring about you, are you?" He asked, never taking his eyes off me.

"No, not anymore, my best friend cared; she's missing. My other best friend cared; he believes I had something to do with it."

"Careful what you assume," he warned.

"Okay, fine," I snapped. "I just want to forget all of this. Better yet, I wish it never happened."

"I know," he sighed. "Tomorrow, we're going to find out what happened."

"What? I might not remember anything, but I know that would be nearly impossible."

"Sleep on it. Tomorrow when your mom and my dad go to work, if you say yes, we'll make it look like a robbery slash kidnapping, in case we're gone for a few days."

"They'll have the police looking for us," I objected.

"No, I have a strong feeling they won't." A bolt of lightning lit up the room, and then it was dark. "The power must have gone out," he said as he got up.

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked, sounding just as distraught as I was.

"I'm going to look for some candles and a flashlight. I'll be right back."

"I'll help," I said, jumping up.

I started to wonder if I could function in the real world at all. I couldn't even sit alone during a power outage; I had to cling to the nearest person.

"Okay," he laughed.

We headed out into the hallway. I was no more than a foot away from him at all times. There was another lightning strike. The window along the front door was illuminated and so were the large boots and black pants of somebody standing outside.

Chapter 3: Intrusion

I stood frozen with fear. They walked across the porch; I saw them standing in the window. It seemed as if they were looking for a key, without success.

"Skylar?" I grabbed his shoulder.

"What?" He said louder than I expected.

"Shh, shh," I took a deep breath. "There's someone out there."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes," I whispered in a high-pitched voice.

He crept over to the door, and I stumbled behind him. The fog-covered moon lit the front yard enough for him to see that I was right. Someone was out there, and they weren't alone. The men went around the side of the house.

"Okay, you find candles, and I'll look for a flashlight," he instructed.

"What about—"

"Just do it, hurry," he interrupted as he ran into the kitchen.

There was a set of three candles in a glass cabinet next to the T.V. I ran into the kitchen and lobbed them onto the counter. I ran to the back door, it was obvious that Skylar had forgotten that it wasn't locked. Just as I was about to reach the lock, I heard footsteps coming up to the door. They were in the garage. I turned the lock as fast as I could and backed away from the door. Then I noticed that the basement door was open.

"Skylar are you down there?" I called.

"Did you find candles?" he yelled up.

"Yeah—"

"Okay, go in your room and lock the door. If the power comes back on, turn the light out. Don't let anyone in but me, okay."

"But—"

"Go, I'll be there in a minute," he barked.

I grabbed the candles off the counter and rushed into my room, dropping them on the floor. There was no lock on the door; I needed the key to lock it. There was a wooden chair on the other side of the room, I propped it up under the door knob. I had a lighter in my nightstand before, but was it here? I felt around and found the nightstand. It was the same one that was in my old room, where I kept my lighter. I had it taped to the top of the drawer; it was still there. I grabbed it and lit a candle. I looked around for the key. There was a shelf next to the door, I couldn't see what was on it, so I reached up. I felt the key. I moved it over a little too far, and it clanked as it hit the ground. I picked it up, locked the door, then I took the chair away and waited.

I sat on my bed looking out the window. The rain drops sliding down the glass were electrified with each bolt of lightning. As I stared out the window, I saw something just outside of it slowly rising up into view—a man was peering in the window. I rolled off the bed and ducked on the side of it, pretty sure I hadn't been seen.

I waited for the knock on the door that wouldn't save me, but would make me feel a little safer. His presence comforted me. I didn't know if it was the eerie resemblance or the fact that he was the only person around that I could take any amount of comfort in.

I heard a light tap on the door. I glanced over the bed at the window, and whoever was there was gone. I jumped up and ran to the door.

"Skylar, is that you?" I whispered as I reached for the key.

"Yes, open up, hurry."

I searched for the keyhole, but I couldn't see a thing. I left the candle by the bed and there was no time to waste retrieving it. When I got the door open, he busted in and hugged me. He pulled away, looking at my face in the dim light.

"What was that about?" I wondered.

"I'm just glad you're okay," he turned around to lock the door. "They're not going to give up until they get in here."

"We should call the police," I panicked.

"It won't do any good," he sighed. "We'll have to deal with this on our own."

"What about my mom, your dad? Shouldn't we tell them?"

"They'll be fine. He's a cop, remember?" He sneered.

"Okay. What do we do now?" I questioned.

"We wait."

We sat there for what seemed like forever, waiting for whoever was out there to come barging in. Skylar lay next to me; every now and then, I glanced over. The candles flickered next to him, outlining his face as he stared at the ceiling.

I had all the insecurities in the world, more anxiety than I could measure, but when he was around, it seemed to melt away. Even as someone was trying to break into the house, looking through my window, it didn't matter. Just having someone there, was a comfort I hadn't known in quite some time.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

I thought for a moment, trying to put it into words.

"It's strange. I don't know you... at all, but—"

"You feel like you do," he interjected.

"No, I've been thinking and it's odd—"

"No, it's not. I know why you're feeling the way you are," he turned toward me and put his hand on my cheek. "What I'm about to tell you, you don't repeat to anyone." I nodded. "It's—"

Something shattered not too far away from the door, interrupting what he was trying to tell me.

"Isn't there an alarm?" I asked.

Before he could answer, someone pounded on the door. Once it stopped, I realized I was on his lap, I got off, and he started looking around the room.

"Here," he whispered.

The banging started again. He handed me an old glass vase; it was pretty big, but I still wasn't sure it could do a whole lot of damage.

"Are we going out there?" I asked, terrified.

"No, that's in case they get in here before I can... well you'll see. Put your shoes on."

He sat down on the bed and closed his eyes. I watched him, bewildered; this was no time for meditation, or whatever the hell he was doing. It almost seemed as if he was starting to glow. The knocking subsided, then I knew for sure, he was glowing. I saw a blade come through the door, turning the wood to splinters.

"Skylar?" I cried. "They have an axe."

He put his finger to his lips to silence me. A moment later he held his hand out.

"I hope I can do this. We need to make a pit stop first. You've got your vase right?"

"Yeah I have it, what are you talking about, have you gone crazy too?"

"Yeah, if that's what you want to call it."

He squeezed my hand, and the next thing I knew, we were traveling through a tunnel of blue and neon green light. When it stopped, we were standing in the living room.

I looked around in amazement, what just happened? It must be the pills, I convinced myself. I had seen some weird things after I had taken them, but not the same horrible things I saw without them. My mother was nowhere to be seen, but she had to of heard the ruckus. Skylar went over to the coffee table and grabbed a set of keys. Before he got back to me, someone came up from behind and grabbed me.

"Skyl—" was all I could scream before they put their hand over my mouth, and a knife to my throat.

Skylar heard me. I knew he did, but he vanished. I closed my eyes. This is all in your mind, I told myself. Someone grabbed the vase from my hand, and hit the man holding onto me. Shards of glass showered over me, and the man fell to the ground, taking me with him.

Skylar grabbed my hand. I was still on the ground, but again, we were roaming through a bright colorful passageway. The colors darkened, and soon disappeared altogether. Suddenly, we were in the backseat of a car, and Skylar looked like he was going to pass out.

"What just happened? Is this real?" I begged for answers tugging on his shirt. He lifted his head up the most he could.

"We need to get out of here," he said as he handed me the keys.

"Wait, the nurse at the hospital, she handed my mom a note—"

"This isn't the time for that, Scarlett."

"No, I think she left it in her car, do you have a key?" I asked.

"Yes, but—"

"I'll be right back," I interrupted, but before I could open the door, a different man beat me to it.

I screamed at the top of my lungs and turned to kick the man in the chest. It held him off for a minute, giving me time to put the keys in the ignition.

The man who had grabbed me inside the house came running outside. I could see shards of glass sticking out of his face; they shined in the head lights. He reached the car as I put it in reverse, the door was still open, and he ripped my pants while slashing my leg with his knife. I sped off, knocking him over with the door and hitting a few garbage cans on the way.

My leg was bleeding, but it wasn't too bad. I hated blood, not because it made me sick or anything like that. The night Grace disappeared, I was found wandering covered in blood; some of it was my own. Their logic was I attacked her, she fought back, and I killed her. For a while, I believed that as well.

"What the hell was that about?" I asked as I snapped out of it. "If they were just trying to rob us, they wouldn't have come after us."

I heard him sigh, "I know."

Chapter 4: On the Run

I didn't know where we were going, but I couldn't ask, not yet. I needed to get my head straight, and none of the thoughts running through my mind seemed to help. Who were those men? It seemed like they were after me, though I couldn't know for sure.

I turned corners without thinking; right or left wasn't a question, I let my hands do the deliberating on that matter. The most important question—the only one I needed to know this moment—I couldn't quite put into words. What happened with Skylar was past my comprehension, you don't see things like that every day.

"What was that?" I blurted, hoping he would understand what I was asking.

"I—" he stalled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You moved us, from my bedroom to the living room and then outside. I saw lights—"

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked in a condescending manner. I slammed on the brakes and looked back at him.

"I know what happened. Don't even try to make me feel like I'm crazy, that was real."

"Then why do you have to ask?" He retorted.

"Whatever Skylar, where are we going?"

"Home," he replied. "I mean to your home town. You're going a little out of the way, but you're headed in the right direction."

"Why are we heading all the way down there?" I asked, confused. "What about my mom?"

"We can't go back there. I'm sure your mom is fine."

"So why are we going to Sunny Bay?"

"I'm going to help you find the truth," he answered.

"What if—what if not knowing for sure is better than what I find out. I mean, even if I didn't do it, what if she is dead?"

"If she's dead, then we avenge her death. If she's not, then we're her only hope."

"Avenge her death? What do you think we are, superheroes? How are we going to find her if the police couldn't even—"

"The police weren't as involved as your mom has led you to believe," he paused. He was holding something back. "I believe very few people know anything at all about this."

"No, that can't be right." In a small town like Sunny Bay, a disappearance and possible murder was all the town could think about. Posting pictures, making search parties, I'd seen it before. I was twelve. A sixteen-year-old girl had disappeared in the middle of the night. They searched for a whole year, but she was never found. "Even if everything about that night wasn't well known, don't you think everyone would still wonder where Grace was?" I pointed out.

"Do you want to hear something sick, something absolutely horrifying?"

"Not really," I mumbled.

"Her parents don't even remember her."

"What? That's ridiculous." I kept my eyes on the road even though I wanted to hit him.

"It's true. You saw what I did," he said.

"So now you want to talk about it?"

"Forget about it for now," he insisted.

"How do you know—" I paused. "No, how do you think you know so much about this?"

"It's complicated."

I drove for a while longer, I wasn't going to get anything out of him right now, and that was obvious.

"Maybe we should pull over and get some sleep, or you should let me drive for a while."

He hopped up into the front seat. I drove a little further. I knew where we were, we were about to go by the hospital. As I pulled up to the gate, I realized something wasn't right. None of the nurses' cars were there. It looked abandoned, and the weirdest part of all, the sign no longer stood in front of the building. I got out of the car.

"What are you doing?" Skylar called after me.

"This is the hospital, I—I don't understand," I stuttered. "It's empty, the sign is gone, it was here this morning. I know it was."

"That's weird, but we should go," he said.

I ignored him. I walked over to the gate; it creaked as I pulled it open.

"Scarlett, we need to leave," he urged.

I walked slower and slower with each step, trying to steady my breath. I went up to the door and cleaned the glass with my sleeve. It looked the same as when I left, but no one was inside. I grabbed the handle, the door opened. Skylar ran after me, he grabbed me before I could step inside.

"Let go of me," I snapped.

"What do you hope to accomplish by going in there?" He demanded.

"Something isn't right."

"Obviously, but that doesn't answer my question," he nagged.

"I'm going in. You can wait outside if you want."

He was reluctant, but he followed. Behind the main desk was a filing cabinet. It groaned as I opened it. Only one file was inside. I picked it up—it read Scarlett Summers. I dropped it on the floor and opened the other drawers with urgency, nothing. "What—" I gulped.

"Let's go," Skylar begged.

"What does this mean?" I whispered to myself.

I ran to the hallway that my room was down, busting open every door on the way, but they were all empty. When I reached my room, everything remained. I didn't know what to think, my hands were shaking, and my face felt numb.

"Okay, are you done now?"

"You don't think something is wrong here?" I choked.

"Something is definitely wrong here, but there is nothing we can do about it right now. We'll come back, I promise, but first we need to find Grace."

We returned to the car. I was shaking so bad that I couldn't possibly drive. Skylar turned right on a dirt road. He kept going for a few miles, and then he turned into a cornfield.

"What are we doing?" I wondered.

"We're going to stop here for the night and get some sleep."

"I'll take the backseat," I said after he parked.

"Okay," he agreed as he climbed all the way into the back of the car.

"Do you think my mom and your dad were meant to be together? I mean, if they weren't, I would have never met you, and you wouldn't be helping me," I blurted out of nowhere.

"They were sneaking around long before... what happened."

"What?" I sat up, shocked. "How long?"

"I don't know for sure," he sat up. "I need to tell you something.... What I was trying to say before," he put his hand on his forehead. "This isn't going to be easy, but I hope you realize—"

His words faded away. I was thrown into a parallel universe or a dream of the past—something that had never happened before.

I was at a party, alone. I felt as if I was waiting for someone. I saw Grace walk into a room behind some guy; I saw only his hand holding hers. She was wearing the dress she wore the night she disappeared. I felt as if I was half conscious in one world, and half in another.

"I was at a party," I mumbled. It sounded like I was miles away from myself. "Did I drink, is that why I don't remember?" I whispered to myself.

I walked over to the door that Grace had just walked through, and leaned my head up against it.

"We shouldn't do this," the guy said.

"What? Are you worried about Scarlett?" she hissed. "She doesn't even know I told you."

"Told me what?" He slurred.

"Oh come on, you know, but it doesn't matter. You want to, I want to, what are we waiting for?"

I turned away, and went to sit in a chair across the crowded room.

"Dante," I mumbled.

"What?" I heard Skylar ask. He sounded so far away, and I couldn't see him. I could only see what was playing out in this vision.

The room began spinning; my head was in my hands. No wonder Dante didn't try to contact me. Aside from thinking I was a killer, I was the killer of his girlfriend or whatever she was to him. I hated her for this, how could she do this to me? Was this reason enough to murder someone? No, I couldn't have done it.

The door remained closed, and I wasn't sure how much time had gone by. I jumped up and headed over to the room and busted in.

Dante sat on the edge of the bed putting his shoes on. Grace still lay on the bed wrapped in a sheet.

"Scarlett," she gasped, but I didn't buy it. She was happy that he was now off limits.

I walked out of the room and leaned up against the door frame. I started to walk away, but she grabbed my shoulder.

"I hate you," I snapped, and knocked her arm off me.

"I—"

"You knew how I felt about him," I enunciated.

"You don't understand—"

"Oh I understand. Just leave me alone."

She went back into the room, "Dante, where did you go?" I heard her ask, then I heard the sound of a door sliding open.

I ran out into the front yard and sat on the porch. From somewhere deep in the woods, I heard a scream.

Chapter 5: Cold Fall Night

I snapped back to reality. I thought I would never catch my breath. It was such an odd sensation, but it felt so real.

"That was crazy," I said, out of breath, almost crying. "I knew he hated me now. I knew he never cared about me like that then, but I never thought..." I fought off the tears. "Him and Grace," I whispered.

"What about him and Grace?" He asked with genuine concern.

"I— I was at a party. Dante and Grace went into one of the bedrooms together," I couldn't stop the tears. "I walked in on them. She was naked, and he was getting dressed."

"So you saw him with Grace?" He asked, as if there was something he couldn't believe.

"Yes, I'll just have to get over him like I should have a long time ago."

"What if... all of a sudden he called you... and said he was in love with you, or something. What then?"

"It wouldn't matter. He was with Grace. That's like... against some kind of unspoken rule." He sighed and laid his head back down. "So what were you going to tell me anyway?" I asked.

"Oh, it was nothing," he sat up. "I'm going to get some fresh air," he smiled and climbed out the back.

I stayed in the car for a while, pondering the revelations that came to me earlier. As I sat there balling my eyes out, I wondered if anyone ever cared about me. My mother had always left me; she had better things to do. She never cared either way what was going on in my life, not even now, not really.

Grace, she was there for me, though I never shared my deep personal feelings with her. Nevertheless, she was there when I needed a place to crash. She was there when I needed a shoulder to cry on, even if it was rare that she knew what I was crying about. I would never know if she could be bothered to listen.

I had other friends, but none of them were close friends, except for Dante, but in my mind, he was always something more. I did share some things with him, more than with Grace, but never what I needed to say. Sometimes I thought—for moments at a time—that he might have felt the same. We were close I'd known him since I was ten, but it never meant more to him than what it was—friendship.

I opened the door, trying to be quiet; I didn't shut it all the way behind me. I stood on the side of the car for a few minutes staring at the moon. It was beautiful, bigger than I'd ever seen it before. I took a deep breath and walked to the back of the car, swatting corn stalks out of my face the whole way. Skylar was leaning up against the back of the car staring at the sky. He didn't seem to notice me watching him. I walked up beside him and rested my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around me without a word; we just stared at the sky.

I started thinking about running away, changing my name and never looking back. I would forget everything; become my new persona so entirely that my life would start over then. I couldn't do that quite yet, Grace could still be alive and if what Skylar said was true, we might be the only ones looking for her. No matter how I felt about her now, I couldn't give up on her.

"Let's get back in the car, it's getting kind of cold," I said, my teeth chattering. When we got back in I laid there for a while. It was just as cold in the car, and I couldn't sleep. "Are there any blankets back there?" I asked.

"No, sorry. I didn't have time to think this through," he mumbled.

"Did you change your mind? Do you think this isn't a good idea?" I questioned.

"No," he sighed. "But we're not very well prepared."

"So we don't have blankets—"

"It's not only that. We don't have much money, just enough for gas and food. We're going to need weapons, or—" he stopped. "You didn't bring anything with you... did you?"

"No, I didn't have time. I didn't know you were going to, well, do what you did."

"No, meds?" he asked.

"No," I whispered.

"Good."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked, feeling a little insulted.

"It has a lot to do with everything," he said in such a quiet voice, I wasn't sure if it was meant for me. I closed my eyes, a quick vision of a red plastic cup, and three pills being dropped inside took over; I couldn't think. When I came back to reality, everything was hazy, like I was looking through a thick fog.

"What the hell is going on?" I said, horrified.

"Are you alright?" He panicked, taking off his sweatshirt. "Your lips are a little blue."

My vision returned, and before he could hand me his hoodie, I climbed in the back. Unzipped, it was big enough to use as a blanket for both of us. I could see the moon out of the back window; I hadn't seen it in quite some time, before tonight. The windows of the hospital were far too dirty to look out if a considerable amount of sunshine wasn't shining through. My eye lids got heavy, and before I knew it, I was out.

Chapter 6: Nightmare

I was standing in the middle of the woods, with a patch of long grass in front of me, no trees for about twenty feet. It was early, around dawn. A heavy fog touched the ground and made the dim light eerie. The thick air filled my lungs and made me dizzy. I fell to my knees. I heard a branch crack on the other side of the trees, and bushes rustling around. I ducked down, just under the grass. I heard someone, or something drawing closer.

"I know you're there," they said in a deep, mean voice, a threat no doubt. I looked down and saw a rock, not very heavy, but it had a slight point to it. I stashed it in the pocket of my sweatshirt and stood up. I couldn't see much through the fog. I could see, however, the soft light bouncing off a knife in their hand. "You thought you could escape?" they laughed.

"Who's there?" I asked, trembling. My rock was no match for a knife, even if I wasn't shaking.

"An old friend, you probably don't remember me. You were young; your life was much different." She had a deep voice, but I could now tell without a doubt it was a woman.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Nothing is the same for you now, though I'm sure you don't remember enough to know that either."

"Is this about Grace?" I yelled with a ferocity that sent a chill down my own spine.

"Silly girl, this is about you, about your mom."

"What about my mom?" My fingers ran across the rock in my pocket.

"You'll find out someday."

She came closer. Her face was horrific. Her skin wasn't just pale, it was almost transparent. Her eyes were black holes, and her red lips spread across her face in a twisted smile. Her teeth were comparable to a shark's.

"What the hell are you?" I asked, horrified, disgusted.

"I am the creation of a gifted, evil young mind," her voice chimed. It sounded more girlish now.

"So you're not real," I said, relieved.

"I'm as real as you are, and I'm not the only one of my kind," she smiled. Biting her bottom lip, a single stream of blood ran down her chin. She gnashed her teeth. "And I'm not the worst either."

My hand gripped the rock with the sharp end facing outwards. I stepped closer, pulling the rock from my pocket. In one quick movement, I smashed it into her face and ran without looking back. Her screams were unbearable; when I stopped I realized my ears had bled. I was hiding behind a tree, waiting to die. It was inevitable. Once I caught my breath, I got ready to run again. I wasn't sure she was real, but I knew now without a doubt that she wasn't alone.

They stood in front of me, bloody and beaten. There was a man, looking downwards. He looked up at me with a wicked grin, blood oozing from his mouth. Then, there was a woman, who had a handheld mirror. She had cuts all over her face. She cried as she stared. She threw the mirror down and put the shards in her mouth. The rest, for the most part, looked like the woman from the field, give or take a few bloody gashes.

I thought about running, but my feet wouldn't move. The woman who had the mirror looked up at me and smiled. Blood-covered bits of glass fell to the ground.

"Before you think about running..." the woman from the field said in a nasally voice because of her bashed in nose. She popped up right next to me. Wide-eyed, I looked back over to where she was before, and she was still there waving. "Take into account you don't know what we are or what we can do."

A cliff appeared out of nowhere; she grabbed my throat and hurled me over the edge. It was quite a ways down, there was a small lake. I didn't know whether the fall would kill me or not. I closed my eyes and no more than a second later, I was submerged in the water.

When I opened them, I was laying on the floor of the car. I choked; water came rushing out of my lungs. I was soaked. I shook Skylar awake. I was still having difficulty breathing.

"What happened to you?" He asked as he sat up.

"I was having a dream," I began, "there were all these..." I coughed and more water came out. "...monsters I guess, and one grabbed me by the throat and threw me off a cliff."

"That's impossible. You're messing with me, right?"

"No, you have to believe me. I didn't leave the car, how else would I have gotten all wet?"

"I believe you, I just don't understand," he climbed up to the front seat and started the car. "Buckle up."

I climbed into the passenger seat, anticipating the long day in these wet clothes.

"So, do you have any idea of how long this is going to take? I mean, I don't even know what your plan is."

"I don't know... I—I guess it really depends on the circumstances," he stuttered.

"Just how long are you thinking?" I demanded. I could tell with him, just as I could with Dante, what his body language meant.

"Worst-case scenario? It could be a few months." He looked at me; he got nervous when he saw my expression. "But that's not even really the worst case, I mean that's if we find out she's alive. We'll have to find her then, right?"

"A few months, Skylar?" I slouched down and crossed my arms. "Why don't we, oh, I don't know, tell the police? If I can prove that I'm innocent—"

"There's a lot that you don't know Scarlett."

"There's a lot that I don't know?" I said in disbelief. "I don't even know why I'm in the car with you. This isn't going to work, and do you know why? I don't have the first clue of what happened to her, or where to start looking for answers, and you, you don't know a thing."

"I know more than you think."

I ignored him for a while, he babbled on, and I blocked him out. All I could think about was my dream. If I woke up drenched, and choking up water—if it was real, were they real? Could they be out there somewhere lurking, waiting... for me? I knew I'd seen some disturbing things, but they never touched me, never even said a word, I couldn't say the same for these things. That was another thing that bothered me, what were they? I didn't even know what to call the monsters from my dreams. Monsters didn't even begin to describe it; I wasn't a five-year-old looking for them in my closet. Monsters weren't real; these things were.

It was only six o'clock in the morning. I didn't get enough sleep. I knew that for sure, because I was back in the fog covered field. Wake me up Skylar, come on. If I could wake up in the condition I was in now, what else could happen in my dreams that I would wake up to find to be reality? Another twig snapped, only this time it came from behind. Fast footsteps pounded towards me, by the time I realized, it was too late. Thump.

I woke up to a mouth full of dirt, except, I wasn't awake. How could I have passed out in a dream? I spit the dirt out, though some lingered. I turned over, facing the sky. She was standing over me, knife in hand. She put her hand in the air, and before she could bring the knife down into my chest, I screamed.

"Wait," My heart was beating so fast, I thought it would explode. "Why are you doing this?"

"I used to be like you. You made me this way!" She screamed.

"What?"

"We came to you for help, you warped us into this." She uttered, not lowering her voice.

"I don't remember you. What did you need help with? Listen to yourself, you don't make any sense."

"Ask your boyfriend."

"I don't have—"

"Skylar, ask Skylar," she was beginning to lose her patience, the black empty pits she had for eyes turned into a rage-full crimson.

"Ask him what?" I said in a small voice that reflected just how I felt—helpless.

"Ask him, why you're dreaming things like this, or like what you've always dreamt. Ask him about the transportation he was so eager to use, but refused to explain."

"Okay," I said, cowering.

When would I wake up? What would she do to me in the meantime? I closed my eyes. I felt a sharp pain run down my arm. I opened my eyes; blood soaked the green blouse I was wearing.

"So you'll remember, because next time I won't be so nice."

When I woke up in the front seat, the radio was pretty loud. Skylar had his eyes on the road, not paying attention to the fact that I was awake, and bleeding. I wasn't wearing a green blouse now, but that didn't stop my black T-shirt from being drenched in blood. The seat was stained, and the blood kept running down my arm. I felt almost high; I watched it flow, quite a contrast between the crimson and my fair skin.

I stared forward at the road in a daze. My hair blew in my face. I wiped it away with the hand I forgot was covered in blood. I blinked, and refocused my attention to the road. Breathing became a comfort, just sitting there breathing. At one point, I thought I was going to die, but I felt too weak to say much of anything. Skylar looked over and slammed on the brakes. My head bobbed forward, and everything went black.

I couldn't see what was going on around me, but I felt Skylar pick me up and lay me back down. I felt him clean the wound, and tie something around it. I could tell how careful he was trying to be, though I couldn't feel much pain anyway. I thought I heard him cry, and say he never got a chance to tell me something. His voice tuned in and out like a radio that was being messed with. Once he had me bandaged up, his arms were never taken off me as he rocked, for his benefit or mine, I didn't know.

Chapter 7: Abilities

I felt weak, but I opened my eyes; the sun was blinding. Skylar kept rocking us back and forth. I felt like I was going to be sick. I moved my arm and made a slight whining noise without intention.

"Scarlett, what happened?" He asked.

"You need to tell me..." I stopped to breathe; I was getting dizzier, "...about my dreams and what you did."

"I don't know if—"

"You have to," I pleaded. "She said I needed to find out." He just went on rocking us back and forth. "You see what they can do to me; they'll kill me next time."

"They almost killed you this time," he argued.

"My point exactly," I persuaded.

"It's not a good idea," he protested.

"What are you talking about, why wouldn't it be a good idea? I have to sleep. I've never had a dream like this before, but it's obvious that it picks up where it left off, and that's what will happen next time. I won't wake up, so is that better than whatever reason you're trying to keep this from me?"

"I don't know everything about you, but once you find out..." He sighed, "...at least in my case, a lot of pieces come together. You might find out a horrible truth, or you might put two and two together and come up with—"

"Just tell me, please, I need to know. I lost a lot of blood; I'm feeling sleepy already," I begged.

"What did she say you needed to find out?" he asked.

"First she said she was normal once, she came to me for help, and I changed her into what she was." I began.

"I don't understand that," he admitted.

"She said to find out about my dreams, and how you moved us from my room to the living room, then to the car," I continued, ignoring him.

"Right now, the world is simple, innocent, what you've known your entire life. When I tell you, it will never be that way again."

"It won't be anything to me; I'll be dead if you don't tell me."

"We have powers." He stopped. "Gifts, abilities, god it feels so stupid to say, but it's true."

"So, why couldn't you tell me that?" I asked. He stared at me in disbelief, and I knew why; he didn't expect me to be this calm.

"You're supposed to find out on your own," he whispered. "You would have realized it, but whoever set you up ruined that for you, you just thought you were going crazy."

"Okay, I don't think it's quite hit me yet, but I still don't understand. What does that have to do with the people in my dreams?"

"I don't know either. You're different..." He must have seen the sad look on my face. "I mean your dreams alone, what's happening with them now. I've never heard of or seen anything like it."

"Well that doesn't matter, does it? If I can't help her, or do something, she's going to kill me."

"I'm sorry that's all I know," he helped me up. I stumbled to the back seat, with him ready to catch me the whole way. "Lie down, rest."

I shouldn't have listened; he should have kept an eye on me. Before I knew it, I was back in the field. It was nighttime now. The fog remained, and the moon shined through. It was the most beautiful, amazing and horrifying thing I'd ever seen.

"Ah welcome back," she rang as she came up behind me. "So what did we learn?" she asked as if I was a little kid.

"I have powers. That's it. I don't know what I did to you. I don't remember things, a lot of things. I don't know why. If I remembered I would do something, I promise, but I don't know what I did to you, or how to fix it."

"Ooh, wrong answer," she pushed me down, lifted the knife up to the sky and went to plunge it into me. I rolled over and instead, it had sunk into the dirt. I closed my eyes and imagined I was somewhere else—alone.

I opened my eyes, and a beautiful garden surrounded me. I'd imagined it in my head, but now, seeing it before my eyes, I realized I had been here before. I'd never been able to do this in my dreams in the past, why now? I looked around at all the beauty. Wonderful lilies, coneflowers, sunflowers and other beautiful flowers I didn't know the names of. I noticed something lying under them. It was a folded up newspaper with a picture on it. I was almost certain it was the girl who tried to kill me. She died in an accident, over fifteen years ago. She popped up from nowhere, and the newspaper clipping fell from my hand.

"You can't hide from me," she laughed an evil laugh. I had an idea; it was worth a try. I closed my eyes and imagined her looking just as she did in the picture. When I opened them, she was no longer horrifying. "I—I'm me again." She cried with joy in a voice that sounded nothing like her old one.

"Yes. So we're okay now?" I asked.

"As far as this goes, but I still need your help."

"Why do you need my help?" I asked.

"I've done some bad things. I can't do much about it now, but you can."

"How?" I asked, and she was gone.

When I woke up, the sun was setting. We were parked down a secluded road. There was a lake just in front of the car, the water mimicked the sunset. I got out of the car and walked to the shore where Skylar was sitting.

"Have I really been asleep all day?" I asked, amazed.

"Yeah," he looked up and his face was pale.

"Are you okay? What happened?" I sat down next to him.

"I couldn't wake you up. I thought—"

"I'm fine," I assured him. He still seemed upset. "Okay, what else is wrong?"

"I just wish things went different."

"What do you mean?" I asked, taking offense. What he really meant to say was he wished he never met me.

"Things could have been different."

"Well, I'm sorry I messed things up for you," I thought about walking away, but I wasn't finished. "This has been one day of your life. It's been the last six months for me, and it will never go away."

"That's not what I mean," he said as he got up. He wiped the sand off of his blue jeans. What the hell else could he mean? I didn't even care. I doubted he would give me a straight answer; we'd been playing this guessing game since we met. "Scarlett, wait!" He yelled as I walked away from him.

I didn't know where I would go, if I would just run to the car and lock the doors, or if I would run into the always-terrifying woods. Before I had time to decide, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into him. He grabbed the back of my head and locked his lips with mine. I couldn't pull away, not even with all the anger coursing through me.

"Hello?" a girl's voice called from behind me. I stepped back and almost lost my balance.

"Hi," Skylar said, confused. "Is someone here with you?"

"No, I don't know where my family is," she whispered.

"What do you mean; did you get separated from them or something?" I questioned.

"I guess you could say that, they're gone." She leaned in closer, looking both ways. "Someone took them. I don't have a car, so I just started walking."

"What do you mean someone took them? Who would've taken your family?" I asked.

"I didn't see them. I just woke up, and they were gone."

"So how do you know then? That somebody took them, I mean."

"I—I can't really say..." she cried, still looking all around.

"Okay we're going to help you, just give us a minute." Skylar grabbed my arm and led me over by the car.

"Why couldn't she tell us how she knew someone took them?" I blurted once we were out of hearing range.

"I don't know, maybe—maybe they threatened her... or—"

"Before we do anything, I need to know at least that. I mean we can't just leave her, but we don't have time to play games with her. She's not going to want to go with us to find Grace while her parents are missing, but can we really make them our first priority?" I stared at him waiting for an answer, though I felt a little awkward considering what this girl had just interrupted.

"We'll see what she says."

We walked back over to her; I stared up at the clear night sky and wondered if anything would be simple again.

"We will help you," I said. "But first, we need to know why you think they've been taken. We kind of have some important things to do ourselves. So we can't waste any time not knowing what you know."

"Okay," she cried. Tears streamed from her sparkling blue eyes. "They left a note. It didn't say anything about how to get them back or anything like that though."

"So... what did it say?" I asked, losing my patience.

"I can't say. I'm sorry, I really am. It doesn't make much of a difference at all really."

"Alright, what's your name?" I asked.

"Annabelle," She answered, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm Scarlett. This is Skylar."

"Are you guys staying here tonight?" she asked so quiet I had to lean toward her to hear.

"Yeah, we were planning on it..."

"Okay, do you mind if I rest in the car?"

"No, not at all, you go ahead. I'll lock the door once you're inside, okay?" He assured her.

"Okay, thank you."

She couldn't have been much younger than seventeen, but she seemed so innocent it made her appear much younger. She didn't have much of an accent. I assumed she'd lived here for a while, but she still had a slight southern drawl. I was jealous. She was beautiful. Her blue eyes matched with her dark-brown hair, and the pink tint of her cheeks. All I had was the vibrancy of my features. I never felt like I had what it took to pull off my red hair.

Even though I only met Skylar yesterday, he was the version of Dante that I had a shot at, as stupid as it might sound. I could feel him watching her walk to the car. I sat down in the sand, and he sat next to me.

"She's pretty," I blurted. He looked over at me.

"I don't know."

"I haven't been around anyone in so long; I forgot what it felt like to be, I don't know, insecure because of someone else."

"You don't need to be insecure because of anything," He put his arm around me. "You're beautiful; she is pretty, but she's no match for you."

"Right," I laughed.

"I know what you think, but you're wrong. I've never met anyone like you. I could find a million girls like Annabelle."

"Forget it," I said, embarrassed.

I wasn't looking for compliments, or attention, to be honest I didn't know what I was looking for. Everything felt surreal; I didn't even feel like I was real anymore. In the hospital, it was different; I had something to look forward to—getting out. Now, I felt like day after day I would be stumbling around, without purpose, without a point to any of it. Was I sure Grace was alive? No, I wasn't. I didn't have much hope in anything anymore. I didn't know this boy sitting next to me; I had only a slight idea of who he was. I had memories from long ago, but it wasn't him. It was Dante.

"I'm sorry. I know you're going through a lot, but we're going to find her," he assured me.

"We don't have the first clue of where to begin. What does it matter anyway? I saw her die in my dream. She's probably dead."

"Wait," He stopped, his eyes wide. "You saw her die?"

"Yes, but I didn't see who did it. For all I know—"

"Did you tell her?" He demanded.

"What does that matter?"

"Did you tell her?"

"I had to."

Chapter 8: Secrecy

"This doesn't make any sense." He said to himself, while he walked in circles. I just sat back and watched more confused than ever. I noted while he was having his fit that he had a few drastic differences from Dante. The first difference was this erratic behavior. Another, he seemed so stressed out. Dante was carefree; he only worried if something was going on with someone he loved. "Wait," he blurted out. "How didn't I see this before? The Alliance, they must've had something to do with this."

"What?" I questioned. He turned around to look at me. It seemed as though he forgot I was there.

"The Alliance is a group of people, who are against those who have powers telling people who don't."

"You think—" I began, for the first time I had hope, "you think they have her?"

"Scarlett, that is nothing to be relieved about," his tone turned darker. "They will kill anyone who knows the secret that doesn't need to, sometimes even those who tell."

"How would they know I told her?"

"They have their ways, an anonymous tip. In cases like that or similar cases, they abduct the person in question. They question them and sometimes they torture them."

"How would they get an anonymous tip?"

"Were not the only ones with powers," he paused to think. "Where did you tell her and what did you say? That might be the most important thing of all."

"I pulled her aside at school. We went in the bathroom to talk." I recalled that memory like it was yesterday. "I tried to sugarcoat it. She wasn't listening, so I just came out and told her she died in the dream. I also told her that I've had dreams before that had come true."

"Was there anyone else in the bathroom?" He asked. I thought back and remembered her storming out; I stood there for a moment, hurt, and a little angry. I was just trying to help. The door opened, and I went into a stall. The girl walked in and right back out. Then I left the bathroom and stood by my locker across the hall. Less than a minute later, a girl walked out of the bathroom. Then I didn't pay much attention, but now, it seemed, even if I didn't actually kill Grace, I still might have had a part in her demise. "Well, was there?"

"Yeah, her name was..." I thought for a moment. "...her name was Alexa." Then I remembered something else. "I think the party that night was at her house."

"Oh no."

"What, you don't think—"

"I don't know," he said, staring off at nothing in particular.

"Okay, let's forget about it tonight, what about Annabelle?" I asked.

"Well for starters, we need to find out what was in that note," he said as he grabbed my hand helping me up. We walked to the car and opened the door. Annabelle was fast asleep in the back.

"Well I guess we're not going to find out tonight," I sighed.

"Yeah, I guess not." He reached into the back seat and grabbed a bag. "Are you hungry? I stopped at a store while you were sleeping." He took some chips and energy drinks out of the bag.

"Nutritious," I laughed while grabbing a can.

"Let's go sit outside so we don't wake her up." He grabbed another bag from the back and took it with him. We sat just off the shore. He took a blanket out of the bag and laid it down. "Sit," he said as he grabbed another blanket from the bag.

"What if Annabelle has powers? What if the Alliance took Annabelle's family?" I asked out of nowhere.

"That doesn't really make sense; powers get passed down so if she had them, her parents would, too."

"Wait. So, my mom has powers?"

"Yes. I don't know what though." He turned his head and whispered, "but I have an idea."

"What?"

"You have good hearing don't you?" He laughed. "If I told you, it might change the way you feel about her. I could be wrong but I have quite a few theories, not just about her powers."

"You know, you don't have to say everything aloud. I want to know."

"I think she might have the power to make..." he sighed, "...to make people forget."

"You're saying she's the reason I don't remember? I don't understand why my mom would do that to me."

"It's just a theory."

"Well why do you think that?"

"Let's just forget about it."

"Fine, but what do you think we should do about Annabelle? Why doesn't she just call the police?"

"That's what I was thinking. I figured we could drop her off at the nearest police station tomorrow."

"Maybe, I just have this feeling, like she was meant to find us."

"Okay, then what do you think we should do?"

"I—I don't know," I stuttered.

"We'll see what happens tomorrow."

We fell asleep on the blanket outside. I didn't dream, just slept in peace. When I woke up, Annabelle was walking along the shore; I got up to join her.

"Morning," I said as I walked up.

"Oh, good morning."

"So, do you have any idea, anything at all, about what happened?"

"Well, some weird things started happening."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I don't know if I should say, my parents found out and now, they're gone."

"So do you know for sure that had anything to do with—"

"That's what the note said, for the most part."

"I need to know so we can help you... we're looking for someone too, so we can't waste any time. Skylar said he would drop you off at the police station. I think they might be able to help you more than us."

"Watch out!" She screamed, pushing me aside as she put her hands up in front of her. I turned around, a man wearing all black flew across the beach.

"What was that?"

"Oh no, I should go. Thank you for everything, really," she backed away. "You guys should leave too."

"You have powers."

"What?" She stopped walking.

"I saw what you just did; I have them too, just nothing that I can show you."

"The note said that they took my parents, that I shouldn't look for them, and if anyone else sees my powers, well, they didn't say what would happen, but I'm sure it wouldn't be good."

"Who's they?"

"The Alliance."

"So you knew who had them?"

"Yes, but I couldn't tell you, I didn't know you were one of us. You wouldn't have known who the Alliance is anyway."

"So then how did you think we could help you if you didn't tell us about this?"

"There's a small neighborhood just a few miles from here. Not very noticeable and if you saw it, you would just think it was a regular neighborhood. A group of them live there that's where I was going to start, if I needed more help, I would just have to find someone else."

"Why would they have taken your parents though? And how do you know all this?"

"That I still don't know. My neighbor, he saw what I can do, he never met anyone who was like him before, I mean his family, but besides that, I guess his family decided to move away from the others that they knew had powers. His parents taught him a lot, about his powers, and the Alliance."

"So do you have any other powers?" I asked, intrigued.

"No, that's it. What are your powers anyway?"

"I have dreams of the future, and other dreams. Yesterday, I had a dream about all these people who looked like, zombies kind of. One of them cut my arm, when I woke up... I was bleeding." I lifted my sleeve to show her the gash.

"Oh my god," she gasped.

"So now that I know, I think we can help you, but..." I said in a serious tone. "After we go to the neighborhood were going to have to go find out what happened to Grace, so it's your choice if you want to stick around."

"Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you," she cried. She grabbed me and pulled me over to her crushing me as she hugged me.

"No problem. Do you know what time it is?" I asked. She rolled up her sleeve to look at her sparkling diamond watch.

"Seven," she replied.

"Okay we should let him sleep a little longer, then we'll get going."

We took our shoes off and walked over to the long wooden dock. We sat there dipping our feet in the water.

"So, is he your boyfriend or something?"

"Or something," I laughed. "I just got out of a—for lack of a better word— mental hospital. When I got home, well, to my new home, he and his father were living there."

"Oh I see, so he's fair game?" She raised one eyebrow and looked over at me. I didn't know what to say, I sure couldn't go with my gut reaction, but everything after that was almost worse. He wasn't mine, I didn't own him. I didn't love him, but who knows someday if he's anywhere near the person Dante was, I could. "I'm joking," she laughed. "I can see that you're into him."

"What makes you think that?" I laughed. I was trying to act as relaxed as I could, but I could feel my cheeks getting redder by the minute.

"Honey, I see the way you look at him," she drawled. "And the way he looks at you."

"I just met him two days ago, that's crazy."

"I would swear you'd known each other a long time. Hmm, I guess that's the one time I've been wrong about something like this." She said, looking at the lake, then back at me. "Or you guys met in like a previous life or something 'cause I swear—"

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" I jumped and looked back at Annabelle, who just smiled.

"We were waiting for you to get up," I answered.

"Alright, let's get going," he said as he helped us both up.

Annabelle wasn't as sure as she sounded before, about where the neighborhood was, but somehow we found it. She was right about one thing, however, it did blend in. I would have never known what horrible things took place there, I still didn't know for sure, but I had an idea.

"I'll be back in a few," she said, climbing out of the car.

"Wait," I said before she could shut the door. "Maybe we should go with her," I whispered to Skylar.

"Yeah, for all we know Grace could be in there," he whispered back.

"What?" she asked.

"We think we should go with you," he answered.

"I don't know. It could get pretty ugly."

"We don't care. You shouldn't have to do this alone, what if you need help?" I said.

"Okay, here's the plan, there should be a clubhouse or something in the back somewhere, that's where they keep them. It's not going to be easy though, we're going to have to get back there undetected or—"

"Or we'll be in that clubhouse," Skylar said, a little on edge.

"If we're lucky," She smiled to cover her fear.

"Okay, so do we stay together or split up?" I asked.

"Together," Skylar answered quicker than I expected, but I agreed. "Worst-case scenario I get us out of there, if I can."

"What do you mean if you can?" I asked. "I've seen you do it."

"You're the first person I've tried with. It worked, but I don't know how well it would work with three people."

"So then you leave me behind," Annabelle said without hesitation.

It was a small gated neighborhood, there were twenty houses at the most, and what looked like a small apartment complex. That's all I could see from the top of the fence. Annabelle jumped down without hesitation, Skylar climbed up after her, he made it look so easy, but I wasn't about to believe it was. Being afraid of heights, I just looked down—fifteen feet, not to mention the barbed wire they avoided with ease.

"C'mon Scarlett," Annabelle urged.

"I can't," I cried.

"You can do it. I'll catch you, I promise," Skylar assured me.

"Hurry, I think I hear someone coming." Annabelle started getting nervous.

I closed my eyes and jumped. Skylar caught me just before my feet hit the ground. Then he grabbed my hand and ran behind some trees in a backyard. The trees followed along the fence in a thin line; the other side of the fence was covered in woods. This made it easier to sneak to the back, but if anyone was looking for us, it wouldn't be enough. It didn't take us too long to make it to the back.

We were behind a huge building made of red bricks. It looked nice enough from the outside, but I was horrified to see what awful things were contained within. I held my breath as we raced over to the back door. I was afraid it would be locked, or worse, connected to an alarm. To my surprise, neither, we got right in. Just inside was a staircase heading downstairs. When we reached the bottom, a horrible stench filled my nose. I would have sworn we were inside a prison; people were locked in cages, starving and dirty. At first, they looked afraid, then they realized we weren't their captors.

"Help," they started screaming. "Please let us out."

"Shh. You're going to get us locked in here too," I whispered.

"Do you see your parents?" Skylar asked. Annabelle ran to each cell grabbing the bars.

"No," she sighed.

"Grace isn't here either." Though I couldn't be certain, any of the piles of bones lying in the cages could have been her, but I couldn't even think about that.

"We have to get out of here," Skylar whispered.

"We'll come back for you; I promise." They all ran to the bars and started shaking them.

"Get back here!" they screamed. "You can't just leave us."

"Shh," I walked closer to them. "There is nothing we can do for you now. We don't know where the keys are. If you want us to come back and help you, I suggest you shut up."

"Come on, let's go," Skylar said while grabbing my hand and reaching for Annabelle's. This time the tunnel was less bright, and we seemed to be in it a lot longer. When we got out, I realized that Annabelle wasn't with us. "Oh no," Skylar said as he closed his eyes.

"Why didn't she come with us?" I asked, and his eyes shot open.

"Scarlett?" He said, confused. "What's going on, where are you?"

"I'm right here."

"What's going on?" he said, looking in the opposite direction of where I stood.

I looked down, "oh my god."

"You're invisible. That's amazing," he said in awe.

"I have to go back and get Annabelle."

"No, I'll do it. I think I have enough strength."

"No, let me. No one will see me. I'll be fine."

"Okay," he agreed, but I could tell he wasn't happy about it.

I walked over to the fence, ready to get the worst part over with. When I grabbed the bars, my hand went right through. I took two steps forward, and I was in.

"Am I dead?" I whispered to myself. I went straight back to the clubhouse, walking through trees and fences. When I got there Annabelle was outside. She looked angry.

"I didn't think they would actually leave me," she said to herself.

"Hey," I whispered.

"Whoa. Who's there?"

"It's Scarlett," I said. "Come on we have to get back to Skylar."

"Why can't I see—"

"I don't know. I think I might be dead. I can walk through things; I just don't understand why you guys can hear me."

"Okay, we have to get back to the car and figure this out."

We ran through the trees, when we got to the gate, the car was gone. Off to the left of the gate, there were two men standing there talking.

"I told you I saw three of them come in. I never saw them leave. There was a car parked a few feet that way," one man explained.

"Well then we comb the whole place. You don't leave the gate you hear me?" The other man threatened.

"What are we going to do Scarlett?" She asked.

"You're going to have to climb the fence right here," I said.

"But its brick, how am I supposed to climb it?"

"Climb that tree. I'll be on the other side okay?"

"Okay," she said with apprehension. I went to the other side; she was up the tree level with the top of the brick wall.

"Good, good," I reassured her. "Now get on top of the wall, careful. Good. Now grab that branch." It broke, and she fell to the ground. "Are you okay?" I ran over to her.

"Yeah, let's go find Skylar," she said as she brushed the dirt off of herself.

We ran as fast as we could, a little ways down the road my whole body went numb. I fell to the ground, but Annabelle kept running. After the numbness subsided it felt like I was being stabbed over every inch of my body. Once I could breathe, I couldn't help but scream. Annabelle must have realized I wasn't with her, when I looked up, she was standing about ten feet away.

"Eh, gross," she said with a horrified look on her face.

Pieces of flesh came back one by one, like a puzzle. It was agonizing. I laid there waiting for it to all be over, biting my lip to hold back the tears. I clawed into the dirt road, and closed my eyes.

"Is she okay?" I heard Skylar ask.

"I—I don't know."

"Where did you go?" I demanded, clenching my teeth.

"They know we were there, and they know why. They're going to come after us. We need to leave now."

"I can't," I screamed. He picked me up, and it burned where he touched.

"Where's the car?" Annabelle asked.

"It's down the road, not too far away."

By the time we reached the car, I was visible again. A little numbness and what felt like pin pricks lingered. Compared to the stabbing sensation, this was pleasant. He set me in the front seat and ran to the other side, nothing was said for miles.

"My parents could be in trouble," Annabelle blurted out of nowhere.

"Do you have any other ideas of where they might be?" I said, exhausted.

"Well, the Alliance is pretty spread out, the closest one to here is in Sunny Bay," she replied. I turned to face her. The Alliance has always been so close, it gave me shivers.

"That's where we're going," I mumbled.

"So what happened to your friend?" She asked out of nowhere.

"I don't know what happened to her, but I told her about a dream I had before I knew it was my power. Before I knew she would die, or disappear for it."

"So maybe your friend and my parents are both there."

"I still don't understand why they would take your parents," Skylar chimed in.

"I think I might be adopted. They never told me, I couldn't figure it out either." I looked back, and she was in tears.

"A lot of people don't tell their children they were adopted and do you know why? Because they love them as much or more than if they were their biological parents."

"There could be other reasons," Skylar whispered under his breath.

"How could you say that?" I yelled.

"I mean in other people's cases."

"Then who are you talking about?" I wondered.

"No one it's just a hypothetical situation."

"Okay?" I shook him off and turned back to comfort Annabelle. "I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you right now. We will find them."

"Thanks," she said, I looked back at her, and she smiled. "Even though we just met, I feel like you're one of the closest friends I have."

"I feel the same," I smiled. "But I don't have any friends anymore, so I guess you would be the closest."

"Why don't you have friends anymore?" she asked.

"Everyone thinks I killed my best friend," I murmured. "It's a really long story besides what I already told you, telling Grace about my dream and all."

"That sucks. I thought having my family taken away was bad enough. I don't know what I would do if everyone thought I did something."

"Yeah," I tried my hardest to fake a smile. "So where are we going?" I wondered.

"Somewhere we can hide out; somewhere they can't get to us."

"Umm..." I waited for him to explain. He kept his eyes on the road, not saying another word. "How long are you planning on hiding out, what about Grace, what about Annabelle's parents?"

"I couldn't care less about Annabelle or her parents," he snapped. I looked back her eyes went from left to right, trying not to make eye contact, with me, or Skylar looking in the rearview mirror.

"I'm—" I started to apologize.

"No," she said, it was clear that she was angry. "It doesn't matter," she fought back the tears. "No one cares about me. Why should I have thought that would change once I met people like me? I was dumb."

"Anna—" I tried again to comfort her.

"It really doesn't matter, Scarlett. You can let me out here."

"I'm not going to drop you off in the middle of nowhere. I'm sorry. I was an—"

"You might be sorry you said it, but no matter what you were thinking it, and I don't want to be your charity case."

"Please Annabelle," I said. "I don't know about him, but I don't want you to go."

"Neither do I, this has just set us back. I was frustrated. I really am sorry."

"It's okay," she said after a long silence.

We drove for miles down a dirt road, forest on both sides. Annabelle fell asleep in the back, and I was pretty close to falling asleep, too. I was afraid though, of what might be waiting for me. The girl I changed wasn't the only of her kind, and they were after me, too. Would a solution for all of them come just as easy or would I fall asleep never to wake up again?

"Why were you being like that?" I asked. My hopes of what he could be were crushed. Dante would never talk to someone like that, warranted or not. He was the sweetest person I'd ever met, and it was foolish of me to think I could find that in someone else.

"She set us back. I don't know how far, and I know it wasn't her intention. I didn't think before I said it."

"So what was the whole adoption thing about, hmm?" He didn't answer.

"We're here," he announced. I looked around. It was dark and I didn't see much of anything, just the same unending dirt road and forest.

"Are we camping?" I asked.

"No. We're going to see a pretty widely known family on the good side."

"If they're well known wouldn't this be a bad idea?"

"No. You'll see," he said as he parked the car behind some trees. "Wake her up."

"Annabelle?" I said as I shook her.

"Wha—" she jolted awake.

"We're here... I guess."

We walked into the dark, creepy forest. When we were a couple of feet in, the trees started to glow.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"This family has lived here for generations, and they've been known for almost as long. The soil here senses our good energy, and absorbs some of it. If we were evil, gifted or not, we would have burst into flames. If someone evil got their hands on even a small amount of it, without bursting into flames, the damage could be catastrophic.

"You're not serious," I said in awe. Most of the trees glowed with a bright white light, while others changed colors.

"No, I'm serious."

"So how long are these people going to let us stay here?" Annabelle asked. "I know I wouldn't let three strangers stay at my place."

"They help people. They're on the exact opposite side of the spectrum as the Alliance, or people who just use their powers for evil."

"We're getting closer," I sensed when the glow got brighter.

"We're almost there," he said.

"How did you know where to stop the car?" I wondered.

"I doubt you noticed, but about ten feet back from where I stopped, there was a carving in a tree of a star."

"Oh," I said, disappointed, I was waiting for some magical explanation.

"Well, here we are," he said as he pushed a branch aside. Once he did, I saw a striking log cabin. It was amazing; vines ran up the house, and the trees around it. The walkway leading to the door was covered with sleek black stone, and on each side was a row of flowers. A wreath hung on the door, and there was a colorful floral doormat. He knocked on the door. A young girl answered.

"Hi, I'm Skylar. This is Scarlett, and Annabelle," he said. "Are your parents home?"

"One second," she said in an innocent voice.

"Hello, what brings you three here?" The dad asked as he came to the door.

"The Alliance is after us," he explained.

"What did you do?" He said, shocked. "They don't go after our kind, unless we've really screwed up."

"Well she..." he said pointing to me, "...told her best friend about her powers, it was an accident. It's a long story. And she..." he pointed to Annabelle. "...I guess showed her parents her powers, she thinks she was adopted so that explains it."

"Uh, I don't think that would be a good enough cause to go after you," he said trying to sound polite.

"Well, there's nothing else, we did break into one of their neighborhoods, but only to try and get her parents back. We didn't destroy anything, and her parents weren't even there."

"If you say so," he said.

"What, you don't believe me?" Skylar asked.

"The Alliance wouldn't waste their time coming after someone if they didn't have good reason. Not even one division would waste their time if it wasn't worth it."

"I'm really sorry for us having to disrupt your night, but that's all that happened. They're after us, and if what you said is true they must have a good reason for coming after us. However, we don't know what that reason is so..."

"Okay, I'm sorry," he said to Skylar. "I just hope all of what you say is true, we would be more than happy to help you out."

"Thank you," I said.

"But if I find out you have done something, and are taking advantage—"

"You won't, we promise," Skylar said while shaking his hand.

"Okay, there are some apartments over there; it's easier with all the people that come to us. We'll talk in the morning," he handed Skylar two keys. "One for you two," he motioned to me and Annabelle. "And one for you."

"Thanks," Skylar said as he grabbed the keys.

"No, problem, goodnight."

"Goodnight," we all said together.

"Wait," he said. "

"What were your names again?"

"I'm Skylar, and this is Annabelle and Scarlett."

"Okay, I'm George, if you need anything there's a number next to the phones."

The apartments were a little farther away than I thought, though we could see the light outside shining the whole way. They were nice, cream and brown with red doors.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Skylar asked pulling me aside.

"Yeah," I said as he threw a key to Annabelle. "I'll be right there," I called to her.

"Look, I'm sorry for the way I've been. I have some things to tell you, if Annabelle wouldn't mind."

"You mean, stay with you in your room? Maybe Annabelle would want to join us; I know I wouldn't want to be left alone."

"She's safe here," he persuaded.

"Alright, I guess. Let me check with her." I walked up to the door. It creaked as it opened.

"Hey," she said, looking up. "I'm pretty tired I think I'm just going to go to sleep."

"Oh, would you mind if I stayed with Skylar? He said he has some things to tell me."

"Oh, no you go ahead girl. Have fun, don't get too crazy over there," she teased.

"Real funny," I laughed. "Come over if you need anything, okay?"

"I wouldn't want to disrupt—"

"Okay," I interrupted. "I'll see you later." When I walked out the door, Skylar was waiting outside.

"She said it's alright," I said.

"I heard," he laughed. His cheeks were red.

He walked up to the door and turned the key. It looked the same as Annabelle's room, red blankets, and sky-blue walls. A mirror framed with gold-colored metal. A vase stood on a cherry-stained table; the flowers in it were fake, but still beautiful. A white lamp with flowers painted on it lit the room. He lay down on the bed, patting for me to lie next to him.

"So... what did you want to tell me?" I asked.

"I've been trying to tell you this since the night you came home," he explained.

"Okay, so tell me," I said, intrigued.

"I'm not who I say I am," he looked over at me. The thoughts that were running through my head couldn't possibly be what he was about to say. "It's me, Dante." Or maybe they could.

Chapter 9: Dante

My thoughts raced, there was so much going through my head at once. It all seemed to blur together. Dante was standing right in front of me; he had been the whole time. I gushed to him about my love for him, without knowing it was him. I wasn't stupid. I saw the resemblance the second I laid eyes on him, but Joe didn't seem to notice anything. He left me alone for a minute. I couldn't even imagine the facial expressions I made while I sat there motionless staring at the wall. He went over to the mirror and took the contacts out of his eyes.

"Man these were getting irritating," he said as he looked back at me. I didn't answer; he walked over to me and knelt down so he was at eye-level. My heart stopped for a moment, as I stared into those deep-brown eyes, I could never imagine just right. Then I remembered—him and Grace. "Is everything okay? I thought you would be happy," he whispered.

"I think I'm going to go," I said as I got up.

"Wait, you're not happy to see me?" He asked.

"You've been here the whole time, you could have told me sooner," I snapped. "Instead you let me go on and confess my undying love to you?"

"I'm sorry," he laughed.

"It's not even close to being funny," I growled.

"Come on it's a little funny," he teased.

"You're an a—"

"Whoa, be nice."

"I'll still help you find your girlfriend, but unless it has to do with Grace, you can leave me alone." He grabbed my arm as I was about to leave.

"Yeah, I thought that was what this was about."

"Please, just let me go."

"First I need to explain something to you, sit." I did as he said, though everything inside me told me not to. "I don't quite remember everything from that night either."

"You don't need to make excuses, Dante. You can do whatever you want, and I'm mad because you didn't tell me sooner, you just let me go on and on about you."

"I tried to tell you, at least twice," he reasoned.

"Well you didn't tell me," I got up and walked back and forth. "You were the one person I could trust."

"I'm sorry," he said with a sincerity that was hard not to believe. "Please just stay."

"I'll stay," I said, as I sat down. "But only because Annabelle's already asleep, and I don't want to disturb her." I laid my weary head down, and he lay next to me.

"I've always been in love with you," he whispered under his breath.

I turned on my side facing away from him, and soon I was asleep.

In my dream, I was walking through the woods, these woods. The trees shimmered. I kept walking. I didn't know where I was going, or why. The pure white glow took on a reddish tint; I started to feel on edge, but I didn't know why. Someone ran into me, pushing me against a tree so hard I thought my bones would shatter; they put their hand up to my mouth.

"You and your little friends need to stop," he ran his hand down to my neck. My eyes stayed glued on his face. "Or someone is going to get hurt."

He was creepy, his thin face and the look in his ice-blue eyes as they stared down at me, was enough for me to know that this guy was up to no good. If that was the case, however, how did he get here? According to Dante, no one evil could set foot here.

"What do you want?" I choked. His hands around my neck made it difficult to speak.

"I want you to stop looking for your friend, among other things," he cackled. He pinched a lock of my hair between his finger tips and smelled it.

"Get away from me, you freak," I pushed him away with everything I had in me. He was far enough away now, that I could see he was hovering about a foot above the dirt. That's how he could come here, I thought. He came at me full force; I put my hands up in front of me and closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, I was lying in bed, I turned over, and Dante was gone. I walked out the door. I hated the fact that the woods haunted me; I'd never seen anything more beautiful than this. The light shined through the branches, and broke around the trees. The thick air made the light look almost tangible as it flowed to the ground. A few orange and yellow leaves accentuated the green; fall was here. I took a short walk through the trees, overcoming my fears, while taking in the beauty.

"Scarlett?" I heard from behind a tree. It was a voice so familiar that I couldn't mistake it.

"Grace?" My voice broke half way through. I took a deep breath and moved a little closer.

"Wait, stay there." She came out from behind the tree, looking dirty and bruised. Another observation I made, she was wearing sweats, the Grace I knew wouldn't be caught dead wearing sweat pants.

"Grace," I shrieked as I ran over to her, forgetting everything between us. She put her hands up to stop me, and then backed away; her footsteps didn't make a sound.

"It's me," she whispered in a sad tone, with a half-hearted smile stretching across her face.

"How did you get here?" I wondered. It was so far from Sunny Bay, and she couldn't have known we would be here.

"Sometimes I just show up places; I don't know how I do it. It just happens."

"What happened? I need to know." She went from normal to translucent. "Oh god," I said horrified, what was happening to her?

"I don't have long," she sighed. "The people who have me aren't the ones who attacked me."

"Who attacked you Grace?"

"It was someone we both trusted."

"Are you dead?" I cried.

"No, not yet, I don't know why I can do this. Every time I lose consciousness this happens. Sometimes I go to the woods, sometimes I end up with my parents, sometimes with you, but no one ever sees me. You didn't see me, until now."

"So, I didn't do this to you?" I asked.

"No, no, you would never do this to me. All the people who made you think that, ugh, I could just kill them."

"Where are you?" I urged.

"I don't know. I'm alone in a basement, the people here keep asking me strange questions."

"Does the Alliance sound familiar?" I asked.

"Not that I can remember."

"How much longer do you have? Are you hurt?" I asked.

"I don't think I'm hurt that bad. My leg pops out of place every now and then, but it used to be a lot worse."

"So you have no idea where you are, how far you are from Sunny Bay?"

"Oh no," she said as she faded away until all that was left of her, was a vague outline. "They're waking me up."

"Don't go Grace, please. I need to know where you are."

"Scarlett," she whispered. "Help me."

I turned around. I thought the apartments were right behind me, but it was obvious that I'd gone further than I thought. I ran so fast I thought I might collapse, but I kept going; I had hope now.

"I've been looking for you," Dante said as I approached the apartments.

"I—" I bent over trying to catch my breath.

"What happened? What's wrong?" He demanded.

"Nothing," I wheezed. "I saw her. She's alive."

"Well, where is she?"

"That's where it gets odd," I said unsure of how to explain what had just happened. "She said when she loses consciousness, she goes places. I guess I'm the only one who can see her though."

"That seems... odd."

"I know, but I believe her," I said, as I walked back inside and sat on the bed.

"Why would you be the only one who can see her? And how is she going places, when her body isn't?"

"I don't know, maybe I can see her because we were so close? But that doesn't explain why her parents can't see her."

"Maybe George will have an explanation; I've already talked with him."

"What did he say?" I wondered.

"Just that something very strange is going on."

"I'll go get Annabelle, and then we can head over there," I said, as I walked from the room.

Chapter 10: Dead Man

"Good morning," George greeted us as he answered the door.

"Good morning," Annabelle and I answered back.

"Come in, come in," he said, as he moved back so we could walk through the door. "This is my wife, Elizabeth, and my daughter, Lily," he pointed to the two women sitting at the table. Lily was the girl who opened the door last night. She appeared much older now that I could get a better look, I'd say she was at least fifteen.

"Would you like something to eat?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, thank you," Dante answered.

They were all normal-looking for living in the middle of the woods. George looked like a giant compared to his small wife. His hair was long, dark and curly. His wife's hair was straight, shoulder length, and platinum blonde; their daughter was a spitting image of her.

"Sit," Lily insisted her smile made her blue eyes glow. We all did, and Elizabeth brought us each a bowl of oatmeal. When we finished eating, they led us to the living room.

"Have a seat," George insisted. We all sat together on the couch; lily was told to go upstairs. George and Elizabeth sat in the chairs across from us.

"So..." George said as he sat his coffee mug down, "...I talked to Dante earlier he told me most of the story. I understand a little better, but I still don't understand why the Alliance is after you," he said in a kind voice.

"Who's Dante?" Annabelle blurted, confused. He turned towards her. "Whoa your eyes—"

"I'm Dante, but I pretended to be Skylar, so that I could help Scarlett."

"Well, I think we might be able to—" George kept talking, but it got quieter and quieter as I stared at the corner of the room. Grace stood there for a moment. Then, she came closer.

"You need to come find me," she pleaded. "I'm running out of time. They're deliberating tomorrow night on what to do with me. I don't see them keeping me around much longer."

"I don't know where you are, Grace."

"Go to the place you last saw me, you'll find answers there."

"How do you know?" I whispered.

"The answers are there, but you need to be careful; I think they want you to find me."

"They want me to find you?" I asked, but before she could say anything else she was gone.

"Where did she go?" I heard them chattering, once I could pay attention to anything else. They must have seen her too. I looked down, and I was invisible again.

"I'm here," I sighed, not looking forward to becoming visible and all the pain that came with it.

"Did you see Grace again?" Dante asked.

"Yes, did you see her?" I wondered.

"I didn't see her... did anyone else see her?"

"No," they all answered.

"I've seen this before, only once," George looked around the room. "Elizabeth's sister, Violet—" I noticed Elizabeth looking at George, there was something in her eyes I couldn't quite place.

"Violet?" I interrupted, noticing the similarity to my name.

"Yes, Violet, she can see the dead. She had a daughter who died, but she never saw her, and it drove her mad. She recovered, but her power has never been easy for her."

"What?" I gasped. "Grace isn't dead she told me so herself."

"Sometimes, if you're very close to death, your spirit can detach from your body for short periods of time."

"How do you know if you've only seen it once before?" I wondered.

"Violet wanted to know everything about the powers she possessed, she told me."

"We need to get to Grace, she told me to go where I last saw her, she said I would find answers there. Do we even have time for that?"

"Alright, here's what we can do," George began. "Elizabeth or I can go with you. One of us has to stay, because our son is coming home today."

"I'll go," Elizabeth offered with a glimmer in her eyes.

"Thank you," I said.

"Would you like Lily to tag along? She could be of some help. She's young, but she discovered her powers at a very young age."

"Of course, if she wants to," I answered.

"I'll be right back. We should leave soon," Elizabeth said as she rushed from the room, George followed her.

"You don't think—" I heard Elizabeth whisper.

"Shh," George hushed and started talking so low I couldn't hear.

I felt the tingling pain starting in my foot, soon it was excruciating, and piece by piece I appeared.

I lay on the couch squirming in between Dante and Annabelle, all they could do was watch in horror as the pieces of me came back together. I wondered why it didn't hurt when I disappeared, only when I reappeared. I took a deep breath and laid there while the pin pricks began, soon after I was good as new.

"Are you okay?" Annabelle asked.

"Yeah, I just don't understand it."

"Well being able to disappear is a pretty cool power, even if it hurts."

When Elizabeth and Lily came back, they each had two suitcases.

"What's all this?" Dante asked.

"Oh," Elizabeth said. "Well, no offense, but it's kind of obvious that you guys didn't bring much so I figured—"

"We brought you guys some clothes," Lily interrupted. "We brought some for us too, of course."

I looked down. It was pretty obvious that we didn't have a change of clothes, if we did, we wouldn't be walking around looking like we did. I was covered in dirt, and blood, though the blood wasn't noticeable against my black shirt.

"And we figured we would bring our own car, more room and if one was to break down or something we would have a spare," Elizabeth announced.

"Okay, let's go," Dante got up and shook George's hand.

"You come back whenever you need," He said to Dante. "Same to you guys."

We started walking back to the car, but Elizabeth, and Lily didn't follow.

"Hey," Elizabeth called. "Don't you want a ride?" She ran behind the house.

A couple of minutes later she pulled around in a blue Hummer. We got in and anticipated seeing how she would maneuver around the trees. It wasn't an easy task, but swerving left to right, somehow she made it out, and drove us over to where we parked the car.

"Thanks," Dante said.

"I'll follow you guys," Elizabeth said. As we were walking away, Annabelle stopped.

"What's wrong?" I asked, noticing her reluctance.

"One second," she ran back to the Hummer. "I'm going to ride with them, okay?" She called over after a minute.

"Okay?" I said, feeling offended. Were we not good enough for her anymore? Now that she had another option.

We got in the car and headed to our old home town. We needed to go to Alexis's house to see what we could find. I prayed we would find an answer. Grace depended on it.

"So..." he said, "...about last night,"

"What about it?"

"I just, I kind of expected..." he sighed, "... I expected things to be different, when you found out who I was, after everything you said—"

"I don't know what you mean, but everything I said is the problem."

"I know, I should have said something then, but I liked hearing it," he smiled.

"Fine, I forgive you, but mark my words Dante. I will get you back," I joked, but I was serious. I could get him back even worse, what with my newfound power—or whatever it was—to vanish, I just needed to get it under control.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he shook his head while he laughed.

When we reached the neighborhood, I was shaking. Nothing was coming to me, how was I supposed to know the last place I saw Grace? I didn't remember. He pulled up to the woods about twenty-five feet from Alexis's house. I jumped out of the car before he put it in park.

"What's the matter?" Annabelle asked, as she got out of the hummer.

"Nothing, we just need to find whatever it is Grace wanted me to find."

"She didn't say where it was?" she asked, as she put her hand on my shoulder.

"The last time I remember seeing her was in the house, in the bedroom, but I don't know, and I need to find out soon, otherwise... she really will be gone, all over again."

"Let's go," she said as she grabbed my hand. We sprinted across the front lawn over to a window on the side of the house. She peeked in. "I don't see anyone, but just in case..." she pulled a small handgun out of her sweatshirt.

"Wha—what are you doing Annabelle?" I demanded. "Are you insane? Where did you even get that?"

"I'm sorry, but I need to help my parents, and now that I know you better it's almost as important to me that we find your friend, too."

"I don't think we need a gun—"

"Hey, what the hell are you doing on my property?" A man yelled, then I heard a deafening bang. My eyes closed; it was instinct. Even though it was over, I couldn't bring myself to open them.

"Annabelle?" I said, my eyes still shut tight.

"Yeah?" she said, breathless.

"Did you just shoot him?"

"Yes." Her voice trembled with regret.

I had to ask, "is he dead?"

"I think so," she whimpered.

Chapter 11: Guilt by Association

I leaned up against the brick house, sliding down to the ground, while my head fell between my knees. I needed to get back on track, to find Grace no matter what the situation unfolding in front of me had become. I heard the voices panicking around me, but I couldn't bring myself to look at their faces. Not to mention his, the man who lay dead, I assume in a pool of blood.

I felt Dante's strong arms around me.

"How could this have happened, Annabelle? We're trying to prove that Scarlett's innocent, not bring on a whole other world of trouble. I think she's in shock."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she sobbed.

"Maybe you should have Elizabeth take you to look for your parents. We need to find Grace, and then Scarlett needs a few days off."

"Fine," she cried.

"No," I opened my eyes.

"What do you mean no? Do you realize what she's done? We need to find what Grace wanted us to find, Scarlett. That means poking around the house, leaving fingerprints, looking in the woods, leaving our footprints."

"Then we'll just have to figure something—" Before I could finish my sentence, there were sirens blaring in the distance.

"We need to leave," Dante said as he jumped up, he yanked me up with him. When we got in the car, I looked out the window. Annabelle just stood there waiting for us to invite her in, or waiting for her punishment. I didn't know. Behind her, Grace appeared. I jumped out of the car and ran toward her.

"Grace," I whispered. "I need to get out of here, get in the car," I begged.

"No, no, no, no." She stomped her foot. "You need to find it,"

"Find what?" I said out of patience. "You know what it is and why I need it, so just tell me. Tell me where you are Grace, if you're in danger, and I need to get to you, help me."

"I can't."

"Where did I last see you, Grace? I don't remember."

"In the woods." I was back sitting in the passenger seat, staring at Annabelle, at Grace.

"How did I get back in the car?" I asked, dazed.

"You never left..." he said as he sped off.

"I think I'm going crazy. What if...I'm just imagining everything?"

"Your fine, Scarlett," he said, irritated.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"A small motel a few miles away, we need to leave the car somewhere though, in case there were any witnesses," he explained.

"Okay," I shrugged.

All this craziness was starting to feel normal for me. Sitting next to a dead body less than five feet away, was less horrifying than I felt it should be. Now I didn't think of that man, his family, how tragic it was for a life to be lost. I thought of any way to get away from it all, make a clean break and leave no evidence behind.

I felt a cold, boney hand touch my shoulder. I looked to my side without turning my head. The old man sat in the backseat wearing the plaid jacket, and worn blue jeans he died in. Blood ran out of his stained lips, and his under eyes—which were dark purple—accentuated his cold, blue eyes.

"You're going to fry for this; I'm going to make sure of it. All of you," he grumbled in a raspy voice.

"I'm so sorry," I said out of breath, the fear that pulsed through me seemed to have made my lungs collapse.

"For what?" Dante asked as he took his eyes off the road for a moment.

"Oh, you're sorry are you? Well then I guess that makes everything alright now, doesn't it?"

"Who are you?" I asked, wondering why he would be wandering around Alexis's house, and if he had something to do with Grace. He just stared. "Did you live in that house?" I asked.

"Who are you talking to Scarlett?" Dante demanded. I held my hand up and shushed him.

"What does it matter to you?" He was gone before I could answer.

"It was the man that Annabelle shot," I said, staring straight ahead at nothing.

"What did he say?"

"He said he would make sure we got caught," I muttered without any emotion, what did it matter anymore? There was no hope of finding Grace.

"No he won't, he's dead. What could he do?"

"There's no way to know until it happens."

He pulled into a bare spot in the woods; the car was pretty well hidden. We got out of the car and continued our journey on foot. When we arrived at the secluded motel, Dante walked right up to one of the rooms and tried to open the door. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well for one, this place is closed, and two even if it weren't we don't want any evidence we were around here anyway," he explained, as he held his hand out.

It felt like I was a chore, the more people that came into this, the more baggage I gathered, the more weight Dante took on. Before I knew it, we were in the room, it wasn't dirty like I expected, apart from some dust, it was really nice. The lights didn't work, and truth be told, I was afraid, but I needed to be alone.

"Would you mind if I stayed in a different room?" I whispered.

"What's wrong now?" He asked, though I got the distinct impression that he didn't care.

"Honestly," I said, holding back the tears that were stinging my eyes. "You, I think maybe tomorrow, you should go home to your family. I can do this by myself."

"What? What did I do?"

"You're not acting like yourself. You're not acting like the Dante I used to know. The Dante that was happy to see me no matter the circumstances. I mean, you never would have talked to me before, the way you have been. And you know what? That's okay, I understand, I know what you've been through, and I don't want to put you through it anymore. I can see that you're not happy here"

"I think it would be safer if you stayed in here tonight," he mumbled.

"Fine, I'm really sorry about everything, but remember I never asked for any of this, including your help,"

"I should have told you this before..." he sighed, "...I figured you knew and just didn't say anything but, now..." He trailed off. "Okay so you know how I grab your hand and my powers work for you?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, last night when you fell asleep, I held your hand, and I could see your dream. I guess you must have forgotten it, but someone—I didn't see who—killed me. You went after them, and they killed you, too. I thought that I could help you find Grace, then disappear so you wouldn't get hurt."

"If either of us gets hurt, it will be because of me."

"No, it won't. I didn't see much, but it really looked like it was my fault."

"I don't understand, why were you holding my hand? Why don't I remember the dream?"

"I don't know," he interrupted. "I'll go if you want me to, tomorrow, but I want to find Elizabeth first. I won't leave you to do this alone."

"Not every single one of my dreams has come true," I stated. "You don't have to do this," I begged, the least desperate I could manage. "If you're not leaving for yourself, then I'd rather you stayed. I know I'm going back and forth here, but I didn't mean that I never wanted to see you again."

"I don't think I can take that chance, if I'm not around, you won't get killed because of me."

"Fine, then go," I huffed. No matter how angry I was at Dante, no matter how unsure I was of what would happen in the future, and how awful that felt, I couldn't know for a fact that we wouldn't ever be more than this, that we wouldn't be anything.

"Scarlett," he sighed. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be. Would you rather have me stay and die?" He walked away, over to the bed and lay down.

"I'd rather die, than never see you again," I whispered under my breath. I know I told him to leave, but I thought I would at least see him again, someday.

I grabbed a blanket and sat in the window seat across the room. The view was beautiful; I could just make out the sunset behind the dark-gray clouds. It would rain tonight; I imagined the drops rolling down the window and bolts of lightning, lighting up the lake. As soon as I thought it, it began to pour. The lightning looked just as I imagined lighting up trees, and the water. I felt a few tears stream down. I felt like an idiot.

I felt his hand on my shoulder.

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," he said under his breath.

I sniffled then fake laughed as best as I could manage. "For you to think that you had that kind of power over me is hilarious," I said, never turning away from the window.

"I can see that you're hurting," he whispered.

"Maybe I was, but I'm over it now," I mumbled. He turned me towards him and kissed me on the forehead.

"I know I am," he said, almost embarrassed.

"You are what, over it? Good."

"No, hurting," he mumbled.

"What's that point of telling me that, of saying sorry? It doesn't change anything. I don't need you. I'm not going to die without you, but yes it hurts. It hurts a lot to find out someone you've wanted to see for months was standing in front of you all along, and then they just leave."

"It kills me knowing that I would be the reason you die if we stayed together. That would forever change anything we could have had between us." He tilted my face up so I would look at him.

"Well that's your choice. I can't force you to stay."

"I don't have a choice."

"You do," I said as calm as I could manage. "You can change the future; if there's one thing I've learned, it's that. One time I had a dream that my mom sent me to my aunts for a week, she had a trip to go on. One day she told me about the trip, the night she was going to drive me over to my aunts, I faked that I was sick, and you know what? It never happened."

"And how do you plan to stop this?"

"I never said I knew how I would stop it, I just said it's not impossible." Before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door. We shared the same worried glance then hurried to the peephole. It was Elizabeth; I unlatched the door, and gave her a big hug.

"Oh hello," she laughed. "I have some good news and some really good news—"

"Tell us," I interrupted.

"How did you find us?" Dante demanded before she could answer.

"Patience," she said. "First of all, the man Annabelle killed was wanted by the police. He was a serial killer. I don't think they're planning on searching too hard for who killed him."

"And how did you find us?" Dante pressed.

"My son, he's been away. He came home and my husband told him about everything. Anyway, one of his powers lets him find anyone, as long as he has something that belongs to them, something they've touched," she threw me my hoodie; I must have dropped it with everything that was going on.

"Then he could find Grace?" I asked with enthusiasm.

"Do you have something of hers?" she asked.

"No," I sighed.

"I'll be right back," she said as she ran back to the car with Lily following behind her.

Her son got out of the car. His hair was dark and curly, just like his father's. When he got closer, I could see his eyes, they were like none I'd ever seen before. They were baby blue and they made him look so innocent, yet I could just tell he wasn't.

"Where's Annabelle?" I asked. Elizabeth leaned closer.

"She's in the car. I wasn't sure if Dante was still mad," she whispered in my ear. "This is Cooper."

"Hey," he said with a huge smile on his face. He put his hand out, as if he was waiting for a handshake. I put my hand in his, and he brought it to his lips. I introduced myself and Dante, who was grumbling a few feet away.

"So what do you think we should do?" I asked anyone who would answer.

"We should go to your friend's house..." Cooper said without a second thought, "...get something of hers and find her."

"Okay, let's go." It made a reasonable amount of sense, but I hoped that her parents wouldn't shoot me onsite if they found me breaking into their house. They would kill me, even if I just went to the door and asked for something of hers. "Should we get Dante's car or—"

"Let's just go there first, then we can stop and get Dante's car," Elizabeth said.

When we got to the car, Annabelle was fast asleep in the passenger seat with her face pressed up against the window. Lily slid into the middle row while I climbed in the back. We were all dripping wet though the walk to the car wasn't very long.

"Dante," Lily said, it was obvious that she was flirting. "Sit next to me." He did, but he left the seat in between them empty. Cooper climbed in back with me leaving no room between us. Dante looked back at me; his glare was like a knife.

"I'm so happy you decided to come with us," I told Cooper. "Since we can't go back to that house, I'd lost hope in finding Grace."

"Glad to help," he smiled.

I smiled back. Dante turned around. Lily moved over next to Dante. Things were getting kind of weird.

"Which way do I turn?" Elizabeth asked. I wasn't quite sure where we were to begin with.

"Go right, follow the road until you come to Chestnut St. and then go left," Dante answered.

Cooper put his hand on my knee. We couldn't get to Grace's house soon enough. I was ready to jump out of the car then.

We were down the street from Grace's house; I could hear my heart thumping in my chest.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Cooper asked.

"I'll go," Dante offered.

"No, I think I can handle this," I replied as I got out of the car.

There were no cars in the driveway, so I went up to the porch. I could feel all of their eyes on me. I knew what they were thinking—what they would have done different, that I was making a mistake. I tried to shake the thought.

I went to the living room windows, there were three. I knew from experience the one in the middle had a broken lock. I lifted up the screen and pushed up the window, and I was in. I walked down the hall to her room. So many happy memories were running through my head, now blackened with everything that happened. I tried to focus on the fact that not much could go wrong. We would find her.

When I got to the end of the hall, the door to her room was no longer there, just drywall as if it never existed, as if she never existed. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I put my hand where the door should have been and closed my eyes imagining us walking to her room. It was supposed to be there. I could imagine it so clearly, and when I opened my eyes the door was there.

"Whoa," I said, out of breath.

I opened the door and there it was—Grace's room just as it had been that night when we got ready for the party. I decided to grab a few things in fear that one might not work. The first thing I grabbed was her locket with a picture of her grandmother in it. The second was her favorite blue and green plaid shirt. She was wearing it before we got ready for the party; she hung it on the chair where it remained now. I thought that would be best, the first item we could try.

I couldn't bring myself to leave just yet. Not without looking at the wall covered in pictures of all of us together. I grabbed one of me and Dante from what seemed like so long ago, and put it in my pocket.

Lights came in through the window. Someone was in the driveway. I heard them chattering. They sounded so happy as they approached the front door. How could they be happy at all with what happened to their daughter? They just block off the room and forget that she existed all together. I heard a gasp. The window—I forgot to shut it. I locked the door, and tried to open one of the windows. The first one stuck, now I remembered there was no opening her windows, no matter how hard we tried, it never happened.

I sunk down under her computer desk and waited. Then in front of me a Dante-sized swirl of blue and green light appeared. He was standing before me no more than a second later. I got out from under the desk and hugged him.

"I never thought I would get out of here," I shrieked.

"What the hell?" I heard Grace's dad say in front of the door. "This is too weird," he whispered under his breath. "Honey, I think you better come here." Good, I hope I ripped the Band-Aid and the scab off that covering the door provided.

"It just appeared out of nowhere?" Her mom asked.

"I wonder what's behind it."

Umm, your daughter's room maybe? "What is wrong with them?" I said in disgust.

"Let's go." He held his hand out. I grabbed on, and left a single tear for my forgotten friend on her bedroom floor.

We popped up a few houses down from the car. I went to walk back to the car, locket and shirt in hand, but Dante grabbed my free hand.

"Wait," he whispered. "I think I might be making a mistake."

"What do you mean?"

"I know I should, but I just don't think I can. Leave you, I mean."

"Is this because of Cooper?" I asked. "Since we're being honest, I wish that creep would keep his hands off me." I felt bad. He was our only hope, but that didn't mean he could put his hands on me.

"No it's not because of him; it just took him being here to make me see."

"I don't understand that at all," I said, breaking free from his grasp and walking back to the car. I hopped in the back with Cooper. "Will either of these work?" I asked. He grabbed them, and closed his eyes.

"I can see where we need to head, but it's hazy. It should become clearer as we go. It's easier when it's something they've recently touched, but this should work."

"Where to?" Elizabeth asked.

"Head south," he answered.

Dante opened the car door and got in. He looked back at me; instead of anger, I saw sadness.

"So, what do you plan to do once you find your friend?" Cooper questioned me.

"I don't know, go home, I guess."

"That's a shame; I was hoping I would see you around." He put his hand back on my leg.

"I doubt that you will." I shook his hand off.

"Do you have any idea of where we're going yet?" Elizabeth asked as we sat at a never-ending stoplight, Cooper grabbed the plaid shirt and sighed.

"It's cloudy. It's getting clearer even just sitting here, but I still can't make it out yet."

"We're going to need to stop soon," she said.

"I'll drive for a while," Dante offered.

"Oh, I don't know," Elizabeth said.

"I'm a good driver," he promised.

"I think we should stop. We need to get a better idea of where we're going anyway, plus my parents own a small cabin, fifteen or so miles away from here," Elizabeth said.

"Alright," Dante answered. "Will there be enough room for everyone?" I knew what that meant, will Cooper be anywhere near Scarlett? I didn't mind though, it was nice seeing how much he cared or at least how jealous he was.

"Eh, it will be tight, but more than comfortable," she answered.

Lily babbled on and on to Dante. He kept up the conversation, looking back at me every once in a while. Trying to make me jealous, maybe, making sure nothing was going on back here, for sure.

Chapter 12: Attempt

After what seemed like hours with the boring conversation going on in front of me, we arrived at the cabin. It was bare, but still somehow homey; there was no carpet, it was all wood floors. A blue couch, two chairs, and a black table sat in the living room. One small plush rug lay in front of a beautiful fireplace. Elizabeth walked over to a big wooden cabinet. She pulled out a stack of blankets, then opened another cabinet underneath. It was full of pillows; she grabbed two and left it open for us to help ourselves.

"Okay." She looked over at Lily hanging on Dante. "I'm taking the big room, so Lily can stay in there with me," she glanced over at Lily.

"Aw mom," she whined.

"Don't even try," she grabbed her arm. "There's one other small room and the couch pulls out. I'm sure you guys can handle it. Behave." She smiled, and then led Lily down the hall. Annabelle had already fallen asleep in one of the chairs.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"I don't know," Dante answered.

"You can take the other room," Cooper said to Dante.

"I don't think so," Dante replied.

"Okay, then what should we do?" Cooper asked.

"Hmm... I've got it," Dante answered with sarcasm. "How about you take the other room."

"Fine," he grumbled.

"Where's the bathroom?" Dante asked.

"Down the hall first door on the left."

"Thanks," Dante said as he walked away.

"Does that guy have a thing for you or something? He seems kind of possessive," Cooper asked.

"I don't really know anymore. I thought he did, he says he does, but I don't know he's just been so different lately. He can be kind of... mean."

"Oh, no offence but he seems kind of... crazy," he mumbled.

"Yeah he can seem like that sometimes, but he really is a good guy."

"So, after all this is over do you think I'll ever see you again?"

"I don't know,"

"I think I will," he whispered, as he moved closer.

"Yeah, I don't really know." I backed up into the wall, before I knew it, he was right up against me, pinning me to the wall. His arms blocked any chance of escape. I tried to find the words, any words to get me out of the situation.

"Ahem." My hero. Dante stood in the doorway, staring daggers at Cooper.

Cooper leaned in, and whispered "goodnight," chills went down my spine.

"Night," I replied.

I wished I could just find Grace and lock myself away. I didn't know why all of a sudden I had some sort of appeal. Maybe it was the whole being locked away for months thing. Or maybe I just gave off the vibe that I needed someone. It wasn't intentional. Either way, I wanted away from all the madness. I didn't know how to deal with one guy being all over me, forget two.

Dante made a fire and sat on the rug in front of the fireplace. Sensing he wasn't happy with me—though I didn't do a thing—I sat on the couch.

I thought back to Grace's house; the door just appeared when I imagined it. That had happened before, in my dreams, but that was different. I picked up a lock of my hair and imagined it black. Nothing happened. I looked over at Dante; he stared into the fire, not moving. When I looked back at the strand of hair between my fingers, it started to darken from the ends up. I gasped so sharp that it stung my throat. I looked over at Dante; he still didn't move. Instead of the light-brown—maybe even dirty-blonde—hair that covered his head, I thought of his dark-brown hair that fell in front of his perfect eyes. I imagined him as he used to be, and sure-enough seconds later he was that person again, on the outside anyway. He didn't seem to notice.

"Dante," I said under my breath.

"What," he mumbled as if he couldn't care less.

"It wasn't what it looked like," I tried to explain.

"You don't have to explain to me."

"No, I want to. Nothing happened."

"Then what do you call the way you were looking at him? The way you almost fell over when you first met him?" he said, never looking away from the flame.

"Okay, fine, you want me to say it? Yes, he is cute, I guess, but he's not you." I waited for his reply, nothing. "Look at me," I pleaded.

"What happened to you?" he asked, when he looked back.

"I don't know. I just imagined it and—"

"Wow," he said in awe. "What else can you do?"

"Look in the mirror," I insisted. He went from amazement to terror. "I promise I didn't do anything bad."

He ran to the bathroom; he stayed in there for a few minutes. When he walked back in I couldn't quite name the look on his face.

"Why?" He asked.

"I missed the way you were," I whispered.

"That's a bit shallow don't you think?"

"I miss the way we were, the way everything was. I was just thinking about everything, and I imagined it, and it happened," I said so fast I couldn't stop to breathe.

"Alright, alright," he said, laughing. "How did we turn this upside down so fast?" he asked, now serious.

"What do you mean?" I wondered.

"I never even got a chance to ask you, if you wanted to be..."

"If I wanted to be what?" I moved to the end of the couch, near the fireplace.

"I never got to ask if you wanted to be my girlfriend."

God was this awkward. I've wanted to hear those words from him since we met, but now it was so embarrassing.

"Did you—did you still want to ask me that?" I could feel my face flushing.

"Yeah, I do, but I'm still worried about your dream," he admitted.

"Let's just see what happens, with the dream I mean." I yawned.

"You need to get some sleep." He got up and grabbed a pillow and blanket from the stack Elizabeth left. "Do you want me to pull out the couch?"

"No, I'm good here," I sighed and drifted away. I concentrated on the dream Dante said I had. I didn't remember it, not at all. But I figured maybe if I thought about it, I would dream it again. Maybe I could figure out how to change it.

In my dream, I was standing in front of a large staircase in a huge mansion. There were flowers on every table, and at least one magnificent picture on each beautiful wall. The carpet was plush, white and flowed into each room. I felt someone's eyes on me, but I didn't turn. My hair was still the black it turned in reality. I walked up the red, velvety stairs.

"Grace?" I heard Dante call once. Then I heard him scream. I ran up the stairs to find him lying on the floor, bloody.

"What happened?" I begged with desperation. "Oh my god," I sobbed.

"Watch out," he tried to yell, but only moaned. I felt the blade run across my back. I imagined the floor where the man was standing turning to quicksand, he couldn't move. I got close enough to grab the knife and slashed it across his throat. I ran back over to Dante, but he was dead. I laid next to him for what seemed like an eternity.

I woke up drenched in tears. Dante's fingers were laced through mine.

"You saw," I sniffled. He brought his hand to my face and wiped away the tears.

"Yes, but at least you didn't die this time." He smiled, his dimples sunk into his cheeks.

"You just saw yourself die," I said, baffled. "And I had this hair, and you—you looked like you do now," I rambled.

"Yeah."

"So why didn't you freak out when you saw my hair? Or did my dream just change?" I sat up.

"I did, but I didn't show it. It was the same dream the only difference was that you didn't die. I can't see your whole dream. The background was black I couldn't tell where we were. We weren't here were we?" he asked.

"No, we were in a mansion looking for Grace," I sighed. "But I think I can prevent everything. I just have to stay with you."

"So now I need my girlfriend to protect me?" He muttered.

"So, I'm your girlfriend?" I asked, ignoring the rest of the remark, as I lay over his lap and looked up at him.

"Do you want to be?" he questioned.

"Yes," I answered, not being able to take the awkwardness anymore. I sat up and leaned forward to kiss him. I couldn't pay attention to anything but his lips on mine and his hands running up and down my back. He stopped, and I heard a door creak. Cooper was looking over at us.

"Don't mind me. I'm just getting something to drink." He was upset; it was obvious, but I didn't feel bad. After all, he just met me a few hours ago. I felt the need to say something. Explain that I was sorry if he thought I led him on at all, but that it wasn't going to happen. I thought it over, and felt no need to defend my feelings for Dante and lack thereof for him. "I'll see you in the morning," he said, looking at me and glimpsing at Dante for an instant.

"That guy bugs me," Dante huffed.

"Cut him some slack, kind of like Lily," I reminded him. "It has to be tough living in the middle of nowhere."

I grabbed his arm and put it around me. We stayed there until morning, without speaking a word. What was there to talk about now? Grace, we would find her. Everything would be okay. Us, it was what it was, and soon it would be better than that, if we lived.

Soon, it was morning and Elizabeth, and Lily came out of their room; Lily kept her eyes glued on Dante switching between his face and his hand in mine.

"Good morning," Elizabeth exclaimed with joy.

"Good morning," Dante and I replied together. She looked over at us.

"What did you guys do?" she asked. For a second, I forgot.

"Oh, the hair?" She nodded. "I don't know I just imagined it and it changed." I shrugged.

"Oh cool," She complimented.

Annabelle still lay in the chair she plummeted into when we first arrived. I felt terrible that I hadn't noticed that sooner, she should have been up hours ago.

"I think something's really wrong with Annabelle," I said, concerned.

"I'll try to wake her up." Elizabeth rushed over. She was trying to stay calm, but I could tell she was worried. I could see why, now that I got a closer look her lips were blue, and she was pale. She shook her, but she didn't wake up.

"Is she?" I asked, horrified.

"No," she said as she felt her pulse, when she dropped Annabelle's arm back down, a bottle of pills fell out of her pocket and rolled to the floor.

We all exchanged worried glances, then she started coughing. Everyone relaxed a little, relieved sighs filled the room. She opened her eyes looking dazed.

"What were you thinking?" Elizabeth snapped.

"I don't know," she cried. "I ruined everything. I killed somebody."

"You didn't ruin everything," I assured her.

"And the man you killed was a serial killer," Elizabeth added.

"I didn't know any of that before I did it though," she responded. Then she looked at me. "What did you do to your hair?"

"It doesn't matter," I said, angry now. "Don't ever do anything that stupid again."

"I'm sorry," she cried. I walked over and gave her a hug.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Alright let's give her some space; I'll make you something to eat."

"I can't believe her," I whispered to Dante as we sat on the couch together.

"I feel like I'm responsible, I've said some horrible things to her. It really didn't have much to do with her though, except when she killed the guy, but even then."

"I know," I said as I put my hand on his back. Cooper came out of his room, not looking in our direction.

"Do you know anything yet? Where the girl is, I mean," Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, she's not too far away," Cooper said.

Chapter 13: Finding Grace

We all climbed into the car, this time Cooper sat up front giving directions. Annabelle and Lily sat in the middle, and Dante and I sat in the back. We had to stop a few times; Annabelle kept getting sick, but other than that the trip took about an hour. No one said much with the awful finding this morning, things were tense. Dante held my hand as we awaited the possibility of our deaths. I hoped I could stop it, but I didn't know what would happen in the moment, no matter what I did, it couldn't be taken back. I wouldn't wake up with Dante holding me in his arms. It was a lot of pressure, having a life in your hands. We pulled up to the beautiful mansion. It was hard to tell from outside, but I had a feeling it was the one from my dream.

"It looks empty," Elizabeth noted, relieved.

"It's not. We need to be very careful, I'd say stay in groups of two," I urged.

"Yes, Annabelle are you feeling up to it?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better now. My power could come in handy," she replied.

"Okay, does anyone else have any powers that might be useful?"

"I can duplicate myself," Lily answered as another of her appeared on the other side of Annabelle. Both of her looked back at Dante, raised their eyebrows and blew him a kiss.

"Ugh," I muttered, restraining myself. He looked just as disgusted as I was. "Okay, that could come in handy as a distraction or whatever. Elizabeth, you should go with Lily, and Annabelle with Cooper." I said in hopes of him finding someone else to bother for a while.

"Alright," Elizabeth agreed.

"Sounds good," Annabelle was enthusiastic.

"Okay, Elizabeth and Lily," Dante said. "Go on the side of the house, behind those bushes watch for anyone coming, or if you can tell anything is going on inside the house—"

"Got it," Lily interrupted.

"Annabelle and Cooper, go through the backdoor. We'll go through the front,"

"Okay," Cooper replied.

"Alright let's go," Dante said, it was obvious that he was nervous.

"Wait," Elizabeth called. "Take these." She held out two velvet bags filled with something. Cooper and Annabelle took one, and then gave us the other.

"What is it?" Annabelle asked.

"Dirt," Elizabeth replied. "It will keep you safe, to an extent." Annabelle just stared, confused. I understood, but in her defense, I hadn't just ingested a bottle of pills.

"It's from their house, Annabelle," She just looked at me. "Do you remember going to their house?"

"Yes, I remember, why are you talking to me like I'm an idiot?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"

"It's fine," she huffed. "Let's go."

Annabelle and Cooper snuck to the back of the house, while Elizabeth and Lily hid behind the bush where Dante instructed them to hide. Before I knew it, we were at the front door. There were no other houses around, so we didn't have to worry about neighbors. It was like a house in the suburbs, with the flawless green grass, a few bushes and trees scattered in just the right places. Then, a hundred feet from the house, the forest gathered around in a perfect circle, only spreading out enough to make room for the road.

He turned the knob, but it was locked. That was to be expected; I imagined the lock on the other side of the door. Then I imagined it unlocking, and I heard a click.

"Try again," I suggested, and sure enough, it opened. I couldn't breathe. I felt the sweat pooling on my palms. It was the house from my dream, no doubt. I heard a noise from upstairs, and Dante heard it too. He went to run up the stairs, but then he looked back at me.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I couldn't move. I felt glued in the exact place I was in my dream as if there was nothing I could change to keep us together, now or ever again.

"Wait," I pleaded.

My feet were planted in the fluffy, white carpet. My arms felt like stone; I couldn't move them. I closed my eyes and imagined myself following him up the stairs. One by one my fingers moved, and then I could move my arms, my legs. The whole world was shaking. Nothing felt right, and I felt like I was going to be sick. I wondered if this was what it always felt like trying to change the future.

I remembered trying to keep my mom from going on her business trip. I packed my things to go to my aunt's house just like I had in my dream, and then decided that I would pretend to be sick. Now, as I recalled it, I hadn't been faking for long, soon after I yelled for my mom, I began feeling nauseous.

I tried to breathe evenly while closing my eyes for a moment, it helped a little. We crept up the stairs, listening again for the noise. I heard the sound of metal swiping against something, the knife. I got myself ready.

"Grace?" Dante called, it was as if he had no choice in the matter, or wasn't thinking.

Everything went in slow motion: a door busted open, and a man came out. He was dressed like any average guy, but his shaggy hair and beard covered most of his face. I looked down at the dagger in his hand. I imagined him paralyzed, and he collapsed to the floor. I grabbed the knife and stabbed him; I couldn't control myself, just thinking about him killing Dante, not to mention everything with Grace sent me over the edge. When he coughed up blood, and his eyes rolled in the back of his head, I pulled myself away. I wiped the blade off on his pants.

"Why are you holding on to that?" Dante asked, looking a little frightened.

"Just in case," I said, acting nonchalant, but deep down, I, too, was afraid that I'd gone over the edge.

We opened each door, but Grace was nowhere to be found. We went back downstairs, looking through every door on the main floor, as well. Dante opened a door that led to a library; every wall was covered in shelves full of books. When I looked down at the tables, I saw Annabelle and Cooper, two men where behind them with knives at their throats. They didn't seem to notice us as the men asked them questions.

"Who sent you here?" They demanded. "How did you know her?"

I looked behind them at the shelf. It looked pretty heavy, and if I was right, it looked just tall enough to hit the men, and spare Annabelle and Cooper. I imagined it falling over, and crushing them. My eyes squinted, as I focused all my attention on the bookcase, and the bloody mess it would make of those two. I shook my head. I really am losing it, aren't I? I had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time I would have to ask myself that question.

The bookcase shook, but didn't fall. The two men looked over at it, then back at each other and shrugged. I tried one more time; instead of the book case tipping, every last book flew off the shelves. The man behind Annabelle pushed the knife to her neck so hard, a single stream of blood flowed down to her shirt.

"What did you do?" He demanded.

"Nothing, I swear," she choked. He pressed the knife harder; more blood ran down.

"Hey," I screamed.

I didn't know what my next move would be, but I couldn't just stand there and watch Annabelle get killed. The men looked over. One stayed with Annabelle and Cooper, and the other came charging at me. He took me to the ground, as he ran into me. I somehow managed to knock the knife out of his hand; my knife had already flown across the room as he knocked me down. I couldn't pay attention to much else, as the man hit me over and over again, but it was obvious Dante wasn't coming to my rescue. I looked on the other side of the room, there was a window. I could see Lily and Elizabeth, still at their post, just watching us through the window. Lily noticed me looking over and put her hand up to her lips to silence me, then she pointed to a row of shelves across the room. At first, I was confused, then I saw her peeking around the corner of one of them; she pointed to the knife that had fallen right next to my foot.

The man leaned backwards as he got ready to strike me again—building up momentum no doubt—I pulled my foot forward and kicked him in the chest, knocking him off of me. Then, while I still had the chance, I kicked the knife over to Lily. She came running over and stabbed him in the back. He rolled over. I grabbed my knife, and we ran to the table where Annabelle and Cooper were being held hostage.

As we approached the man, he let go of Annabelle and ran straight to Lily. It all happened so fast. I heard a scream outside. Seconds later, my mind started comprehending what was happening. I looked at Lily, who had an emotionless look on her face as she gripped her chest where the knife was sticking out. She fell to the ground; her white shirt was now almost completely red.

Cooper tried to get up, but the man was back by them with the knife at his throat. I imagined the bookcase falling one last time; it crushed the man, and Cooper ran over to his sister. Dante was standing just inches away from where the bookcase fell.

Cooper pulled the knife out of her, and held his hands over the wound; it disappeared, but Lily still lay motionless on the floor.

"Lily?" I panicked. Cooper held his hand up, to silence me, a moment later her eyes popped open, and she sucked in a deep breath.

"Get her out of here," I urged.

"Yeah, no problem," Cooper said, trying to sound calm.

"We'll be out soon, all we have left to check is the basement. You're sure she's here right?" I asked Cooper.

"Yeah," he said as they ran out the door.

"How do you even know there is a basement?" Dante asked.

"Why didn't you help us?" I demanded, ignoring his question.

"Someone grabbed me; you'll see the dead body lying out in the hall."

"I don't know for sure that there's a basement, but we've looked everywhere else, and this house is huge I doubt it doesn't have a basement."

We searched and searched, but we couldn't find it. As I was walking through the kitchen, which unlike the rest of the house had hardwood floors, I tripped over a rug. I hit my head pretty hard on the table, and Dante came running over.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered, feeling a bit woozy. I went to flatten out the rug, but it wouldn't, there was something underneath. I lifted the rug up and there was a handle. "I think we found the basement."

Dante lifted the door up; it looked heavy. There was a set of stairs that led to the basement. Why the need for secret doors if they didn't have something to hide down here? I was convinced that we found Grace. Sure enough, as we walked through I spotted her chained to the wall.

"Grace," I cried.

"Scarlett?" she whimpered. I imagined the chains falling off her wrists, and onto the floor. They were glowing red for a moment, and then I felt a shock.

"Ouch," I gasped. As I walked toward her, I noticed she didn't look very good. It might have been the giant sweat pants and sweatshirt, that seemed to swallow her whole, but there was something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I grabbed the chains trying to find a way to get her out, but it shocked me again, this time hard.

"We need to find a key," Dante said. "Quick."

"Do you have any idea where it is?" I asked Grace.

"There's a drawer or something over there, every time they unchain me, they go over there," she explained.

"Okay." I ran over to where she pointed, there were a few drawers. One was filled with jewelry, which I thought was odd. The others were filled with random things, but no key. The next was heavy it took me a second to get it open; it was filled all the way to the top with keys.

"Did you find anything?" Dante asked, as he walked over.

"Yeah, take the drawer out and bring it over there."

"Okay?" He said, confused before he could see what was inside the drawer. "This is going to take us all day."

"Do you have any other ideas?" I asked. We went through at least half the drawer without a match, and then I noticed an odd-shaped bronze key. I went to pick it up, but like the chains, it shocked me. "Ow," I said as it clanked against the floor. Dante tried to pick it up, but he, too, got shocked.

"What should we do?" He asked.

"Grace you need to try," I rushed.

"But I can't reach it," she cried.

I grabbed the key and tried to get it up to her hand, the longer I held it, the worse it got. She grabbed onto it without a problem. Once all her shackles had been removed, we went up the stairs. We ran to the front door, but before we could reach it, someone grabbed me from behind.

"Not so fast." Dante looked back to make sure we were following.

"What are you doing Scarlett?"

"Uh." I pointed to the man who had a hold on me.

"What?" Dante asked baffled. I turned to look at the man. His beard and long shaggy hair were covered in blood. It was the man I'd stabbed just a half an hour before.

"It's a ghost," I answered, unsure of what to do. I tried to imagine him disappearing, but he remained. Dante came over and tried to pull him away, but his hands went right through.

"I don't feel anything, how could a ghost hold onto you?"

"I—I don't know, but I can't get him off me," I pulled and scratched and kicked but nothing happened. Dante grabbed my hand, and moved us across the room. The ghost stayed where he was.

"Run," Dante shouted to Grace and I. We ran from the house; the ghost stayed, watching us leave from the front window. Everyone was waiting for us in the car.

"You got her!" Elizabeth exclaimed with joy. "Not many people could go through what you guys have."

"It's not over yet," Grace said. "I still want revenge, with or without you guys."

"But they're dead Grace. We killed everyone in that house," I tried to reason with her.

"What, you don't think I deserve revenge? I'm sorry if this is a problem for you Scarlett, but—"

"What are you talking about?" I interrupted.

"You—you didn't go into the woods did you? You didn't find what I asked you to find."

"I couldn't, but we found you anyway. I don't see what the problem is here." I was starting to lose my patience.

"This is all wrong," she said, looking around at all of our faces. "No, no, no."

"Grace, you're free; you're alive," I interjected. The happiness in my voice faltered. "What exactly is wrong?"

"I can't—" she said, as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I just can't. You're my best friend," she somehow managed to smile through the tears.

"Okay," I said, smiling back. "I think she needs some food."

After she ate, she didn't seem as weak, but she still refused to talk.

"Okay, you need to tell us what's wrong," I demanded.

"You just saved my life; I can't hurt you, and this will hurt you."

###

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Preview chapter for Betrayal (Vanish Book Two).
Chapter 1: That Night

The sky was crystal clear as I lay in the field behind the apartments. The breeze was gentle, but colder than I would have liked. Staring up at the bare trees, sadness swept over me. I longed for summer. I wanted to see this beautiful forest in all of its glory, and I would. We weren't leaving; we couldn't. Grace was our responsibility now, and she wouldn't be safe anywhere else. She was frail, and weak. She hadn't moved or eaten anything since we got here. It seemed like it had been an eternity since we'd returned, but in reality, it had only been two days. That made today a week since my release from the hospital.

I wanted to go see Dante, but these past two days, everything seemed more complicated than it should. I planned to forget everything once we found her. I wanted to push away all the sadness and confusion, but while I could pretend, Dante knew better. He wanted me to talk about it. He thought it would make me feel better, but there was nothing to say. Grace was hiding something, something about me. I had a feeling that it was much more than that, but I knew she would never let me in. She changed. It wasn't only the six months of being chained to that wall. Something was off.

"What are you doing out here?" Dante asked as he snuck up from behind.

"Just getting some fresh air," I smiled up at him. I couldn't help but smile when I saw his face. It took all of the pain away, but only for one brief second at a time. I wanted to run away with him. Things would be so easy... but no, I couldn't leave George and Elizabeth to deal with my problem. It was awful, but that was how I felt. Her excuse for not talking in the car was that she didn't want to hurt me, but the few times she had spoken to me since had been nothing but hurtful.

"You should come inside," Dante said, interrupting my thoughts.

He held out his hand to help me up, but I didn't reach for it. He looked at me, trying to be understanding, but he didn't understand. As far as he saw it, this was over, and that's how I saw it at first, too, but now I wasn't so sure.

"What are we going to do?" I mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't live like this forever, we can't leave. Period."

"It won't be forever," he assured me.

"What's going to change? What about Grace?"

"We'll figure something out—"

"No matter what, we'll have to babysit her. It would be one thing if she was the same Grace she used to be, but she's not, not even close."

"Come on. George and Elizabeth are expecting us, and it's not going to be easy to persuade Grace."

"Alright." I grabbed his hand. He held it outstretched during our whole conversation, waiting for me to give in. When I was up, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead.

When we reached the apartments, tension filled the air. I saw a glimpse of Annabelle through the window; she was sitting on the bed. Her expression hadn't changed since we'd arrived back at George and Elizabeth's. She saw the success Cooper had with Grace's belongings. She gave him a locket that had belonged to her mother, hoping he could help her find them, too. He saw nothing. I tried to persuade her that it was probably because it belonged to her for so long. She would have to find something that her mother had touched more recently. It felt wrong encouraging her like that, with all the help she'd given me, and now I could do nothing in return. I was afraid for her and her parents, if she did want to leave to continue her search, she would only have Cooper at her side. Lily was still weak from her near-death experience, and it had done a lot to her mental state. Everyone here was suffering with their own problems, and I couldn't get my head clear enough to even try to help.

I walked over to Grace's door and knocked. She didn't say anything, so I took out the key and went right in. She still refused to talk about what had happened. It didn't matter what I said, she rejected it. I needed to know what she was keeping inside. I couldn't imagine it would hurt me as much as she thought. I knew—probably better than anyone—how it felt to be trapped inside your own head for six months. Some things seemed a whole lot worse until you could talk about it. Then once you did, it went away, and you couldn't remember what the big problem was in the first place. Nevertheless, whatever she needed to tell me, I needed to know. It was killing me, thinking about the possibilities over and over in my head. Did it have something to do with Dante? Or did she know why the Alliance was after us? I doubted that, she said she didn't even know who the Alliance was. Was it something that happened that night, something I didn't remember? I felt like I was going to go crazy.

I had to drag Grace out of bed to get her to attend. There was no way we could let her stay here alone. I'd seen what could happen when someone had been through enough, and I wouldn't let Grace hurt herself. Another worry was that she would run. Sure, Cooper would help us find her, but I couldn't go through that all over again.

When everyone was ready to go, we walked over to their house. I hoped, for Elizabeth and George's sake, that everyone would try to have a nice time. They led us into the dining room and told us to have a seat.

"So Grace..." Elizabeth began, "...how do you like it here? Would you like to do something tomorrow?" She was trying to be welcoming, and I loved her for it, but Grace didn't care.

"No, Thanks," she grumbled.

"Okay, well I think it would help you to... maybe get some fresh air or—"

"No, I need revenge, and that's all I need."

"Revenge against who Grace?" I pleaded. She just rolled her eyes and continued moving her food around her plate. I smiled at Elizabeth and shoved a forkful of food into my mouth. "Mmm, this is really good." I complimented. Elizabeth smiled.

As we were sitting at the table in silence, two unexpected guests had arrived and stood at Annabelle's side. I could tell I was the only one who could see them. I felt the urge to cry. It was clear that they were her parents, and they loved her dearly. It was obvious they were pained by the expression on her face. She hadn't eaten, and I was afraid she would try to hurt herself again. I wasn't sure if telling her or not telling her would be worse. They had their arms around her. She shivered, but other than that she didn't seem to notice. I stared at them for a moment, and they looked back at me.

"You can see us?" I looked down, not wanting to say anything to indicate a ghost was near. "You can. I know you can."

I felt bad ignoring them, so I looked up and nodded once.

"She needs to know." The pain in their eyes was heartbreaking. I felt horrible for Annabelle, but it was clear that she was loved. "We're fine. It's so much better this way. It would have been almost impossible for her to rescue us, and that's if she even could have found us. It was horrible there. We would have been stuck there forever, but now we're free."

I needed to talk to them, but I couldn't at the table.

"Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom." I looked at them trying to hint for them to follow. I hurried in and shut the door. "You know she tried to kill herself, right? I don't want to do anything that would make her feel the need to do that again."

"She needs to know. We want her to move on, to be happy," Annabelle's parents insisted.

"I'll get her alone after dinner, when we go to the apartments. Come find us and I'll tell her anything you want me to, okay?" They agreed. "Alright, I need to get back."

I couldn't eat. It was hard having to tell someone there was no hope, that their parents were dead. For all I knew, it could be the first in a long line of things like this. I couldn't ignore my powers, what was the use of it if not to help people? But was this really helping? I didn't know.

"Alright, there's a reason we've asked you to come here. We have a surprise for you, since you'll be staying longer than just a few days. George will take you," Elizabeth said. Grace stood up; she seemed to be having a hard time.

"Did you hurt your leg?" I asked.

"Yeah," she snapped.

George walked out the door and instead of going left toward the apartments, he went right.

"Where are we going?" Dante asked.

"Since you're going to be staying more permanently this time, we thought we would let you use one of the houses," he said, as if it was nothing.

"How many houses do you have?" Dante asked, impressed.

"Five. Some are farther into the woods, but we would rather you be close just in case," George explained.

"I don't know how to thank you George," Dante said.

"Please don't. You guys are great, and we would love for you to stay."

"So, do you get a lot of people staying here?" Dante asked.

"Every now and then, but people have come here for far less serious reasons."

"If there's anything we can do to help out, let us know, okay?" Dante offered.

"Thank you," he said as he walked up to the porch. The house was just as beautiful as theirs. "Here we are. If you need anything call, okay?"

"Okay," Dante said as he shook his hand.

"Thank you George, we never could have done any of this without your family," I commended.

"It was no problem," he said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

After George left, I knew I needed to get Annabelle alone. I'd planned to talk to Grace first, but this could get messy. I didn't know how much time it would take, or how long she would need a shoulder to cry on.

We walked into the house. The carpets were a beautiful blue, and the furniture was all burgundy except that which was made of wood.

"Hey," I said to Annabelle. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Go ahead," she sniffled.

"Let's go find somewhere to talk," I suggested, knowing she wouldn't want this to take place in front of everyone.

"Alright," she agreed.

We went upstairs, and I opened the first door on the right. It seemed suitable. I walked inside and sat on the bed.

"Sit." I patted next to me and smiled. Her parents had followed us up here just as they followed her all night. "What do you want to say?" I asked her parents.

"You told me, you wanted to talk," she said, confused. I just smiled and listened.

"Tell her we know how much she wanted to find us, and we know how hard she tried," her mom said.

"Your parents know how much you wanted to find them. They know you really tried."

Her mouth popped open, but she didn't speak.

"She never could have found us, and even if she did they would have killed her, and then killed us anyway."

"They say you couldn't have found them, and if you did, their captors would have killed you and then killed them anyway."

"We didn't feel it. It was an escape from that awful place. Even though she won't always know we're here, we will be. Her happiness is all that matters to us."

"They didn't feel it, dying was better than being where they were. They will always be with you, even if you can't see them. Your happiness is all that matters to them."

"You're lying; this can't be true." Tears streamed down her pink cheeks.

I looked over to her parents.

"When she was five..." her mother began with a smile on her face, "...she begged me to get her ears pierced, because all of her friends had them. I took her, reluctantly, of course. She got one side pierced and decided that was enough. I tried to reason with her, thinking she would get made fun of even more for only having one, but she wore that one earring with such pride."

"When you were five, you begged to get your ears pierced. When your mom took you, you ended up only getting one side done." She brought her hand up to her left ear.

"Mom, Dad?" she laughed, tears still streaming down her face. "I love you, and I miss you so much."

"We love you, too, honey," her mom said with joy.

"Tell her to please just be happy. I know we already said it, but the other day... was hard to see," her father added.

"They love you too. They want you to be happy. They saw what happened the other day, and it wasn't easy to watch."

"I will. I promise," she cried.

They smiled and disappeared.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah," she sighed. "I mean, I know you've seen things like this before, but just to know they're still out there...."

A knock on the door interrupted her. I got up to answer it.

"Cooper?" I said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure she was okay." He smiled at Annabelle.

"I'll leave you two alone."

I looked back at Annabelle to make sure it was okay, and she nodded.

I came back down the stairs. Dante was sitting in a wooden chair, looking very uncomfortable. Grace looked pretty much like she had all day, upset.

"Hey, what's going on?" I wondered.

"I need to talk to you," Dante said with urgency. He got up and led me out the backdoor. "Okay. I needed to tell you this before she did," he said, looking worried.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Your mom's power..." he began, "...is to make people forget."

"So, she did make me forget, but why?"

"She made me forget, too. That's why I don't remember..." He ignored my question.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I still don't know, but it could have been Skylar; he was there that night too."

"How do you know that?"

"He followed me for a while before what happened. I saw him a few times. I saw him again one night when my family went out to dinner," he answered.

"What? Why did he follow you?"

"It was a few towns over," he continued, ignoring me again. "We had just visited my aunt. It was a dimly lit restaurant, but I knew he was the guy who'd been following me. I went to approach him. He was there with his parents, or so I thought, but I didn't care. Until I got over to the table. That's when I saw who I thought was his mom, but it was your mom. I noticed the resemblance when I first saw him, each time after that he looked more and more like me."

"So how do you know he was there that night?" I begged, while tugging on his shirt collar.

"One of my brothers tried to talk to him thinking he was me, they told me the next morning."

"Okay, well I need to go talk to Grace. I need to find out what she was talking about in the car."

"Good luck," he called after me.

"Come with me?" I turned around, afraid of what this revelation could be.

"Sure," he smiled.

We sat on the couch across the room from where Grace sat. She was turned away from us staring out the window.

"Grace?"

"What?" She turned to look at me and then turned back around.

"I need to know what you were talking about in the car." I waited for her to turn around, but she didn't.

"You know, I kind of wish you didn't find me." Her voice was dull, lifeless.

"Why would you say that?" I demanded. "Just tell me what it is, get it over with, and then maybe you'll feel better." She sighed, but still faced the window. I gave her a moment to get her thoughts together, when she finally started talking, I had chills.

"I'll start from the beginning," she began, her voice still weak. "I just need to know that you'll believe me, that you won't hate me."

"I will believe you, and I could never hate you." Obviously.

"Okay, that evening your mom drove you over to my house. You had so much to carry. She said she wanted to see us in our dresses together." I remembered this part, but not every detail. "She refused to leave until she got pictures. I thought it was odd. She never seemed to care about any of that before. She took her pictures and left without a good-bye. We headed over to Alexis's and danced for a while, Dante looked so," she let out a frustrated sigh. "Anyway, you left to go to the bathroom, and then Dante left. I don't know where he went, but he came back a few seconds later, and he started kissing me," she looked over with caution, then continued staring out the window. "I knew you liked him, but I couldn't stop. I had a bit of a crush on him for a while, too, you know."

"Okay, there's no need to be mean," I said, annoyed.

"Well it's not my fault he liked me, and not you—" She turned the chair around and looked at us, seeing his arm around me. "Eh, I guess you're a good replacement, but something that isn't broken doesn't need replacing, now does it?"

"What is your problem?" I demanded. "I just saved your life, and this is how you treat me?" she looked unfazed.

"From what I heard, it was because of you that I ended up there."

"Just keep telling the story," I said in a flat tone.

"Anyway, Dante led me into one of the bedrooms, you don't need to know the rest about that," she rolled her eyes. "You busted in as Dante was getting dressed, and you looked so upset. Dante jumped up and went out the sliding glass door. I followed you and tried to apologize, but you were so angry. I couldn't get a word in edgewise. So I went back into the room and followed him outside, he went into the woods. I thought I saw him, but it was dark, and someone came up behind me and hit me with something. When I woke up, someone was standing over me," she stopped. "I can't—" she started to complain again.

"You can't what? Hurt me? You already have. I thought that part was over, but carry on," I glared at her.

"I heard footsteps coming in our direction, and the person standing over me ran and hid. You walked over and—" Grace's voice grew further and further away, until I couldn't hear it at all. In fact, I couldn't see anything either; I was being swept away into another vision of the past. This time I would get answers, answers, I wasn't quite sure I was ready for.

I sat on the front porch of the house. I heard someone scream, Grace. I ran into the woods, dodging Branches, and roots that stuck up out of the ground. I heard her scream again, and I followed the sound, and soon I was standing over Grace. I got down on my knees.

"Grace? What happened to you?" my voice trembled.

"Watch out," she screamed.

I got up faster than I thought possible. When I had a second to take in what was happening around me, I noticed a huge gash in my wrist. I couldn't see their face, but it was definitely a woman. She whipped the knife through the air, cutting me again. I fell back onto the cold, wet ground. I started crawling away, when two men walked up. I was hidden behind a bush; I don't think they even knew I was there.

"We will take care of this for you ma'am," the men said, trying to sound like they were helping.

"No, I got it, thanks." Her voice, sent chills down my spine, I couldn't be sure who she was, not yet. Not until I saw her face.

"She's worth a lot to us alive," the man added.

"How much?" the woman asked, intrigued.

"We can talk numbers later, I can write down my address and number, if you have something to write on."

"Alright," she agreed with reluctance. "Will this work?"

"Yeah, that should work."

After he was done, he went to hand it back to her. A large gust of wind blew before she could grab it. It blew out of the man's hands, and went down what looked like some sort of small cliff.

"I'm sorry, do you have anything else?"

"Just write it on my arm," she snapped.

I hoped, I wished, I prayed that voice didn't belong to who it sounded like it did. I sat there in a daze for what seemed like forever, until Grace's screams snapped me out of it.

"No," Grace yelled as they dragged her away.

I was too afraid to move, not even to save my best friend. Her screams became muffled after a few moments, and soon disappeared altogether.

The woman picked up the shovel she had leaned up against a tree.

"You've really gotten yourself into some trouble this time," the woman scolded.

She struck me in the face, knocking me over. I lay down on the ground, looking up in horror. As she bent down to look at me, the moon shined through a break in the trees, directly onto her face.

"Mom?" I gasped.

